‘Did he tell you what it’s used for now?’
‘No, I thought it was just standing empty.’
‘And he let you think that,’ Elise said with motherly exasperation. She said something in Arabic to the driver, and the car turned into the palace entrance.
As they went through the main gates the big front door opened and two women came hurrying out, smiling as they saw their visitor. They were followed by a stream of children who engulfed Elise, with scant regard to her royalty.
‘They all love it when Her Highness visits us,’ one of the women confided to Fran. ‘They have no mothers of their own, so in their hearts she is their mother.’
‘This is an orphanage?’ Fran asked.
‘Of course,’ Elise said. ‘Ali insisted that this place must be put to good use, and what better use can there be than the future of our country? Come inside. I think you will see things that will surprise you.’
But Fran was no longer surprised by any revelation. The home clearly had a generous budget and was well staffed and equipped, but it was the place’s warm atmosphere that delighted her. She had begun to realise that she knew nothing about Ali and the way he ran his country.
At the rear of the orphanage were the classrooms. Girls were taught apart from boys, but Fran’s alert eyes noted that their science equipment was equally good.
‘My husband was an enlightened man,’ Elise explained. ‘Which is to say that he listened to me,’ she added with a twinkle. ‘I made him see the need for women to be properly educated. My son is the same. His ideas are old- fashioned, but the right woman could make him listen.’
She smiled, apparently not needing a reply to this, which was lucky because Fran was far from knowing what to say.
‘Do the casinos pay for all this?’ she asked, changing the subject.
‘No, this is the London property portfolio.’
It wasn’t until they returned to the palace that Elise demanded full details of Fran’s presence in Kamar. She listened composedly, only a small furrow on her forehead betraying any sign of disturbance. When the story was finished she simply said, ‘How charming.’
They had tea together, then Elise declared that she was tired and needed to lie down. But as soon as Fran had departed Elise picked up the phone and demanded, in a voice that promised trouble, to be connected to her son.
He arrived to find her pacing the floor, and her first words contained no welcome, and certainly no respect.
‘My son, are you quite mad? This young woman is a writer for several internationally respected publications. She has friends in high places, and you have simply kidnapped her. Are you asking for an international incident?’
‘There will be no incident that I can’t smooth over,’ Ali said arrogantly. ‘They need our oil.’
‘I like you least when you talk like that,’ Elise snapped, and he had the grace to blush.
‘You don’t understand, Mother,’ he said at last. ‘Fran and I-understand each other. We have done so from the first moment when I met her in the casino.’ His eyes kindled. ‘At least, so I thought. Later I discovered that she went there on purpose to find out about me.’
‘And so you fell in love with her and took her home,’ Elise said wryly.
‘Certainly not. I took her home but there was no question of falling in love. She was a pleasant companion for a night.’
‘Really,’ Elise said with a touch of scorn. ‘Continue. I am agog!’
‘When we talked-something changed. Her mind enchanted me. She took me back to my childhood, and the magic stories I loved to read. She knew them too. I could talk to her. We felt so close, but she wouldn’t tell me her name.
‘Then I was summoned away, on business, and when I returned she had gone.’
Elise’s lips twitched. ‘She just walked out on you?’
‘Yes!’ Ali’s voice had an edge. ‘But she returned two days later, as herself. I’d agreed to see a journalist; I was expecting a man. Naturally I refused to talk to her.’
‘Naturally,’ Elise murmured.
‘While I was away, she gained entry to my house, pretending to be a maid.’
‘And so you decided to teach her a lesson. For what, I wonder? For her methods, or for daring to reject you?’
Ali flung her a dark look, but made no comment.
‘So,’ Elise continued thoughtfully, ‘if you’re not afraid of an international incident, it seems that all you have to worry about is Mr Howard Marks.’
‘Who is he? I’ve never heard of him.’
‘I gather he is Miss Callam’s fiance.’
‘Impossible,’ Ali said at once. ‘If that were true she would never have-’ He stopped. His mother was looking at him with eyes raised. ‘Never mind.’
‘Perhaps I should have spoken of this last night, but first I wanted to meet this young woman, and see what kind of person she is. Now I think I know. Mr Marks is a banker. He has been going out with Miss Callam for some time, and has it in mind to marry her. He is evidently an extremely good match. Of course, I’ve been out of England for some time, but in my day a good match was the kind of thing a girl had to think of very seriously.’
‘Then why did she never speak to me of this man?’
‘From what I can see, you haven’t given her much chance to tell you anything.’
‘Then she can tell me now,’ Ali said grimly, rising to his feet.
Fran was lying down with her hands clasped behind her head, brooding on what she had learned that day. Her picture of Ali as a self-indulgent playboy had been wrong all the time. That was merely what he allowed the world to think. Behind the scenes he was a true father to his people. She felt happiness stealing over her at being able to think the best of him.
She wondered when she would see him. He would probably want to devote some time to his mother, but later perhaps he might come to her. She was eager to see him in this new light, and to let him know how her heart had warmed to him.
At last she heard his footsteps outside, and sat up eagerly as he came into the room.
‘Why didn’t you tell me about-?’ they both said together, and stopped.
‘I’ve been talking with my mother,’ Ali said. ‘Why did you never speak to me of Howard Marks?’
For a moment Fran had to think who he meant. Howard and the life he represented was so far away.
‘Ali-I don’t understand-’
‘Howard Marks-the man you were planning to marry. My mother knows all about him, so don’t pretend that you don’t. How could you have concealed such a thing from me?’
A moment ago she’d been full of tenderness towards him, but at this flash of the old, imperious Ali her temper rose quickly.
‘How could I-? Well, you’ve got a nerve!’ She bounded off the bed and confronted him. ‘Don’t tell me that my disappearance has been noticed after all?’
‘Evidently. According to my mother, Mr Marks has been asking questions, claiming to be your future husband. This was something you should have told me.’
Fran stared at him, outraged beyond speech. She hadn’t mentioned Howard because Ali had driven him right out of her mind. In Ali’s arms no other man had existed. But there was no way she could say such a thing to this arrogant, overbearing man who barked out his unreasonable orders like a tyrant.
‘You’re very fond of telling people what they should do,’ she seethed. ‘Perhaps it’s you that should listen. I never asked to come here; I was tricked into it. I don’t recall you enquiring if there was a man in my life.’
‘Are you saying that there is?’
‘Are you saying it would have made a difference?’
They glared at each other, both furious.
‘Was he the man with you at the casino?’ he snapped.
‘Of course not. That was Joey. I wouldn’t take Howard on a job.’
