THE cupboards in the guest quarters yielded up an infinite range of clothes for Leo to choose from: long dark robes that would cover her from head to toe, brilliant silks that would cover as much or as little as she wished, cotton, linen, lawn, even gold-encrusted brocade.
‘Minister of Culture strikes again, I take it,’ Leo muttered.
She selected a simple robe with a long overjacket in peacock silk. Fatima nodded approval and fetched her a heavy gold collar, like elegant chain-mail, and several intricate bangles to go with it.
‘No,’ said Leo, revolted.
She was not wearing Amer’s wife’s jewellery for anything.
Fatima was agitated. She did not have enough English to make Leo understand and ran out of the room. Leo felt slightly ashamed but she could not bear the idea of putting the heavy thing against her skin.
The heavy doors to her room banged back. Amer strode in, looking irritated.
‘Now what are you making a fuss about?’ he said in tones of barely controlled exasperation.
‘I may have to borrow clothes but I’m not wearing someone else’s jewels.’
Amer flicked a bored glance over the gold collar.
‘They’re yours,’ he said curtly.
‘No they’re not.’ Leo was nearly dancing with rage.
‘Of course they are.’ He flicked back the lid of the jewellery box for her to see the name of the Paris jeweller. ‘A gift for my future wife. Flown in today.’
Leo was utterly taken aback.
‘You bought me a necklace?’
‘Of course.’ He shrugged, bored. ‘It’s a trifle. We will, of course, choose your betrothal gift together.’
Leo sat down rather suddenly.
‘But—I can’t accept—’
Even to her own ears, she sounded like a confused child.
‘I advise you to swallow your pride.’ He sounded irritated. ‘My father is asking other women to dinner tonight, as a courtesy to you. You will find them heavily jewelled. You will feel very odd if you aren’t.’
He did not sound, though, as if he cared very much. And he did not give her a kiss or a kind look to go with the ornaments. Leo felt chilled and angry and would have said so forcefully but Fatima came back.
Amer smiled at her gently. He did not smile at me, thought Leo desolate.
He said something to her which made Fatima bow her head and give a small well-behaved giggle. And then he strode out. He said not one word more to Leo.
Leo was tempted to scream, but she gave up the idea when she saw how relieved Fatima was that she had given in over the gold necklace. Fatima was, Leo realised, quite seriously flustered by the fact that Amer was taking Leo to dine with his father. She did not have enough English to explain why. Leo could think of plenty of reasons.
She flung them at Amer when they got into the long dark car without number plates.
‘Tell me,’ she said chattily, ‘does your father usually meet your playmates?’
‘Do not speak of yourself like that.’
It was a command. Leo glared. But she did not quite dare to challenge him.
Amer was looking more of a stranger than ever tonight. He wore a loose jacket, heavily embroidered in crimson and turquoise, over his white robe. And there was a wicked looking dagger, the size of a small sword, in his belt. But it was not just his clothes. His mouth was set in forbidding lines and his eyes were strained. He looked like a diplomat going to a negotiation that could end in war.
Was meeting his father always so fraught? Leo thought. Or was it her presence that gave him that wary look?
‘Will your father put me under house arrest for daring to lay hands on his son and heir?’ she said provocatively.
Amer sent her an unsmiling look. ‘I see Hari has been talking.’
‘Unlike you.’
His jaw tightened. ‘Don’t try to make me angry, Leonora. We will talk, I promise. But now is not the time.’
‘Great,’ she muttered.
But they were at tall iron gates which swung wide as soon as the car nosed onto the approach road. Beside her, she could feel Amer straighten as if he was bracing himself.
Leo felt a brief remorse. It was soon dispelled.
‘My father will ask you about our relationship,’ he said rapidly. ‘I advise you to tell him nothing.’
‘Would he punish you for kidnapping me?’
A muscle worked in his cheek. ‘I did not,’ he said evenly, ‘kidnap you.’
‘Will your father believe that?’
He swung round on her, his eyes cool. ‘Tell him and see,’ he invited.
Leo’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why?’
He gave a crack of unamused laughter. ‘He won’t blame me. He is more likely to put you under house arrest until you marry me.’
It was like being doused in cold water. Leo sank back, silenced.
His father was not as tall as Amer but the gold on his robes made him seem somehow bigger. He had a grizzled beard and fierce, suspicious eyes. He spoke to Leo in rusty French which was courteous rather than welcoming.
