The Tycoon's Captured Heart (21 page)

Ava couldn’t believe what was happening and glared at her handsome husband.  The look said, “Fix this,” and he had absolutely no idea how to accomplish that.  He could direct armies and knew how to battle seen and unseen enemies, but the foibles of little girls and their brothers?  He was lost.  

Jiran knew what his wife was thinking and laughed, lifting his free hand into the air.  “You’re the one who demanded daughters!” he announced. 

Ava looked over at Ciala who was acting like she was escaping punishment.  The boys were glaring at her as if they were about to dump her into a muddy pit and the nanny was still not sure what to do. 

“Girls were supposed to be easier,” she grumbled. 

“Hey brat!” Rais said as he walked into Shantra’s bedroom.  He’d just come back from university and was amazed at how much he’d missed his annoying sisters. 

Shantra was sitting in the middle of her bed, tears streaming down her eyes and his entire body went into battle mode.  “What’s wrong, Shantra?”  he demanded, moving quickly to the side of her bed.

Shantra looked up at her big brother as heavy tears rolled down her cheeks.  “You’re home!” she said and stood up, throwing herself into his arms. 

Rais caught his baby sister in his arms and held her close, but he still wasn’t sure what had hurt her.  “Shantra, tell me what happened.  Why are you so sad?”

Her skinny arms tightened around his neck.  “He’s married!” she sobbed. 

Rais heard a noise and turned to see that Ramzi and Turk had just entered the room as well.  He couldn’t turn to fully face his brothers, but the look in his eyes told them enough.  “Honey, who got married?” he asked, trying to figure out what was going on. 

She pulled back, her dramatic flair for life in full evidence.  “The man I’m in love with!  He married another woman!  He wouldn’t wait for me!”  And with that announcement, she flopped onto her bed once more, an arm draping over her eyes as she sobbed out her desolation. 

“Who did you fall in love with?” Turk demanded, his arms fisted at his waist.  “I’m going to kill him!”

“You can’t!” Shantra sobbed.  “I’d rather he be happy than dead.  He deserves to be happy.  He’s given me so much happiness already in my life.”  She sighed once more.  “I suppose it was too much to ask that he wait another four years for me.”

Ramzi’s mind was spinning.  “What happens in four years?” he asked, still trying to figure out how a man had gotten through palace security enough times to make his baby sister fall in love with him.  “Was it one of the guards?”  That would make sense.  The guard would be fired, but at least it would make sense.

Shantra pulled her arm away from her eyes.  “A guard?  Are you kidding?  Those men are old!” she said with disdain. 

The three brothers stared at their baby sister, at a complete loss. 

Ciala stepped into the room and squealed when she saw the three of them together.  “You’re home!” she said and raced across the room to hug each of them.  “I can’t believe you’re home!  And you didn’t come by to say anything to me!”

“We were on our way but something is wrong with Shantra,” Rais said. 

All four of them turned back around, looking at Shantra who looked desolate. 

Ciala rolled her eyes.  “Ignore her.  That gross-looking rock star, Dakota Lafayette, married over the weekend and she’s upset because she says that she would have loved him more, if only he’d waited until she was eighteen and old enough to marry.”

Ramzi, Rais and Turk all puffed up.  “She’s not marrying anyone at eighteen!” Rais commanded.  Ramzi and Turk both nodded their heads. 

“I’m never marrying,” Shantra said with additional drama.  “I’ll never love any man again!  It hurts too much.”  A fresh bout of tears streamed down her cheeks. 

Ramzi, Turk and Rais all looked at her, then at each other.  Then the three of them turned to Ciala for an explanation. 

“Just ignore her,” she said.  “She’ll get over Dakata’s betrayal.  Shantra was in love with Mark Washington last week.  This latest obsession is new.”

Turk didn’t understand.  “Who the hell are Dakota Lafayette and Mark Washington?”

“And how did they get into the palace?” Ramzi demanded.

Ciala laughed softly.  “Shantra has never met them.  They are rock singers she’s only obsessing about.  Don’t worry about it.  She’ll move on and by next week, there will be another guy.”

