by Anne Weale
‘Not half as glad as I was,’ Neal said dryly. ‘I’d already decided she has all the makings of a heart-sinker, if you know what that is?’
Sarah shook her head. ‘Explain.’
‘It’s a name doctors give to the kind of patient who turns up with heart-sinking regularity and who’s never cured of their ailments. Sometimes they’re malingering, sometimes they can’t cope with what life throws at them. I think Rose is in that category.’
‘There may be more than meets the eye to this row with Cliff,’ Sarah said thoughtfully. ‘She told me at lunch that they hadn’t lived together like most people do these days. They both lived with their parents and Rose’s sound very strait-laced.’
‘You think Rose may not have let Cliff make love to her until the knot was tied?’ said Neal.
‘I think it’s possible...even probable. He may have felt the same way if he came from a similar background.’
‘There are some sects who still hold that sex before marriage is fornication,’ he agreed. ‘Did she tell you she belonged to one of them?’
‘No, but reading between the lines of what she did say, it wouldn’t surprise me if neither of them had a previous experience. They were married the day they flew out which means their wedding night was spent in the air. Nobody, after that journey, arrives full of sparkle. They must have been even more bushed than most people flying in. It’s not an ideal start, is it?’
‘So you think things had started to go wrong before the going got really tough?’
‘It’s mostly speculation...but, yes, I do. I think Rose wants Cliff to come back because she’s afraid of being alone here. But she may be equally nervous of seeing him again because...well, because he’s put her off the most intimate side of their relationship.’
‘There’s nothing we can do about it...apart from buying them a copy of The Joy of Sex.’ Neal’s expression was more amused than sympathetic. ‘If the guy had had any sense, he’d have arranged to spend their first night together in a comfortable hotel. In fact no one in their right mind would choose to go trekking on their honeymoon... not unless they’d been lovers for some time and were both equally keen on strenuous outdoor pursuits.’
She couldn’t deny he was right, but felt he was being a bit heartless to make fun of them. Perhaps he had never had any off-putting sexual experience. Sarah had, and although the passing of time had made her look back on them with greater understanding than she had had when they happened, she felt an instinctive sympathy for anyone in a similar predicament.
Rose was rather feeble in some ways. She wasn’t a natural survivor who would surmount any set-back that life sent her way. If the pressures were too great, she might even go under. Nevertheless Sarah could empathise with her. So far the honeymoon had been a series of disasters.
Their Chicken Sizzlers arrived, bubbling and steaming in hot cast-iron dishes set inside wooden platters. It wasn’t gourmet food but, tasty and filling, it was what most travellers wanted if they had just returned from time in the mountains or had a tough trek ahead of them.
For a short time they ate in silence. Then Neal re-started the conversation by talking about the book he had been reading the night before.
Sarah concluded from this that he must have been on his own. Although she didn’t really think him the sort of man who would invite her back to his room one night, and try to bed someone else a night or two later, there were men who behaved like that, and how could she know for sure that he wasn’t one of them?
There were moments, and this was one, when she felt as comfortable with him as with someone she’d known for years. But in fact she’d known him for five days and she shouldn’t forget it.
They had finished their meal and were at the coffee stage when Neal said, ‘If you can’t stay where you are after tonight, you’ll need to find a new base. Any ideas?’
Sarah felt a small knot of tension tightening inside her. Intuition told her he was about to suggest something which might be a repeat of his previous proposition.
‘I’ll look around in the morning. I’m sure I’ll find somewhere to stay.’
‘I’m thinking of going up to Nagarkot for the weekend. It’s up in the foothills. People go there to see the sun rise and set on five of the world’s highest peaks. There’s a converted farmhouse which is a nice place to stay. Would you like to come with me?’
‘It sounds lovely...but I’d worry about deserting Rose. I don’t think she’s fit to be left on her own.’
He didn’t try to persuade her to change her mind. Nor did he suggest postponing his trip. Maybe that wasn’t a possibility. She didn’t know what other commitments he had. Perhaps, having been turned down twice, he wouldn’t try again. Even self-confident men didn’t like being rebuffed. Who did?
As they strolled back to where she was staying, Neal didn’t appear to be annoyed. He talked about the Internet and specifically about the British Medical Association and its website on the Net which could be accessed by anyone in the world who was interested in health and medical science.
Near the entrance to the guest-house, he said, ‘Shall we have another drink or some tea?’
‘If you’ll be my guest,’ she said, for again he had refused to let her contribute anything towards the bill at the restaurant.
‘OK.’
As they passed the counter, Neal spoke to the man who seemed to be the proprietor of the whole establishment. The reply was much longer than his greeting and accompanied by a gesture at Sarah and another gesture at the ceiling.
Unable to guess what he was saying, she waited for Neal to translate but first he steered her to a table and drew out one of the chairs for her.
‘What was that all about?’ she asked.
‘Cliff has turned up. He arrived about an hour ago. That lets you off the hook.’
He paused for a moment, a challenging glint in his eyes. ‘So how about being very brave and coming to Nagarkot with me?’