They ate out of doors in a cool courtyard. A heavy oaken table, set with gleaming glass and china, was placed under a curved canopy. Behind them, the walls of the palace were white stone, warm to the touch. In front of them, date palms rustled in the evening breeze. Their leaves made a sound like rain, vying with the delicate tinkling of fountains.
‘An informal supper,’ said Amer. ‘My father thought you would find that easier.’
‘Informal?’
The King sat in a heavy oak chair with carved arms and a high back. It was as near to a throne as damn it, thought Leo. And there were at least twenty other people at the table.
Amer gave a taut smile. ‘Just close family.’
Even so, everyone she met seemed to be a Minister or a Minister’s wife.
Leo found that she was swept off to the end of the table to eat with the women. One or two wore what were clearly Paris designs but most, like herself, wore long robes. And Amer was right. To a woman, traditionally dressed or not, they all wore magnificent jewellery. But they were friendly and surprisingly sympathetic.
‘Amer is a law unto himself,’ said a pretty cousin.
‘Always was,’ said an aunt by marriage. She was wearing a stunningly simple black cocktail dress and sapphires.
‘And so impetuous,’ sighed a middle-aged woman with laughing eyes. She wore a gold encrusted smoking jacket and earrings like Baccarat chandeliers.
‘Are you related to the Minister of Culture by any chance?’ murmured Leo, eyeing the gold lapels with fascination.
‘My brother.’
‘Ah.’
‘He says that Amer is the only one who is holding Dalmun together,’ confided the Minister’s wife. ‘His Majesty is so very traditional. It is a heavy burden for Amer, especially as he has been alone for so long.’
Leo was not deceived by the airy tone. She winced.
‘He told you,’ she said, resigned.
‘Told? In Dalmun? You’re joking. Just rumours that you are, er, close. And—’ She broke off.
‘And?’
The Minister’s wife leaned forward confidentially. ‘And Amer not being able to keep his eyes off you.’
Leo looked down the table. Amer was sitting on his father’s right, immersed in conversation. He was frowning slightly, tearing at the flat bread with preoccupied fingers, not eating any of it. As if he felt her eyes on him, he looked up suddenly.
Leo caught her breath. For a moment it was as if there was just the two of them. The cheerful conversation faded into nothing. She just stared and stared.
Take me away. Come down the table and take me home and make love to me.
It was so strong a wish that she almost felt as if she had said it aloud. She saw his eyes grow intent. His hands cast the maltreated bread away impatiently. But then his father said something, put a hand on his arm, and the moment was broken.
Leo sank back in her chair with a little gasp. Her pulse was racing. And deep, deep inside she felt a hollow need stir.
Afterwards, when he helped her into the car, she could feel the heat of his hands. Sitting close together in the back of the car was a torment. She was conscious of him, taut muscles hot and hard, and knew that the chauffeur and Amer’s public image made him as out of reach as the moon.
When they arrived Amer waved the car away. In the sudden silence of the well-lit entrance, he stood in front of her for a moment, as if undecided.
Leo thought, he’s going to kiss me. But he did not. Instead he leaned forward until his cheek just touched her hair.
‘I will come to you later.’ His voice was a rough whisper. ‘May I?’
‘Yes,’ breathed Leo.
But he did not. She waited for hours in the strange room, moving restlessly from table to balcony and back. The night wind was cold. But not as cold as the lonely bed.
He did not come and he sent no message.
‘I don’t believe this,’ said Amer.
‘Your father wants you back at the palace,’ Hari repeated. ‘A report has just come in. Brigands on the northern border.’
‘Brigands!’ Amer was scornful. ‘More likely tribesmen who want decent water and a telephone line for their village.’
‘Your father wants to send in the Army…’
Amer swore.
‘All right,’ he said at last. ‘I’ll go. But if I’m not back in an hour—’ He broke off.
‘Yes?’
‘Hell,’ said Amer.
In the end the apricot light of early dawn slid along the balustrade of the balcony before Leo huddled down on the sofa and did what she could to sleep. That was where Fatima found her. She had not even taken off last night’s finery. The chain-mail necklace had marked her skin.
‘Typical,’ said Leo, refusing to cry.
Fatima was concerned. Particularly when Leo took off Sheikh Amer’s gift and threw it so hard across the room that a link broke. Even more so when Leo refused to wear any more of the borrowed clothes.
‘I shall buy something myself. The car can take me to the market, can’t it?’
