Oasis of the Heart Page 3

  Cairo's heart was thumping as she peeked cautiously from her hiding place a few minutes later. It was Max. He was exchanging some joke with the driver as he hoisted his rucksack out of the back of the pick-up truck. His smile lit his face with humour, and, as once before, Cairo found herself thinking irrelevantly that he could be disquietingly attractive when he smiled like that. As Max turned away to dump his pack on the ground, her memory suddenly jolted, but the flash of recognition was gone before she could grasp it. She had met him before... but where?

  Max was thumping the roof of the cab to let the driver know that he was ready, and as the truck drove off with a cheery wave out of the window and a toot of its horn Cairo quickly ducked back behind the boulder. It was cooler in the shadow of the great rock, and she leant back against it, closing her eyes against the momentary panic at the thought of facing Max. She could feel the cool, weatherworn stone pressing against her back. He was going to be very angry with her.

  For a treacherous moment she contemplated staying hidden, before her pride reasserted itself and her spine stiffened. She wouldn't let herself be intimidated by Max Falconer, and, anyway, she didn't have any choice. If she stayed here, she had no way to get back to the safety of the camp.

  Don't be such a coward, she reprimanded herself sternly and forced herself upright. What could he do to her, after all?

  Taking a deep breath, Cairo walked out from behind the boulder. 'Hello.'

  Max had his back to her and was bent over his rucksack, but at her greeting he spun round and stared incredulously at Cairo, slim and elegant in long, loose shorts and a sleeveless shirt. A large straw hat dangled from her hand.

  'What the hell are you doing here?' he exploded, after a moment of stunned silence.

  'Waiting for you,' she said, trying to sound composed.

  There was a menacing pause. 'Do you have some problem understanding plain English?' asked Max with dangerous control. 'I've told you before, woman, and this is the last time I'm going to tell you, so you'd better listen hard.' He leant towards her, enunciating very slowly and clearly. 'I am not taking you up on to the plateau.'

  Cairo quailed at the blaze of anger in his eyes, but held her ground. 'In that case, I'll just follow you,' she said bravely. 'You won't be able to do anything about it.'

  'You'd never be able to keep up,' he said with dismissive contempt. 'You'd be lost within five minutes.'

  'Perhaps, but you haven't left me with any other option/' Cairo said, her chin still tilted at a belligerent angle.

  'Oh, yes, I have. Your only option is to take yourself back to the camp, and then to London, as soon as possible.'

  'I can't.'

  'What do you mean, you can't? You got here, didn't you? Now you can get yourself back.'

  'I told the driver I was meeting you here. He's already left.'

  There was a silence. 'Do you mean to tell me,' said Max, in a quiet voice that chilled Cairo to the bone, 'that you came out here to stand in a hundred and twenty degrees and sent away your one chance of survival?'

  'I knew you would come,' said Cairo, forced back, despite herself, on to the defensive. 'Bruce said you usually came this way.'

  'Usually, yes! But not always.' Max stared at her in disbelief. 'How could you be so stupidly irresponsible? I suppose you realise that if I had decided to go another way this morning you'd have been stranded? Nobody else comes here at this time of year, and you wouldn't stand a snowball's chance of walking back to the camp from here!'

  'I have to get up on to the plateau,' Cairo said stubbornly.

  'What is it with you?' Max's voice rose to a shout of sheer frustration. 'What's so important about this wretched advertisement that you have to risk your life for it?'

  Cairo felt her cheeks burning, and set her jaw. 'I've just set up in partnership with a friend. It's taken ages to get our first job, and now that we've got it I can't go home and say that I couldn't even get myself to the location.' Her green eyes met his squarely. 'I don't want to climb up to this plateau any more than you want to take me, but I have to get there. If I don't, our business will fail. We won't get another chance like this.' There was no need to mention her godmother's loan weighing heavily on her shoulders, or her father, a broken man, waiting patiently for her to set him back on his feet.

  'You were stupid to take on a job like this,' Max said unsympathetically. 'The desert's no place for a girl like you.'

