The Prince’s Forbidden Lover(32)

“Rais! You’re here! I thought you were in New York,” Shantra said excitedly, standing up and smiling eagerly at her brother. “What’s going on?”

Rais walked over to the bar and poured himself a scotch. “I think you know exactly what’s going on. Don’t you?” He looked at his youngest sister over the edge of his drink, watching her eyes carefully. Sure enough, those pretty, brown eyes instantly revealed her knowledge of his relationship with Joline.

Shantra laughed but she nodded her head. “Yes. Joline called me.”

“What did she say?” he demanded, standing over his little sister. He was only here in Kilar for one day before he planned to fly back to New York, wanting to be with Joline. Hell, she would be here with him if he could have figured out a good argument for her to be here in Kilar with him. Soon though, Joline would be by his side and then he would fly her to London. The little beauty didn’t know that though and he smiled in anticipation.

But Shantra shook her head, still grinning as she held her hands behind her back. “Our conversation was private.”

Rais’ eyes narrowed. “Tell me about your friend.” He’d switched tactics, wanting information but coming at it from a different angle.

Shantra again shook her head. “Why? So that you can use my knowledge of my friend to manipulate her?”

His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Is that what she says I do?”

“No. That’s what I know you do. You’re a fabulous businessman, Rais. I know that, everyone in this family knows that, and the rest of the world is terrified of you. But you’re not going to intimidate me into telling you Joline’s secrets. When she feels comfortable enough with you, then she’ll tell you anything you want to know. Until then, you just need to treat her with the utmost respect. Just as you would want any other man to treat me.”

Rais muttered a curse under his breath.

That word drew her concern and she blinked up at her brother. “You are treating her just as you’d want another man to treat me, aren’t you?” she asked, raising her dark eyebrows just as she’d seen her brothers do on many occasions. “I mean, she’s a classy woman who deserves roses and romance.”

“Is that what she wants?” he asked, latching onto any clue.

Shantra shook her head. “No. That’s what I want. You’ll have to take your time and get to know Joline better before you can understand what she wants.” She looked up into his frustrated features. “Are you talking to her? Are you trying to be her friend so that she’ll feel comfortable around you?”

He leaned lower. “I don’t want to be her friend!”

“Then what do you want?”

Rais glared down at her. “I asked her to marry me.”

Shantra was suddenly speechless! A miracle in itself, he thought. But she rallied quickly.

It took her a long moment before she could respond. She’d never thought that any of her brothers would settle down with only one woman, but Rais was the worst playboy of them all. Possibly because he traveled outside of Kilar so much but also because…well, because he was Rais!

“You’re kidding! Oh, this is fabulous! She’s going to be my sister-in-law! I can’t wait!” she exclaimed, clapped her hands together in her excitement. “The two of you will be fabulous together! Oh, this is so exciting!”

“She turned me down,” he told her with a growl of frustration.

Shantra froze in mid-clap, not sure she’d heard her brother correctly. “She said no?” she clarified, her head tilting to the side slightly.

“She shook her head and…” Well, he wasn’t going to mention where he’d proposed or what she’d done right after. Some things were private. “She didn’t give me an answer, basically.”

Shantra put her hands on her hips and glared up at her brother. “And you let her get away with that? Why would you do that? Why didn’t you ask her why she was running away? She should have told you by now!”

Ramzi and Turk walked in at that point. “What have you messed up now with that poor woman?” his oldest brother asked.

Raven’s laugh followed that comment as she followed her husband into the room. “Uh oh. Has Joline finally come to her senses?” and she leaned against Turk who immediately wrapped his arm around her waist.

“I told you he’d mess it up,” Turk said and Ramzi laughed even as he nodded his head.

“Of course he mess it up,” Ramzi agreed, helping Mia into one of the chairs. “Don’t you owe me twenty bucks?”

“No way,” Turk argued. “You said he’d mess it up in the first two weeks, it hasn’t even been that long. I at least gave him a month. You owe me.”