Sold! A Romance In The Sudan (5 page)

“Sudan, as in Darfur, civil war, mass rape,
child soldiers and millions of refugees? That Sudan?” Lilly looked
horrified.

“Darfur is in the west. We’re in Port Sudan. We’re
quite far from the war,” Hafiq soothed her.

“I should phone someone,” Lilly worried.

“Why? You’ve got no family. Who would you
tell?”

Lilly looked surprised. “Well, I have to tell
the tour company for a start. They must be awfully upset. And the
British embassy.”

Hafiq shrugged and made a suggestion he was
sure would divert her attention. “Getting you some clothes is more
important. I’ll get you some things in the local market tomorrow
and we can go to town on Monday. You’ll like the boutiques on the
waterfront.”

To his surprise, she wasn’t that interested.
“I can’t go to the embassy in a towel but I’ve got no money,” Lilly
worried.

“I’ll give you some.”

“I’ll pay you back.”

It was Hafiq’s turn to be shocked. “Don’t be
silly, Green Eyes.”

“I’m not being silly,” Lilly said defiantly.
Suddenly shy, she laid a hand on his arm. “I can’t ever pay you
back for rescuing me but I won’t take your money.” She smiled at
him. “You know what, I never asked you how much you paid for
me.”

“One thousand dollars.”

“American dollars?” Lilly converted it into
British pounds sterling and frowned. “Why that’s terrible! I’m
worth much more than that!”

Hafiq burst into laughter. “Lucky you’re not
a blonde or the price would have tripled!”

“It’s outrageous,” Lilly sniffed. “I’m going
to tell the embassy exactly what happened and I hope they catch
them.”

Hafiq shrugged. “I wouldn’t bother. Nobody
will care very much.”

Lilly considered this carefully. “I suppose
you’re right,” she conceded. “From all those stories on the news,
kidnapping and stuff is normal here.” She smiled at him. “But we
should tell them anyway, I mean, you can’t have girls being sold in
the marketplace!”

“It happens all the time,” Hafiq said
absently. “There’s complaints of course but it’s not always a bad
thing. My father’s women were all quite happy.” Instantly he knew
he should have kept his mouth shut.

“You buy slaves?” Lilly was aghast.

“No, of course not!” Hafiq back-pedalled
furiously. “My father was a very traditional man but I’m very
English.”

Lilly considered him carefully. “You don’t
seem very English to me.”

“I was brought up by my father’s last wife.
She was an English woman from Kenya.”

Lilly was fascinated. “His last wife? How
many did he have?”

“Fourteen,” Hafiq said simply.

Lilly was speechless. Hafiq decided not to
mention the dozens of concubines who’d come and gone over the
years.

Seeing Lilly’s worried frown, Hafiq decided
to cheer her up. Her pulled her into his lap and gave her a
kiss.

“Don’t worry. Things are very different now.
I ‘m not like that.” He kissed her again. “If you want to talk to
your people, I will take you into town. There’s no embassy here but
there’s Robinson. He’s an honorary consul.”

Perversely Lilly decided she didn’t like the
idea at all.

You should stay, her inner self urged her.
He’s everything you’ve always dreamed of. Kind, smart, strong and
gentle. Why are you fighting this? Take him back to bed! He’s a
keeper!

But her brain told her that it would never
work. She’d better go home, go to college and make a life for
herself.

“Anyway, we can’t do anything now because
everything is closed. You’ll have to wait until Monday,” Hafiq said
cheerfully.

Lilly instantly felt happier. It wasn’t her
fault if she had to stay a few days. “I really want to do something
to contribute,” she said seriously. “I can start by doing the
dishes.”

“No, no, I have people to do that,” Hafiq
said dismissively. He wasn’t having his woman slave in a kitchen.
Then he brightened. “But there is something you can do for me.”

“Anything!”

“Do you know how to make those English
chocolate cakes?” Hafiq mused. “Little squares with fudge on top
and nuts inside?”

“Brownies?” Lilly laughed. “You want
brownies?”

Hafiq nodded. “Do you know how to make
them?”

“My father was a vicar, remember? I am a
champion church social baker! Brownies, jam roly poly pudding,
ginger snaps... you name it, I can make it all.”

