Virginia Henley (8 page)

When he stood, his rigid phallus reached to his navel. He moved slowly toward the object of his desire upon the table. Then he allowed his marble-hard lingam to enter the blood-red gates to Paradise. As he thudded into her with strong, slow thrusts, the bells upon her anklets tinkled prettily. When Delight transferred her feet from behind her own head to his, he impaled her deeply enough to tinkle the bell she had placed high within her sheath and Savage smiled with pleasure that he had accomplished such a feat. The rhythmic sound of the bells increased in volume as his strokes quickened violently, then dissolved in a tinkling crescendo as he cried out from his release.

Delight once more invited the Leopard to recline upon
the cushions while she rolled him a special cheroot made from Jaffna tobacco leaves mixed with a small amount of ganja from the hemp plant. Adam shook his head at his own folly, knowing he would have a hangover in the morning.

By the time he was finished his relaxing, intoxicating smoke, the languor stole up his limbs and he felt as if he had drifted off into another world where blissful sleep and heavenly dreams would be his reward. Delight came down to the cushions and began to lick his bronzed skin as a test to see if he was yet in the final stage of relaxation. She licked all the way down to his navel, noting with satisfaction how heavy lidded his eyes had become.

She was most surprised when his strong arms came about her and he pulled her beneath his body. He mounted her with powerful thighs, then tortured her with exquisitely slow thrusts that told her in no uncertain terms he was not yet slaked. Delight was awed by the Leopard, for she had let down her love juices twice before he found release. His manhood lay limp along his thigh as she pushed him back down into the cushions. She lay against him and offered the hard bud of her nipple for his mouth’s pleasure as he drifted off to sleep.

His tongue toyed with the pretty bauble, his teeth gently bit her, then when he began to suck hard, his shaft started to fill and throb once again. The Leopard was to be commended upon his virility. Quickly she moved down his body and took him into her mouth. It took a full thirty minutes of tender, loving anointing before his seed spurted forth and she drained him of every last drop he possessed. Delight swallowed the copious, pearly fluid, knowing it was the best potion in the world for her complexion. The Leopard slept.

To be more accurate, he overslept. This did nothing to improve Savage’s disposition. He graciously paid twice the amount he was asked before he departed the Jewel of the East, but he was annoyed with his own lack of control.
The ganja he had smoked last night was an immature indulgence that had left him with throbbing temples.

When he arrived at the wharf where the
Jade Dragon
lay at anchor, her crew was already loading the cargo from his warehouses. He boarded the small merchant vessel and went down into the hold. He stopped speaking in mid-sentence and stiffened. His dark head went up and his icy blue eyes stared at the seamen in disbelief. His nose told him what to expect when he took a crate from a sailor’s hands and tore off its lid.

Opium!

He gazed about at the crates and chests lining the hold, selected another at random, and examined its contents. Lady Lamb was trying to export hundreds of boxes containing millions of poppy heads filled with their oily seeds.

Savage’s eyes showed such fury, the seamen stepped back away from him. To his credit he did not unleash his temper upon his crew. He had it under control within a few minutes and banked the embers of his anger so he could vent it upon the author of this abomination.

His issued his orders in a curt, clipped voice. “Unload every last crate and stow it aboard my Indiaman. I’ll get you another cargo for the China run by afternoon.”

True to his word, by noon he had bought a crop of dried red chili peppers and a second crop of tobacco, for the Chinese were great pipe smokers. He filled the remainder of the cargo space with bolts of chintz from his warehouse, knowing the bright, durable cotton would sell because Indian dye techniques were more advanced than those of other nations.

Savage told the factor at his warehouses that though he was sailing to England shortly, he was still in the shipping business, but that his headquarters would now be in London instead of Colombo. He explained that the East India Company was leasing his plantation and instructed the factor to give the Company priority at the warehouses for storage of tea and rubber.

