Jenny is hired as an archaeologist in Egypt, only to find two men falling in love with her and struggling to overcome her fears and insecurities to choose the man she knows she loves. Jenny is blonde, beautiful, and ready for adventure, so she is thrilled when she gets a job offer to work on a dig in Hierakonpolis, Egypt. As a qualified archaeologist, she is interested in the possibility of digging up the remains of an ancient Egyptian village near Hierakonpolis. She is surprised to find that she will be working with an acquaintance she knows slightly, Peter, whose family knows her own back in Newcastle in Britain, although Jenny grew up in America. Jenny meets Peter for the first time in Cairo, and is immediately drawn to him and hopes that his super-masculine self will not ravish her, a train of thought that made me really try hard to resist eye-rolling.
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Their employer is the young, suave, handsome Sheikh Abdul, an international playboy who shows up to the archaeological dig looking improbably debonair in Italian suits, driving a Ferrari. Contrary to his appearance, however, Abdul is something of a history nerd, and is eager to fund the excavation and study and research of the village remains. Jenny immediately catches his attention and he begins wooing her, though Jenny thinks he is high-handed, domineering and bristles at the idea that he can control her - but on the other hand her virgin loins quiver in the presence of his overt alpha masculinity and dark handsomeness. Sorry but that's almost exactly how it is described, it's kind of a vomit-inducing book. Usually I write about these novels without judgment but every now and then the sheer hilarity must be observed.
Jenny starts to fall for Peter, because he's strong and aloof and intelligent and they share a special chemistry. Throughout their work he is predatory but amused and detached, as if it's just a sport that he half-heartedly indulging in. It's a marked difference to Abdul's passionate and obvious courtship of her. Abdul is younger though, and has a lighter heart. Peter's older and weighed down by mystery and experience, all of which intrigues Jenny. A rivalry begins to develop between the two men, and Jenny must manage her lust and affection for Abdul and her lust and burgeoning love for Peter, unsure herself of what she wants. She also kind of hates Peter because his grandfather broke her grandmother's heart and left her high and dry, upon which she dramatically killed herself. Woe.
When Peter saves Abdul's life by pulling him out of the way of a speeding car one night in Cairo, when Abdul is completely drunk, the next morning a hungover Abdul sobers up and seriously thanks Peter for saving his life, and says he is giving up his pursuit of Jenny in thanks (what's a girl between two friends? Right?). Jenny is kind of happy to hear this, but is a sad Jenny when Peter brusquely tells her that Abdul needn't have bothered because Peter isn't interested in Jenny anyway. Ouch. At this point Jenny goes to find a bucket of ice water for that burn. (Kidding, she did not, but she should have.)
Instead she becomes angrier and also more in love with Peter, but confused about her feelings. She almost gives into Abdul's seductions in revenge, but he stops at the last minute, gently says he can see she loves Peter, and gives up his pursuit gracefully. Little did Abdul know that he dodged a bullet.
Peter ends up falling in love with Jenny by the time the excavation is completed to a stage that Abdul accepts, and attempts to take her to bed, half tender and half passionate. But Jenny had seen him flirting with Barbara, the sheikh's attractive secretary, a few days earlier and is distrustful. Acting out of pique and confused feelings, Jenny flings his words of endearment back in his face and tells him not to bother to touch her because she does not have any interest in him, and then reveals to him the history of their grandparents, implying that "cad" behavior runs in Peter's family. Furious, Peter leaves. Later Barbara tells her that Peter had not been interested in her but was just trying to find out information on whether Jenny loved Abdul. Barbara says it was really obvious that Peter wanted Jenny for himself. Overcome with remorse, Jenny realizes that Peter's love for her was sincere after all. She wants him now, but Peter is cold, and Abdul notices. He diplomatically offers them his summer home on the Nile and sends them out there to be by themselves. One evening, when Jenny is swimming in the Nile, she hits her foot on a rock underwater and cries out in pain. To her surprise, Peter carries her indoors and cleans and bandages the cut on her foot. He then gently strips her swimsuit off, dries her with a towel, and puts her in bed. He accepts her apologies. Over the next few days they build up a warm connection again, and Peter mentions returning to Newcastle. Jenny is heart broken inside that they will be parted soon, and sadly replies that she will be flying to Arizona. They hug each other and part, after admitting their love for each other, and Jenny goes to spend her remaining time in Egypt in Cairo before her flight out to America. Two weeks later, however, when she enters the airport in Cairo and goes to her gate, she sees Peter sitting there and smiling. He turned down his job offer in Newcastle and is ready to fly to Arizona to be with Jenny. They kiss and get on the plane together, and presumably start their future together.
Best part of story, including ending:
I hated the Orientalism.
Best scene in story:
When Abdul makes fun of Peter's hawking obsession by saying even royalty don't care as much.
Opinion about the main character:
I thought Jenny was beyond ditzy and indecisive.
