“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.”
Kate was despondent. Even though Anis al-Jalis was almost friendly now, and Nuzhat al-Zaman and the other wives had ceased to frown so fiercely, she still felt lonely and threatened. She had heard nothing of Brett, and the dey refused to even talk about him anymore. By now she was certain he would not let her go. He hadn’t said so, but she could see it in his eyes. They became more possessive each time she visited his apartments. Even while she slept, she could almost feel his eyes on her, boring through her clothes to the soft skin underneath. It made her feel uncomfortable; it also made her feel unsafe. She had seen enough of the dey to suspect that no kind of duplicity was beyond him. She wouldn’t put it past him to deny any knowledge of her, to say she had been killed, that the pirate ship had gone down at sea with all hands, anything to achieve his own ends.
Kate thought desperately of escape. Even though she knew anything could happen to her on the outside—she could even be captured again!—she couldn’t remain here. Somehow, she had to convince Olema to get a message to Brett. Once he knew she was in the dey’s palace, Kate didn’t believe he would wait even one hour before he would try to secure her release. She knew he would come after her; the problem was to find a way to let him know where she was being held. Olema’s entrance interrupted her thoughts.
“Anis al-Jalis would like for you to join her in the garden,” Olema announced.
“I’ve got to talk to you first.”
“You must go to the garden at once. You cant keep one of the royal wives waiting.”
“But I must talk to you about getting a message to my husband.”
“Don’t. Even the walls have ears here. Never speak to me of escape or sending messages. Even if I just listen to you, it could mean my death.” Olema turned to leave, and Kate had no alternative but to follow her.
Anis al-Jalis sat in one of several small courtyards within the extensive gardens that surrounded her house. “I love sitting here in the spring when the bulbs are in bloom,” she said of the tulips that bloomed in profusion around the tiny courtyard. “You should have seen it earlier when the crocus and cyclamen were in bloom. It was really lovely.”
“I’m certain it was,” Kate said, too disheartened by Olema’s outright refusal to even consider helping her to be interested in flowers of any kind. “They are beautiful in England, too, especially the daffodils.”
“Let me show you my favorite tulips,” Anis said, rising. “I just got them last year.” The two of them walked over to a corner where dozens of pink tulips with lacy edges bloomed against the wall of Anis’s house. “They even have a nice fragrance,” Anis said, kneeling to smell the delicate flowers. Kate knelt also, but she could detect no scent from the flowers.
“Do not move or make a sound,” Anis said in an urgent undervoice. “I have something of importance to tell you, but we must whisper. I have received a message from outside the palace that your husband knows where you are and will come to take you away soon. Shh” Anis hissed imperatively. “You must not move, or we shall all be discovered and die.”
Kate’s first impulse when she heard the news was to shout with joy, and only Anis’s urgent command kept her from leaping to her feet. Her heart beat so ecstatically she could hardly think. Brett knew where she was! Brett was coming! She no longer had to shiver before the dey’s cold eyes, have nightmares about his embraces. Soon she would be in Brett’s arms, and Kate swore that once there she would never leave them again.
“My servants will make sure no one comes close enough to hear us, but keep moving and do not talk unless we are kneeling. The eunuchs can read your lips.” The women moved to another spot in the garden and knelt again. “I do not know when he will come, but you are to be called for by your ladies.” Kate looked sharply at Anis, but did not speak. “As soon as they come for you, we are to make a disturbance in the harem, one such that all the guards will be drawn away from the dey.” They moved to another group of flowers.
“How did you hear of this?” Kate asked as she inhaled the heavy fragrance of a spray of deep yellow flowers. “How can you be certain this is not a trick?”
“I have relatives in Algiers who depend upon my generosity. They would not lie to me for fear it would stop. Shh! Here comes one of the guards.” The women continued to move from one clump of flowers to another, alternately sniffing their fragrance and talking about their beauty.
“The dey wants to see you in his apartments at once,” the huge black man said to Kate. “I am to take you now.”
