The Sheik and the Slave (22 page)

"How can you stop me?" she flung back at him.

"I
’
ve
obtained a special license to marry. I have it from England," he said.
Mohammed buttoned himself up as he spoke to her.

Katharine was shocked. Marriage? To Mohammed?

"We can do this two ways. So you decide which one you
want, princess. We marry and raise our child together, as it is supposed to be.
And you come to me willingly," he said simply.

"Or?" she asked, and swallowed nervously.

"You defy me and try to marry your Englishman. And then
I swear before Allah that I will kidnap you and this time
–
this time
–
there will be no escape
for you. We will be man and wife and before Allah and Arabia. You will be mine,
body and soul."

With that, Mohammed stalked to the door.

"So you decide, Katharine," he said, as he
unlocked the door and walked away.

Chapter
13

Katharine trembled as she sank into a heap at the side of
the small sofa. Her hand clutched at the embroidered stomacher and then flew to
her mouth.

He would give her no quarter and would allow her little
maneuvering. There would be no discussions or long talks of what was to come.
She would marry the sheik and return to Arabia.

Katharine looked around the room in desperation. What would
happen now? Suddenly her hands flew down to her stomach and she could feel the
roundness of it. She had not realized it until he had accused her. She felt the
roundness of her belly and sighed. She had conceived that night in her bedroom,
after her betrothal to James had been announced.

She let her head fall back against the sofa as her hands
remained clasped around her belly. She was pregnant with his child. A smile
played upon her face as she took in the news. She knew she should be
devastated; she should be ashamed and degraded. She had not waited for marriage
but had given her body away to a man who was not her husband.

But for the first time, she felt at peace. Thoughts kept
running through her head. She would have a son, a son, a son...

His son.

Katharine made herself presentable and checked to make sure
her hair was in place before she rejoined her aunt and uncle for the opera
performance. She had much to think about.

The next morning, her Aunt Louisa received word that Jamie
would be stopping by their home in a week on his way to Germany to visit
relatives.

"That would be lovely, Katharine, no?" she asked
her niece.

Katharine pushed her eggs across her plate and looked up.

"I'm sorry. What did you say, Aunt Louisa?" she
asked.

"Darling, you seem to be in another land. We have just
received word from your fianc
é
James Clifton. He will be stopping here on his way to visit relatives in
Germany. Is that not good news?"

Katharine nodded. "Yes, Aunt Louisa," she replied.

But Katharine knew it was not good news. Once she had a
moment alone with Jamie, she would have to break off the engagement, which
would cause more questions and comments from those around her. What would
happen then?

"My dear, weren't you and Katharine going to visit the
perfumery today?" Jean-Pierre asked from behind his morning paper.

Louisa exclaimed excitedly, "Yes, that's correct. When
would you like to set out, Katharine? We could find you some lovely scents,
perhaps in rose or lavender? What do you think?"

"Yes, that would be nice. Do you mind if I lay down for
a half hour and then we could set out? I'm a little tired."

"Of course, cheri," her aunt replied.

***

Katharine made her way up to the lavish room they had given
her and threw herself on her bed.

She felt exhausted, and her mind was in turmoil. She was
glad to be in Paris, away from her family. It gave her a chance to decide what
to do with her future. She moved onto her back and her hands moved down her
simple linen dress to rest on her belly. The curved contour of her belly and
her breasts, which were slightly swollen, all confirmed her pregnancy. Her
breasts were very tender and sensitive. She sighed.

What would become of her? She was a young woman from an
affluent home and family, but she was not married. She knew she couldn't marry
Jamie carrying another man's child, and in her heart she knew she couldn't
marry Mohammed. They were too different and it would never work.

After her nap, she dressed in a silk gown of white and green
stripes to join her Aunt Louisa in town. Louisa took her niece to the
Parfumerie to purchase a unique scent while Louisa preferred a simple blend of
tuberose. They also purchased a pair of gloves for Louisa and a parasol for
both women. Later, they took the coach home.

Katharine was exhausted from the day's events and slept into
the afternoon. She awoke for dinner.

***

The next week passed uneventfully. When Jamie arrived, he
had made accommodations to spend the night at a local inn, but stopped to speak
with Katharine.

The quiet Jamie, with his blonde hair and blue eyes, seemed
restless and agitated when he greeted her, but she thought little of it. The
engaged couple walked along the small green gardens that wound through the
property. The small garden was desolate, but had many large beech trees.

"You are well?" he asked kindly.

"Yes, and you?"

He nodded. They continued a short time before he suddenly
blurted out, "Katharine, I would like to ask that we be married sooner
than we had arranged, if you are agreeable."

Katharine tried to speak but he continued on.

"We will do very well together and I did not think there
would be any objection on your part," he finished.

