Sold! A Romance In The Sudan Read Online Free PDF Page B

die before admitting it but he
needed some time to recuperate. If she kept up this pace, he’d need
to get some blister beetle from the old medicine woman down the
road. She’d gossip and when his brothers heard about it, he’d be a
laughing stock.
    As Lilly half sat up and looked at him
pensively, Hafiq held his breath.
    “You know,” she said seriously. “I am
knackered. Exhausted. Bushed, if I may use that word. And I am
suddenly absolutely starving. Could we take a break and have
something to eat?”
    Hafiq vowed never to reveal how relieved he’d
been by that speech. This wasn’t just a goodtime girl; he wanted to
keep her forever. Hafiq discovered a romantic streak he never knew
he possessed. Lilly would be his queen and he would treasure her
forever.
    They shared a leisurely shower and found her
a shirt to wear. Hafiq’s shorts fell off her, so she tied a beach
towel around her hips. Used to girls who pouted if not exquisitely
dressed in designer gear, Hafiq found Lilly’s lack of vanity
refreshing.
    Lilly had been too sick to see the house when
she’d arrived. She oohed and aahed at the huge living room, the
terraced garden and the magnificent covered veranda with its
winding stone staircase that led straight to a sandy beach.
    “I have never seen anything so beautiful,”
she said in awe. “This place is paradise.”
    Proudly, Hafiq showed her his favourite
place, the little covered alcove that looked out over the ocean. A
table loaded with fruit, bread and covered dishes stood
waiting.
    “Have you got house elves? Who made all
this?”
    Hafiq was tickled at her enjoyment of
everything. “My staff have orders to lay for lunch every day. You
haven’t seen them yet because I gave orders not to be
disturbed.”
    Lilly gave him an old-fashioned look. “Staff?
Are you some sort of robber baron?”
    “Everyone has servants, Green Eyes.”
    “In England we don’t,” Lilly replied
robustly. “Oh my God, this is just too much!” she moaned two
seconds later after wolfing down freshly made bread stacked with
hummus and olives. “This tastes a million times better than the
stuff they gave us at the hotel.”
    Lilly ate as enthusiastically as she did
everything else. An hour later, stuffed with tabouleh and lamb
stew, she sighed, put up her feet on the flagged wall and gazed out
to sea.
    Hafiq was catching up on a fortnight’s news.
The international papers were full of the usual bombings, riots and
economic chaos stories. The local papers reported local issues;
more bombings, attacks, kidnappings and the latest moves in the
civil war. But his interest was peaked by some commentaries in the
Al - Rayam paper.
    “Looks like you’re famous.”
    Someone had dug up a picture of Lilly in
front of the Tomb of Ramses in the Valley of the Kings. She was
smiling dutifully but Hafiq thought her eyes looked sad.
    “What’s it say?” Lilly asked curiously.
    “It says you vanished at Lake Nassar and are
presumed to be inside a crocodile.”
    “Oh my God!” Lilly was horrified.
    “The search was called off a week ago. The
rest is all about how Egypt should look after its tourists better
and how single women shouldn’t be permitted to travel.”
    “If you don’t want us to come, you shouldn’t
advertise your holidays or give us visas,” Lilly said crossly. “And
I don’t see how a wedding ring would have stopped that crocodile
from having a go at eating me.”
    Privately Hafiq agreed with the editorial but
he laughed at the sparkle in her eyes. “I wouldn’t worry about it.
We always enjoy it when Egypt has a problem. Makes us feel better
about ourselves.”
    Lilly gave him a wide-eyed look of wonder.
“Erm, Hafiq, are you telling me that we’re not in Egypt?”
    It hadn’t occurred to him that she wouldn’t
know she’d crossed the border. “Green Eyes, this is Sudan.”
    “Sudan, as in Darfur, civil war, mass rape,
child soldiers and millions of refugees? That Sudan?” Lilly