Rose of the Desert (24 page)

But instead of warning the children against them she had been too busy mooning over the blossom.

There was a slight sigh. To her horror she saw Mark, who had been staring up, puzzled, ever since she had lunged across the clearing, droop forward in a doze. Within seconds she could hear his heavy breathing. Janet wasn't far behind. Without any of the fight she usually put up to keep eyelids firmly hinged back till the last possible moment, she lolled over close to her brother and lay still.

Help. I must get help--

Julie started to run. She stopped, looking back at the two tiny inert figures. How could she leave them here alone in the forest? And how could she get help if she didn't go?

In an agony of indecision she allowed the tears to rise like a spring in her eyes. Everything seemed to be against getting out of here. From the moment she had started out in the car last night things had gone wrong. She had overshot the village, lost the road, even the car tracks had disappeared. Instead of being half way to the coast they were here, lost. Lost in an African forest.

Unable to take another step, she sank down on the damp earth and stared white-faced through a gap in the trees. How long she sat there she couldn't be sure. It might have been minutes or hours ... she thought she saw a movement. It must be a trick of the eyelids or a shimmering leaf. There was the crackle of twigs....

Somebody ...
something
was moving out there.

A vivid picture rose in her mind. The dark shape outside the car last night ... those brooding, luminous eyes. The memory brought a trembling to her limbs. She waited to see its hairy shape materialise, steeled herself for its spring....

"I keep telling you this isn't Kensington Gardens!" She stared stupidly at the thick suede shoes, drill slacks, and check shirt. The tanned face had a greyish pallor, sweat coursed down the temples....

"Oh, Clay!" Julie would have leapt to her feet, but his arms were there helping her up. What must she look like with her scratched legs, stained dress and lank hair? And what did it matter? He held her for a long palpitating moment, seemingly at a loss for words.

"Clay!" she broke frantically loose. "I've been so worried ... the children ... they've eaten some berries!"

She stumbled to show him the tree, and grim-faced, he handled a cluster. She saw the lines smooth away from his brow.

"They have a fancy name, but the locals call them peach berries. They're harmless."

"But look at them!" She pointed worriedly to the inert figures. "They're out to the world!"

Clay bent over the tiny figures and grinned wearily, "They're just dead beat. Probably gorged themselves, now they're having to sleep it off."

"Is that what it is?" She almost fell into his arms with relief. "I've been going nearly out of my mind with worry!"

He held her in a fierce rough embrace. "You're not the only one!" and then after a long moment, "You little idiot, I followed your trail ... you must have driven like a wild thing. How you missed hitting a tree I'll never know I"

She smiled up at him tremulously, "I suppose you could call it beginner's luck! How did you know where we were?"

"There's a pile of clothes in the next clearing." So that was it! They had come round almost in a circle. Just a few more yards and they would have been back on the tracks. Ashamed of her fears now, she asked again, "How did you know we'd gone last night?"

"I didn't. Not until this morning when you didn't show. I went to your room and found the beds hadn't been slept in. When I spoke to Temkin he told me there had been some trouble the day before ... at least I picked up from his lingo that Stephanie had lost her temper with Janet It wasn't difficult to put two and two together."

There was a long heavy silence. Julie couldn't speak. Was he thinking about the kiss? At last she managed to mumble, "Shouldn't we get the children on the move?" As if sensing her thoughts he stared down at her, reluctant to leave it there. "They'll sleep for some time. I'll come back and pick them up. What about you? Can you walk?"

Before she could answer in the affirmative he swept her into his arms. She didn't complain as a rough cheek brushed lingeringly against hers.

The late afternoon sun shone warm on Julie's bed as she opened her eyes. She lay for a moment, her mind a blank, and then the events of the morning came rushing in. She closed her eyes tightly and then, relaxing, opened them again. This was Hifta. The tangle of forest was miles away. She lay soaking up the tranquillity of the afternoon. A warm breeze drifted in through the open window, bringing with it the buzz of insects, the twitter of birds.