When his banking business was concluded, Savage loaded his pistol, called for his horse, and headed home. If he rode all day and all night without stop he would arrive sometime before noon. His anger at Eve mounted with every mile. If she had been a young girl he could have excused what she had done because of ignorance. But she was a woman grown. A sophisticate, also, who had lived in the East ten years and must know of opium and its deadly properties. If she had asked his permission to export opium on his ships he would have refused immediately. If she had even consulted with him about dealing in opium he would have set her straight in no uncertain terms. The fact that she had kept him in ignorance purposely, damned her. She had also used her feminine wiles on him for permission to use his ship, thus making him an unwitting accomplice.

This was the thing that whipped him to a fury. She had always manipulated the other men in her life, easily wrapping them around her fingers to get her own way. Surely to Christ she recognized that he was different from other men? Lamb Plantation lay straight ahead and he knew he would stop and have it out with her before he carried on to Leopard’s Leap!

Savage had ridden for twenty hours. He was unbathed and unshaven. The sweat and grime of the road were upon him, but he didn’t give a goddamn for the niceties. He handed his lathered horse over to a groom and strode into palatial Government House ignoring the sepoys who stood guard outside the entrance and
dismissing her majordomo who came forward in the reception hall. His boots left a trail of soil across the white tile floor.

Government House was never without guests. Eve was in the breakfast room with an envoy from the Governor of Madras and a minor prince from the palace of Raja Singha. Both men knew him immediately by his reputation and by the telltale scar on his face. When Savage entered the breakfast room it was without apology. Eve’s eyes went wide with shock.

“Lady Lamb and I have important business to discuss. You will excuse her.” His deep voice held a note of commanding authority.

Eve arose immediately to avoid a scene before her guests and led him through to her private sitting room. She was wearing an exquisite morning gown. Her lovely blond curls were swept high with her tortoiseshell combs. She whirled to face him, her nostrils pinching with distaste at his disheveled state.

“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded coldly.

She was groomed so impeccably, her demeanor so cool and condescending, he knew an urge to shatter her composure. He took a deep breath to prevent himself from striking her.

“Fucking opium!” he ground out. “Madam, explain yourself.”

“Oh, I see.” A blush came to her pale cheek. “I—I know it’s illegal in some ports. I—I thought you would look the other way, darling.”

“I don’t give a good goddamn about legal or illegal, as well you know. The stuff is an abomination!”

“I need the money,” she explained coolly, as if this would excuse her actions.

He took out his wallet and threw five thousand pounds on the table. “I’ve bought your opium, madam.”

“Adam, I had no idea opium was so—”

“Don’t insult my intelligence, Eve,” he cut her short.
“You’ve lived in an Eastern society for a decade. You know opium’s obscene properties. You know it’s addictive, you know it condemns millions to a living death, and you know there is no cure.”

“But they are only Chinese peasants,” she said faintly.

He took her by the shoulders most ungently, his strong fingers bruising her delicate flesh. “They are human beings! You’ve heard Russell and I describe opium dens where hundreds lie on wooden pallets in delirium. Millions sacrifice everything to their addiction, their farms, their families, they sell their wives and their children. They run rickshaws all day without food so they can eat opium until they die in excruciating agony. Opium is so odious and corrupting, it carries a curse and befouls any who deal in it.” He shook her. “I know! I made my first attainted fortune exporting it to Canton, and I paid the price. I not only carry the scars on my body, I almost destroyed my soul. Now I make just as much money from tea and rubber. I may sometimes work eighteen hours a day, but is decent, clean work. I can sleep at night.”

Eve realized his convictions were so strong, she had made a terrible blunder. She should have waited the few months until he sailed for England before attempting to export her opium.

“It was wrong of me not to discuss it with you,” she said softly.

“There are two cargoes my ships will
never
carry to the Orient, opium and ivory. Butchers wound and trap elephants and cut off their tusks while they are still alive. It, too, is abhorrent to me.”

Ivory!
thought Eve.
Why didn’t I think of ivory? Fortunes are paid for Oriental carvings.

Savage glanced down at her and saw the tortoiseshell combs. He swept his fingers into her immaculate coiffure and pulled out the two combs. “Just like this stuff. Tortoiseshell is taken from the back of a living hawksbill; an inhuman practice!”

