Their Virgin Concubine, Masters of Ménage, Book 3

by Lexi Blake

  “What does that have to do with concubines?”

  “Well, even though we steal a bride, she must still agree to marry us. According to our laws, she has a month to decide. During that month, she is called the concubine.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “Oh my god. They think you’re trying to marry me.”

  It was horrific. How could anyone think they—unbelievably rich and powerful men—would want to marry her? It was a mistake of historic proportions.

  Kade’s hand finally made it through the yards of curtains. He cupped her face. “Yes, they think that. We tried to keep our interest in you quiet so this wouldn’t happen.”

  She’d screwed everything up. “We’ll just explain that there’s been a mistake.”

  “That would be a much greater scandal, habibti. And I personally have no interest in correcting anything. I’m crazy about you, Piper.” He got his hands on her hips, pulling her close.

  Tal finally tore through the curtains, his face flushed. “There is no mistake, Piper. We are going to marry you. I would never have taken your virginity had I not been prepared to marry you. This is not at all how I intended to start our lives together, but we must deal with this fiasco now. The press is here, and they are wondering why the hell my concubine is hiding.”

  Piper heard their words, but they weren’t computing. They couldn’t be. Because everything they said made almost no sense. They couldn’t possibly be saying what she thought they were saying. “But…there must be a mistake. You didn’t ask me to marry you.”

  Talib’s face tightened, his jaw a hard line. “Piper, will you marry me?”

  “Oh, no, I can’t do that.” No way. No how. It would be a horrible mistake. She wasn’t queen material. She had important work to do, and they needed someone far more polished and pretty to fill that role.

  He huffed, his eyes rolling. “And now you see why I did not ask. Could you please stop hiding in the curtains? Every moment you hide, the press writes something about your unsuitability. You’re an economist, darling. What is this little episode doing to our stock?”

  Who cared about stock? Except that Bezakistan made an enormous amount of its money off stock and so did Black Oak Oil. And Black Oak was heavily invested in Bezakistan. Her mind rattled off numbers. Tal was the head of the country. The country was dependent on stocks and oil futures. If the future wife of the sheikh was a complete idiot, the stock might fall.

  And they had lied.

  “I don’t understand any of this.”

  Kade leaned in, his face close to hers. “I know. I’m so sorry. Forgive me. Please come out and smile and wave for the citizens and the press. Once we’ve done that, we can sit down and I will explain everything to you. Piper, I don’t want this to come between us.”

  The enormity of what they had done slammed her squarely in the chest. “You lied.”

  He shook his head. “Not really. I just didn’t tell you everything.”

  “Are we married?”

  “Not yet,” Tal said, his voice clipped. “You now have a month to decide. But you should understand that we only have a few months before the crown reverts to Khalil, who will bring in radicals and change the face of this country forever. He’s counting on you to run. He’s the one who brought the press down on our heads.”

  She didn’t understand a darn thing except that they had kept her in the dark about something that affected the rest of her life. And still, there was a lot riding on her. She had made friends here. She cared about Black Oak Oil. She couldn’t let them down. “What should I do?”

  She asked the question of Kade. She couldn’t look at Tal yet. Some events that had made her scratch her head over the past few days now snapped into place and made sense, including the reason Rafe and Kade had refused to sleep with her on their journey to Bezakistan. Her virginity had belonged to Talib. To her future husband.

  Together, the three of them had colluded to marry her to a man she didn’t really know. Because the Tal who had been her co-worker had been nothing but a pretense, just like their entire reason for bringing her here.

  Tal didn’t seem to care that she was talking to Kade. “I need you to walk out with me, hold my hand, and smile.” Tal said the word smile, but he was frowning. “If you don’t, they will assume you have already rejected us. If that happens, Khalil will be meeting with his lawyers to challenge us and our claim to the throne within the hour.”

  Her head was spinning, and all the ramifications of their deception swirled in her head. But the stakes were terribly high, too. The decisions she made now would affect their futures—and hers. Even if she didn’t remain their concubine, if Khalil overtook the country, all her work would go down the toilet. “Can’t I get dressed first?”

  Tal’s frown deepened. “Rafe is talking to the press. He’s going to schedule some photo shoots for later this afternoon. You will look your best then, and those are the photos we will circulate. For now, Khalil has left us with no choice but to put you on display. If you would just walk out onto the balcony and allow me to kiss you, I believe we can stem the tide of scandal.”

  She laughed, a little hysteria tingeing the sound. “I can stem the tide of scandal if I walk out half naked and kiss a man in front of a bunch of cameras?”

  “You aren’t in America anymore, Piper.”

  She wasn’t. And she didn’t have much of a choice now. She turned, ignoring Kade’s attempts to hug her. His affection hadn’t come with an ounce of honesty. She wasn’t sure exactly what was happening, but she needed to buy everyone a little time. Then she could make some decisions.

  She allowed Tal to pull her free. The sun hit her face, but this time she felt the heat instead of the soft glow. Flashbulbs blasted all around her as Talib pulled her into his arms.

