My Desert Rose (13 page)

The next step
after this would consist of unravelling herself from Tariq. How she
was going to do that was not yet clear. The irony was that in five
minutes time she'd be discussing wedding plans with Tariq's mother
and his sister while working out how to divorce him.

Thebes cleared
away the table as he whistled a happy tune. She liked his presence.
It was like a soothing balm to her worries. As Thebes was leaving
there was a knock at the door and an excited Miriam entered
followed by several women carrying a whole collection of gowns and
accessories. A lump burned in Katie's throat as it hit her that
this was about her wedding. The only one she would possibly ever
have.

Once everything
had been draped over the dining chairs and table, Miriam shooed out
the women. "I would like to dress you," she declared happily.
"Well, that's if it's okay with you?"

Katie laughed.
"It would be an honour."

Miriam
beamed.

A second knock
came at the door and Selina walked in. Dressed in casual cream
slacks and a pale blue overshirt, she looked crisp and fresh.
Without any hesitation she came over to Katie and hugged her. "This
is very exciting for me. I'm about to see my first-born marry a
beautiful woman who is now a part of our family."

Katie had a
twinge of guilt, but she shoved it away. The least she could do was
make this woman very proud, for the time being anyway. "I'm very
privileged to be accepted by you all."

Miriam sniffed.
"I always wanted a proper sister. Amira's okay, but she can be
mean."

"Now, now,"
reprimanded Selina. "This is Katie's moment. Let's not tarnish it
with any talk of family troubles."

At first, Katie
felt self-conscious in her underwear with these two women helping
her to try on the outfits, but after a while that dropped and she
began to enjoy herself.

The first dress
she tried on was a bit bouffant with feathers as the train. They
all shook their heads at the same time. The second was worse, with
rows and rows of pleats. It reminded Katie of a huge ra-ra skirt.
Miriam picked up the third dress and held it up in hope. It had
frills. Both Katie and Selina shook their heads. Now Katie knew
exactly who'd kitted out her wardrobe!

It was the
fourth dress that really caught Katie's eye. The white silk dress
was a long sleeveless sheath that fitted snugly in the bodice
before loosening out at her hip line and falling in soft drapes to
her feet, fanning out slightly at the back. Gold stones decorated
the neckline which sat as a choker around the neck. At the back,
tiny matching gold buttons ran all the way down from the neck to
the top of her buttocks. Katie blushed at the thought of having to
ask Tariq to undo them in order to step out of the dress at the end
of the day. But the most striking feature was the coat that came
with it. Made in matching lined white silk, it fastened with a
white button just underneath her bust, giving the glittering
neckline of the dress a perfect stage to stand out. Without any
lapels, the cut followed the line of the dress and then fanned out
at the back, giving it a wide train. The sleeves were long and they
opened out at the bottom, like a medieval gown, but it was the gold
embroidery that ran down the edges of the coat, along the seams of
the train and around the cuffs of the sleeves, which gave it the
edge.

Miriam sighed.
"Katie, you look really beautiful, like a princess."

Katie noted
Selina's dewy-eyed look and decided that this was the one. It was
exquisite, elegant, classy and so very her. "It's just incredible,"
she breathed, imagining what Tariq would say.

Just then the
suite door opened and slammed shut. Amira had walked in. "Sorry I'm
late. Oh my, Katie, it's lovely, but so very plain."

"You're wrong
Amira," huffed Miriam in Katie's defence.

Amira put her
hands on her hips. "I'm just saying that Tariq likes things a
little more glitzy. When we were engaged, he gave me a necklace
with twelve teardrop diamonds. You can borrow it if you like?" she
offered her with a tight smile.

Katie felt all
the joy of the afternoon being squeezed out of her, but she wasn't
going to bite at the bait that had just been thrown her way.
Earlier, they'd wheeled the full-length mirror into the lounge from
the dressing room and through the reflection she gave Amira a sweet
smile before replying, "Thank you, Amira, but I won't need it. I
guess Tariq has changed since then, he now prefers things a little
less...brassy."

