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Tarif simply sat back and listened in unthreatened silence as the others started to badger Anisah into breaking up with him.
“In light of your sudden and inexplicable change of opinion about our cousin,” Tarif heard Altair say in his deep voice, “I feel duty-bound to inform you of certain truths about Tarif that you may not be aware of.”
So that was how the army general was going to play it, Tarif thought with a smirk. Too bad for Altair, this was Anisah they were talking about here. She had practically grown up with them, and so there was nothing that Altair could say to have her turn away from Tarif. She knew his every sin—-
“There was this one night we spent in Kyrillos Gazis’s yacht...”
Except that.
“Shut up, Altair.” The sheikhs snickered at the speed in which Tarif launched himself out of his seat and shoved past them in his haste to get to Anisah.
His puritan was peering up at Altair curiously. “I don’t believe I know—-aah!” Anisah glowered down at the sheikh at finding herself suddenly lifted up in his arms like she was naught but a sack of potatoes. “Let me down, Your Highness!”
“I will, anisdi,” he assured her readily, “when we make it to my bed.” Letting out an outraged gasp, Anisah started struggling against his embrace, but this only made the sheikh tighten his hold. Turning back to face his cousins, he shot Altair a dirty look, saying testily, “That was a low blow.”
But the other sheikh only smiled, asking mildly, “Are you saying a single incident in the past is enough to cause you trouble? Are you not confident enough in her desire for your presence?”
“Airafi, Altair.” Fuck you, Altair.
The other sheikhs laughed, their good mood fully restored now that they had managed to bait Tarif into losing his temper.
“Why would you not tell me about that night?” his lovely harpy demanded.
That night, he had two women come on to him while he had been in a private office the Greek billionaire had loaned for the sheikhs’ use, and in the aftermath of one of the most torrid sexual encounters of his life, Tarif had found himself lying on the Ramilian flag, with his cum and those of the women splattered on the fabric.
That was what happened, and for the all-too-proper and patriotic Anisah to know about it...
A shudder racked the sheikh’s powerful form.
Never.
Anisah had now stopped struggling long enough to stare at him with growing suspicion. “What did happen that night?”
“Nothing you should concern yourself with,” Tarif answered evasively while shooting another glare at his cousins. Damn all of you.
The king grinned. That was more like it. And as he had now attained his objective, Khalil motioned for his remaining vassals to follow him as he bid the couple good night. “And Lady Anisah, if you require any help in terminating the engagement—-”
“Get the fuck out of here, Your Majesty.”
The king and the other sheikhs laughed their way out of Tarif’s office.
“May you please put me down now?” Anisah asked the moment they were alone.
“I don’t want to.”
“This is highly improper—-” She broke off when she realized they seemed to be heading straight to a wall. “What are you doing?”
“Hold on to me, my sweet.”
It was the only warning Anisah got before the sheikh adjusted his hold on her to free one of his hands, and she would have tumbled down to the floor if she had not managed to throw her arms around his neck while her legs wrapped around his waist.
Opening her mouth to tell him off, sheikh or no sheikh, Anisah found herself gaping instead when the sheikh placed his palm on the blank wall and a screen immediately lit up under it. A moment later, one panel of the wall automatically slid open to reveal a secret, well-lit passageway.
Tarif grinned down at her. “Surprised?”
She made a face. “Who wouldn’t be?” The secret door slid shut silently behind them as soon as the sheikh stepped inside the passageway, and for a few moments, she could only look about her in quiet amazement.
Like most Ramilians, she had heard about the palace’s legendary maze of secret passageways, and when she had been young, she had imagined the excitement of stumbling upon one of them. She had always imagined them to be as eerie as the underground catacombs of Paris, but the reality couldn’t be more different.
