Cinderella and the Sheikh by Natasha Oakley

Author:Natasha Oakley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2008-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

‘AND Bahiyaa?’ Polly asked. ‘Will she get to choose her own husband?’

‘Bahiyaa is already married. But, the answer to your question is that my sister’s marriage was arranged by our father and approved of by my grandfather.’

Polly frowned. There’d not been a whisper of that. Not in all the conversations she’d had with his sister. And Rashid’s manner had changed, his jaw was set and his cheekbones flushed.

‘Have I met him?’

Rashid shook his head. ‘Bahiyaa’s marriage was particularly unsuccessful. Eventually she made the decision to leave her husband and seek sanctuary with her own family.’

‘But she’s not divorced?’

‘Her husband doesn’t wish it,’he stated bluntly. And then, as though he realised she would need more explanation that that, ‘In Amrah a divorce is not an automatic right. Bahiyaa must convince a court she has sufficient grounds. Omeir is an intelligent and articulate man who has been very convincing. And our mistake was not realising soon enough her husband would refuse to let her go. She has no way now of substantiating her version of events.’

Shock held Polly silent, for a moment. ‘And that’s it? There’s nothing she can do?’

‘For the time being.’

It was unfair to push him any further, but she really wanted to know. Not merely from idle curiosity, although she had to admit there was something of that, too, but because she cared about Bahiyaa. Sometimes, when his sister hadn’t known she was being watched she’d looked so sad.

The kind of sad that went beyond emotion. Much as her mother had been in the first few months after her father had died. And, being a natural ‘fixer’, she’d wondered what she could do to help. She’d not imagined anything like this, though.

‘Even with a family as influential as yours? Surely if your grandfather intervened on her—’

‘Even so.’

Polly let her finger slowly trace the rim of her glass. ‘How long has Bahiyaa lived apart from her husband?’

‘Four years.’

‘Four?’

Rashid held up his hand as though to silence her. ‘I know. There is huge injustice in what is happening to Bahiyaa. I feel it deeply.’ He took another sip of his fruit juice and appeared to be lost in thought.

He sighed. ‘When a man takes a wife,’ Rashid said quietly, ‘our religion teaches us it is a uniting of souls for all of eternity. It is the husband’s duty to love and care for his wife throughout her life.’

Put like that it was beautiful. The Christian marriage ceremony was the same. ‘To love and to cherish in sickness and health.’ So often people didn’t manage to live up to those vows, but it was a great starting point.

‘And it wasn’t like that for Bahiyaa?’

‘No.’ Rashid’s voice took on the steely quality she’d often heard in it. ‘Omeir is an influential man from a good family. He’s gifted in many areas, but he is also cruel and violent.’

‘Violent?’

‘To give my father his due I sincerely believe he had no idea when he brokered that marriage.’

Polly sat in stunned silence. Bahiyaa was so lovely.

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