Chapter 10—Sheiks of Kumar IX by CJ
She was fast when she wanted to be and by the time Emir found Jenny, she was standing in the middle of the stables, panting from her run. She spun around and jumped when he said her name. When her green eyes settled on him, she rushed to him and he gladly collected her in his arms.
“Jenny, honey, what is wrong?” he asked her softly.
“Oh…everything!” she blurted out and then sobbed against his chest.
He knew her stress level had risen intensely since her brother-in-law had fetched them and brought them to his estate. Villa Serena was immense and in his opinion, more stately than the Johar Palace. The palace was historic and possessed an ancient charm. Villa Serena too had an old-world feel to it, but everything else about it said money and power. At least in his eyes. And being a simple man from a small fishing village, this estate was more posh than he’d seen before.
“Now, it cannot possibly be everything,” Emir chided lightly. “After all, the war is over, Jabbar is dead, so that means it’s a bit less than everything.”
Jenny stopped sobbing and he heard her laughter muffled against his chest. “You’re right, Em. How is it that you’re so good at making me feel better?”
He bent his head and gave her a kiss instead of saying anything. He didn’t have to say anything for his actions always spoke louder than words.
Slowly he pulled back and Jenny was smiling.
“I like it when you kiss me,” she admitted, then she sighed and added, “But Nik thinks you and I are moving too quickly. Hell, you haven’t done more than kiss me. How can he possibly think that?”
“I am older. Perhaps he just fears it.”
Jenny shrugged. “Perhaps. But he really, really pissed me off just now. He’s acting like he can tell me what to do…like I’m still thirteen or something. He doesn’t realize what I survived in Johar. Yes, I know he was fighting in the war, but he doesn’t realize that I was there in that war too. Not in the same way, but in a way that changed me forever. In a way that makes me feel like I’m somehow old now instead of young.”
“War has a way of doing that,” Emir agreed.
Jenny walked away from him, pacing some as she spoke. “Even being back here in California and starting school…well, I just don’t feel right about it all. I don’t feel like I belong.”
“But I thought you wanted to return here and go to school,” Emir said.
“I do…I did. I don’t know.” She halted her pacing and looked honestly at Emir. There was a war going on inside Jenny. A war that she had fought since the day she had met him. Did she do what her heart told her to do, or did she do what her family expected? It was a daunting question and one that Emir would never try and answer for her.
She moved closer and wrapped her arms lovingly around his neck. He found her waist.
“The only thing I do know, is that being with you feels right. And it doesn’t matter if we’re in Johar or here in
“You know I will, Jenny,” he promised.
She looked at the chain around his neck. “I promised to make you mine when I gave you this,” she said with a smile. Then she pulled one hand down and held up the silver ring with the strange tribal markings on it that he had given her nearly a year ago in Johar. “And you promised to make me yours when you gave me this.”
“I did.”
“Then why are we waiting? Why are we waiting to unite when we’ve already pledged our hearts?” she asked quietly before she captured Emir’s lips in a wanton kiss.
He didn’t pull back to answer her question for he would be a stupid man to pass up Jenny’s lips for words. And in his mind, he figured he could kiss her for a while and then slow down the pace and convince her to return to the house.
But apparently Jenny had other plans for she expertly ran her hand down the front of his shirt creating dangerous sensations in his gut. And when she shrugged out of her sweater and revealed a low-cut shirt that was made of thin cotton, he knew he was in trouble.
“No more teasing, Emir,” Jenny said seriously as her lips trailed down his. “I’m eighteen tomorrow and I want something very specific for my birthday.”
“What would that be?” he inquired, shocked by the breathless sound of his voice.
“You,” she declared and pulled his head back down to hers where her mouth assaulted his with a burning desire that was making him weak—too weak.
There was something about being in
This strange, crazy land was making his head spin out of control and as Jenny’s hand slid down the front of his jeans and boldly caressed him with more abandon that she had on that beach in Johar, he nearly lost his mind.
Reaching down and clasping her bottom he hefted her up. She looped her legs around his waist and he carried her to the nearest open stall. Fresh straw lined the floor and they fell together, their mouths never losing contact.
