Page 15 of The Sheik's Embrace

“Exactly.” She turned and looked up at Zayed. “I didn’t even realize what was happening. Kaia took the punishment even when I didn’t understand what I’d done wrong.”

Zayed couldn’t hold back any longer. Rushing over to her, he pulled her into his arms. “You didn’t do anything wrong, love,” he whispered vehemently. “You were a child! Accidents happen!”

She sniffed and Tara accepted his embrace, feeling warm and secure. It had been a long time since she’d felt this way. Not since Kaia had stolen her away from that miserable place.

“Kaia wasn’t married off because she was considered too naughty to be an obedient wife. She rebelled by asking questions, refusing to pray, refusing obedience.” Tara pressed her face against his chest. “She ran away, but kept sneaking back to the house, bringing me food when I was being punished. She’d sneak in through my window. Somehow, she knew when I was denied food for the day and she’d sneak in and give me a sandwich or cookies. Sometimes milk.” Tara snuggled up against him, crying her outrage at the abuse. “On the day I was married, she somehow knew what was going to happen. After the wedding ceremony, I was ordered to go to Elijah’s house, change into my nightclothes and then sit on the bed, waiting forhim to come and teach me…” she stumbled now. “He was going to begin teaching me how to be a good wife. At the time, I didn’t know what that meant. I just knew that I didn’t want to learn anything from that disgusting old man.”

“How old was he?”

She sniffed again. “I think at the time, he was in his mid-thirties. I don’t know for sure, but I remember him turning a strange color of pink during the ceremony. And the sweat. When he kissed me, he felt all gross and sloppy.” She shuddered, then pressed close against Zayed again. “Before I could change into my nightgown, Kaia was in the room. She looked me in the eye and said, ‘You’re coming with me’ and we snuck away. I didn’t care where we went. I was with Kaia and I knew I was going to be okay.”

“Where did you go?”

She laughed. “To an old barn a few miles away. We stayed in that barn where Kaia would sneak books and food from the dumpster of a grocery store. They threw out rotting fruit that they couldn’t sell. We cut away the rotting parts and ate the good parts. There was milk too. They had to throw away the milk when it was past its sell-by date.” She smiled and pulled away, tilting her head back so that she was smiling up at Zayed. “We figured out the best time to get the food that the store threw away. It was around eleven o’clock at night, right after their closing time. We had to be careful though. We waited until the store employees had driven away, otherwise, they would catch us trying to dig through the dumpsters and yell at us.”

“Do you know what happened with your…,” he paused, clenching his jaw in fury, “I won’t call him your husband, Tara.” He held her steady. “What happened with your groomer that night?”

Tara shivered at that word. “You’re right. That’s exactly what he was. Any man who needs to marry a woman at such a young age in order to teach her how to be a good wife, like Ethan recommends, must be a groomer.” She sighed, then suddenly realized that she was in his arms. “I’m sorry, Your Highness!” she gasped and stepped back, wiping at the remnants of her tears. “That was completely inappropriate!”

“And yet, it felt very nice,” he countered, then took her hand, leading her back over to the sofa. “Come, Tara. I want to hear more about this saga that you and your sister went on, and I also need to know if you are safe.”

“Yes,” she replied. “There is no way that Elijah could get to me here in the palace.”

“And that’s why you’ve slept here the last two nights? Once in your office and last night here in mine?”

She tugged at her hand, her eyes wide with worry. “You…You know about that?”

“Yes, I was informed both nights when you didn’t check out of the palace.”

“Check out? But…?” She looked over her shoulder, as if she could see the exit to the palace. “There isn’t a place that I officially check out each night.”

He laughed softly. “Tara, the palace guards know where everyone is at all times of the day and night. Palace employees don’t check out on any official clipboard, but the badge readers note everyone who comes and goes from the palace. When you didn’t badge out at your usual time at night, the guards came looking for you.”

She smiled, her shoulders relaxing slightly. “Oh, that makes sense,” she said with a nod. “One of them was kind enough to cover me in a blanket last night.”

“That was me,eazizi.” He took her hand again, laying her fingers on his knee and covering them with his own. “So you and your sister slept in a barn for how long?”

Tara blushed as she glanced down at her hand. She wanted to pull her hand away because this touch was too intimate. And yet, she also wanted to keep it right there. She wanted to slide her fingers over his thigh and explore more. An image of him, completely naked, popped into her mind. Yes, she wanted to discover what his thigh felt like without his slacks in the way.

“Tara.” He said her name and it sounded like a combination of a growl and a purr. She lifted her eyes up to his and her heart accelerated at the intense look of…desire? Did he desire her? Impossible! No one desired her! She was…?

“How long did you stay in the barn?”

Tara blinked, startled out of her contemplation. It took her a long moment to remember what they were talking about.

“Um…I don’t know exactly. Kaia made it into a game. We had fun, actually.” She shrugged. “It was summer so we didn’t need to worry about the cold. We had enough to eat, and the food was better than what I’d been allowed to eat at home. So I…I was happy for the first time in…forever.”

“So, you didn’t care how long you stayed,” he finished for her.

“Exactly.”

“What made you leave the barn?”

Tara slouched slightly, still aware of her hand on his thigh, but it was a warm heat now. “Kaia somehow knew what was going on back home. She knew that it was time to leave. So we headed into the city.” She shook her head, thinking back to that time now. “I still can’t figure out how Kaia knew how to do everything, except that maybe she’d been living on the streets for so long before she came back to save me.” Tara looked out towards the windows as she continued. “We moved around a lot during those first few years. We spent a lot of time hiding in abandoned buildings. Sometimes, we had food and sometimes we didn’t. Kaia got both of us on babysitting lists, which helped us earn more money than most of the other homeless kids that we saw around town. Kaia demanded that we always read. She was adamant that we always had a book and were learning something in our spare time.”

“Reading is very important,” he agreed.

Tara looked back at him, shaking her head. “No, you don’t understand. Ethan didn’t want the female community members to go to school.”

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