Chapter 16
Khal heard Tasha mutter about paint balls and how badly they stung when they hit a body. “A naked body would be worse!” she grumbled. “It would sting and leave a massive bruise, not to mention, the colors would splatter all over his pathetic, pasty chest and obnoxious face!” Another pause. He and his brothers watched in horror as the pretty woman tapped her fingernails against the conference table. “And there would be nothing he could do to stop it! Everyone who was hurt by his actions should get a turn with the paint ball gun! Over and over again, they’d get to shoot paint balls at him for as long as it took to ease the pain that he’d caused. If it took a hundred paint balls, they get to shoot him a hundred times! Because men like that need to feel the pain they’ve caused!”
Khal looked at her hands and almost burst out laughing when he realized she was about to tear the tablet apart.
She wasn’t finished though. “And if his ugly, tiny, pathetic penis became the target most women shot at, more’s the pity! He shouldn’t have been such a misogynist bastard. He shouldn’t have attacked so many women! He shouldn’t have…!”
Tasha stopped abruptly, looking around, suddenly realizing that she had been speaking out loud. Her mouth fell open and Khal followed her gaze. Both Joran and Raj had pulled their papers closer, covering their groins, and they both looked slightly pale.
Khal, on the other hand, was sporting one of the hardest, most painful erections he’d ever had in his life. Scooting closer to the table, he cleared his throat. Why was he so turned on by Tasha expressing her desire for retribution against the nameless bastard who had hurt her? And apparently, many other women!
But it was true. He was hot for her!
It was even adorable when she realized what she’d just said and snapped her mouth closed, pressing her lips together. It was obvious that she’d thought she’d only been thinking the thoughts. If ever there was an expression that screamed, “Please tell me I didn’t say all of that out loud,” it was there on Tasha’s lovely features.
And she’d never looked more beautiful! Her cheeks were pink with either anger or embarrassment and her chocolate eyes sparkled with an inner flame.
Khal wanted to capture that heat. No, not capture it. He wanted to fan those flames. He wanted to increase the heat within her and give her the power to follow through on every damn fantasy she had!
Okay, maybe not the paintball thing. But yeah, he wanted to give her the power to crush the man who had hurt her so badly.
Raj cleared his throat. “Right,” he whispered and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He looked across the table at Joran, looking wary. Khal burst out laughing at their dual expressions of horror, which quickly morphed to pure terror when they looked back at Tasha. “How about if I reach out to my contacts within the financial community and see if I can find out any clues?”
In a softer, more conciliatory voice, Joran suggested, “I can do the same with my military contacts.” He eyed Tasha warily. “And I can do the same with the diplomats. We’ll get–”
“Marianna!” Tasha blurted out.
All three men froze, their gazes swinging towards Tasha, who seemed shocked. “You’ve all forgotten about your sister!” She twisted her watch, glancing at the time, then hissed. “She’s been here for twenty-four hours and…!” She paused, turning to Khal. “Go! Go talk to her. Greet her and apologize for not being there to greet her yesterday. Explain what happened and that…,” she pressed a finger to her forehead, shaking her head. “No, don’t tell her anything. Just apologize for not being there to greet her!”
She stood up and wiggled her fingers at Khal when he didn’t move fast enough.
Khal stood and shot her a glare, but she only waved her fingers again. He went, but only because he knew she was right. He should have made time for Marianna yesterday. At the doorway, he paused and looked over his shoulder at his brothers. “What did you two talk about with her last night over dinner?”
Joran and Raj both shrugged. “I had a call from one of my managers in Belgium,” Raj told him.
Joran grimaced as he said, “I had a meeting with General Isif about the border issues you asked me about.”
Khal muttered another expletive, then hurried out of the conference room. Five minutes later, he stood outside of the room that had been assigned to Marianna, hesitating before knocking. The music coming from inside was loud. And irritating. It was some sort of electric rock mixed with pain-inducing thuds. He translated the French lyrics and grimaced. The singer was talking about shocking the world with outrageous something or other to start a “revolution”.
When he knocked once, there was no answer. He knocked again, then looked at the bodyguards that had been assigned to protect her. “Is she inside?”
“She hasn’t left, Your Highness,” the lead guard replied with a slight bow.