He had said all he had come to say and more besides. “Forgive my rude interruption, Lady Lamb.” In a voice more cutting than any nobleman possessed he said, “I know no better. I am from peasant stock.” He bowed with more than a little irony and arrogance and departed for Leopard’s Leap.

Savage called for all his overseers and banyans that same afternoon. John Bull stood at the front door like a sergeant major, ordering them to remove their shoes before they entered the bungalow. They stood respectfully in the master’s office, listening to his every word.

“Very soon now, before the next full moon, I shall be returning to England. There will be a new sahib come in a few days. I want you to work as hard for him as you have for me. I am not selling Leopard’s Leap. It will still be my plantation, but it is doomed to failure unless you give your loyalty to the new man. This is the only place in all Ceylon where tea and rubber are grown. I brought the seedlings from China and Burma as an experiment almost ten years ago and I have you to thank that Leopard’s Leap has flourished. Only now are tea and rubber plantations being cultivated across the water in India. You know what needs to be done in times of drought and in times of flooding. The pruners know the rotation, the cattle keepers know when the manuring must begin. In fact, you will know far better than the new sahib how to keep the plantation running smoothly. My great ship will carry your tea crops to me in London. My nose will tell me if you fail to produce top quality.” The harsher planes of his face relaxed and he allowed himself a rare smile.

The Tamils did not smile, however. It was a terrible day for them to learn that the master was departing for his homeland. Leopard’s Leap lay in the foothills of Adam’s Peak, the holiest mountain in the world. Legend told how Adam had been hurled from the Seventh Heaven of Paradise for his sin with the woman. It had been expiated for
one thousand years. He had landed on one foot upon Adam’s Peak and had left his footprint there in stone. There was not one worker at Leopard’s Leap who did not believe that Adam Savage was the Adam of legend. His size, his strength, and his abilities, to say nothing of his piercing blue eyes, were a gift from the gods. If they shirked their duties he would know all the way from Londontown across the seven seas. They hurried off to spread the word to their workers.

Savage took out the journals that held the tallies and accounts of the plantation to bring them up to the minute, but he was distracted by John Bull’s authoritative voice.

“When we are in England, His Excellency will expect you to dress in the English manner. You will shame him by looking like a foreigner. There is no need what-somehowever to take all your heathen clothes and possessions.”

Adam Savage always tried to be diplomatic when he interceded in his servants’ altercations. Kirinda was Sinhalese and of a higher caste than his Tamil manservant. On the other hand John Bull was his majordomo and a man must have dominion over a woman or lose face.

“John Bull, it seldom happens, but this time you are wrong,” Savage said tactfully. “Lotus Blossom is most beautiful in her native dress. She knows that exotic, brilliant silks suit her best. Please see that she has as many trunks as she needs for her clothes and personal possessions.”

Kirinda gave John Bull a smug little smile from behind the Leopard’s back.

“She will, however, need English shoes and slippers. Get her some immediately so she can practice walking in them. The floors in England are far too cold to go barefoot.”

Kirinda’s face fell and John Bull smiled at her with condescending satisfaction.

At dusk Adam was surprised to learn that Lady Lamb
had arrived; yet not surprised. He realized he had been half expecting her. The first thing he noticed was that she had abandoned her mourning. She wore a low-cut gown of finest Indian muslin with a rare blue lotus tucked between her breasts. Her blond hair, without the combs, fell to her shoulders in waves. The effect softened her beauty. Tonight she did not look cool at all; in the lamplight she looked quite warm, almost vulnerable.

When they were alone she came to him and placed her hands upon his chest. She looked up at him in supplication. “Oh, Adam, please forgive me?” she murmured softly.

Savage was aware that she had come to seduce him. The irony wasn’t lost on him. Though Eve was sexually frigid she was willing to play the whore for the sake of his money and jewels. Adam was curious to see how far she would go.

Adam pretended to succumb to Eve’s temptation. His head dipped to capture her lips and he murmured, “I don’t want you tainted … by anything other than me.”

Eve shuddered. It was an effect he often had on women. She wondered wildly how in the world she would be able to lie naked upon the divan while John Bull and her own sepoy guard waited in the adjoining room.

