THERE was no sign of Kassim when Janene went down for breakfast the following morning. Deciding not to wait, she ordered her usual breakfast. Whatever it was he’d made her drink last night had not only given her a good night’s sleep but had restored her appetite.
She was wearing the same clothes she’d arrived in. Kebira had shaken her head sadly as she’d watched her mistress getting dressed, and had tried her best to persuade her to wear one of the gorgeous, multicoloured robes. But Janene had been adamant, and it had taken her a lot of sign-language and patience to convey the message that she had no intention of arriving back in London looking like something from the Arabian Nights.
Last night’s memories were still vivid in her mind, and she shuddered as she stirred her coffee. The escape from Hassan’s ‘love-nest’ was something she’d never forget, and she still couldn’t understand how Kassim had been able to find the place in that labyrinth of dark passageways and cleverly concealed doors.
It had been well after midnight when they’d arrived safely back at the house, but all her questions would be answered in the morning, he’d assured her. His immediate concern was for her to rest, and he’d brought a hot, sweet drink up to the room.
‘This is a sedative,’ he’d told her. ‘It’s herbal. There will be no demons to plague you tonight. Forget Hassan. Sleep in peace.’
As she’d sat up in bed sipping the drink, a last shiver ran through her at the memory of that ugly, evil face. ‘He—he was going to…’
Kassim had touched her shoulder gently. ‘We can guess what his plans were for you. At this moment he is undoubtedly confessing his sins at the point of a knife. Now forget him.’
That was easier said than done. ‘What—what will you do with him?’ she had asked quietly.
‘The Blue Men will take him back to their camp,’ he’d growled. ‘He will spend the remainder of his life as a slave to the women. He will do all the degrading menial work. The children will mock and revile him and at night he will sleep with the goats.’ He’d paused and looked at her hopefully. ‘Perhaps you think I am being too lenient with him?’
‘No,’ she’d said hastily. ‘Sleeping with the goats sounds like just what he deserves.’
She’d finished her drink, then lain back. He’d kissed her tenderly on the forehead, then sat on the edge of the bed as if to guard and protect her for the rest of the night. Gratefully she’d closed her eyes. There were so many other questions she’d wanted to ask, but she’d been too tired.
She’d finished her breakfast and had just ordered a pot of fresh coffee when Kassim came striding in from the outer courtyard. As he took the seat opposite her his blue eyes studied her carefully. ‘Good morning, little rose. Did you sleep well?’
‘Yes. Very well, thanks.’ Was it just her imagination or was that a look of strained tension on his face? Perhaps he’d stayed awake all night. He certainly looked as if he had.
‘I’ve been checking on the plane,’ he announced casually. ‘It’s ready when you are. You should be back in London in time for a late lunch.’ He paused and reached across the table for her hand. ‘I’d still like to go with you, Janene. My offer to invest still stands. No strings attached. You said that you’d think about it.’
Her heart gave a lurch. After the events of last night, she knew with a blinding certainty that he was in love with her. And she also knew the reason why he could never marry her.
Well, what was so special about being married? The ghosts of her parents were no longer around to haunt her. Anyway, love was the thing that really mattered. It was obvious that they both wanted and needed one another. Was she going to be foolish enough to demand all or nothing?
‘Yes, Kassim,’ she murmured. ‘I want you to come.’
He gave her hand a squeeze. ‘Good. I don’t deserve it, but you’ve made my sorrow easier to bear.’
She changed the subject quickly. ‘Are you going to tell me how you managed to come to my rescue last night? Hassan seemed convinced that no one knew about the place.’
He gave a humourless smile. ‘The ways of Allah are strange, indeed. He provided us with a guide. A blind beggar. He knew Hassan well and offered to help us.’
She blinked at him. ‘Blind?’
He nodded. ‘When Kebira rushed back to the house to tell us that you’d suddenly vanished from the face of the earth, I suspected Hassan at once.’ He clenched his fists and his eyes became bleak. ‘I was a fool. I knew he’d seek some way of getting his revenge but it never occurred to me that he’d seek it through you.’
