THEIR_VIRGIN_PRINCESS (10 page)

He’d worked plenty of operations where he couldn’t just walk
through the door, guns blazing. The key was strategy. Find a sneaky way in. He
could manage that. A two-pronged approach would work. He could start doing
exactly what Tal had suggested, tell Alea everything she was missing,
everything they could give her in the filthiest language possible. He wouldn’t
hold back. He wouldn’t be polite. And he wouldn’t let her get away with
anything.

And then, when she couldn’t stand another second, they would
deliver on their promises. They would show her just how beautiful they thought
she was, how hot they could make her, how high they could send her soaring.
Once her body belonged to him and his brothers, her heart wouldn’t be far
behind.

“Go get cleaned up,” Dane said to Landon and Cooper. “We
have a lot to talk about. Tal, please have the investigators send me the
report. We’ll will regroup in the morning and figure out exactly where to go
from here. In the meantime, were going to figure out new protocols for the
princess.”

Tal held out his hand, shaking Dane’s firmly. “The backup
security team can handle the rest of the evening. It’s winding down anyway.
Consider your team reassigned. You’re completely in charge of Alea’s security
from now on. Good luck.”

Tal and his brothers, along with their friends, filed down
the stairs, heading back to the ballroom, leaving Dane alone with the two men
who had watched his back for the last two years. There wasn’t anyone else he
would rather go into battle with.

This was the mission of a lifetime, and Dane didn’t intend
to fail.

Alea nearly cursed when she heard the soft knock on her
door. The last thing she wanted was more conflict. At least she was dressed
this time, having donned silk pajamas after a punishingly hot shower. “Please,
Dane, can we talk about it in the morning? I’m so tired.”

Dane would be the one they sent. He always delivered bad
news or a lengthy lecture on how stupidly she was behaving. She knew putting
him off wasn’t right, but she couldn’t handle another confrontation tonight.

The door opened, and a pretty brunette in a designer gown
floated in. Piper al Mussad stood halfway in the room, her hands raised in a
silent gesture that pleaded for peace. “It’s just me. Don’t blame me because my
husbands are nitwits.”

Alea couldn’t help but smile. Despite the terror,
uncertainty, and shame of the last hour, Piper was a breath of fresh air. Her
cousin-in-law was one of those people who lit up the room simply by walking
into it. “You really should have had their IQs checked before you decided to
marry them.”

Piper shrugged. “Give a girl a break. I was blinded by their
hotness.”

“Okay, as a girl who remembers them during their
prepubescent years—ewww.” But Alea smiled. Piper had been so good for her
cousins. She’d become the sun they all orbited around. It reminded Alea of the joy
her aunt and uncles had once shared and how happy the palace had been during
her youth.

Piper closed the door behind her, her radiant face suddenly
serious. “Are you all right?”

Alea was so far from all right that it was ridiculous, but
she didn’t need to drag Piper any farther into this mess. And she wasn’t about
to cause problems in Piper’s marriage. “I’m perfectly fine. My cousins have
always been protective. I’m positive they would’ve told me in the morning.”

“You’re taking this way better than I would have. I have to
confess, when Talib admitted what had happened, I thought about shoving
something up his backside.”

“Piper!”

She shrugged. “It’s his favorite form of discipline. We
should see how he likes it.”

Alea felt her face flush. She shook her head as she sat on
the couch in the living area of her apartment. “I don’t understand how you can
talk about things like that.”

Piper eased down beside her. “Because it’s nothing to be
ashamed of. Tell me something. Was your aunt very proper? I know when she was
the
shaykhah
she was every inch a
lady in public, but was she reserved in private? I’ve only known her in private
and she’s so open. I’m wondering how she dealt with the public side of this
life.”

Alea laughed. Her aunt had been the same whether cameras
were on her or not. “She used to tell us that she wouldn’t hide how much she
loved my uncles. She’s very British, my aunt, but that stiff upper lip
completely softened around her husbands and children. She is a lovely woman.
She was the perfect queen in her day. You actually remind me a lot of her.”

