Page 19 of Hiding in the Sheik's Arms

Raj cleared his throat. “Right,” he whispered and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He looked across the table at Joran, looking wary. Khal burst out laughing at their dual expressions of horror, which quickly morphed to pure terror when they looked back at Tasha. “How about if I reach out to my contacts within the financial community and see if I can find out any clues?”

In a softer, more conciliatory voice, Joran suggested, “I can do the same with my military contacts.” He eyed Tasha warily. “And I can do the same with the diplomats. We’ll get–”

“Marianna!” Tasha blurted out.

All three men froze, their gazes swinging towards Tasha, who seemed shocked. “You’ve all forgotten about your sister!”She twisted her watch, glancing at the time, then hissed. “She’s been here for twenty-four hours and…!” She paused, turning to Khal. “Go! Go talk to her. Greet her and apologize for not being there to greet her yesterday. Explain what happened and that…,” she pressed a finger to her forehead, shaking her head. “No, don’t tell her anything. Just apologize for not being there to greet her!”

She stood up and wiggled her fingers at Khal when he didn’t move fast enough.

Khal stood and shot her a glare, but she only waved her fingers again. He went, but only because he knew she was right. He should have made time for Marianna yesterday. At the doorway, he paused and looked over his shoulder at his brothers. “What did you two talk about with her last night over dinner?”

Joran and Raj both shrugged. “I had a call from one of my managers in Belgium,” Raj told him.

Joran grimaced as he said, “I had a meeting with General Isif about the border issues you asked me about.”

Khal muttered another expletive, then hurried out of the conference room. Five minutes later, he stood outside of the room that had been assigned to Marianna, hesitating before knocking. The music coming from inside was loud. And irritating. It was some sort of electric rock mixed with pain-inducing thuds. He translated the French lyrics and grimaced. The singer was talking about shocking the world with outrageous something or other to start a “revolution”.

When he knocked once, there was no answer. He knocked again, then looked at the bodyguards that had been assigned to protect her. “Is she inside?”

“She hasn’t left, Your Highness,” the lead guard replied with a slight bow.

He knocked once more, but again, there was no answer. Finally, he simply opened the door. The suite was made up of a sitting area to the left, a bedroom to the right and a small kitchen straight ahead. There was a large, walk in closet and an en suite bathroom to complete the small, studio-style living space.

Nothing had been decorated with her tastes in mind simply because neither Khal nor his brothers had known that Marianna even existed until a few days ago. So, even if they’d called for a decorator, they couldn’t have advised the person on how to decorate until they’d gotten to know their sister’s personality better.

But the mess that greeted him now was unlike anything he’d ever seen in his life! There were clothes everywhere, a half-eaten pizza on the coffee table, and several empty beer bottles.

“What the hell?” he muttered under his breath, looking around for evidence that the sixteen year old girl was around somewhere. But it was only the music blasting and the television talking about…he had no idea.

Khal had just turned around when someone climbed in through a window. He was just about to call out one of his guards, thinking that someone was invading his sister’s suite when he realized that this must be Marianna. This was his sister!

What the hell had she done to her hair? He had no idea what color it had originally been, but the rainbow of poorly dyed locks obviously wasn’t natural. There were strands in just about every color of the rainbow – but it wasn’t a rainbow. The colors were just…a mish mash of everything. It looked chaotic and…insane!

When the teenager looked up, he noticed she was wearing very heavy makeup, especially around her eyes and white lipstick that made her mouth nearly disappear. She also smacked her jaw around a massive blob of chewing gum. The gum chewing wasn’t an issue. But the makeup? What was the point of that much thickly caked on crap? It was like she’d chosen a goth style and then added in a bit of vampire for drama.

Marianna pulled her other leg through the window and started walking, then froze when she spotted him. “Who the hell are you and…never mind,” she demanded, holding up a gloved hand. The glove didn’t have fingers, just a silver chain hanging down from the wrist to…? He wasn’t sure where the chain linked up, but it was somewhere on her body. “Just get out!” She belligerently stomped over to the fridge and reached in, grabbing another bottle of beer. She angled the bottle top against the marble counter and was just about to knock the top off with her hand when the bottle was plucked from her grip.

She glared venomously at Khal. “What the hell, dude! Get out!” she screamed, waving her arm towards the door. “Get the hell out of here or I’ll sick my brother on you!”

Khal managed not to roll his eyes at being threatened with…himself.

“I doubt that your brothers would approve of your appearance or your attitude, Marianna.”

“Don’t care,” she muttered, then walked over to the stereo. With a flip of her finger, she turned up the volume.

Khal sighed heavily, reminding himself that this girl had just lost her mother, her friends, her home, and everything familiar. She was lashing out in an obvious scream for help and attention.

So, he walked over to the doorway and opened it, smothering his irritation when even the guards cringed at the onslaught of sound. He whispered something to the guard, then closed the door. Moments later, there was blessed silence! The guard had called the engineering office and they’d switched off power to the outlet with the stereo.

“What the hell?” his sister snapped, looking around. “What did you do?”

“I had the electricity cut off,” Khal explained, fisting his hands on his hips. “You’re Marianna, correct?” he asked, needing confirmation.

“Yeah,” the girl replied, mimicking his posture. “And you are?”

“Your brother.”

An inelegant snort followed his announcement. “Whatever,” and she held up her hand, dismissing him. “I was told that you had some emergency that took priority over me.” She flopped down on the sofa and grabbed her phone, flipping through the images on her screen. “Why don’t you just mosey on back to whatever emergency took up all your time yesterday?” She crossed her legs at the ankle. “I don’t need you.” She heaved a heavy sigh and flipped through five more screens. “I’m perfectly fine on my own.”

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