An expression of torment lingered on his face for a moment, then he went on, ‘I sent a messenger to fetch a dozen of my tribesmen. If necessary, we were going to take the town apart brick by brick until we found you. Kebira led us back to the spot where she’d last seen you. I and every servant from the house began searching and questioning as best we could. By the time the Blue Men arrived from the desert, everyone in town knew that I was hunting for Hassan. That was when the blind beggar came forward with his offer of help.’ He smiled grimly at the recollection. ‘Needless to say, he will never have to beg again. I have rewarded him with a pension which will keep him in comfort for the rest of his days.’
She still couldn’t grasp it. ‘But if he was blind…?’
Kassim gave a dry chuckle. ‘When a man is deprived of his sight from birth, he develops his other senses. It may be his hearing. In the beggar’s case it was his sense of smell. The old man told us that he always knew when Hassan was passing by the strong smell of cigar-smoke.’
‘I can vouch for the stink,’ Janene said grimly. ‘He blew the damned fumes into my face. I was almost sick.’
‘We should praise Allah that Hassan indulged in such a filthy habit,’ Kassim said with a scowl. ‘We took the beggar into the most likely-looking passageway. Although we could detect no smell of tobacco in the air, he managed to pick up the trail within half an hour. It seems that, over the months Hassan had been using the route to his secret hideaway, the very timbers and plaster of the walls had absorbed the tell-tale scent. The beggar literally sniffed his way to our quarry.’
‘And what about the old woman?’ Janene asked worriedly. ‘I don’t think she was really aware of what was going on. She doesn’t deserve to be punished.’
Kassim put her mind at rest. ‘She is being cared for by Sister Mary. A place will be found for her.’
She looked across the table into those amazing blue eyes and knew why she was so hopelessly, helplessly in love with him. It wasn’t just his hatred of injustice and the ruthless way he dealt with evildoers. It was more to do with his sense of loyalty and the compassion he could show towards a blind beggar and an old woman. With all his power and wealth he could still take the time to care for the weak and defenceless.
A wry little smile touched her lips. ‘Are you going to London dressed like that?’
He raised a dark, enquiring eyebrow. ‘You would object to me entering one of your shops dressed in a blue cloak and black turban? Bad for business, perhaps?’
The truth was he looked so devilishly attractive that she felt like eating him. ‘I’ve no objections whatsoever,’ she murmured. ‘But you might be a danger in traffic.’
He frowned. ‘Why should I be a danger…?’ He paused, then grinned. ‘Forgive me. I am being more obtuse than usual this morning. However, to please you I shall change into something more appropriate when we are on the plane. My wardrobe is already aboard.’
Following Kassim’s orders, the pilot had radioed ahead, and when they landed at Heathrow there was an embassy limousine and driver waiting for them. The CD plates on the car guaranteed no trouble over passports, and would certainly solve the problem of parking in the West End, Janene told herself.
Before they got into the car she had to make a few phone calls until she was able to run Sally to ground, then she told the driver to head for the Kings Road in Chelsea.
Kassim had changed from his robes into an exquisitely tailored light grey suit, and as he sat next to her, long legs extended in the roomy interior and looking perfectly relaxed, she wondered yet again if she was doing the right thing by allowing this affair to continue.
Perhaps it was true that love was all that mattered, but the course they were now embarking on could only end in one way. The day would come when Kassim would want a son. That was the one thing all Moroccan men wanted. Sooner or later he’d have to choose a wife who was acceptable to his tribe, not an infidel like her. How long would it be until that day came? A year? Two years? And how would her heart stand it when he was forced to tell her that it was all over?
It still wasn’t too late to change her mind. She could tell him right now that from here on their relationship was to be strictly business. After all, he’d been the one who’d made the ‘no strings attached’ offer, so he had no cause for complaint if she insisted on it. That was what a sensible woman would have done, but, as she’d acknowledged to herself more than once already, her brain went on holiday whenever he touched her.
