“I didn’t think I needed it,” Gwen said staunchly.
“And you—” Effie said to Poppy “—complain frequently about the ache in your knees.”
“Only when it rains.” Poppy frowned. “I do wish you wouldn’t discuss such things around the others.”
“I’m certain the others are aware that we are not as young as we once were.” Effie huffed. “Climbing the Great Pyramid is certainly something we could have done at their age. No doubt we could have done it thirty years ago but it’s ridiculous to think we can do so now. Besides, I am at an age where the very idea of an Egyptian hoisting me up by my hands while another attempts to boost my behind is not the least bit appealing.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Nor do I intend to crawl into the bowels of a stone tomb.”
“Of course not, Aunt Effie,” Sidney said quickly. “No one expects you to.”
“You should certainly climb to the top as well as go into the interior as you have always want—” Effie cast a quick glance at Harry “—have always said how very much you would like to do both again. As for us—” she squared her shoulders “—I suggest we hire camels and visit the Sphinx as per Miss Granville’s itinerary. It’s a mere quarter mile from here and I rather fancy the idea of riding a camel.”
Poppy’s expression brightened. “Oh, that does sound like fun.”
“Doesn’t it though? Very well, then.” Gwen nodded. “As much as I do hate admitting to the limitations of age, I think it’s an excellent suggestion.”
“I agree, Mrs. Higginbotham. Well done,” Harry said. “I’ll arrange the camels and guides for you. Then Mrs. Gordon and I will first descend into the pyramid—I’m sure she would hate to miss seeing the Great Hall and the King’s Chamber again. Unless of course, as it’s been so long, the idea of crawling through a king’s tomb is worrisome and you would prefer not to.”
“Goodness, not in the least,” Sidney said with a confidence she didn’t entirely feel. “I quite look forward to it. It has been a very long time and who knows when I’ll return to Egypt.” She smiled. “And then shall we climb to the summit?”
Harry grinned.
“Daniel, dear, would you be so good as to accompany us?” Gwen said in her best I-expect-agreement tone. “We certainly can’t go off in the company of Bedouins without an appropriate escort.”
“I’d be delighted, Lady Blodgett.” Daniel glanced at Sidney. “But I had hoped to climb to the top. And perhaps share the view with Mrs. Gordon.”
“Come now, Daniel, you saw the view from the Citadel,” Effie pointed out. “And you did not seem overly impressed. This is simply the same view in reverse.”
“Oh, but I was impressed.” Daniel nodded vehemently. “Besides, I do need to report on Mrs. Gordon’s activities.”
“Very well, Daniel.” Poppy thought for a moment then cleared her throat. “The intrepid Mrs. Gordon revisited those places she had first seen so long ago venturing into the dark and ethereal hidden funerary rooms of the Great Pyramid. The lady adventurer took a few minutes to reflect upon the...the...”
“Ancient past,” Effie murmured.
“Ah yes, the ancient past and those great and small who had left their mark on this land thousands of years ago. Upon her return to the surface, she proceeded to climb to the top of the Great Pyramid where she could revel in the vistas that in many ways were no different than those seen by the pharaohs themselves.” Poppy cast the reporter a satisfied smile. “There you are, Daniel. The essence of your next story all done for you. Now you have no excuse.”
“Apparently not.” He smiled halfheartedly. “Mrs. Gordon, do you think we might have a bit of a chat later today?”
“Oh, I think we can manage that,” Sidney said pleasantly.
Harry spoke to their driver and a few minutes later, the party was introduced to their camels. No one on either side looked particularly enthusiastic but Gwen, Effie and Poppy were nothing if not determined. Daniel was little more than resigned. Even though Sidney had seen camels since their arrival, they did seem much taller here in the desert, under the endless Egyptian sky. There were a few moments of trepidation but once the ladies were all properly seated and the beasts had risen from kneeling positions all three, with their pith helmets, smoked glasses and parasols, looked as nonchalant as if they rode camels every day. Daniel had a bit more difficulty, sliding out of his saddle twice before finally finding his seating. With jaunty waves from the ladies and a weak smile from Daniel, they started off.