CHAPTER FOUR
THE implication that she was a faint-hearted person, almost as timorous as Rose, flicked Sarah on one of the most sensitive areas of her amour propre.
She lifted her chin and smiled at him. ‘Why not? But only on condition we share the expenses.’
‘If it’ll make you happier.’ He switched to the news they had just learned. ‘I wonder what’s going on upstairs... if they’re making love or engaging in fresh hostilities?’
‘Let’s hope they’ve discovered they need each other after all. But we shan’t find out till tomorrow.’
‘Can you be ready by nine? We could stop off at Bhaktapur on the way.’
‘Yes, that’s no problem. How far away is Nagarkot?’
‘Only an hour’s drive from here. To hire a car and a driver isn’t expensive. He’ll take us to the farm and come back to fetch us when we’re ready to leave. If the weather is good we could stay longer than the weekend. There are several interesting walks. They’ll give you a taste of what Nepal’s like in the rural areas.’
Presently he said goodnight, repeating the brief, light kiss he had given her at the clinic.
Neal walked back to his hotel feeling kindly disposed towards Cliff whose opportune return had eliminated Sarah’s justification for saying no to a weekend together.
He was gradually piecing together a few details about her background but the picture was mostly blank. Everything he knew about her he liked. She was good company: intelligent, well-read, amusing.
Her physical allure became stronger each time they met and he was able to study her in more detail. He particularly liked her hands with their short, clear-varnished nails and slim but not fragile wrists. Some women’s hands turned him off. The thought of Sarah’s hands on his body made him burn with impatience for the weekend ahead.
But whether it would go right from the start, or if there would be problems to overcome, was impossible to tell.
When, earlier tonight, they had been discussing the possibility that Cliff and Rose were sexually
incompatible, there had been something in Sarah’s expression which suggested to Neal that she had been there before them.
He could have been mistaken, but he didn’t think so. His short time in general medical practice had taught him to recognise the signs—sometimes hard to detect—that patients had more on their minds man the physical ailments which had brought them to the surgery.
From his experience as a GP and, more recently, from letters from the readers of his column, he had learnt that problems with people’s sex lives were extremely widespread.
But, if he was right about Sarah, he felt sure the blame for whatever had gone wrong didn’t lie with her but with her partner or partners. As she had said when he was walking her home from Simply Shutters, men could take it for granted there would be some pleasure for them, if not always the maximum. But a woman locked into a relationship with a lousy lover could spend her whole life missing out.
Back at his hotel, he picked up his key, passed the crowded bar and the lifts and went up the stairs two at a time, aware that he was looking forward to tomorrow with a keener anticipation than he could remember feeling for a long time.
By the time they came back from Nagarkot, he expected to have the answers to all the things about Sarah that puzzled him.
In his room, he took off his clothes, thinking about undressing her, remembering the enticing little mole at the nape of her neck he had seen on the plane.
It had been luck that put them on the same aircraft. But it hadn’t, as she might imagine, been luck that put them next to each other. The seat assigned to him had been several rows further back. Being among the last to board, he had known it was unlikely that anyone would claim the vacant seat next to hers.
He realised now that he had wanted her from the moment in Doha airport when he had looked up from his book and found her watching him. Although she might never admit it, she had felt the same way. What was going to happen at Nagarkot had been inevitable from their first exchange of glances.
What he had to make clear beyond any possibility of misunderstanding on her part was that a great weekend was just that and nothing more. They would have a great time together, two independent adults in what had to be one of the world’s most glorious locations.
Afterwards... well, it would probably last for the rest of her time here. But when it was time to say goodbye, that would be the end of it. Because relationships started when people were on holiday hardly ever survived the transition to everyday life. And even if that had not been proven many times, his life was already organised the way he wanted it. There was no permanent place in it for a woman. He had decided that a long time ago.
At eight the next morning Sarah went down to have breakfast in the restaurant and settle her bill. She had expected to have a restless night but after lying awake for about half an hour, thinking about the decision she had made, she had slept soundly till woken by the minuscule alarm clock bought specially for this trip.
She was eating a bowl of muesli and curd when a stocky young man with prematurely thin hair and a fair skin reddened by an overdose of sun appeared in the doorway with Rose.
Sarah put down her spoon and went over to say hello. ‘You must be Cliff. I’m Sarah. I was hoping to meet you before I left.’
‘You’ve found somewhere else to stay?’ Rose asked.
‘No, I’m leaving Kathmandu. Neal is taking me to see Bhaktapur and then we’re going up to Nagarkot, in the hills to the north.’
Before Rose could respond to this information, Cliff said, ‘My wife’s been telling me how kind you’ve been. I’m very grateful.’
Sarah smiled at him. ‘It was no more than anyone would do in the circumstances. I’m glad you’re back. I wouldn’t have been happy about leaving if Rose had been on her own, but we heard last night you’d turned up. Will you join me?’—with a gesture at her table.