She knew how he’d react if she told him of these feelings that were tormenting her. He’d simply take her in his arms, knock her senseless with a kiss and murmur softly in her ear about accepting the brief hours of happiness which Allah, in His wisdom, was granting them. And who was she to say that he was wrong?
As the limousine joined the heavy stream of traffic heading east into the city she had a sudden thought and she frowned at him. ‘What happened to my own car? It was left at the cottage. It might have been stolen by now.’
He patted her thigh reassuringly. ‘It is being cared for in a garage in Ashford. We can go there tomorrow and collect it.’ He paused, and gave her the friendlyshark smile that always made her nerves ripple. ‘Before we talk about anything else, I think we should discuss living arrangements while I’m in London. I don’t intend to be parted from you for more than five minutes at a time while I’m here.’
Well, he couldn’t have put it any clearer than that, she thought weakly. This was make her mind up time. Yes or no.
He watched the play of emotions on her face, then shrugged. ‘Of course, if you insist on sleeping on your own I will respect your wishes. I’ll book into my usual hotel, where I shall promptly tyrannise the staff and make everyone’s life a misery, including my own.’
‘Well, we can’t have that, can we?’ she replied lightly, avoiding the trap of looking into those eyes. ‘I suppose you’ll just have to share my flat.’
He patted her thigh again. ‘Thank you. Your generosity is only exceeded by your beauty.’
‘It’s not very big, I’m afraid,’ she murmured, still too embarrassed to make eye contact. ‘And I’ve no servants at my beck and call. You’d have to help with the washing-up.’
‘I’ll buy you a dishwasher,’ he said airily.
‘I don’t want a dishwasher. When you live on your own you don’t need a dishwasher.’
He chuckled. ‘Very well. You can wash and I’ll dry.’
‘Then there’s the cleaning and dusting and polishing,’ she pointed out. ‘And there’s the washing and ironing.’
He sighed. ‘I see. Anything else? Leaking taps? Choked sinks?’
‘Well…’ she said thoughtfully, ‘there are usually little odd jobs that need doing around the place. A squeaky door-hinge to be oiled. A plug needing a new fuse. A shelf to be put up. A bathroom tile to be replaced.’
He nodded. ‘And when all these little odd jobs have been attended to?’
‘Then we can sit and relax with a drink,’ she said cheerfully.
‘I’m more likely to fall asleep with exhaustion,’ he observed drily.
‘Oh, I doubt that,’ she murmured. ‘I won’t let you work that hard.’
He growled at her good-naturedly, ‘No woman in history has ever tried to domesticate a Berber. If word of this ever gets back to Morocco, my reputation will be in ruins.’
She smiled back at him, afraid of his eyes no longer. ‘Don’t worry, Kassim. It’ll be our little secret.’
‘It had better be,’ he threatened blithely. He glanced at his watch, then picked up the intercom and ordered the driver to leave the motorway at the next junction. At her look of enquiry he explained, ‘In return for your generous offer of hospitality I’m going to buy you a present. Now, please don’t argue. I am feeling particularly kind-hearted today and you’d be foolish not to take advantage of it.’
She smiled at him, then said drily, ‘If this is a trick to get out of the housework, you’re wasting your money.’
They were passing a rather up-market and expensive dress boutique when he ordered the driver to stop. Taking her by the arm, he marched her inside.
At the sight of him the two young girl assistants looked at him breathlessly, then the faster of the two tripped forward and said huskily, ‘May I help you, sir?’
Kassim gave her a thousand-watt smile. ‘I certainly hope so. This lady requires something suitable to wear for a lunch-date. Something the same shade as her eyes, I think. Can you manage that?’
‘Yes, sir.’ The girl reluctantly tore her gaze away from him and studied Janene briefly. ‘If you would kindly step this way, madam.’
Janene tried on four dresses but none of them pleased him. As she stepped out of the changing-booth for the fifth time, in a two-piece suit in emerald-green with white piping, he nodded in satisfaction. ‘Leave it on,’ he commanded, then, while he wrote out a cheque, her discarded skirt and blouse were parcelled up by the other assistant.