“I believe they’re beginning to trust me,” Harry said, watching the small caravan move away.
“Why on earth would you think that?”
“They left me alone with you.”
“We were alone together yesterday.”
“It was inadvertent yesterday. You were all lost.”
“Perhaps they simply trust you more than they trust Daniel.”
“Wise of them,” he said wryly. “Shall we proceed?”
Sidney nodded. “I have to admit, I’m rather excited. I can barely remember visiting the interior of the Great Pyramid.”
“I’m somewhat excited myself.” He chuckled.
A few minutes later, Harry had hired guides recommended by their driver and they climbed the pyramid assisted by their Bedouins to the entrance on the thirteenth tier of stones. A guide bearing a candle led the way. Harry followed next and she was most grateful to know he was in front of her. Another guide followed behind her. The passageway into the pyramid was narrower than she had expected. It was apparently one thing to read that the confined space was only three and a half to four feet in height and quite another to try to make one’s way through it, primarily on hands and knees, especially as it sloped downward at an alarming angle. They crawled some twenty or so yards then found the way filled by massive granite blocks and veered into another passageway. Had Sidney not read numerous accounts of venturing into the pyramid and hadn’t known the blocks were placed there for the express purpose of protecting the pharaoh’s remains from robbers, she might have been most concerned. In spite of her excitement at this new adventure, she was acutely aware of the tons of stone directly over her head. The air here was musty and thick and the floor of the passageway slippery. She refused to consider why. After what seemed like an eternity, they entered the Great Hall. Their guides lit magnesium wires to provide better illumination than mere candles.
“Take my hand.” Harry extended his hand to help her to her feet.
“Thank you,” Sidney murmured. She was surprisingly stiff, to be expected of course. She wasn’t used to crawling long distances. She released his hand, took a shaky step and at once lost her footing on the slippery floor. Harry caught her in his arms and for a long moment they stared at once another.
“Sidney,” he said softly.
Dear Lord. He wasn’t about to kiss her, was he? Here in the Great Hall of the Pyramid of Khufu? How terribly improper. How wonderfully romantic.
“Harry.” She raised her chin and closed her eyes.
“Do try to be careful.”
Her eyes snapped open.
“I would hate to have to haul you bodily out of here. The floor is extremely slippery.” He released her and directed her attention to irregularly hewn hollows in the floor. “Those will help with traction.”
“Thank you,” she said curtly, stepped carefully away and perused the hall. The masonry here was so perfectly chiseled not even a hair could fit between the joints. She was determined to appreciate the skill of those long-ago craftsmen and not dwell on how terribly embarrassing it was to think a man was about to kiss you when he wasn’t.
From the Great Hall they made their way to an antechamber and then the King’s Chamber. Everything of value had vanished centuries ago. All that marked this final resting place of a pharaoh was a massive and sadly mutilated granite sarcophagus.
They retrace
d their steps and finally sunlight shone ahead of them in the passageway leading to the way out. Harry again offered his hand to help her.
“Now.” He grinned. “To the top.”
“Yes, indeed,” she said brightly. She would have much preferred to sit on the stones right here for a time before attempting the climb to the top but she was not going to let Harry think for so much as an instant that she was the least bit weary. “To the top.”
They were joined by additional Bedouins—apparently three were required to get the typical tourist up the pyramid. It was every bit as awkward as it had looked although Sidney managed it with only the two Bedouins above, each grabbing one of her hands, hoisting her up and no more than the occasional boost from the one below. Even Harry needed a hand up. Their progress was rather quicker than she would have suspected or, for that matter, desired but she was nothing if not determined. In no more than a quarter of an hour they stood on the summit, a relatively flat platform some thirty feet square. The Bedouins perched on the outcroppings below the summit and a handful of tourists on the top were just beginning the descent. They were alone at the top of the world and she could barely breathe.
