The Prince's Forbidden Lover (The Samara Royal Family #3) (12 page)

“If you’d like that, then yes, I will provide you with a list.”

“Including all silent partners in any endeavor?”

Rais thought she was adorable.  “I will provide you with a complete list of all of my business interests.  And if there is anything you’d like additional information on, I will be happy to provide it.”

Joline narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out the catch.  “You just have so many business interests.  You don’t think I’ll have the time to go through all of them.”

He shrugged.  “Not before the wedding, but you’ll have plenty of time to dig through the details after our honeymoon.”

“We’re not getting married, Rais,” she told him, wishing he would drop that subject.

“Yes.  We are.”

She considered her next proposal carefully, not sure if she could follow through on it.  But in the end, she had to at least offer it up for his consideration.  She might be emotionally slaughtered, but she couldn’t easily walk away from this man.  “How about if I agree to have an affair with you?  No marriage and we keep our relationship confidential.”

He didn’t miss a beat in countering her offer.  “How about if you pick out a wedding dress, tell me what the problem is and you let me take care of the issue?”

She bit her lip, wishing that he really could fix the biggest problem.  But no…

“Joline?” a sultry feminine voice called out.

Joline instantly stiffened.  Her eyes widened and she nervously looked over at Rais who was watching her closely.  “Oh no,” she whispered, wishing she could hide somewhere. 

But it was too late.  Her mother had already seen her and was weaving her way through tables, heading towards her. 

Joline didn’t have any choice so she made the best of a bad situation.  “Hello Mother,” she said stiffly, as she stood up, anxious to have this encounter over with. 

She felt Rais stand up as well, and suddenly large men surrounded the whole table.  Rais waved his bodyguards away and stepped forward.  “Ms. Caldwell?” he asked. 

Martha turned, pretending to be surprised.  “Goodness!  You’re a handsome devil, aren’t you?” she said and the flirting immediately started.  Joline resented her mother for all of the airs she was putting on and all she wanted to do was kick her mother’s shin for being so obvious.  “You must be my daughter’s new beau!”

“Mother, perhaps this isn’t the best time.  We’re attracting attention.”

Martha laughed and waved her hands in the air, dismissing the issue.  “Darling, I attract attention everywhere I go, don’t I Antonio?”

For the first time, Joline noticed a man behind her mother who was hovering on the outer edge of their group.  The guards were holding him back but he didn’t appear to be annoyed by the action.  “Yes you do, my dear,” he replied with a look that told Joline that he endured this kind of activities often.  “You’re definitely the center of attention no matter where you go.”

Joline heard the sarcasm but her mother preferred to ignore it.  “You’re so right.”  Turning back to her daughter, she said, “Now introduce me to this gorgeous man!  And tell me all about him.”

Joline refrained from rolling her eyes a second time.  “Mother, this is Prince Rais Sumara of Kilar.  Rais, this is my mother, Martha Caldwell.”

Rais took the offered hand and lifted it to his lips, dutifully kissing Martha’s fingers.  “It is a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Caldwell,” he said in a very suave voice. 

Joline had to stop herself from making an exasperated sound when her mother’s lashes fluttered.  “Goodness!  He certainly beats all of the other men you’ve dated, darling,” she stage whispered to Joline with an elbow nudge. 

“Mother, I thought you said you would be in London.  What are you doing here in New York?”  She didn’t bother to mention that her mother had said her current man’s name was Marcus and not Antonio.  Some things were better left alone. 

“Oh, I just had to go shopping and thought of you, dear.  I know you run that quaint little store and thought I would see what I could find.  Besides, Antonio had some business here so I told him I would be more than happy to accompany him,” she explained, pulling her man’s hand forward and wrapping her arms around his own.  “What a coincidence, running into you here!  I didn’t think I’d see you until I went to your store tomorrow morning.”

