The Prince's Forbidden Lover (The Samara Royal Family #3) (10 page)

Rais walked into the salon, relieved to find his youngest sister alone.  She was usually the first to arrive to these family gatherings, and he’d shifted his schedule so that he could fly home and talk to her alone.  He had several meetings as well, but talking with Shantra was high on his list of priorities. 

“Rais!  You’re here!  I thought you were in New York,” Shantra said excitedly, standing up and smiling eagerly at her brother.  “What’s going on?”

Rais walked over to the bar and poured himself a scotch.  “I think you know exactly what’s going on.  Don’t you?”  He looked at his youngest sister over the edge of his drink, watching her eyes carefully.  Sure enough, those pretty, brown eyes instantly revealed her knowledge of his relationship with Joline.

Shantra laughed but she nodded her head.  “Yes.  Joline called me.”

“What did she say?” he demanded, standing over his little sister.  He was only here in Kilar for one day before he planned to fly back to New York, wanting to be with Joline.  Hell, she would be here with him if he could have figured out a good argument for her to be here in Kilar with him.  Soon though, Joline would be by his side and then he would fly her to London.  The little beauty didn’t know that though and he smiled in anticipation. 

But Shantra shook her head, still grinning as she held her hands behind her back.  “Our conversation was private.”

Rais’ eyes narrowed.  “Tell me about your friend.”  He’d switched tactics, wanting information but coming at it from a different angle. 

Shantra again shook her head.  “Why?  So that you can use my knowledge of my friend to manipulate her?”

His eyebrows lifted in surprise.  “Is that what she says I do?”

“No.  That’s what I know you do.  You’re a fabulous businessman, Rais.  I know that, everyone in this family knows that, and the rest of the world is terrified of you.  But you’re not going to intimidate me into telling you Joline’s secrets.  When she feels comfortable enough with you, then she’ll tell you anything you want to know.  Until then, you just need to treat her with the utmost respect.  Just as you would want any other man to treat me.” 

Rais muttered a curse under his breath. 

That word drew her concern and she blinked up at her brother.  “You are treating her just as you’d want another man to treat me, aren’t you?” she asked, raising her dark eyebrows just as she’d seen her brothers do on many occasions.  “I mean, she’s a classy woman who deserves roses and romance.”

“Is that what she wants?” he asked, latching onto any clue. 

Shantra shook her head.  “No.  That’s what I want.  You’ll have to take your time and get to know Joline better before you can understand what she wants.”  She looked up into his frustrated features.  “Are you talking to her?  Are you trying to be her friend so that she’ll feel comfortable around you?”

He leaned lower.  “I don’t want to be her friend!”

“Then what do you want?”

Rais glared down at her.  “I asked her to marry me.” 

Shantra was suddenly speechless!  A miracle in itself, he thought.  But she rallied quickly. 

It took her a long moment before she could respond.  She’d never thought that any of her brothers would settle down with only one woman, but Rais was the worst playboy of them all.  Possibly because he traveled outside of Kilar so much but also because…well, because he was Rais! 

“You’re kidding!  Oh, this is fabulous!  She’s going to be my sister-in-law!  I can’t wait!” she exclaimed, clapped her hands together in her excitement.  “The two of you will be fabulous together!  Oh, this is so exciting!”

“She turned me down,” he told her with a growl of frustration. 

Shantra froze in mid-clap, not sure she’d heard her brother correctly.  “She said no?” she clarified, her head tilting to the side slightly. 

“She shook her head and…” Well, he wasn’t going to mention where he’d proposed or what she’d done right after.  Some things were private.  “She didn’t give me an answer, basically.”

Shantra put her hands on her hips and glared up at her brother.  “And you let her get away with that?  Why would you do that?  Why didn’t you ask her why she was running away?  She should have told you by now!”

Ramzi and Turk walked in at that point.  “What have you messed up now with that poor woman?” his oldest brother asked. 

