“Oh, I think you’re going to have plenty of time.” A secretive smile crossed Piper’s face. “I really hope you can understand that we have traditions in Bezakistan that must be honored.”
“Of course.” She’d sat through many a bizarre dinner because ritual demanded it, though she refused to eat the fried goat balls everyone seemed crazy about. “I always try to honor my in-laws’ traditions.”
“Ah, but now they’re your traditions, too. You see by Bezakistani law, you aren’t merely an in-law. When I married my husbands, you became their sister. It’s why they issued you a passport. Therefore, you have dual citizenship.”
She understood that. It’s one reason she had the right to travel here freely. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m trying to say that while I had no real say in what’s about to happen, I’m kind of glad. I never got this part. My men were sneakier than yours. Yours are taking the traditional, more aggressive approach.” Piper stood in front of her, smoothing down her clothes. “Do you want some gloss? This occasion is usually marked with some photos.”
“Occasion? Photos? I was getting ready to go to bed.”
Piper just smiled. Something was afoot.
Before Tori could further question her sister, the door to her suite burst open and the Thurston-Hughes brothers strode in looking super-gorgeous and supremely satisfied. Why they looked so pleased—almost smug—she had no idea. Tori only knew that expression mirrored on their three faces scared her to death. She backed up, but had nowhere to go.
Talib, Rafe, and Kade sauntered in behind them, followed by Alea and her husbands.
Thank god. The royal guard was here. Dane, Cooper, and Lan were in their normal uniforms. They were big protectors with nice-sized guns.
Why weren’t they dragging the brothers out? Not that she wanted to see them hurt, but they did have orders not to come near her. She’d been terrified that if someone forced her to speak with them that she’d give in. Tori felt sure that would be a very bad idea, especially before she had time to think. But god, they were beautiful. She hated to see them leave again.
“Dane, be gentle with them,” she implored. “Don’t hurt them.”
The big sentry arched a single brow. “That’s not going to be a problem.”
Piper smiled as she kissed her sister on the cheek. “I’m so happy for you. Just remember that one day you’ll forgive me. And don’t forget about the stuff I put in your suitcase. Oh, I also included all your favorite hair products. They’re hard to get where you’re going.”
In Dallas? But Oliver, Callum, and Rory’s confident expressions told her she wouldn’t be stepping foot in Texas.
“What’s happening?” Tori clutched her sister’s hand.
“Perhaps you should explain, cousin,” Talib said, looking pointedly at Oliver.
Cousin? She’d never heard Tal refer to Oliver as his cousin, but Piper’s husband was clearly making a point with that form of address. Tori’s mind whirled. Bezakistanis took the family stuff seriously. She was proof of that. When a Bezakistani married, the rest of the family claimed the new spouse. Not as an in-law, but as a true child of the family.
Oh, god. Oliver had been married to Talib’s cousin. Surely that didn’t mean…
“By my rights as a Bezakistani male and a member of the royal and ruling family, I claim my bride. And by the rights of all males of this land, I choose to share her with my brothers.” Oliver sent her a sizzling stare, and Tori felt as if he saw straight through the pajamas she’d put on only an hour before. They were soft and warm, and she’d thought about the fact that nothing had felt better against her skin than their hands. Nothing ever would.
Now she felt stripped and bare.
“What’s going on?” she demanded again.
Talib ignored her, choosing to stand in front of Oliver. Maybe now her brother-in-law would explain that whatever Oliver thought he was doing wouldn’t work.
Talib laid a hand on Oliver’s head. “In lieu of your father, I will stand in his stead and I also stand for my sister. Take her with my blessings. As is our law, you have thirty days to convince her. Our brides might be stolen, but they are no slaves. The bride of a royal must be wooed and won in the allotted time or released to find a more suitable mate. I suggest you use this time to brand her with pleasure and chain her with affection.”
“I don’t want to be branded or chained,” Tori protested. This had to be some weird dream. It couldn’t be happening. “I’m a girl from Texas. We don’t get stolen. Well, if we do, the law tends to object. You can’t expect me to go with you because there’s some outdated, barbaric ritual that shouldn’t apply to me.”
“The laws of this country very much apply to you, sister,” Talib said as Kade and Rafe stepped to either side of her wearing smirks that infuriated her.
Was she being herded toward the Brits? “This is a joke, right? You people know it’s the twenty-first century and this is technically a crime.”
Talib stepped forward. “Not in this country. And you’ll find now that Oliver Thurston-Hughes and his brothers have full Bezakistani citizenship. I believe they intend to take you somewhere private for your concubine period.”
“My concubine period?” Holy shit. They were serious. According to law—ancient and slightly barbaric law—a Bezakistani royal was allowed to steal a wanted bride. She then became the concubine of the bride-thieving brothers and they had one month to use just about any means necessary to convince her to stay with them. If she chose to leave at the end, her wishes would be granted and she suffered no social dishonor.
