Page 5 of The Sheik's Embrace

Zayed’s grin sent her heart racing all over again.

“I’m going to find out,eazizi,” he told her, leaning in so she could smell the spicy scent of his cologne as well as the scent that was his alone. There was something intriguing about the way Zayed smelled. It was almost…no, there were no words. He just smelled…unique. And enticing.

“You’re going to find out what?” she asked, breathless as she tried to concentrate. When he was close like this, it was difficult. Then his meaning hit her and panic reared its nasty head again. “Find out” he’d said…about…the message? The coded message on her phone? He couldn’t know! Impossible! That code was completely random, known only by her and one other person!

“What your favorite meal is,” he replied, then winked at her before stepping into the meeting.

It took Tara a few moments of stunned surprise before she followed him in and settled in a chair along the wall. There were several people in the room and the meeting would be recorded, but Tara attended most of his meetings to take notes on issues Zayed, or Tara, needed to follow up on.

Normally, she was attentive in these meetings, knowledgeable on every issue because she read all of the contracts and reports before they reached Zayed’s desk. She’d taught herself how to speed read and take shorthand notes. She’d taught herself to type over one hundred words a minute. She’d read up on all of the latest technology so that she couldapply various apps to do her job better, faster, and more accurately.

But in this moment, she was too stunned by his words, by the possibility that he might care about her preferences, to take notes.

He must have realized that she was confused because he lifted a hand. “Just a moment ladies and gentlemen. Tara needs a moment.”

She jerked her head upwards and glared at him. The dratted man only chuckled, then turned back to the table. “Okay, she’s ready. Proceed.”

Tara wasn’t “ready”, she mentally grumbled, but she started scratching on her notebook. The notes she’d written had nothing to do with the conversation and everything to do with coming up with retribution for that embarrassing moment.

That only lasted for perhaps one, maybe two minutes, before she brought her concentration back to the discussion. And darn it, he knew the exact moment that she’d re-focused. The man turned and winked at her! How…rude! How inappropriate!

Three hours later, Tara fought to hide her exhaustion. It had been another chaotic day with everyone wanting “just five minutes” of Zayed’s time. It was her job to determine who truly needed time with him, and who needed to speak with someone else. Thankfully, he went into a security briefing around five o’clock, giving her a breather. She took that time to transcribe her notes and code them into a database that she’d built. Later, once he was finished for the night, Tara would go back and read through tomorrow’s schedule and pull up any appropriate notes from past meetings that might be relevant.

Her stomach growled and she realized that she’d skipped lunch, but that wasn’t unusual. It was always a rush around the lunch hour. But knowing that Zayed would be in his security meeting for at least another hour, she considered heading down to the staff cafeteria to grab something to eat.

But before she could do that, she remembered the message. She needed to reply! Good grief, she closed her eyes, trying to remember the reply code. Slipping into Zayed’s office, she retrieved her cell phone and flipped it open.

“Cereal for dinner tonight.”

With a sigh of relief, she tucked the phone back into its secret pocket and straightened up. But after that message, she wasn’t hungry. In fact, her stomach twisted uneasily. So instead of grabbing a quick bite, she returned to her computer and started working again.

Chapter 4

Kaia Treon paced across the dirt floor of the old barn, nervously glancing at the cell phone she held with every step. “Come on, Tara!” she whispered impatiently. “Read the message!”

Nothing. Kaia kept pacing, going over to the hole in the old wood wall where she could watch the gathering. No one knew she was up here and she had to keep quiet so they wouldn’t become suspicious. It was difficult though. She wanted to rush down the barely stable ladder, walk into the middle of the crowd of worshipers and yell at all of them, beg them to understand that they were being abused and controlled by an evil man.

However, she knew from past experience that her yelling, talking, coaxing, or any other form of communication would go unheard. Especially right now, since there were men and women worshiping together. In this “church”, women were not allowed to speak in mixed company. According to their interpretation of the Bible, women were to be silent during worship services – and since they believed that the entire world was the church, women were never allowed to speak when a man was present.

But even if the group contained only women, Kaia still would be ignored. These women had been brain-washed into believing that all women were inferior to men. She’d heard the Bible verses that the cult used to justify the male members’ violent abuse of women over and over again. In fact, she had the scars, proving that she was “unworthy” of the grace of their god because she asked too many questions about the verses that were their “proof”, the verses that all women were required to memorize and recite whenever a man considered her actions to be outside the bounds of appropriate behavior.

At last, the phone buzzed. Kaia's eyes darted down to the screen, quickly absorbing the message. A wave of relief engulfed her so profoundly that she almost let out a laugh, but she stifled it just in time. Silently, she descended the ladder.

Kaia paused long enough to check the cameras she’d installed, ensuring that they were all still working properly and were still well hidden. For a moment, she considered remaining in the barn, wanting to hear more of what was going on. But in the end, she opted to leave, well aware of the danger of overstaying her “welcome”. The temptation of lingering too closely had nearly trapped her in the past.

So instead of waiting for the prolonged worship service to conclude, Kaia skillfully vanished into the woods, embarking on the three-mile trek to her car.

Chapter 5

Elijah Collins surveyed the busy international airport outside of the capital city of Pitra with self-righteous disdain. It was larger and more sophisticated than he’d prefer. Elijah had been hoping that the Pitra airport would be a shack, visibly demonstrating the clear inferiority of this foreign country. But it wasn’t a shack. The airport was just as large and technologically advanced as anything one could find in the United States or Europe.

“Where do we go?” Beth Ann Collins asked, clutching her heavy, cumbersome suitcase tightly.

Nora Collins glared at her mother. “Shush!” she hissed, watching with satisfaction as her mother cringed inwardly. “Your son knows where we need to go. He got the address. We’ll only be here overnight. Just long enough to collect his bride so Elijah can bring Tara home where she belongs.”

Elijah lifted his hand and both women cringed, physically bracing for the slap. But it didn’t come. They should have known better. Elijah would never hit them in public. They’d quickly figured that out over the years. No man wanted his “discipline” to be questioned. Anyone outside of their church family couldn’t understand their ways.

Well, some probably did. There were many other church organizations that agreed with their beliefs. But some organizations had adopted new ways of thinking. Those people had moved away from the true word, the righteous path towards salvation. In other words, they would burn in everlasting hell for their leniency and naughty ways.

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