Their Virgin Concubine(13)
Rafe’s eyes rolled. “He’s horny.”
“You’re truly sexually interested in Piper?” Talib asked.
She seemed sweet, and he deeply enjoyed their talks. Since he rarely found an intellectual equal as enthusiastic about the subjects he adored, he was looking forward to bringing her to the palace so they could spend hours talking about economics and politics. But he was a bit worried about the bedroom portion of their marriage. Had he missed something? The photos he had of her showed a somewhat mousy woman with a decently attractive face, but nothing to truly stir a man’s blood. Over the past two months, he’d come to feel an affection for her on an intellectual level, which had become a warm sort of friendship. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of Kade, the playboy, treating her like one of his brainless fuck bunnies.
“Absolutely, I’m interested. She’s got a geek chic thing that’s hot. Her breasts alone are worth salivating over. And that mouth…” Tal raised a disapproving brow at his younger brother, and Kade cleared his throat, then continued. “But I agree with Rafe. We have to play this fairly cool with Piper. If you put this all out in a cold, factual way, like a business deal, she’ll run.”
Piper wasn’t like the other women he’d semi-courted. They’d been interested in power and privilege. They’d been worldly women. Piper wasn’t. She could very well be scared off by the enormity of taking her place at his side to run a country. And by the fact that she would be marrying three virtual strangers.
He couldn’t let that stop him. His country was at stake. Time was running out. If he didn’t handfast soon, Khalil could challenge him in court and argue that there wouldn’t be enough time for their potential wife to know her mind. Typically Bezakistani princes knew their prospective bride for at least a year before deciding to enter into a union . He could barely offer her the obligatory month of handfasting. Nor did he have time to woo her. He needed her in bed with all three of them and bound to them as soon as possible. Then he could woo her. Well, his brothers could.
And if he managed to impregnate her, all the better for him and his country.
His stomach turned a bit. When had he become such a cold fucker? He knew the answer to that. He knew the timing down to the minute, when those rebels had killed his guards, taken him into custody, and proceeded to spend days torturing him until his soul fled. Only duty to his country and family remained.
Piper Glen was just another duty he had to perform.
“We’re going to have to be sneaky bastards if this is going to work,” Kade added. “But that’s all right. Bezakistani men have been capturing their concubines for generations. It should be in our DNA.”
Indeed. Tal sighed. “If we’re all in agreement, then I will set the plan in motion. You two make sure she is prepared to depart when I advise you to move in. One way or another, we’re binding her to us next week.”
He ended the call and shut off the webcam, but didn’t close the computer. He intended to enjoy one last conversation with Piper before she discovered what a bastard he was.
* * * *
Piper happily ate her leftovers while she looked over her latest financial projections for the Clean Energy Project. She’d felt a little dumb asking for a doggie bag at such a swanky restaurant, but she likely wouldn’t see Rafe or Kade again, and it was way better to look silly than to be hungry. She would know. She’d been both, and she came down firmly on the side of food in her belly.
She hummed a little as she stared at the endless list of numbers that added up to one happy fact: She could make her green energy theories work if she could find a company big enough and a country willing to try it.
Her computer chimed, letting her know an internet call was coming in. She sat back, surprised. Tal. Most often, he sent instant messages. They’d only spoken over the phone a few times. This must be important. She hit the button to open her line.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Piper. How are you this evening? It is night in Dallas, no?”
She loved his voice. Deep and musical. “It’s just past eight. Isn’t it the middle of the night in Bezakistan?”
“Yes. I don’t sleep much. I like how quiet it is this time of the morning. It’s still dark outside. It feels a bit like I am the only person in the world. Except for you.”
She laughed a little. “Well, I assure you I’m not the only person here. I can hear Mrs. Lindman next door yelling at her husband about the laundry. Oh, and someone is having a party above me. The cops will be here soon. It’s just another Friday night at the Holloway Manor Apartments.”