by Jessica Hart
Cairo couldn't believe that he could be so obtuse. 'Max?' she said, and something in her voice made his fingers fall from the key. He straightened slowly and turned to face her. His face was taut, but the grey-green eyes were blazing with sudden hope.
'Yes?'
For a moment Cairo just looked at him, wondering how she could begin to explain, then she leant forward and kissed him very gently on the corner of his mouth. 'I don't want to catch the plane,' she said simply. 'I never did.'
The look in his eyes made her heart turn over. 'You mean you'll stay?'
'Yes.'
'You love me?'
Cairo smiled at last, a warm, radiant smile that lit up her face and was reflected in his eyes. 'Desperately,' she admitted, and the next instant she was in his arms, and he was kissing her with deep, hungry kisses. She melted against him as joy exploded in her heart, holding his neck between her hands so that she could kiss him back.
They broke apart at last, breathless and giddy with happiness. 'You do love me,' said Max, as if he was only just convinced, covering her face with kisses.
'I told you I did,' Cairo managed with difficulty.
'And you'll marry me? Soon?'
'Yes... yes,' she gasped, drunk with the delight of his mouth against hers and the incredible, wonderful, exhilarating knowledge that he loved her after all.
'I've been so miserable without you,' she said, leaning her head against his shoulder at last. 'I couldn't bear the thought of leaving, without even saying goodbye.' In the distance, she watched a plane climb into the blue sky above the airport. The sun glinted silver on its wings as it banked sharply and headed north.
'I might have been on that if I had managed to find a taxi,' she said with a shudder as the realisation hit her. 'Oh, Max, I might never have seen you again!'
'You don't think I left it to chance, do you?' said Max, tightening his arms around her. 'I paid every single taxi driver in Menesset the return fare to the airport to refuse to take you.'
Cairo pulled slightly away from him, scandalised. 'Max! How extravagant!'
'I thought you were worth it,' said Max, and kissed her again. 'Anyway, I can afford it. If the worst came to the worst, I thought I might persuade you to marry me for my money! I've got more of the stuff than I know what to do with.'
'It's a pity you didn't spend it keeping that jeep in better condition,' Cairo pretended to scold.
Max looked defensive. 'She's normally very reliable,' he said, but had the grace to laugh when Cairo did. 'It was just unfortunate that she broke down that day. I wished I'd taken this car after all.'
'Why didn't you? It would have been a lot more comfortable!'
'Sheer bloody-mindedness,' he said, his hands tightening against her. 'You'd spent all night flirting with Bruce, remember. I was beside myself with jealousy and determined to make you suffer for it!'
'I certainly did that!' said Cairo with feeling, remembering what it had been like digging out the jeep.
Max laughed. 'I was a pig to you that day. I'm sorry.' He took her hand and pressed a kiss into her palm, curling her fingers over as if to keep it there. 'I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to you,' he promised and she sighed with happiness.
'You made it up to me that night,' she reminded him with a wicked smile, and his hands tightened against her.
'Exactly,' he said.
'It wasn't just that day either,' Cairo pointed out, teasing. 'You were vile to me most of the time on the plateau, and as for that performance with Jasmin...well! You'll have to work very hard to make all that up!'
Max grinned. 'I'll make a start as soon as we get to the pool.'
'Promises, promises!'
He kissed her once, hard, and released her. 'If we don't get a move-on, we won't get to the pool at all tonight,' he told her, and Cairo slid reluctantly back to her side of the seat as he set the car moving once more.
The pool was just as she had remembered it, a quiet, cool green. Cairo held Max's hand as she stood looking down into its clear depths and thought that her heart would burst with happiness. She wanted to go for a swim straight away, but the light was draining rapidly from the sky and Max insisted on setting up the camp first.
'We don't want to be blundering around in the dark,' he said, and pulled her against him. 'We've got better things to do then. Let's be sensible now.'
'I haven't got a sleeping mat,' Cairo said, muffled against his shoulder, as she was struck by the sudden thought. 'I knew we'd be staying in a hotel, so I didn't bring anything like that with me this time.'
'I've got an extra one,' said Max casually. Cairo was inclined to think that it was fortunate until she saw him unpack two mugs and two plates.
'You were very sure of me,' she accused him.
Max stood up and took her hands. His face was serious. 'I wasn't sure at all, Cairo. I just hoped, but all I had to go on was that one blazing look you sent Jasmin. I wasn't nearly as confident as I pretended to be, and I would have taken you on to the airport straight away if that's what you'd wanted.' His fingers tightened around hers. 'I don't like to think about what a lonely night thiswould have been if you'd decided you didn't want to stay.'
'I'll never decide that,' said Cairo quietly. 'But I will have to go home some time, Max. I've still got my father to think about.'
'We'll go back together,' he promised. 'We'll pay off your father's debts and you can tell Piers he'll have to start looking for a new partner. If he's got any sense, he'll include Joanna in his schemes. She doesn't need to work, but having a job like that might give her some of the confidence she needs. She could also keep an eye on Piers that way!'
Cairo looked at him in surprise. 'You mean you don't mind about Piers any more?'
'I don't mind nearly as much as I did when I thought he might be involved with you,' Max confessed. 'You were right about me being too protective of Joanna. I've looked after her since I was nine, and I suppose I got used to it, but it might have been better if I'd let her look after herself a bit more.'
'I don't think the poor girl will get much chance to be independent,' said Cairo drily. 'Piers is determined to look after her too!'
'He wrote to me,' Max said unexpectedly. 'He said he understood that I might not be too keen on the idea of him marrying my sister, but that he loved her and wouldn't rush her into anything before he'd proved that he'd made a success of his business.' Max made a disgusted noise. 'He sounds a bit too smarmy for my liking, but if Joanna's determined to have him I suppose I'll have to make the best of it.' He sighed. 'He even had the cheek to finish by saying that he gathered I'd met his partner, Miss Kingswood, and any help I could give her on her forthcoming trip to Shofrar would be very much appreciated!'
She laughed. 'I didn't tell him quite how much you'd done for us already,' she offered as an excuse for Piers.
'For you,' Max corrected, catching her against him. 'How are you going to show me your appreciation?'
Cairo slipped her arms around him and ran her fingers down his spine. 'I'll think of something,' she promised in a silky voice, kissing his throat, and Max smiled as he began unbuttoning her shirt.
'Start thinking now,' he suggested.
Discarding clothes as they went, he drew her over to the sleeping mats. 'I thought we were supposed to be being sensible and setting up the camp?'
Cairo reminded him, already breathless beneath the devastating exploration of his hands.
Max pulled her down beside him, and bent his head to find her mouth with his own. 'It can wait,' he said.
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