living nightmare and one from which there was no awakening. She put her arms round her middle and hugged herself tightly as the panic clawed at her stomach, sending it churning sickeningly. She was exposed, vulnerable, helpless... Her heart began to thud crazily, and when the little nurse knocked and entered in the next instant she could have kissed her, so pleased was she to have another human being in the room to counter the monsters in her mind.
She was quite steady on her feet as she made her way along to the bathroom on the arm of the nurse, and after insisting that the small Moroccan girl wait outside and promising twice not to lock the door, she walked gingerly over to the cloudy square mirror above the small white washbasin and peered at herself with bated breath.
A pair of large, grey, darkly lashed eyes stared back at her nervously and then continued their inspection of the reflection. Small, straight nose, a somewhat wide generous mouth, she noted wanly, and all set in a clear skin that was real peaches and cream. Thick, sleek, chestnut-brown hair with more than a touch of red in its silky depths gave an explanation of the freckles scattered across her nose, and the short bob was expertly cut, complementing the fine features and upward tilt of her chin. Altogether reasonably attractive, although she would never win any beauty contests, she thought slowly, and it didn’t mean a thing to her. It could have been the face of anyone, the face of a stranger. What was she going to do? She sat down on the loo and put her head between her hands as she tried to think. She was all alone in a foreign country... or at least she thought it was a foreign country. For all she knew, she lived here. She groaned softly. Surely the police would find out something soon? They had to, this was horrific. And that man, Gerard Dumont. Why did she have this feeling that she had to be rid of him at the earliest opportunity? That he spelt danger with a capital D? Could she trust her instincts? They were the only thing she had right now.
He was waiting m her room when she returned with the nurse, his big frame stretching lazily as he stood up at their approach, his whole demeanour casual and relaxed but his eyes hawk-like on her face as she passed, although he said not a word as the nurse settled her back into bed.
‘I fetch the breakfast, yes?’ The small girl smiled cheerfully. ‘And then you feel a million dollars with plenty of zow?’
I wouldn’t bank on it, Kit thought silently as she smiled a dutiful response as the nurse left the room.
‘The police phoned.’ Gerard Dumont settled himself back on the stool by her bed that he had vacated a minute before, and she raised her eyes reluctantly to his. ‘No luck yet, unfortunately; it would appear you are the mystery girl. The doctor will be along shortly to examine you, but if all is as he thinks there is no reason why you cannot leave this morning.’
‘To go where?’ she asked blankly as her mind raced. Was there a British embassy near here? But then she wasn’t even sure she was English.
‘Well, I do have an idea there as it happens,’ he drawled slowly, lifting dark brows as he watched her carefully, his face cynical and cool. ‘But maybe it would be better for you to eat your breakfast first and—’
‘I would prefer to hear anything you have to say right now,’ she said firmly, her chin setting at a determined angle that brought an amused gleam into the glittering gold-brown eyes trained on her face.
‘As you wish.’ He stood up abruptly, walking over to the small narrow window and lifting the blind aside so that a shaft of sunlight spilled into the austere room, catching a million tiny particles in its radiant light. ‘I was going to suggest that it would seem logical for you to remain resting somewhere until either you regain your memory or the police find out who you are, yes?’
‘I suppose so.’ She glanced at the broad back warily. ‘And?’
‘And that would pose a problem, or at least an embarrassment, as you have no money that I know of?’ He turned to face her, his eyes slits of gold light.
‘You know I haven’t.’ She stared back, hard. ‘But I can assure you that once all this is sorted out I will reimburse you for every penny you’ve spent—’
‘Do not be ridiculous.’ This time his voice was harsh, and she blinked twice before opening her mouth to respond, but he continued swiftly. ‘The money is incidental, as I am sure you are aware. I was merely stating facts.’
‘Well, now you’ve stated them I still don’t understand—’
‘It would seem practical for you to be my guest until you are recovered sufficiently to take charge of your own affairs,’ he said expressionlessly. ‘There are several guest-rooms at my home in Marrakesh, and as I am a prominent and well-known figure in business circles I am sure the police would be happy to—’
‘You must be joking!’ Tact and diplomacy fled out of the window as she reared up in the narrow bed like a small lioness. ‘You must think I was born yesterday, Mr Dumont! So that’s what this has all been about, the private room and so on! Well, if you expect me to pay for my expenses in the fashion that is as old as time, you can forget it, mister! I know your sort—believe me, you’re far from being unique! I’d rather spend the next few days, weeks or months in a prison cell if necessary compared to what you’re suggesting. Just what do you think I am—?’
‘I think you are a very absurd young lady.’ The icy voice cut short her passionate outburst as though with a knife. ‘Impolite, churlish, ridiculous... Need I go on?’ He was angry; she couldn’t believe how angry. ‘Do you seriously think that I am so short of female companions that I have to spirit one away to my home—is that it?’ He wasn’t shouting, in fact his voice was very controlled and infinitely cutting. ‘If you want me to be brutal, I do not find you sexually attractive at all. The offer was one of friendship, from one member of the human race to another in distress. That is all. That is all.’ He glared at her and took a long deep pull of air before continuing. ‘Now you have made your feeling perfectly clear, and so I will—’
What he would or would not do they never found out because at that moment Kit’s control finally snapped. The flood of tears and sensation of utter and absolute desolation blinded and deafened her to everything but her own misery, and as she raised her hands to cover her face, her body shaking helplessly, she could hear the sound of her own wailing but could do nothing to control it.
‘Mon dieu...’ His voice was a low growl but the next moment she had been lifted wholesale out of the bed and on to his lap as he sat down on the ruffled covers, holding her tight as he swayed back and forth as one did soothing a devastated child, his voice low and soft now and speaking a crooning stream of endearments in French of which she understood not a word but found infinitely comforting to her terrified mind. And she was terrified, she acknowledged faintly as the hard male bulk of him banished the frantic fear for a time. Nothing, nothing could be worse than this monstrous, gut-wrenching dread that she would never remember who she was again, that she would be left in this strange, alien half-world where even her own face was that of a stranger, with no memories, no recollection of a past life and with only an empty, uncertain future to look forward to.
CHAPTER TWO
QUITE when she began to find Gerard Dumont’s closeness disturbing rather than comforting she wasn’t sure. It might have been something to do with the warm male fragrance emanating from the massive frame, a mixture of spicy aftershave and a faint lemony smell, or it could have been the controlled power in the huge body enfolding hers, or even the sound of his voice, deep and seductively attractive as he murmured in his native tongue. Whatever, as the storm of weeping passed she began to feel acutely uncomfortable and vaguely threatened. But there was another emotion there too, one that made her skin tingle and her stomach tighten with a dull ache she didn’t
