Stolen By The Sheikh (Interracial Romance) (3 page)

There was something about her fear and vulnerability that moved Sheikh Abdul, and he jerked his hand away from her flesh as though it had burned him. He lifted himself up and away from her body. Startled, Dani opened her eyes to see what he was doing. To her surprise, she saw that he was getting dressed.

Too afraid to say anything, Dani laid quietly, watching him button up his shirt. When he was fully dressed, he asked, “What is your name?”

“Dani,” she whispered.

“I can’t believe I forgot to ask for your name when you first arrived. I apologize. I think we both had an incredibly long night. The sun is rising, but if you can sleep you should. No one will bother you until you’ve had some rest. Do you want something to eat first?”

Dani shook her head. “No. I’m not hungry.”

The Sheikh sighed, looking slightly dejected. “Very well, then. Get some sleep. You have the phone. Call whenever you’d like.”

As soon as the door closed behind him, Dani began to shake violently from head to toe, adrenaline coursing through her body. She pulled back the sheets and comforter, and crawled underneath. She was afraid to fall asleep in this place, but the near-rape had drained her of what little energy reserves she had, and there was no fighting it. She surrendered to slumber, and dreamed about her father meeting her in the airport.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdul was wide awake and totally preoccupied with thoughts of Dani. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, but there was something about the girl that moved him deeply. Something set her apart from the other girls he had known, and he knew that she was different in some way. Her fear and sadness nagged at him, and he felt a twinge of guilt. Clearly, he could never send her back now. It would be too risky. Plus, he really didn’t want to do that. There was no reason to go to extremes. No, he would keep her, but he would make every effort to make her happy. He saw it as his duty to prove to her that this wasn’t a nightmare, but a dream come true.

Chapter 5

When Dani finally woke up she was ravenously hungry. She was loathe to call the kitchen, but much like sleeping, she realized that she couldn’t avoid eating forever. She picked up the phone and dialed. A woman with a thick accent answered the phone in English. “Hello. What would you like to eat?”

Dani had no idea. Could she really order anything, like the thugs had said? Would the woman have any idea what she was talking about if she asked for a cheeseburger? After a long silence, Dani said, “I’m not sure what you have, so whatever you bring me will be fine.”

The woman said, “I started a nice kabsa for the Sheikh. I will bring you that.”

Dani hung up the phone and wondered what time it was. The cook was making food for the Sheikh, so she assumed it must be midday, around lunchtime, whenever that was for him. She also wondered what kabsa was, and hoped that it wouldn’t be disgusting. He stomach rumbled, and she turned on the TV to distract herself from the hunger pangs while she waited. As she flipped through the stations, she wondered how her father had managed to have “normal” TV, as it appeared that there was nothing of the kind available here. Multiple stations in Arabic, and one single station in English. She remembered reading that television programs were heavily censored in Saudi Arabia, and it was now registering that her dad’s access to CNN was probably not sanctioned. She left it on the English station, even though she wasn’t the least bit interested in the program, just for the comfort of familiarity.

There was a knock at the door, and she wondered why, since she clearly couldn’t open it, but then figured that maybe the cook or whoever was delivering her food from the kitchen had much better manners than the Sheikh and his goon squad. There was no need to be hostile towards some poor woman working in the kitchen. Goodness only knew what she had to endure. So she composed herself and called out, “Yes? Please come in.”

To her surprise, when the door opened it wasn’t a servant but Sheikh Abdul himself standing on the other side. He was holding an enormous tray of food, which he placed on the small table next to the window. He removed the lid to show her the contents, and cleared his throat saying, “I hope the food is to your liking. I’m not sure what your feelings are about our cuisine, but we employ some of the finest cooks in the region. They can also make many American dishes for you, if you prefer.”

Dani bristled. She was furious, but she was also still terrified, so she felt that she had to suppress her rage. “It looks delicious. Thank you.”

