She huffed a little. “It was easy to get to know you. I just had to search your name on the internet to come up with a thousand and one al Mussad girlfriends.”
He deserved that. And it was probably more than a thousand and one, but he appreciated the irony. “I wasn’t talking about that. I want to just spend time with you. To hear your stories and to tell you mine. Though I won’t be telling you the dating stories since you already know them.”
Rafe gave her a smooth smile, the one that let Kade know he was about to be thrown under the bus. “I did not date as much. I was too busy with school.”
Kade let his eyes roll. “Yes, he’s the perfect angel, Piper. Whatever you do, don’t look up the words Rafiq and Spanish night club.”
His brother huffed. “You did not have to tell her that.”
“Already seen the video.” Piper sipped her tea, calm once more. “I can’t believe you didn’t get arrested.”
Rafe shrugged. “The police in Barcelona are very forgiving when the bribe is big enough. And I could not know they had cameras behind the DJ booth. I thought we were alone.”
“Yes, it was just him and three girls. Totally alone.” Kade grew serious. “No. I wasn’t talking about our past scandals. I was thinking about what happened to Talib and how it still affects him today. Piper, if you would just give him time. He’s been through a lot.”
She turned to him, her face blanching a bit. Her hands shook lightly as she put the tea back on the tray. “Are you talking about the rebels taking him captive?”
It was inevitable she would read about that. The family had attempted to keep it quiet, but the radicals had released videos of Talib al Mussad broken and battered and silent.
“Yes.” Kade sighed. Though it happened years before, he could still feel the panic of the day. “Tal had gone to one of the drill sites. He used to do it once a month. He prefers to be hands on, and he enjoyed being with the workers. Our fathers had us working rigs by the time we were sixteen. Tal especially enjoyed getting his hands dirty. They found out where he was going to be and they showed up with twenty men. They killed Tal’s security detail and many of our employees. They took him and his personal assistant.”
Lily. A pretty British girl he’d met at University. Kade had brought her back to Bezakistan. He’d never been serious about her. She’d been too needy for Kade, but he’d known what she could give his brother right away. What he didn’t tell Piper was that Lily had been more than an assistant. She’d been Talib’s submissive for many months before they had been kidnapped. After his release, Tal had never spoken of her again, but Kade had read the reports.
“She died.” The words fell out of Piper’s lips like a lodestone pulling her down. She shook her head. “Sorry. I got a little dizzy just thinking about it. Do you think he had to watch?”
Rafe took her hand in his. “Yes, habibti. I believe they forced my brother to watch her torture. It was part of his own.”
“Did he love her?” Piper asked.
Kade shook his head. She picked up on much more than he gave her credit for. “Not at all. He cared about her, felt responsible for her. He had a relationship with her that went beyond mere employment, but he didn’t love her.”
She put a hand to her head, her voice trembling just a bit. “The articles I read about the kidnapping all said Tal was fine.”
“We kept the press far away. The American military helped. A SEAL team was sent in. They fought their way in, lost a few men. When it all shook out, my brother and one of the SEALs, a man named Cole Lennox, got separated from the team. They were pursued for days until Cole was able to get him back into the country.”
“He wasn’t being held here?” Piper asked.
“No. He was taken to a neighboring country. It’s why the American military was so willing to keep it quiet. No one wants this part of the world to destabilize,” Rafe explained. “So the story the press got was that Talib was able to escape on his own about two weeks after his actual rescue. We cleaned him up, and he didn’t go in front of a camera until he could smile and be something like his old self.”
Kade thought about the hollow shell his brother had been those days after his rescue. He’d sat in his bed, silent and unblinking for days as though trapped in a private hell. “I don’t think he’s recovered even today, habibti. So, please, give this some time. Please give us a chance.”
“I don’t know.” She tried to stand. “I need a minute.”
Kade stood with her. “Piper, sit back down, please. You look so pale. Rafiq, she needs to eat.”
“I can’t. Oh, help. I think I’m going to…”
She never finished the sentence. She passed out, her body dropping like a marionette puppet that had just had its strings cut. Kade caught her in his arms as Rafe shouted for help.
Chapter Eleven
Talib looked down at his concubine as she lay sleeping. She was frail, more fragile than he’d ever seen her. He realized one of the things he loved about Piper was her strength.
Liked. He liked that about her. He wasn’t going to love her at all, damn it. He couldn’t.
“She is fine, Your Highness.” The doctor who had delivered him stood at the head of his bed. Dr. Haumoud was someone Tal trusted implicitly. “I took some blood. I’m going to have it tested for toxins, but I believe she has just had a couple of very stressful days. Her heart rate has returned to normal. She is resting now.”
Yes, she was resting, but he doubted this was anything so simple as stress. The future shaykhah becoming violently ill on the day after her betrothal was far too coincidental for his tastes. “Thank you, Doctor. We will take very good care of her. Please contact me the minute you know anything at all.”
Piper’s chest moved up and down in a graceful symphony of life. Tal couldn’t help but stare down at her and wonder what she was dreaming. Was she wondering what her life would have been like if they hadn’t brought her here?
He stepped back out into the living area of the suite he now shared with his brothers and Piper. It was full. Rafe and Kade paced, both of his brothers pale with worry. Alea stood near the window. Dane and Cooper were talking quietly, conferring together. Landon leaned against the wall, his eyes on Alea. The big guard didn’t seem to be able to focus on anything except Alea.