Page 8 of Sheikh's Unexpected Triplet Babies

Chapter Three

Jahin meant to walk the foreigner girl--Bedelia, her name was Bedelia--back to the hostel where she was staying and leave her there. The horse fair was only heating up, and there were still things he wanted to do. The lines might have closed at dark, but there were deals to be made in the light of the numerous bonfires, as well as people he only saw once a year to greet and laugh and drink with.

However, while he did meet some people and did get some information, he did it all while pulling Bedelia along with him. She was fascinated by every aspect of the horse fair, and he had certainly never met a foreigner before who was so fascinated by stud rights and the intricacies of Muneazil equine bloodlines.

When the sun had nearly set, however, he could tell that she was flagging. A little guiltily, he remembered how he had dragged her all over the fair, especially after she had suffered such a shock earlier. It was no surprise that she had gotten quiet, even if she continued to look around her with all the avidity of a small hunting bird.

There was something a bit odd about it, he decided. When he’d met her, he would have said she was quite plain. He liked his women dark and lovely, often as tall as he was with forms that were as graceful as willows. She was shorter than he was by almost a foot, curvy in a way that was attractive but usually not to his taste, and unlike any woman he had spent much time with. However, despite these things, he still found himself sneaking glances at her more often than he had ever thought he would look at a woman like that. There was certainly something compelling about her, and that was why he asked her to dinner.

"I don't want to impose," she started to say, but Jahin had gotten fairly good at fending that off.

"You never want to impose, and I will never let you impose," he said crisply. "We are agreed. I am asking you to dinner as my guest. I would enjoy your company, and I think you would enjoy mine, so yes or no? You are the only thing that is stopping us."

She laughed, and a part of him responded to that. He wanted to hear that sound more and more, and to his delight, she nodded.

“All right, if you're sure?”

“I am always sure,” he said with an expressive grin. “Come on.”

This wasn't the capital or Dubai. As much as some part of him wanted to see what she would make of delicacies from around the world, he contented himself with taking her back to the small tavern where they had first spoken.

“I don't think this place has changed much in the past few decades,” he said with a wry grin. “Muneazil does have more to offer, but right now, this is the best that I can do.”

She laughed again, that lovely bell-like sound, and Jahin couldn't help but lean in a little closer.

“I think that if people have been enjoying it for such a long time, then I am not one to question it. What do you want to get?”

There was a pot of simmering goat stew on, and despite Jahin's doubts, it turned out to be amazing, rich and dark and spiced enough to make both their eyes water.

Between bites of bread and drinks of milk, they still managed to talk, and Jahin was slowly putting together a picture of a woman of a kind that he had never met before.

“I'll admit, you are a bit of a novelty,” he said after she enthusiastically told him about her high school job of delivering newspapers. “Women who want to work are a bit of a rarity where I come from.”

“Oh, well, I'm really not much of a rarity at all. I mean, I don't always want to work. Sometimes, I get up first thing in the morning, and all I really want is to crawl back into bed! No, I do enjoy the work, I do. It's just that sometimes, I really have to work to find the joy.”

“I see. And you find that worthwhile?”

She looked at him as if he had said something insane. “Of course I do. Otherwise, what's the point?”

Jahin laughed, shaking his head. “I work hard to make sure my concerns are taken care of, and the work I do is challenging and enjoyable, but most of the women that I have known, especially the ones as young as you, want to do very little.”

“Or that's what they show you. Or that's what they're offered, and they do not know that there is a more fulfilling time waiting for them.” She shrugged. “I've known plenty of people like that, and when they are actually offered a chance to make a difference, they seem more than happy to take it.”

“I envy your idealism. Are there many like you where you come from?”

She looked faintly insulted at that for some reason, but then her face took on a strangely melancholy cast.

“I'll be honest, I feel alone a lot,” she confessed. “I... Everything I do makes so much sense to me. Leaving Iowa made sense. Coming to Muneazil to do research makes sense. Heck, even wandering into the lines today made sense until something horrible happened. But when I reach out and try to find people who are like me... It never seems to work out. No one seems willing to...to meet me on my own terms, let alone give me that fairytale that we discussed earlier.”

She ended her sentence blushing slightly, and for some reason, that made Jahin ache. She might not have been to his usual taste, but she was still lovely, and it seemed as if every moment in her presence, she only grew lovelier. Why in the hell wouldn't she be found by someone with half a brain who could value her and love her as she craved?

He started to say something of this sort, but then there was a commotion at the door, and to his surprise, he recognized the two men who had entered. In the same moment that he recognized them, they spotted him and made their way to the booth that he and Bedelia were sharing at the back.

“Sheikh Jahin! A pleasure to see you here tonight!”

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bedelia's head come up at the title. A part of him felt a strange sadness at being revealed for himself. There had been a part of him--not a large part, but a real part--that had liked speaking with her on his own terms, without titles and the usual flustered admiration getting in the way.

His friends, who were in Masir for the same reason he was, made their departures after paying their respects, and the silence between him and Bedelia stretched out like sticky candy.

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