Page 26 of The Sheik's Vow

Kaia grimaced, then shrugged. “Yes.”

Riaz soothed his hand over her leg. “Explain, love.”

Dibi and Marta padded into the bathroom, their claws tapping against the floor. They peered over the tub, sniffing the bubbles. Obviously, they didn’t like the scent, so they backed away. Marta moved back to the doorway and spread out on the soft carpeting. Dibi moved over to one of the bath mats.

Kaia smiled at the dogs, but then focused back on his question. “After I left the village, I hid out in a barn.”

“You mentioned that before.”

“Right,” she sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder while her free hand played with the bubbles in the water. “Well, I didn’t know the family that owned the barn, but they seemed so…happy. They prayed before they ate dinner every night.” She lifted her head and offered a sheepish smile. “I watched them from the upper floor of the barn. There was an opening on that level that looked down at the back of their house and there was a window that allowed me to see what a real family did in the evening.”

“What did you see?”

Her finger twirled the bubbles. “They smiled. They laughed and talked. The father didn’t smack his children when the little boy spilled his milk. The daughter got upset about something. I never was able to hear their conversations. But I witnessed her yelling at her mother once.”

“That’s not good.”

Kaia sighed and twisted so that she could look at him. “The important point is that she was allowed to express her feelings. She was angry and she yelled, but her mother didn’t slap her. The mother didn’t tell the father and he didn’t take her into the backyard and beat her with a cane.” She sighed and shifted to anotherseat, feeling better when the bubbles covered her breasts. “The house didn’t explode into flames, as we’d been taught would happen if we disobeyed.”

“You were taught that your home would explode?” he asked, stunned.

She shrugged. “Fire and brimstone were constant threats. Everything had to be done to serve the church.”

“Back to the church. Not god?”

She moved to the middle of the tub, floating around. “Several years after I’d left the church, Tara and I were in a small city. I don’t remember the name. But she was working at a bookstore and I had a few hours off. It was a Sunday morning. I wanted to go into the church and scream at the members, to tell them how horrible they were and that they should stay away from the misery that the minister talked about. That everything was a lie.”

“And what happened?”

“I listened. The minster talked about the beauty of his religion. He talked about…how God was kind and generous. Their God helped people, comforted them when they were sad.” She blinked back the tears, shaking her head at the memories. “The women weren’t subservient to their husbands and fathers. They wore slacks and heels, pearls and…whatever they wanted!” She closed her eyes.

“And that was surprising?”

“Yes,” she replied. “I was so desperately poor and hungry after leaving my father’s house, but I couldn’t go back. After I got Tara out of that place, things were better. It wasn’t as scary. Then we started to earn a bit of money.” She rolled her eyes. “I used to spend stupid amounts of money on costume jewelry. Every day, I would wear some piece of jewelry.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“Ethan didn’t allow the women to wear any sort of jewelry.”

“Why not?”

She groaned. “Well, he’d claim that it was because the bible, in one of the versus, talks about how women shouldn’t adorn themselves with pearls or gold.” She shook her head. “But really, it was because Ethan controlled the money. He never allowed anyone to have any. Not even a few dollars. If anyone asked for money, even for medicine, he’d claim that they were being selfish and not praying hard enough. If a child died, then he said the parents and the community didn’t pray hard enough.” She shuddered. “It was his way of keeping all of the money for himself.”

“Zayed’s team is speaking with the FBI financial crimes unit. They are working on obtaining a warrant for Howell’s financial records.”

Kaia gasped and spun around to stare at him. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. Zayed brought the FBI into the investigation earlier this morning.” He winked at her. “It was what I was going to tell you when you walked into my office earlier. However, your favor distracted me.”

Kaia squealed, then leapt back into his arms. “You’re wonderful!” she told him, wiggling on his lap.

Riaz groaned, his hands sliding up her hips to cup her breasts. “Did you do that on purpose?” he demanded, flicking her nipples, eliciting a gasp of surprise from Kaia.

Her eyes grew unfocused, and she leaned forward, kissing his lips briefly, just as he’d done to her earlier. “I can’t believe you think I’m that devious.”

“You’re a planner, Kaia,” he whispered, then hissed as her teeth scraped against his neck. “Are you going to repeat everything I did to you?”

“That’s the plan,” she quipped, nipping his earlobe, then wiggled on his lap. She could feel his rising erection and knew she was doing everything correctly. Smiling, even though he couldn’t see her, Kaia moved to lightly suck the pounding pulse at the base ofhis neck. He groaned and pulled her against him.

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