Virginia Henley (47 page)

Beneath the warm, scented water Tony’s hand stole to her belly. It was no longer a silken hollow, but mounded slightly without actually protruding. She smiled over her secret knowledge. Adam would never have permitted her to make this long voyage if he had known about the child. Her thoughts drifted to her mother. The baby would make Eve a grandmother. Antonia stifled a giggle. Her mother would consider that a fate worse than death. She had seen Eve place a proprietary hand on Adam. Her mother had never been able to keep her hands off men. Even as a child Antonia had noticed that Eve touched all her father’s friends with intimate invitation. Now that Antonia was a woman, she realized it was just her mother’s way of affirming her attractiveness.

Antonia stepped from the bathwater, then dried herself with a thick Turkish towel. Immediately the little maid came forward with the white cotton camisole and petticoat Tony had picked out. The child had wanted her to wear a formal silk gown, but instead Antonia had chosen a simple white batiste, embroidered with scarlet hibiscus blossoms.

Antonia had just begun to brush the tangles from her
long black hair when her mother floated into her chamber. She offered up a quick prayer of thanks that Eve had not caught her naked.

“Antonia, we have a guest staying with us. You will have to wear something a little more formal for dinner.”

Tony bit her lip. Her mother had a knack for making her feel awkward and gauche. “Adam assures me cotton is acceptable anywhere in the Indies, but it won’t take me a moment to change. I hope Anthony will be here for dinner.”

“He and Bernard always return at sunset.”

“Bernard?” Antonia repeated the name, hating the very sound of it.

“Yes, your cousin Bernard Lamb is staying with us. A most attractive young man.”

“Holy Mother of God!” Tony cried. “He intends to kill Anthony!”

“Don’t be absurd.”

“It’s true, Mother. I must tell Adam.” She turned to the young native girl. “Please find my riding boots.”

“Antonia, I forbid you to go running off to Leopard’s Leap, and stop calling him Adam! Mr. Savage and I are to be married. He will shortly become your father!”

The blood drained from Antonia’s face until it was ashen. She felt herself slipping away into unconsciousness. She flung out a hand to grasp hold of something that would keep her on her feet. The dusky female thrust the boots into her outstretched hand.

“The evil one has a gun, memsahib,” she whispered.

Antonia blinked two or three times to banish the dizziness and the nausea that threatened to overcome her. She wanted to scream a denial. Her mother and Savage; she simply couldn’t bear it! Any other woman would have deeply wounded her, but Eve? In that moment Antonia believed her wound would prove fatal. She felt as if her mother had plucked her heart from her breast.

Then she realized her mother was just as much a victim as herself. Savage had seduced her and made love to her, knowing Eve waited in Ceylon for him to return and marry her. Antonia recoiled from the vile deception. His treacherous duplicity made her sick at heart. She realized she had started the dishonesty between them by misrepresenting herself, but how could any man be so cruel, so vile, as to seduce both a mother and daughter? It was vicious and morally contemptible.

“Russell Lamb is the only father I will ever have.” She pulled on her boots. “I must find Anthony. Bernard Lamb is a cold-blooded killer, in spite of the fact you find him so attractive. I am afraid you are a lamentable judge of men’s characters.”

Eve stepped back at the searing look of contempt. Even as a child her daughter had been incorrigible. So be it. Let her run off into danger. Ceylon wasn’t England, but the headstrong girl would have to learn that lesson for herself!

Tony found the stables and startled a uniformed sepoy by taking his saddled mount. She knew Leopard’s Leap was the next plantation, but she also recalled it was spread over twenty thousand acres. Though the task of finding Anthony would be difficult, she refused to think it impossible. Twins had an invisible thread that connected them somehow in mind and in spirit.

She rained a hundred curses upon the head of Savage. Thanks to his cunning plot Bernard Lamb was once again stalking his prey. Antonia was blind to the exotic paradise that stretched before her, blind to the tropical sun that turned the sky to saffron shot with brilliant gold as a prelude
to setting. She urged the horse to thunder through the rows of strange-looking trees as she cried out her twin’s name over and over. She was gripped by such a sense of urgency, her mind blotted out everything save her beloved brother.

At that moment Anthony was on foot, leading his horse so he could get a closer look at the exotic fungi that covered the fallen trees on the jungle floor. Some were brilliant orange with black spots, others were dark purple on top, pale mauve beneath. Even the shapes were unlike any he’d seen before. Some were like frills on a fop’s shirt, others looked like painted gnomes’ stools from an illustrated fairy tale.