"Indeed, Jamie, there is. Things have changed since our
engagement and I need to break it off. I'm sorry," she told him.

"I don't understand," he said, looking panicked.

"Things have changed. That's all I can tell you. There
will be no marriage between us."

 She looked at him and then turned away.

"Do I not have a right to know what has changed? As
your fianc
é
?"
he asked. His eyes glittered dangerously.

"Please. No good can come of this. Let us just be done
with it," she told him.

Suddenly, Jamie grabbed her arm and pulled her down to the
ground with him.

"I need this marriage," he told her harshly.
"No matter what has happened, there will be a marriage between us."

She had never seen him like this and it frightened her.

"Let me go. There will be no marriage. My mind is
set," she argued.

His eyes were hard and cold and suddenly he delved beneath
her skirts, snagging her silk stockings as he went. He pulled her skirts up
above her thighs and parted her legs as he settled himself between them.

Katharine cried out once, but her corsets restricted her
breathing. She tried to fight him but he held her arms above her head. The dirt
from the ground stuck to her face as she struggled.

"So, everything becomes clear," He breathed into
her ear. His hand rested on her rounded belly.

"Did you give him a good fight for your little cunt or
did he rape you?" he asked coldly.

"Get off me, now," she spat out.

"Or did you just pretend it was rape like most gently
brought-up ladies and then spread your legs wide," he continued.

They stayed like this for a few seconds. He sat between her
legs with his hand on her curved belly.

"So you are breeding the Arab's bastard child," he
spoke contemptuously.

Katharine stopped fighting him, for she no longer feared
rape as much as she feared he would harm her unborn child.

He suddenly grabbed her hair and pulled on it so that she
was forced to look up at him.

"Listen well, trollop. You have fucked your Arab and he
left you pregnant, which is no concern of mine."

Katharine could feel the tears behind her eyes as he pulled
her hair.

"But I have use of you yet. No, I don't want your
precious little body, though I wouldn't mind having use of it once you have
given birth to your bastard seed. I have need of you for a different reason. I
need your family, your money, and the comfort and protection all of it will
bring me. Without it, I'm ruined. So marry me you will," James declared.

He released her hair and remained where he was. The fight
and heightened emotions had excited him. He had never been particularly
desirous of her. She was a beautiful woman, but it was well known in most
circles that Jamie's persuasion was for men and young boys. However, he had
always been aroused by pain and suffering, and he loved having the haughty
beautiful Katharine on her knees, so to speak, and at his mercy.

He looked down at her in the soft earth with her legs spread
and he fondled his hard cock.

Katharine watched him and suddenly spoke, "Please
Jamie. I am with child. It might hurt the babe."

"What do I care? It's not my child," he answered.
He began to unbutton himself.

"If you force me, I won't go along with this," she
told him.

He stopped himself, but continued to stroke his cock through
the fabric.

"So the marriage will continue?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered.

He looked at her on the ground and spoke sullenly.

"Your mouth would do just as well as your cunt,"
he said.

"After the babe is born, you can have me whenever you
wish," Katharine spoke quietly.

"All right," He nodded and helped her stand up.
"And to show you I am not completely without honor, I will marry you and
give your bastard a name. I don
’
t
want it known that my wife is of loose morals."

“
A
match made in hell," Katharine said. She looked at him. He smiled at her,
but it was cold, with no feeling.

Together, they went back to the house to tell her aunt and
uncle the good news, that they would be married sooner than originally planned.

***

When Jamie left, Katharine bathed her body with a cool
towel, running it all over herself. She wanted to erase him from her mind and
body. She felt dirty and unclean, and she shivered in the moonlight cascading
into her room.

She covered her face with her hands and began to weep
softly. What was she to do now? She was hopelessly lost. She couldn't go to
Mohammed. If she went to him, Jamie would turn on her and tell the world she
was pregnant and not married. She would be ruined and her family's name
disgraced.

She had no choice but to marry the madman. But she knew
eventually she would have to face Mohammed, and that thought frightened her
more than anything else.

Chapter
14

Abdullah touched his head to the mat and prayed; his lips
moved reverently over the words. His heart was heavy as he bowed over the fifth
"Isha" prayer, which usually ended before midnight.

"Subhaan-Allaah wa'l-hamdu Lillaah wa laa ilaaha
ill-Allaah wa Allaahu akbar wa laa hawla wa la quwwata illa Billaah," he
spoke.

Abdullah was a religious man who had always tried to give
guidance and support to Sheik Mohammed Aksam Al Sabid; praise be to Allah and
guide him through his journey. He had been honored to have been appointed as
father
’
s advisor
following time spent as a palace guard and he had been rewarded with riches and
an esteemed position.