Fatima was uneasy. She began to mutter, losing her command of English.
‘Or am I a prisoner here after all?’ demanded Leo, savagely triumphant.
Fatima bit her lip and consulted Hari. They both strove strenuously to dissuade her.
‘Sheikh Amer said you were to have whatever you ask for,’ Hari told Leo at last. It clearly troubled him. ‘It would be wiser not to go to the market today, though.’
‘So I am a prisoner.’
He gave in, stipulating only that she took an escort. Leo set off in triumph accompanied by the scholarly map reader. He looked rather alarmed. Leo interpreted it as a sign that he did not know much about women’s clothes.
‘It’s all right,’ she told him. ‘We’ll be back before sundown.’
‘You’ll be back in two hours,’ said Hari firmly.
Leo went very still. ‘Is that how long you’ve got before Amer wakes up and finds out you’ve let me go?’
Exasperated, Hari said, ‘Be careful. Dalmun is not Knightsbridge.’
But Leo waved a careless hand and he stepped back. The electric gates opened silently and the limousine swept through.
‘I hope I’ve done the right thing,’ said Hari aloud.
Three hours later, his heart in his mouth, he was knocking on the door to Amer’s suite.
‘Come in.’
Amer was at his desk. It was clear from the table strewn with paper behind him that he had been working, not resting. He looked up.
‘Have you been to bed at all?’ said Hari, shocked by his look of exhaustion.
Amer shook his head. ‘What time is it?’
Hari told him. He was startled.
‘So late? Then I must see—’ He broke off.
But Hari was beyond pretending to be discreet.
‘She’s gone,’ he said brutally.
Amer stared at him. His face was masklike. Hari could not bear it.
‘Not of her own accord. Hussein came back with a message. Oh, I knew I should never have let her go.’
Amer went very still.
‘Go? Where?’
‘She insisted on going out,’ said poor Hari. ‘I tried to persuade her—But you told her she was free to do whatever she wanted. And this morning she was like a caged animal.’
Amer flinched. Hari did not notice.
‘I insisted that Hussein went along to interpret. But he is not a man of action. Saeed’s people have taken her. They sent Hussein back. They want your father to sign the order for the new electricity system at the Council Meeting tomorrow.’
Amer looked at him for a burning moment.
‘They’ll keep her until he does,’ Hari finished miserably. ‘I’m sorry, Amer. I know you warned us. But it never occurred to me they would really do it. They’ve only ever taken an ordinary tourist before.’
Amer said. ‘Get my father on the telephone.’
Hari blanched. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘Tell him the truth,’ said Amer harshly. ‘I have protected him from it for too long. Let him know that some of his subjects will turn against him unless he gives them a reasonable standard of living.’
‘Very well.’ Hari did not relish the task but he was a brave man. ‘Do you want me to call your uncle and summon the Council?’
‘That is for my father to decide,’ said Amer. ‘It’s his Council.’
‘But—’
‘They will have taken her into the desert. I’m going after her. Get the land cruiser ready.’
Hari was startled into an undiplomatic truth. ‘But you have to go to the Council. They will never be able to persuade His Majesty without you. They need you.’
‘Leonora needs me.’
Amer was already opening cupboards, his mind on his expedition.
Hari was exasperated. ‘But you’ve said it yourself often enough—these guys are harmless. She’s in no danger. They’ll probably give her the time of her life.’
Amer said, ‘Does Leonora know that?’
‘Well maybe not to begin with,’ he admitted. ‘But she’ll find out…’
‘Or she might not. Saeed is different from the other desert Sheikhs. More ambitious. Definitely more unpredictable.’
‘He would not hurt her,’ said Hari positively. ‘It would be stupid.’
Amer turned. He looked strained.
‘My head agrees with you. My heart can’t take the chance.’
His heart? Amer’s heart? Hari stared in disbelief.
‘But why?’ he said incautiously.
The smile became savage.
‘Because she’s mine.’
Leo was afraid. She told herself that Amer would find her. She told herself to believe her captors when they assured her that she was their honoured guest. But it was difficult when they sounded so terrifyingly efficient.
As they got farther and farther from the capital and left the metalled road for a dust track, her heart sank. Even with the windows closed, the dust seemed to whirl chokingly round the interior of the cabin.
The tropic dark fell like a blanket. The pick-up stopped. The driver got out. After a few minutes he came back and gestured Leo to get out of the vehicle.
