Seduced by the Sheik (The Raminar Family #1)- Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,18

room early the next morning, getting out of her suite prior to the moment when that man might have come knocking. After last night’s heated gaze at her daffy duck sweatshirt…not to mention the look he’d given her when she’d come out of the bathroom in only a towel, Harper had decided that it would be much safer if she simply avoided the man. So arriving at the dining room before everyone else had been her plan.

Unfortunately, her plan failed since it seemed that everyone, including Ellora and Elsa were there in the dining room, minus “His Highness” who was conspicuously absent at the moment.

She watched in amazement as the giant she’d met at the airport held Ellora in his arms as they heaped a plate with eggs and fruit. The second giant, who had confronted her at the palace garage, was holding Elsa in much the same way, but he was a bit more enthusiastic with his serving sizes. Both girls pointed to what they wanted, and both looked a bit surprised at the new routine. But Harper also noticed that both girls’ eyes were wide with delight.

Neither spoke, although the fact that they were pointing towards the various foods on the breakfast buffet were a good sign. At least they were communicating now. The men holding the girls were much more vocal, telling their tiny charges about the various foods, adding what their mother liked or disliked, maybe adding in a story about how the mother had been forced to eat something and why.

It was a wonderful scene and Harper was a bit awed that this family was following her advice so willingly. There was also a tinge of guilt for her spurts of anger. It wasn’t that this family was actively trying to ignore the small girls. It was that the adults didn’t know any better. They’d probably been raised in the same way they are currently treating their nieces, assuming that it was normal for small children to be kept away from the family during meals. She’d heard about young children being raised by servants in wealthy families. But Harper had never seen it in action and now that she had, she didn’t like it.

This, the girls being with their family and hearing stories, being held and cuddled, was much healthier.

As soon as she stepped through the doorway, everyone stopped speaking and stared at her for a long moment. Harper immediately felt as if she were invading a private moment…which she was! And at that moment, she hung all of the miserable awkward sensations on the massively broad shoulders of one arrogant jerk!

Thankfully, after a brief moment, the two giants nodded their acknowledgement in her direction, and continued moving down the buffet table. The girls stared at her with those beautiful hazel eyes as if pleading for Harper to explain this foreign world to them. They looked concerned, almost as if they were invading a private world just as she was, and would be banished at any moment.

But when their uncles didn’t tell Harper to leave, the small girls seemed to relax a bit. Their wariness turned to relief and that was the only thing that kept her from leaving the dining room to give the family some privacy for their first meal together as a family.

“Hello!” a feminine voice interrupted her thoughts.

Harper turned and found a shockingly beautiful woman looking at her curiously.

“Hello,” Harper replied, wary and cautious. Immediately, Harper smoothed a hand awkwardly down over her boring blue shirt and navy slacks, feeling…dull in comparison. She was dressed in a sheath dress of canary yellow with matching heels that made her legs look…stunning! Her dark hair had been smoothed into a shimmering cascade over her shoulders and her makeup was flawless, enhancing her creamy skin and those hazel eyes. In comparison, Harper felt pale and sickly.

“You must be Doctor Ross,” the glorious woman said, then she smiled and Harper wanted to slink back down the hallway. This woman’s smile only improved those hazel eyes and creamy skin. The woman really was lovely, but it was the woman’s eyes that really struck a bolt of jealousy in Harper. The woman’s eyes were huge, giving Harper an idea of what Ellora and Elsa will look like in twenty years.

Realizing that she was staring, Harper shook her head, pulling herself out of her stunned silence. “Yes,” Harper finally replied, pulling back her shoulders in order to revive her flagging confidence. This woman’s beauty was hard to stand