Page 3 of The Forbidden Sheik
With a stubborn jut of her chin, she gave him a regal nod. “Fine,” she finally conceded. “Let me get the children settled and I’ll meet you for afternoon tea. Does that meet with your approval?”
He lowered his head slightly, his eyes intense as they locked on hers. “That would be ideal. Thank you for letting me interrupt your schedule, but this really is a serious matter.”
“Fine.”
Marianna eyed him for a moment, but then two small hands tugged on her fingers. Looking down, she saw that Rafi and Angela were trying to pull her out of the room, so she let them. Laith remained, still glaring up at his adversary. Zayn, of course, was grinning as he raced ahead of his cousins, eager to get back to their nannies. The little guy truly loved to learn. He was six years old and read everything he could get his hands on. Of course, all of the children were intellectually advanced for their ages. Even Marianna had graduated from high school a year ahead of her peers.
Apparently intelligence runs in the family, she thought as she followed the racing tykes down the long hallway. The bodyguards trailed behind the group and Marianna wondered if Khal had heard about this morning’s debacle with the kids. He’d already traded out the previous set of guards when they hadn’t been able to keep up with the increasingly exuberant and sneaky pranks in the palace nursery. But was that really the children’s fault? The cousins were all best friends so when they ganged up together, there was no way to anticipate what their collective, creative minds might decide to do.
Chapter 3
Khal sighed as his assistant conveyed the news that his son and cousins had escaped the nursery yet again. “Zayn is six years old!” he snapped. “Angela, Rafi, and Laith are only seven! How the hell are they able to sneak away from several highly trained bodyguards, not to mention their nannies and tutors!”
Khal’s newest assistant didn’t answer. Khal was disgusted with the man, who had only been working at the palace for six months. His wife had been his assistant before they’d married and, to date, no one had been able to match her level of expertise.
Speak of the devil, he thought as the door to his office opened. Tasha stepped into the office and smiled gently at the trembling man. “That will be all for the moment, Mr. Isel,” she said and the assistant nearly tripped over his feet in his hurry to get out of the office.
The door opened again almost immediately. Joran stepped in, his expression just as disgusted as Khal’s. “What the hell?” Joran demanded.
Khal and Tasha turned to face him but before anyone could answer, Raj pushed through the door. “Your sons are going to…” he stopped when he noticed Tasha in the room. Raj glared at Joran, his hands fisting on his lean hips.
Joran didn’t hesitate. “My sons?” He snorted, shaking his head. “It’s Angela who probably encouraged them to sneak out. Just like last time, when–”
“It doesn’t matter,” Tasha said in a calm voice, literally stepping between the two large men. They stopped, but continued to glare at each other. She looked at each of them before continuing. “The most urgent matter is that Sheik Amit is here and–”
“Wait!” Khal interrupted, pulling his eyes away from his brother to look down at his lovely wife. “Amit is here?”
Tasha paused, glaring at her husband for interrupting. “…And he wants to speak with Marianna.”
There was a stunned silence at that announcement. Tasha waited, her smile as calm as possible while she paused for the explosion. It wasn’t long in coming.
“Oh hell no!” Khal roared.
“Over my dead body!” Joran snarled.
“Not gonna happen!” Raj grumbled.
She smiled at the trio, shaking her head as she continued, “I believe that all three of you are forgetting the way that Marianna reacts every time Amit comes for talks.” She stared at each in turn, hoping that they understood. “You know there is an intense attraction between them.”
“Exactly!” Khal snapped. “Which is a good reason why they aren’t meeting privately!”
Tasha rolled her eyes. “Seriously? We’re going back to that ridiculous purity culture crap again?” She turned, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared up at her husband. “Are you seriously going to tell me that you want Marianna to be ‘pure’ when she goes to her husband in marriage?” She glanced at the other two when she heard their grunts of approval. “Stop being chauvinists,” she told Joran and Raj. “The very fact that both of you brought your lovely ladies and children back to Lativa before the marriage ceremony is blatant evidence that neither of you,” she turned to her husband, “nor you, were pure before your wedding night. So, don’t youdaredemand that your younger sister stay chaste. It’s outdated and abusive.”
“How is it abusive?” Joran snapped. “A woman–”
Tasha huffed before interrupting her brother-in-law. “Do you seriously want your sister to be married to a man who doesn’t know how to give her pleasure? Are you ready to condemn your sister to life with a man who doesn’t know what he’s doing in the bedroom?”
All three men looked painfully uncomfortable, shuffling their feet. “We’re not talking about Marianna and sex. She’s not going to–”
“She’s gone to college!” Tasha announced with exasperation. “Plus, her formative years were spent in Paris! They don’t believe sex is taboo! Sex is a healthy, normal part of a mananda woman’s life.”
“We arenotdiscussing this!” Raj reiterated.
Tasha rolled her eyes. “Whatever. But you have to acknowledge that those two have been orbiting each other for years.” She offered a secret smile. “Why don’t we give them a bit of private time so that their lust might grow into love?”
“No!” all three of them said in unison.
Tasha sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. She paused, obviously trying to think of a way to convince these overly protective brothers to give their little sister a chance at happiness.