  Cairo lifted her chin proudly. 'You don't know what I'm like.'

  'I can make a pretty good guess.' He looked at her with dislike. 'You've been pampered and indulged so much of your life that you think the world revolves around you, and you're prepared to ride roughshod over everyone just to get your own way. Never mind that I might not want to take you.

  Never mind that you might hold me up or distract me from my work. Never mind that if you were stuck here other people would risk their own lives, let alone their time and money, looking for you.' His jaw worked furiously. 'I ought to call your bluff and leave you here.'

  Cairo held her breath as he turned away and swore, snatching off his hat and raking his fingers through his hair in frustration. 'You're a damned nuisance!'

  he ground out between his teeth. 'I can't afford the time to take you back to camp, and, as you've so cleverly calculated, I can hardly leave you to die of thirst, no matter how much you may deserve it.'

  'So you'll take me with you?' Cairo beamed with relief, but her smile faded as Max stepped towards her and took her chin in one strong, brown hand.

  He forced her face up so that her defiant green eyes were staring up into his, and she swallowed at the menacing expression that she read there. 'You may have won this round, but I wouldn't feel too smug about it if I were you, Cairo Kingswood,' he said. 'I don't take kindly to being manipulated, and if I hear one word of complaint, one murmur of protest about the conditions, I swear I'll abandon you right where you are.' His fingers were digging into her jaw, hurting her. 'Is that understood?'

  'Yes,' she said. She wanted to sound cool and was humiliated to find that her voice came out as no more than a whisper.

  'Good.' He released her, and she stepped back, instinctively rubbing her face where he had held her. The soft skin seemed to burn with the imprint of his fingers.

  She would probably have two huge bruises tomorrow, Cairo thought resentfully.

  'I presume you brought some supplies with you?' Max went on, impervious to her aggrieved looks. Having accepted the situation, however reluctantly, he was suddenly all brisk efficiency.

  'I've got a backpack,' she said huskily.

  'Show me.'

  Cairo retrieved her rucksack and handed it over to Max, who emptied it out unceremoniously on to the ground. 'What are you doing?'

  'The more you have to carry, the more you're going to slow me up. You won't need half of this stuff. This can go for a start.' He took her make-up bag and chucked it to one side.

  'But that's got my cleanser and moisturiser in it!' she protested.

  'If we find a guelta—an oasis—you can wash. Otherwise you'll just have to go dirty,' Max said curtly. 'There isn't much point in trying to impress me, and I'm the only person you'll be seeing.'

  'I wouldn't bother to waste my time impressing you,' Cairo snapped back. 'I was thinking more in terms of personal hygiene.'

  Max threw a towel over to join the make-up bag. 'And I'm thinking in terms of survival. You can do as I say on this trip, or you can stay behind. The choice is yours.'

  Cairo subsided into muttering silence, watching sullenly as Max tossed out half the things she had carefully packed that morning. She had read a book about desert survival and had been rather pleased with herself for being so practical. When the compass went sailing through the air to join the pile, she was stung into protest.

  'I might need that!'

  'What for?'

  'Well... something might happen to you.'

  'You'd better hope that it doesn't,' Max said grimly. 'A compass isn'
t any use if you don't know where you're going. You'd never find your way down alone, compass or no compass.'

  'I'm not leaving my Filofax.' Cairo pounced on it before Max could chuck it on to the rapidly growing pile, and clutched it protectively to her chest as if she held her life in her hands, which was what It felt like. She couldn't imagine functioning without it. It held addresses and phone numbers and bank account numbers and notes about the business and lists and birthdays...

  everything she ever needed to refer to had been carefully entered into the black book and she wasn't about to leave it behind, no matter what Max said.

  'You won't need to make any appointments where you're going,' Max pointed out sardonically. 'And there's not much point in having someone's fax number when you're dying of thirst.'

  'I don't care. I'm not risking leaving it behind. I'd feel lost without it.'