When they were back in the car he studied her again in approval. ‘That suit must have been made with you in mind. The colour is exactly right and it tempts the eye to the hidden treasure beneath.’
‘So you’re a fashion expert now?’ she murmured, hiding her pleasure behind a facade of light mockery.
‘No,’ he answered back. ‘Simply a man who knows what he likes. All you need now is an emerald necklace to hang round that pretty neck. We’ll stop at the first—’
‘Oh, no, we won’t,’ she said firmly. ‘One present is enough. Anyway, we don’t have the time. Sally is waiting. We have to pick her up, then we can all lunch together and discuss taking you on as a silent partner.’
He looked at her shrewdly. ‘Do I detect an anxious note in your voice…the merest hint of apprehension in those delightful eyes?’
‘Yes.’ She sighed. ‘You probably do. I didn’t mention anything about you to Sally over the phone. I just said that I wanted to meet her for lunch. When I turn up with you she’s bound to ask a lot of awkward questions about who you are. How did we meet? How long have I known you?’
‘Just tell her the truth,’ he suggested nonchalantly.
She almost laughed aloud. ‘The truth? She’d never believe it. And I wouldn’t blame her.’ She thought for a moment, then shrugged. ‘I suppose I’ll have to. But I’m not sure how she’ll take to the idea of having a ruthless operator like you for a partner.’
He examined his fingernails and drawled, ‘I shall simply stand with my head bowed and try my best to look humble.’
She eyed him doubtfully. Kassim Riffik trying to look humble? This she had to see.
When they reached the shop in the busy Kings Road, the driver ignored the ‘no parking’ signs and brought the limousine to a halt outside the front door. As Kassim made to rise Janene touched his arm and smiled quickly. ‘There’s no need for us both to go in. You stay here while I fetch Sally.’
His blue eyes shimmered with amusement, ‘As you wish. I dare say you want to warn her about me. Prepare her for the worst?’
‘Yes,’ she muttered. ‘Something like that. After all, you are the kind of man women warn their daughters about.’
Before he could come back at her with some flippant retort, she opened her door and dashed across the pavement.
Sally, needless to say, welcomed her with a warm hug, then frowned over her shoulder. ‘I wouldn’t park there, Janene. The wheel-clampers are like locusts around here.’
‘They can’t touch that car,’ she said lightly. ‘It has CD plates from the Moroccan embassy.’
Sally’s eyes widened in surprise, then widened even further as she went to the door. ‘Oh! Be still, my aching heart! Who but who is that gorgeous-looking devil in the back seat? Is he real or just a figment of my imagination? He can’t be your fiance. You told me that Damien had brown hair.’
‘I’m finished with Damien,’ Janene said calmly. ‘That’s why I came in on my own. To warn you. That man out there gets twitchy at the sound of Damien’s name. Now, it’s a very long, involved story and we haven’t got time to go into it right now. That man in the car is Kassim Riffik. He’s having lunch with us, and if we don’t get a move on it’ll be too late. Lunchtime will be over.’
‘Is he an Arab?’ Sally asked, too engrossed in the handsome profile to listen.
‘That’s another thing,’ she cautioned. ‘Don’t call him an Arab. He’s a Berber. It seems to make a big difference to him.’
‘Hmm…’ Sally turned with a conspiratorial smile. ‘Are you and he…? You know…have you got a thing going?’
Janene sighed. ‘Yes. I suppose we have. I’ll tell you about it later.’ Well, some of it at least, she amended to herself.
Sally’s eyes lit up with anticipation. ‘You’d better. I want to hear every savoury little detail.’ She called her assistant through from the stock-room to take charge of the counter, then she grabbed her shoulder-bag and followed Janene outside.
Gallantly, Kassim had emerged from the car to greet them, and she watched the expression on Sally’s face with amusement as he turned his charm to full blast. Taking Sally’s hand, he raised it to his lips and smiled at them both. ‘In the company of two such beautiful young ladies, I will be the envy of every man in London.’
They went to a little restaurant Janene knew in Knights bridge, and when they’d given their orders to the waiter she got straight to the point. ‘Sally, do you still want me back in partnership with you?’
