“The very least we could do was thank him and hope never to see him again.” He blew an annoyed breath. “We’re back to Mr. Armstrong are we?”
“For the moment.” She paused. “You don’t like Mr. Nazzal?”
“I don’t trust Mr. Nazzal.”
Her eyes widened with something that might well have been delight. Damnation. What was wrong with the woman? “Is he untrustworthy?”
“Let us just say he has his own agenda.” He thought for a moment. “I’m not sure I would call him untrustworthy, at least not completely, but his loyalty lies first with himself and then his country.”
“When were you last in Egypt, Harry?” she asked abruptly.
Given their encounter with Nazzal, anything but the truth seemed pointless. “About a year ago.”
“You really haven’t said much about your experiences here.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Or about yourself at all for that matter.”
“I don’t believe this endeavor is about my experience but about yours.” The carriage pulled to a stop in front of the hotel.
Sidney didn’t seem to notice. “Even so, I would think—”
“Sidney,” Mrs. Higginbotham interrupted. “It’s nearly five o’clock, will you be joining us for tea on the terrace?”
“Haven’t you already had enough tea?” Harry asked, helping the ladies out of the carriage.
“One can never have enough tea, young man.” Lady Blodgett looked at him as if he were a small and exceptionally stupid child.
“Why, we said yesterday that we couldn’t imagine anything more fascinating than the parade that passes by Shepheard’s terrace and I should hate to miss even one afternoon. We do need to make good use of our limited time.” Mrs. Fitzhew-Wellmore cast him a sharp look as obviously this was his fault.
He smiled weakly.
The older lady glanced cautiously from side to side as if to make certain no one was listening. “Oh, I do hope to see a funeral today. Processions apparently pass by frequently and are said to be fascinating.”
“People do tend to die on a regular basis, Poppy, so no doubt your wish will be fulfilled sooner rather than later.” Mrs. Higginbotham started up the stairs toward the hotel door.
“I’m certainly not wishing anyone dead.” Mrs. Fitzhew-Wellmore followed her friend. “But if they are going to die, I should like to see the spectacle. It would be quite...educational.”
“And we are always interested in learning new things.” Lady Blodgett started after the other ladies then paused and directed her words to Harry. “Although Daniel said he heard that Shepheard’s actually pays funerals to march by the terrace. Can you imagine such a thing?”
“I wouldn’t think the recently deceased would mind,” Harry said. “Even here, funerals can be costly and defraying a little of the expense sounds like an excellent idea.”
Sidney choked back a laugh.
“It does at that, doesn’t it?” Lady Blodgett frowned thoughtfully. “And something to keep in mind for the future.”
Harry restrained himself from pointing out such a scheme would not work well in London. In spite of everything, he had grown rather fond of the trio. He was beginning to think of them as something akin to family. It was not an unpleasant idea.
Sidney started after the others then paused. “Will you be joining us for tea?”
“I believe I will forgo tea today.”
“Then will we see you at dinner?”
“Absolutely.”
She studied him curiously. “Do you like being mysterious?”
“I didn’t realize I was. But if I am...” He grinned. “Then yes I suppose I do.”
“I wouldn’t become accustomed to it if I were you.” She nodded and continued up the stairs.
Harry had the distinct impression a gauntlet had just been thrown down. He chuckled. He’d always rather liked gauntlets.
...and so it was with great courage and unflinching determination as well as intimate knowledge of the twists and turns in the deepest recesses of the exotic bazaar, fraught with unknown perils and unexpected hazards, that Mrs. Gordon succeeded in locating the missing ladies and leading them back at long last to the safety and security of Cairo’s grandest hotel.
—“The Return of the Queen of the Desert,” Daniel Corbin, foreign correspondent
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“WE SAID WE intended to leave at half-past eight.” Effie tapped her foot impatiently on the walk in front of the hotel.
“We don’t have all day.” Poppy frowned. “And it’s some distance to the pyramids isn’t it?”
