Free Sold! A Romance In The Sudan by Storm Chase

Chapter One
Abduction
    Azure skies, gently ripping water and a deliciously
warm sun. It should have been perfection but Lilly was blind with
misery.
    “Want a guide, Miss?” A young black boy
smiled broadly at her. “My uncle is a priest at the Temple of
Kalabsha. I can give you a special tour.”
    “Thank you, no,” Lilly smiled
automatically.
    “Want to take a cruise? See the crocodiles?
Catch Nile perch? My other uncle has the best boat on Lake Nasser.
I can arrange something special for you!”
    “No thanks!”
    “Handicrafts? My aunt has a wonderful
shop.”
    Irritated by the tough sell, Lilly frowned
and turned away without answering. She knew the boy was just trying
to make a living. Her instinct was to give him some money but a
nasty experience at Luxor where she’d almost been trampled by a
horde of beggars demanding money had taught her to stifle any
generous instinct.
    Egypt was nothing like she had imagined.
Lilly had marvelled at the pyramids at Giza and gawked at the Great
Temple at Abu Simbel before becoming rapidly confused by the dozens
of statues, tombs and temples, all of which were Treasures of the
Ancient World.
    She didn’t want to admit it but she was fed
up with culture. Lilly no longer gave a toss about erections
extolling the virtues of Mekhu, Sabni, Sarenput, Harkhuf, Hekaib or
some other ancient king.
    Erection. That is the real problem ,
Lilly’s secret self whispered slyly. If Ashton had been with
you, it would have been different.
    Ashton. Wonderful, tall, handsome Ashton.
Ashton, who should have been here with her. Ashton, who should have
been her husband.
    But he didn’t want you, did he?
    Lilly winced as inner voice reminded her of
the scathing truth.
    Her father had pounded it into her over the
years that she should always show a smiling face. Turning the other
cheek had been his favourite mantra. Lilly could govern her outer
self perfectly but her inner self refused to be repressed.
    Like it or not, the Lilly on the inside was
right. Ashton had made it perfectly clear in the most publicly
humiliating way that he didn’t want her.
    Just thinking about Ashton made her stomach
churn. Either that or it was the chicken rice she’d had for lunch.
It had seemed OK at first but she’d realised halfway through the
meal that those little dark crunchy things hadn’t been raisins but
pieces of a large dead cockroach.
    Just thinking about it made her nauseous.
Surely she would be sick again? She’d thrown up twice already.
There just couldn’t be anything left in her stomach. Or could
there?
    Feeling dizzy and sick, Lilly spotted a large
rock lying a few meters off the path. She made her way to it but
the moment she sat down, she felt sweat drench her body. Her
stomach knotted ominously.
    “Oh God! Please not here and not now,” Lilly
moaned. She’d had the runs in Cairo as well as Luxor. These
episodes had turned her into an unwilling expert in diarrhoea.
    Looking through the trees she realised she’d
wandered farther than she had meant to. She couldn’t see the hotel
anymore. Worse, the sun was beginning to set. It would be dark
soon. She had to get back.
    As her stomach knotted, Lilly groaned. She
pushed herself away from the rock. She had to get back to the
hotel. If she ran, she might make it. Her stomach muscles clenched.
Maybe it would be better to find a bush - just in case.
    Groaning, Lilly stumbled along the path,
totally heedless to the fact that she was heading in the wrong
direction. The path ended suddenly. Bewildered, Lilly looked
around. She was standing at the curve of the lake. In the distance
she spotted the gleaming white walls of her hotel.
    “Oh... SUGAR!” The second she said it, she
felt stupid. “Grow up, Lilly!” she whispered fiercely. “Not sugar.
Shit. This is definitely a time where you can swear.” Anyway, it
wasn’t like anyone could hear her. The lakeside was deserted.
    She estimated the hotel to be two or three
kilometres away. In her state,