Page 90 of Hired Husband

The only question left was one that wasn’t mine to answer. Could I make Jasmine Saad happy?

Forever?

CHAPTER 36

JASMINE

Saying goodbye to Isaac, even just for a few hours, was harder than it should’ve been. All morning, I’d had this weird sense of finality that had absolutely nothing to do with the cruise. That was over, sure, but Isaac was only heading back to our building in Heliopolis today.

I waved at him when Rashid picked us up from the docks. I was only heading to my parents’ house to talk to my father, but it felt like much more. I twisted in my seat to watch Isaac until he’d faded from view, late afternoon sunlight turning his hair into a cloud of golden copper and a duffel bag slung over his shoulder like it weighed nothing.

Irrational tears pressed at the backs of my eyes when I finally couldn’t see him anymore, a very real sense that nothing would ever be the same again washing over me in devastating waves. I choked back a sob, keeping my head down to shield my face when Rashid glanced at me in the rearview mirror.

I heard him sigh quietly, but he didn’t ask. He rarely did, which was one of things I appreciated most about him. Instead, he turned up the radio and put on my favorite playlist, leaving me to my thoughts as he drove to the estate.

When we arrived, he opened the door, sending me a soft, understanding smile as I climbed out of the car. “Good luck, Miss Saad.”

“Thanks, Rashid. I’m going to need it.”

With that, I squared my shoulders and headed inside with my head held high, doing my best to appear calm and collected when on the inside I felt anything but. I didn’t see Mom on my way to my father’s study, but that was probably for the best. If anyone would make the facade crack, it was her.

My father’s door was open when I reached the end of the hall, so I drew in a deep breath and walked in. He was sipping a cup of coffee as he studied a pile of reports spread across the desk. He looked up but the smile he gave wasn’t warm or reassuring.

Instead, he looked mildly relieved and a lot more than mildly wary. “You’re home.”

“I am.” I dropped into the chair opposite his desk, crossing one leg over the other while he kept looking at me like he was afraid I was about to pull out a weapon. “What’s going on, Dad?”

“Did you enjoy your trip?” he asked, slowly pushing the reports away and leaning back in his chair. “Where did you go?”

“On a cruise down the Nile,” I said vaguely. “It was wonderful. Your turn. What is it?”

“David came to see me.” His elbows slid onto his armrests and he steepled his fingers, looking at me over the top of them. “He has formally asked for your hand in marriage.”

I shook my head, then shrugged. “No.”

His eyebrows lifted. “That’s your entire response, just no?”

“I could give you the longer version, but that’s the bottom line,” I said firmly. “He asked and I’m saying no.”

“You don’t seem surprised.”

“Neither do you.”

“That’s because I’m not.” The corners of his lips quirked up. “There were preliminary discussions that hinted it was coming. What’s your excuse?”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “This isn’t exactly the first time someone has decided that I’m the missing piece in his strategic life plan, is it?”

He chuckled. “No, it’s certainly not.”

“Yet my answer remains the same as always. A firm, resounding no.”

They always asked Dad’s permission before even considering asking mine, and no man who treated me like another acquisition waiting for board approval was ever going to become my husband. It was that simple.

“I’ve already told him your feelings on the matter,” my father said, and while nothing else he’d told me so far had even made me skip a beat, something in his tone now sure did. “However, his proposal wasn’t entirely personal.”

I frowned. “What does that even mean, not entirely personal? How is asking if he could marry your daughter anything but personal?”

Dad held my gaze, but there was a heaviness in his eyes that scared me. “The proposal he made was two-pronged, Jasmine. If you say yes, he’ll withdraw his company’s design from the running for the development of the industrial complex. If your answer remains no, David gets the bid.”