All her banked-down panic surged up into her throat. She could taste it. Were they going to abandon her here, in the middle of nowhere? Amer would never find her, then.
She controlled herself. Amer did what he set himself to do. Besides this was his country. And anyway, she just knew that he would find her. Of course he would find her.
Leo hugged that thought to her. It got her through the next few hours. And she really needed something to hold on to because her captors seemed as if they did not know what to do with her. She was transferred from vehicle to vehicle no fewer than four times and, judging from the limited Arabic she had picked up in Cairo, none of the men taking charge of her was glad of the responsibility. Leo began to feel like a potato that had just been pulled out of the fire: too hot to handle. And the later it got, the jumpier each successive group of men sounded.
Eventually the last truck pulled up at a group of tents. They were hunched shadows under the brilliant sky. Leo stumbled out. She was swaying with tiredness as much as emotion.
They took her into an enormous tent with all ceremony, fed her coffee and speeches which she could not understand, then took her to a smaller tent where she tried to sleep.
She dreamed that Amer’s arms were round her. And woke up with tears on her cheeks.
All through the morning Leo heard comings and goings in the main tent. She tried to stay calm but it was not easy. She drank a little water but refused all food. Eventually an impatient man arrived bearing a circular dish of bread and fruit. Leo shook her head but he took no notice, pressing bread against her lips. Leo shut her eyes so she should not see his expression. It was menacing.
Oh, Amer, get me out of this, she called silently.
There was a commotion outside. The man flung the tray away and stamped out.
Leo sipped some water, shakily. He had gripped her arm in his attempt to make her eat and the place throbbed. There would be a bruise there, she thought.
Soon enough he was back and abandoning other attempts at communication, hauling her into the main tent. Leo fought down another sick surge of panic. She had to keep her head, she knew.
The main tent was full of men. They all had their backs to her, looking at an imposing figure in the entrance to the tent.
For all her determined courage, Leo’s heart contracted. Was this a gathering of rebel clans?
The man in the bright mouth of the tent seemed very tall. He wore a flowing black robe and turban. It made him look like the angel of death. His face was in complete shadow but Leo could see the arrogance in the way he held himself.
Was he cruel, too? The others were clearly in awe of him. No, thought Leo watching the way they bowed to him, not in awe. Make that terrified. She felt her mouth dry with a reflection of their terror.
He was unaware of her. He said something to the bowing reception committee. His voice was harsh. He took a step forward and the robe proved to be a loose coat, the open front heavy with gold embroidery. It flashed in the sun. Under it he wore some dark shirt with a huge plaited leather belt worked in gold stretching from waist to slim hips. And he had a huge dagger, its blade a wicked upcurve. The sheath looked like pure gold and its haft was set with jewels. It was magnificent and utterly barbarian.
Even though she could not see his face, Leo saw that this was a leader. She felt a flash of terror, pure and primitive. She must have made some sound. The man turned his fierce attention to the far side of the tent where she was standing.
He strode forward. She caught a glimpse of high boots. And the gold flashed dazzlingly. She was terrified. She shut her eyes.
The man took hold of her chin. ‘Are you all right?’ he said in clipped, furious English.
Disbelieving, Leo looked up. It was Amer. But not Amer as she had ever seen him before. There was no laughter in the grey eyes that swept over her and barely any recognition. Amer was a brisk stranger on important business. His whole manner said that she was a major nuisance.
Inwardly she cringed. Aloud she said sharply, ‘I’m fine. No thanks to—’
‘Stop right there,’ he said softly. He sounded so angry he could barely speak. ‘I’ll handle this. Keep your mouth shut.’
Leo fumed. But all her survival instincts told her to comply. So she folded her lips together and glared.
Amer turned back to their hosts.
‘I am grateful to you for finding her,’ he said formally. She could understand his Arabic more easily. ‘The lady is a treasured guest and new to our country.’
He was not just formal, Leo thought. He was glacial. The other men shuffled uncomfortably. It was clear, even to Leo, that for the time being Sheikh Amer was willing to pretend that the girl had just stumbled into their camp. But if they did not hand her over he was quite prepared to take her by whatever means were necessary. The unspoken threat of force hung heavy in the air.
Leo was not proud of herself for the feeling. But she was glad of the strong body between her and the rest of the tent’s occupants.
‘One wonders how such an honoured guest managed to get lost in the desert,’ said one of the younger men defiantly.
He attracted fulminating looks from his companions. Amer contented himself with inspecting the man in nerve-racking silence for a full minute.
