Buch lesen: «Sandstorm»

CHAPTER ONE

ABBY stood behind the kitchen door, with her hands pressed hard against her burning cheeks. She hoped no one had observed her hasty departure from the party, or if they had, that they assumed she was helping Liz with the washing up. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself, and at least in the kitchen she could not be seen.

Dry-mouthed, she moved away from the door, glad that the caterers who had been here earlier had departed some time ago. It would have been awkward, explaining her withdrawal from the proceedings to them, and she supposed she ought to be grateful there was no one to witness her consternation. But how could she have anticipated that Rachid would turn up here, at Liz’s party, when she had not even known he was in London?

Taking long gulping intakes of air, she endeavoured to calm herself. It was ridiculous behaving like this, she told herself impatiently. She was a grown woman, not a child. She should be capable of handling any situation, including meeting the husband she had not seen for almost eighteen months. She was Brad’s secretary, wasn’t she? The cool collected recipient of his confidences, and no longer the wide-eyed innocent she had been when she first met Rachid. At just such a party as this, she thought bitterly—only in Paris, not at her friend’s apartment in London.

Liz!

With a puzzled frown she considered the possibility that Liz had known Rachid might appear. Liz knew everyone, and her job at the news agency ensured that she knew most of what they were doing as well. It was inconceivable that she should not have learned that the son of an eminent Middle Eastern prince was in town, so why hadn’t she told Abby? The answer was obvious. Because if Abby had suspected her husband might be here, she herself would not have come.

Nibbling at her lower lip, Abby braced herself against the sink. She supposed it had been bound to happen sooner or later, that she should meet Rachid again, if not socially then at least commercially. Since she had taken up the post of Brad’s secretary once more, her work brought her into contact with the oil barons of the world, and after all, it was through Brad that she had met Rachid in the first place.

But Liz! She and Liz had been friends since schooldays. She had known how she felt. Had known that she had no desire to meet her husband again—not yet. It was too soon. And she half wished she had not succumbed to her father’s pleas to her to return to England. Without his entreating letters, she would still be working at the trade mission in New York, and she felt a surge of frustration that she should have allowed herself to be persuaded to take up her old life.

And yet, she argued logically, couldn’t this have happened just as easily in New York? Rachid was not bound by the conventions and limitations which had restricted his ancestors. He was a man of the twentieth century. He flew all over the world on business for his father. He looked like a European, and he dressed like a European, and only in his own country did he shed the trappings of the Western world.

Nevertheless, Abby knew that the chances of her encountering Rachid in New York had to be less likely. Her work there had not afforded her the same opportunities she had as Brad’s secretary, and besides, so far as she knew, Rachid did not know where she was. All correspondence between them had been through her father’s house in London, and he had distinct orders not to give her address to anyone without first consulting her.

The door behind her opened and she swung round apprehensively, half afraid that Rachid had seen where she had gone and followed her. But it was Liz Forster who came into the room, viewing her friend with wry knowing eyes. She was a tall girl, about Abby’s height of five feet seven inches, with narrow bones and slightly angular features. She did not have Abby’s smoothness or roundness, for although Abby was slim—too slim, her father thought—she retained a lissom grace, that was evident in the curve of her hips and the fullness of her breasts.

Now Liz closed the door behind her, and leaning back against it, folded her arms. ‘Don’t tell me,’ she said, as Abby’s lips parted in involuntary protest. ‘You’ve seen him!’ She shook her head. ‘Is that why you’re skulking out here?’

‘I am not skulking,’ declared Abby, straightening up from the sink, and rubbing her chilled palms together. ‘I am merely trying to decide why you should do such a thing.’

Liz sighed, pushing herself away from the door. ‘You’re angry,’ she said flatly.

‘Did you expect anything else?’

Liz shrugged. ‘I suppose not.’

Abby gazed at her helplessly. ‘Liz, you must have known how I would react. That’s why you didn’t tell me, isn’t it? Why you let me stand there like a lemon, when Damon brought him in.’

‘Did he see you?’

‘No.’ Abby pressed her lips together. ‘At least, I don’t think he did. You can never be absolutely sure with Rachid. He has the eyes of a hawk!’

‘A desert hawk,’ replied Liz dryly. Then: ‘I’m sorry, Abby, but I had to do it.’

‘Why? Why did you have to?’ Abby could not accept that. ‘You could have warned me, at least.’

‘And then you wouldn’t have come,’ Liz exclaimed, reminding her of her own words. ‘Abby, does it really matter? I mean, you have to meet him some time, don’t you? Even if it’s only in the divorce court.’

