Seductive Wager (41 page)

“I’m grateful to you for finding my wife,” Brett managed to say after some struggle, “but I won’t plead your case with el-Kader.”

“There is no need. Your country’s objectives will serve me just as well.”

“Then if you both will excuse me, I have some preparations to make. When can I expect your guide?”

“He is here now.” Brett looked surprised. “I knew you would want to go tonight,” Ibrahin explained with a deprecatory tone.

For the first time, Brett smiled. He just might be able to like this man after all.

Three days had passed since Kate had been brought to the harem, and she felt more miserable and disheartened with each passing hour. Everything possible had been done for her comfort, even to allowing Olema to scour Algiers for food more to her liking, but she was still despondent. She missed Brett and worried about what he was doing to try to find her. She knew he was strong-willed and stubborn and inclined to think he could get what he wanted by running over anyone who stood in his way, but Kate hadn’t been in the harem for more than a few hours before she knew this was one time Brett wasn’t going to get his way so easily. She couldn’t go ten feet out of her little room without running into some huge man who blocked her way. There might be a way out of the palace itself, but she didn’t think she could ever find her way out of the harem. It was enormous and she was never permitted to leave the small court where she was lodged.

The dey had sent for her at least once a day. The second time she had been summoned, she was anxious to go to him, hoping he might have a message from Brett, sure at least he wanted to talk about how far he could expect Brett to go to ransom her. Instead, he had spent the whole time asking about her trip, her life in England, and what she thought of his harem. Since her only thoughts about the harem were centered on leaving it, she had turned him off with empty words, yet she doubted he was fooled.

He had continued to call for her, and the feeling was growing in the harem that he was no longer anxious to exchange her for Brett’s return to England. He refused to talk about it when she asked, and his eyes watched her more intently. Too, she had been sent some exceptionally luxurious clothes on the second day and ordered to wear them when she visited the dey. This hadn’t seemed particularly important to her, but it had to Anis al-Jalis.

The concubines had not been friendly to Kate at first, but they were apparently used to having new members join their ranks on a regular basis and before twenty-four hours had lapsed, they were indifferent to her presence. The same could not be said of the dey’s wives. Kate didn’t know how many wives he had—they had separate houses in the compound and their own staff to see to them and their children—but two of them, Anis al-Jalis and Nuzhat al-Zaman, were familiar to her by now and she dreaded seeing them. Nuzhat was probably close to thirty-five and well beyond any years of beauty she might have had, but what Nuzhat al-Zaman lacked in youth and beauty, she made up for in hate; Kate was almost afraid to eat or sleep for fear she would be poisoned or stabbed to death.

Anis was barely older than Kate and still enjoyed the remarkable beauty which flowers so early in eastern women. She was the dey’s favorite, and Kate could see why. She was very small, almost tiny, with well-rounded curves and almond-shaped eyes of jet black that gleamed as brightly as her equally dark hair. She glared at Kate when she saw her, but Kate had seen her smile on several occasions and the girl was enchanting. It was no wonder the dey called for her so often. That was all the more reason why Kate was stunned when she found herself summoned to Anis’s house.

“Go to her,” Olema counseled. “Anis al-Jalis is angry that you are here, but she will not harm you.”

“But Nuzhat al-Zaman would?”

“Nuzhat al-Zaman will allow no one to threaten her position.”

Anis’s house was as beautifully appointed as its mistress. “Who sent you here?” she demanded the moment Kate was seated. “Why do you come? The dey does not need more wives. You have not been bought with money from the harem treasury.”

“I don’t know who brought me here,” Kate said, feeling ill at ease before the accusing glare of those angry black eyes. “I’m being held for ransom, as a threat to keep my husband from doing something the dey doesn’t like.”

“You have a husband! You are not a virgin?” Anis exclaimed, her attitude shifting instantly. “Does he know you are here? Will he come for you?”

“I don’t know if he knows. I don’t know if he’ll come,” Kate admitted, unable to keep the tears from welling up in her eyes. “The dey refuses to tell me what is happening. I would escape if I could, but I can’t even find my way out of this court. Will you help me?”

“There is no escape from the harem,” Anis al-Jalis said unequivocally. “If you are being held as a ransom, you may be allowed to go, but the rest of us will never leave.”

“Do you want to stay here?” Kate asked. “Don’t you want to leave?”

“Why?” Anis al-Jalis asked. “Where else could I live as I do? I am the dey’s favorite. He will do almost anything to please me.”

“But there are so many other women here? Aren’t you jealous?”

“Only of you. All men have many wives. I am only afraid to lose my position in the court. I know that time will fade my beauty, but nothing can stand against such beauty as yours. I fear the dey is even now falling under your spell. If you do not leave the harem soon, it will not matter that you have a husband,”

“Please,” Kate begged, “you must help me escape. I’ll do anything, pay you anything, but I’ve got to find my husband.”

“There is no escape unless the dey wills it,” Anis replied firmly. “But I will tell Nuzhat al-Zaman and the others. Maybe we can encourage the dey to send for your husband.”

“I’ll never be able to thank you.”

“Just getting rid of you will be reward enough,” Anis answered candidly. “None of us feel our positions are safe with you around.”

At first the noise was barely audible in the dey’s apartments, but it quickly grew in volume until the men listening to the dey found themselves straining their ears in an effort to discover what could be the cause of such an unprecedented commotion. Suddenly there was a shout, then a chorus of shouts, followed by the running of many feet. Before the astonished ministers of the dey could come to their feet, the door to his chamber burst open, and Brett, literally dragging two armed guards along with him, burst into the dey’s domain. His ministers rose to their feet, staring with open mouths; the security of the palace was thought to be impenetrable.

