Death on Tour - Janice Hamrick [79]
“Party tonight, sleep in tomorrow. No getting up early for bus rides and crypts, right?” asked Kyla. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, this has been a blast. But I never want to see the inside of another bus as long as I live.”
“Yes, tomorrow is a day ‘at leisure,’ unless you want to get up early with the gang and go on the hot-air balloon ride.”
“Which I don’t.”
“No,” I said. “All I want is a nap.”
Chapter 12
NECKLACES AND KNOCKOUTS
We both slept for a while and awoke feeling much better. A hot shower worked wonders, too, and except for getting my bandage soggy, I felt much better. Dinner was uneventful, and afterward we returned to the room to dress for the galabia party. I took the necklace out of the room safe and put it around my neck.
“That looks beautiful,” said Kyla admiringly.
And it did. The deep blue of the galabia set off the gold and lapis perfectly. The red carnelian pieces gleamed like drops of blood. I shook my hair from its usual ponytail and pinned it up into a French twist, then went to work with Kyla’s eyeliner pencil to outline my eyes in what I hoped was the Egyptian way. I stared at myself doubtfully in the mirror.
“What do you think?” I asked her. “Egyptian royalty or cheap hooker?”
Kyla came up behind me, fastening an earring. “You look fantastic,” she said earnestly. “You should wear your hair like that all the time. Alan won’t be able to take his eyes off of you.”
I protested a little, but not too much. After all, I wanted to believe her. About the beautiful part anyway. And, okay, about the Alan part too. I still wasn’t sure I trusted him, but having him worship my beauty would be acceptable. Probably Kyla was right and I was just imagining things about him. He was just a take-charge kind of guy, and there weren’t any ulterior motives or clandestine activities going on. The few odd things that had occurred, well, it was a foreign country and there were such things as coincidences. And after all, here we were, on a cruise ship on the Nile. With a single, attractive, mysterious man and a party on the deck under the moonlight. If I couldn’t stir up a little romance tonight, I might as well pack it in forever.
* * *
The sundeck of the Nile Lotus was full that evening. Sometime during the day, the crew had moved all the sunning chairs against the railings and set up a small dance platform beside the bar in the center. Strings of white lights hung along the rails and around the bar, giving everything a festive look. Passengers streamed up from below, talking and laughing. Every member of our group wore a new colorful galabia, except Jerry, who wore pressed khakis and a sour expression.
“I overheard Anni talking to that other guide in the corner. They have some sort of contest between the group leaders to see how many of their passengers they can get to participate,” Lydia said as she joined us.
“Do you think they have a bet?” asked Kyla.
“I hope so. I’m pretty sure Anni has won hands down. I don’t know how she does it—she can get us all to do just about anything she wants. I would have bet money myself that you’d never get Ben into a dress, but there he is.” She was grinning with delight.
Ben toddled over, holding two martinis and looking sheepish. The galabias did look a bit like dresses, now that I thought about it. The other men wore their pants under the garment, but Ben’s white legs protruded under the hem like hairy little sticks for about six inches before vanishing into white socks and tennis shoes.
“You’re looking quite dashing tonight, my love,” Lydia told him fondly. Only the accent made it possible to say something so outrageous. I smiled at the two of them.
“Where’s Jane tonight?” I asked, looking around.
Ben and Lydia looked at each other. “She’s not feeling well again. We tried to encourage her to come up for a breath of air, but she preferred to stay below. This trip has been a bit of a washout for her, I’m afraid.