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Nic
*
It began as a strange feeling. She brushed the feeling off as nerves and the problems she had been enduring. And she had endured much over the past months. She had endured the separation of her family, the sheik's unwanted attentions, the fleeing into the night, her voyage back home, her love of the sheik and now his child.
So wandered along her family's expansive property and felt the breeze in her hair and the river trickle by. She felt sorry for Jamie and his sad demise but it made everything much simpler.
She would no longer have to find a way out of the marriage with Jamie. Instead, she would find a way to inform her family of the child and marry Mohammed.
She knew her future was with him and she was beginning to accept it.
She had tried to push him away. She had tried to run away but always they had been forced together. It was meant to be.
But the strange feeling continued on. The more she tried to shrug off the feeling - the more it intensified.
It was the feeling of being watched.
She knew it was silly.
The property was so large and watched over by so many, that it was natural that she wouldn't be alone.
Her mother's prized gardens with roses, marigolds, daisies and bluebells were handled by a retinue of gardeners. Her father's stables which included Arabian stallions and Irish-bred horses included close to 30 men who worked from dawn to dusk keeping the horses in shape.
So there was no shortage of eyes watching Kat. And as she had always grown up with servants, maids, groomsmen, footmen and the butlers so it was natural that she should feel stifled at times. But this was different.
Kat plucked a small daisy from the ground and placed it behind her ear.
She knew her body was going through changes and she could feel it. So maybe that was the reason she felt this new awakening.
She felt sleepy all the time and had no appetite. She didn't want to discuss anything with her mother and so she kept everything to herself. No one close to her knew about the child but Jamie and he was dead.
She wondered if this new feeling of being watched was a paranoia of some sort. Maybe she was making it all up.
Earlier in the week, Kat had been restless and had taken a long walk which stretched far beyond the house and the major property. She had walked well past the stables and the granary with its yeast-like smell.
She passed the small enclosure used for the sheep and cows when they were not out grazing.
Her simple white cotton dress acquired a few slight grass stains in it and she knew her maid Moll would be displeased.
She took off her small bonnet and fanned her self with it. She continued to walk along the small river that threaded through her father's property. The trees became older and more mature and the light filtered in through them.
She touched her stomach lightly as she walked slower. His child was in her body, she thought smiling.
His love for her had made a child and now they would forever be entwined together. She sighed quietly.
This was right. It didn't matter anymore what he was and where he was form. It didn't matter that she would have to make her life in a foreign place away from her family.
He loved her and she loved him. She would go where he was.
It had taken her too long to come to this simple conclusion. Together the would raise and family and be happy.
It was as she was walking that she heard the small snap of a twig.
She whirled around with her heart racing.
"Hello?" She cried out.
A small bird called out but no human voice answered her.
Kat looked across the trees and into the brush and over the river. She saw nothing.
Had she imagined the sound?
She turned and continued walking. The feeling became unbearable. She felt eyes upon her watching her, taking in her form and stealing into her thoughts.
It was a malevolent presence and she shivered.
She glanced quickly behind her, but she was still alone.
She placed a hand over her belly and then took a path which would lead her back into the sunshine and home.
******
"She goes out walking twice a week."
The other man nodded.
"I have seen her myself so there can be no mistake."
Again, the other man nodded.
"Do you know what must be done?"
Affirm nod.
"I will go over it once again. There can be no mistake. She will walk to the far property where the trees are tall and old. It must happen there. You will take the woman. If she struggles, you will knock her out. We can have no interference. I want her taken back to Arabia and sold into the white slave market. He will never find her there. If you follow my instructions, all should go well."
"Yes."
He stood up and away from the mercenary. The mercenary was cold-blooded and ruthless. It would go off without a hitch.
How many times had he watched her - easily gaining access to the large estate? Watching as the young witch walked along the bank of the river.
There was no mistaking why the Sheik had fallen in love with her. She was lovely and womanly. He had also been aroused by her as he watched her walk along the river bank.
She was a woman that men would want to tame and make their own. Her long golden hair and Arabian sea blue eyes made her irresistible to men.
But he shook his head against such thoughts. He had to get rid of her. She was in the way. She must never rule Arabia . She was an infidel. He would get rid of her once and for all. Yasmeen had been stupid. She had been a woman and not worthy. But he would have no mistakes. And once they got rid of the white woman, the Sheik would return to his normal self. The witch's spell would be broken.
