The Sheikh's Innocent Bride. Lynne Graham
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one who worked for him in so lowly a capacity…
‘You’re living in Cloud-cuckoo-land,’ Jeanie Murray told Kirsten with blunt conviction as she sat on the worn wooden counter, smoking a cigarette in flagrant disregard of her rules of employment. ‘Your father will never let you live away from home to go to college.’
Kirsten continued to wash a bone-thin Sevres china saucer with gentle and careful hands, her classic profile intent. ‘I think that now that he’s married to Mabel he might be prepared to consider it.’
‘Aye, all that kneeling and praying didn’t stop your dad from courting a new bride before your poor mum was cold in her grave. Folk say he likes his home comforts on tap.’ Impervious to her companion’s discomfiture, the plump, freckled redhead rolled her eyes and vented a laugh. ‘But why should he agree to you moving out? You’re bringing home a tidy pay packet. Don’t tell me that that isn’t welcome to Angus Ross—we all know how tight his hold is on his wallet!’
Kirsten tried not to wince at the news that her father’s stinginess was a living legend locally. Jeanie’s frankly uttered opinions and tactless remarks often caused friction with other members of staff. Kirsten, however, could forgive her much, for she valued the other woman’s warm-hearted friendliness. ‘Jeanie…’
‘Don’t go all goody-goody on me just because you think you should. You know it’s true. I’ve heard a story or two about what your home life’s like, and that’s no picnic by all accounts—’
‘But I don’t discuss my family with anyone,’ Kirsten slotted in swiftly.
Jeanie rolled her eyes with unblemished good humour. ‘I bet you’re still doing all the cooking and cleaning at home. Old sourpuss Mabel won’t want you to move out either. Face up to it, Kirsten. You’re twenty-two years old and the only way you’re ever going to get a life of your own is by running away as fast as your legs can carry you from the pair of them!’
‘We’ll see.’ Kirsten bent her head and said nothing more.
It would take a hefty sum of money to enable her to set up home elsewhere. Running away would be the coward’s way out, and doing so without sufficient funds would be foolish, for it would land her straight into the poverty trap. She wanted to be able to rent somewhere decent and plan her future. She just had to be patient, she reminded herself sternly. She was only six weeks into her very first job, and with her father taking a large slice of her wages to cover her keep it would be a few months before her savings could cover any sort of a move.
She could wait until then; her job, humble as it was, still felt like a lifeline to her. She loved working in the medieval splendour of the historic castle. The magnificent surroundings were an endless source of fascination to her. Even riding her bike into work every morning gave her a freedom that had long been denied her. The chance to mix freely with other people was even more welcome. But she was equally conscious that she wanted more out of life than a post as a cleaner, and that she needed qualifications and training to aspire to anything more.
Yet the prospect of having to blatantly defy her father’s rigid rules of conduct was challenging and frightening, for she had been taught from childhood to offer him unquestioning obedience. He was a cold, intimidating man, with a violent temper that she had once struggled to protect her late mother from. Her lovely face shadowed, for she was still grieving for that loss.
Isobel Ross had become ill when her daughter was thirteen years old, and her long, slow decline had been matched by her ever greater need for care. That responsibility had fallen on Kirsten’s shoulders. Her father had not been prepared to assist with what he saw as ‘women’s work’, and her older brother, Daniel, had been kept too busy doing farm work to be in any position to help. Once the brightest child in her class, Kirsten had begun to miss a great deal of school and her grades had slowly worsened.
Fed up with the restrictions imposed by their father’s increasingly obsessive absorption in religion, her brother had finally quarrelled with him and moved out. As soon as it was legally possible, Angus Ross had removed his daughter from school so that she could nurse her mother and take charge of his household.
For the following five years Kirsten had only left the farm to attend church and do the weekly shop. Her father disapproved of social occasions and had discouraged all visitors. Exactly a year after her mother’s death her father had married Mabel. The other woman was sour and sharp-tongued. But Kirsten was grateful that Mabel’s eagerness to see more money coming into the household had prompted her stepmother to persuade her husband to allow Kirsten to seek employment outside the home.
‘We’ll have to see if we can get you a proper thrill this week, while our gorgeous desert sheikh is in residence,’ Jeanie remarked brightly.
A surprisingly mischievous smile curved Kirsten’s lips. ‘I’ve had my treat for the week: I saw the Prince’s limousine, and very impressive it was too.’
‘Never mind the limo. We’ll hide you somewhere to get a glimpse of the man himself! I’ve only seen him a couple of times, and at a distance, but I’m telling you he’d make a sinner out of any saint.’ Jeanie groaned, with a lascivious look in her eyes, as she disposed of her cigarette and put the ashtray back in its hiding place. ‘He’s a right sex god.’
‘I’ll be keeping well out of his way. I wouldn’t want to lose my job.’ Kirsten had been warned when she was hired that all domestic tasks at the castle were to be carried out with as much silence and invisibility as was humanly possible. It had been made equally clear to her that if her phenomenally rich and royal employer was to appear in the same corridor she was to hastily vacate it, so she didn’t think there would be much chance of her bumping into him!
‘If I had your face and body I’d be tripping over myself to accidentally fall in His Serene Highness’s way!’ Jeanie gave her a broad wink.’ If he fancied you he could take you away from all this and set you up in a house somewhere. You’d be made, because he’s minted! Think of the clothes you could have, and the jewels, and a real macho man in your bed into the bargain. You’re really beautiful, Kirsten. If anyone could pull Prince Shahir, you could!’
Kirsten studied her in bewilderment, her colour rising. ‘I’m not like that—’
‘Well, you’d be much better off if you were,’ the redhead told her roundly. ‘At least I know how to have a bit of fun and I can enjoy a good laugh. If you don’t watch out your father will turn you into a dried-up old spinster!’
Having finished washing the Sevres dinner service, Kirsten dried it piece by piece with great care. Even so, her thoughts were miles away. She felt so out of step with Jeanie. Kirsten had been brought up in a house where the only spoken reference to sex had related to what her father referred to as ‘the sin of fornication’. The content of the newspapers and magazines she had glimpsed since starting work at the castle had initially shocked her, for the only written matter in her home consisted of the Bible and religious tracts, and it was many years since her father had got rid of the television. Yet she was guiltily aware that she was sorely tempted by the fashionable clothes and the exotic places that she had seen in those publications.
If only her father were a more reasonable man. If only he would allow her to go out and about and enjoy mixed company, like other women her age. After all, he must have dated her late mother to have married her—and surely that could not have been morally wrong?
Her father was growing terrifyingly unreasonable in his attitudes and his demands. After a dispute with the church elders, the older man would no longer attend church, and Kirsten and Mabel had been forced to stay home as well. Kirsten loved music. One of her few pleasures had been her radio, and he had broken that in a fit of rage when Mabel complained that her stepdaughter spent so much time listening to it that she was late making breakfast. Mabel had been shaken by her husband’s reaction, though, Kirsten recalled heavily. It was small comfort for her to suspect that her stepmother was not wholly content with her hasty second marriage.
‘Would you like it?’ At lunchtime another member of staff extended the magazine she had been reading to