Chapter 9
“Are you okay?”
Angela stared at the text message, her heart pounding with excitement. Immediately, she texted her response. “I’m good. You?”
She imagined his chuckle at her question and smiled, tightening the towel around her as she padded into her dressing room. The shower had done wonders to sooth her temper, but she was still hurt that her uncles thought so little of her. How could they even entertain the thought that she’d negotiate via sexual favors? Needing something to drink, she grabbed a robe and pulled it on, tossed the wet towel into the laundry hamper, then padded barefoot into her small kitchen. She rarely cooked here, preferring to eat either with her parents and brother or with the whole family in the main dining room. The extended family shared a meal at least once a week. But tonight was special because of Zayn’s birthday.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
Angela jerked around, startled to find her sixteen year old cousin, Nahla, as well as her mother and Aunt Tasha, Aunt Tila, and Aunt Mariana sitting in her living room. Nahla had a glass of soda while the other ladies had glasses of wine and everyone was watching her.
Startled by the unexpected crowd in her sitting room, she jumped a little at the question. “What the hell?” she hissed, putting a hand over her heart. She paused, closing her eyes to try to slow her heartrate.
“Ever since Ramzi and Rylan arrived,” Nahla admitted. “Of course, we all had to watch the video several times.”
Angela’s heart sank. “You did?”
“Yeah,” Aunt Marianna replied, standing up and walking over to hug Angela. “I’m going to miss you!”
“Miss me?” Angela replied. “Why are you going to miss me?”
Her aunt blinked, then glanced at the others. “She doesn’t know?”
Her mother and Aunt Tasha shrugged while her Aunt Tila beamed. She’d always been the more adventurous of the aunts, Angela thought. “How could she not know? We heard the news almost immediately. She’s part of it, so she should already know.”
Tasha eyed Angela, then turned back at the others. “Apparently, she doesn’t.”
Angela huffed, tightening the belt on her robe. “Would one of you please explain what I obviously don’t know?” she demanded, her temper building right along with her exhaustion.
Nahla laughed, then slapped a hand over her mouth, but her eyes sparkled with her amusement. “You’re all over the news! The announcement of your engagement came only an hour after the video went viral.” She shrugged and looked at the others, then bac k at her cousin’s stunned expression.
Angela stared blankly at Nahla, confused by her cousin’s words. “Who is engaged?”
Tasha and her mother stepped closer, equally confused. “You are.”
Those words didn’t make any sense. “I’m engaged? When? And who am I marrying?”
Nahla’s amusement vanished. She turned to her aunts. “What am I missing?”
Her mother spoke up, her eyes shimmering with concern. “You’re engaged to Sheik Tiro of Ginisia,” she softly explained, tilting her head uncertainly. “Sheik el Maistri announced the news right after the video was released .” She waved a hand slightly. “The one of you two kissing. He said it was a kiss to seal your promise after you accepted his proposal.” She touched her daughter’s cheek. “I wish you’d spoken to me before all of this happened, dear.”
Angela continued to stare at her mother, then at the others, who were equally dumbfounded. The individual words registered in Angela’s mind, but when they were put together, they were…not right.
“Tiro never…he didn’t propose.”
“But…the kiss,” Nahla countered. “It was very…uh…passionate.”
The doors to her apartment blew open. Angela turned, ready to snap at whoever had burst into her home. But when she saw her father’s furious expression, the words died unspoken. She adored her father completely. He was the best dad in the world. She hadn’t known he was her father the first four years of her life and, even though she didn’t consciously remember those years, Angela remembered an intense need to have her father’s approval.
“Uncle Raj!” Nahla gasped, rushing forward to give him a hug. “Isn’t this exciting?” she asked, obviously trying to ease the tension. But his expression remained furious.
“What happened in Paris?” Raj demanded, scowling at Angela even as he wrapped an arm around Nahla.
Angela held her breath, not really sure how to answer that question. How had that hotel video “gone viral” already? She was too tired and just…drained…to figure this out.
“Dad, I don’t–”
“Raj!” her mother interrupted, stepping forward to wrap her arm protectively around Angela’s shoulders. “Don’t you dare admonish her for that video!”
