‘And go where?’ Marni demanded, more concerned that she was going to have to find somewhere behind the shed to relieve herself in private.
And soon!
‘If we walk out into that desert we’re as good as dead,’ she added, heading for the door then hesitating there. ‘Do you think they’re really watching us from somewhere? I mean, it’s not as if we can escape, is it?’
‘I went behind the shed,’ Tasnim told her, guessing at her concern, ‘not something that’s easy when you’re eight months pregnant. And I don’t mean to walk out into the desert, but next time they come we’ll have to overpower them some way and take the vehicle.’
I rather think that’s a royal we, and she’s meaning I will have to do the dirty work, Marni thought.
But right now she was beyond caring, hurrying around behind the shed, worrying now about how they’d wash themselves and their underwear.
Tasnim was ahead of her, for when Marni returned Tasnim had found a basin and filled it with warm water from the kettle, smelling of mint but very welcome nonetheless.
‘I’ve found a couple of long gowns, like the men wear in the desert. I think the boys must use this place when they come out to hunt. They look clean enough so I’m going to have a wash and put one of them on. We can use the water we’re washing in to wash our underwear.’
She must have read the surprise in Marni’s face for she laughed and said, ‘Being the descendant of a long line of desert women,’ she reminded Marni, ‘I know how precious water is. Out here we don’t really need our underwear so we wash it this once then put it away until we’re rescued.’
‘Excuse me,’ Marni said, ‘but are you the same woman who was telling me, rather emotionally and only minutes ago, that we have to get out of here?’
Tasnim smiled at her.
‘Pregnant women get very emotional,’ she reminded Marni, ‘but we’re also very sensible under the hysteria because we’ve something very special to protect.’ She patted her bulging belly. ‘So now we have to be practical and look after ourselves, bathe and eat, and then we plan.’
The bathing and eating part went well, but planning? Tasnim’s escape ideas became more and more impossible—finding a rock and hitting whoever came over the head, grabbing the gun, hiding in the sand then racing to the car while their kidnappers searched for them—until Marni grew tired of pointing out just why they wouldn’t work.
‘Well, we can’t just sit here waiting to be rescued,’ Tasnim complained. ‘I mean, Yusef’s still away, and is Ghazi likely to come looking for you?’
After the way she had stormed out of his office? Hardly!
But Marni didn’t share that thought.
‘Your staff will know you’re missing and they must know you went off with Hari,’ Marni said instead.
‘Yes, but if Hari’s not in town—if he’s somewhere out here, watching us—how can they ask him where I am? And if they’ve really thought things through, that pair, they’ll have come up with some reason why we didn’t go home. They’d have told my people we were going to stay with one of the sisters or something.’
‘Would your people believe them? I mean, you didn’t pack anything or make any arrangements.’
Tasnim’s smile was rueful.
‘I do tend to be a little impulsive so although they might mutter among themselves, I doubt any of the staff would be surprised enough to be suspicious. And everyone always has spare clothes and toiletries, even make-up, for visitors. Like the stuff in your bedroom suite.’
They were sitting on Tasnim’s mattress, and now she stretched out and lay down on it.
‘I’m going to sleep for a while,’ she said, patting Marni’s leg where she still sat on the edge of the mattress. ‘You keep thinking.’
Marni was relieved her companion was sleeping, but without Tasnim’s chatter and flow of ideas there was nothing to stop Marni’s mind drifting back to Ghazi and the events of the previous evening.
‘They cannot just have vanished,’ Ghazi yelled, striding about his office at the palace, glaring at his closest friends and advisors.
Unfortunately, deep down he believed they could have done just that. Marni, upset with him—hurt—over what had happened, or what he’d said, could have told Tasnim and Tasnim certainly had the guile and resources to hide them both away somewhere. In fact, the little devil would delight in the intrigue!
‘I don’t want to alarm you further—’ Nimr’s voice brought Ghazi out of his dark thoughts. ‘—but Alima says there’s no way Tasnim would put her unborn child in jeopardy by doing something rash, and as far as Alima’s concerned, leaving her home voluntarily at this stage of a pregnancy counts as rash.’