Joline didn’t mention that her mother could have called and set up a meeting.  The fact that she hadn’t only meant that her mother was lying about trying to see her.  A usual occurrence, she thought with increasing resentment.  “I will be sure and pull some of the outfits for you.  Just call as soon as you know your schedule tomorrow,” she offered, wishing that her mother would simply disappear.  As she had so often in her life. 

That was a horrible thought, Joline told herself silently.  She should be thrilled that her mother was here at this moment.  Maybe she would be if her mother had planned this interlude, but the fact that her mother had never gone out of her way to see her just meant…

Joline sighed and stopped thinking so negatively.  Her mother was one of a kind, and there was no use trying to wish things were different.  She’d done enough of that when she was younger and it had only caused her heartbreak.  With the help of Shantra and Keith, she’d learned to release that part of her childhood and forgive her mother.  Or at least accept her way of life.  She didn’t approve, but she could at least accept.

Martha was clearly oblivious to all of her daughter’s negative thoughts. 

“Oh dear, how sweet of you!” Martha cooed and batted those false eyelashes some more in Rais’ direction even though it had been Joline who had offered.  “I will definitely do that.  I don’t have my planner with me right now, but I’ll call you soon.”  She glanced over at Joline, then back to Rais with a speculative look in her eyes.  “I suspect that we have a great deal to discuss, don’t we darling?”

“Oh, not so much,” Joline offered with an equally fake smile. 

Martha laughed.  “You’re being coy!  A prince!  You make your mother proud, dear!” 

A moment later, there was nothing more than a whiff of cloying perfume and a stunned expression left on Joline’s face. 

She looked up at Rais who didn’t seem to be affected by her mother’s visit.  She sat down, wishing that he’d chosen any other restaurant than this one.  What were the odds that her mother just happened to be in town at the same time and at the same restaurant?  Crazy world, she thought and took a long sip of her wine. 

“So that was your mother,” Rais said, leaning back with his hands on his lap as he watched her reaction carefully.  “I gather you and your mother are not close?”

Joline laughed and took another gulp of her wine.  “Not terribly close, no.”

There was a long pause before he said, “And the man she is with, I’m guessing he’s not your father?”

Joline cringed visibly.  “My mother isn’t positive who my father is.  Or at least, that’s the story she’s told me over the years.”

Rais wasn’t sure if he was more amused by her reaction or angry because his woman had had to live through that.  “You don’t believe her, I’m guessing?”

Joline tossed her hair behind her shoulder.  “Oh, I’ve stopped trying to figure out my mother.  I realized it was a futile effort around the eighth grade.”

“And the man she’s with now is her current husband?”

Joline laughed but the sound came out harsh and cynical.  “I don’t know.  He might become her sixth husband, but he might be smarter than the previous five.  I spoke to my mother last week and she’d mentioned another man’s name, so who knows what this Antonio fellow might become in the future.  It is equally possible that he’ll either be my next step-father or long gone by next week.”  She shrugged and drained her wine glass.  “Time will tell,” she explained airily. 

Rais leaned forward and poured her more wine.  “Would I be incorrect in my assumption that your mother might be one of the reasons you’re so resistant to the idea of marriage?”

“You would be right on target,” she replied, lifting her glass again and taking another long swallow.  “She sort of turned me off of men in general and marriage.”  She pointed her finger at him, the wine loosening her tongue.  “Do you have any idea how many flower girl dresses I used to have in my closet?”

He smiled slightly.  “I’m guessing five?”

She shook her head.  “No way!  Three!”

“What happened to the other two weddings?”

Joline chuckled, but again, it wasn’t a humorous sound.  “I was too old.  I wasn’t invited to those weddings.”  She lifted her glass into the air, almost spilling it as the alcohol hit her empty stomach and permeated out to her blood stream more easily.  “Oh, she told me that one of them was a beach wedding, another was spur of the moment and the last…” Joline thought about it for a moment.  “Actually, I have no idea why I wasn’t invited to the last wedding.  But suffice it to say, I was too old.  She didn’t want her new husband to realize that he was marrying a woman who had a teenage or adult daughter.”

