CHAPTER ONE
THE sheer opulence of Al Kabibi airport stunned Bethany. The acres of glossy marble floors, the huge crystal chandeliers and the preponderance of gold fittings made her blink and stare.
âPretty impressive, eh?â Ed Lancaster remarked in the slow-moving queue to Visa Clearance. âAnd yet five years ago there was nothing here but a set of concrete sheds and an unrelieved view of the sand-dunes! King Azmir pumped the oil but he stockpiled the profits. His tightfisted attitude caused a lot of resentment, not only with the locals but with the foreign workers as well. Conditions used to be really primitive here.â
The American businessman had joined their flight at a stopover in Dubai. He hadnât stopped talking for thirty seconds since then, but Bethany had been grateful to be distracted from the grim awareness that, had her departmental head not decreed that she centre her research on this particular part of the Middle East, nothing short of thumbscrews and brute force would have persuaded her to set one foot in the country of Datar!
âWhen King Azmir fell ill the crown prince, Razul, took over,â Ed rattled on, cheerfully impervious to the fact that Bethany had stiffened and turned pale. âNow heâs a different kettle of fish altogether. Heâs packed fifty years of modernisation into five. Heâs an astonishing man. Heâs transformed Datari society...â
Beneath her mane of vibrantly colourful curls Bethanyâs beautiful face had frozen, her stunningly green eyes hardening to polar ice. All of a sudden she wanted Ed to shut up. She did not want to hear about Prince Razul al Rashidai Harun. Nor did she have the smallest urge to admit that their paths had crossed quite unforgettably during Razulâs brief spell at university.
âAnd the people absolutely adore him. Razulâs like their national hero. They call him the Sword of Truth. You mention democracy and they get real mad,â Ed complained feelingly. âThey start talking about how he saved them from civil war during the rebellion, how he took command of the army, et cetera, et cetera. Theyâve actually made a film about it, theyâre so proud of himââ
âI expect they must be,â Bethany said flatly, an agonisingly sharp tremor of bitterness quivering through her.
âYes, sirree,â Ed sighed with unhidden admiration. âAlthough this divine cult theyâve built up around him can be painful, he is one hell of a guy! By the way,â Ed added, pausing for breath, âwhoâs coming to collect you?â
âNobody,â Bethany muttered, praying that the monologue on Razul was over.
Ed frowned. âBut youâre travelling alone.â
Bethany suppressed a groan. Actually, she hadnât been alone at Gatwick. A research assistant had been making the trip with her. But, with only minutes to go before they boarded, Simon had tripped over a carelessly sited briefcase and had come down hard enough to break his ankle. She had felt dreadful simply abandoning him to the paramedics but, aside from the fact that she barely knew the young man, work naturally had had to take precedence.
âWhy shouldnât I be travelling alone?â
âHow on earth did you get a visa?â Ed prompted, suddenly looking very serious.
âThe usual way... Whatâs wrong?â
âMaybe nothing.â Ed shrugged with an odd air of discomfiture, not meeting her enquiring gaze. âYou want me to stay with you in case there should be a problem?â
âOf course not, and I see no reason why there should be a problem,â Bethany informed him rather drily.
But there was. Ed had just moved off with an uneasy wave when the Datari official scrutinised her visa and asked, âMr Simon Tarrant?â
Bethany frowned.
âAccording to your visa, you are travelling with a male companion. Where is he?â
âHe wasnât able to make the flight,â she explained with some exasperation.
âSo you are travelling unaccompanied, Dr Morgan?â he stressed, with a dubious twist of his mouth, as if he could not quite credit the validity of her academic doctorate. That didnât surprise her. Female children had only recently acquired the legal right to education in Datar. The concept of a highly educated woman struck the average Datari male as about as normal as a little green man from the moon.