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‘Who is my great patron, Mocca? What is his name?’
Mocca shrugged. ‘Many words are whispered, but none can tell. Some things it is better not to know.’
‘Well, my great patron has invited me to stay with him while you get on with my business, Mocca. I guess it wouldn’t be wise of me to make a daring escape.’
Mocca shuddered. ‘Forbid the thought. To so blatantly refuse hospitality could cost us all our lives.’ He rolled his eyes for emphasis. ‘You are highly honoured, Miss Buchanan.’
The honour was highly questionable as far as Amanda was concerned.
Mocca pondered a moment. ‘The camping equipment I bought for you was not good enough.’ He gestured towards the tent. ‘My eyes have been opened. I did not foresee the will of Xa Shiraq to the proper degree.’ He smiled infec-tiously. ‘Trust me, Miss Buchanan. I am the brains of the family. Next time I do better. My third cousin twice removed is an importer of camping equipment.’
‘I’m sure he is,’ Amanda said dryly. ‘Now this is what I want you to do...’
Mocca listened attentively to her instructions. He repeated them back to her word for word. He volubly assured her that all would be ready for her, when she was ready.
In the meantime they would do a preliminary search for the caves, although they were not to enter them without her.
Maybe he would collect more supplies. He would purchase a special tent for her. For someone who held a cachet blanc from the Sheikh of Xabia, nothing was too much trouble.
Amanda thought of her list of crimes as outlined by Upgrade. She firmly instructed Mocca to spend nothing more. He was simply to do what he had been told.
She handed the map to the Berber who was to accompany Mocca. He was the spokesman of yesterday. She suspected he would keep Mocca’s natural bent towards excesses under direct and strict control.
The far more important map remained in her bag. She had not been asked for it and she wasn’t about to hand it over. Other people might have scouted the general area where her father had made his discovery. Amanda refused to believe they could have had a duplicate of the precious map that marked the exact location of the caves. She might yet be able to turn the tables on Xa Shiraq. All she needed was the opportunity. Then seize it.
She had promised her father on his deathbed she would do her best to remedy the injury he had sustained. She had not considered the possibility that there could be good reason not to. Did that invalidate a deathbed promise?
Amanda felt less certain than she had for years. Her sense of purpose was being eroded. She was deeply troubled as she walked back to where Upgrade was waiting for her. He had said yesterday there was much that could come between them. It was probably already in place. He would have put it there.
Horses had been brought into the clearing. He stood beside his white Arabian stallion. Next to it was a beautiful black mare. Her luggage, which had been brought into the tent by the serving woman, was now loaded onto a packhorse. The mounted troops formed a guard of honour by the road back to the village.
Her serving woman was standing by, a black burnoose draped over her arm and a pair of riding boots in her hands. Amanda had no trouble in deducing she was going on a journey which would begin on horseback. She exchanged her Reeboks for the boots without a murmur of disagreement.
‘How did you know I could ride?’ she asked, turning to the man who had the power to change her life.
‘It was a recreation you partook in at the Fisa hotel,’ he replied, moving to help her mount the black mare.
‘Where are we going?’
‘To do my will.’
That was the very information she needed. Not Xa Shiraq’s will. His will! It didn’t precisely tell her where they were going but she now definitely knew whose will was taking her there.
‘I don’t like not being consulted,’ she said, trying out a small challenge.
‘You will see for yourself that it was far better that you were not consulted,’ he replied with frustrating equanimity.
She shot him a brooding look. ‘I don’t like you one bit when you get into this all-knowing mood.’
He ignored the contentious comment.
Amanda wondered if there was anything he didn’t know about her. She knew nothing of him. His life was a complete mystery to her. What of his family? Where had he come from? When had he first become allied to Xa Shiraq? What was their connection to each other? Surely this journey must provide her with some answers.
Once she was in the saddle, he set about adjusting her stirrups so she would ride more comfortably. It seemed wrong to her, this leader of men, carrying out such a task while his troops watched and waited.
‘Should you be doing this?’ she asked, acutely aware of the interest and att
ention being directed at them.
