Danger in the Desert Read online

  “I will drink to that,” Royden laughed. “But, as I have nothing in my hand, I suggest we all go to the dining room now.”

  Rather slowly and unsteadily the Earl then rose to his feet and, using his stick, walked towards the door.

  Royden waited for Malva to follow.

  As she slipped her arm affectionately through her father’s, she whispered,

  “I want you to be happy, Papa, which I am sure the Earl is.”

  “I am happier than I can possibly say,” he replied. “In fact, my dearest, I am simply and absolutely delighted that you should be married to the one man who thinks the world of you.”

  Malva drew in her breath.

  It then flashed through her mind that she was doing something wrong which would definitely upset her father when he eventually discovered the truth.

  Then she told herself it was utterly impossible for her to marry a man who did not love her, someone she thought of just as a good friend and of whom she knew very little.

  ‘We are doing the right thing,’ she told herself, as they walked slowly towards the dining room.

  At the same time she was doubtful.

  Luncheon was delicious although the conversation was rather strained as it was impossible for any of them to talk on the subject that was upmost in their minds.

  However, when luncheon was over and they moved again into the study, Royden said,

  “Now Malva and I are going to London and I hope, Lord Waverstone, that you will stay with Papa until he has adjusted himself to what has happened and will not stay awake worrying when he goes back to bed.

  “Of course I will stay with him,” Lord Waverstone replied, “and I think we will both discuss your future and, of course, what we will give you as wedding presents when you are prepared to accept them.”

  “I will accept anything I am offered,” Royden said. “And needless to say I would expect the best and the most expensive!”

  “That is not the sort of thing that you should say,” Malva said reprovingly. “And if you are not careful they will make this an excuse for giving us very small presents, if any at all.”

  “Well we will leave them to discuss the cheapest they can get away with!” Royden answered.

  Malva kissed her father.

  “Goodbye, my darling, Papa,” she said. “Look after yourself and do be careful that the door of Windsor Castle is still open to us when we return.”

  “I can only do my best to prevent Her Majesty having the slightest idea that this had occurred,” he replied. “I know how she likes being in on a secret before anyone else is aware of it and I can only hope and pray that you will give me just twenty-four hours before your wedding is announced to the world and all and sundry come to know about it.”

  “I am sure we can arrange that,” Malva promised. “So take care of yourself, Papa, and think of me on the high seas and pray that I will not be seasick.”

  “I will most definitely pray for your happiness, my dearest daughter.” her father replied.

  He kissed her and so did the Earl.

  “I am very proud and delighted to have you as my daughter-in-law,” he said. “I know that you will carry on the tradition of this house as one of the most comfortable anyone has ever stayed in.”

  “I will tell them what was good enough for Queen Elizabeth and a great number of other Royal personages who stayed here in the past is quite good enough for them,” Malva replied. “In fact I promise you I will make it good enough for any King or Prince.”

  “That is what I want to hear, my dear, and I am so delighted that your father and I can join our land and know that our great ambition will be fulfilled when you produce an heir to The Towers and the estate.”

  Because they were being deceived, Malva felt not only embarrassed but ashamed.

  It flashed through her mind that by being deceitful they would undoubtedly upset the two old gentlemen who had done nothing wrong.

  They had merely wanted their family to continue as any member of such an august family would desire.

  Then she forced herself not to worry about them, but about Royden and herself.

  At the same time, when she hugged her father, she whispered,

  “I love you, Papa. Look after yourself and pray that I have done the right thing.”

  As he promised her that he would, she thought that it was going to be difficult to convince herself, as well as her father later, that what she was doing was right.

  However, it was no use now, at the last moment, having cold feet.

  So she followed Royden to the chaise which was waiting outside.

  It was drawn by a team of four perfectly matched chestnuts.

  “I will drop Malva off at your house, in plenty of time for the dinner party tonight,” Royden said loudly for the butler and footman who were supervising their luggage to hear.

  “Yes, I must not be late,” Malva replied. “Because it will be a very delightful party and I only wish that Papa and you were coming too.”

  Lord Wavestone smiled, but did not say anything.

  Then, as Royden picked up the reins and the horses started to move, they all waved.

  As they then drove along the drive, Malva said to Royden in a whisper so that there was no chance of the groom sitting behind them hearing,

  “I feel guilty. It’s the biggest lie I have ever told.”

  “I feel the same,” Royden said, “but it’s in a very good cause and the alternative is, as you and I have agreed, completely impossible.”

  “Of course it is, but we have made your dear father very happy and I am just wondering what he will feel when he knows the truth.”

  “If I know him, he will not fall into a despondency and threaten to die as he did a few days ago. I did not really believe him then. Equally I was afraid to take the risk.”

  “I understand,” Malva said. “I know that it would upset Papa if he had had to argue with me day after day on the same subject and I was determined to go no further.”

