The Sheik and the Bought Bride (11 page)

Finally the tears slowed. He cupped her face, then wiped her cheeks with his thumbs. “Where is he now?” he asked.

“With one of the maids. She’s a distant relative. At least I think so. Her mother was somebody’s cousin by marriage. I’m not sure.”

“Have the boy brought to me.”

Her eyes widened. “You’ll do something?”

“I will speak to him.”

Victoria rushed to the phone and called housekeeping. Less than ten minutes later, the boy was escorted into his office by a young woman.

“Prince Kateb,” the woman said, practically ready to fall to her knees. “This is Sa’id.”

The boy bowed low. He looked terrified, but stood in the center of the room, obviously prepared to accept his fate.

“Do you know who I am?” Kateb asked.

Sa’id nodded. “You are the prince. I think maybe you will be the new leader, but I’m not sure. I hear people talking, but only some. They don’t like me to stay near them.”

Victoria took a step toward him. Kateb stilled her with a look.

“I understand you have been living on the streets.”

Sa’id nodded. “My mother died and my father…” The boy raised his chin. “My father is a bad man and a coward. He stole camels and when he was caught he ran away. I stand for my family now.” He swallowed. “Sometimes it’s hard to be hungry but I try to be brave.”

Kateb could feel Victoria willing him to do some
thing—to chose compassion over tradition. He knew she would beg for the boy, just as she had begged for her father. Did she ever beg for herself or were all the sacrifices saved for other people? And how could he reconcile the greedy woman who wanted to marry a prince with the person before him? The one in tears over the fate of a small boy she didn’t even know.

He looked at the maid. “A place will be made for him, here in the palace.” He returned his attention to Sa’id. “Are you afraid of hard work?”

“No, sir. I used to help my father all the time. I’m strong and I don’t eat very much.” He sounded both hopeful and resigned. As if hope had become an impossible dream these days.

“You will eat as much as you want,” Kateb told him sternly. “I need good strong men to serve me and for you to be capable, you must grow. So you will eat all your meals and sleep well and work hard. When you are finished, you will play, as a boy should. Do you understand?”

Sa’id nodded, smiling for the first time since he entered the room.

The maid cleared her throat. “Sir, may I be responsible for Sa’id? I have known him all his life. He’s a good boy and we could keep each other company.”

“Thank you,” Kateb told her. “I will speak with Yusra so that your duties allow you plenty of time with Sa’id.” He nodded.

The girl took Sa’id by the hand and led him out of the room. Sa’id paused at the door to wave at Victoria. The second they were gone, she turned on him.

“You made him a
servant
? He’s nine and he’s going to be scrubbing floors and doing laundry? What about school? What about his education? Or is that not serving the prince well enough?”

“You can be very trying,” he told her.

“Ask me if I care.”

“I already know the answer.” He leaned against his desk. “Does it occur to you to thank me for getting him off the streets? He now has the protection of the prince. That means he will be safe.”

“To be a servant.”

“For now,” he said patiently. “Until I am proclaimed leader, I have minimal power here. As soon as I take the office, I will pardon Sa’id so he can return to the life of a normal boy in the village.”

“Oh.” The fight went out of her. She looked around the room, then glanced back at him. “You didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t give me a chance. You’re very quick to judge me.”

“Not you specifically,” she admitted. “I’m still angry at Yusra and Rasha.”

“Our ways are different.”

She put her hands on her hips. “I don’t want to hear that again. There’s no excuse for what happened to him.”

“They didn’t like the situation, either, but they know there are reasons.”

“Maybe a thousand years ago, but not today.”

“Yusra is your friend. Do you wish to be angry with her forever? What about Rasha? Will you no longer support her business because of this? If they do not act as you wish, are they unworthy?”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re saying I’m judging them too harshly.”

“I’m saying people have different ways. Children frequently illustrate both the best and worst of every culture. Sa’id demonstrates that.”