Shantra stood up and jumped off of her bed, unaware of the pictures that tumbled to the floor in the process.  “I’m going to the kitchen to smother my heartbreak with chocolate ice cream.  Anyone want to join me?” she asked. 

Ramzi shook his head.  “Do we have to be in love with someone to join her?”

Ciala snorted.  “Like the three of you would ever fall in love with just one woman,” and she walked out the door, more than ready to eat chocolate ice cream if it would help her little sister get over this latest drama.  “I think the chef made those chocolate chip cookies too,” she told the guys. 

“She’s right about falling in love,” Turk mumbled.  “No way!”

Ramzi grimaced.  “Too many women to love before we have to marry.”

“And even then, there’s always a wealth of possibilities,” Rais agreed. 

The three young men laughed as they followed their little sisters down the hallway to the kitchen.  Love, they scoffed.  They would never fall victim to that girly emotion they all silently vowed. 

Book one in The Samara Royal Family Series

Mia Fortelle stared up at the beautiful dress on display with longing, completely oblivious to the biting, cold wind or the other pedestrians rushing around her.  “Goodness, wouldn’t that be lovely,” Mia sighed as she looked through the store’s window, practically drooling over the beautiful coat made of warm, red wool.  Or it might be cashmere.  Mia had no idea, nor could she afford either.  In fact, she couldn’t afford anything more than a wistful stare through the window.  That particular coat from this designer probably cost as much as a whole month’s salary.  Possibly even two months’, she thought with grim acceptance as she pulled her boring, brown tweed coat closer around her body, trying to stave off the frigid cold of yet another brutal Montreal winter.  A teacher’s salary wasn’t a whole lot so a month’s paycheck probably wouldn’t cover that coat.  Maybe the scarf, she thought with a chuckle. 

“You should get it,” a deep voice said to her right.

Mia spun around to smile politely.  She’d anticipated possibly the store manager or maybe just a passerby. 

What she hadn’t anticipated, never could have imagined, was looking into the eyes of the most amazing man she’d ever seen in her life.  Tall, extremely tall, with black hair and dark eyes, tanned skin, a hard nose and even harder jawline that was a bit darker than the rest of his face as his end-of-day beard made its presence known. 

He was shockingly attractive and her body shivered once again, but this time, it wasn’t because of the cold.  It was because of the man, his eyes, the way he was looking at her and the swell of feminine awareness that crept up inside of her with this man standing so close. 

She opened her mouth to speak, but the words wouldn’t come.  She was stunned by the amazing, shocking appeal of this man and not sure how to deal with such raw masculinity. 

This wasn’t the kind of man she normally dealt with during her day.  The most masculine man she’d come across during her weekly errands was the rough guy behind the meat counter with an enormous belly and a net over his beard. 

This man was…he was…beyond words.  He was compelling in a sensual, erotic way that instantly made her body throb with the need to press herself against him and find out what his mouth would feel like against her lips. 

Never before had any man affected her so strongly and so instantly. 

And he terrified her!  She wasn’t the kind of woman who could handle a man like him! 

“I’m sorry,” she said and bowed her head, starting to step around him so that she could hurry home.  She stopped at this store every day, looking at the beautiful clothes that were changed out about every two weeks.  It wasn’t even that she could wear those clothes, she told herself firmly as she prepared to walk away.  Those clothes, and this man, were way out of her league.  She was bowling alley, onion rings and movie theatre popcorn while this man was ballrooms, caviar and the best champagne.  His tan, cashmere coat looked soft and warm as did the silk-lined scarf around his neck.  The freezing wind was blowing his black hair, but she could tell that even that was an expensive haircut.  Everything about him screamed wealth and power – two things she didn’t have, nor could she ever have with her career goals. 

And that was okay!  She loved her job, loved her kids and thrived on teaching.  What wasn’t okay was the nervous way this man made her feel even as he stood two feet away from her.  She didn’t like the way her knees wobbled or her heart pounded inside her chest.

“Please don’t go,” his deep voice urged and she felt his gloved hand reach out to gently touch the sleeve of her coat.  Even through the thick layer of her winter coat as well as the sleeve of her sweater underneath, she still could feel the heat of his fingers and it was like a shock wave smashing through her senses. 

