Desert Man Page 9

  “I didn’t know conditions were that bad.”

  “Believe me, they are.”

  “Then we must do something.”

  “Damn straight!”

  “I will speak to my minister of public health.”

  “When?”

  “When?” He looked puzzled.

  “When will you speak to him?”

  “We have scheduled a meeting at the end of the week.”

  “That won’t do. I want action now.”

  “Now?” Kumar leaned across his desk. His dark eyes were suddenly threatening. “Are you attempting to tell me how to conduct the affairs of my country?”

  Josie hesitated. She knew now that she was treading dangerous water, but she had treaded dangerous waters before and they didn’t scare her. On the other hand, she’d come on pretty strong. If she pursued this line of attack, she might lose everything. And she couldn’t lose; the health of too many women was at stake.

  “No,” she said carefully. “I’m not telling you how to run your affairs of state, but I am telling you that what I have seen today in your hospital is a disgrace. I honestly can’t believe that you knew such conditions existed.”

  Her anger forgotten with the need to explain how really bad the conditions were and how much she wanted to rectify them, she said, “I know how to help, Kumar. I know what we can do to make the women’s section of the hospital function as well as the men’s. If you could only see for yourself how bad things are, I know you’d want to do something about it.”

  He looked at her, his dark eyes intense. Then without a word he sat down and reached for the phone. “Connect me with the minister of health,” he said. A moment passed. “Hamid? Is that you? I hope I’m not interrupting, but Miss McCall, whom you met last night, is in my office and she is most anxious to speak to you about our hospital. I’d like to suggest that the three of us meet at nine tomorrow morning for a tour of inspection.”

  He listened for a moment, then coldly said, “I used the word suggest, Hamid. Perhaps I should change that to order.“ He looked across the desk at Josie. “Yes, nine. Thank you, Hamid.”

  He put the phone down and to Josie he said, “Are you satisfied?”

  It was more than she had expected, so much more that she didn’t know what to say. “Yes,” she said. “And I...I’m sorry that I interrupted your work.” She rose and offered her hand. “Thank you for seeing me, Prince Kumar. And thank you for your interest.”

  “I love my country,” he said. “Though you may find it hard to believe, I want what is best for all of our people.” His lips quirked in a smile. “Even for our women.”

  Josie smiled back, and encouraged said, “I think I can make a difference during the year that I’m here.”

  “A year?” He shook his head. “That’s not very long, considering all of the things I’m trying to change in my country. But we shall see, yes?” He came around the desk. “I’m glad you were angry enough to insist on seeing me.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “Now you will allow me to see you safely home.”

  “That’s not necessary.”

  “And perhaps you will invite me in and offer me a cup of tea.”

  “Prince Kumar—”

  “Only Kumar, yes?” Before she could object he took her arm, and when they left the office and went to where Saoud waited he said, “I’m going to accompany Miss McCall to her home, Saoud.”

  “Very well, Sidi.“

  “Where is Miss Barakat?” Josie asked.

  “I sent her back to the consulate, madame. She was nervous and I thought it best. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “No, of course not, Saoud. I’m glad you did.”

  “Then we are ready.” Kumar, still holding Josie’s arm, led her back through the corridors to the entrance where the car waited. He got into the back seat with her; Saoud sat in the front with the driver.

  Josie leaned against the seat as they started off. She had been surprised by Kumar’s reaction to her statement about the conditions in the women’s section of the hospital. She had expected the anger which he’d shown at first, even some kind of action once he’d cooled down. But she honestly hadn’t expected him to move so quickly.

  “There is a problem ahead,” Saoud said, breaking in on her thoughts. “It appears to be a street demonstration of some kind.”

  Kumar sat forward in the seat. “Can we go around it?”

  “I’m afraid not, but we will try to turn.” Saoud said something to the driver, who started to back up. But just as he did a crowd of people rushed forward from the side street and blocked the car from behind.

