It had seemed a good idea at the time. Winter had been unbearably cold and the first cheap flight that she saw had been to somewhere hot and middle eastern. Nothing should have been simpler.
The fact that the plane was so small had worried her a little bit. The crew were European though and seemed to know what they were doing. When the plane was airborne she realised that they were also all male; but that didn't worry her. Actually, it made Juliet feel just a little bit special. She was getting all the extra attention after all. This could be just the way to start her holiday.
It did worry her a little that they didn't speak much English. It worried her even more when half-way through the flight one of them motioned her to put her seat belt on before rapidly strapping himself into a chair.
When Juliet asked, "Why?" The only answer she got was a muttered "Emergence Landing, Emergence."
Then the man crossed himself and hurriedly shut his eyes.
They got down all right though. It was when the plane stopped that the real trouble started.
They were not where they were supposed to be, in a western friendly middle eastern state; they were not anywhere that Juliet could recognise. All the signs were in Arabic. Or at least she thought they were in Arabic.
It was incredibly hot but luckily she had dressed for the heat and so was only wearing shorts and a T-shirt. In truth she had good legs and liked to show them off. When she descended from the plane though, absolute pandemonium broke out. Lots of Arabic men came up and shouted in her face, gesticulating at her as they spoke.
Unfortunately, Juliet did not understand a word. The aircrew tried to help but they were angrily brushed aside. Eventually she was manhandled into a room, abandoned by everyone and left to contemplate the meaning of it all behind a securely locked door.
The door did not open again for some considerable time. When it did Juliet was relieved to see what looked like a friendly face. Or, at least an English face. The man was grey haired and had kind wrinkles around the eyes. "Er.. Miss Hanway?" He said.
"Yes." Said Juliet. "At last! Someone who speaks English! Are you from the Embassy?"
The man smiled. "Er, no, not exactly. There is no British embassy here. If you like I'm the British representative here, although that's more unofficial than official. Actually, I'm the only British person here at the moment. Hmm. Apart from you."
"Ermm, I'm Charles. Er Charles Lorrimer."
Juliet did not understand and, as was her habit in moments of confusion, brushed her long hair behind her ears. "What do you mean? Where are we?"
"Well, strictly speaking we are in the desert. We are actually at a desert town which is ruled by an Arab Prince, while the country is ruled by his Father. It's rather complicated but this place is like a country within a country. Mmm, Westerners are actively discouraged from coming here because of the Prince's strict laws."
Juliet interrupted. "I don't want to be here. I just want to get to where I was going. Surely you can you arrange that? Charles?"
The Englishman seemed to have gone off into some sort of reverie, for his eyes were fixed on Juliet's bare thighs. It was almost as if he hadn't seen a woman in shorts before.
"Errum..., Yes." He said. "I mean No. Well actually, er, it's not going to be as simple as that."
"What do you mean?" Said Juliet. Charles sat down next to her and tried to look as kindly as possible. This was not going to be easy.
"The Sheikh, or Prince, as he is sometimes known, whilst educated in England, is not a , hmmn, liberal man. Er, women hereabouts are required to wear clothing that covers their arms, legs and, on certain occasions, their faces." He paused.
"You have, however unwittingly, broken his laws and, rather unfortunately, you have broken them in public."
Charles checked to make sure that he had the young lady's attention. "The good news is that he is quite happy to deport you back to England after you have made amends for your, errm, crime." He looked at her thighs once more.
"The bad news is that in these parts the punishment for that particular crime is, hmm, flogging. A public flogging."
Juliet's face went quite pale. So much so that Charles had to fetch her a glass of water. When she was a little recovered he continued.
"I'm sorry. I didn't put that very well did I?" He said. "I'm just a technical oil chappie actually. Never done any of this diplomatic stuff before."
"I'm not sure that there is a good way to put news of that kind." Said Juliet.
Charles was relieved to see that she had raised a half smile. "Good girl." He said. "Stiff Upper Lip." Before thinking to himself just how much she was going to need it.
"Is there nothing you can do?" She asked.
"Errm, I'll try." He said, impressed by her in spite of himself. "Ah. In the meantime, perhaps you have some more suitable clothes to change in to? I'll arrange to have your luggage sent up."
Five minutes Later Juliet had only her bags for company. After a time she began to rummage through the biggest of them. It helped to have something to do rather than sit awaiting her fate. The trouble was that in the 'more suitable clothes' department Juliet was not exactly well stocked.
Her holiday plans had catered for beaches, swimming pools and the occasional bar. Consequently the only item of clothing that she had which covered her arms and legs was a bright red, figure hugging, ankle length dress. To add to her woes it was made of the sort of material that only just left something to the imagination.
It was impossible to wear a bra underneath it without spoiling the line of the dress. Knickers could be worn, but only of the flimsiest, high cut variety.
Putting it on had always made her feel sexy and even now, in these circumstances she could sense the same familiar itch. Juliet knew she was attractive and was vain enough to care about how she looked in front of anyone.
So, by the time she had finished and by way of distracting herself, she had the whole kit on; black hold-up stockings, matching heeled shoes, and jewellery. She'd even had time to do her make-up. Juliet tried to make herself look more demure than normal.
Unfortunately, she had to acknowledge that the combination of the red dress and the innocent make-up made her look even sexier than she normally did. Still, pride won out. She wasn't going to make herself look dowdy just because she had broken some stupid law. The proposed punishment had been pushed to the back of her mind. She even half convinced herself that Charles Lorrimer would manage to make the whole thing go away. Somehow.
However, by the time he poked his head around the door again she'd had quite enough time to think about it again. However you cut it a public flogging didn't sound like much fun.
"Ah. Miss Hanway." He said. "You've changed I see. Hmmn. Very pretty, if I may say so. Errm...."
"Please Charles, Mr Lorrimer. Get to the point. What is going to happen to me?" Interrupted Juliet, more abrupt than normal.
