of smoke if necessary—so she could sort herself out before she tried standing up.
‘And now that I do know,’ he continued, oblivious of the effect he was having on her, ‘I wondered if you’d like to have dinner with me, a kind of welcome to Ablezia and thank you for being kind to Safi combined. There is a very good restaurant on the top floor of the administration building right here in the hospital. We could eat there.’
So it would seem like colleagues eating together if your wife or girlfriend found about it? Marni wondered. Or because you have rooms here and it would be convenient for seduction? Well, the seduction part would be all right—after all, wasn’t that one of the reasons she was here?
Although annoyed by her totally absurd thoughts, Marni realised her first question had been plausible enough—a man this gorgeous was sure to be taken!
Taking a deep breath, she put the whole ridiculous seduction scenario firmly out of her head.
‘I’d like that,’ she said, and was surprised to find her voice sounded remarkably calm. ‘That must be a part of the building I haven’t explored yet. My friend Jawa and I usually go to the staff canteen on the ground floor.’
Shouldn’t you check whether he’s married before you get too involved? Marni thought.
Having dinner with a colleague was hardly getting involved!
Or so she told herself!
Until he took her elbow to guide her out of the room.
She knew immediately there was a whole lot wrong with it. She’d made a serious mistake. It was utter madness. That, oh, so casual touch made her flesh heat, her skin tingle and her heart race.
Although wasn’t that all good if—
She had to stop thinking about seduction!
He dropped her elbow—thankfully—as they walked back up the corridor to the big foyer in the middle of the building, which, again thankfully, gave Marni something to use as conversation.
‘It’s been beautifully designed, this building,’ she said—well, prattled really. ‘I love the way this atrium goes all the way up, seemingly right to the roof.
‘You’ll see the top of some of the taller palms from the restaurant,’ Gaz said. ‘In arid countries we long for greenery so when there’s an opportunity to provide some, either indoors or out, we make the most of it.’
The pride in his voice was unmistakeable and although Marni knew from Jawa that the locals didn’t encourage personal conversation, she couldn’t help but say, ‘So, you’re a local, are you?’
The lift arrived and as he ushered her in he smiled at her.
‘Very much so.’
The slightly strained smile that accompanied the words told Marni not to pursue the matter, so she talked instead of her delight in the markets, the colours, the people, the aromas.
Still prattling, she knew, but the man made her nervous in ways she’d never been before.
The lift doors slid open, and they stepped out into a glass-sheathed corridor, the inner wall displaying, as Gaz had said, the tops of the palm trees in the atrium.
Drawn to the glass, Marni peered down.
‘It’s beautiful,’ she said, turning to him to share her delight.
He was staring at her, a small frown on his face, as if something about the sight of her bothered him.
‘What?’ she asked, and he shook his head, before again, with another light touch on her elbow, guiding her forward, around the atrium to the far side, where a restaurant spread across the corridor so the atrium was indeed visible from the tables.
The place was dimly lit and quiet, only a few tables occupied.
‘Are we too early or too late for the usual dinner hour?’ Marni asked, desperate to talk about something—anything—to distract herself from the effect this man was having on her, especially with his casual touches and watchful dark eyes.
‘Early for the diners coming off late shift, late for those going on night duty,’ Gaz told her as the young man on the reception desk greeted Gaz in his own language then bowed them towards a table close to the atrium.
Gaz held up a hand and said something, and the young man bowed again and led them in a new direction so they crossed the room.
‘You have seen the tops of the palms in the atrium,’ Gaz explained, ‘but possibly not the desert in the moonlight.’
The table was beside a wall of glass, so Marni felt she was seated in space above the long waves of dunes. The moon silvered the slopes it touched, and threw black shadows in between, so the desert seemingly stretched away for ever with a patterned beauty that took her breath away.
‘I hadn’t known—hadn’t realised…’
‘That it could be so beautiful?’ Gaz asked as her words stumbled to a halt.
She smiled at him, but the smile was an effort because something in the way he said the word ‘beautiful’ made it seem personal—although that could hardly be true. The women she’d met here were so stunningly attractive she felt like a pale shadow among them, a small daisy among vibrant dark roses.
Answer the man, her head suggested, and she struggled to get back into the conversation—to at least act normal in spite of the chaos going on in her body.
‘Yes, that,’ she said, ‘definitely that, but I hadn’t realised the hospital was so close to the desert. I’ve always come to it from the direction of the city, from the sea side, but the desert’s right there—so close you could touch it—and so immense.’
‘And dangerous, remember that,’ Gaz said.
‘Dangerous?’ Marni repeated, because once again there seemed to be an underlying message in his words.
It’s the accent, you idiot, she told herself. Why should there be some sensual sub-text when the man barely knows you?
‘You have deserts in Australia—inhospitable places where a man without water or transport could perish in a few days.’
‘Of course. I hadn’t thought about it but it would be the same in any desert, I imagine.’
She’d caught up with the conversation, but it hadn’t mattered for Gaz was now conferring with a waiter, apparently discussing the menu. He turned to her to ask if she’d like to try some local dishes, and if so, would she prefer meat, fish or vegetarian.
‘Meat, please, and yes to local dishes. I’ve tried some samples of the local cooking in the souks. There’s a delicious dish that seems to be meat, with dates and apricots.’
‘And to drink? You would like a glass of wine?’
And have it go straight to my head and confuse me even further?
‘No, thank you, just a fruit juice.’
Her voice was strained with the effort of making polite conversation. Her nerves were strung more tightly than the strings of a violin, while questions she couldn’t answer tumbled in her head.
Was the attraction she felt mutual?
Could this be the man—not for a lifetime, it was far too early to be considering that—for a fling, an affair?
Worse, could she go through with it if by some remote chance he was interested?
The waiter disappeared and Marni took a deep breath, knowing she somehow had to keep pretending a composure she was far from feeling. But how to start a conversation in a place where personal conversations just didn’t seem to happen?
Gaz saved her.
‘You mentioned the souks. You have had time to see something of my country?’
She