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“You expect me to answer you when you’ve yet to give me any information?”
His mouth tightened, though there was a spark of what looked like admiration in his eyes. “I was planning to stay here another four or five days. But I think I might extend it now.”
Chapter Five
Holly blinked at the man who was her captor. There was no denying it anymore. Hamidwasholding her against her will. “How much longer?”
He shrugged. “A week. Maybe two.”
Her stomach plummeted. “You can’t make me stay here that long!”
“I’m not making you do anything, Holly. If you want to risk walking out in the desert alone, be my guest.”
Self-pity flooded through her. “You’d probably laugh if I did.”
“Is that what you really think?” he asked softly.
“What I think, feel or want clearly doesn’t matter, does it?” She reached for her camera, placed its strap around her neck, then stood. “I’ve lost my appetite.”
“There is no sense in wasting perfectly good food, not out here in the desert where rations often have to be enforced.” He made a parcel with the rest of the bread, wrapping up the rice, yoghurt and spiced lamb inside before he popped it into his mouth with obvious enjoyment. “Qaahir could make cardboard taste like a delicacy.”
She had to admit the cook was talented. That staying here longer meant that food probably would be rationed made her angry at Hamid. Did he always only ever consider his own needs? All she wanted was to feel halfway human again. “When you’re done eating I’d like to take a bath. In privacy, of course.”
He lay back on the mat at her imperious request and chewed slowly, thoughtfully. Only once he swallowed did he say, “A bath? That is reserved for the one day a week I use cleaning agents for my hair and skin.”
She gaped. “You only bathe once a week?”
His smirk widened. “Yes. Though I do take a swim after dinner every night to clean off and refresh.”
She scowled. “I’m not getting into that water! Imagine the snakes and eels and all manner of other wildlife!”
“If there are any creatures in there they won’t go near us, they are more scared of us than we are of them.”
“If you say so.”
“Not convinced, huh. Perhaps you should be more interested in the wildlife that visits the oasis than what might nibble at your toes in the water.”
“Wildlife?” she asked, her damn voice squeaking.
He grinned. “Yes. Falcons often visit. As does the Arabian sand cat, red fox and Oryx. You might even see an Arabian leopard or wolf.”
“Seriously?” she whispered.
“If there is one thing I’m serious about, it’s our native animals. Come for a swim with me and I’ll do all I can to point the animals out for you.”
She nodded, then muttered ungraciously, “Fine.”
It was dark outside with the barest slither of a moon peeking out at them from up high. The only other light source was a small campfire near where Hamid’s men were camped, the flames too far away to penetrate the darkness this side of the oasis.
“Don’t worry, you’re safe with me,” Hamid reassured as she stood in her kaftan close to the water. “Leave your clothes on if you prefer, they probably need a clean anyway.”
She frowned, stupidly upset that he cared less if she was clothed or naked. Despite some of the nicer things he’d said to her, he clearly wasn’t that attracted to her. Not like she was to him.
She slipped the camera strap off over her head, then hung it from a stub protruding from the trunk of a date palm. Her camera was safer there than on the ground, and if an animal did by chance pay a visit—if they could see it—she’d have the camera within easy access.
Hamid whipped off his clothes and draped them over a palm leaf, and she silently cursed the darkness that left with nothing more than a vague silhouette of his nakedness.
What she wouldn’t do for a flashlight right now.
