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Sometimes, Jonathan thought back to that disastrous trip to Cairo, and remembered what Fadia had said about Ardeth caring for him.
"I have never known my brother to care so greatly before, for those not within our tribe, as he does for you..."
Sometimes, Jonathan let himself run away with the statement...until, of course, something like sense would creep back in and remind him that "and your family" was a very important addition to the end of it. Because of course, Ardeth cared about all of them.
Sometimes, Jonathan thought back and wished he'd maybe asked Fadia if she'd meant to pause where she had, or if she was just catching her breath or something.
"I have never known my brother to care so greatly before, for those not within our tribe, as he does for you..."
A voice very like Evy's would whisper that someone so young and healthy as Fadia would have no need to catch her breath while strolling.
"...and your family."
His own voice would whisper that there was no other reason for such a pause in her speech.
He couldn't allow himself to think even for a second that Ardeth was mutually besotted. It wouldn't do. If Jonathan allowed himself to think so, he just knew that the truth—that Ardeth didn't think of him that way—would crush him irreparably. Not to mention, if Ardeth did see him that way...well, it made Jonathan realize that his actions had hurt more than just Polly. That was almost worse.
So Jonathan did his best not to think at all. It was easy not to think about anything important when he was trying not to get his nose broken in some smoky gambling den, or talking his way out of being shot for stealing the wrong man's pocket watch. It was easy to keep a blank mind when he was fabulously drunk and making time with someone he'd never see again.
It was all so easy...until he dragged himself home and fell into bed with an aching head and aching heart, and inevitably his thoughts would turn to the desert. To windswept sands, warm sunlight, and dark eyes that haunted his dreams.