Zafar
Zafar pondered Carmen’s silence and reassertion of her independence as he slid into the car after her. But he pondered his own response more.
What had happened?
The heat they’d created, the shock of unexpected connection, the loss of his own control had rocked him. Perhaps it was just his body requiring sex but he did not think so. Sex did not mean loss of control. Either way it was not something to rush. This was a fundamental change he could sense in himself. Very unsettling.
He filed away the fire between this woman and his unknown self in the storm for future thought.
For the moment - he had decided he needed to secure her services for his cousin. Something he suspected would require careful negotiation.
He did not want her caring for other women. At the beck and call of others. He wanted her available for Fadia whenever she was needed. And possibly for him, a quiet voice inside suggested, but he pushed it away. He could imagine Carmen’s response to that chauvinism. This was certainly a new direction for his usually introverted thoughts.
‘I had hoped we would to discuss the possibility of you caring for Fadia as your only client.’
She shifted beside him and avoided his eyes in a swift turn to the outside world. ‘No.’ Her word clipped as if her mind was elsewhere and did not want to be disturbed. Almost in panic?
She was as unsettled as he was. Why did that amuse him? Because he was a man. Or because it made him feel better about his own unease.
It seemed she could sense the strangeness of the shift between them too. ‘There is no discussion.’
‘That is not an answer. More a knee-jerk reaction I believe they call it.’
‘I have a knee if you want one,’ she muttered, and he wondered if he was supposed to hear that? Such a physical woman. More clearly she said, ‘I’m afraid I can’t help you.’
Why was she so sure of herself? She did not know him. Still, this woman could be most annoying. He restrained himself from correcting her. ‘Because...?’
What was so absorbing outside the car that she must look past him out the window? ‘Because I have two jobs already.’
Of course. She worked at the hospital. Fadia had said Carmen had been her midwife at the birth. No doubt these two jobs explained why she looked so tired. As to why... The money answer would be the simplest one. ‘And why have you two jobs?’
‘That’s none of your business.’
He caught Yusuf’s eye in the mirror and his driver nodded. Not yet but it soon would be. Perhaps Yusuf already had gleaned some information.
She went on, militantly, so obviously annoyed by his questions. ‘If you wish Fadia to have a personal mothercraft nurse, of course you can arrange that but it won’t be me.’
‘I was thinking a professional midwife to act as flight assistant for Fadia on the trip to Zandorro and to help her settle in.’
‘No. Thank you.’ Such a prickly woman while still remaining polite. He suppressed a smile.
‘A week or two only?’ The look she gave him suggested he would get nowhere without a change of direction. He needed to find another way. ‘Let’s leave that for the moment. Tell me how this baby hotel works. Do all the midwives work at both the hospital labour wards and the hotel?’
She frowned as if collecting her thoughts. ‘How did you know I worked at both places?’
‘My cousin told me.’ He liked that he had perplexed her.
She narrowed her eyes at him but then looked away past him again. ‘I do the occasional night shift at the hospital as well as the hotel, yes.’
Every time she did not tell the truth she looked away. A poor teller of lies. Then again that was not a bad thing. Fadia had said she worked three nights on the weekend, plus day shifts the five weekdays. That meant two double shifts a week. She had to be exhausted.
‘We have eight beds on floors five and six in the hotel for the private patients who transfer from the hospital. Most new mothers stay two to four days before they go home.’
Ah. She’d answered his question about the baby hotel, a topic he’d moved on from in his head, and it took a moment for him to refocus. He was interested in the concept. It could work in Zandorro. Perhaps even for the children’s hospital. ‘So, after the birth, when they wish, mothers transfer here?’
‘That’s correct. As Fadia did. If their birth was uncomplicated. And the midwives visit. The beauty of the hotel, as opposed to the hospital, is the mother’s support people can stay. Husbands. Children. Friends can visit less rigidly than in a hospital.’
Like the man Hassan, whom he wished to keep from his cousin. She looked away again... Her complicity with Fadia was not something he wished to bring up now.
‘Up to two other children may stay with the parents in their hotel rooms, and the access of the midwife means the transition period to home is less stressful than a busy ward in the hospital.’
‘And the midwife provides what?’
‘Help with feeding problems, settling techniques, and to talk about postnatal needs out of the hospital environment. The hotel provides food and housekeeping.’ She gestured to the world outside the car. ‘The lovely part here is the view. Mums can gaze over the beach from their balcony. It’s a great place to regather their resources before they go home.’
His attention caught. Regather their resources. He liked that concept. Just looking at this Carmen regathered his resources.
He hadn’t realised how low his reserves had fallen until the elevator incident.
Yet the more he came into contact with this woman, the more alive he felt. It seemed some time with the delectable Carmen could be as beneficial as the sojourn in the desert he’d prescribed himself.
If she was who she said she was.
When he knew more of her circumstances.
And he knew what Yusuf had discovered.
‘That is all very interesting.’ The car glided to a stop. ‘We are back. Thank you for accompanying me, and my apologies for your exposure to the weather.’
‘I doubt even you have control over the weather.’ She gave him a slightly mocking smile he did not appreciate and raised her hand to open her own door.
He was pleased to see her start of surprise when it opened from the outside. She would learn a woman should be cared for and protected. That he could care for and protect her. If she would let him.