Looking up into his dark eyes, she was so startled, she wasn’t sure what to say. 

“Have dinner with me tonight,” he urged.

Mia shivered, those dark eyes promising her so much more than dinner.  And a very large part of her brain wondered if she should accept.  Just once in her life, she wanted to live on the wild side, to experience the kind of excitement this man’s eyes promised. 

She opened her mouth to accept, to tell him yes and to find out more of that promise.  But instead of agreeing to dinner, she shook her head.  “I can’t,” she finally said even though she desperately wanted to say yes, which didn’t make any sense since all of her instincts were telling her to run away from this dangerous man.  Why would she even hesitate?  Why was she still standing here?  Why was she looking up at this man as if she wanted to…do things that were so very wrong?

“Can’t?” he asked with a slight uplifting of those firm lips.

Ramzi watched the woman’s eyes, saw the indecision and knew that he was going to have this woman.  He’d been watching her for several minutes, captured by the beautiful profile as she gazed into the window of the store.  He wanted her.  He couldn’t tell what her body was like because of the cheap, ugly winter coat, but he suspected she would be perfect.  He was determined to find out just how perfect she really was.  He actually had to restrain himself from reaching out and touching her porcelain skin. 

And those eyes!  They looked like sparkling aquamarine gems surrounded by a thick fan of dark lashes.  Everything this beautiful, entrancing woman was thinking was revealed in those shining depths.  Never before had he seen such a color and he knew he could lose himself in that aquamarine gaze. 

“I don’t think ‘can’t’ is in my vocabulary,” he teased.  He caught the slight smile on her full lips a moment before she tried to hide it but it gave him courage.  She started to step backwards but he took her hand, noticed the trembling even through her leather glove.  “I’m not going to hurt you and I’m sorry if I’m scaring you.  That isn’t my intention at all.  I just would like to get to know you.”  He paused slightly.  “Perhaps if you just gave me your name, I would be satisfied.”

Mia laughed despite her nervousness.  “I have a sneaking suspicion that giving you my name might only encourage you.”  She knew that he was teasing her but she was so out of her depth with his kind of charm.  “I have to go,” she said through stiff lips. 

“Is your husband waiting for you?” he asked, once again stepping in her path so she had to stop. 

The lovely woman immediately shook her head.  “I’m not married,” she replied quickly. 

Something relaxed inside of him.  “Boyfriend then?” he asked carefully.  He wasn’t willing to step into a marriage, but a boyfriend could be dismissed. 

“I don’t…” she started to say, then shook her head again.  “I’m sorry, but I don’t know you and I don’t normally talk to strangers.  My only excuse is that you’re very charming and extremely handsome.  But even so, you’ll have to excuse me,” she said and once again moved to step around him. 

Ramzi allowed her to leave this time but he nodded to his bodyguard, indicating that the man should follow the woman with the dazzling eyes and the delightful smile.  “We’ll meet again,” he told her, enjoying the way she peeked back towards him.  And there it was, he thought with relish.  A barely-there smile.  Some might even say a challenging smile.  That’s all the encouragement he needed.

Well, he didn’t even need that.  He was confident enough to believe he could overcome any objections she might have to their relationship, but the smile helped.  It told him so much more than just a smile.  It told him that she was interested. 

Ah, little lady, he thought, your days are numbered.  We will be together.

By six o’clock that evening, he had a file folder with the woman’s information and he sat down with a glass of scotch to read. 

In his experience, women were fickle, gravitating to the man who would give them the most but ready to move on to the next if something better entered their periphery.  Normally, he was the “something better” that women eyed.  Too many times, he’d seen women hanging off of one man’s arm only to get him in their sites and abandon their date/lover/husband. 

He knew that he was cynical about the world.  And there were probably women out there who weren’t so mercenary.  But so far, he hadn’t run into one of them.  Was this lovely Mia of the loyal-never-before-experienced members of the female gender? 

He doubted it.  He wasn’t that lucky, he thought with cynicism. 

She was certainly lovely enough to explore though. 