He was watching her expectantly, as if he wanted her to sit down and dig in while he was still there, but she didn’t move. She wanted to keep as much physical distance between herself and this terrible brute of a man as possible. How could he possibly expect her to sit down and eat a meal in his presence? He was responsible for her kidnapping. He had nearly raped her the night before. And now he was holding her hostage. She now controlled next to nothing about her life, and she’d be damned if she was going to give up this last tiny little bit of autonomy. She would eat alone or she wouldn’t eat.

The Sheikh shrugged helplessly and said, “I guess I’ll be going, then. Please let me know if I can do anything at all to make you feel more comfortable. I feel badly that your first impression of me was less than it should have been.”

Dani was completely bewildered. Did this guy have multiple personality disorder? Was it a trick? She couldn’t understand how he could kidnap someone, try to rape them, and then act contrite, as though he cared anything about her comfort, with no mention of ever letting her go. He must be a madman. She kept silent, and he left without another word.

As soon as he was gone, Dani sat down to eat. The tray contained enough food to comfortably feed at least three people, and the unfamiliar flavors were delicious. As she ate, her mind began to drift. It was only midday, and she was going to have to find a way to fill the hours. What could she possibly do, trapped in this room with nothing but censored TV shows to entertain her?

In the end, she decided to kill time by taking a bath and getting dressed. She filled the swimming pool sized tub and spent a good hour trying to relax her body and mind, submerged in the steamy water. When she got out, she spent a long time trying out the enormous variety of body products and cosmetics that filled every drawer and cabinet. Then she wandered over to the dresser and started going through the drawers. There were so many options that it was almost like going on a shopping spree. Under different circumstances, she would have been giddy. After slipping into a perfectly fitting pair of designer jeans and a tank top, she noticed that there was a closet that had somehow escaped her notice until now. She opened the door and gasped. There were hundreds of shoes, organized by style and color, handbags, scarves, hair accessories, and rotating racks of bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. She flipped through the jewelry and adorned her wrist with a Tiffany bracelet, then found the matching necklace. Next she moved on to rifling through the hangers filled with designer gowns. When she reached the back of the closet, she found a section of hangers that sent a chill down her spine. There were a dozen burqas hanging in a row.

She remembered going shopping with her father. She had been allowed to wear her long maxi sundress, but when they reached the market, he had tossed her a couple of large scarves, one to cover her hair, and one to drape around her shoulders and arms like a shawl. There were only a few women not wearing burqas, but all had their heads covered, sleeves to the wrist, and skirts to the ankle. Was he going to let her dress normally within the confines of the palace and dress her up in a burqa if he ever took her outside of these walls? Would he eventually start making her wear them all the time? She didn’t know how it worked, and the not knowing was more frightening than any of the possibilities.

There was another knock at the door, and Dani jumped. Even though she had been told that everything in the room was for her, she felt like she had been caught stealing, or snooping through someone else’s things. She squeaked, “Come in,” as she quickly exited the closet and sat down on the edge of the bed.

It was the Sheikh again, and this time he came bearing gifts. His arms were heavy with enormous shopping bags, which he struggled to gracefully place at her feet. He smiled as he noticed she was wearing the new clothes he had left for her, and said, “You’ve changed. I hope you like your new wardrobe. I tried to make sure that you had plenty of variety, all of the best brands and latest trends, plenty of everything…”

Before she could stop herself, she found herself questioning him. “Yes, it’s all beautiful. But what about the burqas? I don’t want to wear a burqa.”

The Sheikh laughed, as if this was the funniest thing in the world, and that perhaps her discontent was simply due to a misunderstanding. “Oh, Dani, don’t worry about the burqas! I’m a very modern man. You don’t ever have to wear them at home. Eventually, once I know that it’s safe to take you in public, you’ll wear them when we go out. But that’s it! At no other time will you have to put them on.”

She spat and crossed her arms. “I see. We have very different ideas about what it means to be a modern man.”

Abdul stared at her in complete bewilderment. What more could she possibly want? He was only going to keep her safe from the prying eyes of lascivious men. Otherwise, she would have complete autonomy. There could be no more liberal a man in all of Saudi Arabia! He wanted to make her see this, but he also didn’t want to argue with her. Eventually, he would get her to see things his way, but first he needed to make peace with her. He desperately wanted her to like him.

