“I see you are determined to take care of your last-chance girl,” a distinctly sarcastic voice said.
Rafe sighed. He wanted to go and make his preparations for the upcoming night. He didn’t want to deal with Khalil.
“Cousin,” he acknowledged and tried to move on.
Khalil stepped out of the shop he’d been in and moved in front of Rafe. “Can’t I offer my felicitations on your engagement?”
It was always a dance with Khalil. There was always some hidden meaning to his words. Rafe had begun to wonder if his cousin’s words didn’t often hide daggers as well. “We are not engaged.”
“I am not naïve, cousin. The girl might be, but we both know this banquet isn’t simply to celebrate a business relationship or to welcome her. I suspect some very quiet, sacred words will be exchanged during the event, will they not? Are you trying to hide her and your coming handfasting from the press?”
Of course they wanted to keep the press out of this as much as possible. Piper needed to be eased into her new role. Hell, they had to figure out a way to explain her new role, but they were all terrified she would run. Rafe’s conscience plagued him. It wasn’t a question of whether she would she feel betrayed, but simply how much. But it wasn’t as if they intended to hurt her. Indeed, they would ask her to marry them…just later, after a few weeks of getting to know each other intimately. If the press wasn’t involved, then Piper might not have to know she’d been more married than not all along.
“She is simply a guest of the sheikh, important because she is helping him with the Clean Energy Project, which could be a great boon for the whole nation.”
Khalil’s dark eyes narrowed. “And none of you are sleeping with the girl?”
Not yet they weren’t. He could answer that question with complete truth. His aching cock was proof of how much he wasn’t sleeping with Piper. “Though I admit she is quite lovely, we are not sleeping with her. You know as well as I do that we must find a bride, and look we shall. We are quite aware that our time is running out.”
It was best to acknowledge the facts. If Khalil believed he was dodging, the man would get crafty.
A predatory grin crossed Khalil’s face. He was almost too thin, and his eyes were marked with dark circles, making him look older than his forty-five years. “Yes, and the parliament also knows the clock is ticking down. Perhaps you would not have this trouble if you would open discussions to change our barbaric laws.”
And the minute they did, radical religious groups would be all over it, attempting to rip out all language that made Bezakistan a secular country with a free market economy. Certain lobbyists would also love to challenge the way wealth was distributed, taking from the mere citizens and putting even more into their own already rich-beyond-compare pockets.
And Khalil would attempt to do what his father couldn’t. Take back power and place it in his own tyrannical hands.
“Too late now, so we shall muddle through.” Now it was time for a bit of deception. “Kade is going to talk to the Dutch ambassador about a possible meeting with their princess. We have a bit of time left. And we are not hideous trolls. We can always buy a bride if need be.”
Khalil’s shoulders moved in a lazy shrug. “You probably can, and I can see Talib doing that. He’s a ruthless bastard. I’m certain he has a checklist and would simply order one off the internet if he could. Kadir just wants a pretty place to put his dick on a regular basis. But you, my cousin, you are the difficult one. You are the one who, what is the phrase? Yes, you are the one who thinks with your heart, not your head. Not so smart but true. You think I don’t see the way you look at that fluffy piece of American ass?”
Before he could think, he had his cousin’s shirt wadded in his hands, hauling him forward. “You don’t ever speak of her that way. You will mind your manners around her or we will have a problem, you and I.”
Khalil’s voice was pure menace. “Yes, I can see she is just an important guest for her knowledge of energy and economics. You would never be so foolish as to marry someone for anything but political reasons, and an American would be a terrible idea. You have certainly thought this through.”
Rafe let him go. Damn, he’d made a terrible mistake. He’d lost his cool and given away something important. He took a step back, his mind racing, trying to find a way out of the trap Khalil had baited him into. “I won’t have any woman treated with disrespect, especially one who is our guest. I confess, I like Piper very much. We discussed her as a potential bride, if you must know. But Talib will never marry a commoner. So I am thinking of making Piper my mistress. If the others are going to force me into a marriage I don’t want, then I will find love where I can. I will pretend to be in love with our bride, but my mistress will always have my heart.”