Seventeen Years Ago…
Rachel Stuart jumped off of the school bus, racing as fast as her little legs could carry her. She waved to her friends as the bus pulled away, but her mind was focused on only one thing. “Is he here?” she yelled out as soon as she reached the stable area, dumping her book bag right outside the doorway, not wanting to even take the time to open the door and put the bag inside.
John Stuart turned to watch his seven year old daughter race towards him, her eyes lit up with excitement. He bent down just in time to catch her in his arms. “Not yet, Rach. But soon.”
Rachel’s eyes dimmed, but only slightly. “Do you think he’ll be proud of me when I show him?”
“Show me what?” Rais Sayyid Tarif Zaman walked down the stone path from the main house, amusement in his eyes as he approached the father and daughter. John Stuart was the horse trainer at his father’s stud farm and Rachel was the precocious little girl with long, brown hair and glowing eyes who never failed to make Rais smile.
“Rais!” she exclaimed with delight. Rachel wiggled out of her father’s arms and scampered over to the tall, muscular teenage boy who was better than a brother, throwing herself into his arms just as she’d done to her father moments ago.
Rais laughed and caught her in his arms easily, lifting her up so they were face to face. “How are your grades this quarter?”
“Straight As!” she proclaimed proudly, her chin lifting with excitement at being able to deliver the good news. Rais wouldn’t allow anything less from her and she studied hard so she’d be able to make that claim. Her father helped her with her math homework so she could achieve good grades, but she loved reading and was one of the best in her grade so at least that part was easy.
“Excellent! And what are you going to do when you grow up?” he asked, always amazed at Rachel’s ambitions which changed almost monthly. Every time she learned something new in school she changed her career goals and he loved hearing what she was going to do next.
“I’m going to be a neurosurgeon!” she exclaimed proudly, her eyes wide with the eagerness as she said, “Did you know that the human brain makes up just two percent of the weight of the human body but it uses twenty percent of a body’s energy?”
His eyes widened because he hadn’t known about that fact. “That’s fascinating!”
“I know! So I’m going to operate on brains and make people feel better!” She nodded her head for emphasis.
Rais laughed. “Well, that’s a pretty ambitious goal.” He shot an amused glance at John who rolled his eyes at his daughter’s latest aspiration while he continued to coach the stallion around the corral carefully so it wouldn’t re-injure it’s leg.
“So what do you have to show me?” Rais asked, changing the subject.
“Wait until you see what I’ve learned!” she said after hugging him with all her strength. “Is your father here too?”
“He is in meetings until tonight,” Rais replied, lifting the exuberant girl so she was sitting on the edge of the white fence. “Don’t make me wait though. I’m ready to see whatever it is that you wanted to show me,” he encouraged, thinking she had painted a new picture or written a funny story in her grammar class.
Rachel clapped her hands together and giggled delightedly. “Wait until you see!” she replied and jumped off of the high railing in one leap, racing into the stable.
Rais looked over at his father’s trainer with a raised eyebrow. “What’s going on?” he asked, squinting in the springtime sunshine.
John chuckled and shook his head. “She’s been practicing her jumps ever since your last visit.”
The amusement instantly vanished and Rais straightened away from the fence, no longer casual about this latest ‘surprise’. “What do you mean? She’s too small to jump. She’s going to break her neck!”
John shook his head with a small smile, used to this man showing concern for his daughter. Rais was like the big, protective brother Rachel never had and he knew that the two had a special bond. “I’m not worried. She’s only been jumping the smaller levels. She saw you and your dad racing your horses back last month and you jumped the stone fence by the back gate. Ever since then, she’s been determined to jump that damn fence too.”
Rais shook his head, pacing back and forth in front of the corral gate, debating whether to stop her or…. “She’s too small, John.”
Rachel’s father waved to one of the other employees, handing the reins to the other man before turning back to Rais. Taking off his leather gloves, he pushed his hat farther back on his head and sighed. “I know. I’ve held her back from what she was originally trying to do at least. She’s accepted that she can only do the lowest rungs on the jumps at this point. But she’s been racing through her homework every afternoon just so she can spend more time practicing,” he said with more than a hint of pride in his voice. “Wait until you see her.”
Rais cursed himself for doing the jump on his last visit. Rachel was only seven years old, definitely too small to start jumping. He already knew that she rode too fast for her size and the little hellion tried to follow him on the more adventurous trails. “Why does she do things like that?” he demanded, already starting to panic at the idea of her tiny body broken because she’d taken too high of a jump or raced too fast on her horse.
