Page 68 of Earned Husband

If Dad had heard her, he didn’t let on. “The trip will give Colin an opportunity to spend more time with us before the engagement celebrations continue upon our return to Cairo.”

My shoulders sagged and Jasmine let her head drop all the way onto the table. Colin glanced between us with a slight crease appearing between his eyebrows. “Why do I feel like I’m missing something?”

“You are,” I said quietly.

Jasmine lifted her head. “You tell him.”

“I’d rather not.”

Colin looked from one of us to the other, suddenly seeming completely bewildered. “Will someone just tell me? Please.”

Finally, Jasmine and I answered at exactly the same time. “Nanna. You’re missing Nanna.”

“Who’s that?”

Jasmine groaned. “Our grandmother.”

“She’s the matriarch,” I said. “The legend.”

“She’s a terror.”

“She’s enthusiastic,” I corrected lightly.

“So is everyone else I’ve met.”

“Sure.” Jasmine looked at Colin with genuine sympathy in her gaze. “The only difference is that Nanna makes it her business to know absolutely everything that’s going on in everyone’s lives, and she’s like a human lie detector.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad. I have no secrets.”

She snorted. “That’s only because you haven’t met her yet. Seriously, Colin. Brace yourself. Salima Saad is the woman responsible for raising Basel and trust me, he did not turn out the way he did for no reason.”

CHAPTER 29

COLIN

My first week in Egypt had been extraordinary, exhausting, and completely bewildering all at the same time. Life here was so very different from what I was used to that it sometimes felt like I’d been dropped into a whole other world.

For starters, the Saads genuinely seemed to believe that every meal required enough food to sustain an entire village. They also ate together.Every. Single. Meal.

The only acceptable excuse for missing one seemed to be work. Basel and Khaled had explained that if you were available for lunch, you headed home. That was just how it worked. Dinner, however, was unavoidable.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t remember the last time my entire family had sat down together for just one meal. While it was incredibly overwhelming, it was actually also pretty nice. Loud as hell, but I’d always imagined what it would be like to belong to a big family who actually did stuff together, and well, now I knew.

Another thing I’d learned was that privacy didn’t exist here. Deja had mentioned before that in their house, a closed door was nothing more than an excuse to barge in, but hearing about it and living it were pretty different experiences.

I’d also been in the company of Deja and everyone else ever since I’d arrived, always eating together, lounging together, or working together, but finding her alone was as complicated as trying to conduct a stealthy military operation in hostile territory.

Any attempt I’d made had been almost immediately foiled by her father, her mother, or one of her many, many siblings or other family members. Whenever Deja and I drifted within conversational distance of one another, someone inevitably wandered between us.

Today, however, was different. I was getting to see her in action at work and it was marvelous. While I’d known she helped her parents run White Water Lily, the event we were attending wasn’t at all like I might’ve imagined a perfume launch to be.

This looked more like a movie premiere of a film every current big name actor was starring in. Luxury cars lined the entrance, slowly creeping up to a crimson carpet stretching to the entrance of an upmarket hotel.

Cascading white florals were draped over every available surface while cameras flashed continuously. Journalists floated from guest to guest with microphones in hand. Impeccably dressed servers threaded through the crowd, balancing trays of champagne and delicate canapés.

I’d been to a couple of impressive launches in Chicago, but this was next level. It even put New York events to shame. Basel glanced between Deja and me as we approached the ballroom inside, stepping closer and lowering his voice.

“You are not to be photographed together until after your engagement has been formally announced,” he said, and he wasn’t asking.