Try running the command xfdesktop. You'll probably not want to do it in a terminal though, just so you don't lose the desktop if you close the terminal. The default shortcut to bring up a run command box is alt+F2.
If this works, save the session when you logout and I think it should work normally the next time you use xfce.
Any idea what caused you to lose the desktop? I know running nautilus can sometimes can cause problems.
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