  Saoud grabbed the car phone. “This is Prince Kumar’s car,” he said quickly. “We’re blocked by a street demonstration and need help. Quickly!” He put the phone back and pulled an automatic pistol out of his robe. “The police will break this up,” he said to Kumar. “It will only be a matter of a few minutes.”

  “What is it?” Josie sat forward in her seat. “Why are they demonstrating?”

  “There’s been some political unrest for the last month.” Kumar’s expression was grim. “Kadiri is the one who’s stirring everything up. I bet anything he organized this.” He, too, reached inside his robe and pulled out an automatic. “I’m sorry you had to see this, Josie,” he said. “But don’t worry. We’re safe in the car and the police will be here momentarily.”

  A shout rang out and a cry went up. “It’s the prince! That’s his car!”

  The crowd that had blocked the street ahead of them turned and rushed forward, fists raised, placards held aloft. Someone shouted, “It’s Prince Ben Ari! Get him! Get him!”

  “We want Kadiri!” another voice cried.

  “Kadiri!” the crowd began to chant. “Kadiri.”

  A shot was fired. The rat-a-tat-tat of a machine gun sounded close by. Someone hurled a rock at the car. Then another and another. The window next to Josie shattered. With a cry of fear she shrank back against the seat, but before she could do little more than gasp, Kumar pulled her to the floor. Then he was on top of her, shielding her with his body.

  She heard other shots from within the car and knew that Saoud and the driver were shooting. They jumped out. The doors slammed.

  All around them now there were curses and shouted threats, and the terrifying screams of a mob gone mad.

  The car began to rock from side to side. Over Kumar’s shoulder she saw angry faces pressed against the window. A man with a baseball bat hit the window and she screamed.

  “Stay down.” Kumar held her, covering her body with his own as a spray of shattered glass fell upon them. The car rocked and men struck again and again at the windows.

  She clung to Kumar. She remembered all the pictures and television coverage she’d seen of a mob gone wild, of men, their faces twisted with rage as they pushed forward, trampling women and even children underfoot.

  Like this crowd. Frenzied, beyond control. She knew the terrible danger they were in. Knew that if help didn’t come soon...

  Over the scream of the mob she heard sirens. She tried to rise, but Kumar said, “No, don’t move.”

  Guns were being fired all around the car. There were screams and cries. More sirens.

  He tightened his arms around her. His face was inches from hers, his mouth was so close she felt his breath upon her cheek.

  He said, “It will be over in a moment. Stay where you are.” He tried to shift his weight. “Am I too heavy?” he asked. “Am I hurting you?”

  Josie shook her head. She could feel the outline of his body against hers, the line of his shoulder, his hips, his legs. So close. So close...

  “Josie?” The irises of his eyes went from dark brown to smoldering black, the pupils grew large and dark as a desert night.

  She felt the breath clog in her throat because she knew he was going to kiss her. Because she wanted him to kiss her.

  “Don’t,” she whispered. “Please...”

  He took her words, he took her brea
th and the sounds of gunfire faded. There was only Kumar, the touch of his lips on hers and the feel of his body covering her, shielding her.

  Her arms crept up around his neck and with trembling fingers she touched the fine curl of hair there and the smoothness of his skin. In the deep recesses of her mind she knew she should free herself, yet she did not. He shifted his weight against her and when she felt his hardness against the thin fabric of her dress she moaned a soft whisper into his mouth.

  “Sho-zee,” he said against her lips.

  He held her close and kissed her with a passion so fierce it left her breathless. She clung to him, not even aware that she whispered his name again and again. Or that she lifted her body to his. Or that she moved against him in heated desire.

  She heard the rasp of his breath. She felt the terrible tension of his body.

  From outside the car came the sound of machine guns and the shouts and cries of wounded men.

  It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered in this moment of heated passion.

  Kumar raised himself up and looked down at her, nostrils pinched, eyes narrowed with all that he was feeling.

