Desert Rogue (38 page)

Was it a dream? The room was so hot, as bad as the worst days in the desert, and she had been dozing off and on, dreading Hayden's return, but that sounded like Jed's voice, Victoria thought.

“Vicky, where are you? We haven't much time, help me.”

It
was
Jed, she realized, desperate to alert him to her presence. In the darkened room, she wasn't certain where anything was, but she vaguely recalled a table off to her left.

“Vicky, the house is on fire! If it means anything, I love you. I want to marry you, woman, but you have to be alive to say yes, damn it! Vicky!” Jed knew he was rambling, but his words were the truth and he needed to say them now in case he never had another opportunity.

Over the din of the fire, he heard a crash. Darting through the dark, smoky corridor, Jed opened a door and called again, his voice hoarse from breathing the heated, soot-laden air.

“Vicky—”

Then he found her, tied to a chair and gagged, tears running down her cheeks.

“Oh, Vicky, thank God,” Jed cried, kneeling to explore the knots holding her prisoner. His entry into the room had filled it with smoke as the fire surged into the hall. Damn it all, there was no time to waste. He had no knife and the flames were too close to linger. Rising to his feet, he hesitated a minute to reassure her. “Trust me, we'll be out of here in a minute.”

Quickly he raised his leg and kicked at the shutter blocking their escape to the street. Once, twice, finally, on the third try, the stubborn wooden slats gave way. Hastily, Jed kicked the remaining pieces free and returned to his beloved's side.

Lifting Vicky in the chair that held her captive, he carried her to the window and gently lowered her outside, following at once. Thankful to breathe the cooler, clean air of the early morning, he removed her from immediate danger before he again knelt beside her and began to struggle with the cloth tied around her head, cursing his loss of the knife. Once he managed to get the gag free, all she could do was whisper.

“Jed—I was so foolish,” she cried, tears sweeping the soot from her cheeks. “I didn't realize how much you loved me.”

“Hell, woman, haven't I proved over the last few weeks you mean more to me than my life?” he said indignantly, untying the rope that had bound her to the chair. “Yes, Vicky Shaw, I love you.”

“And I love you, Jed Kincaid, completely and forever.” Wobbly as she was, Victoria stood up and thrust herself into Jed's arms, thankful to be back where she felt safe.

And that was how Ali found them, moments later, wrapped in a tender embrace, Vicky's hands and feet still tied, she and Jed filthy with soot.

“I thought you were going to wait for me to bring the police,” said the Egyptian, shaking his head. “I've sent them around to the back of the house.”

“Ah, Ali,” murmured Victoria. “Jed saved me, again.”

“Reed was holding her prisoner inside,” the American explained briefly, “and his intentions weren't honorable.”

“Did you kill him?” Ali sighed. It had taken him nearly an hour to convince the police constable to go to where the men had taken the guns, only to learn that one of those he had followed was the constable's son-in-law. Quickly enough the police officer had wanted to know who had turned his daughter's husband to crime, and, though reluctant to accept the consular agent as the villain, he had agreed to accompany him to Reed's home. It would not bode well for Jed or himself if Reed wasn't alive to confess his guilt, though surely Cameron Shaw's daughter would have to be believed.

“No. At least, I don't think so,” said Jed negligently. “He's on the veranda, probably not in very good shape, but I want to take Vicky home before dealing with the law. Why don't I meet up with you later at your place?”

“Please,” whispered Vicky. “I couldn't face the police now, not with everyone coming to look at the fire.”

For a moment the Egyptian hesitated, knowing the constable would be furious if Kincaid disappeared again, even if the charges were about to be dropped. Then he looked at Victoria's strained features and nodded sympathetically.

“Ten o'clock at the police station, Jed,” he said curtly. “This time they will surely jail me if you don't show.”

“We will both be there,” promised Victoria, rewarding the man with a tender smile. As Ali went to join the police, she turned to Jed with a beseeching glance. “Do you really have to take me home? I don't think I can face anyone yet.”