But the growing obsession the sheik had for the pale
foreigner did not bode well. The people respected the sheik, and it was partly
due to his father's memory and reign, but also due to Mohammed's own wise rule.

There was talk in the bazaars and inside the court and harem
that the girl had bewitched their lord. They called Katharine a witch and a
sorceress and claimed she had stolen the sheik's soul.

Many of the men in the bazaars spoke of Katharine's
surpassing beauty and that in the act of fellatio, she had swallowed his seed
and his soul. Some called her a succubus, while others just wanted her stoned
and dead.

Abdullah had educated himself and knew the talk of Katharine
was from gossips who were jealous of her beauty and the power she might hold
over the sheik. But he also knew that gossips could turn a falsity into the
truth and rob Arabia of the powerful sheik's reputation.

He knew it was time to step in and get rid of the girl once
and for all. Yasmeen had tried and failed. He would not.

***

She hadn't seen Mohammed since that wretched night at the
theater. They had made love and he had discovered her pregnancy. She had never
been pregnant before and unmarried ladies were kept woefully ignorant of such
knowledge until they became married and respectable. How could she have known?

The scene with Mohammed had replayed itself over and over
again in her mind, and as she had traveled back to England, she knew he would
come after her. What was she to say to him? After all, he was the father of her
unborn child. Worse than that was the situation she found herself in with
Jamie.

He had gambled and drank away his family's fortune. He told
her of it one afternoon when he had calmed down, after she agreed to marry him.
Early in his teenage years, he had found he had an affection for men and did
not pursue the young women of his age and breeding.

He had become taken with a younger man from a very affluent
family and begun spending time with him. The man was a cad whose family had all
but disowned him. Jamie spent more and more time with the man, spending money
at the gambling halls, drinking, and wagering vast amounts to keep the young
man's attention. A year later, he was in severe trouble.

Jamie's father had insisted he not see the man anymore and
had spoken to Katharine's father about a betrothal. Jamie
’
s family wanted him to
appear respectable again.

Katharine
’
s
choices were dim. Mohammed was her unborn child's father. But not only that, if
her child was a boy, he would be the next sheik of Arabia, supplanting his
father when Mohammed died.

But Katharine knew that his people would never want her as
their queen and lady, and she worried about an uprising that would harm
Mohammed's country. She didn't want to undermine anything that Mohammed had
made, and she worried with the uncertainty of it all.

Katharine had no one to turn to. She dared not tell her
family she was breeding; they would be ashamed. So she kept all of her secrets
inside. She was sleeping poorly and her eyes were dark, with circles underneath
them.

She was only content when she walked along the small creek
that wound through her father's property. England was green and lush and she
had missed it so when she had been suffocating in Arabia. But now that she was
in England, her heart longed for the heat and sand of Arabia and the proud
sheik.

She settled herself under a great oak tree as the creek
trickled by. She removed her shoes and breathed a sigh of relief. She had a
very poor appetite, with bouts on nausea in the morning. In the afternoon, she
was able to consume bread and tea. She leaned her head against the tree with
her hands over her belly and sank into a light slumber.

***

He had been walking through her father's property for a
while. The grooms pointed him in the direction she had taken to walking, but it
was still a vast and green estate.

The marriage certificate still burned a hole in his breast
pocket, and he longed to confront her father. But secretly, he was torn. He
didn't want her screaming down the local clergyman
’
s aisle, claiming he kidnapped her.

He wanted her pliant and warm in his arms as she had been
that first night. He wanted her dressed in silk, surrounded by her family, with
obedient words on her lips.

He had been enraged when he had felt her rounded belly that
evening of the opera. He had thought that she meant to conceal it from him. But
the more he thought about that evening, the more he knew that she had been
unaware of her condition. After he had given her the ultimatum, he had gone
back to his lodging and it had sunk in.

She was pregnant! His beautiful lady with hair like the
Sahara sands and eyes like the Arabian Sea was pregnant. Inside her belly was a
child they had created. Inside her belly was the next sheik of Arabia, a son to
carry on all that he had created. A son!

After that night, he realized what he wanted. For the first
time, he didn't want to command and demand; he wanted her love. He came onto
her father's property alone to quietly talk to her. The grooms had indicated
she was out on the property and led him to the creek. He found her lying on her
back next to a tree, with her soft white hands resting on her belly. She was
lovely in a simple yellow linen dress.

He had a large harem with women to please him every day of
the week, but he wanted this one sleeping beside him for the rest of their
lives.

Her face seemed serene in sleep, but she looked like she had
lost weight. This was not uncommon in pregnancy; he had seen it with Yasmeen.
She
must be alone here in her home with no one to speak to about her situation,
he thought.
She was a gently brought up woman and a pregnancy outside of
marriage is unthinkable.
He had done this to her and he felt ashamed.

