“I apologize for the delay,” another voice called out.
Shantra jerked away, looking down at the floor as her oldest brother, Ramzi, came back into his office holding a thick file folder. He stopped when he saw her and Shantra immediately tried to step back out of his office.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped, feeling like the heat was increasing. Or maybe that was just the ridiculous, childish blush that bloomed over her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”
Ramzi looked down at his baby sister with an odd look. “You’re fine. Did you need something?” he asked.
Shantra shook her head. “No. I’m…” she looked around but she couldn’t remember what she’d stopped by his office to discuss. “I’ll just be on my way.”
“Shantra,” his reproving voice stopped her desperate retreat.
Shantra stopped but the trembling increased. She knew what her brother was going to do and her eyes pleaded with him silently to not do it. “I really am in a hurry,” she almost whispered.
Of course her oldest brother ignored her almost silent plea. “Let me introduce you to my guest,” he said, putting a hand to her elbow as he urged her forward for the introductions. “This is my youngest sister, Princess Shantra Samara. Shantra, this is Sheik Laithir del Hassam of Piora.”
Shantra could feel the tremors in her body as the man’s name was revealed. Of course, she thought. This would be him. That man. Now that she had his name, she remembered pictures of him but he had been out of the press for the past five years. Not him, of course, because he was a powerful ruler, but there had not been any new pictures of Sheik del Hassam after, well, after the tragic event.
Realizing that she was still staring rudely at the man, she jerked out of her silly, frozen state and stepped forward, praying that he wouldn’t recognize her trembling for the intense awareness of him as a man. Hopefully, he would just think she was shy. Which she wasn’t! Normally, she was eager to meet guests, enjoying the company of even the most ornery diplomat or aide.
It was just this man, she thought as her brainwaves pinged around in her head, making her feel more flustered.
Remembering her manners, she blinked and focused on the man in front of her, not allowing herself to act the ditz. Her brothers already thought she was flighty and superfluous. For some reason, she didn’t want this man to walk away with that same perception of her as a person.
Squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin, she looked back at the man as calmly as her trembling body would allow. “It is an honor,” she said. She knew she should extend her arm, shake the man’s hand. But she couldn’t do it! Not with this man! Oh goodness, she wanted to run and hide!
But that was cowardly, she told herself. She had to face him no matter how powerfully he affected her. Just extend her hand, offer a brief, polite greeting and pull back. Then calmly step out of Ramzi’s office and…run.
Shantra stepped forward but her feet felt odd, as if they were…floating. Looking up at the man, she realized that he seemed more than a foot taller than she was, but he was most likely only about three inches over six feet. All of her brothers were about the same height but somehow, this man’s size made her feel small, vulnerable.
She wasn’t small! She wasn’t vulnerable either! She was creative and strong! She knew how to take care of herself, and had her own income that she had used to help grow her business.
Of course, these men knew nothing of her work and they never would. It was her secret world, her life, which she controlled and managed without their masculine condescension. As she extended her hand towards the man, she told herself over and over again that she was strong, that she wasn’t afraid of anything!
But then his strong fingers closed over hers and heat shot up through her arm, startling her. She tried to pull back, her eyes flashing up to his, but his grip tightened around her fingers and she was once again trapped, once again vulnerable.
The man’s eyes flashed and his fingers curled around her smaller hand, trapping her and intensifying her trembling. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Princess Shantra. I haven’t heard a great deal about you. You must be one of Kilar’s best kept secrets.”
Her brother laughed softly, oblivious to the increasing tension between the other two people. “Shantra could never be described as quiet, but she isn’t one of those women that craves the night life or the spotlight.”
The stranger’s features didn’t move in any way, but there was a sense that he was smiling at her for some reason. She was fascinated by his eyes and she stared into their dark depths and realized that there was a band of yellow around the outside of the dark iris. But even those fascinating irises weren’t completely black, or dark brown. Somehow that yellow band made him…no, there was no way that she could say that this man was soft. Not in any way was he soft. His shoulders were broad and the hand holding hers was rough, almost as if the man worked in construction or something like that. Her heartbeat accelerated even more with that discovery, although why rough hands would do that, she had no idea.