Jenny felt good beneath him. Heavenly. And for a moment, he pictured them naked and her beneath him. He groaned with pure masculine delight as he imagined what they could do as Jenny moved her hips up to meet him.
Damn the layers of clothes and damn his high morals! In an act of desperation, he tore his lips away and rolled off. Laying on his back, feeling the straw itch him through his cotton T-shirt he declared, “No, Jenny, not like this.”
She pushed up to an elbow. Her lips were swollen and moist from their kisses. How he wanted to grab her and kiss her again. How he wanted to make her his in every sense of the word! Yet it just wasn’t right. Not now. Not like this.
“Why not?” she asked calmly and he realized she wasn’t going to bolt from him just yet.
“Because we’re in a horse stable. I am sorry, but no matter how good you feel, I refuse to allow you to have your first time be here. I also refuse to allow it to happen because you happen to be angry with Nikash.”
Jenny frowned. “I’m not rebelling like a child. I truly want you.”
“I know. But right now, you’re more determined to make Nikash see you are no child. I told you this relationship between you and I would be different. I told you we would wait.”
“And like I’ve asked before…just how long do you think that will work?” She looked him over critically, halting her gaze on the obvious parts affected by her kisses and her body. “You want me probably worse than I want you. You’ve known sex before, how on earth are you going to wait until I’m ready to marry? How?”
When they had been in Johar and he had been thinking their wait wouldn’t be quite so long, he had gallantly said he could wait a long time. Now, he wasn’t so sure. Yet he was a man of his word and he hated to think about gong back on it.
“I don’t know,” he honestly answered.
“And I don’t know either,” Jenny returned sitting up and pulling straw from her hair. “Maybe we should consider alternatives to our original plan.”
“Alternatives like what?”
“Like maybe you could amend your convictions to us waiting until we’re engaged to make love. That is so much more reasonable.”
“And how is being engaged any different than what I promised you in Johar? Isn’t me promising to marry you an engagement of sorts?” he queried.
“No,” Jenny answered, resolute. “Here in
“A diamond ring?
She shrugged. “Perhaps. But that’s how we do it here. And then…well, maybe then you wouldn’t feel so guilty about having me.”
“I do not feel guilty,” he insisted.
“Yes, you do. I think you feel guilty because I’m so young and a virgin. You somehow think you’d be taking something away from me. But trust me, being a virgin is highly overrated. Especially when all your friends have already had way too many boyfriends to count.”
Emir chuckled. Jenny was teasing him now and he was glad they could get along so well no matter what the circumstances. But perhaps she was right about his convictions being based more on guilt than an anything else. When he had met her nearly a year ago, she had seemed so young to him. She had been nothing more than a scared little girl. Now, however, she was wiser and more confidant. She wasn’t quite the same little girl he had first saved from one of Jabbar’s thugs.
Emir motioned for Jenny to come to him. She crawled across the straw and though she was simply following his command, the way her body moved turned him on again something awful.
Ignoring that nagging desire, he wrapped an arm around her as she laid her head on his chest.
“How about I promise you that I will think about it? And I need for you to work on Nikash. I want his blessing, Jenny, about an engagement. If we have all that in line…then just maybe,” he told her.
“Just maybe, huh?”
“For now. I need to sort out all my feelings about it and try to remember just why in the hell I made that insane declaration last spring.”
Jenny giggled. “I think it was the war. It made us all a little crazy.” Then she sobered and added, “But getting Nik to agree…I don’t know.”
“Just try, all right?”
“All right.”
Suddenly the sound of the wooden door at the end of the stables opening echoed through the stalls and the lights flipped off. Jenny jumped up and declared, “Hey, we’re still in here.”
The lights clicked back on. “Who exactly is we?” came a man’s voice and Jenny grimaced along with Emir when it was recognized that Rafee was the intruder.
“Oh, damn,” Jenny mumbled looking down at Emir. “I hope he won’t kill you.”
Footsteps came closer and Jenny bolted out of the stall fibbing, “Uh…it’s just me, Rafee.”
