Desert Rogue (32 page)

“No, sir. I understand and I do appreciate your overlooking my lapse of judgment,” said Hayden, nearly choking on the subservient words.

“I haven't said I would,” corrected his superior. “Yet. You will look into Kincaid's charges. I'll be in Alexandria with Consul General Malet for two weeks, and you will be in charge of day-to-day operations. I am giving you a chance to redeem yourself, Reed. By the time I return, I expect a full report, detailing the existence of that powder magazine, if it exists—”

“You want me to go to Khartoum?” Hayden was horrified at the very thought. Victoria had just returned from that hellhole and he was to go there?

“Not necessarily, but you might send a team of scouts down to learn how many guns the Mahdi has. In all likelihood the weapons are coming off some ship in Alexandria. However, Cairo cannot be overlooked.”

“But, sir, there may be no truth whatsoever to Kincaid's tale, an invention out of whole cloth to make him a hero—”

“His rescuing
your
fiancée already did that,” said the older man dryly. “No, I believe Kincaid's information came to us without ulterior motives.”

“You would,” muttered Hayden.

“Excuse me, Reed. I didn't quite catch that.”

“You would like this matter closed in how many days, sir?”

“As many as it takes,” ordered Cookson. Rising to his feet, he looked down at the junior diplomat, a frown marring his features. “And Reed, don't let your personal feelings interfere in this. You
might
convince me to overlook the matter of your not being alert to potential problems for the Crown if you perform this inquiry in a thorough, decisive manner.”

“Yes, sir, I understand.”

The words were as bitter as gall, made all the worse by Kincaid's responsibility for the situation, but, Hayden determined, the scoundrel would pay. There was absolutely no doubt of it, Jed Kincaid would not go unpunished for interfering in his life, not only on a personal level with Victoria, but on a professional one, as well.

* * *

In the pale lavender glow of twilight, Victoria smoothed the skirt of her evening gown after alighting from her father's carriage. Standing before the impressive home in the European sector of Cairo, the site of this evening's party, the elegantly clad woman was nervous. Truth be told, she had no more desire to attend this gathering than she did to return to Khartoum. Nevertheless, she unhesitantly placed a delicate gloved hand on the arm Hayden offered her.

Waiting for her parents, Victoria realized that everything had changed woefully since Jed's audacious kiss two nights ago. Where gracing fetes such as this had once constituted an extremely important part of her life, it had come to mean nothing.

Yet to retire from society would only fuel the already-circulating gossip about what had befallen her after her abduction. There was no solution other than to brazen it out by doing what she normally would have done: chattering with the ladies, casting innocently flirtatious glances at the men, whirling about the dance floor with one partner after the next, and laughing as she circulated among the guests. These were the things that would save her parents and Hayden from the further speculation of the rumormongers. But these were also the things for which she no longer had any heart.

Bravely fixing a smile on her face, Victoria permitted Hayden to escort her, in the company of Grace and Cameron Shaw, up the few steps that led to the broad, sweeping portico fronting the Stanford home. The brilliant light shining from a multitude of crystal-laden chandeliers spilled across the threshold as the door was opened for them by a liveried servant, and the soft strains of music wafted sweetly on a gentle, evening breeze.

“You look inordinately lovely tonight, Victoria,” Hayden whispered in her ear as another servant took her wrap.

Her fiancé's words might have been accepted as proof of Hayden's unflagging gallantry if the tone in which he had delivered them hadn't been edged with something less than gentility.

The man had been uncommonly reserved following Jed's coming to dine with her parents. To a stranger's eye, Hayden's behavior was socially correct, his demeanor consummately polite, but Victoria heard the iciness in his voice when he addressed her, and felt the ill humor concealed so skillfully behind his public facade.

The only thing to which she could attribute his mood was the same situation that had her on edge, causing her palms to become damp and her breathing shallow. Jed Kincaid was still in Cairo. Why didn't he go away?

