Seduced by the Sheik (The Raminar Family #1)- Elizabeth Lennox Page 0,9

office, assuming she’d follow. He heard her scrambling behind him and, normally he’d keep going and let the other person catch up. His daily schedule was painfully tight with someone always needing “just a moment” of his time. Amit disdained any waste of his precious day, but for some strange reason, he turned and waited, his hand resting on the doorknob.

Ten minutes later, Harper watched in stupefaction as two little girls, almost identical with their dark hair and creamy skin and huge dark eyes, politely stood up from their desks and formally bowed to the enormous man standing next to her.

In response, “His Highness” bowed right back and with equal formality. “Ellora, Elsa, I’d like to introduce you to Doctor Ross. She is here to observe for a few days. I hope that both of you will be on your best behavior.”

Harper almost choked. These were five year old girls, weren’t they? And yet, they looked almost frail, their hazel eyes huge in their small, gaunt faces. Were they eating? Were they sleeping well? She wasn’t sure, but their dual stoic expressions told her that they weren’t thriving.

“Thank you,” she replied. She wanted to punch him, but that wouldn’t establish herself a good role model. Still, she was furious that the man hadn’t bent down on one knee and given each of them a gentle hug and perhaps a few words of encouragement. Hell, he should be doing that five or six times a day! He should be carrying them around in those huge arms of his, showing them that he understood their pain and shared it!

Ugh! Men!

In acknowledgement, he tilted his head slightly. “Feel free to stay as long as you need with the girls. I expect a report from you on your plan of action over dinner tonight.”

With that, he left, leaving Harper to gape at his retreating back.

But he didn’t feel her anger or shock. Instead, the formidably tall man simply left the nursery without showing any affection towards his nieces, both of whom stared after him with achingly blank expressions on their small faces.

“Let us get back to our lessons, Your Highnesses,” a new voice called out.

Harper turned to discover another woman, about thirty years Harper’s senior, herding the two girls away from the door and back to their desks. “Okay, what were we discussing before that delightful interruption?” the older woman asked.

Both girls stared silently at the woman.

Their tutor seemed oblivious to their silence and simply continued with her cheery instruction. “We were talking about the various animals in the world. So how about if we…” and she started in on a lecture about the sizes and speeds of the big cats in Africa.

Harper didn’t want to interrupt, despite her surprise at the subject matter. These two small girls should be working on their large motor skills. They were five years old and should be on the floor playing with blocks or some other sort of toy. Not sitting through tedious lecture-style lessons. Even adults struggled with this style of learning.

And yet, Harper didn’t interrupt. Instead, she sat in the back of the room and took notes. The room was dull and colorless, obviously professionally decorated, but not with colors that might inspire learning. It had words on the walls, but there were very few toys. The girls’ lessons segued from animals to foreign languages. Harper had no issues with this sort of lesson. She knew that small children soaked up different languages like sponges. These two already spoke English perfectly, apparently, in addition to their native Arabic, plus they were also learning Spanish and French. Fascinating!

Next, the girls worked on arithmetic and had a spelling lesson in which they were required to write down the words the tutor recited to them. Harper would have thought that children this young couldn’t even write! A glance at their letters proved that she was correct. The letters were barely recognizable.

After several hours of this, the girls were led off by their nanny for riding lessons. Harper thought that was sweet, even though she hated the idea of being near a horse. She’d seen the huge animals off in the distance, of course, but had no desire to get close. Harper watched as the girls were instructed by a patient trainer on sedately riding their horses around the corral. The girls didn’t show any more emotion on the horses than they had during their lessons.

After their riding lesson, the girls showered and ate dinner alone with only their