Devil's Daughter (20 page)

Raj watched the English girl through the glass, thinking her more beautiful than even he had suspected. Her hair, cleansed of the stain and filth, hung in a thick golden mass down her back. She was almost too slender, he thought as she turned to say something to Lena, her white belly flat and her ribs too prominent after her week of privation. But her breasts were high and full, buttocks rounded and shapely. Allah, she was lovely. He laughed softly to himself, imagining his master’s unbelieving eyes when he saw his captive again.

He saw the Alexandrian, Elena, standing in the doorway, her beautiful brown eyes narrowed in disbelief, and then in ill-disguised jealousy. “You are all pink and white, like a sow,” Elena spat. “The master won’t like that.”

Arabella looked up and eyed the girl. “Elena,” she said quietly, sitting down and dangling her legs into the cool water. “I do not want your master. Your taunts are wasted on me, I assure you. I am here against my
will, and your precious master will die if he tries to touch me. Do I make myself clear?”

“You are naught but a slave. My master can do with you as he pleases.”

“No, he cannot, Elena. I am not a slave. Forget your jealousy.”

“You give me orders, skinny cow?”

Arabella sighed. “You are boring me, Elena.” With that, Arabella slipped into the pool and let the water close over her head.

Raj wanted to laugh at the myriad expressions that flitted over Elena’s face. Finally she seemed to regain her control, gave an elaborate shrug, and stalked from the chamber.

Arabella forget her embarrassment at being naked in front of another woman. She lay on her stomach and let Lena massage warm oil into her back and legs. Lena helped her turn onto her back, pulled her long hair free of the end of the table, and combed it with long, slow strokes.

“How long have you been here, Lena?” Arabella asked.

“Me, my lady?”

Arabella frowned at the surprise in the girl’s voice. “Of course, Lena.”

“I was captured from my village in Ethiopia when I was a little girl. My mother was beautiful and I suppose the slave trader thought I would look like her when I grew up. But I don’t. I have been here for nine years now, serving the master.”

Arabella frowned at her calm matter-of-factness. She felt the girl’s hands lightly caressing the oil into her belly and flushed.

“You are beautiful, my lady. The master will be pleased with you. But you must eat.”

“Lena, I am not a slave. That animal is not my master.”

Lena looked distressed. “Please, my lady, you must guard your tongue. A woman does not say such things.”

“Ah, I am to go to my slaughter like a docile lamb.”

A shadow fell over Arabella’s face and she opened her eyes to see Raj looking down at her. She grabbed the linen table cover, and pulled it about her.

Raj nodded to Lena and she quickly left the room.

“My lady, forgive me for embarrassing you, but our ways are different. You need feel no shame in front of me.”

“No man has ever seen me naked,” Arabella said, her voice high and quavering, like a child’s.

“You are a virgin?”

Arabella’s eyes widened. “Yes,” she whispered.

“I suspected as much. Later the master may have me examine you.”

“What do you mean examine?”

Raj spoke as if to a child. “It is my responsibility to see that any new woman who comes to his highness’s harem is free of disease, my lady. And to determine if she is a virgin.” At her continued puzzled expression, he said sharply, “You are not a little girl, and surely you cannot be so ignorant.”

Arabella finally understood. “I wish to dress now,” she said, not looking at the huge man.

“I have selected clothes for you. Come.”

Minutes later, the white linen cloth still wrapped about her, Arabella said flatly, “I will not wear these veils.”

“Then you wish to go to his highness with the linen
wrapped around you? At least these veils offer you a bit more protection than a towel.”

Arabella swallowed, her eyes flying to his worried face. “What do you mean protection?”

“You are very beautiful, my lady,” he said flatly, “and the master appreciates beautiful women.”

He saw fear in the depths of her dark eyes, yet she squared her shoulders. “He will not touch me, Raj.”

Raj was silent for a long moment. He guessed the minute Kamal saw the English girl, with her beautiful golden hair streaming down her back, clothed only in harem trousers and jacket, he would want her. He shuddered, knowing the girl would fight him. How odd that Kamal’s mother had chosen to claim this girl a whore. Perhaps she had sown the seeds of her own undoing. It was a thought worth pursuing.