Emir would be no kind of man if he allowed her to lie for him. They hadn’t done anything wrong and besides, he knew Rafee well. They understood each other and Rafee would certainly not pummel him over kissing Jenny. Would he?
Emir pushed to his feet and said, “It’s all right, Jenny, you don’t have to lie for me.”
Emir walked out of the stall and Rafee was giving him a humorous look.
“Jenny?” Shawna then called from the doorway and she was holding up Jenny’s sweater. “I’ll walk you back to the house.”
Jenny’s shoulders slumped slightly and with a weak smile in Emir’s direction, she walked off.
When the women were gone, Rafee drawled, “If it had been my brother instead of me, you’d be a dead man right now, Emir.”
“I never touched her, Rafee,” Emir admitted. “I haven’t. Not yet.”
“Not yet? I’m not so sure that makes you any safer.”
“You know me, Rafee. You know I mean her no harm.”
“Of course you don’t. You truly love her.”
“Then what can I do to convince your brother of that as well?” Emir inquired.
Maybe Rafee would be able to help him. Maybe he would have an idea or an inside track to Nikash’s thinking.
“When it comes to Jenny whom he sees as his daughter…there’s nothing you can do.”
Emir sighed with frustration. Jenny was frustrating him with her constant demands for physical attention that he just couldn’t hand over yet. Nikash was frustrating him with his less than positive opinion. And his life was frustrating him for he wasn’t sure just where he was supposed to be—in Johar helping his new king or here in
“Rafee, don’t tell me that,” Emir pleaded. “Please…give me some idea as to how to talk to Nikash about Jenny and I. I want to get engaged to her. That’s how they do it here in American, right?”
Rafee’s mouth twitched with a suppressed laugh. “That’s how some people do it here. Others just live together or jump from one bed to another without any regard for love and relationships. Then again…I suppose that goes on in every country. I was no saint when I married Shawna and you, I assume, are no innocent yourself.”
“But they were never women I loved. I love Jenny. Everything must be done correctly.”
“Emir,” Rafee said, slapping his hand down on the man’s shoulder, “there is no correct way when it comes to love. It’s not like building a bomb or firing a gun. Its…crazy.”
Great. That wasn’t what Emir had wanted to hear. What he had wanted to hear was that Rafee could persuade his brother to agree to the match, not that love was crazy.
“Come on, let’s get back to the house. My wife keeps our bed awfully warm these days and after all those months in that damned cave, I don’t like to miss a minute of it,” Rafee said with an easy smile. And as they walked off, Rafee added, “I’ll try and talk with Nikash some more. No promises on how he’ll react though.”
“Fair enough, Rafee.”
And though the hope was small, it was there.
**
Nearly everyone was asleep in the main house when Abra left through the front door. She pulled her sweater tighter about her body to ward off the foggy chill of the night and was startled when a large dark figure approached. She jumped, reached back for the door to Villa Serena and was relieved when a familiar voice said in her native tongue, “It is just me.”
“Omar,” Abra breathed with a sigh of relief. “You frightened me.”
“I was just locking up as I do every night. Why are you out here so late?”
His gigantic figure halted near her and his size caused her to feel dwarfed. Dark, nearly black eyes, narrowed on her as if chastising her for the late hour she was out and she boldly stood taller and answered, “I was talking late with Aria. She and I have much in common, you know.”
He sobered, his body visibly shrinking some as he said softly, “I forgot. You two both suffered horrible losses in the war.”
Together, they began walking down the small hill toward Abra’s stable cottage. She was grateful for the small house to call her own. The only trouble was, the nights were so lonely without her husband.
“Do you like
“Very much so. San Francisco was wonderful. I thank you for showing Kadeem and I all the sights.”
He shrugged his massive shoulders. “It was no trouble. I like the city. It is so different than the desert.”
“It is. Tell me, where did you grow up?”
“In a medium-sized town in Kumar. I moved to the city to study at the university and that’s how I got involved in with the Royal Family. My life was fairly average until I came here.”
“And you’ve been here how long?”
He mentally counted. “Nearly five years. Ever since Sheik Nikash moved here.”