From their manner and conversation as they had breakfast with her, she gathered that being apart had made them realise they had acted too hastily in splitting up. Rose kept looking at him so fondly that Sarah began to feel she must have been wrong in surmising that Cliff was a clumsy lover. Or it might be that Rose’s need for someone to protect her in an alien environment outweighed her distaste for that side of their relationship. As Naomi was fond of saying, there were still plenty of women who, just to have a man in their lives, focused their minds on something else while their partners were satisfying needs they didn’t share or enjoy.
Thinking about the man who shortly was coming to fetch her, and the days and nights ahead, Sarah lost track of the conversation. She was pulled back to the present by the realisation that Cliff had asked her a question she hadn’t heard because her mind was full of Neal.
At the same moment Neal himself entered the restaurant, making her insides do somersaults at the sight of his tall, authoritative figure and distinguished looks.
There being no time to apologise for woolgathering while Cliff was asking whatever it was he had asked, she jumped up, saying, ‘Please excuse me. I haven’t paid my bill yet.’
To Neal, moments later, she said, ‘Good morning. I’ll run up and get my pack and then pay what I owe. It shouldn’t take more than five minutes. Why not have a few words with Rose’s husband? They’re over there.’
After glancing in their direction, Neal looked down at her again, saying, ‘You haven’t changed your mind, then?’
‘Did you expect me to?’
‘I hoped you wouldn’t, but it’s a woman’s privilege.’
‘Once I’ve made a decision I stick to it,’ Sarah said lightly. ‘Shan’t be long.’
As the hired car stopped at a junction where the narrow, congested streets of Thamel joined one of the wider, faster roads, Neal said, ‘If it’s all right with you, we’ll postpone the visit to Bhaktapur and go there on the way down. I feel like relaxing in the country and you’ve probably had enough of the city for a while, haven’t you?’
‘Some peace and quiet would be good,’ she agreed, wondering if there was another reason for rearranging their itinerary. ‘What did you think of Cliff?’
‘I should say they’re pretty well matched. I wouldn’t want to be stuck on a desert island with either of them.’
They were sitting behind the driver. Neal reached out a hand to take hold of one of hers and draw it onto the stretch of seat between them where he continued to hold it. ‘With you that situation could be fun.’
Wondering how much, if any, of this conversation the driver could understand, she said, ‘You’d certainly be an asset. A doctor is useful anywhere and everywhere.’
He laced his fingers with hers and the ball of his thumb .moved gently over the back of her thumb. It was a casual caress but it had a far from casual effect. She felt the latent strength of his fingers and the hard heel of his palm. She knew that, by coming with him, she had given this large but shapely male hand a licence to touch her wherever it pleased. In the most literal sense she had put herself in his hands, to do with her as he wished. For someone who had lived so long without a man, it was a strange sensation.
As they passed out of the city into the country, Neal looked out of the window on his side of the car and Sarah looked out of hers, fascinated by the difference between what she was seeing and the way things were where she came from.
A young woman stood in a doorway, languidly passing a comb through a hip-.length cascade of black hair. In the dusty forecourt of an open-fronted shop some small boys were kicking an improvised football made from a tangle of plastic cord. They appeared to be enjoying themselves just as much as the children in her home neighbourhood whose playthings were expensive.
Neal drew her attention to a couple of adolescent girls using a giant swing constructed from bamboo poles lashed together. Their hair and their long skirts fluttered like pennants. They, too, looked as happy—happier than the far more sophisticated teenagers Sarah saw at the bus stop across the road from her house.
Presently the houses became more scatter
ed. The road wound between fields where people were harvesting rice. They passed a girl leading several buffaloes. What Sarah took to be white blossoms in the tops of some trees turned out to be egrets.
‘Why is that dog wearing marigolds round its neck?’ she asked, as they passed through a village.
Neal spoke to the driver in Nepali. The man looked over his shoulder and smiled at her. ‘Today is Dog Day... also Cow Day,’ he told her.
Further on they saw more dogs sporting garlands. Gradually the road became steeper and more winding. Eventually they began to see signs with the names of guest houses at the mouths of side tracks.
It was another fifteen minutes of bumpy riding along an ever-narrowing dirt-and-rock track before the driver stopped the car at a place on the side of a wooded hill where there was enough space for him to turn round.
He jumped out and went to open the boot where their packs were. Sarah opened her door and stepped out into the warm mid-morning sunshine. She took a deep breath of the pure greenery-scented air.
‘What a lovely spot, but—’ gazing around and not seeing any buildings ‘—where’s the farmhouse?’
‘Along that path, I suppose?’ said Neal, indicating a footway that disappeared round a bend in the hill.
Evidently the driver understood some of this. He nodded, holding the straps of Sarah’s backpack for her to slip her arms through. Neal’s pack he would have carried although it was too heavy for him to handle with ease. But Neal took it from him, heaving its weight onto one broad shoulder.
After saying goodbye to him, they set out along the path. Not far round the bend was a gate beyond which the path rose more steeply beneath overhanging trees. At the crest of the rise they found themselves at one end of a large garden. At the other stood a two-storey building surrounded by a veranda. A number of people were sitting at easels set up to face in different directions. For on all sides the views were superb: miles of undulating land, much of it terraced and farmed, and, in the distance, a vast panorama of mountain peaks.
