Page 41 of Sands of Sirocco
“Waiting for you.”Noah got out and came around to her.He held the door for her.“I have been for over two hours.Get in.”
Two hours?“This is the exact opposite of staying away from me.You’re doing a marvelous job of persuading Lord Helton you’re as in love with me as ever.”Ginger rocked her head in disbelief.“I can’t be seen with you, you know that.”
“They can hang themselves for all I care.Iamin love with you.But that’s not why I’m here.”He threw her a smile.“There are riots in several parts of the city.Some locals are refusing to accept the business of the British today.I wanted to make certain you’d get home safely.”
“Riots?”Ginger searched the surrounding area.Is that why the city smelled of smoke?She didn’t see any riots nearby, though.
“Yes.And given the tension between the locals and the British, I’m not taking any chances with you.”His eyes flickered toward the entrance of the hospital.“I don’t need Lord Helton’s permission to assure your safety.And you’re the only reason I stayed in Cairo this afternoon.”
She shifted, taking a step back.Noah was making it impossible for her to keep her promise, and she should be angrier with him for it than she was.“You’ll tell Lord Helton this was your doing?And that I protested?”
“I’ll tell him I had to practically throw you over my shoulder.”Noah’s eyes glinted with humor.
The crack of a distant gunshot helped her decide.She climbed into the seat.“What’s happened?Why are there riots?”she asked as Noah sat back behind the steering wheel again.
Noah pulled out onto the street.“We’ve finally shown our true colors.Some of the Egyptians are learning the extent to which we’ve been lying to the Arab world.The Russians released the details of the Sykes-Picot Agreement to the newspapers yesterday.Sir Mark Sykes took it upon himself to parse out the divisions of the Arab world between us and the French after the war.”
“Assuming we win, of course.”Ginger winced.Whatever the arrangement was, she doubted it was a good look for the British, especially after the contentious Balfour Declaration.
“Of course.Once again we’ve imposed ourselves on people that don’t want to be governed by us or anyone else.And the Sykes agreement directly contradicts the promises that T.E.Lawrence has made to the Arabs who have been fighting for us under Sherif Hussein.”
Noah scanned the street in front of him, then he turned, going another route.He drove with a confidence that made Ginger believe he could easily be dropped in any part of the city and find his way out of it.
No wonder Peter Osborne was worried.For an officer of Noah’s rank to question the official British position on the Arab policies was radical, even though Ginger understood it and agreed with his perspective.The local Egyptian resentment toward the British was justified.They didn’t want the Ottoman rule the British had “freed” them from when they’d declared them a protectorate at the start of the war, effectively ending the Ottoman authority over Egypt.
The British had then overthrown the pro-Ottoman government in Cairo, installing a puppet sultan who favored the British.She’d understood the rationale behind the British, even celebrated it.The Suez Canal was too important to the war effort to lose.
But the Egyptian nationalists had also been led to believe the British installment would be of short duration.What was more, the Egyptian Labor Corp, set up as a voluntary effort to recruit the locals into the war effort, had become compulsory in the interim.The locals resented being pressed into service.The peasants had lost crops of cotton and food to the requisition of the war, leaving them even more destitute.
And now they were learning the British had no intention of leaving at all.No wonder there were riots.Still, she frowned at Noah.Even though she knew the answer, she said in a casual tone, “Darling, have you been so vocal about your opinions of the British situation here in Egypt with others?”
Noah shrugged.“At times.Lord Helton and Victoria have certainly heard my complaints.And some of my friends.I refuse to be a silent, acquiescent party to their deception.”
She removed her nurse’s cap, unrolling her hair from the tight knot at the back of her head.Her scalp felt instantly freer, the tension in her head releasing.“Don’t you think that could bring you problems?”
“Perhaps.But I’ve proven my loyalty in other ways.I won’t apologize for believing that we’re blundering in this part of the world.Our motivation for being here will soon out itself.The strategy was always about controlling the oil supply.”
She frowned.Her father had claimed the Palestine campaign was about oil, but she’d questioned it.Now the idea of a concession made even more sense.Her father had many flaws but idiocy had not been among them—he’d been assigned to this region of the world with the Foreign Office because he was an expert in the Arab world.
Not for the first time, she wished she could ask her father about everything.It was a wasted hope—he never would have answered her questions.She touched Noah’s shoulder.“Did you have your injury treated?”
“Yes,rohi.I promised I would.”Noah sped, then turned sharply.
She didn’t recognize their surroundings.“Where are you going?”He seemed to have taken her further from the European area of Cairo, and the streets were narrower and crowded.
A hint of a smile played at his lips.“I’ve spent the day trying to come up with the best possible solution of how to deal with Lord Helton’s determination to keep us apart.And I think I finally came up with one.”
“And that would be?”
An enigmatic gleam was in his eyes.He turned the car into an alleyway and parked.
“Where are we?”she asked as he opened the door for her.
“Old Cairo.We’ll walk from here.There isn’t a place to park the motorcar where I’d like to take you.”There wasn’t much room in the alley for him to hold the door and she had to brush past him to get by.As she did, he lifted her chin with his thumb and forefinger.Leaning lower, he kissed her, drawing her closer to him.
She melted into his kiss, feeling as though he’d cloaked her in a blanket of safety and consolation.It amazed her how he made her heart race despite the passage of time.She hadn’t imagined what she felt for him.Their love was just as real as the intensity and passion of his kiss.When she pulled away breathless, she searched his gaze.“Isn’t Old Cairo a dangerous place to be if there are riots?”
“We shouldn’t run into any trouble here.But you ought to change out of that uniform.”
