Shantra hid her amusement behind what she hoped was a placid smile, but there was still something humorous about how intimidating her husband could be. She suspected the same was true for each of her brothers, but she’d never witnessed it before.
“This is Mary Ellen James, head of the human resources department. She’s going to discuss the issues surrounding the hiring of a new nanny to take care of our children.”
Shantra’s startled eyes looked up to his once again. Security was one thing, but as he settled down into a chair to listen, she couldn’t believe he really cared all that much about hiring someone to take care of their children. Sure enough, not only did he listen to the woman and all of her thoughts around the hiring of a new family servant, he asked several questions, most of which Shantra hadn’t thought of before.
After a full hour of this, he turned to Shantra. “Are you satisfied? Any other questions?”
Since Shantra had been sitting next to him, mostly listening while he interrogated the woman, she nodded her head, indicating that she was perfectly satisfied.
The three of them stood up, and Shantra again shook the woman’s hand. “I’m truly grateful for your insight into this issue,” she said, and smiled when the woman flushed with the praise.
“Thank you, Your Highness. It will be a special day when I’m called upon to make this hire for you.”
Shantra thought so as well. In fact, she’d like to head back to their private suite right now and do a bit more practicing on making a baby! She was so turned on by Laithir’s consideration today, she could barely stand still.
“One more stop,” he told her and she moved closer to him. She wanted to pull him aside and just give him a huge hug. He didn’t understand what she was going through, but he was reacting to what she’d said last night. And all that time, she’d thought he’d only been thinking about sex! She’d been so wrong! He’d been listening intently to her concerns, and had arranged for today to be the point when she started to trust him! Oh what a glorious day!
“This is Miles Brenner,” he said when they entered another office moments later. “He is the chief accountant for both my personal accounts as well as overseeing the Treasury. It is a bit more complicated, since I’ve put several layers in place, but this man knows where all of the money is,” Laithir explained.
Shantra hated to talk about money, but she remembered that this had been one of the items she’d brought up last night. She turned to Laithir, about to tell him that this wasn’t needed but the man pulled out a file folder and started explaining finances to her.
Shantra tried very hard to understand. But the only part she comprehended was the fact that Laithir was a disgustingly wealthy man and money was now set aside for their children. And a specific amount, a figure that made her eyes go wide, would be set aside for each child upon their birth. It would be used exclusively for the care and upbringing of their children. “This is separate from the costs that the government would put aside for the royal family,” he stated with sincere pride.
“That’s wonderful,” she said softly. She’d never understood financial matters. No matter how many tutors her brothers had hired or how many times they’d each sat down to try and explain math concepts to her, she’d never really understood. She could design a cocktail dress for just about any body type, knew the most flattering fabrics, and could draw almost anything someone asked of her, but math made her mind hurt. Ciala could do math like it was going out of style, but it seemed that her sister got all of the logical brain cells, while Shantra absorbed the creative side of things.
This hadn’t really bothered her until now, when the man started talking about compounded interest and derivatives and things that made her eyeballs hurt just to look at. After an hour of this, Shantra put her hands on the papers and smiled kindly to the man. “This all looks amazingly well prepared.” She looked away from his startled glance and stood up. “I can see that the financial aspect of having children is well taken care of,” and she turned around, rushing out of the office. She didn’t even bother to wait for Laithir, not wanting him to see how confused she was about financial issues. She felt like a fool and he probably thought she was an idiot!
“Shantra!” Laithir called out, but she kept on running, not wanting him to see that she was upset.
But there was no getting away from Laithir when he wanted something. She should have known that. Had she ever gotten away from him when she wanted to hide? Nope!
He caught up with her easily and grabbed her arm, swinging her around so that she was facing him. But she wouldn’t look up into his hard features; afraid of the derision he would see in his eyes. “I have to go,” she told him, frantically trying to blink away the tears. “Thank you very much for this morning, but I have to go.”