Abby’s lips thinned. ‘Don’t you know?’ she taunted bitterly. ‘Muslims don’t have to do anything so boringly official. All Rachid has to do is say the words of repudiation and he’s a free man. Besides, why should he do that? He’s allowed four wives anyway.’

‘Abby!’ Liz came towards her, putting a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. ‘Rachid’s a Christian. You told me so yourself—’

‘Is he?’ Abby moved away from her.

‘Abby, you know—’

‘I’d really rather not talk about it, Liz.’ She moved her head jerkily, feeling the weight of her hair heavy at her nape. ‘And if you don’t mind, I’d like to leave—as soon as possible. Would you get my coat? It’s in the bedroom. I’ll just slip out the back way—’

‘Speak to him, at least,’ Liz protested, appalled. ‘What’s the matter? You’re surely not afraid of him, are you? Heavens, you were married for almost three years! Doesn’t that entitle him to five minutes of your time?’

Abby’s eyes blazed. ‘Rachid’s entitled to nothing from me, nothing!’ she declared fiercely. ‘I don’t know what kind of moral blackmail he used on you to get you to invite him here—’

‘Damon asked if he could bring a friend,’ retorted Liz crossly. Damon Hunter was her boss at the agency. ‘How did I know—’

‘You mean, you didn’t?’ Abby looked at her sceptically, and even Liz could not sustain that challenging gaze.

‘Oh, all right,’ she said, picking up a canapé from a half empty tray and biting into it delicately. ‘Damon told me who it was. But I didn’t know you were going to throw a fit of hysterics, did I?’

Abby bent her head. ‘Will you get my coat?’

‘Abby, please—’

Liz looked at her imploringly, and Abby heaved a sigh. ‘I can’t stay here,’ she said firmly. ‘I’m not hysterical, and I’m not afraid of seeing Rachid again, I just—don’t want to—to speak to him.’

Liz shook her head. ‘Damon’s going to be furious!’

‘Damon is?’ Abby was confused.

‘Yes.’ Liz moved her shoulders awkwardly. ‘Oh, if you must know, he asked me to give this party, to invite you here. Rachid—’

‘You mean Rachid arranged it?’ Abby demanded angrily. ‘Oh, Liz, how could you?’

Liz grimaced. ‘I didn’t have much choice, did I? Damon is my boss!’

Abby clenched her fists. ‘I won’t do it, Liz. I won’t!’

‘All right, all right.’ Liz made a deprecatory gesture. ‘No one can force you.’

‘No.’ But Abby was not completely convinced. She knew her husband. She knew his capacity for coercion and for the first time she wondered why he particularly wanted to see her now, just when she was beginning to feel secure once more.

‘I’ll get your coat,’ said Liz suddenly, walking towards the door. ‘You wait here. I won’t be long.’

‘And if Damon—’

‘Leave it to me,’ replied Liz quietly, and Abby fretted uneasily until she came back again, carrying the pigskin coat that Abby had arrived in. ‘Here you are,’ she said, helping her on with it. ‘You can leave by the service door. There’s no lift, I’m afraid, but the stairs will bring you out on to Gresham Place.’

‘Thanks.’ Abby curled the soft fur collar up about her ears, its darkness complementing her extreme fairness. ‘I’m sorry about this, Liz, but I can’t face Rachid. Not tonight.’

Liz shrugged. ‘If you say so.’

‘You do understand, don’t you?’

Liz hesitated. ‘Not entirely.’ She paused, and then seeing Abby’s anxious expression, she went on: ‘Darling, Rachid’s a dish, in anyone’s vocabulary. I could never understand why not having a baby meant that much to you. I mean—heaps of couples—’

Abby moved towards the service door. ‘You’re right, Liz,’ she said tightly. ‘You don’t understand. Anyway …’ she made an awkward movement of her shoulders, ‘I must go. Goodnight, and—and thank you.’

‘I’ll ring you next week,’ said Liz, following her to the door, and Abby nodded.

‘Yes, do that,’ she agreed, and with a faint smile she let herself out on to the concrete hallway that gave access to the rear of the flats.

Liz’s flat was on the seventh floor, and Abby was relieved when she finally reached the door on to the street. Fourteen flights of stairs had seemed interminable, and she expelled her breath weakly as she emerged from the building.

It was a chilly October evening, with a thin mist rising from the river. Drifts of fallen leaves choked the gutters, and Abby pushed her hands into her pockets as she stepped out along the pavement towards Gresham Square. She might find a taxi outside the apartments, she decided hopefully, eager to put as much distance between her and Rachid as she could in the shortest possible time.