How did they convince the bride? With pleasure. With sex. With long nights of seduction.
Everything about this idea was horrible. A terrifying joke. She was in love with them. If she gave them thirty days of intimacy, she would never be able to leave.
“You decide, but I hope you make the right choice. I hope you choose love over fear.” Piper hugged her, then stood beside Talib. “I wish you well. And smile because the photographer is right outside. Private only. I know I wish I had pictures, but they never did the whole tying me up thing.”
Talib smiled down at his bride. “I’ve made up for it, my love. I tie you up as often as possible. I believe our sister is going to do something foolish now.”
Hell, yes, she was. She made a break for it. If she could get to the bathroom, she could lock herself in. Pure panic threatened. She sprinted toward the bathroom, her bare feet pounding across the marble.
Before she could make it, a strong arm banded around her middle, pulling her back against a hard, muscled chest.
“Give me a chance, darling. Give me ten minutes alone with you and if you don’t agree with everything I have to say, I’ll let you go. You can spend your thirty days here and we won’t bother you again,” Oliver vowed, his breath against her ear.
She breathed in his scent. Spicy and male and clean. It had been less than twenty-four hours since she’d touched him, and she’d missed him like they’d been apart for years. Her body betrayed her, folding back against him. The arm around her middle tightened, and she found herself leaning on his strength. “You can’t steal me, Oliver.”
“I can, but I won’t. Give us ten minutes. You owe that to us.”
Shame washed over her. He was right about that. Tori wondered if she’d made a terrible mistake. She was so confused, but was she making it better or worse by shutting them out? “All right. But you have to promise you’ll let me go at the end.”
“If you don’t drop to your knees at the end and ask us to take you away, we’ll leave you here. The concubine period will expire in thirty days, and this trial marriage will be over. You can tell Talib you refuse the suit and go on with your life.”
“We can all go on with our lives,” she said.
“Not us,” Oliver replied. “I don’t know what we’ll do, but we’ll love you until the day we die.”
She turned, squirming her way out of his arms so she could
see his face. “You don’t use that word, Oliver.”
He sighed. “I must. There isn’t another word that comes close. I didn’t know what it meant until you. Until now. Not really. But I realize love means being brave. Love means taking a chance. I love you. If you leave, I’ll lose the best piece of myself.”
“If you leave, I’ll wait for you to come back,” Rory promised. He moved in behind her. “I’ll wait however long it takes because there’s only one woman in the world for me.”
“I’ll move to Dallas.” Callum put a hand in her hair. “You’ll have to see me every day and know that I’m waiting for you to wake up and take what I offer you. What I will only ever offer to you. Look me in the eyes and tell me last night meant nothing. Then maybe, just maybe I can walk away, but I won’t be whole again because last night was everything to me. Last night was the night my life really began.”
This was why she’d guarded her door. She’d known they would say things to make her melt. To weaken her defenses. To persuade her to take a chance on them—and love.
She would have thirty days to figure out if they could make the marriage work. Thirty days to find out how brave she could be.
Tori dropped to her knees. “I don’t need ten minutes. Take me away, Masters. I can’t promise that I’ll stay, but I will promise that I’ll try.”
As they smiled down at her, she wondered if she hadn’t just sealed her fate.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Callum stared at the screen of his tablet, wishing he could reach through it and strangle whoever dreamed this shit up on the other side. The limo moved through the small village on the edge of their country estate. It wouldn’t be long before they arrived. The flight from Bezakistan had taken them to a private airport where they’d been met by the limo currently whisking them to their solitude. Claire had already arrived and was preparing for their stay.
He suspected his sister might be their ace in the hole. For the next month, he and his brothers were supposed to be spending time convincing their new bride this marriage could work, but he rather thought Tori would enjoy having another woman to talk to. She’d grown up with a sister. Claire could be like another.
Unfortunately, Claire couldn’t clean up the disaster that had been waiting for them when they’d arrived back in the UK and hit the tarmac.
The press had been out in full force. He’d hoped that since Tori’s “exposé” had run the day before, the tabloids had found someone new to torment. But Tori was front page news again. Someone had snapped a picture of her at the palace ball wearing an angry sneer while he and his brother surrounded her. The headline read: Gold digger mistress to three of Britain’s elite?
How could she be a bloody gold digger? She was the sister-in-law to three of the world’s richest men. She had wealth at her fingertips.
Of course, the article wasn’t much nicer to the rest of them. It recounted the trouble from Oliver’s first marriage and hinted that he was after the al Mussad fortune for revenge. Callum wasn’t sure why anyone thought Oliver needed the money or how both Ollie and Tori could both be perceived as greedy. Naturally, the tabloid also accused Callum of heartlessly choosing Tori over the mother of his unborn child. Despite Talib’s best intentions, the Thea story was still causing damage and likely would for many months to come. If she was pregnant—and he didn’t believe she was—Thea would play the role of jilted lover up to the birth. If not, he could bet she would claim a miscarriage brought on by all the stress.