Amira tossed
her head and slumped down onto the sofa. "Suit yourself. After all,
you obviously know him much better than I do after four days. I
guess a thirty-year relationship doesn't count," she replied in
sarcasm.

"Well, I now
have a lifetime to discover him fully," she replied dreamily.
There, take that you scheming bitch, she thought, although she did
have a twinge of jealousy at the image of Tariq kissing Amira last
night, but she pushed that aside. She knew that last night wouldn't
have counted as something important to Tariq.

Both Miriam and
Selina sighed.

"Anyway," Amira
huffed, not willing to take the conversation of Tariq's preferences
any further. "I can only stay long enough to pass on a message.
Hassan has gone to the port and Tariq is requesting your presence,
so I’m to take you to him tonight, after dinner."

A little
flutter of excitement passed through Katie at the thought of seeing
Tariq again. "I’ll be ready. Do you know how long we'll be staying
at the port?"

Amira shrugged.
"Tariq has a house around the corner from his office, so I guess a
few days. Sometimes they stay aboard the ships, but I'll know more
when I speak with Hassan later."

Miriam was
sorting out the discarded dresses at the dining table. "I’m coming
too," she trilled from the other side of the room.

Amira scoffed.
"No you’re not. You can stay here with Mother dear."

Miriam pouted
and looked at Selina for support.

Selina gave
Amira a scathing look. "Amira, please be gentle with Miriam."

Amira jumped
off the sofa and went to the door. "She's still not coming. I'm not
exactly thrilled about dropping Katie off either, but Tariq wants
it, so I’ll be waiting outside in the car by eight-thirty." Then
she left, shutting the door hard behind her.

"Is she always
like this?" Katie asked.

Both Miriam and
Selina nodded their heads.

A thoughtful
look crossed over Selina’s features. "Although when she was
younger, she was such a sweet thing. I think she’d always felt that
she and Tariq were destined to be together, but when he rebuffed
her, she never got over it."

Katie couldn't
imagine Amira as ever being sweet. "Do you think she’s angry enough
to want revenge?"

Selina sighed
heavily. "I honestly don’t know. I have a feeling that she married
Hassan out of spite. Since their wedding five years ago, he has
changed greatly from an outgoing athletic man into a cold shadow of
his former self."

Miriam was now
handing Katie her lemon linens back. "She can be really mean. One
time a cobra was found in Tariq’s room and another time he was
poisoned from something in his food? I still say it was Amira’s
doing."

Selina visibly
shivered. "Quiet Miriam, we don’t know how any of those things
happened. Let’s not make Katie think badly of Amira for no
reason."

Miriam hung her
head. "Sorry Mama."

Both Katie and
Selina moved to hug her.

"Anyway,"
Selina piped up. "What’s with all the sadness? We have a wedding to
plan!" She moved to pick up some files she’d brought in with her.
"Right, now all we need are the accessories and decorations for the
reception."

Chapter
Ten

They’d spent a
few hours poring over designs and colour swatches before they’d
settled on the perfect idea. Now alone, Katie had chosen to have a
light dinner in her room before packing to go and meet Tariq. At
the bottom of her wardrobe she'd found a little case on wheels, so
she'd flung in a few tops and pairs of pants. Now she was debating
whether to pack her pyjamas, but in the end, she decided to take
the risk and leave them behind. Smiling to herself at the thought
of getting Tariq naked, she knew that packing them would be a waste
of time. Underwear was a different matter though. Pulling open her
knickers drawer she collected up a handful and was just about to
toss them in the case when something caught her eye. Dropping them
all on the bed, she picked up a pair and held them up to the light.
They'd been slashed.

Amira!

One-by-one she
checked them out. Not one pair had survived the snip of her
scissors. Not even the cute violet pair with the white bunnies
on.

"What the
-"

Katie was
puzzled. What made a woman sneak into another woman's knickers
drawer and cut up her underwear? She sat on the edge of her bed to
think this through. Would any sane person get in the car with an
obvious scissor-wielding mad woman? The answer was a definite 'no!'
so why was she still contemplating walking down those stairs and
going with Amira? Sighing, she knew why. This could be her one
opportunity of getting those pictures and being one step closer to
seeing her father again. Mulling it over some more, she realised
that when Amira had mentioned taking her to Tariq, neither Selina
nor Miriam had made any remark about it being odd, so perhaps she
wouldn't be in danger. After all, they knew where she was going,
right?