  Unlike the night before, now there was no gentleness in his face. There was a hard, possessive look in his eyes as he drew her against him. Her heart raced as he cupped her cheek, and his mouth came down on hers. Arousal flooded through her, but there was a cool distance to Tal that she couldn’t ignore.

  As he took her mouth, a cheer went through the crowd, the sound nearly deafening her.

  When Tal turned, Rafe and Kade were immediately at her sides, grasping her hands, gazing at her with affection before they turned to the crowd with triumphant smiles.

  Though surrounded by people, Piper had never felt so alone.

  * * * *

  Rafe watched as Piper walked out of the bathroom. Her robe had been double knotted as though she was desperately afraid the tie might come open and expose her. Her face was set in tight lines, so unlike the happy, sensual woman who had ridden his cock the night before.

  All in all, this was not how he’d imagined the morning would go. He’d thought he would feed Piper while they lay in bed and made love well into the afternoon. Now was their concubine time, damn it. Instead of enjoying his bride, he was fielding questions from fucking reporters. The story would be splashed across every magazine in the free world.

  His cell phone trilled again, and he seriously thought about throwing it out the window.

  Tal stared at him. “Are you going to answer that?”

  “No.” He was in charge of dealing with the press. He would not allow Tal’s impatience to screw up his plan. “I will let them stew until tomorrow. To the outside world, we are in seclusion now. It should be expected since we’re meant to bond with our future bride.”

  Piper turned suspicious eyes his way. “That whole meet up with the judge and the Prime Minister last night wasn’t just a greeting, was it? There was a reason you invited them to join us on the balcony. They asked you a question, and the three of you all gave the same answer. That was some sort of ceremony.”

  Sometimes, she was too clever. He looked to Tal, who frowned his way.

  Piper picked up on that, too. She stood in front of Rafe, blocking his view of his brother. “You have a mouth, Rafiq. You can answer me without Tal telling you what to say.”

  T
his 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.”

  Tal turned, his face a blank mask. “What did you have in Dallas, Piper? What did we take you from that was so cruel? A ratty apartment? A low-paying job? A constant struggle to make ends meet? No love life to speak of?” She winced, but Tal plowed on. “We’re offering you the world, Piper. We’re offering you a palace and more money than you could dream of. We’re offering you enormous power to chase your own ideals. Free reign to pursue this project you love. You will have to explain to me why I’m suddenly the bad guy.”

  “Do you love me?” Piper’s shoulders squared, obviously waiting for a hard blow.

  Rafe could answer that easily. “Yes. I loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you. I followed you down a hallway hoping that you would turn so I could ask your name.”

  She flushed. “I fell instead.”

  He would remember the moment forever. “Yes. You fell. But I promise from now on that I will be there to catch you.”

  “I love you, Piper. I know it must seem sudden, but believe me, habibti, I’ve been with enough women to know how I feel,” Kade said.

  Rafe shook his head in agreement. “He is right. He has slept with most of the females in the Western world. He should know this is different.”

  Kade growled his way, but Piper smiled just a bit.

  Until she turned back to Talib.

  “I’m offering you everything I have, Piper. If it is not enough for you, if my brothers’ love and devotion isn’t enough, then you should say so now.” He stepped forward but didn’t touch her. A cold ruthless will poured off his brother. “The time is coming when I must take
a wife or step down. I selected the bride I thought would be the best for my brothers and my country.”

  “What about for you?” Piper asked.

  “My needs are inconsequential. I like you, Piper. I enjoy your company. I admire your mind, and I crave your body. That will have to be enough for you.”

  Her face fell, her eyes finding the floor as though she couldn’t stand to look at them. “It isn’t.”

  Tal straightened up, looking every inch the sheikh. “Then you have a decision to make. Think long and hard, Piper al Mussad. Your decision affects the lives of millions. And it affects your friends. Black Oak Oil is heavily invested in this country. If the throne goes to my cousin, he will not honor our contracts. He will simply take everything from them. Think about Hannah and her children when you decide whether or not to stay. You’re not a girl anymore, Piper. And this love you want is a naïve dream. I’m offering you a life, a chance to make a difference to my people—hell, to the planet—and you wish me to understand that you won’t be happy until I cut my heart out and serve it up on a silver platter? It won’t happen. We will be partners. That is my offer. Take it or leave it. My country awaits your wisdom.”

  He turned and strode out the door, leaving a stunned Piper in his wake.

  Rafe thought seriously about killing his brother. “Piper, you must give him time. You cannot fathom what he has endured, the pressures he’s under.”

  Piper’s eyes were still on the empty doorway. “I should give him time? Why should I give him anything? He didn’t even give me the courtesy of asking me if I wanted this responsibility, Rafe. From what I can tell, everything the three of you have done has been to manipulate me into a position where I have no options.”

  “You have options.” Just none he wanted her to take.

  “Yes. To capitulate or seem like a selfish witch.” She sank to the chaise, the very one they’d laid her out on the night before when he had lovingly presented her to Tal. Now, she looked weary, her eyes full of tears. “Go away. Both of you. Please. I need some time. I’m not saying no. You three have boxed me in so tightly that I probably can’t. So give me space for now.”