This proved she hadn’t been properly prepared for the job they had selected her for. He’d let her down. His heart twisted in his chest. “At times like these, Piper, he is not my brother. He is my sheikh.”
Rafe might have enormous influence, but Talib made the decisions. He’d known that his whole life. While he and Kade were able to traipse across the globe, Tal had a country to run.
“So you and Kadir just do what Talib tells you to?” Piper sounded more aggressive than he’d ever heard her. “That’s the way this works?”
Tal groaned, his eyes rolling. “Yes, Piper, they never give me a single moment of trouble. Damn it. Consider this family like a corporation. I’m the CEO.”
She frowned, her lips curling down. “I don’t think I want a family like that.”
Why was Tal taunting her? Rafe reached out for her hand, happy that she didn’t totally reject him. She didn’t curl her fingers into his, but she didn’t pull away. “Give this a chance. Our life will not be like this all the time. I promise the press will settle down.”
“Before or after I have to make a decision I never thought I would, with your entire country watching?”
Now it was Rafe’s turn to frown. Yes, he had deceived and failed to prepare her, but his intentions had always been good. “You never once considered you might marry us? Our relationship was not even remotely serious for you?”
Now she pulled away, drawing her hand back. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re royal. I’m from a town of two hundred rednecks in West Texas. Why would I imagine marriage was even possible?”
“You’re also one of the world’s experts on green energy economics,” Tal shot back. “It’s a skill my country can use.”
Rafe wanted to hit his brother. Even if that argument had swayed Tal to consider Piper in the first place, this wasn’t the time to point out all the practical reasons she worked as their bride. “Piper, I knew I wanted you from the moment I saw you.”
But she turned, rounding on Talib as though she knew he was the one who would give her the fight she so obviously wanted. “Is that why you sought me out? Is that why you befriended me?”
Tal didn’t back down an inch. “It’s why I sought you out to help me with the project. You had the knowledge to help me and my country. You also turned out to be a suitable wife.”
Rafe let his head hit his hand. Tal might have his respect as his sheikh, but as his brother, Rafe wanted to kick him.
“Suitable?” Piper asked, the word a hiss.
Kade chose that moment to walk in carrying Piper’s clothes for the day. “You can put these on for this afternoon. A stylist is on her way to assist you with hair and makeup before the photo shoot. Then servants will move all of our clothing and things into this wing by nightfall.”
Piper, who had been staring down Tal, now turned on Kade, who stopped, his eyes widening. “Why would they move me in here? Why can’t I stay in my own room?”
Kade’s jaw dropped. “Habibti…”
“Don’t you habibti me.” She turned to Rafe, ignoring Tal altogether. “I told you that I didn’t want to marry Johnny because I didn’t want to be an asset; I wanted to be loved. Yet you brought me here, knowing Tal’s motives. Did you think I’d feel differently now?” Her words stabbed him like a knife. The blade twisted when her face closed up. “I’m going to my room. And I intend to stay there until I’ve decided what to do.”
“The servants talk, Piper.” Rafe felt for her. She was reeling, confused…but he could not give in. There was far too much at stake. “I intend to figure out exactly who decided to not wake us this morning when the crowd began to gather, but we could be in trouble if the press gets wind that you refuse to share the traditional rooms with us.”
Her face flushed. “You can’t expect me to just go along with this…this farce. I don’t want to be some sort of pampered princess, cloistered and coddled and pointless.”
“Shaykhah. That is what we would call you. She is the wife of the sheikh. She is the one who binds our family and forms the center of our universe. We have sought our shaykhah for some time. Only once have we been able to agree on a woman for us all. You, Piper.” Let her stew on that. Tal was wrong to try to explain with logic just now.
She stopped, her body language softening, her expression crumbling. “It wasn’t fair to not tell me.”
Rafe crossed to her. “I know you do not wish to hear this, but it is our way. Piper, can you not find it in your heart to believe that we care for you? To forgive us for being fools? Did we make a mistake? Yes. But we did it because we feared losing you. I know that’s an excuse, but you are more special than we ever hoped to find.”
“I think it’s interesting that you’ve decided I’m so special just a few months before you’ll lose your crown if you fail to take a wife.” Suspicion flavored every word.
“I could have bought a bride, Piper.” Tal stared out the window, no doubt seeing the reporters who were prowling around the periphery of the palace. His brother was beyond restless, his face stark and angry. “It would have been simple. You are not exactly an easy bride.”
“I apologize for being difficult.” Her face fell, and Rafe could see that she looked somewhere between torn and stricken. “I don’t understand any of this.”
Rafe did what came naturally. He took her into his arms. She stood stiffly in his embrace. “We intended to protect you from all this.”
“Were you ever going to tell me we were married? Or would I have found out a couple of years down the road?”
Kade dropped her clothes to the bed and came to her other side. At least one of his brothers was being smart. Piper would be unable to resist affection for long. “We were going to ask you to marry us as soon as we’d all eased into our relationship. We picked out a ring and everything. We thought it would be good to propose the American way. We wanted it to be very romantic.”
“Why me?” She glared at Tal’s back. “If you truly care about me beyond the knowledge I can bring to your country, then explain why.”
Rafe sighed. “Because you’re special, Piper. Because you move me.”
Kade nuzzled her cheek. “You move me, too, habibti. You move my cock. It’s moving right now.”
Piper scoffed, but Rafe heard a laugh buried in there. “I’m glad to know that.” She sobered a little, pushing out of his arms. “I need some time. You’ve just turned my whole world around.”