Diamond in the Desert. Susan Stephens

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      ‘Serves you right for building up your hopes,’ Eva said as the girls gathered in Britt’s study after hearing her groan. ‘Your famous Black Sheikh can’t even be bothered to meet with you,’ Eva remarked, peering over Britt’s shoulder at the email message on the computer screen. ‘So he’s sending a representative instead,’ she scoffed, turning to throw an I-told-you-so look at Leila.

      ‘I’ll get some fresh coffee,’ Leila offered.

      Eva’s carping was really getting on Britt’s nerves. She’d been up since dawn exchanging emails with Kareshi. It was practically noon for her, Britt reflected angrily as Leila brought the coffee in. Her sisters loved staying in the city with her, but sometimes they forgot that, while they could lounge around, she had a job to do. ‘I’m still going to meet with him. What else am I going to do?’ she demanded, swinging round to confront her sisters. ‘Do you two have any better ideas?’

      Eva fell silent, while Leila gave Britt a sympathetic look as she handed her a mug of coffee. ‘I’m just sorry we’re going back home and leaving you with all this to deal with.’

      ‘That’s my job,’ Britt said, controlling her anger. She could never be angry with Leila. ‘Of course I’m disappointed I won’t be meeting the Black Sheikh, but all I’ve ever asked for is your support, Eva.’

      ‘Sorry,’ Eva muttered awkwardly. ‘I know you got landed with the company when Mum and Dad died. I’m just worried about what’s going to happen now all the commodities are running out. I do realise the mine’s sunk without the diamonds. And I know you’ll do your very best to land this deal, but I’m worried about you, Britt. This is too much on your shoulders.’

      ‘Stop it,’ Britt warned, giving her sister a hug. ‘Whoever the Black Sheikh sends, I can deal with him.’

      ‘It says that the man you’re to expect is a qualified geologist,’ Leila pointed out. ‘So at least you’ll have something in common.’ Britt’s degree was also in Geology, with a Master’s in Business Management.

      ‘Yes,’ Eva agreed, trying to sound as optimistic as her sister. ‘I’m sure it will be fine.’

      Britt knew that both her sisters were genuinely concerned about her. They just had different ways of showing it. ‘Well, I’m excited,’ she said firmly to lift the mood. ‘When this man gets here we’re another step closer to saving the company.’

      ‘I wish Tyr were here to help you.’

      Leila’s words made them all silent. Tyr was their long-lost brother and they rarely talked about him because it hurt too much. They couldn’t understand why he had left in the first place, much less why Tyr had never contacted them.

      Britt broke the silence first. ‘Tyr would do exactly what we’re doing. He thinks the same as us. He cares about the company and the people here.’

      ‘Which explains why he stays away,’ Eva murmured.

      ‘He’s still one of us,’ Britt insisted. ‘We stick together. Remember that. The discovery of diamonds might even encourage him to return home.’

      ‘But Tyr isn’t motivated by money,’ Leila piped up.

      Even Eva couldn’t disagree with that. Tyr was an idealist, an adventurer. Their brother was many things, but money was not his god, though Britt wished he would come home again. She missed him. Tyr had been away too long.

      ‘Here’s something that will make you laugh,’ Leila said in an attempt to lift the mood. Pulling the newspaper towards her, she pointed to an article in the newspaper that referred to the three sisters as the Skavanga Diamonds. ‘They haven’t tired of giving us that ridiculous nickname.’

      ‘It’s just so patronising,’ Eva huffed, brushing a cascade of fiery red curls away from her face.

      ‘I’ve been called worse things,’ Britt argued calmly.

      ‘Don’t be so naïve,’ Eva snapped. ‘All that article does is wave a flag in front of the nose of every fortune-hunter out there—’

      ‘And what’s wrong with that?’ Leila interrupted. ‘I’d just like to see a man who isn’t drunk by nine o’clock—’

      This brought a shocked intake of breath from Britt and Eva, as Leila had mentioned something else they never spoke about. There had long been a rumour that their father had been drunk when he piloted the small company plane to disaster with their mother on board.

      Leila flushed red as she realised her mistake. ‘I’m sorry—I’m just tired of your sniping, Eva. We really should get behind Britt.’

      ‘Leila’s right,’ Britt insisted. ‘It’s crucial we keep our focus and make this deal work. We certainly can’t afford to fall out between us. That article is fluff and we shouldn’t even be wasting time discussing it. If Skavanga Mining is going to have a future we have to consider every offer on the table—and so far the consortium’s is the only offer.’

      ‘I suppose you could always give the sheikh’s representative a proper welcome, Skavanga style,’ Eva suggested, brightening.

      Leila relaxed into a smile. ‘I’m sure Britt has got a few ideas up her sleeve.’

      ‘It’s not my sleeve you need to worry about,’ Britt commented dryly, relieved that they were all the best of friends again.

      ‘Just promise me you won’t do anything you’ll regret,’ Leila said, remembering to worry.

      ‘I won’t regret it at the time,’ Britt promised dryly. ‘Unless he truly is a boffin with pebble glasses—in which case I’ll just have to put a paper bag over his head.’

      ‘Don’t become overconfident,’ Eva warned.

      ‘I’m not worried. If he proves difficult I’ll cut a hole in the ice and send him swimming. That will soon cool his ardour—’

      ‘Why stop there?’ Eva added. ‘Don’t forget the birch twig switches. You can always give him a good thrashing. That’ll sort him out.’

      ‘I’ll certainly consider it—’

      ‘Tell me you’re joking?’ Leila begged.

      Thankfully, Britt’s younger sister missed the look Britt and Eva exchanged.

      CHAPTER TWO

      BRITT WAS UNUSUALLY nervous. The breakfast meeting with the Black Sheikh’s representative had been arranged for nine and it was already twenty past when she rushed through the doors of Skavanga Mining and tore up the stairs. It wasn’t as if she was unused to business meetings, but this one was different for a number of reasons, not least of which was the fact that her car had blown a tyre on the way to the office. Changing a tyre was an energetic exercise at the best of times, enough to get her heart racing, but the circumstances of this meeting had made her anxious without that, because so much depended on it—

      ‘I’ll show myself in,’ she said as a secretary glanced up in surprise.

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