‘Of course I do,’ Sally replied in obvious delight. ‘I need you. Things aren’t the same without you around.’
She smiled. ‘That’s settled, then.’ She heard Kassim clear his throat and she took a deep breath. ‘And how would you feel about taking on a third partner?’
The sharp business side of Sally took over, and her expression became guarded. ‘Who do you have in mind?’
‘Me,’ said Kassim, his smile open and friendly.
Sally looked at him in surprise. ‘Oh…’
‘He only wants to invest some money in the business. Help us expand,’ Janene said quickly. ‘We’d still be running it.’ She could see the look of doubt on Sally’s face and she smoothed things over. ‘Don’t think about it now. Let’s have our lunch in peace. We’ll discuss it when we go back to the shop. I have some samples I want you to look at.’
Kassim broke in, ‘Sally’s hesitation is only natural. Although she is burning with curiosity, she knows nothing about me. One does not take on a partner without knowing his character and background. I certainly wouldn’t. Perhaps you could begin by telling her where and how we met.’
He was pushing it, Janene thought angrily. Why couldn’t he just keep quiet and leave her to deal with this problem in her own way? But that was asking too much, wasn’t it? He wasn’t the type of man to beat around the bush. His idea of breaking the ice was to hit you with a flame-thrower.
‘Should I give her the unexpurgated edition or the cleaned-up version?’ she asked coldly.
His thin lips stretched in a confident smile and his blue eyes taunted her mercilessly. ‘Just tell the truth, Janene. There should be no secrets between partners.’
She smiled back at him sweetly. ‘Very well. Should I begin with the night we met at the party, or should I skip that bit and go on to the night you drugged and kidnapped me and spirited me off to your kasbah in Morocco?’
That didn’t go down well with Sally, who eyed her sternly across the table and reprimanded, ‘I thought we were having a serious discussion here?’
‘We are,’ Janene assured her gravely. ‘I’d hoped that we could put this off till later, but it seems that I’m being outvoted.’
Kassim broke in with a pleasant smile and an easy drawl. ‘When my reputation and honesty are called into question I don’t believe in wasting time. To put the record straight—as far as the kidnapping charge is concerned, it’s a mere technicality. The truth is that Janene already belonged to me. I’d paid a lot of money for her and I saved her from making a fool of herself over her ex-fiance.
She saw the dazed, uncomprehending look on Sally’s face, and she said weakly, ‘I—I warned you that it was a very long, involved story, didn’t I?’
‘Yes,’ Sally said drily. ‘So you did.’ She smiled politely. ‘This may sound like a stupid question, but… when is all this supposed to have taken place?’
‘Just over a week ago,’ Janene admitted, realising how preposterous the whole thing sounded.
Sally nodded to herself. ‘I see. Well, a week isn’t very long, is it? I mean…how well can you get to know someone in a week?’ She smiled an apology at Kassim. ‘No offence meant.’
‘None taken,’ he assured her lightly. ‘You are a cautious and shrewd businesswoman. If I do invest in your business, at least I know it will be in safe hands.’
Sally acknowledged the compliment with a gracious nod and Janene said impatiently, ‘Please, just take my word for it, Sally. I’d never have brought Kassim here if I didn’t trust him. And he’s right. He really did save me from making a fool of myself.’
‘This gets more intriguing by the minute,’ Sally murmured. ‘I can’t wait to hear the rest. But perhaps you’re right. We’ll discuss it all after lunch. In private.’
Kassim looked at Janene pointedly and said, ‘Such a discussion may not be necessary. If Sally doesn’t like the samples you’ve brought, then there is no need for me to prolong my visit here.’
Consternation flickered briefly in her eyes but she managed to keep her voice even. ‘You mean you’d no longer be interested in a partnership?’
‘I’m afraid not,’ he drawled. ‘I’m prepared to invest money if it helps to provide work for the people of my town, but not otherwise.’
For a moment she felt numb with shock and disappointment, then it passed and she dredged up a smile. ‘I understand. I suppose that’s a perfectly reasonable attitude.’