“What do you think, Sidney?” Harry drew a deep breath and gazed out over Egypt. “Isn’t this remarkable?”
“Remarkable,” she muttered and sank down on a stone. All she needed was a minute or a day to catch her breath. “Aren’t you even the least bit tired?”
“Not at all.” He glanced at her. “I can’t believe you are.”
“You’re wearing trousers, Mr. Armstrong.” She sniffed in disdain. “You’d feel entirely different if you had made this climb in a skirt.”
“I can imagine.” He paused then laughed. “No, actually, I can’t. Come on.”
Before she could protest he grabbed her hand, pulled her to her feet, stepped behind her and turned her toward the vista, keeping his hands lightly on her shoulders. No doubt in the event that she lost her balance but it was rather nice regardless. He leaned close and spoke softly into her ear. “Welcome back to Egypt, Sidney.”
The view was as extraordinary as she had expected. To the west, the desert glistened in the sunlight, barren and shaded in reds and golds and browns, broken only by occasional cliffs. A land stark and unforgiving and relentless. To the east, the Nile wound its way through verdant fields, crisscrossed by canals, its banks bordered with majestic palms. Cairo rose in the distance, glistening in the late morning light, its towers and minarets reaching toward the sun. And above it all, the Citadel perched like a crown on the city’s highest point. From here, one looked down on the majestic Sphinx—part man, part beast, part god—half-buried in the sand, symbol of intellect and power. A mystery for the ages, already old when the Great Pyramid was built more than four thousand years ago. And in the distance to the south the pyramids of Abusir and Dahshur and Saqqara rose above the sands.
Here on top of one of the greatest wonders of the world, one could almost see the past unfolding at one’s feet. The pharaohs, with their mighty armies, ruled for eons and vanished. Cities rose, shining in the Egyptian sun, and fell, buried and forgotten. Palaces and temples, monuments to the glory of gods or men created over a lifetime, lost now hundreds of lifetimes ago.
“What are you thinking?”
“Life and death, eternity and forever,” she said quietly. “Here spread at our feet.”
“I’m sorry I asked.”
She turned around and crossed her arms over her chest. “Have you no soul, Harry? Have you no sense of the magnificence of all this? Of what man built thousands of years ago that still takes one’s breath away? Can’t you feel the past here as if it were a living, breathing thing?”
“Yes, I feel the past and yes, I do have a soul.” He huffed. “I just don’t express it the way you do. With all those feelings and flowery words. Actually, I was just thinking about the shadow of the pyramid being the hands of long-ago pharaohs who even in death—”
“Stop it!”
“—refuse to release their grip on their land and their people and so on and so forth.”
“Perhaps if you had a bit of feeling in your writing you wouldn’t have to resort to blackmail to get it published.”
“Blackmail?”
“If you prove your uncle’s point about my work your book will be published. What would you call it?”
“Well, I wouldn’t call it blackmail. I would put it more in the category of a wager really.” He glared. “And it doesn’t need feelings to be accurate. And interesting.”
“Hah.”
“You can’t make judgments about what you know nothing about. My judgments about your work are based on my reading of it. You’ve never read my writing.”
“Do you have it with you?”
“Not here.” He paused. “I do have something I’ve written in my room. I would be happy to show it to you.”
“And I would be delighted to read it!” she said sharply, turned and stepped toward the edge then swiveled back. “And one more thing. The next time you indicate you intend to kiss a woman you should either do so or you should avoid the situation altogether.”
He stared for a moment then realization dawned in his eyes. “Oh, I see. You mean in the Great Hall.”
“Yes, in the Great Hall.”
“I didn’t think you’d appreciate me kissing you there. I thought you’d smack me. It would have been rather awkward and humiliating. I could practically hear the ancients snickering about it.”
