Part 10:

It was late afternoon when the captain of the sheik's guard called a halt. Shane immediately rode up to his friend.
"Why are we stopping?"
"There is a storm coming," Rock explained. "We have to stop."
"And waste time. Who knows what might be happening to Sheridan during that time?"
"The caravan the women are on has had to stop as well Shane. They are far from any palaces for the time being, which means they haven't been sold."
"What if they followed your mother's orders and killed them?"
"That will not happen Shane. Women as beautiful as Sheridan and Kat would bring in too much money for those men to have followed those orders. The women are still alive, this I know."

Although Kat was wondering if death wasn't a better option to trying to walk through a sandstorm. Thank God Emma had thought of bringing a rope and of tying it around their waists when the storm had hit. The sand had found its way through the bulky fabric of her clothes to invade every inch of her skin.
"We must stop," Emma shouted over the storm. "Going on is suicide."
"Emma is right," Kat agreed. "Sherrie, please."
Sherrie nodded, exhausted as well, and Emma pulled out a large blanket, covering the women's heads with it. The blanket protected their heads from the sand and left their lower limbs out to the elements. But it was better than walking.

As soon as the storm broke, the sheik, Shane and the guards were on the move once more. They quickly found the caravan which had carried Kat and Sherrie. A few well-placed threats and words came spilling out of their mouths. When he found out they had managed to escape, Shane didn't know if he should laugh or cry.
"They managed to escape," he told Shane who was as conflicted as he was. "Right into a sandstorm. Shane, this is not good."
"Sandstorms kill," Shane said softly, remembering how a teenage Rock had described the body of a man who had not survived a sandstorm in a letter long ago.
"They have survived the storm my friend," Rock said. "They have weathered through this storm, I am sure of it. Kat is carrying my heir. She can not die. I forbid it."
"You forbid it?" Shane laughed.
Rock realized the silliness of his words but he believed in them somehow. They were his last hope.

Sherrie woke up first. She didn't remember falling asleep but she had. She tried getting up but the weight… the sand, it robbed her of what little strength she did have.
"Kat! Kat!" she shouted, "please, Kat, wake up! I need you!" But her friend didn't stir. Sherrie worked her arm free from more sand and reached out to touch her friend's shoulder. After a few nudges, Kat opened her dark eyes and tried to see her friend through the darkness.
"Are we alive?"
"Only if we get out from under the weight of all of this sand. Please wake up Emma."
Kat stirred the woman back to life and together, all three of them fought their way out of about three feet of sand. The sun shone brightly as the storm had turned into nothing more than a hot breeze.
"We have to go on," Sherrie said. "Emma, which way to you suggest?"
"I don't know anymore."
"All right. Anywhere is better than just staying here."

The three women had been walking for hours when a long column of riders appeared. Sherrie immediately unsheathed her sword and stood her ground. "Go," she told Emma and Kat, "go over that dune and hide in the sand. I will hold them off."
"Sherrie no!" Kat shouted, "it's suicide."
"Just go Kat. Please. Just go!"
Sherrie stood her ground as the ground shook under her feet with the stomping of the horses. She relaxed her sword hand and lightly bounced on the balls of her feet. Life and love, she told herself. I'm fighting for life and love.
"Shane!" she screamed as the first rider hopped off his horse and she ran to him like a woman possessed.

Shane heard the desperate cry, saw the sword arm raised and realized Sherrie didn't know who he was as she ran to him, full speed ahead. She hit him at full force and he tumbled to his feet as he tried wrestling the weapon from her hands. She was stronger than he'd surmised and she was fighting desperately.
"Sheridan," he shouted through her loud cries.

No, she thought to herself, it can't be. I must be dying if I'm hearing Shane's voice. And she fought on, desperately, knowing she was Emma and Kat's last chance for survival. Finally, an arm went around her waist, lifting her off her attacker. She was trying to fight her way out of his arms when the man she'd just been fighting tore off his turban and the large swath of fabric covering his face.
"Sheridan, it's me!"
She was suddenly released and she hit the ground running, leaping into her lover's arms. From that moment on, she wasn't aware of the rest of the world anymore. She covered Shane's face with kisses, feeling his hands run up and down her body.
"I love you," she whispered to him over and over again, "I love you, I love you, I love you."
"Where's Kat?" Rock asked Sherrie, pulling her out of Shane's arms, "where is she? Please, tell me where she is."
Sherrie turned around and pointed to the dune where she'd told Emma and Kat to hide. The sheik ran over the dune and found the light of his life, the woman who made his sun rise and fall digging a hole in the sand.
"You have been saved," he told her simply.
Kat looked up and started crying. She no longer had the strength to move. She watched him come to her and let him pick her up in his strong arms.
"Emma," Kat said, turning to her new friend. "Come with us. You saved our lives. We now owe you a new life."

Sherrie lay in Shane's arms and turned to him, kissing his bare shoulder. "Is it over?" she asked him. "Is it finally all over?"
"Yes, my sweet it is. It is all over now."
The terrible ordeal through the desert had ended over ten days ago and Shane and Sheridan were sailing to England. But it wasn't Lord Shane McMahon, earl of Titan and Lady Sheridan Blanchard sailing to England. It was Lord Shane McMahon, earl of Titan and his wife, Lady Sheridan McMahon, the new countess of Titan. As soon as he'd been able to arrange it, Shane had had a parson visit Rock's palace where with none other than the sheik and his new bride as witnesses, they had become united in the eyes of God and man.
They were now sailing back to England aboard the sheik's flagship, with none other than a sheik himself who was accompanying his friends back to England to make official his new trading treaty. And a trip to England was the perfect wedding voyage.
"As soon as Rock and Kat go back to Casablanca, you and I will leave on a long trip," Shane told his wife.
"We will? Where will we go?"
"I think we should tour the world. First we will go to the Colonies and see what those savages have done with it."
"Emma is not a savage," Sherrie said, punching her husband.
"True. She is the exception," Shane chuckled. "Then, I thought we'd travel to the islands. I have a house in Jamaica. Then, maybe we'll go to China."
"Oh Shane. You might very well be the perfect man."
"Why, my love, I know I am." Shane laughed and looked at his wife's eyes and fell in love all over again. How could he not? After all, she had the most beautiful emerald eyes.

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