Going over to
her camera, she checked its battery - all good. Okay, Amira, bring
it on, she thought to herself.

At
eight-thirty, she made her way downstairs to where Thebes was
waiting.

"Good evening,
Sheikha el-Tayeb," he said cheerily.

"Thebes, can’t
you call me Katie?"

"No, Sheikha
el-Tayeb," he replied cheekily.

She smiled. "I
thought not."

Thebes opened
the boot and deposited her small case. Her camera was packed in her
satchel just in case she needed it quickly. Climbing into the limo,
she found Amira waiting for her inside.

"You're two
minutes late," she retorted.

"Erm, I am?
Sorry, I had a lingerie emergency to attend to." Katie noticed that
Amira didn't even bat an eyelid. If she'd cut up someone's set of
smalls and the person made a reference to it, she'd be
hyperventilating by now.

The car left
the gates and sped along the road. Dusk was descending, so Katie
couldn’t make out much from the scenery through the tinted windows.
"It's been a beautiful day," she remarked, although it hadn't
exactly been perfect. What, with a bedroom snooper, a pant sniffer,
ripped knickers plus a missing husband, it wasn't what she'd call
normal. She really had felt Tariq's absence throughout the day
though, but she wasn't about to admit that to Mrs Obsessive sitting
opposite.

"Hmmm," Amira
replied in disinterest.

Okay, thought
Katie, obviously small talk was off the menu. "Have you heard any
new information about the hijack of the ship?" she asked
casually.

"No, other than
the fact that Tariq is getting a bad reputation for not being able
to supply," she replied smartly.

Katie was
shocked. "But it's not Tariq's fault that his ships keep being
targeted. It's the people behind the pirates that need to be dealt
with." Meaning
you
, she wanted to add, but thought better of
it.

Amira snorted.
"Tariq won’t uncover who’s really playing those pirates behind the
scenes. To do that he'd have to communicate with them and I can't
see that happening, so all he'll have is suspicion without
proof."

Not if I can
help it, she thought, while tapping her camera through the material
of her satchel. "You sound so sure? I was under the impression that
Tariq was near to uncovering the perpetrators." She didn’t know
whether she’d pushed too far, but she wanted to see what provoked
Amira into reacting.

Amira answered
her from the other side of the car. "Tariq is blind. I told him to
give Hassan the shipping side of the business two years ago as
Hassan knows how to deal with the pirates, but he refused. Too much
of a risk on his reputation is what he said. Well, I guess his
reputation is now taking a blow."

"Do you think
that the people behind the pirates are out to ruin Tariq's
reputation and this is what it's all been about?" Katie couldn't
believe men were dying just so Tariq would be publicly
humiliated.

Amira shrugged.
"Who knows, but what's obvious is that the only way to turn it
around is to give Hassan the reins and let him deal with the
pirates. This alone will bring back the confidence from the
buyers."

Katie was
beginning to get the picture. There's nothing worse than a woman
scorned who is also obsessed with the very thing that rejected her.
"I'm not sure Hassan has the inner magnitude of power that Tariq
has to handle the business," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Amira's face
contorted in anger. "How dare you! I myself come from generations
of power and prestige. With me by his side, Hassan will prove
himself to be more than just the second son. When I was discarded
by Tariq, I was left humiliated in front of my family..." Amira
trailed off as if sensing she'd said too much.

Oops, she'd
just stood on the snake's tail. Any time now, she'd bet those
scissors would come creeping out of Amira's handbag. "Is that what
this is all about Amira? Some form of revenge?" Katie didn't know
whether to clamp her mouth shut and act all innocent. All she had
to do was take the pictures. Tariq would get to the truth of the
matter.

"Ha!" cackled
Amira. "You have no idea what you’re talking about."