“Well, let me tell you something, Harry Armstrong.” She poked a finger at his chest. “I would have and I would have thoroughly enjoyed it.”
He grinned. “I would have enjoyed it too.”
“Not kissing you, you annoying arrogant beast of a man.” She rolled her gaze toward the heavens and whatever Egyptian god might smite an arrogant, annoying beast of a man. “And you know it.”
She whirled around and signaled to the Bedouins that she was ready to climb down.
Behind her Harry chuckled. “That might have been fun too.”
The climb down the pyramid was no less taxing than the climb up but Sidney barely noticed.
The offhand comments he’d made, yesterday and today, lingered in her head. Had Harry already confirmed his suspicions about her? Surely not. If he had, why on earth would he continue this farce? Oh, he could be enjoying his return to Egypt she supposed. Or he could be avoiding other responsibilities although she suspected the wealthy nephews of earls rarely had any responsibilities. Or he could be intending to seduce her as a means to get to the truth. Hadn’t he been overly charming since nearly their first day on board ship? It was an absurd idea—surely the man had more honor than that—but it made as much sense as anything else. Seduce her first and then expose her as a fraud.
And wasn’t he clever about it? Asking permission to kiss her. Casting her long meaningful looks. Dancing the tiniest bit too close. Murmuring quiet observations in her ear as if they shared private jokes. Appearing as if he had every intention of kissing her. Goodness, the man could have taken his efforts directly from a romantic novel.
Any qualms or doubts she’d had about continuing to pretend to be someone she wasn’t vanished in the Egyptian sun. There was no need to try to be like Millicent Forester. Millicent was a product of Sidney’s imagination fueled by her grandmother’s exploits and was as much a part of Sidney as her arms or her legs. They were one in the same, at least in spirit. But Millicent was who Sidney wanted to be. No—could be. The only real difference was that Millicent had had her adventures. Sidney’s were just beginning.
She could be courageous and adventurous. And didn’t she owe that to the people who read her stories, who believed in her? Didn’t she owe that to herself? She was a thirty-two-year-old spinster who needed to step away from the world she’d created on paper and take a leap into a real life. She could be bold and dashin
g and daring. She wasn’t entirely sure how but she was confident she would recognize the opportunity when it presented itself.
Carpe Diem.
And then, perhaps, she would be the one to seduce him.
If he was very, very lucky.
CHAPTER TWELVE
IT WAS NOT DIFFICULT to tell when Sidney Gordon was annoyed with someone. She wasn’t the least bit subtle about it.
One—she returned to calling him Mr. Armstrong.
Two—she spoke to him only when necessary.
Three—she stalked the entire way to the Sphynx with her chin held high and resolve in her step. And she was far quicker than he had expected as well.
Four—she sat beside Corbin when they lunched, chatting entirely too much with him. Harry didn’t like it. The man was a threat in more ways than one.
No, when Sidney Gordon was annoyed with you—you knew it. Although it scarcely mattered. He wasn’t especially happy with her either.
Blackmail? It wasn’t blackmail. Once again she was playing fast and loose with the truth. She was wrong and he was right. It really didn’t come any more straightforward than that. He wasn’t at all sure he should show her his writing but it did seem yet another gauntlet had been thrown down. He didn’t care for this one.
In hindsight he wasn’t certain what their dispute was about or how it had started. Regardless, he was certain he was somehow to blame. Nor did he know if Sidney had said anything to the others about their disagreement although the ladies did seem to have some sort of sixth sense about it. Harry went to great efforts to be pleasant and charming but at any given moment, one or all three of them would be eyeing him closely with considerable speculation. And he did not like the look in their eyes.
He was out of the carriage the moment they reached Shepheard’s to assist the ladies. Sidney pointedly turned to Corbin for help. Which was fine with Harry.
Lady Blodgett took his arm and walked up the front steps beside him. “I do expect you to join us for tea today.”
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