Page 43 of Hiding in the Sheik's Arms

“I’d take out the part where she was beaten nearly to death,” Raj added grimly.

Marianna grimaced. “Yeah, that part isn’t so great. But the rest is amazing!”

Tasha smiled, tightening her hands over Khal’s where they rested against her stomach. “I think it ended pretty well.”His thumb stroked her stomach as Tasha continued. “However, Nathan now knows where I am, but he doesn’t know that I’m already married. He’s been waiting in a hotel room here in the capital for the past week, asking for a meeting with Khal.” She glanced up at him over her shoulder, then turned to the others. “I’m pretty sure that he’s still trying to find me so that he can take me back and beat me until I destroy the evidence against him.”

“Isn’t this an election year for him?” Joran asked.

“It is,” Tasha confirmed.

“So, why not just release the video to the press?”

Tasha looked over her shoulder at Khal. “What do you think? Should I do that?”

He shrugged. “It’s up to you. If you think it will get the man off your trail, then do it. If the candidate who would replace King would be more vile, then leave him in power.”

Tasha turned in Khal’s arms, then gripped his hands. “The thing is, I believed in Nathan when I first started working for him. In fact, getting an internship with Senator King was a major coup. When I was then hired onto his staff, I felt like I was going to change the world through Nathan’s ability to offer productive legislation.” She bit her lip and turned, snuggling up against Khal’s side and gripping his waist around his back. “I thought he was good. I didn’t know he was so evil. So, I don’t trust my ability to judge another person. Nathan’s public activities show a man who truly cares about doing his best for his voters. Behind the scenes, he takes bribes from companies, destroys reputations simply because theymightspeak out against him, and also manipulates, coerces, and a whole lot worse.”

Joran stepped forward. “I think I can help with looking into the other candidate’s background. My military contacts,” he glanced at Khal, “plus our security team can do a deep dive into the woman’s background.”

Raj lifted his hand. “I can also speak with my contacts in the financial industry. I’ll know if the candidate is taking bribes from corporations.”

“Are they bribes?” Marianna asked, confused. “I thought they were just campaign donations.” She looked around at her brothers, her gaze finally coming to rest on Tasha. “Aren’t campaign donations legal?”

Tasha didn’t laugh at the question. She knew that Marianna was young and unaware of the hypocrisy in the political world. She was the young idealist that Tasha had been only a few years ago.

“Yes, campaign donations are legal. But when a corporation donates millions of dollars to a politician’s reelection campaign, they expect something in return. And usually, that’s in the form of legislation that benefits their company.”

“That’s good though, right?” Marianna looked around again. “I mean, if the company thrives, then they can hire more employees. Voters need jobs. It seems like a win for everyone.”

“That’s in an ideal world. But often, companies want rules changed so that they can eliminate their competition. And Nathan was extremely good at finding rules that corporations needed eliminated so that they didn’t have to…say stop dumping chemicals into a river, or maybe convince an agency to look the other way when a company wanted to do something to smother competition. It happens all the time.”

Marianna’s mouth thinned into a grim line. “That’s wrong!”

Joran flung an arm over her shoulder. “It’s a common practice. I’ve often been offered bribes in the hope that I would influence Khal.”

“Happens to me as well,” Raj replied, lifting his hand before shoving both back into his pockets.

“What do you do?” Marianna asked, glaring up at her brothers.

Raj shrugged. “Depends on how blatant they are. If it’s just a casual suggestion, then I ignore them. If they are more obvious, then I crush them out of business.” His eyes were hard now. There was a glimmer of anger in the dark depths.

Marianna shivered at the look. “You’re a scary man, aren’t you?”

Raj grinned, but there was no amusement behind his smile. “All the time.”

She grinned right back at him, obviously impressed. Then Joran whispered, “He’s a puppy compared to me.”

Marianna laughed, shaking her head. “I’m sure you’re both ferocious.”

Chapter 40

“She’s clean,” Joran reported over dinner that night, walking into the dining room and tossing a file folder onto the table beside Tasha.

“What’s this?” Tasha asked, lifting the report with her left hand since Khal still held her right hand under the table. She was unwilling to relinquish his fingers, needing the connection to this man.

“It’s the background check from our security office and several comments from people I know in the special forces community. I know a guy who used to be a US Delta Forces guy who now runs a private security firm. He looked into Marsha Fitzimmons’ background.”

“Marsha Fitzimmons is the woman running against Nathan King for his senate seat?”

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