‘One does indeed,’ he said softly.
His tone made even Leo’s blood run cold.
There was a general hubbub of disclaimers. The man looked mutinous but others, older and more cautious, were delivering a confused and contradictory account of how she arrived at the camp. It was not clear whether they expected to be believed. Amer made little pretence at believing them, in any event.
Above the hum his voice could be heard announcing, ‘As my future wife she is doubly precious.’
It sounded, thought Leo writhing, more like a declaration of war than love. Of course, he did not realise that she could understand him. She folded her lips together and promised herself that he would never know. Once they were out of this she would never refer to it again. Never.
But it had its desired effect. They did not exactly congratulate him. But they surrendered her into his custody with every evidence of relief. After more ceremonial coffee drinking and expressions of eternal fidelity on both sides, they were escorted to a massive four-wheel drive vehicle.
‘Not a camel?’ said Leo mockingly. ‘It would go better with the outfit.’
It was the first time she had spoken. Amer turned a look on her which, if they had detected it, would have caused their hosts to doubt that she was so precious in their Sheikh’s eyes. A muscle worked at his jaw. He looked as if he could cheerfully have murdered her.
‘Not a word,’ he said between his teeth. ‘Not one more word. Or you’ll wish you had never been born.’
‘What makes you think I don’t already?’ muttered Leo.
But he had turned away and was making their farewells.
He drove off, his face set. He handled the big land cruiser with an easy mastery which Leo somehow would not have expected. For so much of their acquaintance they had been driven by chauffeurs, she thought. This coolly competent driving in difficult terrain reminded her—if she needed to be reminded—how little she really knew Amer.
She said in a small voice, ‘Where are we going?’
‘My camp,’ he said briefly.
He looked at a dial mounted in the dash. With a slight shock, Leo realised it was a compass, not a decorative addition to an expensive car but a real float mounted compass. She swallowed.
‘Is the desert very dangerous?’
‘If you don’t know it. Or if you are careless.’ He sent her an ironic look. ‘Why? Were you thinking of setting out across the desert in your high heels if I didn’t come to rescue you?’
Leo thought: I am going to cry. All that time in captivity and I didn’t shed a tear and now, when I’m safe, I could bawl like a baby. It was because he was so angry with her, of course. And because, in part, he had cause.
And because he would not be that angry if he loved her.
She swallowed something jagged in her throat and said, ‘I never thought you would come to rescue me.’
‘Oh? You thought I would leave you to Saeed’s mercy?’ He sounded furious.
This was horrible. Floundering Leo said, ‘I mean I never thought you would come yourself. I knew you would not just abandon me, of course. But…’
‘You thought I would send someone else to do my dirty work,’ he interpreted.
Not just furious. Savage.
Leo said nastily, so that she would not cry, ‘Well you set detectives after me.’
He slammed on the brakes so hard that the big vehicle skidded. Leo cried out as she was flung violently against him. Amer turned and dragged her across the control dock into his arms.
The kiss was savage.
This was not the laughing stranger who had wooed her under the Nile stars. Nor the sophisticate who had driven her to such unexpected passion in London. No unhurried lovemaking now. No drifting of teasing hands. This was a man way past laughter or sophistication. A man driven to the very limit of his endurance.
Leo thought: He’ll never forgive me.
And then she stopped thinking altogether as desire engulfed her.
Amer twisted, slamming her body into the upholstery. Leo arched to meet him, her mouth hungry. Her jaw ached with the force of his kiss. She did to care. She heard cloth rip and did not know if it was his clothing or hers. She did not care about that, either. His fingers found her breast and she cried out in a sort of agony.
Amer gave a groan. She felt his breath in her ravaged mouth. He was too frenzied to be gentle. So was Leo. As fierce as he, she writhed against him. She needed to be closer, closer…
And he drew away. Unbelievably he drew away. Leo moaned in protest.
‘No,’ he bit out.
Her hands scrabbled for him. He caught them and held them strongly, holding her away from him.
‘No,’ he said again.
Leo was panting. She breathed in the smell of him, as familiar to her now as her own.
‘You can’t stop now,’ she said in a ragged whisper. ‘Please.’
He looked at her as if he loathed her.
‘I can.’ It sounded like a curse. ‘I will.’
His ribs rose and fell hugely, like a ship’s pump. He held himself utterly still. But Leo could see the fine tremor in his hands and knew Amer was a lot closer to losing control than he wanted to be.
