The Jewelled Caftan

by Margaret Pargeter

  'I'm afraid my well-meaning aunt told her I was likely to resume my work in Paris, and Rona had found no one to take my place. This afternoon, my darling, it was my unfortunate task to persuade her that she really didn't want me at all, that she would be much wiser to concentrate on the obviously adoring admirer who brought her here in his plane.'

  Wide-eyed, Ross gazed at him tremulously. 'You didn't seem to so much as like me. You thought me too impulsive I'

  'Yes ...' He covered her face with soft kisses. 'But what else was I to think, you little wretch I You had followed your half-brother so blindly into an impossible situation, and did the most foolish things. But it was my own emotions I understood least, something I in no way appreciated 1 I felt I had to be harsh, otherwise I might easily become demented I I can't truthfully say I fell in love the first moment I saw you,' he teased wryly. 'It took me several hours to comprehend why a man of my wide experience should have been so shocked by that first moving little act of yours in the nomad's tent. Why I was so struck by a pair of dazzling blue eyes. For what you made me feel, I wanted to both love and punish you at the same time. When you ran off with Salem it was bad enough, but when Moulay turned up I think I went occasionally, quite mad with jealousy, mignonne. I vowed I'd carry you off and force you to marry me there and then, but of course I had to remember how young you were, that you probably didn't know your own mind. Then, when we returned here and I spoke with your relatives and realised how they thought of you, how they had treated you, I was even more convinced you must be given a chance to know something more of life. Why,' he tilted her chin to look closely at her again, 'I wasn't even sure that you loved me.'

  'But I did, all along!' Ross whispered fervently. 'At least,' she amended to his slightly raised eyebrows, 'I think I realised the first time you kissed me. I wanted to be near you always, yet I grew so frightened of my emotions I dared not stay. Like you, Armel, I had never been in love before. This was why I tried to escape with Salem. And I was jealous myself,' she admitted, shamefaced, 'even about the clothes you gave me to wear. I couldn't prevent myself wondering if they belonged to another woman.'

  His white teeth glinted with a teasing amusement. 'They did, my darling—my aunt. Each time I set out on my research she always presented me with huge bundles of clothing to distribute among the poorer people who perhaps never got near a town to buy such things.'

  'Oh, I see.' Ross felt her face flush with remorse at her former suspicions. 'I'm sorry, Armel . ..'

  'Forget it, ma chere,' he commanded. 'I want you to forget a lot of things for the time being, including your family. One day we will go together and visit them, but not yet. Next year, perhaps.'

  'I don't think they really mean to be unkind,' Ross excused them hastily. 'But,' her thoughts swung erratically, 'I haven't grown much older in the past few days?'

  'No,' his firm mouth quirked, 'but my patience has. In fact it has quite given out! I have allowed myself to be convinced that, more than any outside experience, you need me. Your tears, this evening, cherie, drove me almost to distraction, and if you love me at least half as much as I love you, it will suffice. So, Mademoiselle Lindsay, if you can forgive all the cruel things I said to you in the desert, we will be married just as soon as it can be arranged.'

  Bemused beyond words, Ross could only nod. 'I love you,' she managed at last, her eyes, very softly, seeking his. . She heard his breathing deepen, felt his mouth go tender with delight. 'Enough to perhaps live another year in the desert?' he asked.

  'I don't mind where we go, as long as I am with you,' she whispered.

  'Together,' he murmured thickly, finding her lips, and not seeming to care, this time, that she was left without breath to either speak or nod. Above them the moon, sailing arrogantly over the high slopes of the Middle Adas, slipped obligingly behind a cloud.