She was twenty-four years old, two years out of university and working on her master’s degree in education.  She received excellent annual evaluations from both her supervisors as well as several letters of thanks from grateful parents of students in her class and, according to the interviews from some of the parents of her students, they all loved her.  Her bank balance was painfully low, she had sadly lost both of her parents several years ago and was an only child.  He absently wondered if she ever got lonely now that she was alone in the world. 

Moving further into the quickly compiled report, he read through the list of her professional associations, all very impressive, plus several articles that she’d had published during her years at university as well as several more published in professional journals more recently. 

The information was revealing, he thought as he set the file aside, but not nearly enough.  The file didn’t tell him all that he wanted to know.  Soon, he thought.  He’d get all of the information about his mysterious, shy lady very soon.

He didn’t question why he needed details about this particular woman when in the past, his relationships had always remained much more superficial.  A beautiful woman, intelligent conversation and a sensuous nature were all that he wanted or required from his female companionship.  Well, and the ability to forget her when his interest waned. 

He suspected that Ms. Fortelle was going to be a much more fascinating companion than his previous lovers had been. 

The following day, Mia stood in her classroom doorway and stared at the enormous bouquet of pink roses sitting on her desk.  She didn’t want to touch them but kept telling herself that they weren’t poisonous, that a snake wasn’t going to jump out to bite her and there was no spider lurking within the beautiful blooms, ready to attack. 

They were just flowers.  Simple, beautiful flowers.  Pink roses.  No cliché red roses from that man. 

Of course, the flowers might have been from someone else, she thought.  They could be from that guy she’d met at the coffee shop last week, the one with the weird dimple in the middle of one cheek but not the other.  They could be from that professor she’d spoken to at the teaching conference last month, the one where everyone had been bored out of their minds.  He’d been a very handsome man, if slightly more lean than the man who had occupied her thoughts and her dreams for the past twenty hours. 

“Are we going into the classroom, Ms. Fortelle?” one of her students asked.

Mia looked behind her, realized that her class was still standing outside in the hallway.  She’d just walked all of them back from their music class and was trying to mentally prepare for their afternoon math session when she’d spotted the flowers that had been placed on the corner of her desk.

“Oooh!  Ms. Fortelle got flowers!” one of the girls exclaimed, rushing past Mia and wiggling between the desks until she was standing at the corner of Mia’s desk where the roses were perched.  With that announcement, chaos erupted with all of the students trying to catch a glimpse at the evidence of their favorite teacher’s romantic life. 

As she stood in the doorway, Mia felt several of them crowding around her, some bumping into her back and hips in their effort to see the flowers.  She knew it was time to get them settled down to their math work but she was actually afraid to enter the classroom, afraid of what the flowers meant. 

Two other teachers sidled up to Mia, almost as excited as the kids.  “Got a new hunk?” one of the other teachers asked with a knowing smile on her face. 

The other teacher, older by about ten years, only smirked with cynicism.  “Don’t get used to it, honey.  Just enjoy the flowers now because the men don’t continue those sweet little gestures later on.  Once they have that ring on your finger, romance goes out the door.  Along with a lot of other fun stuff,” and she chuckled to herself as she continued walking down the hallway to her own classroom.

Mia shook herself and accepted that she was being silly.  The flowers could be from anyone!  Besides, the handsome man from the street yesterday wouldn’t know where she worked.  They’d barely spoken!  He didn’t even know her name, much less where she worked or even her occupation! 

She was being ridiculous and class needed to start.  “Okay everyone, settle down and find your seats,” she called out, stepping into the room and watching as all of her students crowded in, some of them properly going to their seats but a stubborn group still hovered around her desk, wanting to touch the delicate blossoms. 

“To your seats,” she called out again, this time with a stern tone of voice.  The students heard the authority in her voice this time and followed directions, moving quickly over to their chairs but still looking back at the flowers with longing.  The girls were wishing that they had a beau who would send them flowers while the boys were wondering…well, she had no idea what little boys thought of flowers.  Probably that they were stinky.  She suspected that their opinions wouldn’t change as they aged but they would understand the significance to a woman.  At least, she hoped that would happen.