'You knew what it was like to love someone you could never have.'
He set down the statuette and picked up the telephone. He dialled an
international number and it rang three times before a man answered in
Arabic.
'This is the office of the Director of Antiquities. How may I help you?'
'Is Dr Al Simma available?' he asked in the same language.
'Please hold the line. I am putting you through!
'Dr Al Simma.' Her voice sent an electric thrill down his spine.
'Royan,' he said, and he could sense her shock in the long silence that
followed.
'You!' she whispered. 11 did not think I would ever hear from you
again.'
'I just rang to congratulate you on your appointment.'
'You cheated me,' she said. 'You switched the contents of three of the
crates.'
'As a wise man once said, friends are the easiest to cheat they don't
expect it. You, of all people, should know the truth of that, Royan.'
'You have sold them, of course. I have heard a rumour that Peter Walsh
paid twenty million.' 4- 'Thirty million,' Nicholas corrected her. 'But
only for the blue and the Nemes. Even as I speak to you, the red and
white crown and the death-mask repose before me.'
'So now you can pay off your Lloyd's insurance losses.
You must be very relieved.'
'You won't believe this, but the Lloyd's syndicate on which I am a Name
has come up with much better results than were forecast. I wasn't really
broke after all.'
'As my mother would say, 'Bully for you.'' 'Half of it has already gone
to Mek Nimmur and Tessay.'
'At least that is a good cause.' Her tone tingled with hostility. 'Is
that all you called to tell me?'
'No. There's something else that might amuse you.
Your favourite author, Wilbur Smith, has agreed to write the story of
our discovery of the tomb. He is calling the book The Seventh ScroU. It
should be published early next year. I will send you a signed copy.'
'I hope he gets his facts straight this time,' she said drily.
They were both silent for a while, before Royan broke it 'I have a
mountain of work in front of me. If there is nothing else on your mind-'
'As a matter of fact there is.'
'Yes?'
'I would like you to marry me.'
He heard her draw breath sharply, and then after a long pause she asked
softly, 'Why would you want anything so unlikely?'
'Because I have come to realize how much I love you.' She was silent
again, and then she said in a small voice, 'All right.'
'What do you mean, 'All right'T
'I mean, all right, I will marry you.'
'Why would you agree to anything so unlikely?' he asked.
'Because I have come to realize, despite everything, how much I love you
back.'