He knocked once more, but again, there was no answer. Finally, he simply opened the door. The suite was made up of a sitting area to the left, a bedroom to the right and a small kitchen straight ahead. There was a large, walk in closet and an en suite bathroom to complete the small, studio-style living space.
Nothing had been decorated with her tastes in mind simply because neither Khal nor his brothers had known that Marianna even existed until a few days ago. So, even if they’d called for a decorator, they couldn’t have advised the person on how to decorate until they’d gotten to know their sister’s personality better.
But the mess that greeted him now was unlike anything he’d ever seen in his life! There were clothes everywhere, a half-eaten pizza on the coffee table, and several empty beer bottles.
“What the hell?” he muttered under his breath, looking around for evidence that the sixteen year old girl was around somewhere. But it was only the music blasting and the television talking about…he had no idea.
Khal had just turned around when someone climbed in through a window. He was just about to call out one of his guards, thinking that someone was invading his sister’s suite when he realized that this must be Marianna. This was his sister!
What the hell had she done to her hair? He had no idea what color it had originally been, but the rainbow of poorly dyed locks obviously wasn’t natural. There were strands in just about every color of the rainbow – but it wasn’t a rainbow. The colors were just…a mish mash of everything. It looked chaotic and…insane!
When the teenager looked up, he noticed she was wearing very heavy makeup, especially around her eyes and white lipstick that made her mouth nearly disappear. She also smacked her jaw around a massive blob of chewing gum. The gum chewing wasn’t an issue. But the makeup? What was the point of that much thickly caked on crap? It was like she’d chosen a goth style and then added in a bit of vampire for drama.
Marianna pulled her other leg through the window and started walking, then froze when she spotted him. “Who the hell are you and…never mind,” she demanded, holding up a gloved hand. The glove didn’t have fingers, just a silver chain hanging down from the wrist to…? He wasn’t sure where the chain linked up, but it was somewhere on her body. “Just get out!” She belligerently stomped over to the fridge and reached in, grabbing another bottle of beer. She angled the bottle top against the marble counter and was just about to knock the top off with her hand when the bottle was plucked from her grip.
She glared venomously at Khal. “What the hell, dude! Get out!” she screamed, waving her arm towards the door. “Get the hell out of here or I’ll sick my brother on you!”
Khal managed not to roll his eyes at being threatened with…himself.
“I doubt that your brothers would approve of your appearance or your attitude, Marianna.”
“Don’t care,” she muttered, then walked over to the stereo. With a flip of her finger, she turned up the volume.
Khal sighed heavily, reminding himself that this girl had just lost her mother, her friends, her home, and everything familiar. She was lashing out in an obvious scream for help and attention.
So, he walked over to the doorway and opened it, smothering his irritation when even the guards cringed at the onslaught of sound. He whispered something to the guard, then closed the door. Moments later, there was blessed silence! The guard had called the engineering office and they’d switched off power to the outlet with the stereo.
“What the hell?” his sister snapped, looking around. “What did you do?”
“I had the electricity cut off,” Khal explained, fisting his hands on his hips. “You’re Marianna, correct?” he asked, needing confirmation.
“Yeah,” the girl replied, mimicking his posture. “And you are?”
“Your brother.”
An inelegant snort followed his announcement. “Whatever,” and she held up her hand, dismissing him. “I was told that you had some emergency that took priority over me.” She flopped down on the sofa and grabbed her phone, flipping through the images on her screen. “Why don’t you just mosey on back to whatever emergency took up all your time yesterday?” She crossed her legs at the ankle. “I don’t need you.” She heaved a heavy sigh and flipped through five more screens. “I’m perfectly fine on my own.”
All evidence to the contrary, Khal thought. “Why is your room a mess? Didn’t the palace maids come in to clean up for you?”
She sniffed slightly. “I don’t need someone cleaning up after me.” She glared out through her kohl-darkened eyes. “I’m not a spoiled little rich girl.”
“You’re a princess, Marianna,” he replied. “So actually,” he countered, bracing his hands on the sofa. “You really are a rich girl.”
There was a moment’s pause while she absorbed that. But only a moment. After that miniscule hesitation, she shrugged and went back to her phone flipping. “I’m not a princess. My mother wasn’t royal.” Four more flips. Her thumbs were very dexterous! “I only saw my father about four times in my entire life, and those visits were merely so he could look me over and ensure that I was making good grades.”