“Not your home, mine,” he explained, kissing her softly, “or rather, my rooms at the Crescent Hotel. Now that I have you, I'm not in a hurry to let you out of my sight,” he added, kneeling down to undo the ropes at her feet. “Or out of my reach.”

“You'll hear no complaints from me about that,” Victoria admitted, running her fingers slowly through the dark waves of his hair. “When you didn't appear at Lady Trenton's for dinner, I thought at first you had left Cairo. I only realized how much I needed you when I thought you were gone—”

Standing, Jed took Victoria in his arms once more, intent upon showing her how far gone he was.

* * *

It was on a warm summer morning with the end of August approaching that Jed resisted the urge to run his finger along the inside of his high, stiff collar. Instead, he put his hands in his pockets with nonchalant elegance, and stood searching for Vicky among the fashionably clad crowd gathered in the Shaws' gardens.

He found her in an instant, surrounded by a small group of tittering female friends. In her exquisite off-the-shoulder white gown that displayed her tiny waist to advantage, a sprig of rosebuds in her hair, she was the most beautiful bride Jed had ever seen. He gazed at her with tenderness, elated that she was at long last his wife.

Looking up, as though she sensed him watching her, Victoria sent her handsome husband a radiant, loving smile. As usual, she completely enchanted him.

How he wanted to be alone with his bride, to draw her away, if for no other reason than to whisper a few loving words in her ear. But the Shaws had gone to a great deal of trouble in planning this wedding breakfast, and Jed decided he had best stay put for a while and appear the proper groom instead of the wild man Vicky's loveliness had him longing to be.

Coming to her side, he compromised by leaning down to place a peck on her cheek, an action that started Victoria's friends blushing and giggling all over again.

“I want to dance,” he said, his liquid voice pure temptation.

“Knowing you, I would have thought you'd have something entirely different on your mind,” Victoria whispered behind her fan, decorated with the same roses she wore in her upswept hair. “It has already been a fortnight.”

“Mmm, yes, but we can't do that here. The only way I'll get to hold you without your mother fainting dead away is to dance.”

“There's no music,” Victoria replied, lowering her eyes.

“That's never stopped us before,” Jed answered smoothly, gallantly holding out his hand to her.

After a moment's hesitation, Victoria came to him and, leaning her head against his broad chest, allowed Jed to lead her where he would. Across the green lawns they twirled, neatly weaving their way through the gathered crowd, the pretty blonde oblivious to the interest their aberrant behavior aroused. All notions of decorum banished, she had no thoughts other than how fortunate she was to have found this remarkable man and made him her own.

“When you told me a small wedding breakfast, I didn't figure on anything quite like this,” Jed stated. An amused twinkle lit his emerald eyes as he brought their dance to a halt amid the smiling, approving guests.

“There are only a hundred or so attendees. Mother had a mere two weeks to complete the arrangements,” Victoria teased, fluttering her eyelashes in the most provocative way.

“Woman, you keep that up, and I won't be held accountable for my actions. Why don't we leave?” Jed urged, his voice hoarser than usual. “It's our private festivities I'm anticipating. Not this shindig.”

“I know, but we should stay just a while longer, if only to please my parents—”

“There you are!” called Ali, hurrying to join the newlyweds. Placing a quick kiss on Victoria's cheek, he turned to shake Jed's hand. “Congratulations! Allah's blessings on your marriage. If ever there was a match that was destined it is the two of you.”

“Thank you. Is Fatima here?” Victoria asked, looking around for the little figure swathed in veils that she had met at Ali's a week ago.

“No. She is too shy to attend a festivity with so many English and she begs your forgiveness. But my Fatima also wishes you happiness and desires me to invite you to a more intimate wedding celebration she will prepare for you both this evening.”

“Much as we appreciate it, I think tomorrow might be a bit more convenient,” Jed said, delivering a pointed look at Ali. “We had another sort of celebration in mind for tonight.”

