Desert Rogue (23 page)

“I don't want to have to watch my words around you. I want to be myself—”

Determined to confront Jed, Victoria came up behind him, trapping him between the camel and herself so he could not avoid looking at her. When he finally finished his chores and spun around, his face hard, she held up a hand as if to halt his flight.

For a moment it looked as though he meant to strike it aside and pass her, but instead he swallowed and fixed his eyes on the horizon, saying nothing. Obstinate as the man was, Victoria knew that if she were to get a reaction, she had to be blunt.

“Listen, you pigheaded, stubborn Yankee, I had no right to speak to you like that and I apologize. I only said what I did because I
don't
think about Hayden every single waking moment...and when Ali talked of his love for Fatima, I felt guilty and ashamed. But I shouldn't have taken my feelings out on you. I am sorry, Jed.”

“And just what do you spend your time thinking about?” asked Jed quietly. He lowered his glance to study the young woman before him, piercing her defenses, reading her soul.

Swallowing her pride, Victoria proudly met his gaze, albeit reluctantly. She would rather have avoided the issue, but she could not help but be honest with him.

“All that's happened lately—and you, a good part of the time, anyway,” she confessed in a small voice.

“Me?” Jed didn't know why her admission startled him. He spent hours contemplating her, but that a woman like Victoria might have similar disturbing thoughts confounded him.

“Yes, Jed Kincaid, you,” the young woman admitted with unexpected vehemence, “though not deliberately. Now, can we drop the subject?”

“Not before I tell you that you're a large part of my daily thoughts, as well,” bargained the American, pushing back his hat. Realizing what Vicky's confession had cost her, he knew he needed to balance her honest exposure of her heart with his own.

“Oh,” murmured Victoria, taking a step backward as though afraid to confront this newfound familiarity.

“Are you ready to ride with me, then?” Jed asked, catching one of Ali's disapproving looks. Ironically he had tried to dissuade them from giving in to the attraction between them, and instead he had brought them to a new level of awareness of each other. “I think Ali is waiting.”

“All right,” Victoria agreed, permitting him to help her astride the camel. “But perhaps we should talk about something less personal this afternoon, like politics or religion.”

“Or maybe we should resolve our simmering curiosity and discuss our lives in detail since childhood,” he responded, as he joined her in the saddle. “I have visions of you dressed in a starched white pinafore, your hair in long golden curls, and you have blueberry stains all over your face and hands—but not a blue drop on that snowy dress.
Kam!
”

At the camel's abrupt rise to his feet, Victoria was thrown back against Jed's chest, yet she couldn't help but giggle at the endearing image he suggested.

“No, I never was partial to blueberries, though I did sneak into the gardens regularly to steal the strawberries. The poor gardener was always blaming the rabbits.”

At the sound of Jed's chuckle, Ali shook his head sadly and turned his camel to follow them. He had tried to ease their fate, but it would seem the unlikely pair was determined to embrace their destiny willingly, two vibrant souls building slowly to a climax. He only hoped that neither of them would regret the inevitable explosion.

A
s the sun slipped lower on the horizon, signs of vegetation began to appear in what, miles back, had been only barren desert. When they finally reached the bluffs that overlooked the Nile, the trio's spirits soared. There they paused to admire not only the rapidly flowing river, but the small village situated below them. After days of enduring the treacherous hazards of the cruel desert, seeing so much water and civilization filled them with triumph.

As Ali gave praise to Allah, Jed impulsively shared his exaltation with Victoria by lowering his face alongside hers and placing a resounding kiss on her cheek.

“We've done it!” he crowed, tightening his arms around her in a good-natured hug. “The worst is behind us.”

But when she glanced back at him, the expression that flitted through her eyes as a result of his exuberance almost made Jed forget that bringing them out of the desert had been an accomplishment. Instead of celebrating their survival, he only knew he was filled with vague longings for things left undone.

“Where are we?” asked Victoria, as much to break the tension as to satisfy her curiosity. She should have been thrilled to be so close to home, but she was reluctant to see this journey end.

“We passed the Egyptian border some time ago,” Jed replied, concentrating on his answer rather than the fact that Victoria wouldn't be near much longer. “I didn't want to come in out of the desert at Assuan itself. Too many caravans headed for Khartoum originate there. If I turned my head for an instant, you could be on your way back south before I knew it. It's better to head a bit farther north and bypass the place altogether. That little village below us is Gharb Assuan. We'll camp a few miles downriver.”

“And then what?” Victoria murmured. Her eyes were rife with questions she didn't even know she was asking.

“One of us will double back to Assuan and trade the camels for a
falucca
so we can sail the rest of the way. It will be quicker and more comfortable,” Jed said, his voice huskier than normal.

“But will camping there be safe?” Memories of her kidnappers bundling her into the bottom of their boat came flooding back, and Victoria shivered. Obeying the habit established during the nights on the trail, she unconsciously moved closer to Jed for warmth.