Anthony looked up at Bernard, who hadn’t bothered to dismount. He realized he was boring his cousin to tears. “I guess we’d better get going. By the dimness in here I can tell the sun is going down. The jungle comes alive after dark. It’s not a healthy place to be.”

Bernard smiled. “Not a healthy place at all,” he agreed, pointing his pistol at his companion.

Anthony thought his cousin was aiming at some jungle creature that threatened them until he felt the searing pain explode in his chest. He felt himself knocked backward, then everything went black.

Anthony’s horse bolted the moment the gun discharged. As Bernard looked down at his cousin’s body, a surge of power swept through him. He watched the crimson spot on his white shirt spread and unfurl until it looked like an hibiscus blossom.

It was the hour when the Tamils of Leopard’s Leap ceased their labor. As they streamed in from the far reaches of the plantation they stared with superstitious dread at the apparition riding wildly, like some glorious goddess. They feared it was Hakshasa, the Hindu myth made manifest. She was here to warn them of impending disaster. Their voices rose in panic and they began to run.
Mothers sought their children then took refuge in the huts.

Adam Savage heard the commotion from the verandah where he sat talking with Denville. He sprang to his feet immediately, then began to run swiftly in the direction of the upraised voices.

Antonia, astride a black stallion, galloped toward him at a furious pace. Her skirt was pulled up, baring her lovely long legs, her knees pressed into the horse’s belly. When she was only yards from him he saw that she did not rein in but intended to ride over him. With one powerful, lithe lunge he grabbed her bridle, bringing the animal to a flailing halt. His icy blue stare bored into her. “Are you trying to kill me or yourself?”

“I don’t much care!” she flung the words at him, wishing they were weapons. He knew instantly that Eve had revealed what he had desperately hoped to conceal. “Tony, we have to talk!”

His earlier words came flooding back to her. He had warned, “Don’t bestow sainthood upon me.” She wanted to laugh, but her blinding tears prevented her. “Let me go, you black-hearted devil. If I had a gun, I think I would kill you!”

A shot rang out somewhere in the jungle. Tony clutched her breast. “It’s Anthony—he’s out there with Bernard Lamb!” She dug her heels into the belly of the black stallion and it surged forward with a tremendous burst of nervous energy.

“Wait!” Savage thundered, but Tony was deaf to everything except the shot she had heard.

Silently, Bernard Lamb turned his horse to lead it from the jungle. The power pulsed through him, urging him on to the next step of his revenge. The anticipation was akin to desire, yet it was far more intense than mere sexual desire. He recognized the emotion as blood lust. He
needed only one more element to reach a state of ecstasy. With the blood he needed fire!

He urged his mount to a trot, guiding it to the southern slopes of Leopard’s Leap where the priceless tea bushes stretched upward, acre after fragrant acre.

Antonia, driven by instinct alone, galloped in the general direction of the gunshot. Perhaps she had only imagined it. She fervently hoped so, but an inner voice told her Bernard’s bullet had at last found its mark. She had lived for both of them for so long, she imagined she felt his wound in her chest. They were still connected by a tenuous thread. If it broke, he would die. Hope burned bright within her, she did not dare to let it dim.

Antonia saw a riderless horse come out of the jungle and instinctively knew it was her brother’s mount. Though the sun was sinking fast and the green shadows of the jungle were turning dark, she did not hesitate.

When Tony galloped away from him, Adam Savage knew he could not take the time to get a horse. He loped along through the trees, silently, steadily, at a pace that would conserve his energy. All his senses were alert for danger. His eyes missed nothing, his ears were cocked for every sound, his nose scented peril.

He could not catch her before she plunged into the jungle, bur her white-and-red dress fluttered before him like a banner, marking the path she rode.

The thickness of the foliage slowed Tony’s horse to a walk and she noticed for the first time how menacing the dark shadows were inside the jungle. All about her things were rustling furtively. A scream gathered in her throat. Panic rose up in her, telling her to turn and flee. Then suddenly she saw the white and red.

She slipped from the horse, not daring even to whisper his name in case he was beyond hearing. She fell to her knees beside him, gasping with fear. The black stallion,
scenting what Antonia did not, roiled back its eyes, flattened its ears, and bolted the way it had come.

Though her eyes were blurred with tears, she saw the crimson blossom upon his breast. With trembling fingers she reached out to touch his cheek. She could not tell if he was breathing. “I’m here. Everything will be all right now.” She murmured the promise to comfort both of them, but she was in total panic, wondering how she would get help.