Could this really be the same day that had started off with her looking through an endless cocoon of green ? The same day that she had feared for Janet and Mark's safety ... and her own? She could hear the children's voices now coming up from the square, their occasional high- pitched laughter. No after-effects there, by the sound of it.

Curious to know the cause of their delight, Julie made her way to the window.

She saw Clay sprawling on a stretch of grass below with a wriggling Mark under one arm and Janet tugging with all her tiny strength at the other. Seeing Julie at the window he looked up good-humouredly.

"I thought you'd never wake. Come on down, I can't handle this alone."

She sent him a sympathetic smile.

"I'll be down as soon as I'm dressed."

It was a relief to see that Clay had removed her case from the abandoned car. It lay on the floor now, and she wondered if in her haste to leave Bongola she had remembered to pack another dress. Luckily she turned up a cornflower-blue cotton. It was old and overwashed, but the gathered waist and small cap sleeves gave her a country- field air that seemed to fit in with the surroundings.

The hotel sported a sprawling garden dotted with the same tropical trees and shrubs that Julie was beginning to recognise as part of Africa. It was here that the children's romped themselves to a standstill and eventually settled down to examine the workings of a sleepy lizard. Clay ran a finger through tousled hair and grinned in relief.

"Give me an oil-field any day!"

He led her to one of the tables in the courtyard and brought drinks. Legs stretched, he drew lazily on a cigarette, and eventually Julie asked,

"What's happening about the car, Clay? Was it very badly damaged?"

He raised an oblique eyebrow.

"Considering the punishment you gave it I reckon it came off rather well. Should be back here in a couple of hours."

"I'm ... sorry I wrecked it."

"I'm sorry you felt the need to take off in it."

Instead of meeting his gaze she looked quickly towards the garden.'

"I suppose I ought to see about getting Janet and Mark off to bed ..."

"No, leave them." There was no lightness in his tone.

She swallowed before asking,

"Are you ... going back to Bongola?"

"Yes, T am."

She couldn't bring herself to look at him, but knew he was watching her steadily.

"I wish," waveringly, "I'd kept to the road last night... we could have made it to the coast, I'm sure of it."

"And then what?" Clay took a long drink and placed his glass down with a slight thud. "All right, let's have it. You bolted last night... why ? I know you were upset over the children, but what made you go tearing out into the night, risking your neck and theirs?"

"That's it," Julie hedged. "Stephanie struck Janet and..."

"Yes, there was something else." Julie fingered her glass. "I saw Stephanie in your arms ..." She had never meant to come out with it as baldly as that, but there it was.

Clay took another drink and said unhurriedly,

"Pity you didn't stick around. You would have learned that the kiss was Stephanie's rather unconventional way of saying thank you."

Ignoring her derision, he continued,

"That
's right. I persuaded Mavhew
that
his ideas on Marubian farm development might not be so hot after all, and that perhaps
he
ought to get back to Nairobian night life where he knew the ropes."

"And he agreed, just like that?"

Clay shrugged. "It seems he's been doubtful of his capabilities for some time but was afraid to admit it even to himself."

"What will happen to Bongola?"

"Well, he has certain commitments to the Marubian government, but it can all be straightened out. As long as he gets someone to take over there's no problem. I suggested a couple of bachelor brother farmers I know. They would jump at the opportunity."

"And of course Stephanie is delighted they're leaving Bongola?"

Clay grinned. "I don't think Mayhew could have held out much longer. I suspect he thinks quite a bit of his wife on the quiet."

"Then why bring her out here?"

"Who knows? That's between the two of them, isn't it?"

"Clay ..." Julie had to say it. "When I saw ... you two last night... It wasn't just Stephanie kissing you ... you were kissing her, weren't you?"

As she looked at him, she saw his eyes flare. He came close to murmur harshly, "You forget I'm a man, not a hunk of rock ... and there are certain things I want from this life. The kiss ..." he raised his eyebrows, "it was easy enough to close my eyes and pretend it was ... someone else."

"Who did you pretend you were kissing?" Julie asked innocently.

