Part 4:

Rock looked at the message from his number one wife and muttered a curse. Shane joined him just in time to see him throw a crystal decanter he'd given him against a wall.
"I certainly hope you don't treat all of the presents I give you that way."
"Shane. I am sorry. It's just…"
"Bad news?""
"My number one wife. She demands a moment of my time tonight."
"And?"
"You don't understand… my mother found her for me… she had her spies kidnap the girl out of her home and brought here."
"Why?"
"She wanted me to marry a woman of European descent. Don't ask me why… she simply didn't want me to marry anyone Arabic."
"Did she ever tell you why?"
"No… I think it was because she was lonely. When she was kidnapped, all of her dreams and hopes for a life were dashed and my father imposed his will on her. I think she wanted someone who would understand her, talk to her of things she knew and liked. My wife is not such a woman."
"Don't you like your number one wife?"
"She is quite beautiful."
"Rock… you don't care for her very much, do you?"
"I married her because I had to marry… and to please my mother."
"And…"
"She is a spiteful witch. She stabbed the Tigress."
"What? Why?"
"That I do not know. The Tigress never told me it was Eriandra who had attacked her, but I knew."
"She is dangerous then."
"She could be. Shane, if I could rid myself of her, I would. But it would cause too much of a scandal. I hate to think that my child, the heir to all I own will spring from her loins."
"But isn't it true that your firstborn son, regardless of its mother, will be your heir?"
"True. But Eriandra does her best to keep me all to herself. She wants to be pregnant by me; she will do anything to be the next sheik's mother."
"Anything. Rock, she could be…"
"No! I didn't knowingly bind my life to that of a murderer."
"You said yourself that she stabbed the Tigress… and that she would do anything to be the mother to your heir."
"Shane…"
"It is a possibility. The best one, I find. She has access to the harem, to all its denizens. And she has powerful motives."
"I refuse to accept that."
"Because she is a woman?"
"Yes."
"Rock, history is filled with women who have committed murder as easily as men. Don't allow gender to blind you."
Rock looked at Shane one more time and stalked away without saying another word.

Eriandra looked at the man who was her husband and smothered the hatred she felt for him. Khalid El Bettoun. The sheik of Casablanca. The man who would father the next sheik, her future son. She was not yet breeding but she soon would be.
"Eriandra," he said, brushing his lips across her knuckles, "you look beautiful as always."
"Only to please you my lord."
"Now, you begged for a moment of my time. What was it that you wanted?"
Bristling at his already dismissive tone, Eriandra took a deep breath and dove in.
"My lord, as your number one wife, I demand to know why you brought in that new woman. The Englishwoman."
"Well, you held off longer than I expected you too," he said, offering her a thin smile, "now, lady wife, what makes you believe my intentions where the lady is concerned should be any business of yours?"
"But I am your number one wife."
"As you said, you are my number one wife. A woman… your place is to await my pleasure, not provide aggravation with insolent questions."
"My lord…"
"I brought the lady for my own reasons, which I cannot expect you to understand, nor should you expect to understand them, is that clear?"
"But I am your wife!" Eriandra exploded angrily, her blue eyes blazing.
"And I have done you a great honor by not making lady Kat my wife, as you know I could. If I were you, I would cherish that honor, not seek to anger me."
"Yes my lord." Retreating behind a wall of barely disguised anger, Eriandra bent her head, offering her husband a spectacular view of her bosom.
"You are dismissed," he announced coldly. "And lady wife?"
"Yes?"
"Tell the lady Sheridan to prepare herself. She is to join me for dinner tonight."
"Yes my lord."
"One more thing," Rock said as his wife was about to be escorted out of the room by her favorite eunuch, "why ever did you stab Kat?"
"Because you gave her the ruby necklace you'd promised me!" she spat out, regretting her angry response as soon as she'd said the condemning words.
"Touch her… or anyone of the other women again and you will dislike my punishment for you, is that clear? Now go. The sight of you makes me ill."