  He shrugged. 'Suit yourself. But don't blame me when you're struggling to carry your pack.' He ran a critical eye over what was left in the dust; a torch, two large water bottles, a bag of food, a sleeping sheet and mat that a friend had lent her, an oversized T-shirt and spare underwear. 'That's more than enough,' he grunted and began repacking it all into her rucksack, while Cairo surreptitiously retrieved her make-up bag.

  When he came to her frivolous pants, he looked at them, shaking his head as he stuffed them into the pack, but contented himself with an ironic look.

  Cairo flushed. 'What about my other things?' she asked sharply.

  'What about them?'

  'I can't just leave them here. Someone might steal them.'

  'If I thought anyone would be along to steal them, I'd leave you here for them to deal with,' said Max bluntly. 'Leave them behind that boulder over there and put a white stone on top of them. Then if anyone did come along, they'd know it was someone else's property—always supposing they were interested in that rubbish. I can't imagine anyone finding a use for make-up in the desert.'

  Cairo shifted her make-up bag to an unobtrusive position, and managed to slip it into her rucksack with the Filofax while Max was hunting for a white stone. She straightened quickly as he came back and met his suspicious look with an expression of limpid innocence.

  'What are you doing?'

  'Nothing. I await your next command.'

  His brows drew together at her flippant tone. 'You don't seem to realise what a serious position you've put yourself in. You might have escaped being stranded, but you've still got to survive the next few days, and I don't think you're going to like it very much. Quite apart from anything else, you're completely dependent on me, so, if you don't want to find yourself in for a nasty shock, you'd be wise to tread very carefully,' he said with a note of unmistakable warning.

  Cairo tossed back her hair defiantly. 'I'm not quite as helpless as you seem to think. I've got myself this far, haven't I?'

  'You've got yourself into a very risky situation,' Max retorted. 'If you had any brains at all, you wouldn't be making flippant comments. You ought to be very nervous indeed about putting yourself in the hands of an entirely strange man, with no way of getting help.'

  'I trust you,' said Cairo sullenly. She could see the truth of what Max was saying, but she hated looking foolish, and, although she disliked him intensely, for some reason it had never occurred to her to distrust him.

  'More fool you,' said Max. 'I might be a sex-starved madman for all you know.'

  She had got the point the first time, Cairo thought crossly. 'You don't seem to be mad,' she said in a cold voice. 'Rude and unpleasant, yes. Mad, no. As for sex—'starved, well, it's perfectly obvious that you don't like women.'

  Max's eyes narrowed. 'What makes you so sure about that?' He moved towards her, and, suddenly nervous, Cairo backed away until she came up against the big boulder. Her heart was thumping against her ribs, but she met his eyes defiantly.

  'You've gone out of your way to give me that impression!'

  He was standing very close. 'You're so sure of yourself, aren't you?' he said softly. 'Just because I haven't shown any interest in you, you automatically assume that I couldn't possibly be interested in anyone else.' Taking her wrists, he pinned them against the boulder. The look on his face made Cairo struggle to free herself, but his grip was like steel. 'What's it like to be that vain?' he asked conversationally.

  Cairo had no chance to answer, for the next moment he had bent his head to kiss her. She tried desperately to turn her face away, but he anticipated her, capturing her mouth with his own. The touch of his lips sent a shock of electric awareness surging through her, and she gave an involuntary gasp which opened her lips to his demand. His mouth was hard, insistent as it explored hers, and, horrified at her instinctive leap of response, Cairo fought to contain the excitement uncurling treacherously along her senses.

  Max shifted position slightly, letting his body press her back against the rock while he dropped her wrists to tangle his fingers in her thick golden hair. The vast desert landscape had spun and shrunk around Cairo, until there was nothing except the massive solidity of the boulder behind her, and Max, his mouth on hers and his hands against her face, and the taut, tantalising power of his body. Her hands had fallen limply when he released them, but as his kisses deepened they crept instinctively up his arms, her fingers tightening against the rough khaki cotton of his shirt as if uncertain whether to pull him closer or push him away.

  Cairo felt as if the ground had dropped from beneath her feet. Her body seemed to have acquired a will of its own, relaxing against Max; ignoring her frantic attempts to keep control, her lips had abandoned themselves to the thrilling pressure of his mouth, and her eyes had closed as they gave themselves up to the dangerous, shocking, shaming pleasure of his touch.