She was completely unaware of being observed, so that when the tall figure stepped in front of her, she thought for a moment that she was being accosted. Her breath escaped on a trembling gasp and she lifted her head in anxious protest, only to step back aghast when she encountered the dark impassioned gaze of her husband. In spite of what had gone before, he was the last person she had expected to meet out here, and it was only as she took another backward step that she realised he was not alone. Two men had silently paced her progress along the street, and this meeting with Rachid was no coincidence, but a well-executed ambush. Oh, Liz, she thought despairingly, how could you? How could you?

‘Good evening, Abby.’

Rachid’s voice was rich and dark and smooth, like a fine wine, she thought imaginatively, belying the controlled anger she had glimpsed in the shadowy depths of his eyes. He spoke with scarcely a trace of an accent, but that was hardly surprising considering he had been educated at the most exclusive establishments England had to offer, and what was more to the point, his grandmother was English. He stood looking down at her, for although she was a tall girl, he still topped her by a few inches, waiting for her reply, and with a feeling of impotence bordering on the hysteria Liz had hinted at earlier, Abby inclined her head.

‘Good evening, Rachid.’

A snap of his fingers sent his two henchmen several yards along the street, and then, in the same controlled tones, he continued: ‘You refused to speak to me at the home of your friend. I regret this—er—stratagem, but I was determined that we should talk, Abby.’

Abby’s hands balled in her pockets, but she managed to hold up her head. At least in the shadowy illumination of the street lamps he was unable to see the anxious colour that had filled her cheeks, or the unsteady quiver of her lips, and forcing a note of indifference, she said:

‘You could have telephoned me. If not at home, then at the office. I presume you do know I’ve gone back to work for Brad Daley. I’m sure your—spies have been at their work.’

‘Spies!’ His tongue flicked the word contemptuously. Then, as if impatient with this unsatisfactory encounter, he gestured along the street. ‘Come, my car is parked nearby. Let me escort you home. We can talk more comfortably out of this damp atmosphere.’

Abby stood her ground. ‘I really don’t see what we have to talk about, Rachid,’ she insisted firmly. ‘I—well, I told Liz I didn’t wish to speak to you, and I thought she would respect my confidence. Just because she hasn’t, I see no reason to change my mind—’

‘Elizabeth—Liz—had no opportunity to respect your confidence,’ he retorted shortly, narrow lines bracketing his mouth. ‘When I realised you were no longer in the apartment, I came after you. It was reasonable that as you had not used the lifts, you must perforce have used the stairs.’

Abbey felt a little of the sense of betrayal leave her. ‘It makes no difference—’

‘It does to me,’ Rachid thrust the hands he had been holding behind his back into the pockets of the dark overcoat he was wearing, glancing about him almost irritably. ‘Abby, I did not come here to stand arguing with you in the street. Have the goodness to accompany me back to my car. I promise, I am not intent on abducting you without your consent. I merely wish us to—to talk.’

‘What about?’ Abby was suspicious.

‘Allah give me strength!’ Rachid half turned away from her. Why will you not do as I ask you? Just this once? Surely it is not so much to ask? You are still my wife, after all.’

‘Am I?’ Her brows arched.

‘What do you mean?’ He turned to look at her with dark intensity.

Abby shrugged, a little unnerved by his hard scrutiny. ‘I thought—that is—you might have divorced—’

‘Enough!’ There was no mistaking the fact that he was angry now. ‘You are my wife! And so you will remain. Now, will you come with me without protest, or must I ask Karim and Ahmed—’

Abby’s eyes blazed. ‘You’d do that? You’d forcibly make me go with you?’

‘Be still, Abby.’ He drew a heavy breath. ‘This conversation is rapidly becoming ridiculous! Is it so unreasonable that having not laid eyes on you for almost two years—’

‘Eighteen months.’

‘—I might wish for a little speech with you?’

‘I told you in my letters—’

‘—that you did not wish to see me, yes, I know.’ Rachid’s breathing indicated his impatience. ‘But I do not accept that. I have never accepted that. I waited—not patiently, I admit, but I waited even so, for you to come to your senses. When you did not, I came after you, only to find you were no longer in London.’

‘When was that?’ Abby was curious.

‘I do not know exactly. Six months, maybe nine months ago. It seems much longer, but I cannot be sure.’

Abby shifted her weight from one foot to the other. ‘You saw—my father?’

‘Yes, I saw him.’

Abby frowned. ‘He didn’t tell me.’

‘Would it have made any difference if he had?’ Rachid moved his shoulders indifferently. ‘He would not give me your address.’