John laughed softly, looking up at the teenager who already had more responsibility on his broad shoulders simply because he would eventually inherit the title of Sheik of Dunari. “Because you can do it, she thinks she can too. She thinks of you as her big brother, the one she knows she’ll never get from me.”
Rais sighed with exasperation and rubbed his hand over his face. “I have years more experience than she does. Shouldn’t we stop her?” he asked, glancing back to the stable doors.
Rachel’s father pondered the subject for a moment, then shook his head. “Just wait. I think she’ll be fine.”
A moment later, Rachel came out of the stable, already sitting on her pony’s saddle with helmet on and a determined look on her chubby little face. She waved briefly towards her father and Rais, but then concentrated on her task. Patting the neck of her horse, Mindy, she focused all of her attention on the jump in front of her. Pressing her knees together, she and horse shot forward, both of them feeling their heart rate increase. Closer and closer….at exactly the right moment, she pulled up on the reins, and Mindy sprang upwards with Rachel lifting herself up out of the saddle as if her body were flying along with the animal’s. With a jarring thud, both horse and rider landed on the other side of the rail and Rachel hooped with joy at her success.
Even Mindy knew she’d done something spectacular and pranced around the corral. Rachel guided her horse over to where her father and Rais were standing, an enormous grin splitting her face as she bowed in front of her father and her best friend. “What did you think?” she asked when neither of them said a word but stood there staring at her, both of them watching with their mouth hanging open.
After several seconds her father, gathered his wits about him and started clapping. It took that long to get his heart to start beating once again after the terror of seeing his little girl jump over a rail that was definitely too high for both herself and her smaller horse. If he’d known she was going to take on the higher rail, he would have stopped her.
Rais took a deep breath and started clapping as well, but he had a hard time breathing for several moments after her jump. And an equally hard time not grabbing Rachel and giving her a good shake for being so reckless.
If she were his daughter…he sighed and focused. Rachel wasn’t his daughter. She was a cute little girl who loved horses just as much as he did. He couldn’t blame her and if he were perfectly honest, Rais knew that he probably took too many chances. The adrenaline rush was heady, he knew.
“Come up to the house for dinner to celebrate,” he said to both father and daughter. Then looked down at Rachel. “Although, you probably won’t have time. I bet you have a lot of homework, don’t you?”
Rachel’s smile faltered and her eyes grew wide. “Yes, but I can get it all done in time. I promise!”
With that, she raced back to her house, grabbed her book bag and slung it over her shoulder before running away once again.
Rais watched her with amusement. “Where’s she heading?” he asked when Rachel disappeared behind the stable.
John glanced back over his shoulder with a chuckle, his attention more on the horses than on his daughter now that the crisis was over. “She has all these hideouts where she finishes her homework when the weather is good.”
Rais wanted to follow her, find out where she hid and what her homework was, but his own father called at that moment and he was called back to business. His father was grooming him to take over and it felt as if there was never a moment to spare. He didn’t mind though. He knew his responsibilities and took them on eagerly.
Two Years Later…
Rachel hurried around the stables, wanting to surprise her father. School was out early today for the Thanksgiving holiday. That meant she would have two extra hours to ride with no homework until Sunday afternoon. That was four glorious days away!
Maybe Rais would be here! That would be even better!
She kicked a clump of dirt along the gravel pathway, enjoying the autumn sunshine and wondering if it would get cold enough for snow by Christmas. The scene that greeted her as she rounded the corner stopped her in her tracks. With wide, horrified eyes, she watched while Devlin, a huge, black stallion, was released into the corral. A pretty, prancing mare named Dalia was already there, her nostrils flaring wide. In Rachel’s nine year old mind, all the mare was feeling was terror as Devlin whinnied and stood back on his hind legs.
Rachel didn’t know that her fingers had dropped her book bag, or that her father was working hard to control another stallion who had captured Dalia’s scent. All she saw was that the mare was backing up, her eyes so wide that the whites could be seen as she tried to get away from Devlin. The stallion wasn’t taking any of that silliness from Dalia, moving sideways back and forth, intimidating her as he posed and stomped his feet.