  “Some day...” He had to struggle to get the words out. “Some day we’ll finish this,” he whispered. He kissed her hard and fast. And let her go. “Stay where you are,” he cautioned. “Don’t move until I tell you it is safe.”

  Then he was up, and with the gun in his hand he rushed out of the car.

  Josie lay where she was, breathing hard, trembling with a reaction that had nothing to do with fear. All she could think about was Kumar, and the way it had been when his body had lain over hers.

  Chapter 8

  Josie was in shock, too stunned by what had happened to take it all in. The car they were riding in had been riddled by bullets and the windows were smashed. The street was littered with debris, storefronts were battered, windows were broken. Men with bandaged heads stumbled past. Others more seriously wounded were taken to the waiting ambulances. Still others were dragged to the police cars.

  Now that it was over, tremors of reaction started her shaking. She saw a bullet hole in the window near her head and knew that if Kumar hadn’t acted as quickly as he had she might have been killed.

  Kumar. She swallowed hard. It seemed almost incomprehensible that with everything going on around them, with bullets flying, rocks being thrown, a mob that at any moment might have dragged them from the car, they had come very close to making love.

  My God! What was the matter with her? Had she taken leave of her senses? One touch, one kiss, and her body had caught fire. Had he been right when he’d said there was something magic between them? She’d never been like this before, had never lost control of herself the way she did with him. Even now she was far more disturbed by the closeness they had shared than she was by the terrible violence of the mob.

  Kumar was everything she detested in a man. He was a macho chauvinist in a society she wanted no part of. Yet there was something about him she could not deny, an attraction she had sensed from the moment she had first seen him in the immigration line in Los Angeles. The first time he’d kissed her she had responded with a force that had shocked her. A few moments ago her reaction had been one of a primitive hunger, unlike anything she had ever known.

  What in the hell was happening? Every time Kumar touched her her hormones went on a rampage. If she didn’t do something about them—about him—she’d find herself living in a harem!

  He turned and looked toward the car, and when he saw her watching him he said something to the policeman and hurried toward her.

  “Are you all right?” he asked. “You’re not...” He looked at her hand. “My God!” he said. “You’re bleeding!”

  She looked down at her hand. It was bleeding. There was blood on her arm, on her dress.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Kumar took a clean handkerchief from his robe and gently wiped away the blood so that he could see the wound. When she winced he closed his fingers over hers.

  Her dress was bloodstained, one sleeve was torn. She had a scratch on her face and her hair had come loose from the chignon. Filled with a tenderness he had not even known he was capable of feeling, he said, “I’m so sorry you had to witness such a demonstration, Josie. Sorrier still that you were hurt.”

  “It’s only a scratch.” She withdrew her hand from his. “I’m all right, really.”

  “We’d better have a doctor check it.”

  “I’m a nurse,” she said, managing a smile. “Believe me, Kumar, it isn’t serious. I’ll take care of it as soon as we’re back at my house.”

  The injured driver was being taken to the hospital in an ambulance, so Saoud drove. Kumar sat in the back beside Josie. A police car was positioned in front of them; another followed behind. When they reached Josie’s Kumar helped her out of the car and into the house.

  He took her into one of the downstairs bathrooms and bathed her hand. The inch-long cut between her thumb and first finger had stopped bleeding. Although Josie protested that she could take care of it, he wouldn’t let her. He washed her hand with soap and water and applied an antiseptic. When she winced, he felt a stab of pain and sucked his breath in.

  What’s happening to me? he asked himself as he bandaged her hand. Why does she affect me this way? What is there about this one woman that causes me to feel as I do?

  The thought crossed his mind that perhaps he should send her back to her own country where she would be safe. But almost as soon as the idea formed he rejected it. He couldn’t let her go. Not yet.

  He took the hand he had bandaged and gently kissed it. “I’m so sorry you were hurt,” he said.

  “It’s nothing. There’s no need to make a fuss.”