When the meal arrived she found that she’d lost her appetite, and she hid her bitterness behind a torrent of inconsequential chit-chat.
An hour later they were back at the shop in the Kings Road. Sally closed the door of her office firmly behind her, then smiled briskly at both of them. ‘Right, let’s get this over and done with, then we can all relax.’
Janene opened the case and began setting out the contents on the desk-top. Everything had been tagged with the wholesale price, and Sally examined each item closely. Finally she looked up at Janene and nodded. ‘I’m impressed. I’ve never seen anything like that silver jewellery. And the colours and needlework on those blouses and scarves is brilliant.’
Janene heaved a sigh of relief. Mostly it was because of the satisfaction of knowing that her own judgement had been proved right. But a little part of it could have been something else. Something shameful. Like knowing that she and Kassim could still… She pushed that thought out of her mind and smiled at Sally. ‘Good!’ she said brightly. ‘With the money that Kassim is willing to invest, we can expand out of London. We could open a couple of branches in the Midlands…’
Sally shook her head. ‘Not so fast, Janene. I haven’t quite made up my mind yet about Mr Riffik.’ She smiled politely at Kassim and he smiled back politely in return.
‘You said that the story was long and invovled,’ Sally reminded her. ‘Could you shorten it?’ Just tell me the really juicy parts. But be tasteful. I’m still relatively young and innocent.’
Janene eyed her again with impatience. She knew that Sally was merely toying with her, but two could play at that game. With a dramatic sigh of resignation she said, ‘Very well…if you insist.’ She drew a deep breath and launched herself into a frenetic recitation…
‘I first met Kassim at a party. He’d come to London because his nephew had been cheated at a crooked gambling-club in Soho. Damien had been responsible for that, and Kassim wanted the money back, but when he saw me he decided that I would do instead. Of course, I never knew anything about this at the time.
‘Anyway, at the party Kassim came on pretty strong about raging volcanoes of fire and passion, and about how he wanted to steal me away in the night and make wild, passionate love to me in his tent under the stars, but I told him no thanks, because I was engaged to be married.
‘Then, a couple of nights later, I fell asleep by the fire in my cottage in Kent and when I woke up I was in his private plane and when we landed he took me to his “tent” which is really the most fabulous house you’ve ever seen. I was scared at first, but he treated me like a princess and I even had a personal maid called Kebira. Then, after I went to the souk with Kebira and an exnun called Sister Mary, we got back to the house in time to find Kassim, who is kind of Lord Mayor over there, passing judgement on a pig of a man called Hassan, who’d divorced three wives for being barren when it was his fault all the time.
‘Then Kassim took me to see the Blue Men. They are his tribe who live in the desert. On the way there we got caught in this terrible sandstorm and on the way back I got blisters on my feet and heatstroke, but Kassim got me home, put me to bed and gave me lots of loving tender care.’
She paused for a moment and noted with satisfaction the way Sally’s mouth was hanging open, then she went on blithely, ‘A couple of days after that I was at the market with Kebira when someone dragged me into an alley, threw a dirty sack over my head and led me to this secret apartment. There was a huge bedroom… all silk and perfume and disgusting statues and pictures, and I was nearly sick. Then that horrible Hassan came in and told me that I was to be a sex-slave to entertain his friends for the next two years. It was his way of getting his revenge on Kassim. I was there for hours and was beginning to get really desperate when Kassim and some of his tribe came to my rescue. They had been led to the place by an old blind beggar. The Blue Men took Hassan away to be their women’s slave and sleep with the goats, and Kassim took me home. That was last night. This morning he brought me back to London in his private jet and here I am.’
She turned to Kassim. ‘I haven’t forgotten anything, have I?’
Suppressing the laughter that was threatening to erupt from his mouth, he growled, ‘Only the passionate nights…and the day at the beach, when we tried that special treatment and you—’
‘Yes. Quite,’ she said hurriedly.
‘In that case, I think you’ve covered all the relevant facts.’