There were loud noises coming from the horses and Rachel gasped when Devlin maneuvered Dalia into a corner. The next thing she knew, Devlin was behind the mare, his front hooves lifting off and Dalia was screeching.
Rachel didn’t understand what was happening, only that there were loud noises in her head and the beautiful mare that she fed apples to each morning was scared and in pain with odd noises coming from deep down inside her.
At the first sound of the yell, both John and Rais, along with about ten other staff members looked over at the young girl screaming as she watched the stallion mount the mare.
John had both hands on the reins of another stallion and he looked over at Rais who was already moving towards Rachel.
“I’ll take care of her John,” Rais called out, his heart just now starting to calm down after hearing the painful yell from the little girl.
“Rachel, it’s okay,” he said, bending down to try and get her attention. But Rachel was having none of that. Her eyes were huge as they stared at the lovely mare being brutalized by the larger stallion. She didn’t care how handsome and beautiful Devlin might seem to others, he was hurting Dalia, terrorizing her with his violence.
“Make him stop!” she cried out, her skinny arms wrapping around Rais’ neck. Besides her father, when something was wrong, she knew that Rais was always able to make things better. He was her rock. “Please, Rais! Make it all stop. He’s hurting her!”
Rais looked over his shoulder and cringed. Devlin was indeed going pretty strong but there was no stopping them at this point. Nor did Dalia actually look like she wanted to be saved. The mating dance was rough, but the horses wanted this intensly. He knew better than to get between two strong animals who were doing this act.
“Rachel, he isn’t…” he started to say but she interrupted him.
“He is! Oh Rais, please make him stop! Please save her!” The tears streaming down her pretty face was his undoing.
Just as much as the horses were intent, he knew that there wasn’t anything that he could do to stop Rachel from watching this scene except to take her away from the problem. Lifting her into his arms, he carried her away, into the stables where there was less noise to hear from the equine mating rituals. He cradled the girl in his arms, letting her sob out her worry and horror at the act, not interrupting but simply sitting there rocking her back and forth.
When her crying started to slow, he rubbed her back, noticing the tension in her tiny, skinny body and wished he could make her feel better. The horses’ mating wasn’t anything to be ashamed of, but to a little girl, the scene was confusing and terrifying. “It’s okay, Rachel. Everything is over.”
With those words, she lifted her head slightly, listening. Sure enough, the whinnying and screams from the mare were done. It was silent in the stables. Not even the other staff members who cared for the horses were around, giving her privacy to deal with her first impression of the sexual act.
“Why did he do it?” she whispered, leaning her head against his strong, broad shoulder. “And why didn’t you make it stop?” This was the first time she’d asked something of him and he hadn’t helped her. When she went to Rais, it was for information or companionship, arguments or just someone to laugh with. When her feelings were hurt, Rais was the man she knew she could talk to. If a friend said something mean, she needed to discuss it with Rais, ponder how to handle the situation. When something exciting happened, Rais was the one she wanted to tell.
But this time, he’d failed her. He hadn’t stopped the horror.
Rais wasn’t sure what to say under the circumstances. She was traumatized, but it was a completely natural act. “It wasn’t what you think, Rachel.”
She shuddered as her mind went through the scene once again. She felt his strong arms tighten around her and she pushed her face into his neck once again as another sob broke through. After regaining control of herself, she pulled away again and looked up at his face. “You haven’t shaved today,” she said, her hand reaching up to test the scruffy, rough texture of his cheek.
Rais laughed softly. “I just flew in from Dunari this morning after late meetings last night.”
“Why?”
Rais looked down at the huge, brown eyes that were still so filled with sadness. He wished he could make it better, but he didn’t know how. For the first time, he didn’t know what to say to make this little girl laugh and he ached to make her feel better, to see that happy glow on her cheeks once again. “I wanted to be here for Devlin and Dalia,” he admitted, not hiding the truth. “They’re going to make beautiful offspring.” He waited for his words to sink in. “Do you understand what they were doing?” he asked gently.
She bit her lower lip, her eyes filling up with tears again. “I think so.”
“So you know that what they were doing was natural and healthy.” He was more than a little worried that she would be afraid now. Sex was complicated enough. Seeing something like that might warp her for a long time.
“I don’t think so,” she argued stubbornly. “That mean, old Devlin might have been okay, but Dalia wasn’t doing anything wrong. She shouldn’t have been treated like that.”
