Their Virgin Concubine(67)

Tal turned to him, keeping his voice low. He needed to talk to Dane, to make him see that Alea wasn’t ready for all the things Dane wanted from her. “See that is all you look in to, my friend. Never forget that she is royalty.”

Dane’s eyes hardened, and he took a neat step back, his stance purely professional now. “Of course, sir. Since royalty never, ever falls for a commoner. Your shaykhah is so very royal, after all. Coop, Lan, let’s patrol for a bit. I can see we’re not needed here.”

His guard, the men who had been his closest friends for the last several years, turned and walked out. They would be professional, Tal knew, but he worried that in his rage and fear, he’d broken something between them.

So much was breaking in his life. His peace. His friendships. He didn’t want to think about the heart he was certain he didn’t possess.

And Alea’s words had cut him to the bone. Hadn’t he learned his lesson? Hadn’t Lily’s death taught him that there would be no peace for any woman he cared about?

Alea took a deep breath. “Tal, forget I said anything. I’m sorry. Carry on and don’t give up the throne because Khalil will try to hurt any woman you marry. You can’t let him win like that. I just really like Piper. She’s so kind. I hate the thought of her being hurt. It feels like our family is cursed.”

“We aren’t cursed,” Rafe said, his voice harsh. “But we do have some housekeeping to take care of. Talib is right. We can’t kill him now. We don’t have any proof that she was poisoned at all. The doctor said it could be a case of nerves. I don’t believe it, but we have to follow our own laws.”

“To a point,” Kade said.

A small feminine sound escaped from the bedroom. Piper. His brothers dropped everything and practically ran into the room, leaving him alone with Alea.

“You should go and see to her,” Alea said. Her eyes trailed to the door where Landon was now posted. He stood outside, only a bulky arm evidence that he was there.

Tal knew he should be in there with his brothers, but he also knew what would happen. He would crawl into bed with Piper and cuddle her, falling deeper into a pit he had no intention of ever giving in to. “They will care for her. I have meetings to attend to.”

Alea’s brow arched over her dark eyes. “Really? Tell me what’s going on, Talib. I’m not stupid. I know you have a thing for that girl. You talked about her incessantly for months before you brought her over. Now you’re pulling away?”

He wasn’t pulling away. He’d never really been with her in the first place.

Liar. Fucking liar. You were with her in every way last night. She gave you a precious gift and you want to toss it in the trash because you can’t stand the thought of her knowing who you really are. You don’t deserve her. You should have bought a bride and forced your brothers to accept her or leave the family.

Self-loathing was like bile in the back of his throat. If he was half a man, he would tell her to go now, but he couldn’t. He would protect her. He would allow his brothers to love her and adore her and be her true husbands. And he would be what he had become since being held in the pit and forced to face his true self. He would be the sheikh.

“I talked about her in relation to work, Alea. And don’t try to get me to open my soul.” He wasn’t sure he had one anymore. “Unless you would like to talk to about what happened to you? No? Don’t treat me like the freak, cousin. We’re in the same boat, you and I. You think I don’t see how you look at my guards?”

Alea’s eyes widened. “I don’t look at those Neanderthal he-men of yours.”

“Oh, you look all right. You devour them, cousin, with your eyes. And in the same breath you send them away. So until you’re ready to face your own situation, stay out of mine.”

Tal turned and strode out of the room, his gut a churning mess. He longed to go into Piper’s room, to be with her and his brothers, to begin to settle into his little family.

But he didn’t deserve a family. The sight of Lily’s tortured, lifeless eyes haunted him.

He would protect Piper at all costs. Even from himself.



* * * *



Two days later Piper was damn sick of being treated like an invalid. She’d been a little sick, and now Rafe and Kade wouldn’t let her out of bed. They’d waited on her hand and foot, making her completely crazy. She’d felt perfectly fine the day after her fainting spell, but they had insisted on her convalescence.

“Can I get you anything?” Rafe asked, his eyes soft as he looked down at her. Kade stirred beside her, his face nuzzling her right arm. It was odd to not be surrounded by them. Neither man had left her side for days.