Page 11 of The Sheik's Pretend Fiancee
Tiro clenched his teeth as he worked through the details of what was going on. “Someone tried to frame you for murder,” he growled, pulling her closer. “Who could hate you so much?” he asked.
Her soft lips parted in surprise and it took monumental effort to keep from kissing her. He wanted to. Hell, he wanted to lift her into his arms and fly her back to Ginisia where he could protect her personally. If she was anyone else, he would do exactly that. But Angela was the daughter and niece of two of his biggest enemies. Which meant that, technically, Angela was off limits to him.
However, he couldn’t care about technicalities right now. He hadn’t slept last night because of this woman. Now, she was in trouble.
“Besides you?” she teased. He grunted, denying her claim.
“I don’t hate you,” he replied, pushing her messy hair out of her eyes. She was wearing the same clothes she’d been in last night…or this morning.
“You should,” she whispered.
He stared down at her, slowly shaking his head.“I can’t.”
Angela sighed and he tightened his grip on her waist. “I don’t know why anyone would murder someone in my suite. I don’t even know how someone…” she paused, lifting startled eyes up to his. “I snuck out last night through the servants’ entrance.It’s over there.” She pointed to the left side of the large sitting area. “After I go to my room at night, my bodyguards go into the rooms to the right, with one of them patrolling the suite. They rotate the watch positions, but not all of them are awake at night.” She blinked, biting her lipthoughtfully as she considered the situation. “They wouldn’t have seen anything. And they wouldn’t have noticed that I wasn’t in the suite.”
“Why the hell not?”
She rolled her eyes, then looked up at him with an “Are you serious?” look. “You were without guards earlier.” It was a good point, but heignored it.
He glowered down at her, his hands running up and down her back. “Your guards should be more attentive.”
Angela sighed and, reluctantly, stepped out of his arms. She paced over to the window, wrapping her arms around her waist. “My cousins and I have a…tradition, of sorts.” She paused when he lifted his eyebrows at her. She smothered her amusement, and continued. “I was born in Chicago. I wasn’t born in Lativa. My father, Prince Raj, didn’t know that I existed until I was four years old.” She paused and leaned back against the wall. “I don’t remember much. Just bits of memories, but I distinctly remember when I arrived at the palace in Lativa. My mom and I were overwhelmed by the security not to mention the culture shock. Initially, it was difficultto deal with all of the changes that were required of us.”
His eyes narrowed on her as he listened. “Why were you in Chicago?”
“My parents…well, had a fling together. Then an emergency back home happened and my father…,” She shrugged dismissively. “He had no idea I existed until a random coincidencebrought my parents back together.” She smiled fondly at the memories of thestories she’d heard all her life. “As soonas he knew I existed, he brought us back to Lativa.” Her gringrew wider now. “I got to know my older cousins, Zayn, Laith, and Rafi.”
“The crown prince and the twins?”
“Yeah,” she replied, laughing. “It was a lot,” she admitted. “Going from a kid who could run around freely to someone who was guarded every moment of my life was incredibly difficult.” Her mouth twistedas she continued. “I sort of…convinced my new-found cousinsthat we should figure out how to avoid our bodyguards.” Shesmiled fondly. “It’s a game between us and the guards now. They’ve come up with some pretty creative ways of guarding us over the years and we’ve discovered ways to avoid them.” She sighed and glanced at the computer where the video was stilled. “Apparently, they knew that I’d snuck out last night and were still guarding me.” She looked back up at him. “That would also be why it was easier for someone to sneak in here and do…horrible things to someone, trying to frame me. The guards were downstairs. Not up here.”
His eyebrows pinched in the middle and he shook his head. “They should be fired for not protecting you better.”
Angela shook her head. “That was my uncle’s reaction at first. But when we kept sneaking away, and he started running out of guards to assign to protect us, he changed tactics. He had each of us promise not to put ourselves in dangerous situations.Then he used our escape tactics to better train his security teams.”
“That’s…,” Tiro began, a curious and confused expression washing over his face…only to pause and nod. “…smart,” he finally finished.
She grinned. “We’re all more careful now. Especially Zayn, since he’s the crown prince. If anything were to happen to Zayn, I don’t know what the country would do. Everyone in Lativa adores him. He’s their darling.”
Tiro grunted. “All of you are the darlings of the country.”
She laughed and he appreciated the melodic sound.
“They wouldn’t love us so much if they knew half of the trouble we cause.”
A dark eyebrow lifted. “Such as sneaking out of your hotel room late at night?”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “I think I should stop doing that now.” She looked around, still a bit shocked that someone had been murdered while she’d been out. “Even if my bodyguards know where I am and I’m only pretending to sneak away.”
He didn’t reply. Instead, he stepped closer. “When can I have dinner with you?”
Angela smiled up at him, warmed by his interest. “I’ll speak with my uncle about our conversation last night. If he agrees to the terms we came up with, then maybe we’ll be able to work something out.”
Tiro was just about to lower his head, intending to seal that promise with a kiss. But the sound of someone pointedly clearing his throat behind them caused them to jump and look around. Aziz stood behind them, irritation apparent on the guard’s scarred features. Tiro scowled, but his friend and guard was correct. He needed to get out of here before the press discovered his involvement with a murder investigation.
Turning back to Angela, he squeezed her arm, sending her a silent message and said, “Later,” Tiro vowed and released her, stepping back.“I await your call.”
With an impatience that he’d never felt before, Tiro turned and walked toward the door, aware of Aziz frowning at Angela. But Aziz quickly followed as Tiro left the suite.
