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His bear hug was all-enveloping Impossible to draw back from

But I don’t want to! I don’t want to pull away from him

The cry came from deep within, froht

It seeo, but when he did he siht, his smile wide, ‘Breakfast awaits’

He scooped up a silken robe that was lying draped across the unused bed It was in sea-green, vivid and vibrant, and he threw it around her and slipped the towel from her

‘You rowled, and there was an expression in his eyes that she did not need a dictionary to describe ‘Or we’ll never get to breakfast’

His arm around her shoulder, he led her out She ith hi in the world she wanted to do

Out on the terrace the silent army of servants had set a lavish breakfast table, shaded by an awning, and they took their places Beyond the terrace and beyond the outdoor pool glittering in theit, the desert stretched to infinity All the world was here, in this one place

In this one man

Nikos raised his glass of orange juice to her, his smile wide and warm His eyes warmer still

‘To us, Diana,’ he said

To us? she echoed silently There was no ‘us’—there was only an ened to make use of each other, with no future in it None

But, as she raised her own glass defiance and a reckless daring surged up in her Beyond this desert hideaway there could be no ‘us’ for her and Nikos

But while we are here there can

And for that Oh, for that she would seize it all