Sidney nodded. “About an hour and a half I believe.”
“Daniel isn’t here yet either.” Gwen huffed. “We do have a schedule to maintain and we really should make every effort to adhere to it.”
“At dinner last night Daniel said he had to send his latest dispatch this morning,” Poppy said. “Perhaps that’s why he’s not here yet.”
“I would hate for him to miss the pyramids. Although he did say he was setting aside his interview for now to report about our little adventure yesterday. Not that he had any part in it,” Effie added.
“But we did tell him all about it,” Poppy added.
Sidney grimaced. “I’m not sure I wish to read that.”
“Oh, I believe he intended to make it quite clear that you had saved us from being lost forever in the—how did he phrase it? Oh yes, ‘the twists and turns in the deepest recesses of the exotic bazaar.’” Gwen arched a brow. “I don’t think Daniel is a strict believer in the unvarnished truth.”
“Good morning, ladies.” Harry stepped confidently down the front stairs, and then stopped short and stared. “What is all this?”
“I do hope you do not intend to make disparaging remarks, Harry.” Gwen’s eyes narrowed. “Do you?”
For a moment, Harry appeared to be considering exactly that, then thought better of it and shook his head. “Not in the least. I have absolutely nothing to say.”
“Excellent, Mr. Armstrong.” Sidney shot him a warning look over her new glasses. “And quite wise of you to admit it.”
“Ladies.” Daniel bounded down the steps. “Sorry to be late. I had a few problems sending my report.” He stopped and grinned. “I say, all four of you look splendid and ready for today’s adventure.”
Sidney had thought they did indeed look ready for adventure in the pith helmets and smoked eyeglasses that were among the ladies’ purchases yesterday. They already had their parasols. While she’d had a momentary qualm at Harry’s less than flattering reaction, this was exactly the kind of desert apparel recommended by her guidebooks. The kind Millicent Forester routinely wore. While the weather was quite pleasant, even in February the sun was far stronger here than it was in England and precautions were always a good idea. Besides, there was something rather dashing about a pith helmet and smoked glasses.
“Thank you, Daniel.” Poppy beamed.
Sidney resisted the urge to cast a smug look at Harry. Effie, Poppy and Gwen had no such hesitation.
“I shall have to purchase a helmet myself,” Daniel proclaimed, thus endearing himself yet again to the ladies. He wore a straw Panama hat while Harry had a wide-brimmed felt fedora that looked very much as if it had seen better days. It cast the most intriguing air of adventure and danger around him.
“Now, then,” Sidney said, “we should be off.”
Harry and Daniel helped the older ladies into the carriage. Their transportation was arranged through the hotel but they were to hire guides once they arrived at the pyramids. Sidney wasn’t sure how Harry had maneuvered it but somehow he had managed to take the seat on her left. Gwen sat on her right. Effie and Poppy flanked Daniel on the other side of the carriage and engaged him immediately in lighthearted conversation.
Sidney had noted the crowd at the ho
tel and the number of travelers at the Citadel and in the markets but it wasn’t until they were on the road to Giza that she realized just how many tourists there were here. This was not her grandmother’s Egypt and not at all what she had expected. How on earth could she continue her pretense if things were not as they should be? She sighed in frustration.
“Is something wrong?” Harry said quietly.
“Not really. I was just noticing how the crowds do seem much larger than when last I was here.”
“And that was?”
In spite of the twinkle in his eyes she glared at him. “Quite some time ago.”
He nodded. “Years.”
“Yes,” she said in a sharper tone than was perhaps warranted. Honestly, one could never tell if the man was attempting to wring information from her or was teasing. Not that it mattered. One was just as irritating as the other. But this really was no way to start the day. She breathed deeply then smiled. “Although I daresay I can’t think of a more fascinating place to travel to than Egypt.”
“I agree.”
“Do you?”
He laughed. “You needn’t sound so suspicious. We don’t have to be at odds over everything, you know.”