“Five years is a long time. Tell me, have you adjusted to
“I have adjusted. You will adjust. It is not as difficult as it might first seem. Once you learn the language…” He gave another shrug as if to say it was easy.
“English is difficult,” Abra admitted. “Tara and Shawna have been helping me…but still, I am a slow learner compared to Kadeem.”
They halted at Abra’s door and Omar chuckled. “He is a young boy. Everything comes easier for the young. You will learn. I think you are very intelligent.”
Abra beamed. It was a very welcomed compliment. She had always loved being noticed for her reasoning and ability to think on her feet.
“I thank you for the compliment, Omar.”
She opened the door and Omar seemed to hover near, as if hesitating. She halted with her hand on the doorknob and inquired, “Is there something else?”
“Yes,” he said. “I was thinking…the local college gives English classes. You might find you learn English faster by taking some courses. They also have courses in medicine and nursing. I know that interests you.”
Abra’s eyes widened in shock. “They do? You mean…I could simply take classes? It’s that simple?”
He nodded. “You just have to pay for them. Rafee would certainly cover that cost. And if he didn’t, I would. A woman in
Abra giggled like a school-girl and reached out to touch Omar on the arm. He flinched slightly and she pulled her hand back demurely and ignored his reaction as she declared politely, “Thank you, Omar. I will most definitely inquire about the local college tomorrow.”
He gave one short, terse nod and with that he was gone. Abra closed the door behind her and sighed with pleasure. College! Could it really happen? Could she really learn the nursing trade first-hand and make something of her life here in
**
“You know, this won’t kill you,” Shawna mumbled as she drove her two-seater sports car down the highway toward San Francisco. “You might even enjoy a day out with me.”
Kadeem, sitting next to her, rolled his eyes. Shawna gritted her teeth and thought about all the ways she was going to pummel Rafee when they got back. It had been his genius idea for her to drag Kadeem along on a trip to San Francisco to meet with the furniture designer.
“Let him pick out the things for his room. It’ll make him feel more like part of the family,” Rafee had insisted. “And I’ll stay home with Kess and Alexi. Besides, Nik and Tara could use the help getting ready for Jenny’s party.”
Shawna had glared at him. “Tara and Nik have hired a catering service for that. And I’d rather stay home with Kess and Alexi and let you take the brooding teen into the city.”
Rafee had smiled mischievously and declared, “Very well. Then I get to pick out everything that goes in the house. Tell me, do you prefer stuffed deer or stuffed bear heads for the bedrooms?”
That was all it had taken for Shawna to give in and take Kadeem instead of letting Rafee go in her place. Who knows what the house would end up looking like if left to Rafee’s devices. It more than likely would be decorated in all black and dark leather. That was his style—dark, brooding, mysterious. Not that Shawna was any sort of interior designer herself, but at least her taste didn’t run quite so near the macabre.
“Look, after we meet with the designer, I’ll take you to eat any place you like. And how about shopping? Do you need anything else? I know some pretty cool stores.” Shawna tried to tempt Kadeem into giving up his foul, withdrawn mood, but to no success.
“Teens,” Shawna grumbled under her breath and they made it to the city with no other words spoken.
Kadeem barely spoke with the designer either. Although, he did lighten up long enough to pick out what he wanted in his bedroom. For the briefest of moments, while he was being bombarded by design photos and floor samples, Shawna thought she saw a flicker of uncertainty and overwhelming. But if the boy was feeling any of that, he never indicated further to Shawna. In fact, as soon as he was finished with his selections, he began to shuffle away, looking over the things in the vast warehouse.
Shawna wanted to give him his space, but before he wandered far she declared, “Stay close, Kadeem. Don’t disappear and don’t leave.”
He merely looked at her over his shoulder and continued on his quest.
An hour later when Shawna was through, she searched around the design studio. She found nothing. All the employees began to search. And when no one turned up any sign of Kadeem, the manager played back the surveillance video and what they had caught on tape scared Shawna witless. Kadeem had marched right out the front door nearly an hour before and in a city as big as San Francisco, he could be anywhere.
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The Sheiks of Kumar IX: Family Reunion – Chapter 11