She nestled closer, her heart aching with love. Oh, God, it was love. If it were mere infatuation, how could it invade every bit of her heart and mind? “It’s not that I don’t want to stay,” she whispered haltingly. “It’s just that I can’t. Never. I think that I’m happy, that I’ve found a place to call home, and then something happens. I get frightened and panic. I have to run away.” She laughed shakily. “Crazy, huh?”
“No, it’s not crazy.” His lips brushed her temple. “Don’t worry. I understand, windflower. I know you by heart, remember?”
By heart. Yes, she knew him by heart too. That was the only way to know David. “I’ll try,” she promised gravely. “I’ll try to stay, David.”
“That’s all I want,” David said simply. “We’ll take what we can and fill every moment with laughter and miracles. Now close your eyes, sweetheart. I want to hold you in my arms and watch you sleep.”
Her lids slowly closed, but it was as much to hide their moist brightness as to tempt slumber. She didn’t go to sleep for some time as she lay in his arms and thought wistfully about the laughter and the miracles.
SEVEN
“HOLD STILL, YUSEF. It will only be a minute and I’ll have you under the dryer.” She snapped the last of the curling rods shut and stood back to appraise the rows of tiny rods marching down Yusef’s head. “That should do it,” she said as she secured a plastic bag over his hair.
“My God, Billie, what are you doing?” David’s face was blank with astonishment as he stood in the doorway of her room.
“What?” she asked as she swung the already roaring hood of the dryer over Yusef’s head. “Oh, hi, David. I’ll be through here in just a second.” She yelled to Yusef over the noise of the dryer. “Eight minutes.” He gave a glum nod and closed his eyes with a long-suffering expression.
Billie was frowning crossly as she turned and walked toward David. “You’d think I was sticking him with knives. What a baby!”
“Billie, would it be too much to ask what he’s being a baby about?” He closed the door and leaned against it, his bewildered gaze on the giant under the hair dryer.
“I’m giving him a permanent, but he’s being most uncooperative. He’s complained about everything from the stink of the waving lotion to the amount of time it took me to roll it.” She scowled. “It’s not as if I’m a professional hairdresser. Of course it took me a little time.” She sniffed her fingers and made a face. “He’s right about the waving lotion, though.”
“A permanent,” David echoed blankly. “Why are you giving him a permanent?”
“Because I want him to look like Tony Geary, that actor who was on General Hospital.”
“General Hospital?”
“It’s a soap opera. I got hooked on it for a while when I was working at the Office of Indian Affairs at the reservation of the Rainbow people.”
David shook his head. “I’m not even going to ask who the Rainbow people are. I’m too confused already. Let’s just stick to Yusef. Why do you want him to look like a TV actor, for heaven’s sake?”
“Not any TV actor. Tony Geary,” Billie said patiently. “It’s very important he look like Luke and not Robert or Allen or any of the others. Luke is sensitive, even a little vulnerable. The others appear to be much stronger.” Her brow wrinkled thoughtfully. “Not that Luke isn’t strong, it’s just—”
He put his hand over her lips. “Let me catch up. I thought you wanted him to look like Tony Geary. Now we’re switching to Luke. Which one are we cloning?”
She kissed his hand absently before pulling it away. “Tony Geary is the actor who plays Luke Spencer. They’re one and the same.”
“That’s a relief—I thought we were getting mixed up.” His lips twitched. “Now everything is perfectly clear. Luke’s the sensitive one?”
“Right, that’s very important,” Billie said earnestly. “We don’t want him to look sleek or sophisticated or anything like that. We’re going for sensitive and vulnerable.”
“That’s very intelligent of us,” he said solemnly, his eyes dancing. “And a permanent is going to make Yusef sensitive?”
“Yusef is sensitive.” Billie said a little indignantly. “He’s a very caring person. I’m just trying to make him look that way.”
“I wouldn’t think of insulting your little lamb,” David said soothingly, glancing at the fierce Hercules imprisoned under the hair dryer. “I don’t think there’s a man in Sedikhan who would.”