The time had come to deal with her head-on. He hadn’t given a damn before, but now he had to think about Tori.
Rory leaned over, keeping his voice as low as possible. “I’m hoping Tori doesn’t see that. Once we get to the country house, we can turn off the Internet and tell the staff to keep the papers away.”
He looked across the car to where Tori was asleep, her head on Oliver’s shoulder. From the moment she’d dropped to her knees and asked them to take her away, one of them kept a hand on her at all times. They’d decided to put off her punishment and any play until they arrived safely in the country, but they weren’t foolish enough to give Tori a moment alone.
“You’re the only one who comes out of it all right,” Callum murmured.
Rory’s eyes rolled. “You’re joking, right? They imply I’m the idiot who’s giving into your lust and Oliver’s greed because I’m too stupid to think for myself. Ridiculous. The more pressing concern is Thea.”
Callum sighed and pushed the tablet away. “As much as I hate it, it’s time to pay her off.”
“We tried it before,” Rory warned. “Perhaps if we raise the payment, she’ll bite. She must know that we won’t be throwing Tori over for her, especially after we’ve just traveled to Bezakistan to bring our girl home. Maybe that’s the shot of reality Thea needs. I know you hate paying her for something like this, but it’s the quickest way. She signs a nondisclosure, and we still get our paternity test. If the child is yours, we agree to pay child support, but she can’t ever talk to the press about you or your family again.”
“We won’t owe child support.” God, Callum hoped they at least believed him about that.
“I know, but we’ll have to put some language like that in the contract. I’ll be honest, I think she’s a bit unstable. We need to treat her as if her story could be true. Once she signs that document, she won’t be able to discuss the incident and it will be over.”
Callum nodded. They had more important things to talk about.
“What do you think happened to him?” He gestured Oliver’s way.
Their older brother seemed like a different person. Not the Oliver before Yasmin, but not the shell he’d been after, either. This man had walked through the fire and forged a new strength. He’d certainly taken charge of Tori. He hadn’t backed down or blended into the background.
A ghost of a smile crossed Rory’s lips. “Alea happened. I talked to her before we left. Apparently Ollie didn’t remember the night as well as he believed. He thought he’d given up.”
“I can’t imagine that,” Callum muttered.
He’d never read the reports. They were too bloody, too real. He hated thinking about that day. He’d gotten the call in the locker room and walked out on a match. It had been the only time he’d missed one for anything other than injury. But he’d walked away because his brother needed him. That flight had been the longest of his life. He hadn’t known if his brother was alive or dead.
“At least it appears that he’s stopped believing Tori is anything like Yasmin. Not that the latest news cycle is going to help.”
“What are they saying now?” Tori yawned sleepily. “You two aren’t as quiet as you think you are.”
Oliver stretched as she sat up. “They never have been. Cal’s indoor voice resembles most people shouting.”
Callum winced. Maybe that was something he should work on.
“Come here, love.” He patted his thigh and found his lap full of soft, sweet woman in no time at all. Tori wrapped her arms around his neck and cuddled against him. He had to ask the one question he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to. “Are you going to use these thirty days to fuck us out of your system?”
She stiffened but didn’t move off his lap. “Not intentionally.”
Rory huffed. “I thought this was over.”
The little minx actually cuddled closer to him. “I need time to figure a few things out.”
“What are you afraid of?” Oliver moved to a closer seat. “I don’t understand. We’ve made our intentions plain. You can’t think we’re using you for sex.”
“I’m beginning to suspect she’s using us for sex,” Rory accused.
She shook her head. “It’s not like that.”
“What is it like, then?” Callum was determined to get to the bottom of whatever stood between them. “Because from where I was sitting, it looks like you used us. You were ready to leave.”
“And I was already thinking about ways I could get back in contact
with you.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “I don’t know that I can handle the intensity of what I feel for you. If anything happened to one of you, I would be devastated.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Rory said. “Sweetheart, anything can happen at any moment. You can’t live your life trying to avoid pain. You avoid joy and happiness, too. It’s no way to live.”
“That’s what my sister says. I’m trying to…assimilate her advice. Believe it. I also can’t stand the thought of my life being plastered on the pages of a magazine. I’ve seen how that affects people,” she explained. “And I doubt the papers will leave us alone. There was another story today, right?”
Callum smoothed back her hair, his stare delving into hers. “If we don’t comment and act as if nothing is wrong, they’ll let it go. Some other scandal will crop up. I’ve been in the public eye since I signed my first contract at eighteen. When I act up, they come out like locusts, and for a while, I can do no right. Eventually, if I lay low, they go away. It’s not right, but it is true. They will get bored with us. We’ll live quietly and all of this will fade. Yes, there will be questions, and some people