She thought: I want him to lose control. It shocked her into immobility.
She felt dazed. It was as if she had fallen into a volcano. All right, she was out now. But she did not quite know how. Or what had been changed in the fire. Just now, it felt like everything.
Shaken, she started to wrestle with the tangle he had made of her clothes.
Staring straight ahead at the desert beyond the windscreen, Amer said, ‘I’m not going to apologise.’ His lips barely moved.
Leo did not answer. A button was missing from her trousers and her bra was beyond repair. Leo pulled it off and stuffed the rags into her pocket.
Amer shifted.
‘That has been building up for a long time.’
Leo still said nothing. But she felt the quick look he sent her like a brand on her skin.
‘For you as well as me.’
Leo flinched. He swung round on her.
‘All right. I wish it hadn’t happened like that,’ he said in a goaded voice. ‘But it was only a kiss after all. We could have—’
Then he saw her face. He drew a sharp breath. Halted.
‘Damn,’ he said with concentrated fury.
It was like a physical blow. Leo was remotely surprised that it was possible to feel so much pain and go on breathing.
He must not see the pain, she thought. He must not.
‘I won’t tell if you won’t,’ she said, quite as if she didn’t care.
Evidently Amer was not taken in by her cynical tone. He sighed.
‘You will see things more clearly in time.’
As if, thought Leo furiously, she was a child and he was a sage who was never, ever, wrong.
‘No doubt I will. When I’m back home in London,’ she retorted. And added challengingly, ‘Once I’ve had time to put all this behind me.’
His mouth tightened. But he did not answer her. Instead he put on his sunglasses, switched on the engine and put the land cruiser in gear. As if he could not be bothered to waste time arguing with her, Leo thought. She could have screamed with frustration.
All right, she thought. If he would not speak, she would not, either. She folded her arms across her chest and stared out of her window, pointedly ignoring him.
Amer took no notice. His attention was divided between the compass and the track which unwound before them. It appeared and disappeared under drifts of dust. To their right pale dunes undulated across the horizon like lazy animals on the point of lying down to snooze. To their left, the plain of stony sand stretched away until it fell off the edge of the world in a golden dust cloud. In spite of the air-conditioning in the vehicle, Leo could almost taste the heat outside.
The road, such as it was, petered out. Amer coasted gently to a stop.
‘I’ll need to let some air out of the tyres.’
He swung out of the vehicle. The desert air blasted in as if he had opened the door to a furnace. Leo gasped under the impact.
Amer looked back.
‘There’s a bottle of water in the dash,’ he said, remote but kind. ‘Drink. It will take some time to get to my camp.’
It did. It was not a great journey. In spite of the land cruiser’s mighty springs, Leo thought she would be sick with the uneven motion. And, although the air conditioning worked well, the hazy glare beyond the windscreen made Leo feel as if she were being grilled by aliens.
Amer was unmoved. He drove with easy competence, his body rolling with the vehicle while Leo bumped miserably from side to side.
Leo forgot that she was not speaking to him. The vastness of the desert was intimidating. It made her feel like an ant on some giant’s beach.
‘It’s so huge,’ she whispered. ‘And all the same. Without that compass we could be going round in circles, wouldn’t we?’
Amer smiled. ‘No. This is my desert. Compass or no compass, I could get you out if I had to.’
Leo shivered. But, oddly, she found she believed him. I would trust him with my life, she thought. It was a revelation.
I am in love.
It was not a welcome revelation. She stared blankly out the window, trying to think. How long had she been in love with him? Since the evening at his London home? Before that?
And, oh horrors, did Amer know? All right, she had only just realised it. But he was so sophisticated, so infinitely more experienced than she was. Maybe he had picked it up from the first.
Leo felt sick again. And this time it was nothing to do with the motion of the vehicle. She pressed a hand to her mouth to force back a groan.
Amer looked sideways at her. ‘Are you all right?’
She sought desperately for an alibi.
‘Reaction setting in, I expect.’ How could she sound so normal? She impressed herself. And added truthfully, ‘I wasn’t admitting it but I was really scared back there.’
‘You did very well. Many women on their own would have lost their head.’
He sounded like a schoolmaster giving her marks in class, she thought, irritated. It made no difference. She was still in love with him.
‘Thank you,’ she said drily.
‘I mean it,’ he said. ‘I fully expected to arrive to find you screaming the place down.’