  “I just know we have done the right thing,” Royden said. “Although we may well reproach ourselves later, I am more than certain that we have no other alternative at present.”

  “Only you could have thought of anything quite so different and original to what has ever happened before,” Malva sighed.

  She paused before she added,

  “We can only hope that it will end exactly as you want it to and there will not be the cannonball you might expect.”

  “Forget it! Forget it!” Royden said sharply. “We might as well relax and enjoy ourselves. We have taken the right decision. It’s the only way to make it possible for us to keep our freedom.”

  “I am sure you are right. It is just something so different from what I have ever done before.”

  “I might say the same. To tell you the truth, I have never taken any woman on a long journey such as we are undertaking now.”

  Malva turned her head to look at him.

  “Is that correct?” she asked him.

  “There is no point in my lying to you. Actually I find it is always better to have a woman in whom I am interested in her own environment. Therefore I do not take an English woman with me to Paris or a French woman back with me to England.”

  Malva laughed.

  “You have certainly thought it all out very adroitly. I can only hope that by the end of our voyage you are not so bored with me that you will want to drown me in the sea!”

  “I will try not to do that, but you must also make yourself the perfect companion. To be honest I have not yet discovered one.”

  Malva stared at him.

  “Do you really mean that? In all the journeys you have taken to all sorts of strange places, have you always been alone?”

  “Certainly during the voyage. I find beautiful and seductive women in every country I have visited, but they are always best, as I have already said, on their own soil. It has invariably been a big mistake to move them to another place or, as you realise, to
take them home with me. I have often thought about them, but have been sensible enough to leave them where they shine the brightest.”

  Malva laughed.

  “I am sure you have it down to a fine art,” she said. “But naturally like everyone else I have always wondered why your love affairs and, of course, we talked about them day after day and month after month, never lasted very long.”

  She thought as she spoke that she was being rather bold, but it was wise to start as she meant to go on.

  From all she had heard she was quite certain that he would be very bored with her after a few weeks of being together on his yacht.

  “That is the sort of question it is difficult to find an answer to,” he replied. “Actually you should not ask it of me.”

  “If we are to be together for any length of time and there is no chance of you finding any other amusements on board, then it is better for us to be open and frank with each other from the beginning. At least I think so.”

  Royden chuckled.

  “You are right, of course, you are right and it would be a great mistake for you to start off pretending that you are anything else but yourself.”

  Malva did not speak and he went on,

  “Now I think about it I remember that even when you were a child you asked me difficult questions that I found it hard to give an answer to. I expect, as the years have passed, you have not altered.”

  “It would indeed be polite for me to say that you have grown wiser and in that case more interesting,” Malva remarked.

  “You are quite right and it is me who should be paying you compliments. But actually I can give you one right away.”

  “What is that?” Malva asked.

  “Well, you are prettier than you have ever been and even prettier than I remember. My job on this journey may be to chaperone you and see that you don’t get out of hand with the charming and delightful men we will meet in other countries.”

  “Now that sounds really interesting and, as I have met very few charming and delightful men in London, I am perfectly prepared to find them abroad which undoubtedly you have been able to do in the past with your ladies.”

  “Now we are back to me,” Royden said, “and that makes me feel rather nervous. I have a feeling that you may know or guess far more than I want you to do.”

  “Now you are talking nonsense. Because if you have to be careful how I behave and if I know more than you think I know, then it will be impossible for you to be bored. That also applies to me!”

  Royden chuckled again.

  “For the first time,” he said, “I am looking on this as a voyage of discovery and Heaven alone knows what I shall discover about you!”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  They drove past Buckingham Palace and then were travelling towards the House of Lords where Royden had arranged that his yacht would be waiting for him when he exclaimed,

  “I have suddenly remembered I have not told you that we are travelling under assumed names! I am too well known on the Continent and doubtless in Africa as well, that when I arrive I will immediately be pestered by the Embassy and Social people who will want to entertain us. That, as you realise, could be dangerous.”

  “Yes and, of course, I should have thought of that,” Malva replied. “What is your name to be?”

  “Because I will forget it if it is not a simple one, I am going to be just Hill, ‘Charles Hill’. Charles is actually my other name. And you will be ‘Maisie Hill’.”

  Malva giggled.

  “You might have let me choose my own name. I think Maisie sounds rather insipid which I try not to be.”

  “Which you could never be,” the Royden answered. “If you want to change it, you can do so but I have actually put it down in writing for the Captain of the yacht.”

  “I still think that you might have asked me,” Malva retorted. “But I will have to accept ‘Maisie’ even though it is a name I would certainly not have chosen for myself!”

  “Here we go now with our first argument or if you prefer quarrel,” Royden joked.

  “I expect we will have far worse ones before the trip is over,” Malva warned him.

