Suddenly all thoughts of food and water were gone. A loud roar came through the trees. Lions roared, she realized, and lions ate people. Timar snorted and pulled against his tethered reins, his eyes rolling in fear.
“Kamal—” Arabella started at the sound of her own voice, raspy from thirst, saying his name. She knew she could not survive in this brutal country. Life suddenly seemed very precious, and at the nearing roar of the lion, very fragile.
“We are going back,” she said, and swung up on Timar’s back. She could feel the stallion quivering in fear and she gave him his head, letting him set his own pace back to Kamal’s camp.
For an instant Arabella couldn’t believe her eyes. She blinked, but the small pool of water was still there. There were animal tracks around its edges, so the water must be safe. She slipped off Timar’s back and led him to the water. She waited until he had drunk his fill, then fell on her knees to cup the cool water in her hands. She splashed the water over her face, reveling in the taste and feel of it. Finally she rose and looked around her. There were clumps of bushes around the pool, and behind, harsh barren rocks, lying loose, as if broken off from the sheer cliff above them. She thought briefly of spending the night there, but there was still light, perhaps several more hours. Time to reach Kamal. She was starting toward Timar when the lion’s roar seemed to reverberate off the rocks. The stallion reared in fright, tossing his great head. “No,” Arabella screamed, but she was too late. Timar wheeled about and broke into a mad gallop away from her. She saw a shadow of movement toward the rocks. She stared, paralyzed, at the huge lion poised atop a flat boulder. It was a female, she thought vaguely, and the females did the killing for the males. Slowly she began to back away in the direction Timar had fled. The lion snorted and tossed her head
. Arabella broke into a run, but fear made her look back. The lion seemed a statue; then suddenly it launched into the air. She screamed as her bare foot struck a rock, and she tripped, falling to the ground.
She heard the loud crack of a gun and a terrible screaming sound, and whirled around, knowing the beast would be on her. The lion seemed suspended in air; then it was twisting, blood spurting from its head. It fell to the ground not three yards from Arabella, dead, a bullet through its brain. Arabella stared at the lion. Slowly she raised her head and saw Kamal, the gun still in his hands, standing silently watching her, near the edge of the pool. Time stood still. Then she was running, oblivious of the sharp rocks cutting her bare feet, running until, with a cry, she launched herself at him.
Kamal threw the gun to the ground and caught her against him. She was sobbing and clutching at him as if to assure herself that it was really he. He ripped off the burnoose and stroked his hands through her filthy hair.
“Hush,” he said against her ear. “It is all right now.”
Arabella sniffed loudly and whispered against his throat. “I was coming back to you.”
“I know.”
“You saved me.”
“Yes.”
“But I stole your horse.”
“I let you.”
Arabella drew back, staring up at him. “I don’t understand.”
Kamal let loose a shrill whistle. To Arabella’s surprise, Timar soon appeared behind them.
“Why?”
He pulled her against him again. “I had intended to find you much sooner, but Timar’s tracks were difficult to follow through the rocks, and he couldn’t hear my whistle. I told you, cara, I want us to have time together, alone.” First we must see to your needs. Are you hungry?”
“Oh yes.”
“You’re dirtier than an urchin. How about a bath first?”
“I’m sorry I burned down your tent.”
Kamal smiled down at her. “One would think I would no longer underestimate your inventiveness. Make me a promise, sweetheart.” He cupped her dirty face in his hands and lightly kissed the tip of her nose. “Promise me you will stay with me, else you will age me beyond my years.”
She nuzzled her face against his hands. “I promise.”
“You’ve scared at least five years off me since I met you. I suppose I should be thankful you’re not as dirty as you were upon your initial delivery to me.” He released her, albeit unwillingly. “Why don’t you bathe while we’ve still daylight? I’ll set up camp and make us some dinner.”
She saw the lion from the corner of her eye and shuddered. “No,” he said, “it’s all right. I’ll take care of the lion.”
Arabella managed a smile and walked to the pool. She sat down at the edge and unwrapped the bandages from her bruised feet. “You are a mess, my girl,” she said.
“Indeed, but the soap will help.”
Kamal handed her a bar of scented soap and a clean towel, and left her.
Close to an hour later, Arabella, scrubbed clean from head to toe, appeared in the small camp, the towel wrapped securely about her, and stared. Kamal was hunkered next to a fire, turning a skewered rabbit over the flames; the horses were tethered some feet away; the lion was not in view, much to her relief, and a small tent stood close by.
He raised his head and smiled at her. “Did you believe me useless, Arabella?”