Behind the desk Sally’s face was a picture of awe and disbelief. At last she smiled weakly. ‘Are you going to have all that set to music? It would be a sure-fire hit in the West End.’
‘I told you that she wouldn’t believe me,’ Janene complained to Kassim. ‘And instead of looking humble, as you promised, you’re standing there with a big grin on your face!’
Sally got to her feet. ‘All right! I believe you. My God, it’s too far-fetched to be anything but the truth!’
Janene smiled with relief. ‘Well, now that your curiosity has been satisfied and I’ve proved that Kassim isn’t an out-and-out rogue, can we come to some decision about taking him on as a partner?’
Sally took an infuriatingly long time about it. First she removed her glasses. Then she polished them carefully with a handkerchief. Then she put them back on and studied Kassim in silence.
Kassim gazed back at her calmly and Janene wondered at his stoic patience over all this vacillation. With all his wealth he could buy and sell the pair of them a hundred times over. Sally was walking on eggs and she didn’t know it. He’d never been treated like this in his life. No one would have dared. Least of all a woman. Any second now, he was liable to let rip with some ferocious expletive and storm out of the shop.
At last Sally nodded and smiled at her. ‘I’d be honoured to have him as a partner, Janene. On one condition.’
She eyed Sally warily. ‘We’re lucky to get him, Sally. I don’t think a “condition” is a very good idea.’
‘This one is,’ Sally said cheerfully. Smiling at Kassim, she said, ‘If you’re so smart, you must be able to see that Janene is madly in love with you. That being the case, I insist that you propose to her here and now.’
The sheer audacity of it took Janene’s breath away and she looked quickly at Kassim, then felt her heart plummet as she saw the hard, bleak expression settle over his face.
‘You ask the impossible,’ he said grimly. ‘I can never offer my hand in marriage to Janene. She must look elsewhere for a husband.’
Although she’d known it all along, that didn’t prevent the knife from being driven a little deeper into Janene’s heart as she heard the cold, fateful words come from his own lips.
With a smile of calm resignation she explained the situation to Sally. ‘Kassim can’t marry me. He needs a wife who is acceptable to his tribe. Apparently, I’m not.’
Sally reared up, affronted. ‘You’re not!’ She turned on Kassim and demanded, ‘What’s wrong with her?’
A slight furrow had appeared on his brow, and in a vocie of steely civility he said, ‘This is something that has to be discussed between Janene and me. I would be forever in your debt if you would grant us a few minutes in private.’
‘Yes, of course,’ Sally said agreeably. ‘Take the rest of the afternoon if you need it. Just so long as we get a happy ending to all this.’
As soon as they were alone, his frown deepened and he questioned her harshly, ‘Who said that you weren’t acceptable to my tribe?’
She blinked at him, taken aback by his tone, and muttered, ‘No one needed to. It became quite obvious after what Hassan said to me.’
‘Hassan!’ His face darkened in fury. ‘What does that piece of gutter-trash have to do with this? I’ll have his genitals eaten by ants when I return.’
She waited until the storm of his anger had died down, then she said calmly, ‘He was the one who told me about the tradition in your tribe. If the chief wishes to marry, he must present the woman to the tribe and get their approval. Especially if the woman is an infidel like me.’
Kassim nodded. ‘For once in his life, at least, that foul wretch spoke the truth.’
She shrugged despondently. ‘Well, that’s that, then. They certainly gave me the once-over when I arrived at their oasis. Every one of them got in line to look me up and down, didn’t they?’
‘And they liked what they saw,’ he growled. ‘Just as I knew they would.’
‘Yes,’ she countered. ‘But obviously not enough to allow you to marry me.’ She bit her lip and averted her eyes. ‘I know that it isn’t your fault, Kassim. You’ve got a position to maintain. You can’t go against the wishes of your people.’
‘The wishes of my people were that you and I should have a long and happy life,’ he assured her vigorously. ‘A life blessed with many children.’
‘Oh…’ Her eyes widened and she could feel a tiny, rapid pulse in her throat as she looked up at him. ‘Wh— why didn’t you tell me? Or…did you just change your mind?’
