Desert Man

by Barbara Faith

  “I shall go with you, of course.”

  Kumar shook his head. “You’ll join me later. I want you to stay here at the palace until Miss McCall leaves. When things calm down and it’s safe to fly, you will see her safely onto my plane. Then you’ll join me in the desert.”

  Saoud stroked his chin whiskers. “Why does she not accompany you? Have you asked her to?”

  “Yes. She refused.”

  “Why do you not take her anyway? She is only a woman and you are a man. Once she is with you she will undoubtedly change her mind.” He smiled. “About the desert, I mean.”

  Kumar’s face went still. “You overstep,” he said.

  “And you will have me boiled in oil?” Saoud touched his fingertips to his forehead and bowed. “Very well,” he said. “I will see to the American, and when she is safely out of Abdu Resaba I will join you in the desert. Is there anything else?”

  “No, nothing.”

  “Then I shall take my most humble departure.”

  “You’ve never been humble a day in your life.”

  “Alas, that is true and will, I’m afraid, remain so.” Saoud had been smiling, but now the smile faded. He put a hand on Kumar’s shoulder. “Take care,” he said. “These are dangerous times. Sharif Kadiri is an evil man and his tentacles reach far. There are men who would sell their own mothers for the money he would pay for your head. I should truly grieve if anything were to happen to you.”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to me.”

  “I pray that is true. What time do you leave?”

  “At dawn.”

  “May Allah protect you.”

  “And you, Saoud.”

  When he was alone Kumar hesitated, then crossed to the telephone. He had been angry when he’d left Josie the night before. He’d paced his rooms for hours after he’d left her, half tempted to go storming into her room and batter down the walls of her resistance.

  She wanted him as badly as he wanted her. Why, then, had she stopped him? Were her prejudices so deeply ingrained she would not admit to herself what was between them?

  Maybe his father was right. Maybe he should throw her on a camel and take her into the desert with him. He might be there for a month, maybe two. Two months with Josie. Two months of love-filled nights, of going to sleep with her beside him, waking in the night to rouse her to readiness. Of doing all the things with her he had ever dreamed of doing with a woman.

  He swore aloud. Damn the woman! If she didn’t want him, then let her take her prejudices and go back where she belonged. He’d be better off without her.

  Maybe he’d say goodbye. Make it official. Final. He picked the phone up, held it for a moment, then put it down because he knew it would do no good to talk to her. It was better for both of them if they left things as they were.

  But dear God, how he longed to see her just once more. To hold her again, to feel her softness, to breathe in the scent of her hair.

  His hand tightened involuntarily on the phone, then with a curse he flung it across the room.

  The next day he left for the desert.

  * * *

  It took two hours to reach the place where the caravan waited. When Kumar stepped out of the car in the dark gray djellaba with the black ghutrah covering his hair, some of the men he had known when he was in the desert before came forward to greet him.

  “Sabbah al khair,” they called out. “It is a morning of gladness to see you once more.”

  He greeted each of the eight men in turn and asked about their families. Their leader, a man whose name was Mohammed, said, “Everything is in order, Sheikh Kumar.”

  Sheikh Kumar? The name startled him. But that’s how he would be known now that he was going into the desert. He smiled to himself because he knew how Josie would have reacted to his being called sheikh.

  Josie. He must not think about her, for if he did he would turn the car around, race back to the palace, and do exactly what his grandfather would have done with such a woman. For a moment the temptation was so strong he had to clench his hands to his sides to keep from striding toward the car. To hell with her. He didn’t need a woman who didn’t want him the same way he wanted her. As soon as he reached the Bedouin camp he’d find a woman who would be only too glad to share his bed.

  But in his heart Kumar knew that he would not. The only woman he wanted was Josie.

  He turned to Mohammed. “If your men are ready, we’ll leave immediately,” he said.

  “They are ready, Sheikh Kumar.” Mohammed brought one of the camels forward and when he had whacked the beast across its knees with a stick and it had knelt, he said, “Let me help you.”

