Page 63 of Sands of Sirocco
“Mama is still mourning Father and Henry.I don’t think she can bear the thought of losing you to the man that almost ruined the family.Give her time.”Lucy played with a simple gold chain around her neck.
Ginger hated that Lucy saw Noah that way.“Or that I won’t marry the man who is offering us a lifeboat.”
“That too.”Lucy straightened, smoothing out her skirt.“But I suppose that’s what younger sisters are for.To learn from the mistakes of their older sisters and remedy accordingly.”
Ginger gave Lucy a surprised look.Was Lucy interested in William?“Does that mean you’re going to consider William as a beau?”
Lucy gave a girlish smile.“I suppose.I could do worse.And then I’ll outrank you.I’ll be a countess and you just an officer’s wife.”Lucy lifted her eyebrows in mock wickedness.“Really, I should thank you.”
“I don’t want you to marry him if you don’t want to.”
“I like him.Honestly.He’s not the sort of man I would have picked for myself, but what do I know of men?Though, I may not have much to do with the decision.He still seems quite taken with you.”Lucy gave a twist of her lips.“So if you do plan to marry the colonel, I wish you’d just say so and let William know.”
Lucy left the room, and Ginger felt an unexpected peace as she sat back down to her papers.She rang for tea, leafing through her books but no longer able to concentrate.She hadn’t thought that William’s coming here would be anything to cause her family this much hope.
If Lucy married William, they didn’t need her so much, did they?
She untied her hair from its knot, running her fingers through the long strands.Her scalp hurt from wearing her hair with so many pins.Tumbling it over her shoulders, she lay back on the bed, folding an open book over her chest.The encounter with Lucy had dissolved her tension.She closed her eyes, listening to the soft tick of the clock, like a heartbeat.
When she woke, a hand covered her mouth.She stifled a scream, blinking in the garish electric light.Noah’s face hovered close to hers.
She sat bolt upright, the book tumbling onto her lap.Noah leaned against the bedpost.“My bride covered with books—what a tempting scene,” Noah said.A slight slur filled his speech.His eyes were unusually bright.Even from here she could sense the alcohol seeping from his skin.
Ginger scrambled up, tucking her legs underneath her as she gathered her hair over her shoulder.“You scared me half to death.What are you doing here?”She scrubbed her eyes, still trying to adjust.“You’re drunk.And dressed like that, you’re fortunate I didn’t scream.”
Noah wore an Egyptiangalabeyahtunic.He stepped, swayed, then sat on the bed.“I found myself in need of the gentle ministrations that only your gentle breasts could provide.”
Her jaw dropped open.“Noah!”He’d never been so bold.
He chuckled.“I meant hands.”His face was worn with exhaustion.He closed his eyes.
“Somehow I doubt that.But, speaking of hands, what on earth did you do to yours?”She climbed across the bed toward him, taking his hand in hers.The backs of his knuckles were bruised, bloody, and swollen.
Keeping one eye shut, Noah squinted at her.“I beat a man to a bloody pulp.On behalf of the Egyptian nationalist extremists I’ve recently joined.”With a fumbling gesture, he lifted the sleeve of his left arm to reveal something even more frightening—the mark of a scorpion, on his forearm just above his wrist.The way his skin was burned and red, it looked as though he’d been branded with a hot iron.
She gasped, then reached for it.He’d need medical attention.The nationalists?“What happened?”She inspected the mark, touching the inflamed skin near the burn gently.He’d carry that mark for life.
“I suppose I passed the test.They gave me the finest of their wine, then had me bite down on a leather strap while they branded me.”Noah closed his eyes once again.
“Who did you have to beat?”From the look of Noah’s hands, whoever had been on the receiving end of the blows couldn’t be doing well.
“An English officer, one I know, actually.They said he violated an Egyptian dancer and escaped justice.I’m attempting to console myself with what I did to him by hoping that’s true.He’s in hospital now.I went back later and collected him—left him on the front steps myself.”
She covered her mouth, feeling ill.She shouldn’t have asked if she didn’t want to know.“Noah—why?”
“To gain the leader’s trust.And avoid being killed.”He swallowed, his jaw clenching as though he didn’t want to remember it.“They have Victoria.I’ve spent the day trying to find her—and all of this … for not a single clue.”
“And you had to beat a British officer?”Ginger could barely process his words.“Can’t you be arrested for that?”
“I can.But I’m praying if it comes to it I can redeem myself with Young, if he remembers.I knocked him unconscious so that they’d stop their attack and they did.Young won’t know about that, of course …” Noah trailed off and closed his eyes.“I did whatever I could to help him.My ability to help was limited.”
The anguish on his face was palpable.He’d placed himself in a horrible position.She felt a bitter simmer of resentment within her at the idea he’d endangered himself so much for justthe chanceof learning more about Victoria.However desperate he was to find her, there should have been another way.
“You couldn’t have tried to gain the leader’s trust another way?Noah, you were reckless.Beating one of your fellow officers—it’s unconscionable.”She regretted the words immediately, seeing the effect they had on his expression.
“Once I’d volunteered for the task, they said they’d kill me if I didn’t.”He stared at her dully.“Why do you think I’ve been drinking?”
She tried to think clearly.He’d come to her, distressed.Perhaps it wasn’t the time to scold him right now.She was his wife, after all.Not that she knew how a wife should react to this.But he needed her clearly enough.