  “I sincerely hope not,” he replied. “If there is one thing I really dislike it is an argumentative woman who thinks she knows better than me.”

  Malva laughed.

  “That is one ambition I would never attempt to try for, so I will accept whatever you say mildly and without any argument.”

  “In which case,” Royden replied, “I think that the journey may be very dull.”

  “You cannot have it both ways,” Malva pointed out, “and we will just have to see how things plan out. Of course, if we are to demand a divorce when we get home, it would be a mistake to let every opportunity of aggression pass unnoticed.”

  “That may be your idea but it’s not mine. Ever since I have known you, Malva, which was when you were in the cradle, you have always been extremely pleasant. In fact I cannot ever remember quarrelling with you.”

  “If you can say that at the end of this journey, it will be a miracle!” she replied.

  They were both laughing as he drew up the chaise on the Embankment and Malva could see the top of a yacht through the trees.

  “It is here waiting for us,” she said excitedly.

  “I thought it would be,” Royden smiled.

  The groom at the back climbed down and ran to the horses’ heads.

  Royden jumped out and walked to an opening in the Embankment where there were steps leading down to the water.

  The seamen from the yacht must have been waiting for him as two of them came hurrying up and he directed them to the back of the chaise where the luggage was.

  As Malva reached the ground, he said to her in a quiet voice,

  “The sooner we are on aboard the better just in case anyone passing by recognises us.”

  “They will recognise you, not me,” Malva replied. “But, of course, you are right we should go aboard and keep out of sight until we sail away.”

  The Captain was waiting for them at the entrance to the yacht and they were piped on board.

  Royden shook hands with him and then turned to Malva,

  “Captain Sadoul, let me introduce you to my sister. This is Miss Maisie Hill, who is accompanying me on this expedition.”

  The Captain bowed politely over Malva’s hand and said,

  “It’s a privilege to have you aboard, mademoiselle.”

  Malva thanked him in fluent French which clearly delighted him.

  He replied in the same language so they entered the yacht chattering in French and smiling as they did so.

  The yacht was decorated in a very French fashion and it was quite different from any yacht Malva had seen before.

  As it happened she had never travelled in one, but had seen several when she had been in London.

  The owners of yachts thought it a new idea to have luncheon on board and she had attended one party when they had danced on deck after dinner in the moonlight and thought it all very romantic.

  And she wondered if that was what she and Royden might be able to do at some stage on their adventure.

  Then she felt that perhaps it might be dangerous, as he travelled so much and he would surely know a great number of people in every country.

  It was essential that none of those who he could call friends should meet him with a young woman he said was his sister when they were well aware that he did not have one.

  The yacht’s Saloon was far more ornate than any English Saloon would be.

  When they did sit down for luncheon, Malva found that the French chef had produced a really splendid meal that would have delighted anyone who was interested in food.

  While they were eating, the yacht began to move slowly away into the middle of the River Thames.

  By the time they had finished luncheon they were a long way from London and nearing the English Channel.

  “Now I suppose you will want to go below and see your cabin,
” Royden suggested, as they had finished their coffee.

  They were also offered liqueurs, but, while Royden took one, Malva shook her head.

  “You might find a liqueur would stop you feeling seasick,” he observed sardonically.

  Malva laughed.

  “I am quite certain I will not be seasick without any additional help.”

  “If you say that after we have been through the Bay of Biscay, I will be very impressed. I have never travelled there yet with a woman who has not gone to her cabin and refused to say a single word to me until we reached the Mediterranean.”

  “I hope I will be the exception,” Malva smiled.

  They went below.

  As she expected, Royden took the Master cabin in the stern that had a large double bed in it.

  It was decorated with frills which Malva thought, although she did not say so, would have been laughed at by any English Captain.

  Her cabin was next door and very prettily decorated with pink chintz and walls that glittered with mirrors and touches of gold paint.

  “I feel as if this yacht is already looking at me as if I am a ‘plain Jane’,” Malva said. “I am sure any English Captain would be shocked at such frivolities as graces your cabin.”

  “I will let you into a secret,” Royden replied. “This yacht was owned by one of the most famous actresses in France. She redecorated it when she bought it and only discarded it because she found that she was always sick at sea. It therefore affected her performance in the theatre.”

  “She certainly left her original mark on it,” Malva said. “I enjoy the prettiness of my cabin and also I am lost in admiration at the decorations in the Saloon.”

  “Well, at least no one will suspect that we are who we really are. I may tell you that my own yacht when I last took it to the Mediterranean was greatly admired by every country we anchored in.”

  “I hope one day I will be able to compare the two,” Malva remarked.

  Then she wondered if she was being rather pushy in suggesting such an idea.

  As if he knew what she was thinking, Royden said,

  “But we must not forget that when we do return to civilisation it is because we really hate each other and are determined to be divorced so that there will be no question of you going on my yacht until we are at least speaking to each other again in public.”