Raj turned to face his wife, still keeping a protective arm around Nahla, who shot an apologetic glance at Angela. “I won’t allow her to marry that–”
“Careful,” Helen said in a calming voice as she stepped up to Raj’s other side. “Nahla dear,” she said to the younger girl, then she turned to include the others. “Would you all give me and my husband a chance to speak with Angela privately?”
Nahla immediately smiled and pulled away. “Sure, but I’m not sure why you bother with privacy,” she teased with a flounce as she turned to leave. “We’ll find out everything anyway.”
After the room cleared, Angela turned to her parents. “Before you harangue me, I’m going to change into real clothes .” She didn’t wait for permission . Instead, she headed back into her bedroom. A few minutes later, dressed in a pair of jeans and a comfortable sweatshirt, she confronted her parents again, feeling less vulnerable now that she was properly dressed.
“Okay, what’s going on? Why is everyone congratulating me for getting engaged to Ti…Sheik el Maistri,” she quickly corrected, knowing the slip had been caught when her father’s grim scowl deepened. “I am not engaged to Lativa’s biggest enemy.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and gave her father a glare.
“Dear,” her mother started.
But Raj interrupted. “You’re damn well going to marry the man after that kiss!”
Kiss? She’d only kissed Tiro in the hotel bar and…! The hotel bar! The video of their kiss! Wh y would the hotel security team have released the video? Surely they hadn’t! Their guests’ privacy would be more important than a publicity stunt . Right?
“Raj!” Helen interjected, pulling away from her husband to stand beside her daughter , “you’re not going to pull that purity crap again, are you? We made a deal that we wouldn’t impose that kind of irrelevant patriarchal stupidity on our daughter!”
Raj shifted uncomfortably and dropped his gaze to the floor. But when he looked at his wife again, the scowl was still there. “Until now, I hadn’t been challenged on that vow.” He breathed in, then released the breath slowly. When he looked at Angela, he seemed more controlled. “Okay, so tell us what happened. How did you end up engaged to one of our country’s biggest enemies?”
Angela shook her head and shrugged. “I still don’t know what everyone is talking about. What engagement?”
Helen turned to face her daughter. “Are you saying that you didn’t agree to marry Sheik el Maistri?”
“No!” Angela insisted, shaking her head to emphasize the statement. “I definitely did not agree to marry him or anyone. There wasn’t even a conversation about marriage!”
“But you kissed him?” Raj demanded, his expression darkening again.
Angela blushed, hesitating. And that moment of hesitation was all her father needed to jump right back to fury.
“You did !” he growled. His hands clenched into fists. Not a good sign, Angela noted.
“Dad, you know how I struggle to sleep sometimes?” she began.
“Yes.”
Angela stepped closer, lacing her fingers together. She wanted to appear confident, but suspected that her body language was more concerned than self-assured. “So last night was one of those nights,” she continued. “I went down to the hotel bar to write up my notes on the weekend’s meetings. Just like I do with every meeting I attend for Uncle Khal.”
“Okay,” Raj replied, crossing his arms over his massive chest as he continued to stare balefully at her.
She wasn’t used to such treatment from her father. Usually, he doted on her. His wrath was normally directed toward the rest of the world or her brother. Saif was the rebel of their family. Okay, that wasn’t exactly true. Angela had her moments, but her rebellion against the strictures of palace life was more circumspect. Angela had always suspected that Saif’s rebellions were because Angela, Zayn, Rafi, and Laith were so close and they’d gone on…excursions…throughout their younger years while the younger cousins had witnessed only the resulting lectures by aunts, uncles, parents, and bodyguards.
So, if Saif was the rebel in the family, what role did that leave for her? Angela was the…well, she wasn’t sure what her position was .
However, she was one hundred percent certain that her role wasn’t “fiancée” to a man she barely knew!
“We’re waiting,” her father prompted.
Angela jerked back to the present and looked up at him, her heart aching at the disapproval in his eyes. “Dad,” she urged, “Sheik el Maistri struggles with insomnia like I do. He had the same idea – to find a quiet place to work. I was working on my notes. I even had my laptop with me. And Tiro…uh…Sheik el Maistri…,” she corrected again, “came over and we…well, we debated. It was really nice, Dad.” Angela glanced at her mother. “We had a long, animated conversation about world politics, we laughed about the stupid gossip discussed over the weekend at the conference. We debated the issues between our countries and came to a possible resolution about certain subjects. I have everything ready to send to Uncle Khal. I was just waiting until I could personally bring up the subject. ” She sighed . “At the gala that night, I didn’t dance with him. During dinner, we were seated at opposite sides of the room.”