His hands gripped her shoulders fiercely, his fingers digging deep. ‘I didn’t tell you then, Janene, because I was a romantic fool. The front seat of a Land Rover jolting across the desert is not the appropriate place to ask for a woman’s hand in marriage. I wanted to wait until that evening. There, by the pool, with the moonlight in your hair and the starlight in your eyes, I would have declared my undying love and asked you to be my wife.’
She swallowed the enormous lump in her throat and stumbled over the words. ‘I—I had no idea that you… felt like that about me.’
‘Of course you didn’t,’ he said softly. ‘And I didn’t know what your feelings were towards me at the time. We had made love, it is true. But was that enough?’ He paused, and she saw the tormented anger in his eyes as he went on, ‘And then it all went wrong. In my foolishness I said something to upset you, and you leapt out of the Land Rover before I could stop you.’
‘I was the one who was foolish,’ she pointed out. ‘I should have listened to your warning.’
He shook his head adamantly. ‘You are a strongwilled woman, Janene. Nevertheless, you were my responsibility and I neglected my duty. In my arrogance I sought to teach you a lesson in respect. Not respect for me, but for the dangers of the desert. But I carried the lesson too far and you suffered as a consequence. I can never forgive myself for that.’
‘But you weren’t to blame!’ she insisted. ‘I just got what I deserved for not—’
He went on as if he hadn’t heard her. ‘The very next day you told me that you wanted to return to London.’
Her mind raced desperately. She hadn’t known that he loved her when she’d said that. She’d tried to find out the previous night, but her oblique questioning had drawn a blank. According to him, she was merely the spoils of war, a woman to be rescued—worth her weight in diamonds, perhaps, but there had not been one single mention of love.
‘Under the circumstances I couldn’t refuse your request,’ he went on. ‘I knew I had no right to ask you to spend the rest of your life with a man who was incapable of looking after you.’
His words of bitter self-recrimination stirred a memory of something he’d said before: ‘A man who fails to provide for the comfort and security of his woman is not worthy of the name.’ That had been the day they’d been at the beach. She’d made some joking remark about his not having checked personally to ensure that there was food in the Land Rover before they’d left the house. He’d really taken it to heart and she hadn’t understood his unexpected reaction.
He was still taking it hard, by the look on his face, and as she eyed him in exasperation he continued, ‘As if I hadn’t harmed you enough, I compounded my failings by allowing you to fall into the clutches of that evil worm Hassan. For that alone I should be scourged by all the demons in the seven pits of Shaitan.’
In spite of his tirade of self-abasement he bore himself wiht all the dignity and courage of a man in front of a firing-squad, disdainfully scorning a blindfold.
She continued to look at him in despair. Honour and pride were admirable qualities in a man, but when they stood in the way of true love something had to go. And that was just as true for her as it was for him.
Swallowing her own pride, she bared her innermost soul in a voice that trembled with emotion. ‘You’re hurting me now much more than the desert or Hassan ever did, Kassim. You were quick enough to put salve on my feet, but the pain in my heart means nothing to you.’
His grip became even tighter and he looked genuinely puzzled. ‘Why should your heart be pained? I don’t understand. It’s beyond belief that any woman could love a man who keeps putting her life in danger.’
‘I suppose it seems that way to you,’ she murmured. ‘Just as I ask myself how a man could ever love a woman who’s too feather-brained to look after herself. But love hasn’t got anything to do with being sensible, has it?’
His hands dropped to her waist and he pulled her closer against himself. His sapphire eyes swept over her face and his features softened. ‘You’re as foolish as I am, little rose.’
‘I know I am…darling,’ she whispered up at him huskily. ‘And I think that we fools should stick together, don’t you?’
A sigh of relief and pleasure escaped his lips. ‘You have put the light back into my life, Englishwoman. Allah must have guided me to you.’
Her eyes twinkled up at him in happiness. ‘Then ask Him to guide your lips to mine, right now. I want one of your long, passionate kisses. And, when it’s over, we’ll go through and tell Sally the good news.’