Desert Barbarian

by Charlotte Lamb

  'I understand that she's been very worried about me, and I wouldn't want her to go on being worried for much longer.'

  'You are very thoughtful,' he said. He glanced at Stonor. 'Won't you sit down, Mr Grey?'

  Stonor sat down beside Marie on the low couch. He leaned over and took her hand firmly.

  She looked at the King with caution.

  'First, Miss Brinton, can you tell me the names of any of these men?'

  She shook her head.

  'They did not once address each other by name in your presence? Are you quite certain of that?'

  She nodded. 'Quite sure.'

  The King looked depressed. 'They are cleverer than I had thought. Well, then, where were you held? Did you recognise anything about it?'

  Marie explained that she had been held in a house at which she had arrived and from which she had left in darkness.

  'The room was always shuttered. I have no idea where the house was.'

  'Was it in a town ? Could you hear any sounds which might give us a clue?'

  'It was in the country, I think,' she said. 'I heard cows, and the wind rustling in trees.'

  'You never heard any sound of vehicles? Any voices outside? Sounds from other houses?'

  'Nothing like that. It was very quiet, I noticed that.'

  'Was it marshland?' Stonor asked. 'You must have noticed what sort of country you drove through?'

  'I was blindfolded,' she explained.

  'What sort of roads were they? Main roads or cart tracks?'

  'Rough hill roads,' she said.

  Then Stonor pounced. 'Hill roads ? How do you know they were hill roads?'

  She looked at him crossly. 'We were coming down them at that sort of speed and angle. I could just tell we were driving down hills.'

  'Good,' said the King. 'That is one solid point, any­way. A village in the hills, an isolated house.'

  'It wasn't a village,' she said quickly. 'I'm sure I would have noticed sounds from other houses.'

  'A farm,' Stonor said quietly. 'The cows indicate that, surely. A small hill farm.'

  The King nodded. 'There are only a few hundred of them,' he said grimly. 'If it takes us a year we will search every one.'

  'Did they talk to you?' Stonor demanded of her. 'Surely they spoke?'

  'They only spoke when they had to,' she told him. 'In fact, I only saw one of them more than once. He had the gun.'

  Stonor swore. 'Did he threaten you? Hurt you?' His eyes were wild with rage.

  She shook her head. 'He never hurt me at all. He was really quite polite.'

  'So he did speak to you?' Stonor had taken over the questioning, while the King sat silently watching them shrewdly.

  Marie glared at Stonor. 'He spoke occasionally. It was he who dictated that letter to you.'

  'But not the postscript?' he suggested softly.

  She flushed, remembering all the words she had not written but had longed to put down. 'No, I wrote that.'

  'Could he read English? Why didn't he cross it out? It was hardly a message to scare the hell out of me.'

  'He very honourably allowed me to write a few words which he didn't read.' She hesitated, then said, 'He thought I was writing a love letter, you see. He thought it would make you more anxious to find me. And, don't you see, he was so sure I knew nothing that could help you that he didn't even ask to read it!'

  Stonor glanced at the King.

  The King sighed. 'That sounds obvious enough, does it not? Why else should he permit her to write a private message?'

  Stonor shrugged. 'Then if that is all, your highness, may I accompany her to the bungalow?'

  'No,' Marie said quickly. 'Jess will have enough on her plate without you descending on her, Stonor. I'll go alone.'

  Stonor looked obstinate, but the King smiled at him. 'She will be safe. I will send six soldiers to guard her.'

  So Marie drove back to the bungalow in a car driven by Aziz, who was looking somewhat subdued now. The soldiers rode behind them on horses, two abreast.

  'What's wrong?' she asked Aziz.

  'Everything,' he told her. 'In all this trouble, somehow my cousin the King has found out about Aissa and myself, and has ordered that I must not see her again under such circumstances. I think one of the servants was afraid that the King might order severe punishments when he found out that I have been seeing Aissa every day, so he hurried to betray us in order to avert the hand of calamity.'

  'Was the King very angry?'

  'Furious,' Aziz said grimly.

  'What will he do now?'

  'He has said that he will arrange a marriage for Aissa at once,' Aziz said sadly. 'I begged him to relent, but he was so angry I was forced to leave the room. He threat­ened to choke me to death!'

  Marie suppressed a smile at Aziz's indignant tone. 'Poor Aissa… I wonder what sort of husband he'll find for her?'

  'God knows,' Aziz said miserably.

  'I'm sure he'll try to find her someone near her own age,' Marie said comfortingly.