“I didn’t think we were,” she said in a lofty manner. “Yesterday, I thought we had forged a sort of friendship. Of course that was before you were so vile and beastly.”
“My apologies if I was vile and beastly although I would dispute both terms.”
“I could understand your distress if you liked Effie and Poppy and Gwen but—”
“I do like them.” His eyes widened in surprise. “They’re a little overbearing and have no reluctance to speak their minds. They don’t hesitate to chastise even people they barely know. They want to be treated as if they were forty years younger and yet will fall back on their age when convenient. They are the most interesting and annoying and delightful women I think I’ve ever met. I don’t know why you think I don’t like them.” He chuckled. “Although they haven’t made it easy.”
“Understandable really. They don’t trust you.”
“Do you?” he asked without warning, his gaze locking with hers.
“I certainly shouldn’t.” Sidney stared into his eyes, deep and unfathomable and full of all sorts of wicked promises. “I can’t imagine anything more foolish than trusting you, Harry Armstrong.”
“You are a woman of adventure, Mrs. Gordon, according to your writing.” His eyes darkened, if possible, smoldered although it might have been a trick of the light. “The first step in any adventure is leaping into the unknown.”
Good Lord! Surely he wasn’t trying to seduce her with his low, sensual tone and his penetrating gaze? Here? Under the Egyptian sun? In an open carriage in front of everyone? What utter nerve of the man. She should stop this—whatever this was—right now.
“Is it?” Unless, of course, she wasn’t sure she wished to stop this—whatever this was. Unless she gazed into Harry’s gray eyes and suspected wicked things might well be nothing less than quite wonderful. Unless she did indeed wish to leap into the unknown.
“Sidney,” Effie said, and Sidney jerked her gaze from Harry. “Why don’t you tell us about the pyramids so that we can fully appreciate what we are about to see?”
“Excellent idea.” Gwen leaned forward and peered around Sidney to cast a pointed look at Harry, who smiled innocently in return. Sidney groaned to herself. How much of that had Gwen heard?
“Very well.” Sidney glanced at Harry. The annoying man’s unruffled expression belied the gleam of triumph in his eyes. She cleared her throat. “There are nine pyramids of note on the Giza plateau. The largest are the ones...” Sidney could certainly talk about the pyramids, the history of ancient Egypt, the current state of excavations, the latest discoveries and nearly anything else about Egypt without any real effort. Fortunate, as it was difficult to talk about anything with Harry’s leg pressed next to hers.
“The largest, the Great Pyramid, was built by...”
She had tried to inch away but the carriage seat was simply not wide enough to allow any extra space. The man certainly did produce a lot of heat. Even if one discounted the feel of his leg against hers, or tried not to meet his gaze, there was no avoiding how very aware she was of him. His quick wit, the way he laughed and the intriguing spicy scent of him—faint and masculine and hinting of adventures as yet unknown and leaps not yet taken—simply refused to be ignored. There was a presence about the man that could not be denied. She wondered if she was the only one who noticed.
Midway through the drive, they stopped to stretch their legs and when Sidney returned to the carriage she found Effie had taken her seat. She was both grateful and the tiniest bit disappointed.
They passed Giza, once a prominent ancient city, now little more than ruins, and reached a point where the road was bordered by a wall on either side to prevent it being covered by the constantly shifting sand. The Mena House hotel was to their right and one of the ladies mentioned how wonderfully convenient it was if one intended to spend a great deal of time at the pyramids. The road then ascended upward to the rocky plateau some forty feet above the plains and upon reaching the top, found themselves a scant hundred or so yards away from the marvel of engineering and man’s determination to defy death that was the Great Pyramid.