Savage didn’t slow his pace as he reached the thick canopy of the jungle. A wave of relief swept through him as he saw her horse coming toward him, then a foul curse dropped from his lips as he saw its saddle was empty. He caught the frightened animal by its trailing bridle and quieted it down with a firm, soothing hand. It was reluctant to go back into the jungle, but he gave it no choice. Savage’s heart pounded loudly in his ears. He had a damn good idea what the horse had scented.

A pair of green eyes watched the scene with infinite patience and cunning. The leopard, crouched motionless on the low-hanging limb, could smell the blood of its prey. As the girl came directly beneath it, the two-hundred-pound kill splayed its forelegs, unsheathed its claws from its pads, and sprang. Antonia screamed and rolled away from the beast that dropped from above onto her brother’s body. It watched her warily as it licked the blood on his breast, growling a warning deep in its throat.

Antonia grabbed up a fallen tree branch, then thrust it at the leopard with all her strength. The big cat immediately retaliated. It had her on her back in ten seconds, its bared upper canines ready to sink into its victim’s body to gut it.

For one split second fear paralyzed Savage before he ruthlessly quashed it. He tethered the horse, then reached for his gun, but he could not take the chance of shooting. By the time he sprang, his knife was snugly fitted into the
palm of his hand. He rolled with the animal, both of them growling, snarling.

Savage kept his head down between his shoulders to keep his jugular from the cat’s deadly fangs. In spite of his great strength the leopard soon had him on his back. He had known it would be so. He plunged his knife into its underbelly and ripped upward, toward its heart.

When he got to his feet he was covered with blood. The fear that had threatened him earlier came back with a vengeance to claim him now. Antonia lay sobbing. She, too, was covered with blood, but he knew it was her blood, not the leopard’s. He could do nothing for her here; he knew he must get her to the bungalow.

First he lifted Anthony’s body, laid it over the saddle, then slapped the horse’s rump to get it moving in the right direction. As gently as he could he picked up Antonia in his strong arms and lifted her against his heart, murmuring softly to soothe her fear. She deliberately turned her face from him. Though she was the one who was wounded, he was the one who suffered the greater pain in that moment of rejection.

He moved swiftly, his long strides taking them from the jungle, which was now cloaked in total blackness. As he emerged from the confining foliage he saw the eerie red glow that was beginning to light up the sky. He knew immediately what it was, where it was, and who had done this evil deed.

There was a great babble of voices as word of the fire spread. The plantation workers were gathering at the mustering grounds for instructions. As Savage came into view a cry went up, then he was surrounded by his native people, who were willing to lay down their lives for him.

“It is the tea, sahib, the tea!” his head banion wailed.

“I know. Go, do what you can, but don’t put the workers’ lives in danger,” he shouted. “Remember, fire will always spread upward!”

Denville came running, a dozen armed guards at his
heels. One of the men led the horse that carried Anthony’s limp body. “Let me help you!” Denville shouted as he lifted his pitch torch high to reveal a blood-drenched Savage.

“Bernard Lamb did this. I know how he thinks. Get the guards to the smokehouse and the rubber trees. That’s where he’ll strike next!” He jerked his head at the guard leading the horse. “Fetch him to the bungalow.”

Savage’s house servants, who had been trained by John Bull, were both competent and efficient. At the back of the bungalow was a field infirmary set up especially to deal with workers’ accidents, which occurred on a regular basis. The two young men who worked there were trained to handle everything from severed fingers to snakebite. Savage left Anthony in their hands with only one admonition. “Keep him alive.” It was an order they dared not disobey.

He carried Antonia to his own chamber.
Two
female servants stood by silently awaiting the Leopard’s orders. “Boiling water, bandages,” he bit out, wasting no words. He stripped off his blood-soaked shirt, dropped it to the floor, then used his knife to cut away what had once been her white dress.

Antonia’s beautiful silken skin was torn from beneath her breast to the top of her thigh. The wounds were not too deep, but infection was almost a certainty. His ice-blue eyes gazed down in disbelief at the rounded mound of her belly, then his gaze flew to hers in silent accusation. She veiled her green eyes immediately and turned her face to the wall.

One female brought the water and bandages, the other brought ointment mixed from jungle plants and silently offered up a vial of poppy juice. Savage hesitated long seconds. Finally he knew he could not bear her to be in unnecessary pain.

“Drink!” The order was so forceful, she did not dare to defy him.

The powerful, calloused hands were capable of infinite
gentleness. He washed the wounds, silently willing her eyes to become heavy before he poured on the disinfectant. Her eyes were still flooded with tears, the lids not closing. “Anthony?” she whispered hopelessly.