Journey to the Lost Tomb (Rowan and Ella Book 2) (15 page)

           
Later,
after the party had dispersed to their separate tents, Ella wondered if she
should say something to Julia about Digby trying to grope her through Carter’s
Egyptology lecture. Clearly, the man was getting desperate. Which didn’t excuse
his disgusting behavior, Ella thought. In any other time zone, she would have
confronted him immediately and in no uncertain terms but there was a delicate
balance in play here in this group. If she exposed Digby’s behavior she was not
at all sure that she would be considered the aggrieved party.

           
She
pulled off her dress and hung it next to the camp chair by her cot. As she
pulled on her nightdress,
the
sound of a large pebble rolling down the rocky terrain outside her tent made her
stop and hold her breath.

           
Someone
or something had dislodged that rock.

           
She
looked at her riding clothes stacked in a neat pile next to her bed and it
occurred to her that, up to this point, she hadn’t missed not having a weapon with
her. Because Ella’s tent had been erected last and hastily, it was situated near
the path to the work site rather than the main sleeping and dining structures.

           
She
heard a definite crunch of gravel under foot. The sound wasn’t repeated,
leading her to guess that the person was attempting stealth. She looked around
her tent for any kind of weapon and seeing only her riding crop, grabbed it and
stood beside the tent’s entrance, waiting and breathing hard. She didn’t have
to wait long.

           
The
hand that reached into the tent entrance was white. Ella sucked in a breath as Digby
burst in. He looked flushed from drink. While Ella expected a conversational
standoff, and was fully prepared to provide the first onslaught of tongue
lashing to get things going, Digby charged her and knocked her onto the bed. The
crop fell to the floor.

           
Ella
was too shocked to do more than emit a weak “oh!” before he twisted her facedown
on the cot.

           
“Scream
all you want, little one,” Digby sneered in a whisper, bringing his face down
close to her ear. She could smell stale cigars and alcohol on his breath. “Only
the bedcovers will hear.”
 

           
Panic
overwhelmed Ella as she struggled to get a breath out, the bed blanket pressed
tightly against her nose and mouth. She felt his rough hard hands rip her
nightgown up over her hips. He jammed a hand between her legs, while holding
her head down firmly with the other hand. She felt the pressure on her back
lessen as he fumbled to undo the buttons on the front of his pants. Weakened
and gasping for breath, Ella lost her opportunity to take advantage of the
moment. In a flash, both hands were back, pushing her further and further into
the bed covers. She could feel the touch of his insistent cock poised between
her clenching buttocks.

           
Suddenly,
she heard a low grunt and Digby jerked away. Ella wrenched her nightgown down
over her hips as she turned to see William standing in the opening of her tent,
his fists clenched at his sides, his eyes wild with loathing and lust. Digby
now lay on her bed, his eyes blinking as if in surprise, blood pouring from his
broken nose.

           
Ella
jumped up and grabbed her dressing gown. “William!” she said, looking from him
to Digby.

           
“I
followed him,” he said, nodding at Digby who was sitting up on the bed. “I saw
him enter. But you did not scream.” He looked at Digby and narrowed his eyes.
He looked back at Ella and then at the ground.

           
“I
did not scream,” she said, still gasping for precious breath, “because he
jumped me before I could. Thank God you came when you did.”

           
William
whirled around to face someone standing outside Ella’s tent. He gave Digby one
last look over his shoulder and then fled.

           
“You
bastard,” Ella said to Digby. “I’ll have you arrested and hung by your gonads
for what you just tried to do.”
 

           
Digby
yanked out a clean handkerchief and held it to his nose. “This just means that
when it does happen,” he said, his voice muffled behind the cloth. “I’ll make
sure it hurts.”

           
Ella
was incredulous. “Get out!” she screamed. “Get out now!” From where she stood
she could see why William had left. Abdullah was standing outside, waiting for
his master.

           
Within
moments, a small group of people, attracted by the noise, formed outside Ella’s
tent. While Carter was not among them, his foreman, Josh Spenser was. He took
charge immediately by ushering Digby, trailed by Abdullah, to Digby’s tent.

           
Julia
ran to Ella and the two women fell into each other’s arms. There was no sign of
William.

           
“Julia,”
she said, “I don’t know whether he was intent on murdering me or just raping me
but if it hadn’t been for William, he would have done both.”

           
“Who?”
Julia said, holding Ella’s hands. “
Edward
?”

           
“Yes,
Edward!” Ella said loudly. “Who do you think?

           
Julia
screwed up her face as if trying to process what Ella was telling her and
looked over her shoulder in the direction of Digby’s tent where she could see
the light flickering and the shadows of the three men inside.

           
“Why
would he do that?”
 

           
“Why?
Gee, I don’t know, Julia, maybe because he’s a sex-starved pervert? Are you
trying to tell me I don’t know who attacked me?”

           
“No,
of course not, Ella.” But the way Julia looked at her, it was clear she
did
doubt what Ella was saying. “But why
did William run away so quickly?”
 

           
“Are
you kidding me?” Ella said. “You think I was getting it on with
William
and blaming Digby? William
prevented that bastard from doing the deed!”

           
“Well,
if he is a hero, why did he run?”

           
“Maybe
because he’s Egyptian in a white man’s world and he knows he’s going to get
screwed somehow in all this.” Ella sat down hard on her cot and realized that
her hands were shaking.
 