She shrugged. ‘What would have been the point? It would just have annoyed them and made things ten times worse.’
He made a small, exasperated noise. ‘Are you always that cool in the face of danger?’
I wasn’t cool in your arms. Leo shivered inwardly at the thought. That had been danger all right. Alone in the desert with him, she realised the truth at last: She had lost her dignity, her common sense and her heart all in one massive attack. She had not seen it coming. But it had happened. Even though she had not realised it until now.
‘Depends on the danger,’ she said with bitter self-mockery.
Amer, she thought, was a greater risk to her peace of mind than anything her embarrassed captors had done. The only thing she could do now was keep quiet and hope that he did not find out. It would be the final humiliation if he discovered how she felt.
So she did not speak again until they got to the camp.
The first thing she saw was a black shadow. It turned out to be an enormous tent. As they got closer she made out other tents and several vehicles. They all cast shadows so deep that it looked as if a cellar had been dug in the sand beside them. Only a thin, windblown tree was not supported by a black reflection on the sand.
There was nobody in sight. It looked desolate. Leo shivered.
‘Is this an oasis?’
Amer drove round the tent and parked in its sheltering shadow.
‘No. It is the site of one of my excavations. We camped here because it is central to the area where we were looking for you.’
Leo looked at the shimmering dust. It was better than looking at Amer. In the course of the drive, his black robe had fallen back. She could see the smooth golden chest where she had ripped his shirt away.
She swallowed hard and spoke entirely at random. ‘Excavation? Here? What did you do? Shift sand from one place to another?’
Amer laughed. ‘You cannot see it because your eyes have not accustomed themselves to the subtlety of the desert yet. But over there are the walls of mud brick houses. In all probability they date back to the iron age.’
Leo peered at the rise of sand. It was as smooth as an egg.
‘I don’t see any walls.’
‘The sand drifts back so quickly,’ said Amer. ‘I assure you they are there. I will show you later.’
He got out of the land cruiser and came round to help her down. The moment Leo put her hand in his, she felt that incredible tingle, as if his very touch woke the sleeping tiger at her body’s core.
She snatched her hand away.
‘I can manage, thank you.’
His mouth tightened.
‘As you wish.’
The heavy gold ornamentation on the front of his robe glinted so blindingly you could almost overlook the fact that it gaped at the shoulder where a seam had parted in their frenzy. The naked chest was golden as the sun and so close, so close.
Leo’s unbidden thoughts made her head swim. Hurriedly she looked round at the other vehicles. It was only then that she took in the size of the encampment.
‘Where is everyone else?’
‘Inside in the cool.’
She said curiously, ‘Do you always bring such a retinue when you come into the desert?’
She had not meant it to but it sounded faintly scornful. Amer raised his eyebrows.
‘You think I should have set out after you alone? Would that have made me more heroic in your eyes?’
Leo flinched from his sarcasm.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she said brusquely. ‘I was just wondering if royalty is required to travel in convoy. To make sure everyone knows how important you are.’
He turned his head and looked at her for a long silent moment. The sun glinted off his sunglasses, masking his expression. For some reason, Leo found her chin coming up in defiance of that silent inspection, though.
‘It is not wise to go alone,’ Amer said at last levelly. ‘It is nothing to do with being royal. We carry short wave radio and extra fuel and water. And we look out for each other.’ He paused. ‘Not something you high-powered business executives know much about, I think.’
It stung. As it was meant to.
Leo turned away. The heat lay on her skin like a blanket. She made for the cool of the tent without another word.
‘Leonora—’
But she pretended not to hear. She did not think she could take much more without flinging herself into his arms and begging him to love her. She shuddered at the thought and kept on walking.
He caught up with her. ‘I think you may prefer to go to the tent that has been prepared for you.’
She whirled, glaring. ‘Is a woman not allowed to sit with the men, then?’
For a moment he looked utterly taken aback. Then he started to laugh.
‘Not at all. You would be very welcome, of course. But I thought you might prefer…’
He made a graceful gesture. Leo looked down at herself. She had forgotten that her garments had suffered, too, in their mutual frenzy. Now she saw her naked breasts gleaming palely under a shirt that seemed to have lost all its buttons. She gasped and clutched the edges of material across herself.
‘Come along,’ he said, odiously sympathetic. ‘Fatima will find you something less air cooled to wear.’
Leo took hold of the ends of her torn shirt and knotted them savagely over her midriff. Then, head high, she followed him.