“And did you?”
She looked up at him, her long, black lashes fluttering despite the heavy layers of mascara. Khal realized that she’d probably be a lovely girl if she washed her face.
“Did I what?” she sneered. And smacked the glob of gum in her mouth.
“Make good grades?” he asked, walking around the sofa to take a seat. He made himself comfortable, ignoring the lump of clothes underneath him.
“Hey!” she snapped, sitting up and glaring at him. “Get off my clothes!”
Khal shrugged and leaned back in the seat. “You dumped them there. I figured that was just your way of decorating.” But he reached underneath him and tugged a…something…out from underneath him, dropping it on the floor.
Marianna jumped up, tugging a pair of what looked like shredded jeans out from behind him. “That doesn’t mean I want you to lay all over my stuff!”
“My apologies,” he said with a deep, firm voice. “I suppose we’ll both need to understand each other’s ways in order to get along, won’t we?”
Marianna hugged her jeans to her chest. Khal could tell that she was in pain. There was a deep sadness surrounding her and he ached to make it better. She didn’t look like a rebellious teenager at the moment. She looked…lost.
“Will you tell me about your mother?” he asked, ignoring the vibration of his cell phone at his hip.
“Why the hell don’t you already know about her?” Marianna asked, slumping back down on the sofa. Apparently, it didn’t bother her when she laid on her strewn clothes, but no one else was allowed to mishandle her stuff.
“I didn’t know your mother very well. She’d left Father after a very short time,” he explained. Khal saw her features soften ever so slightly. “Father never told me or my brothers that we had a sister.” His voice sounded harsh no matter how hard he tried to keep the resentment at bay. “If I’d known about you, Marianna, I would have come to meet you sooner. You never would have been kept away from us!”
She must have heard the sincerity in his voice because she stopped flipping and turned her head away. He knew that she was blinking back tears, but Khal didn’t say anything. If she wanted to keep her pain hidden for a while longer, that meant he just needed to figure out how to earn her trust.
“My mother was beautiful!” she whispered, still staring at the wall. “She loved my dad,” she looked over at Khal, “our dad,” she corrected, and Khal considered that to be a major victory, “with all her heart. She truly loved him.”
“Why didn’t she live here at the palace with us? Why did she leave?”
Marianna shrugged. “I don’t know. I know they were married, but I didn’t realize who he was, to the world, until I was about ten years old.” She let herself collapse against the soft cushions. “To me, he was just the guy who came around every once in a while and made my mother cry.”
“That must have been awful for you.”
The teen was filled with a large amount of justifiable rage, he realized.
She sighed and lifted the jeans she’d been hugging. For a moment, Marianna seemed confused as to why she’d been hugging them against her chest. A moment later, she huffed and dumped them onto the floor. “Whatever.” She lifted her phone and started scrolling again. “When do I get out of here?”
“You aren’t a prisoner, Marianna,” he replied as gently as possible.
She didn’t even bother to lower her phone as she demanded, “Then why are the goons outside following me everywhere?”
“Those goons are your personal bodyguard. As a member of the royal family and sister to the ruler of your country, I…”
“I’m French! I’m a French citizen! I speak French as my native language,” she argued, slipping into that language as if wanting to confuse him. “I also speak English, Spanish, and Arabic, but I’m French right down to my soul!”
“Be that as it may,” he replied in kind, “you are also my sister. And because of that, there is an increased risk of kidnapping and violence against you.” He stood up and looked down at her. “Those men and women are prepared to protect you with their lives, if necessary, Marianna. Through no fault of their own, they will die to save your life.” He fisted his hands on his hips, and continued. “Save your anger and fury for me, little sister. I can handle it. Don’t take your feelings out on the servants or your bodyguards.” He headed towards the doorway. “I’m heading out of town tonight. Will you have dinner with me in a few days? I’d enjoy learning more about you and your hopes and dreams.”
She snorted again and Khal sighed, shaking his head as he left the suite. He remembered reading something along the lines of how dogs prepare a person for babies while cats prepare a person for teenagers. Khal hadn’t ever had either.