“Are there more like him?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“When you’re proclaimed or whatever it is, will you change the law so children aren’t abandoned like that ever again?”

“You ask for much.”

“You have much to give.”

Cantara would not have asked that of him, he thought. She would have accepted Sa’id’s fate as the destiny he must endure. But Victoria would never see it so. She wouldn’t care if she expected too much of him. She would fight and nag and work until what she saw as wrong was made right.

The women were so different, he thought, knowing that while he would always love Cantara, she was no longer as much a part of him as she was. Without realizing, he had lost her. Or perhaps time had healed as it often did.

He felt regret and, oddly, hope.

Victoria could not have been more out of place in her jeans and silky shirt, her ridiculous high-heeled boots and dangling earrings. She looked like a woman prepared to go shopping in New York or Los Angeles. Her blond hair and blue eyes set her apart. Her worldview and attitude would always find injustice where others saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“You have a way of tiring a man,” he said at last.

“Then go take a nap.”

“You won’t yield at all?”

“Not on this.”

Nothing for herself, he thought, remembering how she wouldn’t borrow the sapphire earrings because she was afraid of losing one but she would borrow the tiara because it made her feel like a storybook princess.

“You are a complex woman.”

“Thank you.”

“I did not mean it as a compliment.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Are you trying to distract me?”

“No.” He sighed heavily. “When I am leader I will change the law.”

He thought she might make him promise, which he would resist. Instead she nodded. His word was enough? How unexpected.

She crossed to him, cupped his face and kissed him. The second her mouth touched his, he wanted her. Need was everywhere, even though the kiss was chaste. Imagine what would happen if Victoria actually tried to seduce him. Or perhaps it was best not to.

“I knew you would make it right,” she said earnestly. “When I found out what was going on, all I could think was that I had to get to you. I’ve never trusted a man before. Not with anything important. So thank you.”

She kissed him again and left. He watched her go, then stood alone in the silence.

He felt as if she’d handed him something important. Something precious, although he couldn’t say what. Involuntarily he looked at the calendar on the desk. How many more days until they knew if she was staying or not?

He’d planned on her leaving, had hoped to get her out of his life. Now, for the first time, he wondered what it would be like to have her stay.

Except for checking on Sa’id every now and then, Victoria spent the next couple of days mostly keeping to the harem. While she appreciated all that Kateb had done for her, she was still angry that Sa’id had been abandoned by the village—most especially the women.

She understood there were cultural differences involved, but leaving a child to starve on the streets because of actions he couldn’t control seemed inhuman. Children were vulnerable enough without worrying about that.
Every time she nearly calmed down, she thought about what had happened and got angry all over again.

While she liked Rasha and Yusra, she couldn’t reconcile their actions with someone she considered a friend. As they were pretty much the only two women she knew in the area, that left her by herself for way too many hours a day.

On the third day, she was tired of the harem and went down to the kitchen for lunch. As she turned the corner to head in that direction, she nearly ran into Yusra. The two women looked at each other.

“You are angry,” Yusra said, forcing the issue.

“Yes.” She braced herself for the fight—for the older woman to say she would never understand the ways of the desert people and so on. It was an argument she could never accept.

“I was wrong.” Yusra sighed. “My husband has been gone many years now and still I hear his voice in my head. He would tell me about the old ways and how they must live on. I believed him, and I didn’t question Sa’id’s fate. No one did. It was not something we wanted to see, so we all looked away. It took someone from the outside to remind us of who we are. That we value family and kindness.”

It took Victoria a second to realize she didn’t have to be mad anymore. “I don’t know what to say,” she admitted. “I’m glad you see that Sa’id is only a little boy.”

“Of course. He’s a wonderful child. Rasha and I have been talking. As soon as the prince is made village leader, we are going to ask him to change the law. We will stand firm on this, not leaving until he gives in. Rasha has already talked to Sa’id’s cousin about taking them both in. Her children are grown and her house more empty than she would like.”