Raven’s laugh followed that comment as she followed her husband into the room.  “Uh oh.  Has Joline finally come to her senses?” and she leaned against Turk who immediately wrapped his arm around her waist. 

“I told you he’d mess it up,” Turk said and Ramzi laughed even as he nodded his head. 

“Of course he mess it up,” Ramzi agreed, helping Mia into one of the chairs.  “Don’t you owe me twenty bucks?”

“No way,” Turk argued.  “You said he’d mess it up in the first two weeks, it hasn’t even been that long.  I at least gave him a month.  You owe me.”

Rais swung around, glaring at both of his brothers.  “You were betting on my failure with Joline?” he demanded, furious that they would dare.

Both men laughed, not intimidated in the least by his fury.  “Not failure, my man,” Ramzi said, slapping his brother on the back, a gesture that would take down an ordinary man; but the males in this family were made of sterner stuff, Rais didn’t even grunt.  “No, we just knew that you’d stumble.  But,” he turned and winked at his very pregnant wife, “where the women in our lives are concerned, we persevere.”

Rais’ shoulders relaxed slightly with that explanation.  “But you bet that I would stumble; I think that deserves a few rounds on the mats in the near future.”

Ramzi laughed harder.  “I look forward to you trying to beat me.  But you’re growing soft in the business world, brother.  I have no fears.”

Rais only smiled.  “I make it a priority to keep up my skills.”

Turk chimed in with that.  “In that case, count me in as well.  I’d love to see these skills.”

The three men clinked glasses even as the four women rolled their eyes.  “How can the three of them talk about beating each other senseless one moment, then acting like best friends the next?”

“Because they’re warped from testosterone poisoning.” Mia commented, lifting her glass of lemonade and taking a long sip, even as she gazed lovingly over at her husband. 

Ramzi winked at her before turning back to Rais.  “So what are you going to do to get your woman?”

Mia shook her head.  “Wrong question, dear,” she said, trying to pinch her husband’s waist but there was no extra fat on his body to pinch.  He was solid muscle and he chuckled at her attempt, giving her a look that promised retribution later on. 

“Perhaps I should rephrase for the more tender feelings of the ladies present,” he teased, pulling Mia closer so she couldn’t hurt herself while trying to punch his ribs.  “What are you going to do to convince the lovely lady of your sterling attributes and prove that you are the man of her dreams?”

All the ladies snorted with that comment.  “Right.  Nightmare was more like it,” Ciala commented as she sat down with her own pre-dinner drink.  “I take it you’re trying to woo the lovely Joline and failing?  Just as your brothers struggled with their ladies?”

“Still struggling, if you ask me,” Raven commented with a teasing glint in her eyes.

“All evidence to the contrary,” he argued, looking down at her with that special look in his eyes until she blushed and pressed her lips closed. 

“You’re very rude,” she told him with a mock glare.

“And you love me.”  He kissed the top of her head when she didn’t argue with him this time. 

“So what’s the problem?” Ramzi asked, turning the subject back to the original topic.  “Why won’t she marry you?”

Ciala gasped, her eyes wide with shock.  “You proposed?”  Her eyes flashed to each of her brothers and then to her younger sister. 

Ramzi watched her carefully and noticed a strange expression come into her eyes.  It was almost as if…could Ciala be scared?  Impossible!  What could she possibly be scared of?  That wasn’t like her, he thought.  She was normally calm and composed, facing each challenge with equanimity.  When Shantra was bouncing around with exuberance, Ciala was cool as a cucumber. 

He made a mental note to talk to Ciala at the earliest opportunity.  He didn’t want to embarrass her in front of the whole family if nothing was wrong and he was only misinterpreting her reaction. 

“She hasn’t said yes,” Turk pointed out. 

“She hasn’t said no, either,” Shantra pointed out with a wise look, almost as if she knew something they didn’t. 

