Their Virgin Concubine(38)

“If you say so, Rafiq.” Khalil smiled smugly. “I will look forward to this evening. And I will be watching.”





Chapter Seven





Piper looked down over the banquet space. The grand hall had been completely transformed from cool and elegant to a rich, decadent space. The lights were shining, shimmering. The room was beyond splendid. The smell of spice filled the air, reminding Piper that she’d skipped lunch. The food had been brought to her, a sumptuous feast laid out for her pleasure. As she’d thought the words, she’d realized they could apply to her as well. Later this evening, she would be laid out for the al Mussad brothers, and she’d worried she was a little too sumptuous for them.

Her hands shook. She’d spent a whole afternoon preparing, ostensibly for the banquet, but she knew what the whole spa experience had really been about. She hadn’t needed a Brazilian wax to sit with dignitaries and talk economics.

“Are you all right?” Alea appeared at her side, wearing a long flowing dress in a midnight blue color. The draping of the dress perfectly suited her petite figure. She was a beauty with golden skin and deep brown eyes. Her rich chocolate-colored hair was chicly cut in a long bob that brushed the tops of her shoulders. She was so unlike the other women Piper had met. Alea was kind but deeply aloof. Now that lovely face frowned at Piper. “I can get you out of here. You don’t have to stay.”

Piper’s heart sank a little. Alea had been like this all afternoon, offering Piper transportation out of the country every time she made mention of her home or a little thing that was different between the two countries. Alea seemed genuinely fond of her cousins, but Piper couldn’t overlook the fact that the girl seemed determined to whisk her away from them. “I chose to be here, you know. This is what I want.”

Alea’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?”

Piper didn’t want to play all the social games others seemed to adore. She just liked things laid out. “I chose to come to Bezakistan, and I’ll be staying for a bit. I don’t know why you don’t like me, but it shouldn’t be because you think I’m some sort of social climber. Tal and I share a passion for our project, and I’d like to get to know Rafe and Kade a bit more, too.” She felt her face flame and hurried to finish, hoping Alea didn’t notice. “I promise I’ll be good to them.”

Alea glanced down at the ballroom where at least a hundred people mingled. “I know what they have planned tonight with you. They don’t deserve you.” While Piper was busy sucking in a shocked breath, Alea turned, her hard beauty softening for the first time. “Piper, I apologize if I made you think I don’t like you. The last few years have been hard on my manners. I’ve become isolated and cynical. I like being around you very much, and I wouldn’t want to see you hurt.”

Piper frowned, trepidation tightening her belly. “You think they would hurt me?”

“Not physically. They would never do that, but I worry that our world is a bit less civilized than yours, filled with a tad more intrigue. And you are perhaps too honest and forthright.”

“Look, I have no intentions of getting involved in palace intrigues. I just like your cousins a lot.” I might be falling in love with them. A dangerous thought, but she didn’t lie to herself. She was falling for them each because of their individual ways.





Alea stepped back in the shadows, pulling Piper along, her voice dropping to a whisper. “If you become involved, there will be no way to escape the politics. My cousins think they can protect you, but I’m living proof they cannot. Tal especially should know better.”

“What do you mean?” There was something about the desperation in Alea’s voice that made Piper reach out to her, holding the woman’s hand.

Alea was stiff for a moment as though the intimacy was wholly unwanted, but she relaxed and threaded their fingers together, a moment of sweet sisterhood. “You could be so good for them, but I worry for you. Do you know about what happened to Talib? Do you know why he has that scar on his neck?”

The long jagged scar was a ghostly white line that ran from just below his ear and disappeared under his shirt. She’d longed to trace that scar and have him tell her the story. She’d made it up in her head, a story of boyhood clumsiness.

“He was kidnapped by radicals, held and tortured for days.”

Piper gasped. “Tortured?”

“They kept him in a warehouse just outside the country. Rafe was supposed to bring millions of dollars. He paid the ransom, but they wanted more. They wanted for us to declare our constitution dead. Rafe was forced to refuse. They set my cousin’s execution date. They were going to televise it. Luckily, the US government wasn’t at all interested in allowing our country to fall to radicals. A Navy SEAL team located and rescued Tal. They lost several men and one of the team members had to smuggle Tal back into the country.”