Dream Boat

Chapter Twenty-seven

Will you unhand me?' wheezed the shadow, flat upon its back. 'Or do I have to cry rape?'

Claudia blinked. It can't be! 'Orbilio?'

'I used to be, before your kneecap changed all that.' 'What? Oh.' She removed the offending joint and his skin ceased to be grey. 'Marcus Cornelius, what the hell are you doing up here? Last I heard, you were being eaten alive by seven slobbering Amazons.'

'Me? I'm strictly a one-woman man,' he said, but all the same she rather thought he winced.

'You look terrible,' she said, peering closer.

'Thanks.'

'Whey-faced. You need a shave. And your eyes are a particularly unattractive shade of bloodshot.'

'You know how to cheer a man up, don't you? Well, if it's any consolation, my head hurts, too.'

'Classic case of Amazon overdose.'

'I needed them,' he said miserably.

'Only seven? You must be getting old.'

'No, no. I needed them to help me sneak away from the house.'

Claudia felt a bubble burst. Relief? From what? She didn't care how many women he slept with, that pain inside was where she'd jarred herself in falling. Then — slowly — laughter began to rise in her diaphragm. 'You didn't?' No wonder he'd asked for big women!

A similar vibration came from his. 'I bloody did.' He grinned, propping himself up on both elbows. 'What's more,

I was that convincing, dressed in drag, that three erstwhile respectable businessmen propositioned me as I crossed the Forum!'

'Well, I hope you didn't sell yourself too cheap.'

'The whiskers put them off, otherwise I'd have made a mint. In fact, when this thing's over, I'm seriously thinking of changing my career.' He flopped back on to the cobbles and sighed contentedly. 'Alternatively,' he said blissfully, 'I could become a gigolo.'

'You'd starve.'

'Nonsense. I'm already experiencing the effects of women giving me the old once-over.'

'Have you been sniffing those hemp seeds again?'

'One look, and you were all over me, for a start!' He closed his eyes. 'Still are, in fact.'

Ah… As she scrambled off his prostrate form, she thought she heard him mumble 'pity' but she wasn't sure. There was something curious going on inside her body. Heartbeat playing up, funny breathing. Her cheeks must have caught the sun, they were burning, even in the shade of the storehouse wall. Clearly, she thought, I'm out of shape. What else could cause this disruption to her system? She vowed to visit the gymnasium, the minute she returned to Rome.

'I'll do a deal,' Marcus said, brushing down his tunic. 'You don't tell anyone I wear women's clothes at night and I won't tell about how you chased me through the streets and pinned me flat against my pommel.'

'Oh, that's a pommel?'

'Behave yourself.' He grinned again, adjusting the hang of his scimitar and pulling straight his belt. 'Respectable Egyptian maidens don't make advances to the guards. You'll have to restrain yourself until we're both back home in Rome.'

'Who says I intend to leave?' Strange. He was standing three feet away, yet she could still smell his sandalwood unguent as strongly as if he was just three inches from her, and that faint hint of mint upon his breath. Also, the hardness of his muscled torso, the warmth of his flesh felt as though they still pressed against her skin.

'I do,' he said, leaning closer, and suddenly his eyes were smoky dark. 'I know you, Claudia. I know you inside out, and I know that even in the unlikely event that you might be tempted to swap a life of idle luxury for toiling in the fields, your bodyguard will be keen to get away.'

He was aware that Junius was here? Of course! His steward would have put him in the picture. 'You know about the cock-up at the jails, then?' she asked, but since he looked puzzled, Claudia realised he didn't have the full picture after all and explained about the administrative error in the dungeons.

'Admini — ? Error — ? Oh. Yes. Right.' His face lost some of its bounce and, crestfallen, he stuffed a crumpled piece of parchment back inside his tunic.

'Junius won't be unduly keen to get away,' she added. 'He's wangled himself a cushy number here.'

'Only because while my steward lent him some appropriate gear, he appropriated some extra for himself.' Marcus scratched at the stubble on his chin. 'All the same, he will be hot to leg it once he knows the rules.'

'Rules?'

There was a wicked glint in his eye. 'Hadn't you heard?' he said innocently. 'Good Egyptians that they are, the Brothers here practise circumcision.'

'Then it's high time they stopped practising and damn well did it properly.'

Goddammit, he had no right to smell this good. Look at him. Haggard and unshaven, he's deliberately using his masculinity to try and win me over. Tough luck, sunshine! For all your silver tongue and witty speech, don't think I don't know why you're here. You can't fool Claudia Seferius. You want that seat in the Senate House, and see me as a means to win it.

Oh, I sympathise; don't think I don't. You're under house arrest, it's unfair and unjust, and your boss has you by the balls. How best to wriggle off the hook? By wrapping up a tasty little con trick, which you can hand to your boss in return for him dropping those ridiculous trumped-up charges. You're back on track, no harm done — hell, you might even earn yourself some laurels. Fine. Good luck to you. Just find someone else to use as stepping stones.

'I don't air my soiled linens in the street.'

'Excuse me?'

'I said, there's no way I will be a witness at their trial.'

'Have I blacked out or something?' he asked, cocking his head to one side. 'One minute we're laughing and joking, the next you're thrashing like a mustang on a rope and I don't know what the hell you're on about. Whose trial?'

'Min and Mentu's. And I won't be party to it.'

'Claudia, I'm not here to-'

'I'll swear an oath that I encouraged Flavia to join and was so taken with the commune that I decided to bring Junius and Flea along with me for a break.'