“That’s the whole point. Everyone is afraid of him because he seems so terrifying. They don’t bother to look beyond the facade and see how gentle he is.”
Gentle. David had a sudden memory of the gate guards who’d been trampled and crushed by that “gentle” giant only two weeks ago. “How very unperceptive of them. And you’ve found the solution?”
“Curls!” She beamed. “Luke has curls. Lots of them, all over his head. They have a sort of frizzy softness. Who could be afraid of a man with a mop like Shirley Temple?”
“He’s going to look like Shirley Temple?” David shook his head. “Somehow I don’t think so.”
“Of course not. I told you I was aiming for Tony Geary. Manly, but sensitive.”
“I’m glad you opted for the manly. I don’t think Yusef would appreciate looking like Shirley Temple,” he said dryly. “I’m surprised he’s letting himself be coerced into this beauty treatment.”
“Well, he’s not doing it with very good grace,” she said with a disgruntled glance at the still-scowling Yusef. “I don’t think he’d let me do it at all except for Daina.”
“Daina? Who’s Daina? Another soap-opera character?”
Billie shook her head. “She and her family run that jewelry stall in the bazaar. She’s a pretty little thing, but very timid. She’s scared to death of Yusef. I met her yesterday morning when I strolled down there with him.” She made a face. “Since you were so involved with your writing, you couldn’t honor me with your presence until after lunch.”
“You’re the one who insisted I stay at the Casbah,” he protested. “You said you had some personal shopping you wanted to do.” His sapphire eyes were glowing softly. “I think I’ve demonstrated that you’re my primary occupation these days. The book could have waited.”
She dropped her gaze to the front of his shirt, feeling the familiar warmth surge through her. “You’ve been spending too much time with me,” she said, a little gruffly. “I was there when you got that phone call from your editor, remember? You promised him you’d send off the finished manuscript at the end of the week. I know you’re working on it in the evenings, but if I didn’t take up so much of your time during the day, you wouldn’t have to work so late. You didn’t come to bed until almost three last night. I don’t like you to work that hard.”
He touched her cheek with a teasing finger. “It doesn’t seem to exhaust me to the point of no return.” His eyes were twinkling. “I still woke you up and managed to while away another hour or so. Didn’t I display a sufficient degree of energy for you?”
A little tingle started in the pit of her stomach as she remembered just how that energy had been directed. “Oh, you were adequate,” she said airily, gazing up at him impishly from beneath her lashes. “Of course, I’ve seen you show greater stamina. You went right to sleep after only the second time. I was beginning to think you didn’t think I was sexy anymore.”
“Oh, I find you sexy,” he said softly, a little flame beginning to light in the depths of his eyes. “You were gone when I woke up, or I would have proved that to your complete satisfaction. That’s why I came looking for you. Why don’t you come to my room and I’ll demonstrate it right now?”
She took an impulsive step forward and then stopped and shook her head. “I’ve got to finish Yusef’s permanent.” She sighed. “I want him to be in top shape when he goes to see Daina this afternoon.”
“Oh, yes, the timid Daina. I hope she appreciates the sacrifices we’re all making for her sake. Was all thi
s really necessary?”
“Oh, yes. Yusef is positively besotted with her, and she’s absolutely terrified of him,” Billie said seriously. “He won’t be nearly so intimidating without all that wild hair. She’ll see him through entirely new eyes.”
“Tony Geary?”
She nodded happily, and he tried to smother his grin as he leaned forward and gave her a light kiss on the tip of her nose. “Then, I guess I’m banished to my desk for the next few hours. You’re not going to give him a beauty mask and a manicure as well?”
“This isn’t all that amusing. Men do have permanents, these days, just like women, you know.” She suddenly grinned. “And you shouldn’t talk. That braid you were wearing in your portrait wasn’t exactly macho.”
“Touché,” he said. “Hoisted with my own petard.”