He should have married her in Arabia, because now he risked
losing her. It was unthinkable. She was his. He would never let her go.

Mohammed bent down to touch her face as she slept. Her face
was soft and almost like silk.

"Princess," he spoke softly.

She stirred but didn't wake.

He touched her hair as it fanned out and lifted a lock to
his nose. The smell of jasmine wafted into his senses and he felt himself
tighten with desire and lust. He remembered that time she had been scented with
it and he had asked her why.
“
Because
you like it," she had said.

He ached to have her moaning beneath him again. His desire
for her was great, and she now swelled with their child because of it.

"Princess," he spoke quietly and watched as she
moaned in her sleep and her eyes blinked open.

She looked at him questioningly, closing her eyes once and
then opening them again.

"Hello," he said, smiling at her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice
husky from sleep.

He remained quiet and then spoke.

"I have come to take you home."

"I'm fine where I am. I like being outdoors," she
said. She moved to sit up.

"No," he said. "That is not what I
mean."

She lowered her eyes.

"You mean Arabia."

"Yes, Arabia. My home, your home, our son's home."

Katharine blushed in the afternoon light.

"It could be a daughter. I know you would hate a
daughter. You already have two."

"Yes, I have two. But a child from our union would be
blessed by Allah."

He reached out to stroke her cheek.

"And there will be many more nights to come for us to
create a son," he continued.

Katharine blushed again at his familiarity and words.

"Mohammed, I can't go with you to Arabia. Your people
would never allow me to be your wife and consort. I am a foreigner. They would
hate me and it would ruin your reputation as their lord."

"No, princess. They would be fine with my choice, and
they will learn to love you."

"But," she began.

"And besides, it is too late for all of that. You are
breeding with my child. There is only one choice."

Katharine lowered her eyes before him as he spoke. It seemed
so natural that she should be here under a great oak tree in England talking to
a man from a distant land of the child they created that lay in her belly. And
yet, it was all wrong.

"Katharine. I have followed you across many lands. I
ache for you. Would you deny me?" He pulled her into the circle of his
arms and Kat could smell the horse scent on him and sandalwood incense.

"Mohammed," she said.

"Shhh. No more words. I don't want to talk anymore. I
just want to hold you. I want to be close to my woman. You are all that matters
to me."

His words thrilled her as she relished being close to him
and listening to his pounding heart. His mouth kissed her golden hair and
lightly bit her delicate ear, causing gooseflesh to break out on her arms.

"Hold me tighter," she spoke into his ear.
"Don't let me go."

He grinned.

"I won't, little falcon,
”
he responded.
“
You
are mine."

She pulled him closer to her as his hands went tightly around
her waist. He pulled the bodice of her dress down, and her breasts came
spilling out.

"Be careful, Mohammed," she gasped. "They are
so tender since I've become pregnant."

"Of course they are, my love. They are readying to
nourish our son," he told her softly.

She thrilled as she heard him say "our son."

He tongued one nipple first and then the other as his hands
delved under her skirts to push them up.

"Hurry. I need you so badly," she moaned.

"Shhh, darling. I want to look at you."

He moved his hands along her silk-clad legs and rolled down
the length of them. He marveled at the feminine garters covered with small pink
flowers.

He moved one long finger deep inside her and found her wet
and hot as she clung to him in a tight embrace. He removed his finger and
licked it clean. He unbuttoned himself, but not before she stopped him.

"The babe, Mohammed. Will it hurt the babe?"

"No, my love. I promise you. It will not hurt the
child."

She relaxed and opened her legs to him. The first thrust
inside her hot, tight body made them both sigh at the contact.

"You are mine Katharine, mine," he whispered into
her ear.

She wrapped her legs around him as he continued to thrust
inside her again and again.

She cried out as he took her mouth roughly. His hands cupped
her bottom and pulled her into him as he continued to rock into her tight core.
Again and again, Mohammed slammed his cock deep into her, and she moaned hard
as he took her. She began to cry as the climax shook her body and Mohammed
spilled his cream deep inside her.

He moved onto his back, pulling her close to him. He kissed
the top of her head as he did.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," she answered.

"As soon as your father returns from London, I will
speak to him," Mohammed said decisively.

Katharine nodded shyly.

"Yes. I won't be separated from you anymore. And I
won't keep your child from you. Whatever happens, I'm ready for it."

Mohammed smiled.

"It will all work out,
”
he said.
“
You will
see. This was meant to be."

***

Jamie Clifton had lost another large amount at the gambling
tables.

He knew he had to quicken the marriage to Katharine because
her dowry would help pay most of his gambling debts, with enough left over to
buy that lovely stallion he had admired the other day. He threw his cards down
on the table and stumbled outside.