He said slowly, with careful emphasis, “It will be largely up to you, my lady. You are unlike the other girls in his highness’s harem. Therein lies your advantage.”

He handed her the flimsy bolero, beautifully embroidered with small seed pearls, and the trousers, fashioned of transparent silk panels of varying shades of blue. He gestured toward a pair of light blue leather slippers.

“Dress yourself, and quickly. His highness wishes to dine with you.”

T
hick early-morning fog swirled across the Bay of Naples, shrouding the sails of the
Malek
in white. Adam stood on the quarterdeck, straining his eyes toward the receding shore. He felt oddly peaceful now that they were away and there was no turning back, though he knew that his own life could be forfeit for his sister’s. He shook away the thought that perhaps Arabella was already dead. No, he repeated to himself again, Arabella wasn’t meant to be killed, else it would already have been done in Naples. He thought of Rayna and smiled, picturing her hair tousled about her face, her mouth red from his kisses. She had smiled at him bravely when he had taken his leave of her in the garden of her father’s villa, Vincenzo standing silent watch. He ran his hand through his fog-damp hair. He was tired.

“Take your rest now, my lord. There is naught else to be done.”

He turned and nodded to Daniele. “A week,” he said. “A week before we know what has happened to my sister.”

“So you’ll fret and worry instead of—”

“All right,” Adam said.

“The captain has given you his first mate’s cabin. It’s small but comfortable. You’ll not be disturbed there.”

“I will spend enough time in that cursed cabin,” Adam said. “For now, I’ll take my rest on deck.” He eased down on a loop of thick rope and rested his head on his arms, but he did not sleep until Naples was far distant.

“My lord.”

Adam shook himself awake and raised his head to Captain Alvarez, a tall lean man whose bald head was covered with an outmoded white wig.

“You’ve slept the day through, my lord. I thought you would like to refresh yourself before we dine.”

Adam rubbed the stiff muscles at the back of his neck and rose. He shivered, and realized the sun was setting and the chill evening air was permeating his clothes. “I will join you in an hour, sir,” he said. He stared upward at the billowing sails. “We have a good wind.”

“The
Malek
is a fine ship. If the winds hold we will make port in Oran before you grow tired of my ugly face.” He laughed at his own jest and patted his wig. “Perhaps before you catch the lice that live on my head.”

Adam smiled, thinking that the captain could afford to be affable, with all the gold he had pried out of him to divert his ship to Oran. He made his way from the quarterdeck, as comfortable on board the swaying ship as on land, just as was his mother. The
Malek
was a three-masted Spanish trading vessel, its hold full of Italian goods bound for Cádiz. And under tribute. Adam suspected the captain had intended to dock in
the harbor of Oran in any case, but he had been in too much of a hurry to bargain with him, lice or no lice. He wondered how much the contessa had offered him.

He made his way down the companionway to his cabin, quickly adjusting to the rhythm of the ship be-lowdeck. When he opened the door, his eyes narrowed with irritation and suspicion. A small boy was climbing out of his trunk.

“What the devil are you doing?”

The small figure spun around, one leg still in his trunk, and Adam found himself staring at Rayna Lyndhurst. She was dressed in loose brown trousers, white shirt, and cinnamon jacket, her hair tucked up under a brown work cap.

Adam slapped his hand to his forehead. “My God, I don’t believe it.”

Rayna calmly stepped free of the trunk. “If I had known,” she said, “that you would spend the day on deck, I would not have had to stay buried in that wretched trunk. It was very uncomfortable, and I had to be very quiet when your valet came in a while ago.” She pointed to the hipbath in a corner of the small cabin, steaming water rising out of it.

All the warm, loving thoughts he had squandered on her on deck fled his mind. He felt such anger at her that he could not speak. And instead of being sheepish or pleading with him to forgive her for this outrageous act, she was carping at him.