  “We were in a dangerous situation,” he said. “If anything had happened to you I would never have forgiven myself.”

  He called for her servants, and when Karma came he said, “Your mistress has been hurt. Help her to bathe and to change.”

  And to Josie he said, “Perhaps you’d feel better if you rested for a little while.”

  “I feel fine, Kumar. I don’t need to rest. I’m perfectly all right.”

  He wanted to touch her again but knew that he should not, certainly not in front of the servant girl. So he said only, “Very well. I’ll wait here until you return.”

  When he was alone he went to the phone. He ordered that three of his personal bodyguards be assigned to watch Josie’s home night and day. And when he had summoned Saoud, he said, “You’ll sleep here in the house from now on. When she goes out you’ll go with her. Don’t leave her side.”

  The tall man nodded. “Have no fear. I will protect the woman with my life.”

  “I know, my friend. I trust no other man as I trust you.”

  Kumar’s next call was to Aubrey Bonner. When he had been assured that there had been no disturbance at the consulate and that all was secure, he said, “I am going to have extra guards posted immediately. If there’s trouble of any kind notify me at once.”

  “Now,” he said to Saoud when he put the phone down, “we must see to Kadiri.”

  “If it was he who instigated the riots, then I pray Allah will see that he suffers a long and lingering death staked out over a sand dune in the noonday sun with fire ants crawling over him.”

  “It’s a pleasant thought, Saoud, and we’ll do our best to see that it comes to pass. But first we have to prove that he was behind what happened today.”

  “Give me one afternoon alone with him and you will have your proof.”

  Kumar smiled grimly. “Much as I would like to, I cannot accede to that. But I will investigate, and if he is—as I suspect—behind these demonstrations, I’ll take the proper measures. He won’t get away with what he’s done, Saoud. Of that I will assure you.”

  Josie came into the room. Instead of the tailored clothes she usually wore, she was dressed in one of the robes Kumar had purchased for her. It was of green silk, and as Kumar had hoped, it matched the c
olor of her eyes. Her skin was rosy from her bath. She wore no makeup and her hair hung in soft waves over her shoulders.

  Unable to take his gaze from hers, he said to Saoud, “I’ve asked for extra guards to be sent to the consulate. Will you see that my order is being carried out?”

  When the other man left the room, he said to Josie, “Come, let us have a brandy,” and indicated the alcove off the living room.

  It was dimly lighted by the lantern that hung from the filigree ceiling. It looked cool and dim and strangely seductive. She hesitated, but Kumar took her hand and led her to the blue velvet sofa.

  When she had first seen the alcove, she had wondered if lovers had ever made love here. Now the thought brought a feeling of unease.

  Kumar opened a chest, took out a bottle and two crystal glasses, and when he had poured a bit of brandy into each of them he came to the blue sofa and handed one to her.

  “This will help,” he said, and touched his glass to hers. When he drank he said again, “I can’t tell you how sorry I am about what happened today. I’ll understand if you want to return to your own country, but I hope you won’t.”

  He held his breath. If she said she wanted to leave, he wasn’t sure what he would do. He had to gamble that she wouldn’t walk away until she had done the job she had been sent to do. Nevertheless, it was a risk.

  Josie took a tentative sip of her drink. “I admit that I was spooked by what happened today, but no, Kumar, I don’t want to leave—at least not until I’ve straightened things out at the hospital.” She put her glass down on the table. “I haven’t thanked you for protecting me today. I do—thank you, I mean. You very likely saved my life.”

  “If I have, then I must be—according to our tradition—henceforth responsible for your well-being.” He reached for her hands. “It will be a task I won’t take lightly, Josie.”

  The small alcove with the shaded lantern light and the lingering smell of incense seemed to be closing in on her. Kumar’s eyes held hers. She cleared her throat, and striving for a lighthearted answer, said, “That’s okay. I hereby release you from all obligations.”