  “There’s no need. I can manage. I...” He heard the sound of a motor. “What the devil?” he said, and saw a car racing toward them down the dusty road. When it drew closer he realized it was a limousine from the palace and he ran toward it, alarmed that something might have happened or that there had been a change in plans.

  Before he could reach the car it stopped and Saoud got out. He opened the rear door and took out a canvas bag, then offered his hand to someone inside.

  And Josie stepped out. She wore jeans and boots and a long-sleeved shirt. Her hair was pulled off her face in a braid. For a moment she didn’t move, she only held on to Saoud’s hand as if afraid to let go.

  In a voice made rough by the shock of seeing her, Kumar said, “What are you doing here?”

  Saoud let go of her hand. She took a step forward. “I wanted...I thought...” She swallowed hard, took a deep breath and said, “I want to go with you, Kumar. If you’ll let me.”

  His heart started to race. Josie was here. She wanted to go with him. “The trip will be hard,” he said. “It will take us three days to get to the Bedouin camp.” He took a step toward her. “Why do you want to come with me?”

  “You know why.”

  He felt his throat constrict. “Tell me.”

  She looked at the other men.

  “They don’t speak English. Tell me.”

  “I want to be with you.”

  “You know what will happen if you come.”

  “Yes, I know.” Her gaze didn’t falter. “I know.”

  “The Bedouin camp will be different from anything you’ve ever known.”

  “I understand.”

  “When we’re there, we’ll share a tent.”

  She nodded.

  “And still you want to come with me.”

  “Yes,” she said. “Oh, yes.”

  He let out the breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding. He wasn’t sure what miracle had brought her to him, he only knew that she was here and that she wanted to be with him.

  He wanted to clasp her in his arms and tell her what this meant to him, but the other men were watching and so he led her to Mohammed and said, “This is Miss Josephine McCall from the United States. She and Saoud will accompany us.”

  The man touched his fingers to his forehead. “Madame,” he said. “Marhaban, welcome.” He turned to Saoud. “And to you, my tall friend. It is good to see you again.”

  “And you.” Saoud glanced up at the sky. “It is daylight. We should be on our way before the sun is hot.” He handed the canvas bag he had taken from the car to Mohammed. “These are the lady’s things,” he said.

  Kumar took Josie’s arm. “Have you ever ridden a camel?” he asked.

  “No,” she said. “But I’m a fairly good horsewoman.”

  “A camel is different.”

  “Oh?” She eyed the beast. He had a hairy drooping lip, yellow teeth and watery eyes.

  Kumar helped her climb onto the saddle. “Hang on,” he said, “and keep your feet back so that he doesn’t bite you.” He whacked the animal and it rose with a jolt that almost unseated her.

  The camel huffed and groaned. It swung its neck around and the yellowed teeth reached for her ankle. Josie jerked her foot back and Mohammed struck the beast across his nose.

  She clung to the saddle. “How
long is the trip to where we’re going?” she asked Kumar.

  “Three days, if we’re lucky. Four at the most.”

  Four days? On this droopy-lipped, yellow-fanged beast? With a sigh Josie settled herself into the saddle.

  She still wasn’t quite sure why she had decided to come. Perhaps it had been the dream of Kumar’s riding into danger and the feeling that if she were with him she could somehow protect him. She’d known, too, that if she did not go with him it would be the end of things between them. The thought of that, of never seeing him again, had been insupportable. In time she would leave him, but for now, for this time they would have together in the desert, she would be with him.

  As for the trip, she’d been a camper since she was ten years old and she’d won prizes for her horsemanship. Surely this couldn’t be so different.

  An hour later she knew that it was different. For one thing, horseback riding didn’t make you seasick. She’d heard that if you were on a ship and you kept your eyes on something steady and straight the nausea would go away. But how could you find something steady and straight when with each rolling motion of the camel the sand dunes rose and fell before your eyes?