  Aziz looked at her with wild eyes. 'Do you say that to torment me? Am I a stone that I can hear such news without bleeding inside ?'

  'I'm sorry,' she apologised, aghast. 'I… I thought you would prefer her to have a chance of happiness instead of being forced into marriage with someone twice her own age…'

  They drew up outside the bungalow. Aziz murmured goodnight, his head averted. She went slowly up the path and the door burst open.

  'Marie! Oh, my dear girl…'

  'Hallo, Jess,' she smiled.

  Jess hugged her tightly, half in tears. 'How can you sound so calm? I've been frantic. Can you ever forgive me? This has all been my fault—I should never have brought you here in the first place. You must have been so scared.'

  'Oh, it wasn't so bad!' Marie said casually.

  'Are you having me on?' Jess stared at her incredu­lously.

  She laughed. 'No, really. They were quite kind, honestly. I was a bit scared at first, but they never tried to frighten me.' She remembered the moment when they had said they would kill her and shivered suddenly. 'Well, they never threatened me directly.'

  'My dear, they said they would kill you,' Jess protested, open-mouthed.

  'Yes, they said that to me, too. I'm not sure if they meant it. I thought they did at the time, but now I'm not certain. They were none of them really the violent type.'

  Jess gave a low groan of astonishment. 'I can't get over your calmness. You're very brave, Marie. I would have been gibbering inside twenty-four hours. I have a tend­ency to claustrophobia—that's why I spend so much time in the open. I hate to be shut up inside four walls.'

  'Just as well they didn't kidnap you, then,' Marie smiled. 'They kept me locked in one room for the whole time.'

  Jess put an arm around her. 'Come and tell me all about it while I watch you eat. You must be hungry.'

  'I'm starving,' she admitted.

  'Peter has given me a pile of tins of English food,' said Jess, her eyes triumphant. 'He was quite distracted with worry. He wanted you to have an English meal if… when you got back.'

  Marie looked at her affectionately. 'How kind of him. I can hardly wait!'

  An hour later, full of cream of tomato soup, sliced cold ham, new potatoes and peas, and some tinned peaches to round off the meal, she sat contentedly watching Jess do a rough sketch of her.

  'For Peter,' Jess told her with a smile. 'I gather from the palace grapevine that Peter is in for a big disappoint­ment.'

  Marie flushed. 'I'm afraid so. I liked him a lot, but…'

  'But Stonor Grey is going to scoop the jackpot, as usual,' Jess nodded. 'So Rahaib was telling me. I was amazed, I didn't think you even liked the man.'

  'I'm not sure I do,' Marie laughed sheepishly.

  Jess looked concerned. 'My dear, are you sure you're doing the right thing? Stonor Grey isn't an easy man to deal with. He would make a rotten husband.'

  Marie looked down at her hands, linked in her lap.

/>   'The trouble is, Jess, I'm crazy about him,' she sighed.

  Jess watched her shrewdly. 'I see. Like that, is it? And he?'

  Marie felt her cheeks glowing. 'He… feels the same way, he says.'

  'Rahaib certainly said he was quite demented when you were missing,' Jess murmured. 'He was furious with Rahaib for letting it happen. He threatened to tear him limb from limb if you weren't found.'

  Marie laughed. 'His bark is worse than his bite. How is Rahaib, by the way?'

  'Fine. He had a bit of a bump on his head, but apart from a headache, he got over that quickly enough.' Jess grinned. 'I think it was his pride that suffered the worst blow. He was taken in by a simple trick like that. Poor Rahaib! He'll never forget it.'

  'How could he have anticipated such a thing? He shouldn't blame himself. Anyway, all's well that ends well.'

  'Not for Jedhpur, it doesn't,' Jess said grimly. 'The National Park scheme will have to be shelved until they find another rich man to back it.'

  'I expect Stonor will see that they do,' said Marie. 'He told me he wanted no more to do with it, but he knows other firms who would be interested. The King will get his tourist centre in the end.'

  'You look tired,' Jess sighed. 'I shouldn't let you stay up talking. Off to bed now, my dear.'

  'I would love a bath first,' Marie said. 'You can't imagine how much I longed for one in that stuffy little room. The smell of curry seemed to linger for hours.'

  Jess made a face. 'How ghastly! By all means have a bath. Then sleep as long as you like. Lispa is so good with Jeremy that you won't be missed.'

  Marie hesitated. 'Jess, I…'

  Jess smiled at her. 'I think I know what you're going to say. Mr Grey wants to whisk you away from us?'

