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It was spicy and laced with cinnamon and tasted utterly delectable, until it was halfway down and Maggie suddenly felt dizzy and ill.
Perhaps they had got her order wrong—though Maggie doubted it—but was grateful when Suzanne steered her away from the blazing sun and led her to a cabin to lie down.
* * *
‘You were gone for ages,’ Suzanne said as the hostel came into sight. ‘Come on, spill, what did you and the sexy prince get up to?’
Maggie halted mid-stride. ‘Nothing,’ she responded. ‘How was I supposed to know it was the royal cabin?’
‘And how was I?’ Suzanne calmly answered. ‘Maggie, it was an honest mistake.’
Maggie shrugged and did her best to let it go. She seemed to have to do that an awful lot around Suzanne, though. But again she said nothing, telling herself that it really had been a simple mix-up and thankfully no harm had been done. In fact, it had been nice to hide for a couple of hours in the cool of the cabin, though it had been a touch awkward at first when the prince had come in to find her lying on his bed!
Suzanne assumed more had happened.
It hadn’t.
Nothing like that ever did!
Maggie sometimes wondered if she had been born missing a fuse, for not even the sight of a sexy prince with just a towel around his hips could ignite her.
It had been a touch awkward at first; she’d apologised, of course, and they’d ended up talking.
There had been nothing more to it than that.
As they walked into the hostel, all Maggie wanted was to have a shower, some supper and answer a few emails. Paul, her boss at the café where she had worked before heading off on her trip, was short staffed and had asked her to let him know when she would be home and whether she wanted her old job back.
She also wanted to send a long email to her friend Flo who would, no doubt, laugh her head off at the thought of Maggie alone in a bedroom with a sexy prince and nothing other than conversation taking place!
After that she just wanted to read in peace.
Perhaps peace was a slightly tall order given that she was in a four-bed dorm at the hostel, but Suzanne was doing the star-gazing tour tonight and the two other women had checked out this morning.
Hopefully nobody else had checked in!
‘Maggie!’
She heard her name being called from Reception and Maggie headed over to the desk as Suzanne made her way to the dorm.
Tazia, the receptionist, gave Maggie an apologetic smile as she approached. ‘We have just heard that tomorrow’s star-gazing trip has had to be cancelled as there is a simoom predicted.’
‘Simoom?’
‘A large sandstorm. I’ve got a refund here for you.’
‘Oh, no.’ Maggie sighed because she had been really looking forward to it.
‘I am sorry,’ Tazia said as she handed over the cash. ‘The earliest I can book is Monday but even that would depend on the storm clearing in time.’
Maggie shook her head. Her flight was on Monday morning, so that was no good. ‘How about tonight?’ Maggie asked, even though she was incredibly tired.
‘It’s fully booked. I tried a couple of other operators but given the unpredictability of the weather most aren’t taking any tourists out tonight.’
It was such a disappointment and Maggie could have kicked herself for not booking the trip for tonight when she’d had a chance. Though she knew the real reason why she’d avoided this evening’s excursion—Suzanne had booked a ticket and, in truth, Maggie had wanted to take this trip alone.
‘Thanks anyway,’ Maggie said. ‘If there are any cancellations, can you let me know?’
‘I wouldn’t count on it.’ Tazia shook her head. ‘You are tenth on the list.’
