Chapter 28: Robinson's Present

A few weeks after the unsatisfactory session with Charlotte, it occurred to the Emir that Robinson, the butler, might like to have another English woman in his harem as a concubine, and that Charlotte, the English captive from Tirfil, might fit better into that environment than the Golden Palace harem where she was still clearly in awe of the Princesses and envious of the younger and more beautiful concubines. That would not have mattered to the Emir had she been any good in bed, but she was clearly unhappy sleeping with him. She seemed to think that love was a prerequisite of sex.

Robinson had just finished serving dinner to the Emir and Princess Ayda and was about to take his leave of them when the Emir stopped him and said, "There is a woman in the Golden Palace harem you might care to have as a present from your grateful Master. She's five or six years younger than you, and is English. We captured her in Tirfil where she was the resident mistress of an ex-pat engineer. Now she is a slave here, and I must admit she had a hard time, both in Tirfil and on the way back here, but if you want her, she's yours. Frankly I think she is afraid of my title and has never met anyone from the nobility before."