Charlotte Maclay - At The Rancher's Bidding

He got out of the truck and nodded a greeting as Cade Coleman came out of the house. “How’s the new daddy bearing up?” Cord asked.

“Better than Rena,” he said with a smile that made his dark eyes light up. “She’s got to handle most of the nighttime duties with the twins. But neither one of us has gotten much sleep in the past three months.”

“I can imagine.” The front door opened, and Cord looked up to see the sheikh in his flowing white garb, followed by a woman fully cloaked and veiled, with only her dark, almond-shaped eyes visible. “Are you sure there isn’t some way I can refuse Sheikh Rafe’s gift?” he asked Cord under his breath.

Cade lifted his shoulders in an easy shrug of indifference. “It’s a custom, I guess. You’ll think of some way to handle it.”

Cord wasn’t so sure.

“Good afternoon.” Rafe extended his hand, griping Cord’s firmly. “Allow me to present Leila, my sister’s lady-in-waiting. She is honored to be chosen to serve for a short time the man who saved her life.”

“Look, Rafe, this really isn’t necessary. I only did what any man would do.” He hadn’t been particularly heroic. Had just been at the right place at the right time, or rather the wrong place, as it turned out.

The sheikh waved off his objection and instead beckoned the woman to step forward. She carried a small satchel with her. All her worldly possessions, Cord imagined.

Cord tipped the brim of his Stetson. “Miss.” Actually, he didn’t have a clue if she was a miss or a missus, there being no way to judge her age under all those yards of cotton fabric. With her head bowed, he couldn’t even see her eyes, although he remembered them as dark orbs circled with kohl, looking very frightened when he’d reined in her horse.

When he took the satchel from her, he did catch a glimpse of her hands. Long, delicate fingers and soft, unblemished skin the shade of cream right from a mother cow…Not exactly the hands of someone used to hard work, although there were no rings or any sign of extravagant wealth.

“If she does not please you,” Rafe said, “return her to me, and I shall make amends.”

Studying the shiekh’s solemn expression, Cord wondered if there was the hint of a threat there—that Leila would suffer if she didn’t live up to expectations. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Hell, this wasn’t like buying a broodmare with a guaranteed money-back deal that she’d produce for him.

“The sheikh and his sister are returning to Munir early tomorrow,” Cade said.

“I have business to attend to and Aliah—Allie, as my sister is called here—must prepare for her wedding to Sardar Bin Douri, a man of wealth and influence in my country. The event is much anticipated by our people. There will be great rejoicing when the two families are joined.”

“Well then, have yourself a good trip, Rafe. Come back and visit anytime,” Cord said.

“No doubt I shall. The Coleman stables at the Desert Rose offer many enticements.”

Cord chuckled. From what he’d heard, the sheikh’s stables were something to brag about, too.

He said his goodbyes and carried the bag to his truck, tossing it in the back. Silently, Leila walked a steady three paces behind him, which raised the hackles on his neck. This whole deal was crazy!

She waited for him to open the door. He took her elbow, helping her up, and felt the fragility of her bones through her dress. Munir didn’t raise their women very sturdy, he mused. Not like Texas women, who could ride a horse and rope cows all day, then party all night and make love until dawn.

And be unfaithful in the process, playing a man for a fool, as he had learned the hard way.

As they reached the road leaving the Desert Rose, and still Leila hadn’t spoken word one, Cord pulled the truck to the side and stopped.

“Look, Leila, you’re probably not any happier about this arrangement than I am.”

“I am not unhappy.” With fingers that trembled slightly, she lowered her veil. Beautiful was an understatement. Her kohl-ringed eyes stood out above dramatically sculpted cheekbones. Her unpainted lips were a natural rose and they glistened when she licked them before smiling at him. “I am most happy to be your servant as long as I shall please you.”

Cord swallowed hard as the rest of his body took particular note of the young woman’s features. Nope, this kind of gift wasn’t one a man could accept.

“Do you have any family or friends in the States? I could take you to the Austin airport. It’s not that far away. I’ll get you a ticket on any airline you want, to any place you’d like to go.” Including all the way back to Munir, if that’s what she wanted.

Her dark eyes flickered. “No, I have no family here. No friends. This is my first visit to your country.”

“Then you could get a job somewhere. Start a new life. Or just plain take a vacation till it’s time to go home.”

“No, I do not think that would be possible.” Allie clasped her hands together, knowing she did not have the skills—or the courage—to run that far from her responsibilities. She had no money. No green card that would allow her to work, assuming she was capable of being anything other than a princess. How would she survive on her own? “I wish to go to your ranch and work in your household.” A rich man would have many servants, and in a large household she could conceal both her identity and her lack of training as a servant.

He leaned his head back and sighed. Despite his apparent distress, his appearance was quite appealing, if more rugged than the few men she had known in her own country. The angle of his jaw was a little sharper and stronger, and a slight bump on his nose suggested it had once been broken. There was a tiny scar below his right eyebrow.

But his eyes fascinated Allie the most—not dark brown like those of her countrymen, but a lighter shade, filled with the greens and golds of this verdant countryside. She would like to make a study of them. Each time she looked into his eyes, they changed color with the sun or shade and became all the more intriguing.

“Okay, Leila, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll hire you as my housekeeper for now and pay you a decent wage. You can save your money until you can go out on your own. Or if you get fed up with ranch life, I’ll put you on a plane back home and explain to Rafe. If he gives you a hard time he’ll have to answer to me.”

Her eyes widened with pleasure. “How much will you pay me?”

He blinked at her question, then named a price that astounded her.

“I accept your offer, Mr. Brannigan.”

Shaking his head, he said, “Cord will do. We’re not exactly formal in these parts.”

“That is fine by me, as you Americans say. I have had enough formality to last me a lifetime.”

As he shifted the truck into gear, pulling back onto the road, Allie smiled to herself. To think she’d have a paying job and the freedom of an American woman. What amazing good fortune—for however long she was allowed to enjoy it.

BACK AT THE DESERT ROSE, Cade had watched Cord’s truck drive away, and followed the path of the dust cloud as it swept down the road behind it. Something was odd, he mused.

While he’d visited Balahar, his beloved wife’s homeland in the Middle East, he’d had a chance to observe the behavior of a good many servants. The kingdom employed hundreds of cooks and maids, valets and assorted other workers who were almost invisible, they were so subservient.

The woman who had left with Cord was…different.

Though she’d kept her face averted, her head hadn’t been bowed as deeply as most servants he’d seen. Her back had been a little too straight, her stride a little too confident. It had made him think that Leila wasn’t a servant at all but rather—