Greeting her hostess, Victoria saw a few heads turn curiously in her direction. The attention she garnered was not, she supposed, a result of the pink, off-the-shoulder crepe de chine gown that clung to her breasts, waist and hips in the front before bursting into a bustle and cascade of flounces in the back. No, these people were simply theorizing about her kidnapping and speculating whether her virginity was still intact.

Trying to ignore the scrutiny directed at her, Victoria bestowed her most loving smile upon Hayden, nobly making do with the tight, impersonal curve of his mouth that she received in return. Going about in society at this point was bad enough without having to contend with Hayden's distance and Jed's continuing, unexplained proximity.

Under her father's watchful eye, she and Hayden went to converse with other young people, and Victoria breathed a sigh of relief. At least with them she felt more comfortable.

Then she saw him, coming into the ballroom from the balcony, and her traitorous heart began thundering so loudly that she was certain Hayden must hear its rapidly beating tattoo.

Jed's dark, gleaming hair had been neatly trimmed, though it was still a tad too long. His exquisite evening jacket hugged his broad shoulders, tapering down to his narrow hips, the waistcoat beneath it a tribute to his trim waist and flat stomach. The trousers he wore were slim cut, his legs encased in fine cloth that just skimmed the muscular firmness of his thighs. Even the normally staid tie that was de rigueur somehow appeared different on Jed, giving him a roguish air rather than one of respectability, as did the contrast between his stark white shirtfront and the golden tones of his sun-burnished skin.

It made no sense to her as she frantically fought to keep from staring at Jed, that she could be both glad to see her American adventurer and thoroughly appalled at the same time. More important, she wondered how she was ever going to get through an evening of surreptitiously gazing at him across the room, separated from him as much by her obligations to her parents and Hayden as she was by the people who stood between them.

To make matters worse, Jed was so devastatingly handsome that the single ladies present, and a great many of the married ones as well, responded immediately to his wickedly charming grin. They began to cluster around him like grapes to a stem, refusing to leave his side until they were plucked away.

As she watched, Jed partnered one after another through a slew of waltzes, though he never so much as asked to sign her dance card. She, who had taught him to move gracefully to unheard melodies, was one of the few women present unlikely to feel his arms around her on the dance floor. Victoria would have cried out her desolation at being so ignored if Hayden's hovering at her elbow was not a constant reminder of her status as his intended.

“Ah, so Cairo's newest hero is here,” Cameron Shaw commented, finally coming to stand with his daughter and the diplomat she was engaged to marry. “The man cuts quite a figure, doesn't he?” the banker asked, carefully gauging Victoria's reaction. “No wonder the ladies flock to his side.”

“They are silly as geese, the lot of them. It's to your credit, sir, that you have raised your daughter to have more sense. The blackguard doesn't belong among people of our sort. His fleeting appeal is simply that he is so different from the gentlemen with whom women of breeding are generally acquainted,” Hayden proclaimed with a supercilious arch of one eyebrow.

“His appeal is that he is a manly, good-looking chap with a great deal of bravery and charm,” Cameron said, emitting a snort that dismissed Hayden's opinion as rubbish. “Jed may be a diamond in the rough, but he's a diamond all the same. With a bit of polishing he'd outshine many a so-called gentleman. Don't you agree, Victoria?”

“I...I...would guess that...that...” Victoria began to flounder, wondering distractedly why her father had placed her in such an awkward position.

“Of course she doesn't,” Hayden finished for her with quiet vehemence. “Victoria would never find such a crude individual attractive. Kincaid is nothing but an affront to her delicate sensibilities.”

“Mmm,” Cameron Shaw intoned noncommittally, his eyes moving from his uncharacteristically mute offspring to Reed and back again.

“Oh, dear, I see Mr. Kincaid has joined the festivities,” Mrs. Shaw tittered uneasily, changing the trio to a foursome. “The mamas of Cairo had best be especially vigilant tonight with such a rogue set loose among their daughters. Hayden, do see to it that you look after Victoria. Though you and she are properly betrothed, Mr. Kincaid's being here is enough to make even me nervous about my daughter's welfare.”

