Page 43 of Company of Thieves
“Silly.” I pinched his side, breathing deeply of his delicious scent. It was very masculine, now tinged with the results of our lovemaking, but even without that, he smelled like ... I had a hard time pinning down the scents that teased me. Something faintly spicy that I assumed was his shaving soap, but there was another layer, something that made me feel very feminine. “I was going to ask if you can defy your father.”
“I can, I have, and I will continue to do so if I need to,” he reassured me.
“Good.” I sighed, and pressed my face into his shoulder, twining one of my legs between his. “Then I have nothing to yell at you about.”
“I’m sure you’ll find something, but not concerning Constanza. Hallie, promise me that you will not go anywhere without all three guards.”
“I have no intention of doing so. Iwasgoing to go into town, because I really want to start an anti-corset league for the ladies there, to show them that they don’t have to be slaves to the steel-caged fashion, but I can have a day reading in bed instead.”
“I think that might be a better idea. Do not stir from the tent without the guards.”
“All right,” I said, yawning, and snuggling into him, strangely happy despite the threat of having the imperator and Etienne breathing down our necks.
I trusted Alan to keep us both safe. He was, after all, a famous warlord. Who else could keep others from messing with us?
It’s amazing sometimes just how wrong I can be about things.
What seemed like ten minutes later, but was probably a couple of hours, Alan shook me awake. “Hallie.”
“Mmrf?” I cracked open an eye to see him pulling clothing out of the chest belonging to his sister. I wondered if he’d even had time to sleep, since he was fully dressed. “Are you going off to slaughter animals now?” I made kissy sounds before snuggling back into the feather bed. “Have fun.”
“You have to get up. Here, these look like they go together.” He shoved a couple of pieces of clothing at me.
“What?” I sat up, frowning. “Why do I need to get dressed? I don’t want to go hunting with you or anyone else. I’m against blood sports.”
“You’re going into town.” His voice was grim and flinty.
“Why?”
“Because I’ve changed my mind. Etienne may not have recognized you, but I don’t trust him not to make some excuse while we’re out and return in order to do you harm.”
“Why would he do that if he didn’t recognize me?”
“I said hemaynot have recognized you. I don’t know for certain that he did not do so. If he did, and hid it, it must be for some foul purpose.”
I thought about that for a moment, then hurriedly pulled on the clothes Alan held out, snatching up the soft linen bag I usually wore under my shirt that had the remains of my funds, and tucked into it the book I was reading before slinging it across my chest. “Normally I would say you were being overprotective and a worrywart, but from what I’ve heard of Etienne, if he knows it was me in El Kef, then I’d really rather not tangle with him. Where am I going?”
“The house of the headman. I’ve paid him to keep your presence quiet. You must be quick, though. I don’t want anyone seeing you leave.”
We crept out of the tent after Alan had a quick look around first; then we booked it to the line where the horses were tied, Alan leading me past them and out into the wilds for another five minutes, before he stopped at a large outcropping of dusty rocks. Az waited there, along with Yussuf and Ajay, all three of them mounted, with Delilah looking particularly dejected.
“Go,” Alan said, kissing me hard and fast. “I’ll bring you back later, when the hunt is over. Do not go anywhere alone.”
“Are you kidding? I just know if Etienne does me in, your dad will have you married to that Constanza chick so fast, your head will spin. I have to stay alive just to save you from that horrible future.”
He smiled, and heaved me onto Delilah’s back. “I will hold you to that, dove. Now, fly.”
We flew, if by “flying” you mean trotting, which was more than fast enough for me. We hit the town of Tozeur just as the sun’s peach fingers stretched across the sky, and made it to the headman’s house without anyone seeing us but a couple of goats and a small boy who was herding them to a field filled with scraggly shrubs.
The headman turned out to be a very nice old man, white haired and with a lined face, his wife just as ancient, but they made us at home, offering me the only private room in their house. Neither of them spoke anything but the most primitive English, and since my only other language was French, we didn’t communicate until Yussuf offered to translate.
I helped the woman, whose name was Hiba, make some of the flatbread consumed locally, petted the small dog who followed her around until I caught a flea leaping off the dog and onto my arm, then sat in their minuscule bedroom and read for a few hours.
By midday, I was bored, and going nuts.
“Would it be OK if we went to the oasis and had a swim?” I asked Az.
He sounded scandalized when he answered, “You wish to bathe in the oasis waters?”
