“My lord,” she said. She trembled like a frightened doe and he smiled to put her at ease.
“How can I help you?” he asked.
Safiya looked around the room at the Persian rugs and the pillows strewn about in haphazard fashion. Her uncle and father had threatened her with bodily harm if she did not make the sheik believe that she might be pregnant with his child. It was a necessity. She was worried about where she would live if she did not do as they told.
“I am frightened, my lord,” she said. She lowered her eyes demurely.
“What is the matter, child?” he asked her.
“I am a virgin no longer,” she said, as she blushed and took a step toward him.
Mohammed looked over at her and frowned. Suddenly, he recalled that night when she and her father and uncle had supped with him. He saw her dancing provocatively and then her naked body underneath him. He swallowed and felt sick to his stomach.
“I fear I may be pregnant, and we are not married,” she said quietly. “My father will kill me.”
Her face was suddenly screwed up in fright and Mohammed felt chilled as she threw herself in his arms.
Oh Allah! What had he done? What had he done?
He carefully withdrew from her arms. He was a man who knew his duty, even if it was against everything he wanted.
“I will care for you, Safiya,” he told her woodenly. “Do not worry.”
But inside, he turned to stone. Katharine would never forgive him. She would never allow herself to love and be with a man who had impregnated this young girl. She was lost and frightened with his
child, and he had taken another woman. What had he done?
Katharine was his whole life, and now this girl who stood before him was going to ruin everything. As a grown man who was a leader among men, he wanted nothing more than to throw his head back and howl in pain.
He would do the right thing, of course, but he wanted nothing to do with her beyond that. He would provide for her and she would have a comfortable home, but he would not give up until he had found Katharine and then she would decide their fates.
“I am yours to command,” she said, sobbing into him. “If our child is a son, it will be the next sheik?” she asked in a childish voice.
Mohammed saw all his dreams and desires turn to ashes as Safiya spoke.
“Yes, Safiya. He will be,” Mohammed answered. She stopped crying and she used her sleeve to dab at her tears.
Safiya left his chambers and his vision clouded. He willed the tears not to fall. He would not cry like a child. But the thought of losing Katharine forever was a pain in his chest he couldn’t bear. He slammed his fists into the wall.
He would need to wait before he could venture out to sea and England. He must wait to see if Safiya was indeed pregnant and make a decision about her. If she was indeed breeding, he would make the necessary arrangements. But after, he would return to England and track Katharine down. He was honor bound to tell her the truth. And though he might lose her forever, he would tell her and then she would hold their fates in her hands.
***
As Safiya left the great Sheik’s room, she skipped down the hallways, threw herself on the pillows and giggled. Her uncle’s bastard would rule Arabia. What a good joke!
Chapter 20
Kat steadied herself as she sat up in bed. Her body felt pained and sore, especially around her midsection.
Her head swam and she felt as if she was walking underwater. She remembered walking to the stables and seeing Ares. She could smell the grass underneath her feet as she walked along her father’s property.
The walls of her room were rough and there were no adornments except for a simple wooden cross.
She heard a baby’s cry and her head jerked up. A baby?
She had so many questions and no answers. Where was Mohammed? Where was she? And where was her baby? She remembered the man with the scar and the cabin and the floor stained red. Stained red with her blood, she remembered. She closed her eyes.
He had taken her from her home and then tried to attack her. She had fought back.