  By the time they stopped to rest, Kumar had to help her off the camel.

  “A queasy stomach?” he asked.

  “Try total upheaval.”

  He walked her over to the shade of a date palm and when Saoud had laid a piece of tarpaulin on the sand, Kumar eased her down and held a canteen of water to her lips. When she had taken a sip he said, “Take this pill. It will help.”

  “Dramamine?”

  “Something similar.”

  “You can’t get seasick in the desert.”

  “A lot of people get sick the first time on a camel. You’ll feel better as soon as the pill takes effect.”

  “Wanna bet?”

  He looked concerned. “We’ve only been gone an hour,” he said. “It’s not too late to turn back. We’ll wait until the pill settles you down and then I can have Saoud escort you.”

  “No.” She put her hand on his arm. “I want to go with you, Kumar. Don’t send me back.”

  He brushed a tangle of hair back from her face. “What made you decide to come, Josie?”

  “I’m not sure. Maybe it was something Jasmine said. Maybe it was a dream I had the night after you left me.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t leave things the way they were between us, Kumar. I want to be with you for this time in the desert. When it’s over...” She tried to smile. “We’ll talk about it then,” she said. “In the meantime I want to be with you. All right?”

  He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “It’s more than all right, Josie. But we may be in the desert for a long time.”

  “I have time,” she said.

  When he left her she lay back on the tarp and closed her eyes. She slept and when she awoke her stomach had settled down. She drank some more water and she let Kumar wrap her head with a cloth to protect her from the sun. And when she was ready she climbed back on the camel.

  By noon her body was drenched with sweat, but her stomach had settled and she was thankful for that. When they stopped for lunch, Saoud rigged a tarp over her head. She ate only a piece of flat bread and drank a glass of lime water. Her hands hurt from keeping such a tight hold on the reins, and her bottom was saddle sore.

  Four days? she thought again.

  All signs of civilization had been left behind. There was only mile after mile of endless sand and rolling dunes, broken occasionally by a few scrub plants or a cluster of date palms. Part of the time Kumar rode beside her. He looked different now than he had at the palace, all desert man in his flowing djellaba with the ghutra that covered his dark hair.

  There were times during that long, hot afternoon when Josie asked herself what she was doing here in this strange and alien land with a man who was different from anyone she had ever known. Each time the doubts came she had only to look at Kumar to know the answer.

  He had said that when they reached the Bedouin camp they would share a tent. She had known this was the way it would be and she didn’t regret having come. She would stay with him for this time in the desert, and when it was over... No, she didn’t have to think about that now. She would only think of the days—and the nights—that lay ahead.

  And of how it would be when they reached the Bedouin camp.

  When evening came they set up camp. After the tents were up the camel drivers started fires to prepare the evening meal.

  Saoud brought Josie a basin of water and said, “I’m sorry. This is all that is allowed. I hope it will help.”

  And though she longed for a bath, Josie said, “Of course it will, Saoud. Thank you.”

  She took the binding off her head and unbraided her hair. She took off the shirt and bathed the best way she could. When that was done she brushed out her hair and put on a clean shirt from the bag she had brought with her.

  Dinner consisted of dried meat with rice, hot nan bread, fruit and sugary mint tea. When she ate everything that was on her plate, Kumar smiled and said, “You have a good appetite. I like that in a woman.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “What else do you like in a woman, Prince Kumar?”

  “Red hair,” he said without hesitation. “Green eyes that I can get lost in. Smooth skin with just a sprinkling of freckles on the cheeks.”

  He leaned back on the sand, long legs stretched out in front of him, enjoying himself. “I prefer a woman who is tall,” he went on. “A woman who stands eye to eye with me.” His voice dropped to a seductive whisper. “I like a woman whose breasts are small enough for me to cup in the palm of my hand, whose nipples are the color of ripe peaches. I like a woman whose legs are long and shapely so that I can dream of how it will be when she puts them around my body. I like...”

