Devil's Daughter (35 page)

“She was your slut, not your wife. She followed you from England; it was she who kept you from me. If the
bravi
had killed her, you would have returned to me.”

The earl met his son’s eyes across the hall. He heard Arabella say, “Father?” He had prayed that neither of his children would ever learn what had happened so many years before. Now, he realized, there was no hope for it. He felt the waves of tension sweeping about him like eddies in a whirlpool. He saw Rayna Lyndhurst in the circle of Adam’s arm, her father standing still as a stone beside them.

“Giovanna,” he said, his voice clear and calm, for he was speaking not only to her but also to Rayna and his children, “I told you Cassandra was innocent. She is more innocent that you know. It was I who forced her to accompany me to Genoa. I stole her from the man she was to have married, Edward Lyndhurst, but a day before her wedding. I wanted to wed her, but it was she who refused me. She was my prisoner, Giovanna, at my villa. It was many months before she came to return my love. Let me ask you, Giovanna. Would you have tried to kill her had she been my wife?”

Giovanna knew he spoke the truth. Memories, so many memories. Cesare, the earl’s half-brother, telling her that the English girl behaved like no man’s mistress he had ever met. She had been so young, so golden, so proud. Her eyes sought Arabella. Young and golden and proud, like her mother.

“You have caused too much misery and grief, Giovanna,” the earl said. “You have hurt many innocent people, including your own son. It must cease.”

“You left me with Khar El-Din. You knew he held me. Damn you, you knew.”

“Yes,” the earl said. “I knew, for he wrote to me to claim his reward. I left you with him, Giovanna, because I wanted my wife to know no more fear. I have answered my own question for you, I believe. Had I arranged for you to return to Genoa, you would not have rested until you had killed my wife.”

The truth of his words hung in the silence. The earl felt no sense of triumph, only an ineffable sadness for the misery of it all, the waste.

“Madam,” Hamil said, “I am the Bey of Oran, and you are subject to my judgment. Because you are the mother of my half-brother, I will not have you killed. You will take the veil of your religion. Perhaps in the years to come you will regret what you have done. If you do not, it will not matter, for we will be safe from your schemes.” He turned to Hassan. “Escort her to Raj. Tomorrow she will travel to Sicily.”

Kamal said quietly, “No, my brother. I shall escort her to Raj.” He gazed at Arabella as if memorizing her face, then took his mother’s arm and led her from the room.

Hamil said to the earl, “You shall be repaid for the ships and goods she had taken. I am sorry that so many men lost their lives. My brother was guilty only to the extent that he believed his mother, and vowed as a dutiful son to carry out her vengeance. He is an honorable man, my lord.”

“I understand, highness,” the earl said, his gaze going briefly to his daughter.

“Now I wish to see my wife and my son. Hassan, see to our guests’ comfort.”

“Papa,” Arabella said, and flung herself into his arms. He hugged her tightly to him, his eyes closing for a brief moment.

“You smell like a horse,” he said, holding her away from him.

She grinned up at him. “You should have smelled me and seen me when I arrived here. But it is all right, Papa,” she added. “Kamal is not like her. His name is Alessandro. I love him.”

The earl tried not to be shaken at her words. “So certain, Bella?”

“Yes,” she said in her clear sweet voice.

“Life is never what one expects, is it?” he remarked, more to himself than to her.

“No,” Arabella said, “it isn’t. Papa, did you truly abduct Mother? The day before her wedding?”

“Yes, my dear. I wanted your mother, had wanted her for several years. I took her. She fought me, escaped me, nearly got herself and me killed before she decided to keep me. She is a valiant woman, Bella, and you are much like her.”

“But how could she not love you immediately?” Arabella asked in a wondering voice.

“Your faith in me is warming. I was, however, rather ruthless, you know. She was a gently nurtured young lady, and she thought she loved Edward Lyndhurst.”

“Then I am right to love Kamal,” she said with alarming certainty. “He too was ruthless.”