“Thank you.” Piper smiled. “I’ve heard enough stories about
when their fathers were alive to know that my husbands weren’t raised in a
household that lacked warmth. When they were children, their parents often
displayed their affection and told my husbands that they were loved. So were
you. She still loves you.”

“My aunt and uncles created a wonderful environment to grow
up in, though I missed not really knowing my own parents.”

“Do I offend you when I talk about my intimate life with
Tal, Rafe, and Kade? It’s not my intention. You’re my closest friend here. I’m
afraid I like to talk about everything. It helps me process all that’s
happened. The last few months have been full of change for me.” She laid a hand
over her still-flat stomach.

“Oh, god, Piper, you don’t offend me at all. I just can’t
understand.” And Piper was such a sneaky woman. Now Alea understood why she’d
been asking about the family. Piper had been backing her into a corner, and it
was easier to simply answer the question she knew would eventually come. “Yes,
I grew up in an open household, and yet I’m very reserved about sex. I’m sure
it’s because of what happened to me in South America. I’ve been to several of
the world’s best therapists. I know what my problems are.”

Shrewd eyes stared back at her. “But you don’t seem
interested in fixing them.”

Alea stood up every time she talked about it, she got
restless, uneasy in her own skin. “I don’t like who I am right now. It’s weird
because I can remember the girl I used to be, the one who didn’t blow up at
everyone, the one who wasn’t isolated. But it feels like all of that was a
dream and I had to wake up. Believe me, if I could forget what happened, I
would.”

“You’ll never forget, Alea. Forgetting shouldn’t be your
goal. But it’s up to you whether or not you allow them to win. Though I admit,
watching you continually give in to your captors is painful.”

“I’m not letting anyone win, damn it.”

Piper sent her a skeptical stare. “Tell me you don’t want those
men who guard you, Lea.”

Everything always came back to Dane, Cooper, and Landon.
Since the moment she’d seen them, it seemed as if her thoughts had started to
revolve around them, if not her world. If she’d been the same exuberant girl
who’d left for New York, she would have had all the confidence in the world to
try a relationship with them. But this was now.

“I don’t want them.”

Piper sighed. “You can lie to yourself, but I know the
truth. I think they know it, too.”

Tears welled, unbidden, unwanted because she wasn’t that
girl anymore. “It doesn’t matter.”

She didn’t see how she could possibly be pretty enough,
sensual enough, or healed enough for them—ever.

Piper leaned forward. “What happened? Did you get mad
because they tried to keep that meeting secret? I don’t think you should blame
them. Tal said it was his call.”

Because Tal always shouldered the responsibility. “No. This
whole plot reeks of Dane, too. I can see him arguing that they needed to get
the whole story before they talked to me. He wouldn’t want to worry me until
they had a plan in place. He would have taken all the data and come to me with
a detailed ‘op,’ as he would say.”

Piper’s eyes went wide. “It sounds like you know Dane pretty
well.”

Alea shrugged. “Cooper and Landon would have argued, but
Cooper can be swayed. Landon is the one who would fight him. Cooper would
hesitate to tell me bad news, but Lan would just shove it all out there because
he doesn’t know how to be dishonest.” She sighed. “Not that they were
intentionally unkind, but, damn it, Piper. It’s my life on the line. I have a
right to know.”

“I agree,” Piper said calmly. “Obviously Landon did, too. I
heard he nearly got his balls kicked in. But you can be very difficult to talk
to about this subject. You were the one who asked Tal to keep huge, deeply
relevant portions of what happened to you in Colombia out of the reports. You
understand how that hampers the investigation?”

God, she didn’t want anyone to know. She hadn’t even told
the therapists everything. “They have all the information they need.”

Piper sat back with a long sigh. “No, they don’t, but you’re
not going to believe or admit that. You did nothing to be ashamed of, Alea.
What happened was a crime perpetrated against you. You didn’t cause it, but only
you can give yourself permission to heal from it. Only you can let go of the
pain and really beat the bastards who hurt you.”

“There are no winners here, Piper. Just a whole lot of
losers.” Alea crossed her arms over her chest.