“See here, dear, there's nothing for you to fret about. Victoria would never do anything she didn't wish to do,” Cameron said to his wife. His light, soothing tone was at odds with the meaningful look he sent his adult child.

“It's what she might
want
to do that frightens me,” Grace Shaw confided to her husband after Hayden escorted Victoria onto the dance floor, leaving his prospective in-laws behind.

Swaying along with the tempo, joylessly ensconced in Hayden's arms, Victoria tried in vain to feel the music. But the only thing she sensed was the emptiness building inside her as she caught an occasional glimpse of Jed standing deep in conversation with the Stanfords' beautiful redheaded niece.

Her one consolation was that Hayden, too, seemed preoccupied, caught in musings of his own so that he didn't notice how listless her steps had actually become. Or if he did, he had the good grace to remain silent about it. When the last chord sounded, a relieved Victoria sought refuge from her troubled spirits in a quiet corner.

Stationing herself in a spot where Jed was not altogether hidden from her view, Victoria was disheartened by Hayden's continued presence at her side. Taciturn as he had become, he made her uncomfortable, and she couldn't fathom why he had chosen to remain in her company rather than to seek out his acquaintances.

“You seem so far away tonight, Hayden,” she said finally, looking up into his impassive face with genuine concern. How could she ever expect to make him happy and convince Jed Kincaid that she was as well, when her fiancé was so cold and distant?

“It's business, my dear, nothing for you to worry about.”

“But, Hayden, as your wife I'll expect to share your burdens. We may as well start now.”

“If you must know, I've been ordered to conduct an investigation of the rumors your American savior saw fit to divulge to my superior.”

“That's wonderful,” Victoria said with a wan half smile, visions of Jed and the journey across the desert filling her with yearning. “It might be added responsibility, but I'll feel much safer knowing the matter is in your hands.”

“Oh, don't be absurd, Victoria! The whole thing is a bloody nuisance and unnecessary, as I tried to point out to Kincaid before he went over my head and approached Cookson.”

“Still, it's certain to be a feather in your cap,” Victoria soothed.

“It isn't wise to form opinions about subjects in which you are woefully ignorant,” Hayden instructed absently.

He began searching the room for the most influential men in attendance, wanting to strengthen his acquaintance with them rather than listen to his future wife's drivel.

“Why not?” came an unexpected yet familiar voice at Victoria's elbow. “That's what most folks do, isn't it? In fact isn't that what you did regarding the information I passed along to you?”

Spinning around, Victoria saw that Jed was so close she imagined she could feel his breath caressing her reddening cheeks.

“Since you know so little about the topic, and care even less, I might do some investigating of my own,” Jed volunteered, his attention centered more on Victoria than on Hayden.

“Stay out of it, Kincaid,” the diplomat said tersely. He didn't need the American mucking around with the matter of the Mahdi more than he already had.

But suddenly, Hayden's thoughts turned elsewhere. His eyes narrowed speculatively as he observed Jed lift Victoria's hand to his lips, where she allowed it to linger.

Hayden would have had to be blind not to notice the sparks that flew between the two. He saw the animation that lit Victoria's previously insouciant features, just as he had noted earlier the American's bold gaze sweeping the room in search of Victoria and the girl's stealthy glances in Kincaid's direction. Though they might have hidden it during the dinner two nights ago, at this moment there existed an intimacy between Victoria and the mercenary that caused Reed to suspect they had been lovers.

The thought infuriated Hayden. He seethed at the image of his fiancée lying with Jed Kincaid. If it indeed proved so, he would bestow his name upon her as planned, but Victoria's transgression was one for which she would pay dearly once they were wed.

“It astounds me to see you here tonight, Kincaid,” Hayden said, more to destroy the contented silence Victoria and her renegade were enjoying than out of any actual desire to converse with such a vulgar colonial.

“I decided to stay on in Cairo for a spell, Reed,” Jed drawled, his green eyes glinting devilishly as he cast a look in Victoria's direction.

“That's not what I meant. What amazes me is finding a man as coarse as you in such a refined setting.”