Rais was starting to seriously dislike Joline’s mother.  “That’s three weddings that you weren’t invited to but you had three flower-girl dresses.  You said your mother was married five times.”

Joline waved her fingers in the air.  “One of them didn’t turn into a wedding.”

“A minor detail, I’m guessing?” he asked. 

Joline didn’t bother to answer.  She was too disgusted with her mother’s antics and lack of motherly concern.  Wasn’t she over this disappointment in her mother?  Why did she even care? 

The waiter arrived with their meals by that point but Joline was too furious with her mother, and becoming too inebriated, to eat the delicious smelling meal in front of her. 

“Oh – and don’t even get me started on the number of men she’s slept with!”

“Which is probably why you kept me waiting for so long,” he mumbled, taking her wine glass out of her hands and replacing it with a fork. 

Joline sighed, leaning her head against the palm of her hand while her eyes lost focus as the alcohol did its work.  “I didn’t hold out very long with you.”

“Long enough.  Eat,” he ordered and picked up his own fork, waiting until she’d stabbed one of the scallops before he looked down at his plate.  “Tell me about your school experiences.”

“Boarding schools,” she corrected.  “I was shipped off to boarding schools so that my mother could flit about Europe and the United States in search of her next husband or lover without the albatross of a daughter in tow.  Quite embarrassing, you know.  Children are not good for a woman’s youthful and care-free image.  The perception of youth should be maintained at all times, don’t you know?”

“No.  I didn’t realize.”

“Absolutely.  Children age a woman dramatically.”

“Are you going to feel that way about our children?”

Joline looked up at him with a horrified expression.  “Absolutely not!  I can’t wait to have children!”  She was about to stick the scallop into her mouth but then pulled back to make her next point.  “Of course, not for a long time.  I have to get the London store ready.”

“And you’re going to use my building for that,” he told her firmly, thinking she was an adorable drunk.  He thought about getting more information out of her now that her guard was lowered but pushed that aside.  He’d get the information he needed, but he wanted her to tell him while she was sober.

Of course, her inebriated state would help him with their after dinner errand, he thought with relish.  He’d anticipated a fierce battle but now…yeah, he could manage this night more easily. 

“Tell me what it was like growing up,” he encouraged.

Joline shook her head.  “No, I don’t want to dwell on that.  It gives her too much power.  Tell me what it was like growing up in your family with all of your brothers and sisters.”

“Including one brother who knew that he was going to be sheik?”  He laughed and shook his head.  “You think you had it bad, I can’t tell you the number of times Turk and I had to take Ramzi down a notch or two.  That man takes arrogance and responsibility to a new level.”

Joline thought that was a sweet thing to say, but also amusing since she’d never met anyone as arrogant and domineering as Rais.  “I’ve met your brother.  I didn’t find him arrogant in the least.”

“Trust me.  I had to learn it from someone,” he told her. 

She shook her head.  “I remember your brother being everything that was kind and charming.”

“Don’t believe it,” Rais said with feeling.  “He can be as much of an ass as the best of them.”

“Yourself included?” she asked with a cheeky grin. 

He winked across the table at her.  “Absolutely.  Don’t ever forget it.”  He hadn’t given her more wine, but nudged her food closer, wanting her to eat something.  He suspected that she forgot to eat most meals. 

“Tell me more stories,” she encouraged, leaning forward and taking another bite of her food.  As the pasta started to hit her stomach, it helped sober her up, but she was still tipsy from the alcohol already in her bloodstream.  She listened to him talk about holidays and schooling, private tutors that rarely stayed long enough because of the pranks he and his brothers played on them, and nannies that were horrified that royal boys would be so ingenious. 

When the meal was over, she leaned back, holding her stomach because he’d made her laugh so hard at some of the antics he and his brothers had gotten into.  Not to mention all of the torture the three boys had done to their two younger sisters.