'Flea!' He threw up his hands in exasperation. 'Claudia, why in the name of Mars did you cart that wild child out here?'

'Good grief, man, isn't it obvious? To knock her's and Flavia's heads together.'

'Right.' His tone said that Orbilio didn't believe it for a second.

Too bad.

Long before Claudia had become aware that Flavia was the instigating force behind the kidnap — in fact, the instant she discovered the boy messenger was actually a girl — she knew there was no way she would allow Flea to return to living off the streets. The danger was too great, and Claudia knew — by heaven, she did — because she'd recognised in Flea a mirror image of herself ten years back down the line. Therefore if, by some crazy chance, it was true that the Unlovable One had actually found a friend in the Untameable One and (more crazy still) those feelings of friendship were reciprocated, then there was no reason Flea could not find a niche in Flavia's household, and consequently in Flavia's life.

Apart, the girls were less than adorable. Together?

'Together, who knows…'

Marcus repeated her last sentence aloud.

'Orbilio, what are you drivelling on about now?'

He buffed a fingernail with unnecessary care. 'I rather think I was asking you to marry me.'

Her heart stopped beating. Limbs turned to wood. The world had stopped revolving. Then — 'Do I look the type who marries men who hoard bodies in their plasterwork?'

'Well, actually you do.'

With a crash, her heart muscle cranked back into action. Silly bitch. What made you imagine for one second he was serious? Look at the brightness of his eyes, the high spots of colour in an otherwise chalky face. It was a joke, Claudia. Supersnoop was cracking a joke. Making light of things. Good grief, you didn't seriously think he'd 'Talking of bodies,' she said. Anything to change the subject. 'There's something weird going on in this hippie-happy valley.'

'Weird, apart from grown men and women handing over all their worldly goods so they can dress up as Egyptians, work the land and worship that yellow thing up in the sky?'

'That's not weird, that's cranky.'

'And on which subject — yours truly ducked, because he didn't know who was after him — but that doesn't explain milady's behaviour, chasing armed guards round the outhouses.'

'What breathtaking arrogance you have, Marcus Cornelius, to imagine I was chasing you.' The party in the compound was still in full swing, you could hear the drums and trumpets, even from this secluded spot. 'I was merely following the jackal and the cat, because they were dragging a limp Sorrel between them.'

'I take it back,' Marcus said. 'That's not cranky behaviour. That's weird!'

Men. Never listen to a word you say. Patiently, she explained about Bast, Anubis and the boy called Sorrel, who'd been drugged because he'd had the temerity to try and leave. Then she told him about the three so-called accidents — the goring, the mistaken assassin and so on — and finished up with the rumours about the missing girls, including Berenice, who had killed her baby boy with hemlock.

'Claudia, you have to leave this place,' he rasped, and there was no trace of amusement in his eyes. 'Right this second. It's too bloody dangerous to hang about.'

'I will,' she promised. 'I'll leave just as soon as I find Flavia and rescue Flea.'

Orbilio rolled his eyes to heaven. 'For gods' sake, woman, just this once will you please, please, please do as you are told and leave it to the boys to sort things out? Between us, Junius and I are perfectly capable of finding Flavia and — what do you mean, rescue Flea?'

'All right, so I forgot to mention she's under lock and key for stealing. It's no big deal. I'll get her out, and then we'll leave. Oh, Doodlebug is doing fine, by the way. He's in the stables.'

'Doodle-' Despondency cut short his words. 'Claudia Seferius,' he said wearily, 'you must surely be the only person in the whole damned universe who would think to bring her entire household to this valley.'

Claudia debated whether to tell him about the six men stationed in the hills, and decided ignorance would be better for his health.

'I realise you slipped past the legionaries disguised as a rather large courtesan, but how did you manage to inveigle your way into becoming a member of staff?'

'Long story,' he said, and his face changed colour. Must be the light, but she could have sworn it took on a greenish tinge. As though he was about to be sick. 'I uh — I'll tell you all about it, sometime.'

It didn't work, his trying to make a joke of whatever turned his stomach. 'Does it include the reason you were hiding?'

'What? Oh. No. It's just that the guards aren't allowed past the second perimeter fence unless there's a damn good reason, and once they're inside the commune, they're under strict instructions to report immediately to Geb.'

'Geb?'

'He's responsible for the security arrangements.' Orbilio's knuckles knocked against the storeroom wall. 'It's the logical step, since all the building keys are in his care — outhouses, storehouses, sheds — everything, in fact, except those within the temple compound.'

The facilities had to be locked, because equality ruled this society. No favouritism, no extras, everyone had the same as everybody else.

Unless, of course, one lived in Mentu's wing.

Idly, she wondered where Geb and Penno and the other supervisors slept. She had a suspicion it was not in the dormitory blocks, and wished she'd been able to complete her inspection of the off-limits wing.

'Leave finding the girls to the professionals,' Marcus said firmly. 'I know it sounds a lot to ask, but keep your head down just this once. Please! With the festival going on, you won't be missed and I'll be back here in no time. So then.' He briskly rubbed his hands. 'Is it a deal? You'll stay put till I return?'

For all his calm efficiency, there was a hint of pleading in his voice which tugged at something in her stomach.

'Vestal Virgin's honour,' Claudia assured him. 'I won't budge, I promise.'

Except it didn't really count, because she had her fingers crossed.