Adam’s blue eyes crinkled with amusement. “I prefer the
lady
to the
whore,”
he murmured, then proceeded to render her mindless with his kisses. The moment he felt her begin to respond, he took his arms from her. She might loathe his ability to dominate her, but he was determined to leave her wanting more.

Finally she gathered her courage to ask, “What will you do with the opium?”

“Ship it to England,” he said tersely.

She raised her head to look into his eyes. “What’s the difference between England and China?”

Annoyance nibbled at him. He wasn’t in the habit of explaining himself. “In England I can control what happens
to it. It will go into laudanum to kill the pain of having a limb removed or the pain of childbirth.” He took a deep breath. “Eve, when the
Red Dragon
sails I shall be aboard.” He watched her face intently. He saw her eyes widen with shocked surprise. She thought that because she had allowed him a few intimate kisses she would have a say in everything he did, every decision. He was glad he had disabused her immediately.

“So soon?” she asked, but he could not tell if the note of panic he heard was at the thought of losing him. “Have you sold Leopard’s Leap?”

“No. I’m only leasing it to the Company.”

He caressed her pale shoulder. “Evelyn, why don’t you come with me?”

She did not dare to assume he offered anything more than transportation. Silence stretched between them until she finally broke it.

“Adam, Lamb Hall belongs to my son now.” Had she been subtle enough? Would he offer her marriage? She wanted his wealth and knew the only way she could get it was by marrying him. Marriage would mean losing her title and she was greedy enough to want it all. Still unsure of him, she continued, “Here I have a palatial home filled with servants.”

“Edenwood will be palatial and filled with servants,” he said quietly.

Eve felt weak with relief. She had been clever enough after all. “I cannot seriously consider marriage until my period of mourning is over and done with. Go and see your Edenwood. Buy yourself that title we spoke of, then come back for me.”

“I don’t want you to worry about money while I’m gone. I’ve arranged for you to draw on my bank in Colombo.” He saw her eyes light, then she veiled them with her lashes.

Eve felt compelled to protest. She never wanted him to know how important wealth was to her, and he was a
shrewd man. “Adam, you needn’t think you have to buy me.”

“If my money insults you, I’ll give you jewels,” he teased, seeing through her as if she were transparent Venetian crystal.

Her hand trailed across his hard chest. “Those jewels we diced for … did they come from the fabled City of Gems?”

“Ratnapura, yes,” he acknowledged. “I go every year.”

“You export diamonds, rubies, and emeralds to England?” she asked breathlessly.

“Yes, but actually I make as much money on the semiprecious stones like beryls, garnets, tourmalines, moonstones, and topaz. They mine every shade of sapphire in the world, blue, indigo, azure, gray, green. A handful of rupees will buy a chest filled with amethysts.”

“It’s not really that far from here, is it?”

He could hear the excitement in her voice and knew she was becoming aroused at the thought of the jewels. He pulled her gown up to cover her bare shoulder. “As the vulture flies it is not far, but you forget the Sabaragamuwa mountain range lies between. Those mountains are filled with thugs. Have you never heard of the practice of thugee? It is the ritual murder of travelers. Ratnapura is one of the most evil cities on earth. It is inhabited solely by thieves, murderers, and harlots. I forbid you to go there, Eve.”

She wondered how he could read her thoughts so easily. He was too wise in the way of women. She had been both attracted and repelled by his overt maleness for years. He drew her to her feet and cupped her face so that he could look into her eyes. “Promise me you won’t go and I’ll cover you with jewels.”

She swallowed hard. How could she resist such an offer? Here was her big chance. She must convince him she wanted him and not the jewels.

“Come to me tomorrow night?” she pleaded prettily, hating him for making her beg.

“I’ll try,” he said, half promising, half evading her plea.

Evelyn was not the only Lamb who had designs upon Savage’s fortune. Antonia checked her appearance in the cheval glass before she left her chamber. Her riding skirt and jacket were black as her period of mourning demanded, but to soften the severity her shirt and stock were snowy white muslin frilled with frothy lace. Tilted over one arched brow a small, saucy hat sat atop a powdered wig with one fat curl falling to her shoulder.