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The Prince’s Forbidden Lover(40)

By:Elizabeth Lennox


Joline waved her fingers in the air. “One of them didn’t turn into a wedding.”

“A minor detail, I’m guessing?” he asked.

Joline didn’t bother to answer. She was too disgusted with her mother’s antics and lack of motherly concern. Wasn’t she over this disappointment in her mother? Why did she even care?

The waiter arrived with their meals by that point but Joline was too furious with her mother, and becoming too inebriated, to eat the delicious smelling meal in front of her.

“Oh – and don’t even get me started on the number of men she’s slept with!”

“Which is probably why you kept me waiting for so long,” he mumbled, taking her wine glass out of her hands and replacing it with a fork.

Joline sighed, leaning her head against the palm of her hand while her eyes lost focus as the alcohol did its work. “I didn’t hold out very long with you.”

“Long enough. Eat,” he ordered and picked up his own fork, waiting until she’d stabbed one of the scallops before he looked down at his plate. “Tell me about your school experiences.”

“Boarding schools,” she corrected. “I was shipped off to boarding schools so that my mother could flit about Europe and the United States in search of her next husband or lover without the albatross of a daughter in tow. Quite embarrassing, you know. Children are not good for a woman’s youthful and care-free image. The perception of youth should be maintained at all times, don’t you know?”

“No. I didn’t realize.”

“Absolutely. Children age a woman dramatically.”

“Are you going to feel that way about our children?”

Joline looked up at him with a horrified expression. “Absolutely not! I can’t wait to have children!” She was about to stick the scallop into her mouth but then pulled back to make her next point. “Of course, not for a long time. I have to get the London store ready.”

“And you’re going to use my building for that,” he told her firmly, thinking she was an adorable drunk. He thought about getting more information out of her now that her guard was lowered but pushed that aside. He’d get the information he needed, but he wanted her to tell him while she was sober.

Of course, her inebriated state would help him with their after dinner errand, he thought with relish. He’d anticipated a fierce battle but now…yeah, he could manage this night more easily.

“Tell me what it was like growing up,” he encouraged.

Joline shook her head. “No, I don’t want to dwell on that. It gives her too much power. Tell me what it was like growing up in your family with all of your brothers and sisters.”

“Including one brother who knew that he was going to be sheik?” He laughed and shook his head. “You think you had it bad, I can’t tell you the number of times Turk and I had to take Ramzi down a notch or two. That man takes arrogance and responsibility to a new level.”

Joline thought that was a sweet thing to say, but also amusing since she’d never met anyone as arrogant and domineering as Rais. “I’ve met your brother. I didn’t find him arrogant in the least.”

“Trust me. I had to learn it from someone,” he told her.

She shook her head. “I remember your brother being everything that was kind and charming.”

“Don’t believe it,” Rais said with feeling. “He can be as much of an ass as the best of them.”

“Yourself included?” she asked with a cheeky grin.

He winked across the table at her. “Absolutely. Don’t ever forget it.” He hadn’t given her more wine, but nudged her food closer, wanting her to eat something. He suspected that she forgot to eat most meals.

“Tell me more stories,” she encouraged, leaning forward and taking another bite of her food. As the pasta started to hit her stomach, it helped sober her up, but she was still tipsy from the alcohol already in her bloodstream. She listened to him talk about holidays and schooling, private tutors that rarely stayed long enough because of the pranks he and his brothers played on them, and nannies that were horrified that royal boys would be so ingenious.

When the meal was over, she leaned back, holding her stomach because he’d made her laugh so hard at some of the antics he and his brothers had gotten into. Not to mention all of the torture the three boys had done to their two younger sisters.

“Are you ready?” Rais asked when she finished the last bite of her pasta. She looked so beautiful as she sat across the table from him, relaxed and smiling, laughing at silly sibling antics. He enjoyed her like this. She was more beautiful without all the stress weighing her down.