“I am not certain,” the earl said, “if that is a trait I
much appreciate in a man involved with my daughter.”

“Well,” she said, “since I didn’t already love someone, it didn’t take me long at all to decide I wanted Kamal.”

“I see Lord Delford looking quite purposefully at me, my dear. We will discuss this ruthlessness later.”

“No wonder Lord Delford would like to send all of us to perdition.”

“I have spent six long days with Edward Lyndhurst,” the earl said. “Let us hope that he is resigned to having Adam as his son-in-law. He became quite drunk one evening.” The earl shook his head in amusement. “He was positively jovial.”

“You mean he became human?” Arabella asked, awed.

“Absolutely. Well, Adam, Rayna, you are both fit, though like Bella, you are in need of a bath.”

“Father,” Adam said, “I am going to marry Rayna.”

Lord Delford said to the earl, “You know, my lord, Rayna is my daughter.”

“I had forgotten how like her mother she was. You are to be congratulated, Adam. Well, child, do you want my son?”

“With all my heart, my lord.”

The earl paused a moment, and his brow furrowed. “I am not certain that it is a match I approve. After all, Delford, you have scarce behaved toward my son in a conciliating manner.”

“Clare—”

“I believe you even called my son a scoundrel. Scarcely a term that a father could appreciate.”

“He will change his mind, sir, when he gets to know Adam,” Rayna said with great seriousness.

“Do you really believe so, my dear? I do not know. Perhaps, Delford, you can convince me that your daughter will content my son.”

“Your jest wears thin, my lord,” the viscount said.

“Perhaps you are right,” the earl said. “Why don’t we send our children away and share a bottle of wine?”

Arabella giggled, then quickly coughed into her hands. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Yes, I would like a bath. Poor Hassan, he looks like a worried aunt, surrounded by all these foreigners. Rayna, I’ll take you to the harem.”

“Harem.”

“She will join you in a moment, Bella,” Adam said, drawing Rayna’s hand through his arm.

“I suppose,” Arabella said, eyeing the two of them, “that you want to kiss her and tell her all sorts of nonsense.”

“Indeed,” Adam said. “Now that I can forget about you, my dear, all my attention can shift to this little nuisance.”

“Nuisance? Arabella, don’t believe him. Had it not been for me, I am certain he would have done something unbelievably foolish.”

Adam flung up his hands. “All right, enough from both of you. Rayna, I swear you are no longer a nuisance. Father, Lord Delford, if you don’t mind, Rayna and I will stroll for a few minutes in the gardens.”

The viscount looked as though he would protest, but the earl gently nudged him in the ribs and led him away.

“Well, thank heaven, it’s all over,” Rayna said.

“And all of us are in one piece.” Adam smiled down at Rayna. “It would appear that I was right to have faith in my sire’s ability to bring your father around.”

“True.”

Adam kissed her and watched her follow one of the slaves to the harem. When he rejoined his father and the viscount, he heard Lyndhurst say, “I don’t like it, Clare. A harem. It’s ridiculous. You are certain they will be all right?”

“They will be surrounded only by women, my dear Edward,” the earl said. “Certainly safer than with the men they’ve decided to wed.”

“Father—” Adam said, his eyes narrowing.

“Ah,” the earl said, “here is Kamal. Perhaps you would like to accompany him, my son. I will become acquainted with him later.”

“Father,” Adam said, “Kamal is not what he appears. He was educated in Europe.”

The earl nodded.

“I had no idea,” the viscount said slowly, once they were alone again, “that Cassie had been harmed. She never told me.”

“No. It has been many years now, yet every once in a while she still dreams of it.”

The viscount accepted a glass of wine from a silent slave, and raised it in toast to the earl. “Perhaps,” he said slowly, “I should forgive, finally, all that happened so long ago. The woman Giovanna—her hatred is chilling.”