“I think so,” he said honestly, unaware of how naturally he accepted Victoria's action. “Zobeir's men wouldn't expect us to come out of the western desert. And if they're still looking for us, it will be in Assuan. My instincts are good. Trust me.”

“I do,” Victoria admitted softly, turning her head to look up into the adventurer's eyes. At her words, they sparkled with pleasure.

“That's my girl,” he said with an approving wink.

Victoria almost winced at his words. She wasn't Jed's girl, she was Hayden's fiancée. To distract herself before she gave way to emotions better kept hidden, Victoria directed Jed's attention to Gharb Assuan once more.

“Won't we be going into the village at all? It's bound to have things we consider luxuries after life in the desert.”

“No, there's nothing there except possible trouble,” Jed pronounced, removing his hat to wipe his brow with the back of his golden, muscular forearm. “I'm afraid a white woman would stir up a lot of interest, and we don't know who would hear about it. Much as I hate to deny you anything, I'd feel safer not to chance it.”

“There's no doubt Victoria would make every man in the village turn out, and those that saw her would talk about her loveliness to a hundred others who did not,” agreed Ali. “But exactly how far north do you propose we travel before we set up camp?”

“There is a small inlet a few miles north of the village. Not too many people pass there. You and she can wait while I hightail it back to Assuan proper and make the trade. Then I'll bring the
falucca
downriver to you.”

“Someone else might happen along to abduct her,” objected Ali. “A woman as beautiful as she with a rich father is tempting to a poor man. Do you actually think I would be able to protect her as well as you could?”

“I don't know you'd be all that bad at it,” Jed said, suddenly loath to be alone with Victoria. For some reason, she appeared terribly vulnerable to him at the moment, and thus riper for loving than he had ever seen her. Though he honestly wanted to keep his vow, his male instincts were stirring, and he felt himself weakening in his resolve not to touch her. “I'm sure you'd do fine.”

“Those men who grabbed me from my parents' estate still haunt my dreams, Jed. I'd feel safer with you.” Victoria said quietly, wanting no one but the American to safeguard her. The expression on her delicate face was a heartfelt entreaty Jed could not ignore, but Ali, hastening to soothe the girl's fear, did not notice what passed between them.

“Don't let those demons distress you,” advised the Egyptian.

“Ali is right. We will do as he suggested and let him engineer the trade,” Jed reassured her.

“Fine. I will even fetch Victoria some soothing oil for her skin,” volunteered the shopkeeper.

“And perhaps some fresh meat,” requested Jed. “I will give you money in case the camels don't bring enough and you have to buy—”

“Buy nothing, it will be part of the barter,” snorted the experienced man of commerce. “Fatima has a cousin who knows the
Bisharin,
the traders living in the old cemetery. He will help me find a fair merchant. Besides, these are fine camels and expensive saddles. They will bring good value.”

“Quickly, Ali. Don't waste hours haggling,” cautioned Jed. He was familiar with the formality of serious trading which required shared cups of strong coffee, exchanged histories of families and multiple offers and counteroffers.

“I will try to do as you ask, American, but some things go against the blood,” admitted Ali as they rode north.

Victoria said nothing. The knowledge that her ordeal was nearly over made her feel incredibly weary and extremely sad.

* * *

An hour later, Ali had barely disappeared from sight when Jed decided he had to shake Victoria from her unusual reticence. Since the conversation on the bluffs, the blonde had completely withdrawn from him, retreating into her own thoughts and leaving no chink in her armor for him to penetrate. Once or twice he suspected she had been weeping, though he had seen no trace of tears. Jed was determined to do whatever was necessary to end her melancholy. Her unnatural desolation aroused his protective instincts and caused him to forget the promise he had made to himself to be completely circumspect in Ali's absence.

Abandoning the pile of saddlebags, he came to where Victoria sat on the grassy bank, her stiff posture echoing her discomfort.

“Do you want to bathe first or shall I?” he asked casually.

“Bathe? In the river?”

“Why not? It's been three days since we were at an oasis. The Nile isn't sacred. For centuries, people have drunk from it, washed in it and done a lot worse, I'm certain.”

“But it's so public. Anyone could see—”

“No one will see anything if we stay near the inlet. Besides, it's near dusk and growing darker.”

“We?”

“Come on, Vicky, before we get back to civilization, let yourself do something wild for once in your life. I know you want to break loose, I've seen it in your eyes. And with the type of world you live in, you might never get another chance.”

“But—”

“Hell, I'm not talking about anything
really
wicked, just slightly naughty and a lot of fun. Throw caution to the wind, doff your clothes and come swimming with me,” Jed invited in a devilish tone, his face a combination of mischievous imp and fallen angel. The suggestion was made as much to cheer Vicky as to fulfill the provocative fantasies he had had of frolicking with her in the water since the first oasis. The way Jed saw it, not only would such an activity pull Vicky out of her doldrums, it would reward him for all the nights he had lain quiet, behaving like a celibate with her curled up teasingly beside him.

“Do you mean without wearing a stitch?” she asked in a shocked whisper, appalled yet fascinated by the idea.