“You make a charming boy,” he said finally with an attempt at sarcasm.

“Yes, don’t I?” Rayna said, turning about to show him the fit of her trousers. “I stole the clothes from the gardener’s youngest son.” He looked as if he were
thinking of beating her, and all she wanted to do was throw herself in his arms.

“May I ask, madam,” Adam said, taking a step back, “how you contrived to get on board this vessel?”

Rayna forced herself to shrug. “No one pays the least attention to a skinny boy. I was fortunate, though, I overheard the captain tell one of his men that the English lord would take over his first mate’s cabin. I simply slipped into this room, saw your trunk, and climbed in.” She turned and walked to the small table, providing him with a fine view of her trousered hips, and poured herself a glass of wine. “I was worried, however,” she said, “that you could discover me sooner, and possibly convince the captain to return to Naples. So despite my discomfort, I thank you, my lord, for remaining abovedeck.”

“And your father,” he said, “I do not suppose you informed him of your plans?”

“That bothered me not a little, let me tell you. I fear he will be upset with me when he reads my letter. I suppose he has already read it,” she continued, frowning into the glass. “Yes, very upset.”

Adam thought she did not appear at all concerned at her father’s likely apoplexy.

“If he disowns me, will you still marry me, Adam? Without a dowry?”

“You may no longer be alive once I am finished with you.”

She ignored his ill humor and remarked to the cabin at large, “I have not been seasick at all. I was worried about that, you know. Perhaps I will make something of a sailor after all.” She gave him a charming smile. “I
am terribly hungry. My stomach has been growling ferociously for the past several hours.”

“If you eat, madam, it will be standing up.”

“Ah, but there are chairs, my lord.” She set down her wineglass and plopped down onto one of the heavily carved Spanish chairs. She could practically hear Adam grinding his teeth as she lifted one leg over the arm of the chair and began to swing it back and forth like a careless boy.

There was a light knock on the door and Banyon appeared. “My lord, when you are finished washing up—” He broke off, staring from the smiling boy to his master’s furious face.

Adam walked over to Rayna and pulled off her woolen cap.

“Oh,” Banyon said.

“Yes, indeed.” Damnation. He knew now the ship could not return to Naples. Worse, he could not reveal that there was a girl aboard, staying in his cabin. “Damnation,” he said aloud. “Banyon, inform the captain that I’ve a touch of something vile, and bring my dinner here. Make it noble portions—the
lad
here tells me she is quite ravenous.”

“Oh,” Banyon said again.

“I fear, madam,” he said between clenched teeth to Rayna, “that you will be spending the next week in this cabin.”

“I do not mind in the least,” Rayna said. “Banyon, I am really very hungry.”

“Yes, miss,” Banyon said, his eyes only briefly leaving his master’s set face.

“Banyon,” Adam said, “tell Daniele about our
uninvited guest. As for the other men, and particularly the crew, keep the stowaway here to yourself.”

“Yes, my lord.” Banyon spared one glance for the young lady before he slipped out of the cabin, careful to close the cabin door soundly. He had never before seen his master so furious. He remembered, a slow smile lighting his leathered face, when he had discovered a woman several years before in his master’s bedroom, in his bed. Then the master had only laughed and firmly closed the bedroom door in Banyon’s interested face.

Rayna gulped at the mean anger in Adam’s eyes when he turned back to her. He took a purposeful step toward her, and Rayna leapt out of the chair and backed away.

“Listen to me, Adam Welles,” she shouted at him. “I could not let you leave Naples like some sort of avenging angel, bound for God knows what kind of danger. And I’ll tell you something else. I do not believe that even you, at your most persuasive, could convince my father to let us wed, even if he knew that we are lovers. I am sorry for the worry my parents will feel, but I told them I was with you, and as safe as I could be. I told them that I love you and that we are going to fetch Arabella.”

“So now I can expect to see your father waiting for me on the dock at Oran, a pistol in his hand.”

“No, I did not tell him where we were bound.”

