attention. The little girl was also staring goggle-eyed at Tareq, the chair halted several metres away as she took in the man accompanying her older half-sister.
Sarah was momentarily tongue-tied, not having prepared what to say to Jessie. Tareq had dominated her thoughts during the trip here. Now the moment was upon her, she instinctively seized his arm and drew him forward with her. Since this was his doing, let him handle it.
“Jessie, remember how disappointed you were not seeing the sheikh yesterday? Well, here he is…Sheikh Tareq al-Khaima!”
“Really?” Incredulity was almost instantly mixed with excitement and pleasure, lighting up her face and dismissing all her woes. “You came out to see me?”
“Sarah told me about you, Jessie,” he answered, smiling indulgently and offering his hand. “You’ll have to forgive the suit. I don’t wear robes outside my own country.”
“Oh!” Jessie blushed. Her small hand was gently enfolded in his. “That’s all right. You look…well, sort of like a royal prince anyway,” she said in an admiring rush. “And the car is fantastic!”
“Would you like to see inside?” Tareq invited.
“I’d love to!”
Sarah realised she was still hanging on to Tareq’s arm. She quickly released it as they moved to make room for Jessie to manoeuvre her chair into position beside the car. It was crazy to have seized on closeness to him for some kind of reassurance. Yet he was good with Jessie. Faith…if it could be called that…in his kindness to children had been justified.
“That’s a great machine you’re driving,” he remarked, watching her zip the chair around the passenger door which he’d opened for her viewing.
“It’s the Rollerchair Trail Blazer,” she proudly informed him.
He grinned. “Well, I’d have to say it blazes, Jessie.”
She laughed. “You mean the colours. Dad got them specially for me. I reckoned with a red seat and a yellow frame, everyone would see me coming.”
“Couldn’t miss,” he agreed. “It’s a brilliant combination. I’m afraid this car is fairly dull in comparison.”
“No, it’s not,” Jessie insisted, peering in at the plush interior.
“Would you like to have a ride in it with me? I could lift you in and strap you up and sit beside you, showing you everything while the chauffeur drives us around.”
“Yes, please,” Jessie cried, thrilled at the prospect. “Wait till I tell the twins about this!” she crowed at Sarah.
Her arms went trustingly around Tareq’s neck as he gently scooped her out of the electric chair, no hesitation at all, despite his being a virtual stranger. Somehow his innate strength of personality and self-assurance evoked confidence in him. Sarah, too, had accepted his trustworthiness when she’d been a child. She wished it could be the same now.
“Sarah, will you move my chair out of the way, please?”
She operated the toggle switch with the ease of long practice, reversing the chair to a safe distance. Jessie had no compunction in instructing Tareq how best to settle her on the seat of the car and he showed no discomfort with her disability, chatting away naturally while he settled her as promised.
“Perhaps you’d let the lady on the veranda know what Jessie and I are doing,” he said to Sarah as he straightened up, hard blue eyes turning the request into a command.
Only then did she begin to understand there was purpose in his kindness. They’d come to collect her passport and possessions, and he was diverting Jessie while the real business was done. “Of course,” she answered, forcing a smile. “Enjoy the ride, Jessie.”
“Aren’t you coming, too?” came the slightly plaintive plea.
Tareq answered for her. “Sarah has other things to attend to, Jessie. She’ll be busy for a while. I was hoping, after our drive, you’ll show me what you’ve got in the special rooms your father had built for you. If there’s anything more like your Trail Blazer…”
Jessie giggled. “It’s the best. But there is some other clever stuff I can show you.”
A master manipulator, Sarah thought, as she left them to head up to the house. Though it had to be conceded he was making the situation less harrowing for her, keeping Jessie happily occupied and probably setting up an understanding of why Sarah would be going with him instead of staying at the farm.
The foreman’s wife stood at the top of the steps to the veranda, her gaze darting between Sarah and the limousine. Ellie Walsh and her husband had been working for the Hillyards since Sarah was a child. Ellie was in her forties, a tall spare woman with a no-nonsense attitude. She invariably wore a shirt and jeans and kept her hair cut in a short, boyish style. Practicality was her byword.
“What’s going on?” she asked as Sarah started up the steps.
The limousine was moving off. Sarah smiled to relieve any worry. “Jessie has just made the acquaintance of Sheikh Tareq al-Khaima. He’s treating her to a bit of high life in his car.”
“The sheikh!” Shock and alarm crossed Ellie’s face. “Has he come about his horses?”
It was obvious she knew the training wasn’t up to par. Probably everyone who worked here knew but none of them wanted to be unemployed.
“Everything’s all right, Ellie.” Sarah could only hope it would be. “The sheikh has offered me a position and I’m taking it. I’m here to pack and say goodbye.”
Ellie was dumbfounded, her fears about the future frozen in the face of such unexpected news.
“Susan is on her way home. She’s got the jeep and will be collecting the boys from school,” Sarah went on. “I really appreciate your minding Jessie at such short notice today…”
“No problem,” Ellie muttered. “You’re really going with the sheikh, Sarah?”
“Yes. It’s an opportunity to widen my horizons again.”
Ellie shook her head, still stunned at the turn of events. “The children will miss you.”
“I’ll miss them, too, but…” She shrugged. “…I can’t stay here forever.”
“I guess not,” came the weak rejoinder. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. I wish you luck, Sarah.” She gave a funny laugh. “Mind you don’t end up in a harem.”
It was a possibility for the duration of the brother’s wedding, Sarah thought ironically, though she had the strong impression Tareq didn’t hold much with tradition. In any event, taking a wife was not on his agenda. Squashing the issue of marriage was.
Having seen Ellie on her way, she went into the house to set about uprooting herself again. It was difficult to keep depression at bay as she dragged her million-miler suitcase out of the storage cupboard and set it on her bed, ready for another packing, another move. She’d made a personal home of the room Susan had given her and it hurt to look at one more part of her life which was now over.
Her gaze mournfully skimmed the colourful collection of soft toys she’d knitted while sitting with Jessie. They were lined up on top of her chest of drawers, waiting to go to the boys’ school fete. A stack of library books was on her bedside table, some of them destined to be left unread. Photographs depicting Jessie’s progress were glue-tacked to the frame of the mirror on her dressing table. No point in taking them. They belonged here.
Sarah fiercely concentrated on what had to be taken…clothes, toiletries, important documents. The sooner her packing was accomplished, the better, she told herself, and set about tackling her clothes first. Most of them were leftovers from her student days, hardly a suitable wardrobe for the high life, but Sarah shrugged off that problem. If Tareq wanted her dressed differently he could pay for it. She hadn’t exactly