He cast her a hard glance. "I'm not sure. Could be some young scatterbrain who goes careering over half of Africa in the dead of night! "

"Clay, I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you. It was stupid of me. I suppose I had some notion that I could get the children away from Stephanie--"

He nodded. "Trust a woman to go about it in the wrong way!"

Julie looked at him hard.

"You mean you ..."

"I mean that I didn't like the situation any more than you when we first arrived at Bongola. But I wanted time to weigh things up, Stephanie in particular."

"I told you on that first night she cared nothing for Janet and Mark."

"That was your feminine intuition, my dear. I wanted to find out for myself."

"And when you did, you talked John into giving up the scheme and take his wife back to Kenya. But I thought you were so keen for him to get the farm on a paying basis?"

"It seemed a fairly good plan to encourage security for Janet and Mark, but then I saw what it was doing to the Mayhews' marriage."

"Things are no different, are they? Stephanie is still the children's guardian."

"Only if she so wishes."

"You mean she's changed her mind?"

"I don't think she has any plans to take them back to Kenya with her."

Julie didn't know whether to be jubilant or sad. Janet and Mark were better away from an indifferent relative, but it meant they still didn't really belong anywhere.

"Didn't you say you were going back to Bongola?"

Clay grinned. "I've got to collect my things, and the rest of yours and the children's. We want to start back bright and early in the morning."

"Does that mean ..." Julie asked tremulously, "that Janet and Mark go back with us?"

Clay was silent for some moments before answering, then he said with deliberation, "As far as Khartoum. We'll book in at the same hotel."

"And what happens then?"

"Let's wait and see, shall we?" Letting out
a
harsh breath, he got to his feet. "I've had two beds moved into the room next to yours. You'd better get Janet and Mark between the sheets."

"Clay," Julie got to her feet, "can't you tell me ..."

"I said let's wait and see. I'll be back as soon as I can." He strode off towards the estate wagon and Julie sat down again. ..

What did Clay have in mind for the children? What
could
he have in mind? There was no other relative. She gazed sadly at the two blonde heads. Mark every inch his father in the lift of his chin, the slowness of his smile. And Janet, without a doubt the daughter of Lynn. Even the fair hair was darkening to a certain shade of brown around the scalp.

She called them to her and hugged the small bodies close. As they wriggled happily she wondered, not for the first time, what was to become of Steve and Lynn's orphan children.

C
LAY'S
car was back outside the hotel almost the same time as he arrived back from Bongola. Apart from the formalities of signing a chit and receiving a smart salute from a dark-skinned mechanic there was nothing to indicate that the car had been anything but borrowed for the day. The mudguard was dented, and there were scratches along the side, but considering what the car had been through, Julie thought wryly, it
had
come off rather well.

John Mayhew had driven Clay down in order to take the estate wagon back to Bongola. As Clay stowed the luggage in the other car, John strolled over to Julie, his face creased in apologies.

"Sorry about everything, Julie. It's been a pretty wasted trip, hasn't it?"

"I wouldn't say that, John," Julie smiled.

"But it's true ... nothing has gone right, and it really all boils down to me, I suppose. You know, I never ought to have brought Stephanie out here when she's known nothing but entertaining. She makes a marvellous hostess, but out here ..." he looked down at his shoes, "I did think a change of environment might give her a different slant on life, but," he looked up with a sad smile, "it wasn't the slant I was looking for. Well, so long, Julie. I hope Janet and Mark make out all right."

He shook Julie's hand, and with a wave to Clay walked back to the estate wagon. Julie watched him go, noticing the droop of his shoulders.

Such a kindly man to be getting the treatment that Stephanie dished out.

The journey back to Khartoum proved uneventful. The man at the customs house welcomed them with a beaming smile. This time there were no complications concerning passports and documents. Within minutes they were on their way again. Habib was at the quayside to receive the car. His eyes wandered slowly over the dented bumper and scratches, but the smile never left his face. He drove away in a cloud of dust, waving vigorously from an open window.