She’d half expected an explosion of wrath at her defection. But perhaps he would simply ask her to talk, say that he understood, and wanted to start again, without coercion. If he truly loved her…
But there were no telegrams or letters, and nobody came to the door. It was as though he had wiped her out of his existence, and a shiver went through her. He’d planned to marry her out of duty, because he’d ‘compromised’ her. Her departure had actually been a relief to him, and now it was all over.
Barney, a kindly elderly man who ran
‘So the prodigal returns! There was a crazy rumour that you were going to marry Prince Ali.’
‘Crazy,’ Fran agreed with her brightest smile. ‘You shouldn’t believe all you hear. But I have been in Kamar.’
‘Great! So what really happens to all that money?’
‘He spends it on his people.’
‘Oh, c’mon; the story must be better than that.’
‘It’s the truth. He doesn’t make a big fuss about it because he thinks it’s nobody else’s business. But he isn’t the way we thought. In fact, I don’t think there’s a story there at all.’
The editor’s jaw dropped. ‘No story?’
‘Well, if there is, I can’t write it. I’m sorry.’
‘Then I’ll have to assign someone else.’
‘I wish them luck,’ Fran said with a wan little smile.
Once she would have thought herself crazy to give up an assignment, but what had happened to her was something that could never be mined as raw material for a feature. It was too precious, too sacred.
Howard called. After the volcanic emotions of the last few weeks his kindly, slightly pompous voice sounded very welcome, and she agreed to have dinner with him.
Luckily he was a man of little imagination, and he readily accepted the story that she had been in Kamar to work.
‘You really have been the mystery woman,’ he said, when he’d ordered an excellent supper at an expensive restaurant. Howard always ate at expensive restaurants. He felt it was expected of a man in his position. ‘You might have given me a call, my dear.’
‘I’m sorry, Howard, there was a lot going on.’
‘Of course, of course. And I’ve been very busy myself. There’s a bit of manoeuvring going on at the bank. The chief executive is retiring, and-er-’ he coughed modestly ‘-it’s between me and one other fellow.’
‘I’m sure the other fellow doesn’t have a chance,’ Fran said dutifully.
‘Well, if I could bring some spectacular new business it would certainly help.’ He smiled at her. ‘I’ve missed you, my dear. I enjoy taking you to dinner. You’re a fine-looking woman, and you make me very proud.’
‘Your hair…is like a river of molten gold… How your eyes enthral me!’
Fran closed her eyes against the sound of Ali’s voice whispering passionate hymns to her beauty. When would those memories cease to torment her?
‘Well,’ Howard said, filling her wine glass, ‘I hope it was all worth it.’
‘Worth it?’
‘I mean did you gather plenty of material?’
‘Well-’
‘You must brief me about Kamar. It’s a big nut and I’d like to crack it. That would really be a feather in my cap.’
Fran repeated what she’d told the editor about how Ali handled the Kamari budget, and his lavish giving to charity. Howard listened with a gleam in his eye that told her he was mentally taking notes.
It was a dull evening because Howard was a dull man, but dullness was what she wanted right now. It relaxed her tortured nerves, even though nothing was going to ease the pain in her heart. He drove her home and gave her a brief kiss goodnight, but she escaped before it could develop into anything more intense.
She had been home a week when she received an excited call from Barney.
‘I’ve just had a call from Prince Ali’s office. We can do the feature with his co-operation, the lot.’
‘That’s wonderful, Barney. I’m very pleased for you.’
‘Not me, love, you.’
‘I’ve told you, I can’t do it.’
‘You have to. Prince Ali made it a condition. You or nobody.’
At the words ‘You have to,’ something inside Fran flinched. This was the old Ali, laying down the law, insisting on his own way, giving her no choice. He wanted to see her again, but it was beneath his dignity to ask, so he tried to coerce her. He’d learned nothing.
‘It can’t be me,’ she said in a tense voice.
‘Fran, if you turn down a scoop like this I’ll have to say you’re unreliable, and then I couldn’t use you again.’
‘All right,’ Fran said in a smouldering voice, ‘I’ll do it.’
Even now the signs of Ali’s power were all around her. She arrived home to discover that some files, containing a wealth of material about Kamar, had been delivered in her absence.
There was also a typewritten note, saying that she would be given twenty-four hours to master the material, and then Ali’s secretary would see her.
Perhaps that meant he wouldn’t be there himself. This was a farewell gift. Afterwards she would hear of him no more, and somehow she would try to persuade herself that it was for the best.
Reading the file, she felt as though somebody had let her into Aladdin’s cave. All the doors she had knocked on fruitlessly were now open to her. With what she had learned while in Kamar, she had the basis for a splendid feature. Once that would have been enough.
She made a long list of questions, and on the appointed day she approached Ali’s house. The huge front door opened while she was still halfway up the path.
Ali’s secretary advanced to meet her with a bow. If he knew that this was the woman who’d jilted his master he gave no sign of it.
‘His Highness regrets profoundly that he is unable to be present. He has instructed me to give you all the help you require.’
So she wouldn’t see Ali. When her heart had recovered from its pang of disappointment she would feel relieved.
Everything was ready for her. Ali’s secretary was prepared with answers to all her questions. At her request he opened computer files and explained everything with perfect courtesy. Finally, he said, ‘I’ll arrange for some tea to be served to you.’
He slipped quietly out, leaving Fran frowning at the screen, concentrating too hard to hear a movement in the room.
‘I hope everything is to your liking.’
She looked up quickly to see Ali watching her, and now she realised that she’d always secretly known that he would be there.
‘Your secretary told me you were away,’ she said.
‘I instructed him to say that. I was afraid that otherwise you would leave.’
‘Still manipulating people,’ she observed.
He gave a wry, mirthless smile. ‘Well, I’m afraid the habit is ingrained by now.’
‘That’s what I was afraid of. I tried to tell you in my letter-’
‘Yes, your letter. Let’s not discuss that.’
‘No, let’s discuss why you pulled so many strings to get me here. Or is that simply what I should have expected of you?’
‘I don’t understand your attitude,’ he said in a hard voice. ‘You made a fool of me before my people. In return I’m giving you what you wanted.’
‘Giving? Or commanding? You told my editor it had to be me and nobody else.’
‘It didn’t occur to me that you would refuse. I wanted to see you, to give you a chance to explain your behaviour.’