The ancient monument, and its smaller companions, had been in sight throughout the drive and had grown larger as they approached. Still, when they at last arrived, Sidney’s breath caught at the immensity of it. Until the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris a few years ago, the Great Pyramid had been the tallest man-made structure in the world. She knew it covered an area as large as Lincoln’s Inn Fields—the largest square in London—and was some sixty feet taller than the cross atop St. Paul’s Cathedral but knowing facts and figures did not truly prepare one for the sheer immensity of it. It towered over the two smaller pyramids and they in turn dwarfed the remaining six on the plateau although some were barely recognizable as pyramids. It had once been covered with smooth polished limestone and the sun’s reflection would have been blinding. The outer casing had been torn away eons ago giving the structure the appearance of a staircase of giants.
The moment the carriage stopped they were surrounded by Bedouins demanding attention and offering their services as guides. Harry and the driver managed to disperse them, at least momentarily. The ladies were assisted out of the carriage and Sidney nearly stumbled in the attempt. It was difficult to keep her mind on mundane matters when the most glorious symbol of ancient Egypt demanded her attention. She could hardly tear her gaze away.
“It’s remarkable, isn’t it?” Harry said quietly to her alone.
“Remarkable.” She nodded then caught herself. “Each time one sees it, is very much like the first time. It takes one’s breath away and touches one’s soul.”
“Yes, I suppose it does,” he said thoughtfully.
“I assume you’ve been here before.”
“One always visits the pyramids when one first arrives in Egypt.”
“And when was that?”
“Some time ago.” He grinned. “Quite some time ago.”
She ignored him. “You never mentioned you spoke Arabic.”
“You never asked. I’m not very good at it. In fact, I know little more than what one needs to get by. I did expect that you were familiar with the language,” he added casually.
“I’m dreadful at languages. I always have been.” That, at least, was true. Even her instructors at Miss Bicklesham’s Academy for Accomplished Young Ladies had recognized that there were some people destined only to speak the language they were born to and continuing to attempt to teach her anything beyond bonjour and merci did nothing but produce needless frustration on both sides. “I long ago learned it was in my best interest, and that of anyone I wished to communicate with, to hire an interpreter.”
“Very wise of you.” He chuckled then turned to the others. “Ladies, Corbin, which do you prefer? Shall we go up first or shall we go down?”
Effie’s eyes narrowed behind her glasses. “What do you mean?”
“Well, we can go down into the Great Pyramid itself but the passageways are extremely close and it is a fairly steep descent.” He paused. “And an equally awkward ascent as well. I would not recommend it to anyone uncomfortable in enclosed spaces.”
Daniel paled. “I’m afraid I’m not very good in tight spaces.”
“And what was up, Harry?” Hope rang in Mrs. Fitzhew-Wellmore’s voice.
“Climbing to the top of course.” Harry waved in the direction of the Great Pyramid. The ladies studied it thoughtfully.
“It doesn’t look too difficult,” Gwen said.
Poppy shrugged. “It’s nothing more than a giant staircase really.”
“Pity we’re not giants,” Effie said sharply. “What is wrong with the two of you?” She aimed her parasol at the pyramid. “Are you watching this?”
It really was an interesting sight. The Great Pyramid was dotted with intrepid souls attempting the daunting climb to the top. The blocks of stone did indeed look like stair steps but each riser was three to four feet high. Bedouins above the climbers pulled them up by their hands and those below pushed them up from behind. Some of the male climbers—particularly younger men—did not need as much assistance as the lady tourists. It was rather amusing if one wasn’t considering attempting the climb oneself.
“I think it looks most invigorating.” Gwen’s brow furrowed as if she didn’t quite believe her own words.
“It is frightfully high though isn’t it?” Poppy shaded her eyes with her hand and stared upward.
“It’s a challenge, ladies.” Confidence rang in Daniel’s voice. “One we are surely up to.”
“Are you mad?” Effie shot an annoyed look at Daniel. “What on earth are you thinking, young man? For you it might be a challenge, for us it’s out of the question.” She turned to Gwen. “You have been known to use a cane recently, although I noticed you did not bring it along.”
Lady Travelers Guide to Deception with an Unlikely Earl Page 14