  'I'm afraid so,' Marie admitted. 'He says he'll send someone else to take my place.'

  'I don't think I need anyone,' Jess said calmly. 'Lispa will go on taking care of Jeremy for me. He plays with her boys and has a marvellous time. I can teach him to read and so on when the time comes. For the present I think I'll just let him grow up alongside Lispa's sons.'

  'He'll turn into a little Hindu,' Marie laughed.

  'He'll certainly learn more tolerance than he would have done back home,' Jess agreed. 'So don't worry. You can go back home with your man and marry him. You deserve to be happy.'

  Marie kissed her, then went off to have a long, relaxing bath before tumbling into bed to sleep the clock around.

  When she woke up she found Jeremy sitting on her bed staring at her unwinkingly.

  'Hallo,' he said. 'I thought you were dead.'

  'Well, I'm not,' she retorted.

  'Did bandits kidnap you?'

  'Sort of bandits,' she agreed.

  'Were you scared?'

  'Now and then.'

  He considered her. 'I wouldn't be scared. I would hide and they would never find me.'

  'Good idea,' she said solemnly.

  He jumped off the bed. 'Mum said to tell you Mr Grey was coming in an hour, so do you want something to eat?'

  Marie sat up. 'Yes, please. I'm hungry.'

  Jeremy eyed her. 'So am I. I'll have another breakfast with you, if you like, to keep you company.'

  She laughed. 'You'd better ask Mummy first.'

  Jess looked at her with pleasure when she entered the living room. 'You look much better this morning. You looked a bit dead last night.'

  'I was dead beat,' she nodded.

  'What about breakfast? There's fruit and bread and a few eggs.'

  'That will be lovely,' she said eagerly.

  Jeremy begged to join her in her meal, but Jess drove him away. 'Little pig, he eats far too much in that kitchen. Stonor Grey will be here soon. Apparently he's determined to get you back to England today.'

  'Today?' Marie stared at her incredulously.

  Jess laughed. 'A man of lightning decisions, apparently.'

  'He can't! I'm not even packed!'

  'That can be dealt with in a flash,' Jess said easily. 'I'm not sure whether it's a good idea or not. You've had a bad shock, even though you've taken it so well, and I can't make up my mind whether or not it's wise to fly you back to England so quickly. You need some peace and quiet, in my opinion, but I may be wrong.'

  Marie stared at the table. 'I think I would like to be back home.'

  'Well, it's true that the monsoon weather will be start­ing soon, and that can be pretty devastating for anyone. Perhaps you should leave before the heat becomes un­bearable.'

  Lispa came in with the food, smiling warmly at Marie. While she ate her breakfast, Jess talked to her. 'Lispa can pack for you while you talk to your young man.'

  'My young man!' Marie giggled. 'It hardly describes Stonor, does it?'

  Jess laughed. 'No, not really. He's pretty impressive, isn't he? A bit like a monolith.'

  Then Stonor was in the room, and Marie hardly no­ticed as Jess discreetly slipped away.

  He kissed her hungrily, awaking her sleeping pulses. 'Darling, I'm so glad to see you,' she said, touching his face tenderly.

  'Are you packed?' he demanded. 'I'm taking you home before all hell breaks loose.'

  'What do you mean?' She stared at him in bewilder­ment.

  'Aziz has run off with Aissa,' he said grimly. 'The King is furious. He was swearing vengeance on his cousin when I saw him this morning. I think we should get out today. Life at the palace is going to be very hectic after this.'

  Marie looked anxiously at him. 'What will the King do?'

  'What can he do? Apparently they flew off in a private plane, nobody knows where, leaving a note which said they were getting married. Lord Hathni is even angrier than the King. He'll lose face because his son is breaking a betrothal.'

  'Oh, dear,' Marie said faintly. 'I think you're right —we must go home at once. I think the air here is too stormy.'

  Stonor lifted her out of her chair. 'Say goodbye to Jess and the little boy. I want to get you all to myself as soon as possible. I can't wait another week to marry you. We'll get a special licence when we get home.'

  'Are you sweeping me off my feet, Stonor?' she teased.

  'That's right,' he retorted. 'I'm going to make sure you don't escape me ever again. Consider yourself my pris­oner for life.'

  She slid her arms around his neck and lifted her face to his. 'You really are just a desert barbarian at heart, aren't you?'

  The dark eyes burned down at her. He smiled ador­ingly and their lips met. Against her lips he whispered, 'There's a saying in my mother's country: what the desert claims, the desert keeps… remember that, my darling.'