“So last night’s kiss was…what?” Raj snapped . “It was just a misunderstanding after a heated political debate?”
Angela’s exhaustion caused her temper to flare hotter and faster than normal. “That’s not fair!”
“Angela!” he came right back, “he’s announced your engagement to the world ! There’s nothing fair about this!”
“He hasn’t!” she yelled back. “It was just a kiss!” She turned, running her fingers through her still wet hair. “We got up from the table, both of us aware of the time. We knew that we needed to return to our private quarters. I was completely aware of the time and knew that…” she paused, realizing she appeared guilty, so she slowed down a little. “I knew that I had to return to my suite to get ready to fly home. I told him that tonight was Zayn’s birthday party.”
“Okay. Fine .” Raj shifted on his feet . “I still don’t know how this whole thing ended in a kiss.”
Helen stepped forward, putting herself in between Raj and their daughter. “I think that’s obvious,” she told him in a quiet, firm voice.
“Not to me,” Raj replied, but his voice had softened. It always turned softer whenever he spoke to his wife. They might have been married for more than two decades, but the passion was still there, always simmering, ready to boil at the slightest provocation.
“There is an attraction between Angela and Sheik el Maistri,” Helen replied, her tone implying that this should be obvious. “I think that it would be a good idea to–”
“NO!” Angela interrupted. “We do not need to delve into that kiss any deeper,” she announced, her face flaming with color. “I’ve been acting as an ambassador for Lativa for several years now,” she continued. “I’ve never messed up. I’ve done a great deal of good for Lativa.” She stepped forward now, not allowing her mother to keep shielding her. “I’m twenty-five years old, Dad.” She felt her face burn hotter. “I’ve kissed other men and they haven’t announced an engagement.”
His anger eased ever so slightly. “I know that, honey.” He reached for her, pulling her into his embrace, his big, powerful arms soothing as they comforted her. “But those…whatever,” he grunted, unwilling to use romantic terms, “weren’t with a powerful world leader, nor were they captured on video and sent out for the public’s delectation .” He pulled back, frowning down at her. “Everyone is talking about the…,” he hesitated.
Helen supplied the word, “Kiss, dear.” She sighed , obviously irritated with her husband’s hypocrisy. “It was just a kiss.”
He scowled at her, still holding Angela in a hug. “It looked like more than just a kiss.”
Angela pulled away from her father, confused. “What did it look like? I saw it briefly this morning when I was….” She stopped, not wanting to toss a murder investigation into the fires of this conversation.
Raj continued to scowl, but Helen moved closer, putting a gentle hand on Angela’s forearm. “It looked like,” she sighed, then continued, “a prelude, dear. That kiss was passionate enough to seem like a prelude to something more.”
“It looked like you were about to head off to his hotel room,” her father snarled.
Angela opened her mouth to lambast her father for daring to suggest something like that. But the words wouldn’t come. Her lips moved and she tried to deny that possibility, but the truth was, even now, she could feel echoes of Tiro’s touch along her back and arms. She hadn’t been able to sleep on the flight home because she’d continuously wondered what it would have been like if he’d moved his hands to other places on her body. Places that still ached, even hours after she’d left his presence.
Her father turned away, muttering a series of curses under his breath. Not softly enough that she didn’t understand him. The obvious depth of his disapproval made the color drain from her face.
Angela tucked her chin, ashamed of her behavior. “Nothing happened, Dad,” she whispered.
His head swiveled around and he started to say something. But again, her mother stepped in front of her. “And what if something had happened?” she challenged. “I’ve always said that women need to know a man, truly know a man, before they commit themselves to a long term relationship.” She stepped closer, poking a finger into Raj’s chest. “You even agreed with me.”
“In theory,” he argued. He scowled fiercely down at his daughter. “Not in practice.”
“That’s just stupid misogyny talking. Raj,” Helen asserted firmly. “And you know it. Any man who thinks a woman has to be ‘pure’ until she’s married must think that the man needs to get a ring on the woman’s finger before she realizes he’s a selfish lover.”