  He took a steady breath and his eyes blazed with a passion he could barely hold in check. “Do you know how much I want you?” he whispered. “Do you know what torture it is to say these things to you and not be able to take you in my arms because the men are watching us?”

  She looked at him across the campfire that separated them. “I want to lie with you,” she said, never taking her gaze from his. “I want to feel your body over mine. I want to make love with you.” She took a deep breath. The tip of her tongue darted out to touch her upper lip. “I’ve wanted to for such a long time.”

  He ground his teeth together. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded hoarsely. “Why now, when there is nothing we can do about it?”

  “Maybe that’s why,” she whispered with the hint of a smile.

  Kumar didn’t smile back. Holding her gaze, speaking in a voice so low she could barely hear, he said, “I’ve a good mind to grab you by the scruff of your neck and take you behind the nearest sand dune.”

  He got to his feet. His eyes were desert dark, his nostrils pinched with such barely restrained passion that for a moment she thought that was exactly what he was going to do. Instead he pulled her up beside him. His hands tightened on her arms and he kissed her.

  “Our time will come,” he said against her lips. “When it does, I’ll make love to you until you plead for mercy. I’ll kiss every inch of your body, and I’ll make you wait until you beg me to take you.”

  Her knees went weak. She clung to him. “Kumar,” she whispered. “Kumar.”

  He let her go. “Soon,” he said. “Soon, my Josie.”

  * * *

  On the morning of the fourth day they crested the top of a sand dune and saw below them the camp of Sheikh Youssef Abedi.

  “We are here!” Mohammed called out.

  A cry went up among the men. “Yallah! Yallah! Hurry!” Striking their camels to urge them on, they raced down the dune to the desert oasis.

  Josie looked down on a city of black tents in an oasis of palm trees and spring-fed pools. There were fig and date palms, desert juniper, a sprinkling of flowers and small shrubs where goats and sheep grazed, and ground where wheat and
barley grew.

  Kumar reined in beside her. “This will be our home for the next few weeks,” he said quietly. “I hope you will be happy here.”

  She turned on her saddle and looked into his eyes. “You will be with me. That’s all that matters.”

  “Tonight you will lie in my arms. We will make love and afterward you will sleep in peace under my heart.”

  She reached out and touched his hand. And together they went slowly down the dune to the Bedouin camp that lay below.

  Chapter 13

  A crowd of men, women and children rushed out to greet them. Some of the women were veiled, some were not. Some had their heads covered, others had tattoos on their foreheads and cheeks, and most had henna on the palms of their hands. The younger girls wore dark skirts with brightly colored blouses; little boys wore either robes or white cotton pants and shirts.

  All of them gathered around the new arrivals, shouting greetings at Kumar and the other men who had just arrived, pointing at the blue jeans Josie wore.

  “Shoof!” they said. “Look! Look! The woman is wearing pants like a man. How is it possible?”

  The men crowded closer. Most looked at her with anger and suspicion, but some with lust in their hooded eyes.

  Josie clutched at the reins. For the first time since she had started out, she questioned the wisdom of coming. She hadn’t expected to find a palace in the desert, but neither had she expected anything this primitive. It was too foreign, too different from anything she had ever known. It was as if she had stepped back into another time, another century.

  She looked at Kumar for help, but before she could speak, one of the men cried out, “It is Sheikh Kumar Ben Ari!”

  A cry went up and they pushed forward. “Sheikh Kumar! Sheikh Kumar! May Allah be praised.”

  Someone forced down his camel. He swung his legs over the saddle and they jostled each other to get closer to him.

  He shouted greetings, clasped shoulders. These were his people and he was a part of them, all desert man now in his robe and ghutra, his skin darkened by the sun and his Bedouin ancestors.

  The men pushed forward, surrounding Josie and the other riders in their eagerness to get closer. She looked to Kumar for help, but he was in the midst of them now, happy to be back, looking more at home here in this desert camp than he had been at the palace.