To the fans of the Sheik and the Slave
You are incredibly patient --and you rock!
Thank you for all your support
Nic
*
"I would see your daughter, Lord Fairfax." Mohammed handed his walking stick and hat to the butler as he followed Edward into the sitting room.
The sitting room was decorated in pastel blue and silver and showed a woman's hand but still elegant.
"I'm sorry, sir. It is an impossibility." Edward seemed pale and shaken.
But Mohammed would have none of this. He knew this was going to be an uphill battle but he was prepared for it. He would have no other woman. Kat would be his bride.
"Lord Fairfax. It is I who should beg your forgiveness. I should have approached you man to man and asked for Kat's hand in marriage long ago. I have loved her for to long and had I done so -- it would have saved us all some heartache."
Edward settled himself onto a small chair. "I expected this. She has been so distant of late, and I suspected the marriage between her and Jamie was not right."
Mohammed stood before the older man. "I want to seek her hand in marriage. Do I have your permission?"
Edward shook his head. "Well that's it, dear boy. She-she's disappeared."
"What do you mean disappeared?"
"I had business in London. I have been gone. When I returned, the house was in an uproar."
Mohammed kneeled before Edward and grabbed his shoulders. "Tell me. What has happened?"
"I know very little. She was last seen walking along the grounds. She has taken to doing that. One stable boy swears he saw a man with a horse and cart leaving the grounds. We had no goods dropped off that day so he must have taken her off the grounds in the cart. Why would someone want to harm her?" He asked Mohammed, his eyes filling with tears. "Why? She has no enemies."
No, Mohammed thought. There he was wrong. Kat had made quite a few enemies in Arabia. And they must have followed her here to finish what Yasmeen started.
***********************
Mohammed and Edward stood amid the horses as they examined the young stable boy Jeremy. He was about 16 years old with a mop of blonde hair and brown eyes.
The young boy swallowed nervously as he stared at Mohammed and Edward.
"I seen 'im comin' down the drive late," the young stable boy claimed.
"You are certain?" Mohammed asked.
"Yes, sir. I am that." Jeremy nodded.
"Please explain in detail what you saw," Mohammed asked.
"Not much to tell really. I was taking a walk and saw the man in the cart with one 'orse leavin' the grounds. 'e did seem to be carryin' a load but I didn' see it. I only say it now as 'e kept looking back at 'is load again and again."
Mohammed nodded. "Excellent. And can you describe the man?"
Edward dabbed at his eyes as the boy continued, "Yes sir. 'e were brown 'aired, with a scruffy beard and peasant's clothes. Looked rather dirty."
Mohammed swore to himself. Nothing distinguishable. The man, his horse and cart probably fit the description of half the men in England. For all the boy's remarkable memory -- it helped them not at all.
He gave the boy two gold coins. "Thank you Jeremy. Well done."
It was not the boy's fault that all of his information was useless.
Mohammed turned to Edward. Edward seemed shrunken and pale.
This was the second time he had lost his precious jewel. If their roles were reversed, Mohammed would probably feel the same way.
"Lord Fairfax. We will find her. Rest assured. I will not stop until I have discovered what mischief goes on here."
He turned and followed Edward back to the great house. Halfway back to the house they heard a yell.
"Me lords, wait!" Yelled Jeremy who came running up to the two men.
"I do 'member somethin' tho it's prob'ly nuthin'," he said.
"Out with it, Son. Whatever it is," Edward said.
"The man. The one I saw. He had a ugly lookin' scar on his right cheek," Jeremy smiled. "Does that 'elp?"
Mohammed stopped suddenly. He felt a shudder in his body. He grabbed the boy's shoulder. "Are you sure, Jeremy? Absolutely sure? Think hard. It's very important."
"Oh aye sir. I 'member wonderin' 'ow 'e got it. Yes, twas the right cheek."
Mohammed swallowed once. "Thank you, son."
Jeremy turned happy to have obliged his lord and the foreign gentlemen his gold coins gleaming in his hand.
As Mohammed followed Lord Fairfax he prayed his knees didn't buckle under him. The demons had followed them from Arabia to England.
*******************
"Please dearie. Drink the water." Abigail cooed to the young woman. But her attentions were useless. The young woman hadn't woken up since she had been dumped on their steps.
It didn't take an intellectual to know that the stranger was a gentlewoman. It was obvious. She was a slender woman with high cheekbones, lush lips and golden hair.
The novices had cleaned the young lady up and the blood had been much.
They had dressed her in a long white cotton night gown but she had still not stirred.
Abigail tried again to get the woman to drink the water but she would not wake.
She ran her fingers along the spine and binding of the book by the French philosopher Voltaire "Histoire De Charles XII" which she had been reading the night before.
She would read aloud to the young woman. Even if she didn't understand French, perhaps the language would stir the young woman into waking.
The nights were always the longest inside the Abbey. It was a cold, dank place and she passed many a night reading to herself or writing to her sister.
She brought the candle closer and began to read quietly in the room.
*****************
Abdullah was still waiting for his token of agreement to come to him to know that the plan with Jean Baptiste had worked.
It had been difficult to persuade Mohammed to bring him along with him from Arabia. But Mohammed had been set upon the disastrous idea of marriage and he had wanted Abdullah's guidance regarding the marriage certificate. Eventually Abdullah had translated the document into Arabic for Mohammed. Mohammed could have easily done so himself but he was too preoccupied with the white witch.
Daleel the younger advisor had made the journey to England also but had quickly returned home. He had never been outside of Arabia and the food had turned his stomach and the cold had chilled him to the bone.
He had begged Mohammed's pardon and returned home.