Page 80 of Sands of Sirocco
“I don’t know.”Even if he did, he wouldn’t tell her.Much as he wanted to help Lord Helton, someone else from the CID would be better for this.And Jack was still out there.He’d wasted enough time before going after Jack already.Victoria was safe now.
Victoria lowered herself back onto the bed, her dark hair over her shoulders.She rolled on one side and wiped her cheek.“Please be careful.I can’t bear the thought of losing you.”
Noah stood and went to the chair where he’d spent the night.He removed the pillow and placed it back on the foot of the bed, lost in thought.This wasn’t the time to have the conversation with her again about Ginger.She was raw and hurt.
Victoria’s thoughts went there anyway, it seemed.“When she went missing in the desert, you chased down her captors, killed them all.”
Irritation tingled down his arms, which he flexed, but the truth was she wasn’t completely wrong.He’d done things to hunt for and recover Ginger that had been sheer madness.“I was trying to find you.”
Silence followed.Then she said in a hollow, bitter voice, “I know.Just like you’re trying to find Jack.But you’re much more averse to the risks now, I suppose.”
Noah blinked at her curled-up form.Her words were dizzying.
God Almighty.He couldn’t do right by anyone, could he?
And yet … Victoria wasn’t wrong.He’d taken the time for a damned polo match while she’d been missing.Alastair had urged him to be cautious in going back for Jack, but when hadn’t Alastair urged caution?Alastair was caution.He lived in a house without a front door and shrouded himself in secrets and spies and information.Noah knew all this, and yet he hadn’t gone back for Jack—and that was before Victoria had been taken.
Because he had someone to live for.To be cautious for.
At least he’d thought he did.
He pulled a wooden case out from under the bed and set it on the desk in the room, then removed the materials he needed to clean his rifles.He laid out a cloth over the desk, then grabbed two rifles from the corner of the room.Who knew when he would have time for anything this methodical in the next few days?The trouble with desert warfare was that keeping one’s guns clean was nearly impossible—sand seemed to get everywhere.
His gaze darted toward Victoria, who studied him.“You heard her come here, didn’t you?”he said at last.
“Yes.”Victoria propped her hands under her cheek.“I suppose that means she’s no longer keeping her promise to my father to stay away from you.”
Noah pulled the bolt back and cleaned the chamber with a rag.“Your father recruited her … didn’t you know?To find her father’s concession.So he can then take it.”
Victoria shook her head.“Had he asked my opinion, I would have told him—”
“That’s irrelevant.”Noah used a dry brush to sweep the barrel, then covered the end of the rifle with a condom—a trick Jack had taught him to keep out the dirt and sand.He kept his expression even.“At any rate, she wasn’t reporting directly to your father anyway.”
“Why on earth would anyone be so deluded as to believe she’s equipped to learn anything?”Annoyance flashed in Victoria’s face, and she pushed one bare leg out from under the covers.She tossed the covers aside and moved to the vacant chair beside the desk.“And I suppose she’s been keeping you occupied doing her work for her.”
Noah didn’t answer.
Hehadbeen occupied.Busy trying to find Victoria.Busy trying to keep Ginger happy.Busy trying to learn what the hell Fisher was up to.
He’d beenkeptoccupied.
He sat bolt upright.
“You’re right.”Noah raked his fingers across his scalp, wanting to tug at his hair in frustration.
Someone had wanted to keep him occupied.Occupied and here in Cairo.
It had to be Fisher.
“Why would Fisher want me in Cairo?”he asked aloud, focusing on the bullets littering the cloth.
Victoria was tense, alert.He could tell she knew he’d thought of something and believed it better not to interrupt his train of thought.
His plan had been to go back for Jack.And he would have.“Jack must know something.Or have something.Something they want to keep from me.”He threw down the rag, his head snapping upright.“I have to go back for him.”
Alarm crossed her features.“What about my father?”
Lord Helton be damned.But he couldn’t say that to her.Heat rose on his neck.“I’ll need to go to the CID and make them aware of what’s been going on with the Aleaqrab.”
