Page 9 of Hiding in the Sheik's Arms

“Nothing, Your Highness,” she replied, unable to look him in the eye as she lied. “It’s nothing at all.”

Tasha dumped several file folders on top of her tablet, hoping to hide the article that was still open on the device. “How was your meeting with your brothers?”

“Boring,” Joran drawled, walking into Tasha’s office and standing right behind Khal. “Big brother is working too hard.”

Tasha’s lips twitched as she fought back a smile and glanced at Khal. It was true. Khal worked twenty hours a dayand hadn’t taken any time off during the year she’d worked for him. He was dedicated to fixing all of the problems he’d inherited from his father’s rule.

“He’s become boring,” another voice agreed.

Tasha blinked when she saw Prince Raj, the youngest of the three brothers, stepping into her office. What had previously been a perfectly sized workspace, now felt tiny and cramped with three muscular men, each standing over six feet tall, in it.

Rallying quickly, Tasha remembered her palace protocol and turned to the youngest member of the royal family. “I don’t think we’ve met, Your Highness,” she said, performing an awkward curtsy as Prince Raj looked around her office.

“Why the hell does Raj get a curtsy and not me?” Joran teased, reaching out to shove Raj’s shoulder playfully. The youngest brother didn’t even sway, though he did roll his beautiful, mischievous eyes.

“Because the lovely lady knows that she’s in the presence of greatness,” Raj explained, moving around his two older brothers to take Tasha’s hand. “You must be the magical Tasha,” he said, kissing her knuckles. “If Khal had mentioned how beautiful you are, I would have come here sooner.”

A menacing growl came from behind Raj. Tasha ignored Raj’s antics as she looked to Khal. When she noticed the angry glint directed to his youngest brother, she quickly snatched her hand away.

With a teasing look back at the man, she said, “If I’d known that you’d bring your playboy ways back home, I would have kept you away even longer.”

Raj laughed, punching his oldest brother’s shoulder. “Can I help it if I’m naturally charming?”

Khal rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. “Has she arrived yet?” he asked.

It took Tasha a long moment to realize what her boss meant. When the answer registered, she stiffened, nodding efficiently. “Yes!” she hissed. “I mean,” Tasha looked around, distracted by his dark, fulminating glare, and pushed several stacks of files out of the way. Finally, she uncovered her tablet and started to tap on the screen, but a big hand snatched the tablet away.

“What the hell?” Khal hissed, as he quickly scanned the article. “They’re betting on my marriage?”

There was a long, stunned moment of silence, with both Raj and Joran peering at the article over Khal’s shoulder. A minute later, Raj burst out laughing. Tasha wasn’t able to ignore his contagious humor, but tried to suppress her amusement while shaking her head at the glint in the handsome man’s eyes. “You’re trouble,” she murmured.

She hadn’t meant for Raj to hear her, but he winked at her, confirming her thought.

Joran was too busy looking over his brother’s shoulder, his dark eyes skimming the article. “You’re dating Princess Marjorie?” the middle brother asked. “I guess I reallyhavebeen out in the mountains for too long.” He smacked their oldest brother on the back as if congratulating Khal. “Obviously, I’m out of the loop.”

“You and your spy games,” Raj joked with a shake of his head. “There are so many more interesting things to do with one’s time. I don’t know why you prefer to jump out of planes and push yourself through all of that grunt stuff with the special forces.”

“It trains the mind and body,” Joran replied distractedly as he reached out to shift the screen so he could read the rest of the article. “What’s this about Countess Balari?” he demanded. He looked over at Raj. “I thought you dated her last summer.”

Raj’s mouth twisted into a grimace. “I wouldn’t call what Balari and I were doing ‘dating’ per se. She was…interesting.” Then he shuddered, his handsome features shifting to disdain.

Joran ignored his younger brother’s comments and looked at Khal. “Why the hell would you date two women at the same time?”

Khal sighed impatiently. “I’m not dating anyone! I don’t have time to date one woman, much less two!”

“Three, apparently,” Joran interjected, pointing to the screen. “There’s also Mia DiAsssimo.” He looked at Raj. “She was brilliant in that movie…what was it called?” he asked, snapping his fingers as he tried to remember the name of the film.

“The Epiphany,” Tasha provided. “I loved that movie.” She didn’t realize how sad her tone came across until she looked up, startled by the sudden silence and found all three men staring at her. “What?”

When they continued to stare at her as if she’d just said something vile, she impatiently plucked her tablet out of Khal’s hands. With a tap to the screen, the news article disappeared. Good! She wouldn’t admit it to them, but the thought of Khal dating someone, especially one of the three women mentioned in the article, caused a painful ache in her chest that didn’t make sense.

She schooled her features into a professional expression. “Your sister is scheduled to arrive in a few minutes, Your Highnesses,” she said. She turned to Khal. “And after herarrival, you have a meeting with the interior minister,” she continued, tapping the file underneath Khal’s arm.

“Right,” he grumbled. “We’ll discuss this later. We need to head over to greet this new half-sister of ours.”

Joran rubbed his hands together. “A sister. What a novel idea! Do we get to play big brother to her little sister?” he asked.

Raj rolled his eyes. “She’s sixteen, you moron. She doesn’t need a big brother anymore. Her playground days are over, so we don’t get to beat up the stupid boys who think it’s okay to pull her braids.”

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