Ignoring her comment, he glanced up at the TV. He said, “You like TV? I noticed you were watching it earlier, too.”

She sighed, “Usually I like it well enough, but there’s really nothing to watch here. Only one station in English, and none of the shows I would normally watch. It seems to be very heavily censored. I only have it on because I have nothing else to do.”

With a flourish, the Sheikh gestured to the shopping bags. He looked quite proud of himself as he said, “I thought you might be bored! I wasn’t sure about your interests, so I tried to select a wide variety of interesting things. I figured that you can keep whatever you like, and if any of it isn’t to your liking just stick it in a bag and I’ll give it to the servants to take home to their families.”

Dani thanked him, but her jaw was still rigidly set. He smiled softly at her. She was so beautiful, and despite her hostility towards him, he secretly admired her fire. He knew that women were supposed to be obedient, and he did expect that she would learn her place, but he also wanted her to keep her spirit. How could he have it both ways? He’d have to figure it out. He glanced at his watch and realized that he was running late for a meeting.

“I have to run. Dani, please enjoy your gifts. I’ll be back this evening to check in on you.”

And with that, he was gone, and once again, Dani was alone in her room. As she went through the bags, she was astonished by the amount of money the Sheikh must have spent. One bag was filled to the brim with books in English. Another bag was filled with skeins of yarn, knitting needles, crochet books, and how-to books. A third contained all kinds of supplies for paper crafts. There was a Nintendo 3DS with a dozen games, an Arabic language course with CDs and workbooks, a journal, pens, pencils, pads of drawing and watercolor paper, sets of paints, charcoals, and pastels, and a small tabletop easel. She might be lonely, but she certainly couldn’t complain of having nothing to do now. The choices were so overwhelming that now her only issue was decided what to do first.

She settled in with the “Learn How to Knit” book and spent the next few hours deeply immersed in doing and undoing her first crooked, imperfect rows. By the time the sun was setting, she had a tiny square that was finally satisfactory, and was feeling quite pleased with her efforts.

While knitting thoughts of her father tore her apart. She missed him dearly, and still was unsure what happened to him the day she was taken. Had he survived? Would she ever see him again? Surely he must have, and surely he would come rescue her from this prison. Or maybe not. Maybe no one knew where she was. She was so unsure.

Chapter 6

She was contemplating what to order for dinner when a tapping at the door alerted her to Sheikh Abdul’s return.

This time, he came bearing another sort of gift. Dani’s eyes went wide when she spotted the familiar paper bags. “McDonald’s! There’s a McDonald’s here?”

He grinned, “Indeed. It is so close that you can have McDonald’s every day if you wish. I thought about asking you what you wanted before I left, but then I decided it might be a nice surprise. Next time, you can choose.”

He placed the bags on the table and pulled up a chair. It was clear that this time he was not planning to leave while she ate, and Dani was so delighted by the surprise of American fast food, that she decided to let it slide. She dug into the Big Mac and crispy, golden fries. Abdul noticed that she didn’t hesitate to eat in front of him this time, and he felt certain that this was a sign of progress. He opened his own meal, and took a small, polite bite.

Eyeing his food, Dani took a long swig of Coke, then said, “Whoa! What is that? I’m pretty sure that’s not on the menu at American McDonald’s!”

Abdul glanced at his sandwich, politely finishing his bite before responding. “I hadn’t thought of it, but probably not. It’s called the McArabia Chicken.”

Dani laughed, “Oh. Well, it looks good. Once in Japan I had this sandwich called a Hot Gold Masala. It was a chicken sandwich with curry sauce. It was kind of weird, but kind of good, too.”

The Sheikh grinned and tore off a bite of his sandwich, offering it to her. To his surprise, she took it without hesitation and popped it into her mouth. “Not bad!”

Noticing the knitting on the bed, Abdul said, “What are you making?”

Dani shrugged, “To be honest, I have no idea. I’ve never knitted anything before in my life, so at the moment I’m knitting a square. Eventually I’ll try to make sweaters and socks, but I guess that for my first time I should stick with something easier, like a scarf or a blanket.”