“You’re the perfect woman.”

Hafiq listened to her laugh. He thought her
independence was cute but knew it was up to him to take care of
her. She had no family. She needed a man to look after her. He
would take on the responsibility.

While Lilly dreamed happily of the weekend
ahead, Hafiq made his plans. He was sure she’d be surprised.

Lilly held on to the dashboard, shut her eyes
and prayed. Technically the road was paved but it was more a case
of asphalt holding together a pattern of potholes.

Hafiq wasn’t driving fast but the streets
were heaving with rickshaws, donkeys loaded with goods, boys
pushing wheelbarrows filled with fruit, women carrying bundles on
their heads and people on bicycles with loads rivalling those
carried by the donkeys.

“You can open your eyes now, we’ve arrived.”
Hafiq was in an excellent mood. He’d enjoyed a sybaritic weekend,
eaten a tray of brownies and was looking forward to carrying out
his plan.

Lilly was looking lovely. He’d bought her a
pair of loose black trousers and a dark red long sleeved blouse
that were perfectly modest but set off her colouring beautifully.
The flip-flops added an eccentric touch but he was sure he would
find shoes in her size in town.

Although Lilly was smiling, Hafiq was aware
that she was a little depressed. If she didn’t want to go home, why
was she going to all this effort? He really didn’t understand why
she was fighting her own wishes.

Hafiq decided it wasn’t important. Everyone
knew women were illogical and his Lilly was a woman. All woman.
From now on he’d lift that burden from her. With a man to make
important decisions for her, she would be happy.

He helped her out from the car and hovered
over her protectively. He didn’t like the way the men in the street
were looking at her. Seeing his cold look and noting the rifle he
was carrying, they hastily looked away. But he knew they were
checking out her reflection as she walked past shop windows. That
was all right. He enjoyed their silent envy.

“Is the consulate far?”

“There is no consulate, only a consul,
Robinson. We’ll find him at the hotel bar at lunchtime.” He steered
her down the road towards the Red Sea Court Complex. “I have some
things to do first. Come with me and wait.”

The building smelled musty. Ceiling fans
disturbed the air but didn’t provide much ventilation. Hafiq
settled her in a seat in front of the main desk, murmured something
to the attendant and vanished.

For a moment Lilly felt panicky. She had kept
it well hidden but the experiences of the last fortnight had left
their mark. When a man stopped to look at her, she wanted to scream
for Hafiq but before she could move, the desk attendant waved him
away with a stream of words. Clearly he’d had orders.

Lilly wished Hafiq could guard her dreams as
well as her body. At night she dreamed of chains dragging her down
while crocodiles with large jaws snapped at her heels. She would
waken; convinced she was naked in the market place, feeling the
fingers of a dozen strangers touching her. Soaked in sweat,
shivering with fear, she’d be too frightened to move in case being
rescued had all been a dream.

Hafiq was angelic. No matter what time it
was, he’d put his arms around her, murmur soothingly at her and
rock her back to sleep. She would buy sleeping pills when she got
back to England, Lilly decided.

You’re a damn fool, her inner voice scolded.
There’s nothing for you back there. Stay here!

Lilly wished she could but it was hopeless.
For all his protestations that he was very English, she knew
Hafiq’s basic nature was alien to hers. It hadn’t all been sex and
brownies; they’d also talked too. And although Hafiq had been
careful, he’d been unable to disguise how differently they
thought.

Lilly was brought up to cherish all mankind;
Hafiq divided the world into winners and losers. As a winner, he
despised those who were weak.

Lilly believed that hard work had moral
value; Hafiq wouldn’t lift a finger unless he thought he was worth
it - and then he would work like the devil.

Lilly knew women were equal to men; Hafiq was
equally certain men were put on the planet to guide, guard and
cherish their womenfolk.

A few weeks ago, she would have argued
furiously with him but her experiences had changed her forever. She
used to think she was quite worldly wise but now she acknowledged
that she was still innocent in many ways. Hafiq was gentle and
sweet but he lived in a violent society she could barely
understand.

Although she was passionately grateful to him
and smitten to her toes with love, Lilly knew Hafiq wasn’t an
angel. They’d been enjoying a moonlight dip in the ocean when she’d
realised that Hafiq hadn’t been prompted to rescue her from pure
altruism.

