“Nothing much.” Pandora’s slim, nervous hands tightened on the bars of the fence. “It’s just turned out that I’m not going to be around here anymore. I’m going away this morning. Philip gave me the good news when he drove me home last night. I’m to be whisked away in Philip’s helicopter to Marasef and put on a plane for England. Isn’t that exciting?”
“England?” Zilah echoed, shocked. “I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you?” Pandora asked tautly. “Philip says that the private schools in England are very good. He’s sending me to his agent in London, who’s going to find just the right one for me. Philip’s specified that it have a fine stable and that it specialize in training Olympic equestrian candidates. Isn’t that absolutely wonderful?”
“But why so suddenly? He didn’t seem at all angry last night.”
“You don’t understand.” Pandora’s words were coming with feverish rapidity. “This isn’t a punishment. He’s only doing what’s best for me. That’s what he said. ‘This is what’s best for you, Pandora.’ He kept saying that over and over. He wouldn’t listen to me.” One hand released the bar and balled into a fist that turned her knuckles white. “He wouldn’t listen to me.”
“What about your father? Doesn’t he have anything to say about this?”
“I told you, he does anything Philip tells him to do. If Philip told him to send me to darkest Africa to make a meal for the cannibals, he would do it.”
“England isn’t so bad,” Zilah said gently. “Perhaps this will be best for you. Why don’t you give it a chance? Philip must have thought it was, or he wouldn’t be sending you away.” She felt achingly sorry for the girl. She wanted to reach out and hold her, comfort her, but that control was too fragile. It might shatter at any moment.
Pandora muttered a curse that was charged with pain. “That’s not the reason he’s sending me away,” she said with a violence that had a touch of desperation. “I was coming too close. Philip won’t let anyone come too close. He knew I’d never stop trying to make him-” She broke off and drew a deep shaky breath. “I knew that, when he was giving me all that hogwash about doing what was best for me. He just wanted to get the kid away and out of his life. He’d be safe then.” She shrugged. “Maybe he doesn’t even know it himself.”
“Well, if you can’t do anything-”
“The hell I can’t!” Pandora turned to face her, and Zilah experienced a shock at the agony in the young girl’s face. Agony and a relentless purpose. Her dark eyes were glowing with an almost incandescent strength. “He can send me away but he can’t make my choices as to how I run my life. He can keep his wonderful school. I’ll find my own way.” She closed her eyes. “And it will be my way. I’ll get over this pain,” she whispered. “You’ll see, I’ll get over it.” She opened her eyes that were glittering with unshed tears. “Good-bye, Zilah. I’ll try to keep in touch.”
Then she was gone. Running across the stableyard as if she were a creature of the night fleeing the dawn.
Oh, God, such pain. It didn’t seem fair that she, herself, was so happy and full of hope when Pandora was so miserable. She couldn’t let her go without trying to speak to her again. Perhaps Daniel could talk to Philip…No, that would serve no purpose. She had an idea the sheikh was an immovable object when he made up his mind. It would only put a strain on the friendship that Daniel valued so highly. If Pandora’s father was in accord, there was nothing anyone could do to prevent her being sent to England. Perhaps the best thing Zilah could do would be to try to reconcile Pandora to the idea and offer her all the support she could give her.
Zilah suddenly had no desire to go riding. All she wanted to do was go back to Daniel’s arms, where she felt so secure. Where she could experience again that hope she had known this morning. She had turned away and had already taken a few strides toward the house when she stopped suddenly. Dancing Lady. Pandora had said she had already saddled her. She’d have to go into the stable and unsaddle her. Her steps were quick with impatience as she crossed the stableyard and entered the shadowy stall-lined barn. Dancing Lady was in the first stall, and Zilah reached for the latch to open the wooden gate.
“I thought for a few minutes you were going to disappoint me.”
She froze. Her heart stopped and then started beating again in double-time. Hassan!
He stepped out from behind a high stack of baled hay, his rifle held almost casually in the crook of his arm. “You looked as if you were undecided whether to come into the stable or not.” He smiled mockingly, his dark eyes gleaming in the dim light. “That would have been a pity. I was getting tired of my long vigil. I’ve been here almost twenty-four hours, you know. I was even tempted to take the little silver-haired girl as hostage when she came in this morning to saddle the mare. I stopped only because I didn’t know who she was. After waiting so long I didn’t want to waste my valuable time on a nobody.”
“How did you know I was here?” Zilah asked jerkily.
“This is a very small world and the sheikh and his guests are of prominent interest to the residents. I asked a few discreet questions in the bazaar.” His hand tightened on the stock of the rifle. “I listened and I watched. I even saw you and Seifert at a distance on one of your early morning rides a few days ago. Did you know this rifle has a telescopic sight?” His palm rubbed the wood caressingly. “I can’t tell you how close I was to killing Seifert. But it wouldn’t have done me any good to kill him if you got away. Then they would have gotten scared and moved you to Zalandan right away.”
“You still think you can get away with holding me hostage?” Zilah shook her head. “It didn’t work last time.” She lifted her chin. “Daniel made fools of you and your men.”
“He caught us off guard,” Hassan snarled. “It won’t happen again.” A wavering ray of light flickered into the dimness and she could see him more clearly. The sight wasn’t encouraging. He looked wild, desperate, and very deadly. His madras shirt and black pants were dirty and stained and he had a dark stubble on his thin cheeks.
“They’ve already caught the other three men and they’ll catch you too.” Hassan had stiffened at her words. “You didn’t know that, did you? They caught them yesterday morning.”
“They were cowards and fools. They gave up before the game was half played.” Hassan’s lips twisted. “Now that I have you, the game begins again with a brand new deck of cards. This time I’ll have to think of something to do to you to convince Ben Raschid that the game is to be played in earnest.”
Zilah felt a chill of terror run down her spine. “But you don’t have me.” She tried to keep her voice steady. “How do you expect to get me away from the compound? Someone is sure to see you.”
“Then they’ll also see the gun at your back.” He smiled faintly. “And I doubt if they’ll interfere.”
“Zilah, I’m glad I caught you,” Daniel said as he entered the stable. He was grinning and his voice was light and teasing. “What the devil do you mean running out-” He broke off as he saw the tenseness in her figure.
He stiffened, his body automatically tautening with the instinct of a jungle animal sensing danger. Then his gaze discovered the threatening figure in the deeper shadows to the left of the door. He uttered a low, violent curse.
“Ah, our special envoy, Mr. Seifert,” Hassan said silkily. “This is an unexpected pleasure. I thought I was going to have to demand your head as part of the ransom of my brother, but now that won’t be necessary.”
“You’re a fool, Hassan. Clancy Donahue has half the agents on the security team scouring the province for you. You’ll never get away with it,” Daniel said roughly. “If you’re smart, you’ll run like hell and only hope it’s fast enough.”