Rais smothered his amusement and tried to think of what he could say to counter her impression. This wasn’t funny. It was very serious and he wanted to help her but he was at a loss as to what to do. “Maybe you should talk to your father about this,” he suggested.
The hurt that entered her eyes at that moment was more than he could take. “But I’ll tell you anything you want to know. You know that.”
Rachel was relieved. For Rais to say he couldn’t talk to her was shocking. She leaned her head back against his shoulder, wondering what she wanted to know. But in the end, she didn’t care to know anything. She just wanted to hide in here away from that horrible horse that had hurt his beautiful Dalia. “I’m okay,” she said softly. “Do you need to go?”
He shook his head. “I’m free for the afternoon,” he lied. He actually had several meetings that he would miss. Rachel needed him and he couldn’t abandon her now. Not after the shock she’d just gone through.
Rachel tried to smile, but in the end, she just relaxed against his strong body, his muscular arms holding her gently. She didn’t know when she’d fallen asleep, but next thing she knew, she was in her bed, rolling over to snuggle into her pillow more deeply.
Nine Years Later….
“Do I look okay, Dad?” Rachel asked, nervously smoothing the cream satin dress over her stomach once again, praying that her sweaty palms would go away, or at least not leave a splotch on the beautiful dress. That would be hugely embarrassing. “Is this the right color for me?”
She looked worriedly in the mirror, praying that she’d chosen a color that worked well with her skin tone and eyes. Her best friend Libby had helped her select the dress, assuring Rachel that it was perfect. But Rachel hadn’t confided to her friend the purpose behind the dress. Her love for Rais continued to be a secret!
The dress had cost more than she’d expected. Rachel had been saving up for eighteen months, hoarding all of her money and even doing extra chores so she could have extra just in case. Now, standing in front of the mirror only moments before the first guests were to arrive, she wasn’t sure that she’d done the right thing.
“You look lovely,” Lucy, the housekeeper gushed, bustling into the guest room of the main house where Rachel was getting ready for her eighteenth birthday party. “All the boys will go crazy once they see you tonight.”
Rachel bit her lower lip, not reassured. She didn’t care about the boys in her class. The guys who had been invited were mere boys strutting around as they figured out how to be men. She was out to impress one man. And she wasn’t sure if this dress would do the trick. Would he see her as a woman finally? Would he look at her and understand how much she felt for him? How much he meant to her?
Or would he laugh at her feeble attempt at sophistication? Was she setting herself up to look like a fool? Maybe she should change? But she didn’t have anything else to wear! She’d spent all her money on this one dress, previously convinced that the dress would do the trick and show Rais that she wasn’t a little kid anymore. She wanted him to look at her and see that she was just as feminine and sophisticated as all those other women he dated, but she would love him so much more!
She hated it when she found pictures on the internet of the various women Rais escorted. He was fabulously wealthy and so handsome it was almost painful to see him now. She’d bought this dress because it was as close as possible to the one another woman had been wearing when he’d escorted her to a dance club in Paris last month. Surely Rais would see her and know how she felt, wouldn’t he? He had to know that she would love him for who he was and not because of his money or power. Surely he would, wouldn’t he?
The doorbell rang, indicating that the first guests were arriving and she glanced at the closed door to the bedroom. “I guess this is it,” she said and looked at her reflection. Both Lucy and her father were looking back at her with pride. “Go get ‘em, Rach,” her father said, his voice catching with his comment.
Rachel forced a smile on her face, but she didn’t care who was at the door. The only man she wanted to impress probably wouldn’t show up even though this was his house. Rais had been so generous about letting her have her party in his ballroom, even paying for all of the snacks and sodas. But would he really see her? As a woman? Would he finally dance with her?
Most of the people coming tonight weren’t even her friends. They all just wanted to attend so they could see the inside of Rais’ palatial house which was normally closed off to anyone other than the wealthy, powerful elite of the world. Rais and his father used this house outside of Washington, D.C. as their base for entertaining when they were in the U.S. As Sheik of Dunari, Rais’ father had a great deal of power, and a huge amount of responsibility.
She walked to the door, smothering her laughter when George, Rais’ butler, winked at her only moments before opening the door to admit the first group of guests. From that moment on, Rachel was swept up in the tidal wave of her party. Everyone who had been invited showed up, eager to get a look at Rais’ fabulous house and hopefully get a glance at the man himself. The girls were avidly watching the hallways, wondering if he might pop in and say hello while the boys just wanted to be near a man as powerful as someone like Rais.