There was a perfunctory knock on the door behind him and Clancy entered without waiting for an invitation. “Yasmin said you were here, David. I have to speak to you for a moment.” He nodded at Billie. “Hello, Billie. Sorry about bursting in here like this.” His full attention was given again to David as he pulled an envelope out of the back pocket of his cords. “I think you’d better take a look at this.”
David took the envelope and slipped the note from it. He perused it casually, his expression impassive. “Nothing to get upset about,” he said, handing the note and envelope back to Clancy. “Perhaps a little more explicit than usual, but no different from the rest.”
“The difference lies in the fact that this one wasn’t in the mail, but slipped under the front door of the Casbah,” Clancy said grimly. “With two gate guards and two at the front entrance, that couldn’t have happened. But it did. Which means Ladram has either managed to assume a good guise to penetrate the gates or he’s bribed someone to do his errands for him. Either way it means he’s coming closer. He’s probably here in the city and wants you to know it.”
“Good,” David said. “Then we’ll be through with him soon.” He nodded toward the note in Clancy’s hand. “Judging by that, he’s getting very impatient. He’s positively salivating.”
How could he be so casual? Billie wondered with a shiver. Just thinking of Ladram in the same city and ready to pounce on David filled her with cold terror. “May I see the note?” she asked through stiff lips.
David cast a narrowed glance at her set, pale face and shook his head. “I don’t think so, Billie. It’s a little ugly.”
“So is Ladram,” Clancy said tersely. “And I agree that it’s just as well that everything’s coming to a head, but it also means the danger is doubled. For God’s sake be careful, David.”
“Always,” David said lightly.
Clancy snorted. “Almost never,” he corrected gloomily, shaking his head in disgust. Suddenly his glance fell upon Yusef, across the room, and his eyes widened. “Good Lord, what on earth are you doing to him?”
“It’s not some futuristic torture implement.” David’s eyes were suddenly dancing. “And the look of pain on his face isn’t physical, but mental. Billie’s giving him a permanent.”
“A permanent?” Clancy responded dazedly, his eyes on the scowling face of the man beneath the hair dryer. “Yusef?”
“Oh, my goodness, it’s time he came out,” Billie said frantically. “He’ll get too much curl!” She was running across the room to the dryer.
“Curl?” Clancy’s voice was choked, his eyes bright. “Oh, Lord, I can’t stand it. I want to laugh but I’m afraid that ferocious behemoth will annihilate me. Curls!”
“But not Shirley Temple,” David said solemnly.
“Billie assured me that wouldn’t do at all. Frizzy, soft, sensitive curls.”
“Dear heaven, don’t go on.” Clancy’s shoulders were shaking with silent laughter. “I can’t stand it. I don’t even want to know why she’s doing it. It would be too much.”
“I wouldn’t think of confiding Yusef’s personal affairs,” David said righteously. “I’m every bit as sensitive as Luke Spencer”—he touched a lock of his hair—“though my coiffure doesn’t reflect it.” His eyes widened in mock alarm. “You don’t think Billie will want to change it?”
“Damn you, David.” Clancy was heroically trying to keep a straight face. “Will you stop that? It would serve you right if she did. And there’s every chance she just might. I’ve discovered Billie’s almost immovable when she gets a bee in her bonnet. Karim wasn’t all that pleased about her interference with the guards. I think he believed she was trying to ingratiate herself with an eye to subverting their loyalty.”
“Interference with the guards?” David’s eyes were suddenly narrowed with concern. “What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t heard anything about that.”
“She probably didn’t think it was important. You know that cool night last week? She sent out one of the servants with a pitcher of hot spiced cider for the exterior guards and left orders that the same thing be done every evening. She said it was ‘sinfully’ inconsiderate to let the poor men shiver out there alone without something warm to comfort them.”
David’s lips curved in a tender smile as his eyes followed Billie’s movements while she carefully unrolled the rods in Yusef’s hair, her brow knotted in concentration. “That sounds like Billie.” Suddenly the smile vanished. “She’s been going outside the Casbah without me lately. Put a guard on her, Clancy. But for heaven’s sake, don’t let her know. She’d raise hell if she thought I was doubting she could take care of herself.”
