Sold! A Romance In The Sudan Read online

  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.

  Chapter Eight

  Trouble

  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 unl
ess 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.”

  “And where is that?” Lilly asked icily.

  “Khartoum, about two days travel inland,” Hafiq answered. “Come on, Lilly, I told you he wouldn’t be interested.”

  As he got up to go, Robinson put in a final word.

  “It’s no use glaring at me, young lady,” he said smugly. “There are advisories against all travel to the Blue Nile. Also, we never pay for citizens who are, uhm, rescued by members of the local militia.” He sipped his drink slowly. “And as you are entirely without paperwork, there is no saying who you really are, is there?”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say she’s without paperwork,” Hafiq announced casually. “Lilly became a citizen of Sudan and my wife, about half an hour ago.”

  Chapter Nine

  Hell

  Hafiq had never seen a woman so angry. She didn’t want to go shopping. She didn’t want to see the harbour. She refused to go anywhere.

  They were standing under the hotel’s pink canopy, waiting for the car valet to return. Hafiq suspected he was sitting round the corner, enjoying the scene.

  “How could you?” Lilly wailed. “What in the hell were you thinking?”

  The hellcat from Atbara was back. Lilly was in full voice and she didn’t care who heard her but Hafiq was painfully aware of the attention they were attracting. As she got louder and louder, he was increasingly humiliated at being scolded in front of sniggering porters, bellhops and waiters. And by a woman of all people!

  Hafiq curbed his temper manfully. Taking her firmly by the elbow, he marched her out and through to the car park. As he suspected, his car was standing there, the engine idling gently as the boy sat listening with his ears on strings. He didn’t even apologise; just grinned at him.

  Fuming, Hafiq took Lilly home. Her fear of the traffic kept her quiet for a while but the second they got home, she was off again. This time she wasn’t yelling; her voice was icy.

  “Are you going to give me an explanation or are you just going to stand there looking at me like the village idiot?”

  It was a new experience. Hafiq had seen women scream, shout, cry and on one occasion, throw things. But not one had ever spoken to him with such disdain. He mustn’t lose his temper.

  “You will not speak to me like that, Lilly.”

  “How do you want me to speak to you? Like some slave off the block maybe?” her voice dripped sarcasm. “Do you expect me to say, ‘Yes, Master’ and ‘No Master’?”

  Hafiq was fed up. “You wouldn’t be the first.”

  Lilly stood frozen. “You haven’t,” she whispered.

  “I’m 28 and I’m not married. What do you think I’ve been doing?” Hafiq snapped. Immediately he wished he’d kept his mouth
shut.

  “Is that what this was all about? What am I? An impulse purchase? A toy?”

  He was hurt by the stricken look in her eyes.

  “No, Lilly. Don’t say that.” He reached for her but she flinched and stepped out of his reach.

  “I thought you rescued me. How many others have there been? Were they all as grateful as me?”

  The hurt in her voice cut him. He wanted to hug her. “It wasn’t like that, Green Eyes.” He tried to explain. “A man has needs. The others were just convenient.”

  “You bought people? And you think it’s convenient?”

  “No, no, nothing like that! I used to buy girls but from a catalogue.”

  He hoped she’d notice he was using the past tense but she didn’t seem to appreciate the subtlety.

  “A catalogue? Like a mail order bride?”

  “More like a mail order concubine.” He didn’t see why she was so fixated on what was such a very ordinary transaction.

  “I can’t believe you buy people.”

  “I don’t! It’s just a service. They come for a month or three months and then I get a new one.”

  Lilly was speechless.

  You know people at home who think the same, her inner voice chimed in. They rent hookers by the hour; he does it by the month. Why are you so shocked? Our dear father the vicar wasn’t exactly pure, was he? A trip to Bradford every Thursday and a weekend in Soho every month “for ecclesiastical supplies”, remember?

  “If you like me so much, how could you do this to me?” she whispered.

  He was truly bewildered. “I thought you’d be happy. Heaven is in my arms, remember?”

  For a moment Lilly softened. He really didn’t realise what he’d done. She was terrified his meddling meant she was no longer British. She might be stuck here forever.

  She was about to explain her fears when Hafiq put his foot in it again. “You need a man to look after you, Green Eyes.”

  Lilly was so angry, she went puce. “You male chauvinist pig!” she yelled.

  The insult, coupled with the knowledge that the maid, gardener and security guard were all hiding in the garden, listening avidly, made Hafiq’s temper boil over.