Rais looked down at the ballroom from one of the balconies, his insides clenching with fury. He actually had to restrain himself when yet another eighteen year old boy approached Rachel and asked her to dance. He imagined breaking the boy’s hand when he had the audacity to touch her waist and, if it weren’t for his father’s strong hand on his shoulder, he might have rushed down the stairs and punched the boy in the face.
He knew exactly what was going through each boy’s mind as they took ‘his’ Rachel out onto the dance floor and he wanted to beat those thoughts out of them. She was beautiful and sweet and none had the right to even touch her, much less think things like that.
“So this is the one, eh?” his father said softly, looking down on the crowd of teenagers with amusement and happiness. “I’m relieved that you finally have realized your feelings for our little Rachel.”
Rais glanced back angrily at his father, not understanding what he was saying. “She’s too young for that boy, father.” Rais held onto the stone railing with a white knuckle grip, trying to figure out what to do to get Rachel out of that crowd of hormone-pumping, gyrating boys.
His father peered down at the crowd and chuckled. “It appears that they are approximately the same age as each other.”
Rais turned his back on the scene, unable to deal with watching Rachel in another boy’s arms any longer. “She’s too young for him,” he reiterated forcefully.
His father laughed softly once again. “She’s too young for you, my son. But soon….”
Rais looked at his father with surprise, then back down at Rachel who was once again surrounded by boys. Why wouldn’t she be? She was beautiful with her long, black hair and soft, brown eyes looking like any man’s angel. Not to mention her lithe, teenage body that had blossomed into womanhood over the past few months while he’d been gone.
“I don’t think so, Father.”
And then it struck him. Hard!
He wasn’t angry because Rachel was too young for those other boys. He was furious because he was too old! He was twenty-eight years old and lusting after an eighteen year old girl! “That’s disgusting!” he growled, livid with himself for even thinking such thoughts about Rachel. She was like a kid sister to him! How could he even think…No!
His father sighed and shook his head. “She is too young now. But in a few years, she will be even more beautiful and perhaps more eligible.”
Rais didn’t want to consider those ideas. He didn’t think that way about Rachel! And yet, when he looked down at her dancing, there was no denying the protective feelings for the beautiful young girl. They weren’t sexual exactly, but they definitely weren’t brotherly anymore. It had been like this for several years now, growing stronger as she grew into adulthood. But it had never been so blatantly in his face as it was now with all those boys vying for her attention.
He wasn’t sure what he was feeling, but he knew that he wasn’t going to do anything about it. Rachel was like a beautiful rose that was slowly opening up to the sun and he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.
With a growl of anger, he pushed away from the balcony and strode away, down the back stairs and out into the cool, night air. Slinging himself into his powerful car, he drove away from the party, determined to stay as far away from the woman-child as he could. She needed space to grow up, to learn about life and love. He didn’t like it, but he knew she needed to date other men.
Maybe in a few years she might be old enough. But right now, she was young and beautiful and he was confused about what he was feeling. Better to leave her alone than to hurt her in any way.
Rachel watched with a pain knifing through her as the powerful car drove down the long, winding driveway. She stood by the ballroom window as her heart broke, wishing Rais would come back and ask her to dance. Just one dance, she thought miserably.
She’d searched for so long for this dress, tried on literally hundreds of dresses until she found the perfect one and now he wouldn’t even see her in it. All those months of chores and saving up, all for nothing!
With a sniff of anger, she turned her back on the departing tail lights. Perhaps she should forget him. Rais had too much responsibility and he had all those other women. She hated the idea, but maybe it was time to move on. He hadn’t even bothered to come down and wish her a happy birthday! Was he off on another date? Was she blond and beautiful? Would they…? No! She couldn’t even finish that thought, the image of another woman in Rais’ arms was too painful. Rais wouldn’t do that with another woman….would he?
The hurt she was feeling was intense but she still had a party going on. If he didn’t want to be here, if he had other things to do that were more important than being here with her, then she needed to accept that. She needed to move on and…get over him?
With a sigh of sadness and desolate pain, she pasted a smile on her face and stepped back into the crowd. Yes, Rais wasn’t the man for her. He obviously wanted something else, something she couldn’t give him.
It was time to move on, she told herself with finality. If Rais wasn’t interested in her that way, she would find a man who was!