“Where is my wife?” Brett demanded, now literally surrounded by guards. “Where are you hiding her?” Only surprise, his great strength, and an exact knowledge of how to reach the dey’s apartments had enabled Brett to get this far into the palace.

It was clear from his calm manner that the dey had a good idea who this intruder might be. He signaled his guards to release Brett.

“I do not know who you are and therefore cannot possibly know the whereabouts of your wife,” he answered coldly, but no one believed him. If it had been true, Brett would have been dead with at least a dozen swords through his body.

“I’m Brett Westbrook, and you know where Kate is because she’s right here in the palace.”

“There are too many individuals in my palace for me to know the identity and whereabouts of every one of them, but I have not had cause to order any female, English I presume, to be brought here.”

“You’re not going to get around me like that,” Brett shouted. “I know she’s here, whether you yourself had her brought here or not, and I mean to have her.”

“Did your estimable consul accompany you here?” the dey inquired blandly.

“No. The dullard can’t be made to stir himself for any reason not his own.”

“How unfortunate. But why don’t you sit down. We can’t go on talking like this.”

“I don’t want to sit. I just want my wife.”

“And I want you to have your wife, but I’m afraid there are matters here that must be sifted.”

“Get rid of these,” Brett said, indicating the guards. The dey waved them away, and pretending to be slightly mollified, Brett took a seat. “How about them?” he asked, indicating the two officials.

“They are my ministers. They will need to be here if I am to help you. Now, tell me what your wife looks like and how you happened to misplace her.”

“The whole of Algiers knows what happened and what she looks like,” Brett said impatiently. “Stick your head out the window and ask the water carrier.”

“Well, perhaps I have heard
something
about her, but I will need to know more if I am to help you look for her.”

“Your agents have her,” Brett said accusingly. “They killed the man who took her off the ship and brought her here. She is in the palace this very minute.”

“As I have said,” the dey repeated, his calm unruffled, his smile immobile, “the palace contains many people not known to me personally. I will have a search begun and I will inform you immediately of the results. However, I can not encourage you to hope she is hidden within these walls. My agents do not spend all their time working for me. If, as you say, they have bought her from this man …”

“Took her,” Brett corrected him. “They killed him.”

“… it is possible they have other plans for her.” He indicated that the interview was over. “I will make the promised inquiries …”

“I said I mean to have her, and by God I’ll turn this palace inside out if I have to, but I
will
have her.”

“And how do you propose to do that?” the dey inquired. “I admit you have surprised my guards once and managed to force your way in here, but you cannot expect to use the same ruse again. Besides, anyone trying to get into the harem will be killed.”

“I will return, and I will not be alone.”

“Ah, yes. Your consul, Wiggins.”

“No. El-Kader!” The dey’s body stiffened, but his expression remained one of tolerant amusement.

“And what have you to do with that desert rat?”

“He wants to get rid of you, and he doesn’t care if he kills you or the French depose you. He’s promised to bring his troops into Algiers if you don’t hand over my wife.”

“And what could you offer el-Kader to commit him to such a foolish course of action?”

“Guns,” Brett replied bluntly. “I’m an extremely wealthy man. I can’t give him an army, but I can supply him with enough guns to drive you into the sea.” The dey’s expression didn’t change, but it didn’t have to. The faces of his ministers were a parody of shock and fear, and Brett knew he had hit home.

“I would hate to see you put to such expense,” the dey said smoothly, but his color was pasty. “As I promised, I will have a search made of my household to see if your wife is truly here. The minute I find her, if I
do
find her, you will be notified.”

“I want to search myself. I do not trust you,” Brett said, hoping to put still more pressure on the dey.

“My dear man,” the dey said, his smile distinctly forced, “I cannot allow anyone in my harem.
No one,
not even my most trusted ministers, could venture in there and come out alive.”

“Then how will I know you are not hiding her?”

“I have many wives and concubines of my own,” the dey stated with cold pride, “and I can have more any time I wish. I do not need to put up with el-Kader’s hordes rampaging about Algiers just to add a white-haired Englishwoman to my harem.”

“Then you
have
seen my wife.”

“No, but I know of her,” the dey said irritably. “Everyone who has seen her talks of nothing else.”

“Then you will find her?”

“I will
look.
If she is here, she will be found.”

“I will come back tomorrow,” Brett said.

“As you will. Now leave me. I have important work to do. And please do not seek to stir up more trouble. It is all too easy for people to disappear forever during a raid of the kind el-Kader favors. It would be distressing if your wife were to be one of the misplaced persons.”

“If anything happens to Kate, you won’t live to see your wives ever again,” Brett swore. The dey was confident that Brett would never surprise his guards again, but he came to the conclusion it might not be a bad idea to increase the guard.

“He swallowed the bait,” Brett said to Ibrahin and Wiggins as soon as he returned to the consulate. “His spies will have told him I’ve been with el-Kader and he’s moving his men closer to Algiers.”

“Your plan has worked well,” Ibrahin said, complimenting him. “What is it you have in mind to do next?”

“I told him I was coming back tomorrow. When I do, I want you, Charles, and Wiggins to go with me.”

“Wiggins, yes, me possibly, but why your servant?”

“You and Charles will be disguised as my wife’s attendants. Someone must make sure she gets out of the harem and that no guards come back with her.” Ibrahin didn’t look entirely pleased. “Wouldn’t you like to see the inside of the dey’s harem?” Ibrahin’s eyes shone with amusement.

“Yes,” Ibrahin said. “I think I would enjoy to go with you.”

“Now all you have to do is make sure your part of the plans works.”

“Do not worry. It will. I think I would not like to miss this.”