Angela had heard this argument before. Her mother and aunts were adamant that the purity culture was a toxic issue. And it was true. There was no rational reason why men should get to go around having sex with women before marriage while women were expected to remain chaste. It was hypocrisy at its highest. The only reason men didn’t want women to be experienced was so women wouldn’t realize what they were missing. Sexually experienced women were a threat to a man’s views on his sexual prowess.
However, Angela also knew that her father had grown up with that kind of attitude. Women were chaste homebodies, while men were adventurers.
Before anyone could respond to that, a knock sounded on Angela’s door. Apparently, there was still one person who respected her personal space, she thought with a raised eyebrow directed toward her father. He merely frowned at her, arrogant to the nth degree.
“Come in!” she called out. Obviously, the door wasn’t locked. No one locked their doors in the palace, just in case the bodyguards needed to get in. They never entered her personal space unless they needed to check the interior, and they always warned her before they did so.
Her Uncle Khal stepped into her apartment, clearly concerned. His wife, Tasha, accompanied him. Zayn, their oldest son and the crown prince of Lativa, might have inherited his father’s slight dimples, but their daughter, Nahla, had inherited Tasha’s lovely, blue eyes. Since blue eyes were recessive, there must have been an ancestor in Khal’s past who had passed along the other half of the recessive gene, because Nahla was the only one among Angela’s cousins who had inherited them.
Angela turned to face her intimidating but wonderful, sweet, generous uncle, praying that he would understand. “It was just a kiss!”
Her Uncle Khal sighed heavily.
“The video of the kiss is going viral all over the world. I’m getting calls from foreign leaders asking me if the animosity between Lativa and Ginisia is easing. They are assuming that you’re relationship with Sheik el Maistri is a sign that I’m open to reducing tariffs and restrictions between Lativa and Ginisia.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Apparently, el Maistri is ready to talk as well. ” He paused pointedly before continuing. “ He called me and we worked out a deal.”
Suddenly, her father stood by her side and Angela felt a wave of love for her dad. “She’s not marrying that ass!”
Khal’s expression turned stern. “I agree. There’s no way I would allow my niece to be…,” he paused and looked at Angela. “I won’t let that ass hurt you!” he growled furiously.
“Damn right!” a new voice interjected. Everyone turned to see Angela’s Uncle Joran hurry into the room. His wife, Tila, wasn’t with him, which Angela was suddenly grateful for. She had a spacious apartment, but with all of these enormous men, it was beginning to feel a bit claustrophobic.
Her Uncle Khal wasn’t finished and his next words stunned everyone. “But she is going to play the role of a fiancée, for a while.”
Angela suppressed the rush of excitement at the thought of seeing Tiro again. But she tamped it down and stared at her uncle, waiting for the rest of his pronouncement.
He looked at her carefully. “You’ll play the role, and will continue to be my ambassador during various events.”
Angela’s heart soared and her eyes must have revealed her relief. “You’d still trust me?”
“Absolutely!” he replied without hesitation. “You’ve done a hell of a great job so far. There’s no way I’m giving up your skills. You’ve brought people to the negotiating table that I never thought would ever talk to each other. You’re brilliant at diplomacy, Angela.” With that compliment, plus her father’s tightening of his arm around her shoulders, she felt as if she could fly with joy.
He wasn’t giving up on her! He wasn’t going to force her to stay in Lativa! She loved traveling and absolutely thrived on working with people, studying their words and body language to understand the unspoken issues. She felt a rush of triumph every time she brought people together.
The fact that her uncle, a powerful man who demanded perfection, wasn’t going to yank her out of that role made her feel a thousand times better.
“Thank you,” she whispered, bowing her head so that no one could see the sudden tears that filled her eyes.
“However,” he said, waiting until Angela looked up again, “Tiro will be arriving here in three days’ time to speak with me. You’ll make a big show of being romantically involved. Then, you’ll travel to Ginisia with your parents for more role-playing. After that, we’ll figure out how to extricate both of you from the international expectations.”
That sounded reasonable. So why did Angela suddenly feel …sad?
Shaking off the sensation, she smiled and nodded to her uncle. “That sounds like a good solution. Thank you, Uncle Khal.”