“Ah, there’s the bitter girl.” Piper smiled tightly. “You’ve
been almost happy lately. I’ve been wondering if she’d finally left the
building, but no. She’s in full force tonight.”

Bitter.
Yes, that
described her. She sat down again. The surroundings were so familiar. She’d been
happy here at the palace long ago. Now she just felt stuck.

Alea let a long moment pass before asking the question that
had plagued her for months. “Do you think it would be best if I left the
palace?”

“What?” Piper leaned closer. “How can you think that?”

“Because you’re having a baby. I’m not the nicest person. I
don’t mean to lash out, but I can’t seem to help it. I’m wondering if…maybe it
might be best if I went away. This should be a happy time for you.”

Piper sighed and shook her head. “You see everything in the
worst possible light. I’m not pointing out bitter girl to blame you. I’m simply
saying that you’ve seemed more relaxed these last couple of months. You’ve even
been smiling when you walk the grounds with Dane or sit in the garden with Lan
and Cooper.”

Yes, she’d enjoyed all those times, but they were over now.
She would likely be assigned new guards. She’d ruined everything. Maybe they’d
all just give up on her now, even Tal. He could ask her to leave because she
was like a wounded animal and no one knew when she would kick or bray and hurt
someone around her.

“Well, I rather thought the whole sordid kidnapping mess was
over. I found out tonight that it’s not. So forgive me if I can’t quite find my
charm.”

“No. That’s not it. I’d hoped you were healing, but you’ve
just gotten more adept at hiding your feelings. Alea, no one wants you to
leave. You’re more like a sister to my husbands than a cousin. You’ll be my
baby’s aunt, and I want him or her to know you. We love you for the strong
woman you are. You say this isn’t a game, but in many ways it is. You didn’t
mean to play, but you’re holding the cards now and you have to decide whether
or not you want to win or let the bastard behind your kidnapping crush you.”

Alea shook her head. “I can’t win. I wouldn’t even know
how.”

“You win the minute you decide to become a survivor instead
of a victim. The minute you accept that you can’t go back and you elect to move
forward. You win when you allow the fact that you’ve survived to strengthen
you, to make you a better human being than you were before. When you take all
the horrible things that happened to you and make something good out of
it—that’s a moment of triumph. And you win the minute you let yourself love
those three men.” Piper stood and placed a hand on Alea’s shoulder. “I hope you
decide to win, because the rest us of love you and want to feel close to you,
like family should. We hate that you’ve isolated yourself. We’re all here for
you. You just have to decide to join us in the love and laughter. In the light.
This is your home. I hope you start acting like we’re your family, too.”

Piper brushed a kiss across her cheek, and it took
everything inside Alea not to pull away. Piper must have felt or sensed it
because she had the saddest look on her face as she turned away.

And she’d screwed up again. Alea sank to the couch. It
seemed like the only thing she was capable of lately. The doors closed behind
Piper ,and Alea suddenly felt how very alone she was. Piper’s words rustled
around in her brain.

“Lea?” a soft voice called out.

She should lock her doors.

Alea sighed. “Yes, Yas?”

Yasmin walked in, still in her perfectly tailored gown. “I
heard there was trouble.”

“It’s nothing.” She didn’t want to bring her cousin in on
all the problems of the evening. She really just wanted to shut out the world
and go to bed.

“I doubt that.” She spoke with an upper crust British
accent, no hint of her Bezakistani roots at all. Yas had worked for years to
fit into the English ideal of perfection. She’d bleached her hair a platinum
blonde and maintained a slender figure. She wore the right clothes and the
right makeup. She was everything Alea wasn’t. Somehow picking out the perfect
outfit for the season didn’t matter so much anymore.

Find the good.
That’s what Piper had recommended. There was no good. She was wrong.

“Lea? Are you still with me?”

Alea shook her head. “Sorry. I’m really tired.”

“I heard about what Tal and those horrible guards of yours
did. Is it true that he gave them complete control over your security?”

“What?”

Yas leaned in, sympathy softening her face. “Tal released
those brutes from his service tonight and dedicated them to your protection
full time.”