“Oh! Yes! Of course!” Ali agreed. A blush crept across his swarthy face. “Tomorrow evening it is!”

“Fine, now if you'll excuse us, Vicky and I were just getting ready to leave.”

“We were?” the bride asked.

“Yes, we were,” Jed asserted, his desire growing with each breath he took.

“But why?” she asked in mischievous, feigned innocence.

Lowering his dark head to hers, Jed whispered in her ear.

“And if I don't want to go just yet?” she asked, throwing him a provocative challenge designed to stir him even more.

“You don't have a choice.” With that, Jed grabbed Victoria and threw her over his shoulder so that her posterior was riding high in the air. “We're going home.”

“Jed, you vile beast, put me down!” Victoria giggled, beating ineffectually against his broad back. “You're shocking everyone here. I don't think they'll ever get over it.”

“Lord, Vicky! If I put you down, what I'll do next will jolt your family and friends even more,” he called to her with a backward glance. “Wave goodbye to your folks,” he instructed, his powerful stride carrying them past the Shaws.

“Oh dear! What have we done giving our daughter in marriage to such a man?” Grace Shaw moaned. She had heard a startled gasp from her guests and looked up to discover what had caused it. “Make him stop it, Cameron, or I shall do so. First a dance with no music and now this. Victoria must be mortified. Just see how her shoulders are shaking! The poor dear is crying hysterically.”

“Leave the children alone,” Cameron ordered benignly. He put an arm around his wife's waist, a public display of marital intimacy in which he had not indulged himself in years. “If you'll look closely, you'll see our daughter is laughing and smiling, Grace.”

“But what will others think?” she protested.

“Who gives a damn? We're lucky to have Kincaid for a son-in-law, especially when we consider what we might have been stuck with.”

“Hayden,” Mrs. Shaw uttered with a condemning shake of her head. “I don't know how he ever deceived us as he did. I'm glad he's in jail and will be for years to come. I suppose Jed is much better for our Victoria...if only that naughty man would learn to behave.”

“If he was the type to follow the rules, he would never have gone to Khartoum, and Victoria would be lost to us. Besides that, the authorities would have received no warning about that fellow in the Sudan. Though to tell you the truth, I think those in charge still don't take the Mahdi's threat seriously enough. But that is not something to be discussed today. As it is, you and I have no cause for complaint,” Cameron asserted, smiling benignly as he watched his daughter being carried off.

Jed relinquished his unorthodox hold on Victoria only when he reached the Shaws' carriage. There he lowered his bride, slowly, allowing her body to slide along the length of his before her feet finally touched the ground.

“Poor mother is aghast,” Victoria said when Jed's seductive motion put an end to her fit of laughter.

“Don't worry, your father will explain. As for you, Mrs. Kincaid, tell me you don't like it when I'm incorrigible,” Jed murmured, planting a half-dozen light kisses on his wife's upturned face.

“I find your behavior...admirable,” Victoria admitted as Jed spanned her waist with his hands and lifted her into the carriage.

“Really? Then wait until I start misbehaving. You'll like that better yet,” he promised with a wicked smile.

“Shall I?” Victoria's voice was breathless and coy.

“Without a doubt,” Jed responded, totally confident. He climbed into the carriage and took the seat beside her, stretching his arm along Victoria's shoulder to enfold her in an ardent embrace.

“Jed!” she protested while the driver snapped the reins and the vehicle began to roll forward. “Everyone is still watching!”

“So?”

“Acting the adoring husband could quite ruin your reputation as a fierce adventurer,” she warned, her voice playful.

“Vicky, sugar, it seems to me that with my marriage to you, my greatest adventure is only just beginning—and it's one that will last a lifetime.”

* * * * *

ISBN: 978-1-4592-8346-6

Desert Rogue

Copyright © 1995 by Christine Healy and Susan McGovern Yansick

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