Abby’s lips twisted. ‘No? And didn’t you threaten him? Couldn’t you blackmail him into doing as you wanted?’

Rachid’s features hardened. ‘You have a viper’s tongue, Abby. I had forgotten that.’

The mildly spoken comment infuriated her. Despite his anger, he was still able to control his speech, and her response was childishly vehement. ‘Then no doubt you’re well rid of me!’ she taunted, only to break off abruptly when he possessed himself of her arm.

‘Come,’ he said, and the warning brilliance of his eyes silenced the protest that trembled on her lips.

Inwardly seething, she had no choice but to accompany him along the narrow street that opened into the square beyond. Karim and Ahmed moved obediently ahead, and by, the time Abby and Rachid turned the corner, the two men were already unlocking the doors of a sleek black limousine that awaited them. Like Rachid, they too were dressed in Western clothes, but whereas his features were arguably European, theirs were unquestionably Arab.

Rachid escorted Abby to the nearside door and when one of the men opened it, he propelled her inside. She panted briefly, in the aftermath of keeping up with his long-strided gait, and then hastily scrambled to the far side of the car as he climbed in after her. The two men took their seats in front, and the glass partition between successfully isolated them in a cocoon of supple leather and tinted glass.

The engine fired at the first attempt, and Abby sank back uneasily against the upholstery as the long Mercedes moved away. It was almost two years since she had ridden in such arrant luxury, and while resentment simmered at this unwanted encounter, her limbs responded to the sumptuous comfort of her surroundings.

But she was no longer seduced by such things. Time, and experience, had taught her that it was people and not possessions that ultimately governed one’s life, that no inanimate object, no matter how extravagant, could compensate for disillusionment.

‘You have been working in New York,’ Rachid said now, half turning towards her on the cushioned seat, and Abby made a gesture of acknowledgement.

‘I thought you didn’t know where I was?’ she countered, and he expelled his breath on a sound of impatience.

‘Since your return to London, I have learned everything about you,’ he retorted. ‘Daley is not as secretive about his employees as you would obviously like. With the better half of a bottle of Scotch malt beneath his belt, he had few inhibitions.’

Abby pursed her lips. ‘You mean—you pumped Brad?’

Rachid shook his head. ‘Not me, personally, no. But I do have some friends.’

Abby felt a surge of indignation. ‘You mean you have influence with people!’ she asserted coldly. ‘You use people, Rachid.’ Her lips curled. ‘You always did.’

Rachid’s expression was hidden from her, but she sensed his heated reaction to the insult. Wives of Middle Eastern princes did not answer back, that much she had learned in her years in Abarein. At least, they hadn’t, until she came on the scene. But she had been stupid enough to imagine she had been different, that she and Rachid had had a deeper relationship than those foolish acolytes who only hovered on the brink of their husband’s notice.

‘This conversation is getting us nowhere,’ he said at last. ‘I have been very patient, Abby, but now my patience is wearing thin. I want you back. I want you to return with me—to Xanthia.’

Abby choked. ‘You’re not serious!’

‘But I am,’ he assured her, in that calm, implacable tone. ‘You are my wife, Abby, and as such you belong in my house. I do not intend that this situation should continue any longer. I need a wife—I need you. I expect you to adhere to my wishes.’

Abby felt a rising sense of incredulity that threatened to explode in hysterical laughter. He couldn’t be serious, but he was! He actually expected her to give up the new life she had made for herself and return with him to Abarein, to the palace at Xanthia, which he shared with his father and the rest of his family.

Abby pushed forward on the seat and reached for the handle of the door. ‘I think you’re right,’ she said, momentarily surprising him by what he thought was her submission. ‘This conversation is getting us nowhere. If you’ll ask your driver to stop here, I can take a bus—’

Rachid’s utterance was not polite, and she turned startled eyes in his direction. ‘You are not getting out of this car until I have the answer I seek,’ he told her grimly, ‘and I suggest you give the matter careful consideration before creating circumstances you will find hard to redeem.’

Abby gasped. ‘You said you were not abducting me!’ she burst out tremulously. ‘And now you say—’

‘For God’s sake, you are my wife, Abby!’ he overrode her harshly. ‘How can I abduct my wife? You belong to me!’

‘I belong to no one,’ she retorted, her breathing quickening again. ‘Rachid, you have no right—’

‘I have every right. By the laws of your country and mine—’

‘Laws!’ Abby cast an anxious look through the windows of the limousine. ‘Rachid, marriage is not governed by laws! It’s governed by needs—by emotions! And most of all, by trust.’