Adam cursed long and fluently. Rayna regarded him with some astonishment, and then stared wide-eyed when he turned away from her and calmly began to strip off his clothes. She had expected him to burn her ears at least until dinner arrived.

“What are you doing?”

“I am going to wash up and shave,” Adam said, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it on the narrow bed.

He sat down on the edge of the cot and pulled off his boots. “Perhaps,” he said, not looking at her, “after a week in my company you will not wish to marry me. I can be a most demanding man, so I’ve been told, by a number of ladies.”

Rayna raised her chin and stared down her nose at him.

When he stood and unfastened his wide leather belt, she moved her chair closer. “Just a moment, my lord,” she said. “If you are planning to parade in front of me naked, I would like to have a better view of my treat.”

Adam’s fingers stilled for a moment on his pants.

“Are you going to shave off that fierce beard?”

“No. I wish to leave something on.”

His trousers dropped to the floor, and he stood before her splendidly naked. Rayna found herself staring at him pointedly. Despite herself, she said in a breathless voice, “I cannot imagine a man more beautiful than you, my lord.” She dropped her face into her hands, remembering his words. “And you have known so many women. How can you want me? I am so ordinary.”

Her guilelessness was as artful as the most skilled courtesan’s. No, he would not succumb to it. “Ordinary, Rayna? I have studied you carefully, and have decided that you will improve in a few more years.”

Their dinner arrived after Adam had bathed and shrugged into a change of clothes. It consisted indeed
of huge portions of roast chicken, boiled potatoes, and green peas.

“If you drink any more wine, you will be vilely ill,” Adam said as Rayna drank what was left of her second glass of wine.

“Adam,” she said after a moment, “I know that you are angry with me, but—”

“That, madam, is not the half of it.”

“—but I could not stay in Naples pretending to my parents that I cared naught about anything, and knowing that I would not be with you to protect you.”

“Protect me. Good Lord, Rayna,
you
protect
me
?”

Silence reigned as Banyon, his eyes darting first to his master and then to the young lady, cleared away the dishes. “It looks to be a lovely evening,” he said, closely examining the chicken bones.

Adam scraped back his chair. “I believe I will see for myself. Madam, you will stay here. Is that clear?”

Rayna did not look at him, only nodded.

“I’ll bring you some fresh water, miss,” Banyon said when Adam had slammed out of the cabin. “Leave your clothes and I’ll freshen them for you.”

“Thank you, Banyon.”

Rayna washed quickly. She had no choice but to put on one of Adam’s cambric shirts. She pulled a blanket from the cot, lay down on the floor, covered herself with it to her nose, and waited.

Adam walked into the cabin at that moment. He took in the loose auburn hair, thick and lustrous, that framed her small face. And his cambric shirt.

“What are you doing on the floor?”

“Where else should I be?”

“You should first be hauled over my lap.”

“You wouldn’t.”

Adam strode over to her, bent down, and hauled her to her feet. She struggled against him, but he dragged her to the cot and pulled her onto her stomach over his knees. The cambric shirt shifted upward, baring her legs.

“Rayna,” he said, “what you’ve done is unpardonable, and I’ve waited to do this until my anger cooled. God knows what Arabella is going through, and now I must concern myself with what to do with you. The captain will be sailing nowhere near a port where I may leave you. You will never, my girl, ever again disobey me.”

He jerked up the shirt and brought the flat of his hand down on her buttocks. “Do you understand me?”

“No!”

He brought his hand down again and she felt tears start in her eyes. She tried to rear up, but it was no use. “Do you understand me?” he repeated as his hand came down again.

“I will do what I believe is right,” she yelled.

He raised his hand, but froze at seeing the raised imprint of his fingers on her bottom. He lowered his hand and gently caressed the spot to ease away its sting. She lay perfectly still.

He turned her over and cradled her in his arms. “I love you,” he said. “But I will beat you again if you ever do something so stupid.”

“And what if you do something stupid?”

“Your sharp tongue will be punishment enough.”

“I doubt that.”

“How is your bottom?” he asked, resting his large hand lightly on her bare leg.