Seduced by the Sheik (The Raminar Family #1)- Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,19

next to, she thought.

“Thank you for coming and helping us with the girls,” she whispered, her gaze moving towards her nieces. “I confess, I’ve been so wrapped up in my own grief over losing my only sister, I sort of…” she stopped and swallowed, those dangerously long lashes lowering over her eyes for a brief moment before she opened them again, taking a deep breath. “Well, I was wrong. We are so grateful to you for pointing out the deficiencies in how we have been treating the girls.”

Harper opened her mouth to reply, but the woman’s eyes filled with tears and she shook her head again. “Please, excuse me.”

A moment later, she was gone. There was a strange silence in the room and Harper turned away from the empty doorway to look at the two hulking men who were still holding the small girls. All of them were looking in the same direction, but the girls’ eyes were shadowed again.

The men shared a glance over the girls’ heads, lips compressed. But a moment later, they rallied and hefted the girls higher in their enormous arms. “Well, that was strange, wasn’t it?” one of them asked.

Harper wasn’t sure which had spoken. Come to think of it, she had no idea what to call these men! She knew one of them was Prince Gaelen but…what was the other’s name? How did a non-royal address a prince? Was there a protocol in speaking with royalty? With eating?

The men seemed to realize the omission at that same moment and stepped forward, placing their now-filled plates on the table before extending their hands. “I’m Gaelen,” the first one said and shook Harper’s hand warmly. “Welcome. We should have greeted you more politely on your first day.”

The man had a long scar down one cheek, but that didn’t diminish his powerfully raw handsomeness. Harper was relieved that she didn’t feel the same kind of nervous attraction for either of these men that she felt for their older brother. That sensation whenever he was around was a bit exhausting, in her opinion.

The other man stepped forward, shifting Elsa on his hip. “I’m Tarin,” he explained, enveloping her hand in his much larger one. “And the woman who just rushed out of here is our baby sister, Talia.”

Harper looked up at him, wondering if it was just a trick of the light, or if he was as cold as he appeared. And yet, there was something in his eyes…or maybe it was the way one eyebrow quirked slightly? She wasn’t sure, but there was something about this man that seemed cold as well as amused.

And yet…as she stared up into those familiar hazel eyes…she couldn’t really dismiss that notion.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness.”

The man’s eyes warmed as he smiled. “Please, no titles here in the dining room. We’re just family here,” he said, then turned to Elsa. “Right?”

The small child looked at him, then, miraculously, she nodded seriously.

A small shock wave echoed through the room at that small gesture. But the adults tried to act normally.

The big men set the girls down in the dining room chairs, sitting on booster seats to lift them high enough to reach the table, then moved back to the breakfast buffet to fill their own plates.

Gaelen waved her deeper into the dining room, towards the buffet table. “Come, Doctor Ross. Get something to eat. We heard that you had a hard day yesterday.”

Harper pulled back, remembering Amit’s question about her day last night. “I didn’t!” she gasped. “I mean, well, yes, it was difficult but…,” she paused, looking at the man curiously. “Who told you that?” she demanded suddenly, wondering if Amit had gossiped to his brothers.

“We heard it from your assistant. She said that the interviews yesterday were difficult and emotional,” Gaelen admitted, putting a ripe berry on Elsa’s plate. The little girl gobbled it up, and he winked at her. He then did the same thing to Ellora. Obviously, Ellora was the more cautious of the twins and glanced at her sister for approval. With a barely detectable nod, Elsa showed that it was okay. She also ate the berry, although with a bit more decorum.

The three adults at the table watched the whole scene while ostensibly talking about something else. But as Ellora ate the berry, there was a stunned moment of surprise. And understanding! Harper noticed that the two men hadn’t understood their nieces’ personalities in such a way. In most relationships, there was a