The relief tasted sweet, Victoria thought happily.
“Kateb is already planning to look into changing the law, but I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that there are others who agree with him.”

“Good.” The older woman tilted her head. “So we are friends again?”

Victoria smiled. “Yes. Of course. I’m sorry we fought.”

“The fault is mine. I got so used to what has always been.”

“We all do.”

“Come,” Yusra said. “You were on your way to lunch. We will eat together and talk about all the ways we can change the laws.”

“Kateb won’t like that,” Victoria said with a laugh.

The kitchen was crowded with many of the staff. When Yusra and Victoria entered, the large room went silent. Victoria felt everyone looking at her.

“Ignore them,” Yusra said, approaching the buffet set up against the far wall. “They will get used to you. It will take time. Word is spreading about what you did to help Sa’id.”

“Not everyone will like me butting in.”

“Perhaps, but those who don’t will not have the courage to say anything. At least not to your face.”

Victoria laughed. “Then I’ll try to enjoy them talking behind my back.”

“As you should.”

After lunch Victoria made her way to the library. She wanted to see if there were any lists or catalogues for all the artwork in the palace. Someone had to figure out what was there and make sure it was taken care of. Or at least insured. Assuming insurance was available. Did Mutual of El Deharia exist?

She’d been in the large, open room dozens of times. As she walked in, she saw someone else was there, which was odd. Usually she had the space to herself. Then the man
turned and her heart skipped a beat or two before resuming a slightly elevated rhythm.

“Kateb,” she said, then realized her voice was a little breathless and cleared her throat. Lately she’d noticed a bit of a quiver when they were together. A slight vibration deep inside her belly. It was more than just the longing to be with him. It was something else she couldn’t name and didn’t want to study too closely.

“I didn’t think you were the library type,” she said.

“I am not,” he told her, looking amused. “Yusra informed me you were heading this way and wished to speak with me. Apparently she believes you have the power to summon me.”

Yusra had called him? She wasn’t ready to share what they’d discussed at lunch an hour ago, but unless she came up with a credible substitute, it appeared she was going to have to.

“She’s right,” Victoria told him. “You have appeared.”

“How fortunate for you. What is it now? Emancipation for cats? A school for the sheep?”

“Don’t mock my good works,” she told him, even as she smiled. “Yusra said I was right about Sa’id.”

“Words I’m sure you never tire of hearing.”

“That’s true.”

“What did you promise at lunch? Are my people to ask for more money? Better weather?”

She hesitated. “I haven’t had a chance to organize my thoughts.”

“Has that stopped you before?”

“Not really. Okay. More than fifty percent of the staff at the palace is female and most of them have children. The time their shifts begin and end follow a tradition that dates back a couple hundred years to when mostly men worked here. It would be helpful for them to start and stop at dif
ferent times. Some want to come in early, others late. It seemed reasonable to me. Also, the male secretaries make more than the female secretaries. I can’t begin to tell you how much that annoys me, speaking as a former assistant.” She paused for breath.

He stood, looking at her, still appearing amused.

“Are you taking this seriously?” she asked.

“Very.”

“Did you want to write any of this down?”

“Not really. You will remind me of anything I forget.”

“That’s true.”

“What else?”

“The textiles. I don’t know how to get them into the marketplace. I was wondering if I could write some of the other princesses in the area. They’ve been doing the royal thing longer and might have some suggestions. From my research, Princess Dora of El Bahar seems like a great place to start. But I think I need your permission to do that.”

“You have it.”

As easy as that? “And the other stuff?”

“I will address it when I am leader.”

“The first week?”

“Perhaps the second. I will be busy the first week.”

She wanted to launch into him but held back. He’d been more than reasonable about Sa’id, so she wasn’t going to assume it was something silly.

“With what?” she asked.

“As leader, I am granted twelve virgins. I may pick one as my wife or not. The others live in the harem, there only to please me.” He smiled. “So I will have my hands full for the first few days.”