“I need to go back to my chamber. I can’t go to the dey dressed like this.” She glanced helplessly at Anis, but she shook her head indicating that she didn’t know what the summons could be about.
“The dey said you were not to wait for anything. I am to bring you at once.”
It was not a long walk from the harem to the dey’s apartments, but Kate felt it was every bit as far as it was to England. She was plagued by worry every step of the way that something had happened to Brett or that somehow his plan had been discovered. She hoped her face did not show how frightened she was, but she was certain the dey would know something was afoot.
“Come in,” the dey said, inviting her to make herself comfortable. Kate, settling herself on a cushion as far away from him as she dared, felt as though metal bands were tightening around her chest, making it impossible for her to breathe.
“It seems your husband is ready to bargain for you, and I thought you might help me decide just how far he would be willing to go for you.” Kate’s muscles relaxed and she took a deep, slow breath. Brett was all right and the dey did not know of their plan. She was worried about what he had in mind, but for the moment that was enough. She would deal with everything else as it came.
“I’m sure he knows what you want of him,” Kate said, trying hard to keep her voice steady. “You might wait for him to make an offer. Then you will know how much room you have to bargain.”
“That is an excellent suggestion,” the dey said, his hard eyes watching Kate more keenly, his wintry gaze as repellent as even. “In fact, it is such an excellent suggestion, I begin to wonder if there may not be something behind it I do not see.”
“But there isn’t,” Kate insisted, alarmed. “I haven’t been married very long and I know almost nothing about his mission, so I don’t know what he will do. I really don’t.” Kate could tell from the dey’s expression that he did not believe her. She redoubled her effort to convince him.
“I don’t care about el-Kader or the French or Algeria, I just want to go home. But I know if you push him too far, he won’t budge and then something awful will happen. He has a terrible temper and he’s likely to do the most unsuspected things.”
“I know.”
“What do you mean, you know?”
“I should have listened to you in the beginning.”
“Why? What happened?”
“He has already gone to el-Kader and talked him into threatening to bring his troops stampeding into Algiers. Then he had the impudence to break into my pal
ace to tell me about it.”
“Brett was here? Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you let me see him?”
“I must admit he caught me by surprise, and I was not prepared to deal with him. He is to return soon, and now that I have talked with you, I feel we may be able to deal better together. He must give me certain assurances, but I am anxious for an agreement. It is not just you and your husband who will suffer if we fail to come to an agreement.”
“And if you don’t get them?” Kate’s knees felt weak.
“I would prefer not to think of that just now. For the moment you may rejoice that your husband has come to seek your release and that I feel I know him well enough to hope we can reach an agreement that will satisfy us both.”
“When will he come?”
“I really cannot say.”
“Will it be soon?”
“I think within the next few days.” Kate tried to hide her disappointment. “I will let you know when he arrives. I imagine he will be unwilling to make any promises until he can see for himself you are unharmed.”
Chapter 24
Kate returned to the harem, her thoughts in a muddle. Brett was coming for her, and the dey had promised to let her see him. It was wonderful news, yet she felt unaccountably ill at ease. Why? If there was something wrong, she couldn’t put her finger on it. She didn’t trust the dey, but she was also certain Brett would never leave the palace without learning whether she was alive and within its walls. Once he knew where to find her, she was sure he wouldn’t leave without her.
Then why was she so uneasy? Could it be the message Anis had received? What did that have to do with Brett’s coming for her? Surely it was not from Brett. Wiggins couldn’t know Anis’s relatives and Brett certainly wouldn’t.
Her eyes swept over the hundred or so women in the room. She had no friends among the concubines, no one she could trust, but if there was to be an uproar loud enough to draw all the guards away from their posts, then they would have to be part of it. In fact, because of their numbers, they would have to take the largest part in the disturbance. Kate paused by a fountain, trailing her fingers through the cool water, and studied the women as unobtrusively as possible.
Seductive Wager Page 31