“Ladram?”
David nodded. “There’s a slight possibility she might be a target, if he’s as well-informed as you seem to think. I won’t take the chance.”
“I wish you’d be as careful with your own neck,” Clancy said wryly as he turned to leave. “Are you going to stay and see Yusef’s final unveiling or will you join me for a cup of coffee?”
“I’ll go with you.” David cast a last wistful glance at Billie. “She probably won’t be finished for hours. Making Yusef vulnerable-looking sounds like a long project.”
Clancy looked at Billie just as she was testing the springiness of one coarse curl while Yusef stared up at her with a wild-eyed, helpless expression. “I can see how long-term it could be.” He gasped. “Lord, I’ve got to get out of here.” He bolted out of the room. There was an amused grin on David’s face as he followed more slowly.
The cotton gown was really very attractive, Billie thought with a little surge of pleasure. It didn’t equal the haute-couture elegance of the dress she’d borrowed that first evening, of course. She’d bought this one in the bazaar for a ridiculously low price, but its cobalt-blue-and-black stripes contrasted nicely with her copper hair. The boat neck and empire waist gave her bosom a little oomph too. She certainly needed all the help she could get in that area.
“Sit down. I will do your hair,” Yasmin said briskly as she entered the dressing room. “We must take special care to make you presentable this evening.” She pushed Billie down on the vanity bench. “You can see how womanly and lovely you can look if you try. Sheikh Karim will be very pleased.”
“Because of the gown?” Billie shook her head. “He’s not that easy to please. Besides, I didn’t do it for him. I just thought it would be a nice change.”
Yasmin raised a skeptical eyebrow. “It is a change that will meet with his approval. Now, sit still and I will finish the task.”
“Just a minute. I might as well listen to last night’s tape while you’re doing it. I want to see if there’s anything worth keeping.” She reached over to switch on the tape recorder on the vanity, and immediately the sound of her own soft voice filled the room.
“You sing very well.” Yasmin said as she began to brush Billie’s hair vigorously.
“Not really. I can carry a tune, and that’s about it. But I do get a kick out of making up songs.”
“Sheikh Karim likes your singing,” Yasmin insisted. “I heard Mr. Donahue tell Lisan that he’d found your voice very pleasant when you sang
for them in the library that evening.”
“It must have hurt him to admit it.” She shrugged. “Not that it matters. I only sang because David asked me to.”
Yasmin fell silent, concentrating on her artistry, and Billie tried to focus her attention on the song she’d composed last night while David was busy at the typewriter. It wasn’t bad. Not as good as the one she’d created the night before, but still not bad at all. She’d probably keep it. She was gathering quite a collection of “keeper” tapes these days, she realized with some surprise.
When David had talked her into taping the sessions she spent in his room playing and composing, she’d been very reluctant. She’d thought she would end up immediately taping over ninety percent of the tapes, and told him so.
“Try it,” he’d coaxed. “It’s a crime to waste any creative effort. How many songs have you composed over the years and forgotten later? Keep a record so they’ll always be with you.”
So she’d tried it—and, to her surprise, found she liked the idea of creating something permanent, even if it was only an audio tape. Strange…when she’d never wanted anything resembling permanence in her life before. But then, these entire two weeks seemed to have no connection with her former life. It was as if she were suspended within a golden cloud, floating only over the present. And the present was so enchanting that she wanted to stay forever. Forever? No, she wasn’t going to think about that. She was only going to take one day at a time and live in the sunlight with David. Maybe it would go on forever if she didn’t think about it and could keep the fear at bay.
“I like that song. It’s the best thing you’ve done yet,” David said from where he stood in the doorway of the dressing room. He always looked so gorgeous in evening dress, she thought dreamily.
She reached for the switch of the tape recorder. “Thanks a lot,” she said, making a face at him. “But that’s not one of mine. I got tired of composing and started singing one of Carly Simon’s songs.”
“Oops!” His eyes were dancing. “Well, maybe next week, windflower. You’re getting better all the time.”