“We’ll go diving,” he’d promised her. “It’s
beautiful and deserted because all the tourists have been
frightened away.”

“By the war?”

“Not exactly. The war made it cheap to get in
but it also means you have to pay a ransom to get out!”

He hadn’t been joking. In the turmoil of the
conflict that had engrossed two generations already, kidnapping,
terrorism and gunrunning had become staple industries.

Lilly suspected that Hafiq had originally
planned to demand money from her family or her government but
clearly he had changed his mind. She didn’t really know much about
him.

Although he claimed to import household goods
from China and had the best-equipped kitchen Lilly had ever seen,
she suspected that he hadn’t been hawking electric mixers when he’d
found her in Atbara. He toted that rifle of his with too much
efficiency.

When she analysed her situation, Lilly was a
little surprised to find that she wasn’t worried. She knew in her
bones that Hafiq would never harm her.

“
Shai?”
A boy was holding up a tray
with a large mug inscribed with the words, “You don’t have to be
crazy to work here - but it helps!” The boy pushed it into her
hand, bowed and walked off.

Clearly Hafiq was going to be some time.
Lilly examined the mug and giggled at the incongruity. It was the
sort of gag gift that always ended up in jumble sales.

After an hour’s wait, Hafiq materialised
again. He was grinning.

“Come on, Green Eyes.”

He shepherded her into an office where a
tired looking official in a khaki suit gave her a half-hearted
smile and presented her with a sheaf of papers.

Unable to read Arabic, Lilly didn’t realise
she was looking at them upside down until Hafiq laid them on the
table in front of her.

“Fill out your name here, your birthday here
and your place of birth here,” Hafiq instructed her. “This space is
for your father’s name, this for your mother’s. And sign here, here
and here.”

Lilly filled out the form mindlessly. “Is
this a police report?” she asked. “Did you tell him what
happened?”

“Sort of,” Hafiq equivocated. “You are here
illegally, you know. You entered the country without a visa. Apart
from that, everyone has to register with the police within 24 hours
of arrival. So you’re doubly at fault.”

“This is crazy,” Lilly protested. “It’s not
like I
meant
to come here. I was abducted!”

“Doesn’t matter. The law is that illegal
immigrants are jailed and it can take years to get a court to hear
your case.” He saw the look of fear in her eyes and patted her
comfortingly. “Don’t worry, this fixes everything “

Lilly shivered. She didn’t want to know what
a Sudanese jail looked like.

She finished signing hastily and watched with
a sign of relief as the official stamped the papers, grinned at
Hafiq, rattled off something and offered her a sketchy bow.

“What’s he saying?” Lilly asked.

“He says you’re beautiful.”

Lilly blushed.

“Do you still want to see Robinson, the
consul?” Hafiq asked. When she nodded, he shrugged. Best she see
for herself how much good it would do. “Come on, then.”

Ten minutes later they drew up in front of
the Mercure Port Sudan. Its pink walls, large windows and curved
arches pronounced it to be a luxurious, international hotel. From
the way the doormen greeted Hafiq, Lilly guessed he was a
regular.

Robinson was small, pink and sweaty. He
clearly didn’t like Hafiq but he listened to Lilly’s story with an
air of world-weary courtesy as he drank an ice-cream sundae.

“Very shocking,” he said. “You must have been
most uncomfortable.”

Lilly stared at him. “Well, it wasn’t exactly
the luxury tour I expected,” she said, “but I survived.”

“Well done.”

Lilly wondered if he had heard her properly.
“I need a new passport and to borrow some money,” she enunciated
clearly. “I owe Hafiq for rescuing me and I have to buy a ticket
home. I can give you contacts for people who will vouch for
me.”

Robinson was taken aback. “Nothing to do with
me, my dear,” he said.

Lilly was holding on to her temper with
difficulty. Although his face was impassive, she was aware that
Hafiq was quietly enjoying himself. Turning her back to him, she
faced Robinson squarely. “I need help, Mr Robinson. Is that too
much to ask for? You are the consul, aren’t you?”

“I have a purely token role,” he replied
simply. “This is well beyond my authority. You should apply to the
embassy.”