           
Julia
pulled up a chair and patted Ella’s knee. “Well,
whatever
happened,” she said, “it’s all over now. Do you want me to
sleep in here tonight?”

           
Ella
nodded.

           
A
few moments later, Spenser called from outside Ella’s tent and she jumped up to
open the flap to him.

           
“You
ladies okay?” Up until then, Ella hadn’t realized the foreman was American.
Just hearing his strong, familiar accent made her feel instantly better.

           
“Yes,”
Ella said. “Thank you, Mr. Spenser.”

           
“I’m
placing a couple of men at the front of your tent, Miss Stevens,” he said. “And
one to the back. You shouldn’t have any more visitors tonight. We’ll sort all this
out in the morning.”

           
“Thank
you,” Ella said. Even with Julia sleeping in the tent with her, she was not
confident that Digby wouldn’t try again later that night.
 

           
The
Viscount pulled off his boots and tossed them on the floor of his tent. He
moved his toes in his socks and ran a hand across his face. Abdullah squatted by
the door flap as if ready to bolt on some vital errand should Digby give the
word. Digby loosened his collar and regretted not insisting on a valet on this
trip. That was back in the day when he was being so accommodating to his new
bride.
Why would she pinch pence? As rich
as she was
. He paused and made a face.
As
rich as they were
.

           
Abdullah
grunted and Digby glanced at him. While Spenser had been decent about it
all—and certainly no hint of blame or culpability had fallen on himself—it
was still damn galling to have to explain oneself. Digby supposed the American
would feel it necessary to report the evening’s events to Carter. Another
annoyance to be dealt with. If that goddamn
dragoman
hadn’t interfered he’d at least have been able to carry on a few weeks longer.
As it was, he would have to hurry things along. He would need the money now sooner
than later. And he still didn’t have a solid plan of how to arrange her death such
that
he
was not the first person the
police suspected.

           
His
man grunted again and Digby looked over at him. When Abdullah solemnly drew a
line across his throat, his eyes drilling into his master’s, Digby sighed and
nodded. The man rose quickly and disappeared into the night leaving an almost
visible odor vapor behind him.

           
Damn heathens
, Digby thought, pulling
his white tie out of its knot.
Would it
kill them to bathe once in awhile?

           
The
next morning, Ella slipped out of bed, careful not to awaken Julia. She tapped
the guard on the shoulder as she left the tent and pointed to the central
outdoor dining area. The guard, a black Egyptian with a long beard and a
turban, nodded and resumed his watch on the tent.

           
Ella
hurried to the main fire pit, looking for William. But he was nowhere to be
seen. After a hurried cup of tea and a piece of buttered toast, she walked to
where the ponies were tied on a long rope between two sycamore trees. She
looked over her shoulder at Digby’s tent but he was a notoriously late riser
and she didn’t expect this morning to be any different.

           
She
went to the tack and feed shed and quickly found her mount’s bridle. She pulled
her pony from the line of other horses and slipped the bridle on him.

           
It
occurred to her that Digby viewed her as no differently than he did his
servants or even his horse. As he saw it, he was merely exercising his station
in society as her better. And now William—who knew the rules as well as
anyone and who had broken them to save her—was at best, fired and at
worst, being hunted for assault on a member of the English peerage.

           
She
tossed the pony’s blanket on his back. After that first day, she had stopped
riding with a saddle. Without boots, the stirrups were too dangerous. She found
she felt more secure gripping the pony with her legs rather than sliding around
a saddle that was too big for her anyway.

           
She
had yet to decide what she would do about Digby. Clearly, he wasn’t finished
with her. One thing was for sure, she would have to find a weapon of some kind.

           
Standing
on the wooden mounting block, she nodded a greeting to the boy in charge of the
camp donkeys. He was covered in some sort of skin infection and Ella found
herself hoping it wasn’t contagious.
 
She swung onto her pony and squeezed him into a quick trot up the hill
toward the perimeter path that she took each morning. She loved seeing the
whole valley spread out below her in the morning sunlight.

           
She
stopped at a spot on the hilltop. Dawn was her favorite time of the day. She
regretted that William couldn’t be here to share it with her. Thinking of him gave
her an unsettled feeling.
Had he gone
home to his family in Luxor? Was he lying low so he could say goodbye to her?
She looked around the circle of rocks and boulders where she sat waiting for
the sunrise. He knew she came this way.
Perhaps
he was near?

           
As
she sat on her pony and watched the sun brighten the carved stonewalls of the
cliffs across the valley, she noticed a flash of light—like a reflection
of the sun—in the bushes on the hillside a few yards below. It was almost
as if someone was signaling her with a mirror. She squinted and then saw it
again.

           
The
thought came to her that she might be on the verge of discovering some treasure
dropped by ancient tomb robbers. Feeling a growing excitement, she slipped off
her pony and pulled the reins over his head and dropped them to the ground.

           
“Stay,”
she said, as she turned and scrambled down the steep hill, throwing rocks and
clods of stone up as she went. How many times had she seen the villagers and
workers maneuver up and down these hills? She could hardly believe she was
doing it now herself without protective footwear.

           
The
flash had seemed to come from a wide bush clearly visible in the hillside
thirty yards below. As she steadied herself for the final few steps, she
shrieked and fell, skidding on her stomach on the hard rocky ground. She gasped
as there, beneath the bush, she found what she was looking for.