Rachid leant towards her. ‘I trust you.’

‘But I don’t trust you!’ she averred unsteadily. ‘Rachid, can’t you see you’re wasting your time? Our—our marriage is over, as surely as if we had untied the knot ourselves.’

‘I will not accept that.’

‘You’ll have to. I’m not coming back to you, Rachid. I—I don’t love you.’

‘I love you.’

‘Do you?’ Abby’s mouth quivered. ‘I’m afraid your ideas of love and mine are sadly different.’

Rachid’s hand was suddenly hard upon her knee. ‘Listen to me, Abby. I need you—’

‘You need a woman,’ Abby corrected tautly. ‘Only a woman. Any woman—’

‘No!’

‘Yes.’ She tried to dislodge those hard fingers which were digging into the bone. ‘You only think you want me because I left you. When I was there…’

‘Yes? When you were there? Did I not treat you as the much-loved wife of my father’s eldest son?’

Abby bent her head. ‘You treated me—honorably, yes. But you know as well as I do, that—that isn’t enough.’ She shook her head. ‘Rachid, you know you must have an heir. And we both know that you’re not to blame for not producing one.’

‘Abby!’

His tone was impassioned now, and she knew she had lit some flame of remembrance inside him. It was hard for him, she knew that, but where there was no fidelity there was no trust, and she would not—she could not—share him with his mistresses.

‘Abby,’ he went on now, ‘I know my father spoke with you—’

‘You do?’ She stiffened.

‘Yes.’ He uttered a harsh oath. ‘Sweet mother of the Prophet, do you think I did not turn heaven and earth to find out why you had left without telling me?’

‘You knew why I’d left,’ she reminded him, as memories fanned the fires of her resentment. ‘Your father’s words were no news to me. You’d made the position quite clear enough.’

‘Abby, listen to me…’

‘No, you listen to me.’ She succeeded in thrusting his long fingers aside and moved as far away from him as she could. ‘When I married you, I was an innocent, I realise that now. I believed—I really believed you loved me—’

‘I did. I do!’

She shook her head. ‘I know that it was partly my fault. I know you were disappointed when we didn’t have a child—’

‘Abby!’

‘—but these things happen, even in the best of families. There was nothing I could do.’

‘I know that.’

‘You should have divorced me then,’ she went on in a low monotone. ‘You should have set us both free. At least I would have been spared the humiliation of—of—and you could have married the—the wife your father chose for you.’

‘Abby, I did not want the wife my father chose for me. I wanted you!’

‘Not enough,’ she said painfully. ‘Oh, this is hopeless, Rachid. We’re just going over all the old ground. Why couldn’t you just have accepted that our marriage was over and freed yourself? I wouldn’t have stood in your way—’

‘Abby, stop this!’

‘I won’t. I can’t. I did love you Rachid, once. But I don’t love you now. And I won’t come back to you.’

‘Abby, you’re my wife—’

‘You’d have been better making me your mistress,’ she retorted recklessly. ‘Mistresses aren’t expected to produce heirs. As it happens, I would have had to refuse that offer, but it would have saved us both a lot of heartache.’

Rachid took a deep breath. ‘Abby, I don’t care about an heir. For the love of God, listen to me! My father now knows how I feel. There will be no more of his philosophising—’

‘No, there won’t,’ Abby interrupted him shortly. ‘Because I’m not coming back, Rachid. You’ll have to drug me or knock me unconscious to get me to go with you, and somehow I don’t think the Crown Prince would like it to be known that his wife is so unwilling.’

Rachid’s eyes glittered in the dim light. ‘You will fight me?’

‘Every inch of the way.’

He hesitated a moment, and then picked up the intercom that connected to his bodyguard in front. ‘26, Dacre Mews,’ he directed shortly, giving the address of Abby’s father’s house, and then sank back against the soft leather at his side of the car, resting his head wearily against the window frame.

Abby’s silently expelled sigh of relief was tinged with unexpected compassion. So, she thought weakly, he had accepted her arguments. He was taking her home; and while she was grateful for the victory, she wondered if she had really won. She had never known Rachid give up without a battle, and reluctant emotion stirred in the embers of discontentment. Once she would not have hesitated in giving in to him. Once he had controlled her every waking breath. But no longer. And although she was glad of the freedom, she remembered the sweetness of the past with unbearable bitterness.

Rachid let her out of the car in Dacre Mews, and waited, a tall, dark figure standing beside the limousine, as she fumbled for her key. It was only as she stumbled into the house that he climbed back into the vehicle, and she heard the whisper of its tyres as it moved away.