The Desert Castle Read Online Free Page A

widow, and he, too, would have probably have forgotten to say a single word about how sorry he was . ’
    ‘ And you don ’ t mind my going to Jordan ? ’ Marion pressed her .
    H er mother gave her a surprised smile. ‘ Why should I? I know you ’ ll be quite all right with Gregory to look after you. ’ The smile tu rn ed into a flash of laughter. ‘ He ’ ll find some work for you to do too ! ’
    ‘ I am going, ’ Marion said with dignity, ‘ to look after Lucasta. Nobody has to look after me ! ’
    ‘ No, dear, ’ her mother teased. ‘ Perhaps you ’ ll be able to impress Gregory with your twenty-four years more than you do me. He didn ’ t know you when you were only two, or when you were only two minutes old. ’
    I t wasn ’ t an argument that Marion was likely to win, so she stuck out her tongue at her mother and went off by herself to start her packing.
    L ucasta accepted the five-hour flight as a boring necessity. She reminded Marion to put her watch on a couple of hours in lofty tones and then disappeared behind one of the Sunday papers that the red-clad hostess handed round amongst the passengers. Marion tried to do likewise, but she found her attention wandered, back to the safety checks they had come through to get on the plane at all, and forward to what awaited her on their a rri val at Amman when she would come face to face with Gregory Randall once again.
    I t was hard to tell the nationality of their fellow - passengers. Some of the women in saris were plainly Indian, or Pakistanis on their way to Karachi and presumably, the men who were with them were their husbands. Of the others, some were plainly too dark to be British, but others confused her by being quite as fair as herself, though possibly more sunburned, yet they spoke Arabic with a fluency that she thought could only mean they were Jordanians.
    T he five hours went more quickly than she would have believed possible. Lucasta emerged from behind her newspaper to eat the excellent lunch that was served to them and rather grudgingly admitted that travelling by air did save a tremendous amount of time and trouble.
    ‘ That ’ s the trouble. It ’ s never one ’ s own pollution one bothers about, but other people ’ s. If I do it, it ’ s quite all right, ’ she added, the cares of the world resting heavily on her shoulders.
    ‘ I expect this flight would have gone ahead without us, ’ Marion observed. ‘ I shouldn ’ t feel too badly about it, if I were you. ’
    ‘ That ’ s what everyone says, ’ Lucasta retorted, and went back to her newspaper.
    I t was half-past five, local time, when they came in to land and the sun was still shining, wa rm ing the atmosphere and adding its welcome before disappearing for the night. Lucasta, with an excitement that she couldn ’ t quite hide, gathered up all the hand luggage and pushed Marion out of the plane ahead of her with a surprising efficiency.
    ‘ Gregory doesn ’ t like it if one ’ s last off, ’ she said by way of explanation. ‘ He hates hanging about for anyone. ’
    ‘ But we still have to wait for our suitcases to come off, ’ Marion protested after receiving a particularly sharp jab in the back.
    ‘ He ’ ll see to that. All we have to do is get our passports checked and show our visas to the police. ’
    M arion found she was quite right. Gregory was waiting for them just inside the airport and a handsome tip found a porter who claimed their luggage and argued with the customs official for them just as if it were his own. It was all much easier than Marion had imagined. What was not easy was gathering herself together to greet the man himself once he had emerged from Lucasta ’ s enthusiastic embrace.
    ‘ Hullo there, Miss Shirley, ’ his deep voice claimed her attention. ‘ Aren ’ t you going to show any pleasure in your arrival like Lucasta here? I think you can do better than that! ’ He ignored Marion ’ s outstretched hand and swept her up into