Double Danger by Margaret Thomson Davis

day.’
    ‘Jessica, will you relax and just enjoy life here like you were doing before, and allow the children to enjoy life as they were doing before. Look at all the other children. They haven’t let anything bother them. And don’t forget about all the good teachers who are looking after the children so well.’
    Jessica closed her eyes, bit her lip and then took a deep breath.
    ‘OK. OK. I’ll try.’
    And so Tommy and Fiona went back to their school lessons and to racing about enjoying all the after-school activities.
    Jessica went back to the café and began chatting to her friends there about her trip to Scotland. She described Hilltop House and its jungle of surrounding land and they gasped and shuddered at how eerie it all sounded. They giggled about the handsome and charming Irishman who was going to be living and working there.
    ‘You’d better watch him, Jessica. He’ll be making passes at you before you know what’s happening. You’d probably enjoy it, though.’
    ‘No way! I’ve a handsome husband, don’t forget, and I’m madly in love with him. I don’t need any Irish charmers.’
    ‘Well,’ one of the girls laughed, ‘next time you go over there, take me with you and introduce me. I could do fine with an Irish charmer.’
    ‘Once I settle there, you’ll all be welcome to come and visit.’
    She meant it. It was hard to imagine a gregarious person like herself being happy and feeling at home in such an isolated and wild-looking place. Of course, once Brian retired, he’d be with her and once they transformed the place into a hotel, it wouldn’t be so isolated. It would be cheerful and interesting. She would be happy and content having him at her side. At the back of her mind, however, was always the worry that he’d never want to leave his excellent, very highly paid job and all the freebies he had at the compound. Then there was the obvious fact that he loved Saudi Arabia and all his Arab friends.
    She could understand how he felt. Life in the compound (if you didn’t consider the terrorist attacks) was truly wonderful. Even the climate was wonderful. There was an air of such happy excitement about the place with so many activities and social pleasures to look forward to each and every day.
    She settled back into compound life and began thoroughly enjoying it again. They began entertaining quite a lot in their villa. She would have been happier preparing the food herself
    but, of course, with such an eager and conscientious Indian houseboy, she didn’t stand a chance. She and Brian visited their friends’ villas too. They played cards on the veranda and sipped long cool drinks of lemonade or orange juice. They didn’t dare risk anything resembling alcohol, which was a bit of a nuisance, but it could literally cost you your life to flout any Muslim laws. They still could dream of double whiskies and tall glasses of frothy beer, however.
    One night in bed, as he held Jessica lovingly in his arms, Brian said, ‘Are you happy now, darling?’
    ‘After being made love to like that – of course I’m happy.’
    ‘Now, you know what I mean. Are you happy to be back in the compound and are you completely enjoying life here like you did before my last leave?’
    ‘Yes, of course.’
    ‘It’s a truly wonderful life, isn’t it?’
    Again she felt a tweak of worry.
    ‘Yes, it definitely is, Brian. Nobody could deny that. But you will retire eventually, won’t you? I mean, you will move back with me and the twins to Scotland eventually?’
    ‘Of course. But that’s a long way off yet. Meantime, we’ll spend at least some of my leaves there because we’d be best to keep in touch with how Patrick O’Rourke’s getting on.’
    She was glad of the regular correspondence she had with Mrs Mellors and Evie. They thought she was really lucky to be living in what sounded like such a wonderful place. She had, of course, described in her letters to them the compound, the climate and all the