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The Sheik's Jealous Princess(16)

By:Elizabeth Lennox


“We won’t ever find out, will we?” she taunted and bent to pick up her purse. “I have things to do, errands to run. Thank you for lunch,” she said sarcastically since they’d barely eaten anything. “It was enlightening.”

She was just about to stand up when his words stopped her. “Marrying me could be extremely beneficial to your business, Shantra,” he announced.

She shook her head, her eyes wide. “I don’t understand. How could a marriage to you be beneficial to me or Jesek Designs? We’re doing perfectly fine right now. I don’t need your help.”

A dark eyebrow went up in challenge. “Really? You think that hiding yourself and your work is beneficial?”

She shrugged, not sure where he was going. “Keith has created a huge stir around the clothing lines because of the mystery behind who is designing the clothes,” she argued. “I don’t need the public to know who I am.”

He shrugged slightly. “Yes, but wouldn’t it be nice to be more open about your work?”

Her mouth fell open slightly. Not have to hide what she was doing? Her brothers could stop teasing her about wearing a different outfit every day? She wouldn’t have to hide her workshop?

She was getting ahead of herself. “What are you offering?” she asked, almost afraid of his answer. The man was the devil, she thought. He was enticing her with the forbidden! “I’m doing fine,” she reiterated.

He leaned back in the chair. “Are you?” He shrugged and took a sip of his wine. “I guess I thought you were more.”

Shantra didn’t like his tone. “What is that supposed to mean?”

One massive shoulder went up slightly. “I thought you were the kind of woman who would eventually get sick of having to hide your intelligence. Don’t you become irritated with the comments from your brothers about your flightiness?”

She gasped. “They don’t…” But they did! And she truly hated those comments. They belittled her! How many times had she wanted to prove to all three of them that she wasn’t just a brainless little sister?

But she’d been afraid! That admission, never put into those words before this moment, made her ashamed. So why didn’t she just confront her brothers? Tell them what she did? They would be proud of her, wouldn’t they?

She wasn’t sure. And because of that uncertainty, she didn’t want to risk it.

She looked over at him. “What are you offering?”

He considered her for a moment before he said, “Marry me and work out in the open. Find out what it is like to work freely, to be able to speak your mind and announce to the world that you’re the creative genius behind Jesek Designs.”

Shantra started trembling at the offer. His words were too enticing, too exciting. But what of the cost? This man…she was intensely attracted to him. Would that attraction be enough? Could she live with the knowledge that he wouldn’t ever love her as he’d loved his first wife?

She would be sentencing herself to a possible hellish existence.

But what if they could love each other? What if he might find her to be someone he could love? Or at least…

Laithir saw her indecision. He wasn’t a man who allowed himself to lose. He wanted this woman. She was beautiful and smart, with a sweet, enchanting personality that he found alluring in ways he didn’t completely understand.

After Angela, he’d sworn that he would never risk marriage again. And then this lovely creature had walked into her brother’s office and he’d been poleaxed.

She would be in his bed, he told himself. It was just a matter of compelling her, convincing her that marriage to him would be the better option.

“The alternative is to inform your brothers that you are the designer. What would they say if they found out that you have been working for the past several years?”

Shantra swallowed painfully. They would be furious. They would…okay, so she had no idea what they might do. Their wives all worked, but her brothers were chauvinists at heart. They had to fight their natural instincts every day when their wives talked about their careers.

“Don’t tell me that your brothers would support your career. I’ve gotten to know them recently and they are good men, but very protective of their family. If they could, they would wrap their wives and sisters up in lamb’s wool to protect them.”

Her eyes flashed, wanting to defend her brothers but not sure how. “And you wouldn’t?”

She shivered when his eyes flared. “You would be protected at all costs as my wife, Shantra. Never doubt that.” He paused to let those words sink in. “And I will have what I want. And that is you, in my bed, as my wife.” He watched her carefully. “Don’t let the world find out that the designer is really a pampered, extremely wealthy princess, sister to a powerful sheik, Shantra. The news wouldn’t go over well for your sales.” His voice lowered slightly when he continued, “And a great deal of Jesek’s success is based on the mystery, isn’t it?”