  With a muttered exclamation, Max drew away abruptly, and Cairo sagged back against the boulder, grateful for its support. Her legs felt weak and her eyes were huge and dazed by the sudden return to reality.

  A muscle was beating furiously in Max's jaw, and his eyes were blazing with an emotion Cairo couldn't identify, but otherwise he had himself well under control. He wasn't even breathing hard. As she remembered how she had melted into his kiss, a tide of colour swept up Cairo's throat and stained her cheeks crimson. She spread her hands against the boulder and pushed herself upright rather shakily.

  'That wasn't fair,' she whispered.

  'You asked for it,' said Max in a hard voice. 'As it happens, I do like women, but only some, and your brand of rather, unsubtle charm leaves me stone cold.'

  'Why kiss me, then?'

  'To teach you a lesson. You've put yourself entirely in my power, and you've no one to blame but yourself.' Max looked at her with a contempt that deepened the colour in her cheeks. 'I don't like you and I don't want you with me, so don't ask me to be fair with you, Cairo. You haven't earned the right.'

  Swinging up his rucksack, he shrugged it on to his back. 'As far as I'm concerned, you can stay here and die of thirst,' he said, as he fastened the buckle at his waist and adjusted the straps. 'But if you're coming, you'd better get a move-on. I'm not wasting any more of my time.' Without waiting to see whether she had moved or not, he turned away and set off up the path.

  Cairo stared after him with loathing. Her heart was still pounding from his kiss, and she was struggling to bring her breathing under control. At that moment, dying of thirst seemed infinitely preferable to ever seeing Max Falconer again. She would have given anything she possessed to have walked away in the opposite direction, but as her humiliation cooled reason returned. As Max had pointed out, she hadn't left herself with any choice.

  He was walking steadily upwards, his brown skin and dull clothes blending into the stony background. He hadn't looked back once. Cairo bit her lip and pulled herself together with an effort. She wouldn't put it past him to leave her behind. Hoisting her pack on to her back, and jamming her hat on to her head, she set out after him.

  The first bit of the path leading up to the very edge of the plateau was ste
ep and narrow, and every now and then her trainers would slip, skidding rubble in all directions, It was oppressively hot and the sun bounced off the rock, enveloping her in its harsh glare. Cairo's breath was soon coming in short gasps. Beneath her hat, her hair was damp with sweat and clung uncomfortably to her neck.

  Ahead of her, Max walked with a loose, rhythmic stride. He looked cool and comfortable, and his indifference grated on Cairo's resentful nerves. He hadn't so much as glanced to see whether she was following or not! He was obviously hoping that she wouldn't be able to keep up, and Cairo was equally determined to prove him wrong. Gritting her teeth, she toiled upwards.

  Hating Max made it easier to ignore the hot air which dried in her lungs, making it hard to breathe, or the way the straps of the backpack rubbed against her shoulders. She had never met anyone who made so little effort to hide his dislike. He had every right to be angry at the way she had forced herself upon him, but there had been no need to assault her like that!

  Cairo's hot face grew even hotter as she remembered how humiliatingly she had responded to his touch. It was only because he had taken her by surprise, she argued to herself. Max Falconer was the very last type of man she would find attractive. That cold, hard look had never appealed to her, and, if his mouth had been unexpectedly warm and exciting, well, that was just part of the sudden shock of being kissed like that. She wished she couldn't remember how it had felt quite so vividly. Her senses still quivered, and her stomach churned at the thought of the hard strength of her body. He wasn't attractive. He was just... unexpected.

  Cairo paused for breath and wiped the sweat off her upper lip as she looked around her. The path was twisting its way up a narrow gorge, and the rock walls soared above her, trapping the heat so that it pressed down on her like a leaden weight. It was a terrible place, she thought with a shudder, bare and menacing. She longed for the soft greenness of England, for a glimpse of trees and fields and houses. Even the immense emptiness of the desert below them would be preferable to this!