The Prince’s Forbidden Lover(39)

That was a horrible thought, Joline told herself silently. She should be thrilled that her mother was here at this moment. Maybe she would be if her mother had planned this interlude, but the fact that her mother had never gone out of her way to see her just meant…

Joline sighed and stopped thinking so negatively. Her mother was one of a kind, and there was no use trying to wish things were different. She’d done enough of that when she was younger and it had only caused her heartbreak. With the help of Shantra and Keith, she’d learned to release that part of her childhood and forgive her mother. Or at least accept her way of life. She didn’t approve, but she could at least accept.

Martha was clearly oblivious to all of her daughter’s negative thoughts.

“Oh dear, how sweet of you!” Martha cooed and batted those false eyelashes some more in Rais’ direction even though it had been Joline who had offered. “I will definitely do that. I don’t have my planner with me right now, but I’ll call you soon.” She glanced over at Joline, then back to Rais with a speculative look in her eyes. “I suspect that we have a great deal to discuss, don’t we darling?”

“Oh, not so much,” Joline offered with an equally fake smile.

Martha laughed. “You’re being coy! A prince! You make your mother proud, dear!”

A moment later, there was nothing more than a whiff of cloying perfume and a stunned expression left on Joline’s face.

She looked up at Rais who didn’t seem to be affected by her mother’s visit. She sat down, wishing that he’d chosen any other restaurant than this one. What were the odds that her mother just happened to be in town at the same time and at the same restaurant? Crazy world, she thought and took a long sip of her wine.

“So that was your mother,” Rais said, leaning back with his hands on his lap as he watched her reaction carefully. “I gather you and your mother are not close?”

Joline laughed and took another gulp of her wine. “Not terribly close, no.”

There was a long pause before he said, “And the man she is with, I’m guessing he’s not your father?”

Joline cringed visibly. “My mother isn’t positive who my father is. Or at least, that’s the story she’s told me over the years.”

Rais wasn’t sure if he was more amused by her reaction or angry because his woman had had to live through that. “You don’t believe her, I’m guessing?”

Joline tossed her hair behind her shoulder. “Oh, I’ve stopped trying to figure out my mother. I realized it was a futile effort around the eighth grade.”

“And the man she’s with now is her current husband?”

Joline laughed but the sound came out harsh and cynical. “I don’t know. He might become her sixth husband, but he might be smarter than the previous five. I spoke to my mother last week and she’d mentioned another man’s name, so who knows what this Antonio fellow might become in the future. It is equally possible that he’ll either be my next step-father or long gone by next week.” She shrugged and drained her wine glass. “Time will tell,” she explained airily.

Rais leaned forward and poured her more wine. “Would I be incorrect in my assumption that your mother might be one of the reasons you’re so resistant to the idea of marriage?”

“You would be right on target,” she replied, lifting her glass again and taking another long swallow. “She sort of turned me off of men in general and marriage.” She pointed her finger at him, the wine loosening her tongue. “Do you have any idea how many flower girl dresses I used to have in my closet?”

He smiled slightly. “I’m guessing five?”

She shook her head. “No way! Three!”

“What happened to the other two weddings?”

Joline chuckled, but again, it wasn’t a humorous sound. “I was too old. I wasn’t invited to those weddings.” She lifted her glass into the air, almost spilling it as the alcohol hit her empty stomach and permeated out to her blood stream more easily. “Oh, she told me that one of them was a beach wedding, another was spur of the moment and the last…” Joline thought about it for a moment. “Actually, I have no idea why I wasn’t invited to the last wedding. But suffice it to say, I was too old. She didn’t want her new husband to realize that he was marrying a woman who had a teenage or adult daughter.”

Rais was starting to seriously dislike Joline’s mother. “That’s three weddings that you weren’t invited to but you had three flower-girl dresses. You said your mother was married five times.”