“Yeah,” he drawled, his eyes alight with wicked invitation.

“No, it's out of the question. You go ahead. I'll sponge off later.”

“As you prefer.” Reaching down to grab the hem of his
gallabiya,
Jed quickly drew it up over his head and tossed it to the ground. He'd be damned if he'd return Vicky to Hayden without tempting her as she had tempted him since leaving Khartoum.

“Jed!” she cried, averting her eyes even as his magnificence impressed itself on her memory. Though Jed Kincaid was the first man she had ever seen unclothed, she knew immediately he was not the norm. The way his hips tapered toward the junction of his legs called to her so that she'd never forget the sight, though, of course, a proper lady would.

“How else do you want me to bathe?” Jed grinned, impudently striding past her toward the river. “It's all right. You can look now.”

Victoria did, only to witness the slow descent of his muscled legs into the water, followed by those sinewy thighs of his. It was a relief when the Nile finally covered the firm planes of his posterior so she could draw a breath. For a brief irrational moment, she felt the urge to join him and run her fingers over his buttocks, testing the apparent solidity of his flesh, but she shook her head and the impulse fled.

“That wasn't very gentlemanly.”

“What wasn't?” Pretending ignorance, Jed turned lazily toward the shore and glanced at Victoria, pleased at the reddish tinge that heightened the sun's color in her cheeks.

“Telling me to look when you weren't in the water yet. I mean, I saw—well, never mind.”

“Hell, Vicky, I don't mind in the least if you look. I have nothing to be ashamed of, nor as I recall from my observations at the oasis, do you.”

“No wonder you didn't fare well in society. Jed Kincaid, you are completely, totally outrageous.” Strange as it was, even while she chided him, Victoria couldn't help but enjoy her view of Jed's chest, its dark mat of ringlets half covered by the water. She had leaned against that broad expanse for hours. How could the rest of him, that part below the water, be any less appealing?

“Honey, the river feels wonderful. Why not come in and we can continue our discussion out here? If you like, I'll turn my back—”

Enter the water where temptation stood, naked and exposed? The young Englishwoman shook her head at the very thought of it.

“I couldn't—it wouldn't be proper.”

“Who would be hurt by our bathing together? No one.” She looked suddenly uncertain and Jed pursued his cause. “Some societies live their lives totally unclothed, just for the joy of it.”

Should she listen to him or was his the voice of the devil?

“Vicky, what's common in one culture is taboo in another, but that doesn't make one people right and the other wrong. Ali's Fatima observes purdah. Are you a sinner for showing your face?”

“If I do as you suggest, I'd be showing a lot more than my face—”

“And there's nothing wrong with a single inch of any of it, I swear,” he said, his tone urgent. “Give in to the temptation. In this case, it's innocent enough, after all. Clothes—or the lack of them—don't make a man what he is, or a woman, for that matter.”

“No,” she agreed slowly, her eyes searching his intently for any sign that he might be trying to seduce her. She found none.

“Think about it. I'm going to swim out a ways.”

Ducking his head and shoulders down into the water, the American stretched his muscles and struck off upriver, enjoying the physical release the Nile provided. Vicky was too exciting a woman to be hog-tied by convention and he was resolute that she know that. He suspected, however, she would take a bit more convincing before she understood the lesson.

Looking back toward the river bank he'd just left, Jed was startled not to see Vicky sitting there. Quickly he swung around and headed for shore. Could someone have conceivably grabbed her in the few minutes he had been swimming?

Anxiously, he scanned the shoreline as he neared it, puzzled at the pile of cloth near his own abandoned
gallabiya.
Then suddenly he understood and breathed a deep sigh of relief. Slowing his pace, Jed came closer to the bank and relaxed. She was there, in the water near the shore, her entire body submerged in the Nile, her blond hair streaming on the surface, a golden circle of radiance about her head.

“I'm glad you reconsidered,” he said, trying to keep his voice casual despite his body's awareness of her naked proximity. “Isn't the water refreshing?”

“It's splendid,” she agreed. “If only I had some soap, I could wash my hair.”

“I have a bit I used for shaving. I'll get it for you,” he offered, moving rapidly to the bank and leaving the water before she could protest. If nothing else, he would teach Victoria not to be ashamed of her own body...or of looking at his.

She started to open her mouth to object, but didn't. Rather than fret about the situation, she thought, eyeing his tightly planed cheeks as he bent to get the soap from the saddlebags, she should enjoy the view. It was certainly a rare one, she marveled, thrilled by the grace with which he moved.

When Jed turned back to the Nile, her eyes widened at the bounty of the man before her as her body began to tingle with excitement. For a moment she felt faint, but a deep breath eased the panic before it seized hold. Realizing from his grin that he had caught her staring, Victoria blushed and quickly looked away.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered.

“Vicky, in spite of what your governess may have taught you, there is nothing wrong with ogling a member of the opposite sex,” teased Jed. Seeing that she was still embarrassed to face him, Jed tried again to reassure her. “In truth, your staring is a compliment and your avoiding me an insult.”