step out of it. But I notice you don’t deny the intensity, which means the storms probably come to you. Jill didn’t really need to try to protect you from me, did she? But she tends to go the extra mile.” He took her elbow and nudged her toward the door. “Now we’ve taken each other’s measure and can get down to what’s important to you.” He threw open the door. “Welcome to Maldara, Eve.”
A wild study of contrasts…
She stood on the steps, her gaze taking in the sleek commercial jets and military planes that occupied the hangars and runways of the small airport. Everything was new and modern and shining. In the distance, she could see a few skyscrapers on the horizon that contrasted sharply with the dense jungles surrounding the city. On either side of the road leading to Jokan, she could see ragged men, women, and children who had put up their booths of fruits and vegetables and brought their animals to sell at market.
“It’s very…different,” she murmured as she went down the steps. She was suddenly assaulted by heat, humidity, and the smell of gasoline from the planes on the tarmac. “Though I guess I expected more damage from the fighting.”
“Jokan had less destruction than Botzan,” Gideon said. “Amazing, since Varak’s ghouls were hired by Botzan to decimate it. Our magnificent President Zahra claims her advisors and loyal people managed to hold them at bay by the grace of God.” He was leading Eve toward the wire enclosure that she assumed was the parking lot. “The presidential palace wasn’t touched. She was able to welcome all the diplomats with her usual grace and style when they liberated Maldara.”
“Do I sense a little antagonism?” Eve glanced sideways at him as he opened the passenger door of a tan Land Rover for her. “Yet I don’t believe Jill would refer to her as being magnificent in any sense of the word.”
“Well, that’s where we differ. I’ve had a closer relationship with Zahra than Jill has. I had an opportunity to assess her qualities.” He tilted his head, considering. “I think she has a magnificent opinion of her own worth. I think she’s not brilliant but has a magnificent talent for self-preservation.” He paused, thinking. “Physically, she has magnificent breasts and possibly interesting, but not magnificent, sexual abilities. So Jill is not being entirely fair.”
Her gaze narrowed on his face. “Yet you don’t have any use for her.”
“Not any more than I would have a use for a spitting mamba I ran across in the jungle.” He smiled gently. “Except to sell the venom—and then the snake would have to be alive to milk it. Much too much trouble.” He was driving out of the airport onto the road. “But fair is fair. One has to be accurate. How else can you be allowed to make your own judgments?”
“I hope I won’t even have to meet her,” Eve said. “I intend to keep a low profile while I’m here.”
“It will be difficult for you to do that. You’re very famous, and you’re in Zahra’s kingdom. If she doesn’t know that now, she will soon. And she’s possessive of Robaku. Didn’t Jill tell you?”
“Zahra’s kingdom? But she’s the president of Maldara.”
“Zahra has a few bizarre ideas of her own regarding that.” He shrugged. “Which are entirely in keeping with her opinion of her own magnificence. But I won’t go into that since you’re going to make the attempt to avoid her.”
“You do know her very well, don’t you?” Eve asked curiously.
“You mean, were we lovers? Oh yes. When I came back to spend the summer with my parents after graduating from Oxford, I was ready for a great passion. Zahra was the president’s daughter, but she considered me deserving of her attention. I’m very rich, and she automatically associates wealth with royal entitlement. She thought she might be able to mold me into the prince she felt was her due. We had an interesting summer.”
“A great passion?”
“No, but erotic and fascinating, until I saw the mamba raising its head. Then I left her and went back to London.” His lips twisted. “She wasn’t pleased. She’d thought she’d found someone who could survive her bite; and then she had to start over.” He gestured to the curve of the road ahead. “Robaku is just ahead. I called from the cockpit and asked the headman, Hajif, to come to meet you at the school. Jill said you had a decision to make