Ramzi watched Ciala carefully, glancing at his wife to see if she’d noticed the same thing.  When Mia nodded her head, he sighed but pushed the issue of his sister to the back burner.  He’d talk with her later and figure out what might be bothering her. 

“To your eventual success,” Ramzi said to Rais, lifting his glass into the air in a toast. 

Rais clinked his glass to both of his brothers but the ladies were shaking their heads.  “It is bad luck to toast something like that,” Shantra announced. 

“It’s going to happen,” Rais announced with absolute finality.  “She
will
be my wife.  Soon.” 

Shantra’s smile widened, she was practically jumping out of her chair to call her friend and find out what was going on.  Their recent conversation hadn’t included any mention of a proposal.  Obviously, a great deal more had been happening. 

“I think I need to make a visit to Joline in New York,” she announced. 

“She’s flying to London tomorrow,” Rais corrected. 

Shantra blinked but she shouldn’t be so surprised that her brother knew the whereabouts of Joline.  When Rais set his mind to something, he didn’t let anything get in his way.  That didn’t negate the fact that she was more than a little jealous that Rais knew more about what Joline was doing than she did.  For years, Shantra, Joline and Keith had been inseparable, confiding in each other about everything.  If Rais and Joline really did have a strong connection with each other, it was only right that Joline would start confiding to Rais now. 

That didn’t make it easier to take though. 

Looking up at her big, huge brother, she knew that he rarely concerned himself with other people’s feelings outside of his family.  He went through the business world as if he owned it.  And in most cases, he did! 

But he didn’t own Joline.  She was courageous and defiant when it came to authority.  Not to mention, there was that issue with her mother that Shantra had never fully understood.  Joline hadn’t really had a mother growing up and, no matter how much Joline said her mother’s actions didn’t bother her, Shantra suspected that simply wasn’t true.  Joline wanted a mother figure, she wanted that loving-no-matter-what kind of relationship.  “You’ll be gentle with her, right?” she asked of her brother, standing right in front of him, so that she could tell if he was being sincere or callous about one of her best friends.”

Rais could tell that this was very important to his little sister.  They might be several years apart in age, and even further apart in temperament, but she was his sister and he loved her.  “I’ll be very careful not to hurt her in any way.  Will that suffice?” he asked her. 

Shantra grimaced.  “The thing is, I’ve seen the way Ramzi and Turk fell in love with Mia and Raven.”

“And?” he asked, remembering those stressful periods in his brothers’ lives with fondness.  Not so much now that he was in their position though.  “What do you think will happen to your friend?”

Shantra hesitated with her next question, but she had to ask it anyway.  “Do you love her?” she asked quietly so that the others wouldn’t hear. 

Rais was stumped by that question.  Did he love Joline?  He wanted her, definitely.  With an intensity that he’d never experienced before.  And he wanted her in his life.  Forever.  He wanted the right to protect her and give her his name.  But was that love?  He had no idea what love was with someone outside of his immediately family.  “I have very strong feelings for her,” he finally said.

Shantra waited, wishing that he would admit more.  But she also knew that her brothers weren’t very open about their feelings.  She suspected that Rais admitting even that much was hugely significant.  “I’ll take it,” she told him and wrapped her arms around him with a big hug. 

Rais hugged his little sister back, astounded by her ability to show her affection.  She was so open about everything.  If Shantra was happy, she bounced around, excited and eager for everyone around her to be happy as well.  If she was sad, she hid away from the world but didn’t hesitate to try and fix her world.  And if she was angry…get out of her way. 

He suspected that Joline was similar, although not nearly as blatant about her emotions.  He also suspected that she was holding back for some reason.  He wanted to know all about her and understand her.  He wanted all of her, her emotions, her feelings, her happiness and her anger.  He was determined to figure her out.  “Does this mean you’ll explain Joline to me?”

Shantra pulled back and smoothed her red and green dress down over her hips.  It fell like an artistic waterfall over her body.  “Absolutely not.”

Rais recognized the dress as one that had been hanging in Joline’s store.  “Why?”