Master of the Desert(15)

She was distracted and missed the moment when the ruling sheikh entered  the room. She didn't see him, but she felt his presence. It was as if  the room had suddenly been infused with greatness, and yet he had  entered without a fanfare. He had no need of one, she realised when she  saw the ruler of Sinnebar for the first time. She could only see him  from the back, but even so, as Ra'id al Maktabi walked towards the  platform with the easy loping stride of a panther, she thought him the  most imposing figure she had ever seen.

At last here was a man to compare with Saif, Antonia decided. Dressed in  robes of deepest blue, the ruling sheikh was easily the tallest man in  the room, and far more powerfully built than any other man. She was  transfixed by him, and couldn't wait to see his face, but just as he was  about to turn the gold agal securing his headdress flashed in the light  and she was momentarily blinded. It was then they seized her from  behind.

This wasn't quite how she'd imagined spending the evening, Antonia  reflected miserably, having made herself as comfortable as was possible  in a dank, cold cell with very little light and no heating. She had  asked for a blanket and they had brought her a thin, scratchy one, which  was probably all she deserved. What her brother would make of this  latest exploit, she had no idea. She had pleaded for the right to make a  phone call to him, and had given the guard his number, but had no way  of knowing if the guard would act on her behalf-no way of knowing if she  would ever be released. Curling up into a ball, she covered herself as  best she could and resigned herself to a long, dark night of fear and  uncertainty.

She must have dropped off, Antonia realised when she was awoken by a  crash of arms. Moments later her cell door was flung open and light  streamed in. By this time she was huddled fearfully in the furthest  corner of the wooden bench that passed for her bed.

'Stand up,' a guard shouted at her rudely.

She did so and stood trembling with her back pressed against the wall,  expecting the worst. She was both surprised and relieved when the guard  backed out of the cell, though that barely left enough room for the man  who entered next.

She felt a sting of disappointment. What had she expected-the ruler of  Sinnebar ducking his head to enter her cell? The ruling sheikh with his  jewelled belt? Or perhaps Saif, her desert prince, the dark stranger of  her dreams?

For the first time in her life, Antonia resented her overactive imagination. It was always tricking her into expecting the best.

The best?

The man facing her now in his smart suit couldn't have looked more  disdainfully at her if he'd tried. 'I can confirm the identity of the  prisoner,' he told the guard, ignoring Antonia completely.

'Please,' Antonia said as the man turned to go. 'Please don't leave me  here.' She sounded so pathetic, but she was desperate. 'I have to get a  message to my brother in Rome.'

The man paused and then turned to her. 'Nigel Clough, Foreign Office,'  he said, making no attempt to shake her hand. 'I'm standing in for my  colleague from Rome who is attending a charity function tonight. You're  lucky that someone with influence has arranged for your immediate  departure from the country.'

Antonia gasped. 'Do you mean I'm being deported?'

'I wouldn't quibble if I were you,' Nigel Clough warned her. 'Just take  the chance to go while you have it.' The man's pale gaze flickered  disparagingly around the cell. 'Unless, of course, you have some plan to  stay?'                       
       
           



       

'No, none.' Tears stung her eyes. 'Will you call my brother just in case  it all goes wrong and they keep me here?' She handed over a screwed-up  note on which she had written Rigo's private telephone number with a pen  she'd accidentally borrowed from an unwary guard. 'Thank you,' she  called after the starchy civil servant. Now she just had to hope it  wouldn't be long before she saw the outside world again so she could  pick up her life.

But they left the cell door open, and with a rush of relief Antonia  realised the guards were waiting for her to leave. She had no idea what  lay ahead of her, but one thing was certain-she wasn't staying here.  Drawing the flimsy blanket tightly round her, she followed the guards  along the same dismal corridors down which they had first brought her,  and almost cried with relief when she stepped onto the street. Of course  there was no imposing sheikh, or sardonic Saif, waiting to greet her.  She shaded her eyes against the glare of an unforgiving sun. This was a  sorry end to a brave adventure.

She flinched as the prison gates slammed behind her. She had survived a  pirate attack and an assault on her heart, but she doubted she could  survive her own self-loathing if she returned to Rome without a single  one of her goals having been fulfilled.

Well, that was just too bad, wasn't it? Antonia admonished herself,  bumping around in the back of an old army Jeep on her way to the  airport. She had to bite the bullet and get on with life like everyone  else. She'd got into this mess, and now it was up to her to get out of  it. She'd go back to Rome, face up to her brother and prove both to Rigo  and to herself that she was worthy of her brother's trust and that she  could do what she had set out to do. This time neither pirates, guards,  nor even a man who had carved his name into her heart would stand in her  way

It felt like she'd hardly had time to unpack her suitcase before she was  standing in an austere cubicle in a private clinic in Rome, getting  dressed after her examination. Of course, it had been a little longer  than that, weeks in fact, Antonia reflected. She felt she was enclosed  in a stark white eggshell-white walls, white floor; even the curtain  shielding her from view was white. But in the past five minutes since  the doctor had confirmed she was pregnant her life had blazed with vivid  colour. Yes, it had been an incredible shock to discover she was  pregnant, but when the doctor had confirmed it her horizons exploded  with possibility. This was so far beyond the bounds of anything she  believed she deserved; she could hardly take it in. Except to say that  having a baby both terrified her and made this the happiest day of her  life.

She couldn't tell Rigo, of course. He definitely wouldn't understand-and  he would certainly never trust her again. But she must tell Saif. It  might not be easy to track him down, but it wouldn't be impossible when  he had commanded such a notable yacht.





A baby, Antonia mused, leaving the clinic in a bubble of happiness that  grew and grew. She was going to have Saif's baby. What better gift could  he have given her than a baby she would lay down her life for, a child  she would protect and nurture as a lioness protects its cub?

Ra'id's fist thundered down on the top of his highly polished desk. Was  this possible? Could the girl he had lightly dubbed Tuesday be the  missing heir? Had he been duped? Had he harboured a thief hiding behind  the guise of innocence? Had the thief of his people's land been lying in  the arms of their king?

Springing up, he paced the room. He could not reconcile the feelings of  loss and longing he felt for the girl he had known as Tuesday with his  very different feelings for the person he believed posed the biggest  threat to his people's happiness. The whole point of lifting a country  out of chaos was to unite all the warring factions and keep them focused  on one common purpose, which was the growth and prosperity of  Sinnebar-something he was determined would be enjoyed by all, whatever  their position in life. To think of one vast strip of land being teased  away, leaving families stranded on either side of it, was something he  would not tolerate.

CHAPTER NINE

MAYBE it was only a few months in real time, but it felt like ten years  of growing up had passed since the last time she'd flown over this  turquoise sea on her way to the Gulf. At least on this occasion she was  prepared, Antonia reflected, and full of determination to finish what  she'd started. There would be no hitching lifts on fishing boats, or  desert-island idylls-there would be no distractions at all. This time  she was here on business with a track record of success behind her.                       
       
           



       

After returning home in disgrace she had cancelled her initial meeting  in Sinnebar to give herself time to regroup. The wounds from her ordeal  with the pirates had gradually faded, but not so the wounds in her  heart, and her brother Rigo had taken some convincing before agreeing to  give her a second chance. It was then Antonia had discovered that a  broken heart was the best engine for change. To forget Saif, she had  thrown herself into her work, and in a short space of time had managed  to double the number of children they were able to help. Having picked  herself up, she had gone on to open branches of her brother's charity in  Europe. Sinnebar was the next natural choice, and it was a place she  couldn't wait to visit, though negotiations at the highest level had  been necessary to arrange a visa for someone who had been deported from  the country.