In the privacy of her room, Eriandra flew into a rage that had the whole harem trying to guess the cause of her anger. The one servant who tried to calm her was rewarded with a beating that would confine the poor girl to her bed for a week.
"What is the matter with her?" Sherrie asked Kat as they walked to the Tigress' apartments for dinner.
"She fails to satisfy her husband," said Kat. "And her constant failure leaves a bitter taste in her mouth."
The two women enjoyed a leisurely dinner in Kat's quarters and Sherrie made her way to her quarters a few hours later, her steps light for the first time since coming to the harem. She fell into bed and was soon asleep.

"Get up," said a eunuch, lighting a lantern in lady Sheridan's room, "and come with me."
"What?" asked Sherrie. "It's the middle of the night… where…"
The eunuch barely listened to Sherrie's protests as he dragged her out of bed in her flimsy nightgown. Her screams of protest resounded through out the silent harem, drawing some of the women out of their rooms, in various states of dishabille. Kat ran to the eunuch, barring his way.
"Where are you taking her?"
"To the sheik."
"In the middle of the night? Whatever for?"
"Woman, you should know better than to question the sheik. Now get out of my way."
Kat stepped out of the eunuch's way and sent a frightened Sherrie as comforting look as she could manage. She made her way back to her quarters and saw Eriandra at the entrance of her quarters, a slight smile on her face.

When the eunuch threw Sherrie inside the darkened throne room, the girl was more frightened than she had ever been in her life. What had she done?
"I will not be made a fool of, girl," said the sheik's voice. A match cracked to life and fire lit up his face, making him look more frightening than ever.
"What are you talking about?" she asked, bravado her only recourse.
"Do I repulse you?" he asked, lighting a torch.
"No!"
"Do you fear me?"
"Absolutely not."
As she said the words, Sherrie's back became straighter and she looked him squarely in the face. Rock could not help admire her foolish courage.
"Then why do you disobey me and annoy me at every turn?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Tonight. Tonight, I requested your presence at dinner and you never came to me."
"I received no such request," whispered Sherrie. "I swear it."
"And I should believe you?"
"Yes. What purpose would lying serve?"
"Whatever purpose you might have," he replied smoothly.
"I hate being here but annoying you would be foolish by any means. You hold the most power over me right now. Why would I seek to upset you?"
"I do not know girl," said Rock smoothly, approaching Sherrie until his breath warmed her face, "but by the time I am done with you, I will know."

Shane felt the hand on his shoulder and his brain, filled with thoughts of murder and conspiracy, he twisted his body around, pulling the hand to him, he brought his midnight visitor down, trapping whoever it was under his body.
"My lord, please," said a female voice, "get off me."
"Tigress?" he asked, recognizing the voice, "what are you…"
"You must dress. Quickly," she whispered to him, "Lady Sheridan…"
"What is the matter?" he asked, jumping off the bed and pulling on his loose trousers.
"I do not know. The sheik had her fetched from the harem and I fear for her."
"You think he'll hurt her?"
In the dark room, Shane saw her eyes fill with tears and he slid his feet into a pair of boots and grabbed her hand.
"Do you know where he took her?"
"The throne room."
Shane and Tigress ran through the halls, empty but for guards, making it to the throne room, only to have their way barred by two guards from the sheik's private guard.
"We cannot let you enter my lord," said the guard, "we are under strict orders…"
"You will let me in," said Shane forcefully, "right now, or you shall regret it!" Without giving them the time to think about it, Shane pushed aside the guards and stepped into the throne room, Tigress close behind him. The sight that awaited them brought them both to a halting stop. Sherrie was up against a wall, her face streaked with tears, Rock's hand tight around her neck.
"No!" whispered Kat, closing her eyes.
"Rock, get your hands off her right now. Remember, killing her means you'll have the entire English army come down here and raze Casablanca until the town is nothing more than a mound of dirt."
Rock turned to Tigress and Shane, his eyes red with anger. "She has defied me for the last time."
"How did she defy you?" Shane asked, walking to his friend who still had his hand wrapped around the lady's fragile throat.
"Tonight, I honored her with an invitation to join me for dinner and I waited for her all night."
"Invitation?" Kat asked, "I was with her all day. She received no such invitation."
"You are protecting her!"
"No, my love, I am protecting you! I swear, by all that is holy, the lady received no such invitation."
Rock looked at Shane, at his calm face, then to Tigress, finally, to Sherrie, who looked at him pleadingly.
"I am so sorry," he told Sherrie, releasing her.
It was on the tip of her tongue to threaten him once more but one look from Tigress convinced her otherwise. The sheik's lover was immediately at her side, wrapping her in a fierce hug, and leading her over to a pile of cushions for her to sit down.
Shane looked over to his friend and saw sadness in Rock's eyes for the first time since he'd ever met him.
"What the hell happened to you?"
"It's your fault you know," spat out Rock, "all your talk of distrustful women…"
"I never told you to attack the girl!"
"I hate this," said Rock through gritted teeth, "my life is spinning out of control and I don't know how to put order back into it."
"Rock?" Tigress asked, "how did you send the invitation to Sherrie?"
"I had Eriandra deliver it."
"So that's why the bitch was smiling when I was being taken away," mused Sherrie. "She knew I had angered you."
Rock heard those words and was out of the throne room so fast Shane couldn't stop him. "Stay here with her," he shouted to Tigress.

