Laura Martin - Governess To The Sheikh

Malik watched as Aahil expertly mounted his large grey horse and a stab of regret coursed through him. He didn’t know who had taught his son to ride, but it wasn’t he.

Ameera was next. She placed a foot in Malik’s hand and swung herself up on to the small mare that nuzzled her hand and preened under her touch.

All the while Hakim was standing with his hand firmly gripping Miss Talbot’s, looking more than a little terrified.

‘Hakim,’ Malik said softly.

His youngest son looked at him with tears in his eyes.

‘What’s the matter?’

Hakim looked down at his feet.

Malik took a step towards him uncertainly. He glanced up to see Miss Talbot smiling encouragingly and all of a sudden he knew what to do. Malik knelt down in the sand in front of his son’s feet and took the boy’s hands in his own. Carefully he reached up and brushed the tears from his son’s cheeks.

‘Do you know I was seven when I first learnt to ride?’ Malik said quietly.

Hakim’s eyes flicked to his for just a second before returning to his feet.

‘Before that I was rather scared of horses.’

Malik felt his heart soar as his son looked up again with an expression of doubtful hope on his face.

‘I never thought I would ever be able to ride like my father or my uncles.’

Malik watched as his son glanced at Miss Talbot. She smiled at him encouragingly and gently let go of his hand.

‘Maybe you’d like to ride with me today?’ Malik suggested. ‘And then next week we can choose a horse for you from the stables and I can teach you to ride.’

Malik surprised himself with the suggestion; he had never considered anything like it before. For a moment he felt a wave of panic and uncertainty, unsure whether his son might reject his offer, but before the feelings could take hold Hakim had launched himself into Malik’s arms and was already chattering about what horse he might like.

As he led the boy towards his huge black stallion, Malik caught Miss Talbot’s eye and saw the gleam of happiness there. He was inordinately pleased she cared so much for his children already and for a second wondered what it might be like to have her care for him in the same way.

Malik knew he had been blessed in life. He was Sheikh of this wonderful kingdom, he didn’t want for any of life’s necessities and he had three healthy children to carry on his line. He had once been married to one of the most beautiful women in Huria and time and time again other men had told him how lucky he was to have Aliyyah for his wife. But one thing he had never had was love. In childhood his father had cared for him in a distant kind of way, but never demonstrated any love, and his mother had died in childbirth. When he had married, Malik had done so to carry out his duty, not for love. Aliyyah had made her feelings on the matter quite clear and throughout their marriage he had never received a single look or touch laden with anything more than tolerance. Up until now Malik hadn’t ever really thought too much of love, or having someone else’s affections, but witnessing the way Miss Talbot looked at his children he wondered whether he was missing out.

Malik mounted his horse, bent down and pulled his son up in front of him. He could feel the small boy trembling slightly and Malik gently wrapped his arms around his son.

‘Here’s your first lesson,’ he said, knowing that encouraging Hakim to concentrate on learning how to ride would take away at least some of the fear. Malik reached around, picked up the reins and positioned them in his son’s hands. ‘You hold the reins loosely, like this, allowing the horse to feel like they have some freedom. When you want to direct them one way or another, a gentle movement is all it takes.’

He demonstrated how to guide the horse, then let Hakim have a go.

The last person to mount a horse was Miss Talbot, and for a moment Malik wondered whether she knew how to ride. The idea of having her up on his horse, nestled between his thighs, was rather too appealing and he felt a surge of disappointment as she expertly settled on to the back of a headstrong mare. Malik watched as she rearranged her skirts, managing to look as composed as always, and felt the first stirrings of desire as he glimpsed a flash of her smooth calf before her dress settled into position.

Pushing such inappropriate thoughts away, Malik did a quick check that everyone was safe and comfortable, then they moved away from the palace. He’d decided to take only Wahid with them, not a formal full bodyguard, so they could move at their own pace and enjoy the outing. Most people in the surrounding villages would probably recognise him and the royal children, but there was a slight hope of a little more freedom if they travelled without a full escort. Sometimes Malik craved anonymity; he wanted to wander this kingdom he was so proud of incognito and enjoy some of the delights of the common man.

‘This oasis is the largest in all of Huria,’ Malik said to Miss Talbot as she drew her horse alongside his. Already Ameera and Aahil were out in front of their little group, talking animatedly to Wahid, leaving Malik with his youngest son and the pretty, young Englishwoman for company. ‘When my ancestors became rulers of Huria they understood the most important resource for a desert kingdom was water. If you controlled the water you controlled the people.’

‘That’s why they built the palace around the oasis?’ Miss Talbot asked.

Malik loved the way her eyes shone with genuine interest, he knew that she wasn’t just asking the question to be polite.

‘They built this settlement around the oasis and they built strongholds around the other sources of water in Huria.’

Malik’s face darkened for a second as he thought of the less scrupulous of his ancestors, who had held the people of Huria hostage by withholding water over the centuries.

‘Nowadays water belongs to every man, woman and child equally,’ Malik said, ‘but at certain points in our history the less principled of my ancestors used our most precious resource to hold the citizens of this kingdom hostage and enforce their rule.’

‘Surely living in such an arid climate sometimes you have to ration the water so it does not run out completely.’

Malik was pleasantly surprised to see Miss Talbot take such an interest in his country. As he talked she listened to him attentively and did not let her concentration waver to other matters. It was rather enjoyable having someone to talk to who actually wanted to interact with him.

Although he and Aliyyah had been married for nine years he had never felt able to talk to his wife about anything other than routine matters. She had not once asked him about his plans for Huria, or wanted to discuss his wishes and dreams. Most of that indifference stemmed from the fact that she resented having to marry him. Malik had known her heart was lost to someone else long before they said their marriage vows, but he had never questioned his duty to marry her and assumed she had done the same. Once they had been married for two months and Aliyyah had only ever spoken the words yes, husband or no, husband, Malik had begun to suspect her feelings about their marriage did not mirror his own. He’d never expected love, but he’d hoped for pleasant companionship, a woman to be Shaykhah of the kingdom he loved so much. In the years that followed they had led completely separate lives, only coming together to fulfil the rest of their duty and conceive heirs to the throne of Huria.

He glanced again at Miss Talbot. She was the opposite of his late wife in so many ways. Whereas Aliyyah spent most of her life locked away in her rooms, Miss Talbot blossomed in the sunlight, and where Aliyyah’s default expression was the frown, Miss Talbot’s was a smile. It was refreshing to have someone so cheerful around the palace.