Page 25 of Sheikh's Unexpected Triplet Babies

Chapter Nine

“I really hope you know what you are doing,” Bedelia murmured as Jahin kicked the black into a canter, and he laughed softly in her ear, his breath warm. It sent a delicious shiver down her back, but that was decidedly the last thing she wanted to be focused on when she was this high off of the ground.

“Of course I know what I am doing,” he said with utmost confidence. “Trust me. You are going to love this.”

Bedelia supposed that her mistake had been telling Jahin that she had never been on a horse. For a man who had been riding since he could walk, this was apparently criminal, and the very next day, they’d taken a small plane to the very north of the emirate, where the horses of the Abdul Kattan family had historically been reared.

When Jahin had talked about the stables, she had imagined something like what she had seen once in Kentucky, a place of rolling green hills and white fences. However, when the plane landed and Jahin came out to greet the stable master, she was struck by the barren nature of the place. There was a desolate beauty to all of it, but it was still Muneazil, with desert scrub land all about, and to the north, dark mountains that bit into the darkening sky.

She had thought they were going to spend the night at the small manor house that Jahin kept here for the nights he wanted to stay close to his herds. He led her up towards the house and showed her a closet full of clothes that she recognized immediately as women's clothing.

“No need to worry about a headscarf out here, but there are clothes here that will help you do a little better when it comes to riding. The long sleeves and split skirts will protect you, and there should be something in your size.”

“Where did these clothes come from?” she asked, and she knew that she had not been successful at hiding the hint of jealousy in her voice because Jahin smiled at her slightly.

“They are remnants from my mother and grandmother and some of my female cousins. They are certainly not going to begrudge you as they have traded these clothes back and forth for years. Don't worry about it.”

That comforted her a little, though she could not imagine him telling her baldly that the clothes had been left by previous lovers. Sometimes, she caught hints of thoughts like that sliding into her mind, but right now, the prospect of an adventure was too much for her to resist.

Alone in the small room, she went through the clothing, looking for ones that would fit. A set of loose trousers with legs so wide that they looked like a skirt was easy enough, but she seemed to be bustier on top than the women who had stayed at the manor previously. Finally, she found a loose shirt that laced up the front, giving her both coverage and a surprisingly curvy shape in the mirror. She made a face. Well, he had said that there was no need to stand on formality while they were out in the country, so she was going to take him at his word.

She walked back down to the door with him, but before she could say anything to him at all, she caught his shocked expression.

“Um, should I go back and change? Did I do anything wrong?”

He blinked at her a few times as if he needed to figure out what she was actually saying, and then shook his head.

“No...nothing wrong at all. It is only... My god, woman. You have no idea how you look, do you?”

She felt a dull, hot blush rise up on her cheeks, and she crossed her arms in front of her, frowning at him.

“You told me I was fine and that there wasn't going to be a problem,” she said. “If there was actually going to be an issue, you should have told me--”

To her surprise, however, he swept her up into his arms, planting a soft kiss on her lips.

“Jahin!”

“You look amazing,” he said softly. “I wish I could keep you like this all the time, or perhaps even a little more bare. Unfortunately, that's not something I can do, so I am simply going to enjoy this while I can.”

She felt the heat rush to her face again, but this time, it was for an entirely different reason. “Oh...”

“Oh indeed,” he said with a grin. “But come on, there's someone that's been waiting for us.”

Instead of leading her over to the stables, Jahin took her over to a fence, which seemed to border a wide open area so large that she couldn't see the end of it. When she remarked on the barrenness of the space, Jahin gave her a grin.

“We do not really believe in coddling our horses here,” he said. “They get the best treatment, but my family has always found that giving them the most freedom creates the bravest and most spectacular mounts.”

She knew that Miller would be thrilled to learn this about Muneazil and the way they reared their horses, but in that moment, she also knew she could not share it with him. This felt like something special, something that existed between her and Jahin.

As she watched, he stepped up to the fence and whistled, a high and piercing sound that slid up and down on a scale she couldn't quite pin down. For a moment, nothing happened, and then with a rumble, a small herd of horses thundered towards them across the twilight plain. They were gorgeous animals, tall and deep-chested, all with an intelligence in their dark eyes that took Bedelia's breath away. In that moment, she truly believed what Jahin said, and understood it in a way that she hadn't before. She could see where the freedom made them better, stronger, smarter, and in that moment, she adored Jahin a little more for it, too.

It only took a moment before the black pushed himself forward, shouldering the other horses aside to receive his share of treats and pets.

“Do you remember this one?” Jahin asked. “It looks like he remembers you.”

The horse that she had seen Jahin wrestle under control at the horse fair seemed even larger as it swung its head towards her. Instead of the fear and pain it had been showing that day, there was nothing but calm curiosity in its eyes now as it nuzzled Bedelia's hesitant hand.

“Are we really going to go riding?” she asked. “I thought it was dangerous to go riding at night, and it's getting dark so fast.”

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