Eriandra was writhing pleasurably on her bed, her eunuch's head tucked between her legs, his tongue doing wonders to her moist folds. She was running her fingers through his nappy hair when light filled her room.
"Whore!" her husband shouted at her, kicking the eunuch away and reaching up and grabbing his wife by the hair. "You deceitful whore!"
"My… m-m-m-m-my l-lord."
"Surprised to find me here?" he asked her as she dangled from his hand, her feet kicking at the air.
"Rock," said Shane, erupting in the room, seeing the frightened look on Eriandra's face, "let her go. You will take care of this in the morning. You are upset."
"Get out of here Shane. This is between my wife and myself."
"Rock!"
"Get out now Shane or I will have to throw you out. Please," said Rock, looking up at Shane pleadingly, "and take that out of here with you."
Reluctantly, but fully understanding his friend's anger and need for revenge, Shane pulled the eunuch out of the room and closed the door behind himself. He did, however, see Tigress escort Sherrie back into the harem, both of them looking harried.
"Where is he?" Tigress asked Shane.
"In there, with her," he said, just as Eriandra's first of many screams filled the harem.
"He is beating her?" Sherrie asked.
"Yes."
"Savage beast," she muttered.
"He is justifiably angry," said Kat, walking to her friend's quarters as Shane handed the eunuch to a guard and following the women.
"How can beating her be justifiable?"
"Her lie almost cost you your life," said Shane, "don't you find that justifiable?"
Sherrie finally let her eyes drift back to Shane, questions popping in her head.
"Who are you, Englishman?" she asked boldly.
"My lady," he said with a stiff bow, completely incongruous in their surroundings, "I am Shane McMahon, lord Titan."
"My lord Titan," she replied, offering him her hand to bow over, "I am lady Sheridan Blanchard. Is it too much to hope that you might be here to rescue me and take me home?"
"In due time, my lady. In due time."
Eriandra's screams pierced the calm night once more and Kat and Sherrie sunk on the bed in Sherrie's room while Shane stood guard, watching over the women as they fell asleep. Over an hour passed until Rock joined him in the room.
"Why?" he asked his friend, "why? I gave her everything she could hope for? Why did she force me to hurt her?"
"Who knows?"
Rock looked to the bed where Kat and Sherrie lay peacefully and let out a sigh. "Why was I so blind?" he asked Shane, looking down at his Tigress. "Why didn't I see her love sooner? Why did I abide by my mother's wishes and marry that witch when I should have married the woman I love?"
"Do not dwell on that now," said Shane, "she still loves you. And you love her. Nothing else matters."
"But that is where you are wrong young lord Titan," said a voice watching the foursome from the very window where Shane had first seen the lady Sheridan, "everything else does matter."

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