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"Nothing. Perhaps old-fashioned values are no longer appreciated," he said.
"I think it's about a lot more than just old-fashioned values, as you put it," she declared.
She turned away from him and leaned slightly forward, but he maintained his grip around her waist. She seemed to think for a few moments before replying.
For a while all he could hear was the thundering hooves of the horse as it raced across the sand.
"In any case, I think you're wrong," she said, sounding slightly petulant now. She glanced at him. He'd hurt her feelings with that remark, and he immediately regretted doing that.
Gemma paused before turning her face away from him and continuing. "I think people still appreciate the kinds of things you're talking about. It's just that, with the speed of everything these days, they tend to forget. They lose sight of things that are important."
"Like what?" he probed, speaking quietly into her ear which was resting next to his mouth.
She hesitated, and he knew she trying to think carefully about what to say next. "I don't know. Maybe things like tradition, or family or the kind of values that bind people together," she said thoughtfully.
He was impressed. She'd obviously been giving this subject some thought, he told himself.
"Why would they forget things which are so important?" he asked.
"There's just so much to pay attention to these days," she said. "Everything moves so fast. I guess they just don't have the time." She sighed and gazed out across the landscape. "Especially for something as primitive as this. Something this beautiful."
"Primitive?" He said sharply. He was unsure whether to take that as a mild insult.
Perhaps she didn't really know how important were the things she'd just mentioned so casually, so dismissively.
"That's not what I meant," she said quickly almost as if she realized she may have caused offence. "I mean something so basic and beautiful as this is not a part of people's everyday life back home. You are so lucky that you have this. But, I guess you already know that, don't you?"
"If you're asking me whether I appreciate all of this, then the answer is what you would expect. Of course I do."
He felt her sigh and her body softened slightly, her back leaning against his torso with an ease he found instantly enjoyable.
They rode in silence for a few minutes, and Ahmed thought about the exchange that had just passed between them.
He had misjudged her. Back in the city, in many ways she had seemed like just another visitor. Another outsider. All of her fame and celebrity had created a hard shell around her, one which had been on full display whenever she was around Rashid.
And of course Rashid had merely encouraged that impression of Gemma as the cold calculating outsider who was ripe for exploitation in Rashid's typical manner.
To why had Ahmed taken an interest in her? It had not been simply to frustrate Rashid. There would be no point in going to any lengths to make that happen.
No.
That was not the kind of person Ahmed was. He was not interested in petty victories. He had seen Gemma for the first time in the flesh in the hotel, and it had had a profound effect upon him.
In fact it had turned his world upside down in an instant, something which had never happened with any woman before.
Within a moment of setting eyes on her, everything had changed. It was inexplicable, but true.
That had never happened to him before.
Never.
He breathed in deeply and thought about last night, about the instantaneous effect she'd had on him.
On the surface, when she had been attending the reception in the hotel, she had seemed to be everything that her social media profile had portrayed her to be.
Glamorous, smart, modern in every possible way.
And she was undoubtedly beautiful. More pretty in the flesh, he admitted to himself.
