Page 55 of Desert Barbarian

'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.'

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