“I should be pleased if you would, Edward. It would be an excellent idea, I think, given that we shall be like to share many grandchildren in the future.”

“Not in the too near future, I hope,” the viscount said.

“My sentiments exactly,” the earl agreed.

“Giovanna’s son, Kamal—what will become of him? I gather that he is innocent of his mother’s deeds.”

“I am not certain,” the earl said. “Arabella wishes him for a husband. Yes, it is a problem, is it not?”

“You could not allow it. The man is a foreigner, a Muslim.”

“At this point, I don’t know what he is. If he is as honorable as Hamil said, I fear that it will be he who will refuse Arabella. When Hassan returns, allow him to show you to a chamber, Edward. I think I shall speak to the young man.”

Not long thereafter, Ali bowed the foreign gentleman into his master’s private bathing room. Kamal had just emerged from his bath. He stood naked at the edge of the pool, his thoughts clearly elsewhere, even when Ali spoke to him. “Highness,” Ali repeated.

The earl studied the young man. He was tall, well-formed, a handsome man, but that, the earl knew, was of little importance. He carried most of his father’s features, save they were refined, purified. His body looked taut, pain emanating from him.

“What is it you want, Ali? And do not call me ’ highness’ anymore.”

“One of the foreign gentlemen to see you.”

Kamal turned around, then stood very still, his eyes locked on the earl. Very slowly he wrapped a towel about his waist and nodded dismissal to his servant.

“Your daughter lied to you, my lord,” he said. “She is not as she was.”

“My exuberant daughter is no longer a virgin?”

“No, she is not.”

“Well, you still live, Kamal, so you must please her.”

Kamal touched the healing wound on his shoulder. “She is unlike any other woman I have ever known.”

“My son tells me you were educated in Europe?”

“Yes. I had not thought to return to Oran until the supposed death of Hamil. Then I had no choice.”

“No, I suppose not. Duty is a stern taskmaster, I have always found. Pride is another.”

Kamal turned away from him, his jaw clenching. “Your daughter must wed a man of her own rank, an Englishman, a man whose honor is unquestioned.”

“My daughter refused such a paragon. It is you she wants. I have found that when Bella makes up her mind, an earthquake would have no effect. Do you not love my daughter? Do you wish to live as a Muslim and remain in Oran?”

“I wish you to take your daughter back to where she belongs.”

“You know,” the earl said gently, “you cannot be blamed for your mother’s deeds. Her bitterness does not touch you. What is more important is that you must not blame yourself.”

Kamal waved away his words. He said very calmly, “I want Arabella’s happiness. I would appreciate it, my lord, if you would take her back to Genoa as soon as possible.”

“She will not understand.”

“She will do as you and I bid her.”

“Damnation,” Adam said. “What are you going to do, Father?”

“I will do as Kamal wishes. We are all leaving on the morrow, aboard the
Cassandra.
Captain Sordello, as you can well imagine, is dizzy with relief at our arrival and his freedom. Yes, we will leave tomorrow, and then we shall see.”

“Where is my sister now?”

“With Hamil and Lella, admiring their son.”

“I have told your fierce husband, Lella,” Arabella was saying, “how sad you were without him. Now, if only he will see reason, all will be well.”

“Reason, Arabella?” Lella asked.

“I suggest, my lady,” Hamil said sternly, “that you keep your idiotic opinions to yourself, else I shall call my brother to remove you.”

“We will hope,” Arabella said, disregarding him, “that your son has more of his uncle in him, Lella. Look how he is clutching my finger.”

“He is his father’s son and he is trying to break it,” Hamil said.

“Arabella, what have you done to put my husband so out of temper with you?”

“I simply told him,” Arabella said, “that if he is to keep a harem, you should have one also.”

Lella blinked at her, then began to laugh, a joyous sound that made Hamil’s heart swell. “Ah, my husband,” she said, still gasping with laughter, “I have seen a very handsome young soldier. Unlike you, he has no streak of white hair on his head.”