by Anne Herries
that we share an interest in ancient manuscripts. I—I enjoyed our
talk when you asked me to help you read them and—and I have
finished the work you set me. I would like to do something that
would be of use to you. There are other women more skiled in
the arts of love. I think I would provide poor sport for you, my
lord.’
Suleiman nodded, a faint smile curving his mouth. ‘You argue
convincingly, my lady. Yet I wonder…’
Before she knew what he was about, he suddenly thrust her
back across the bed and lay down with her, his body pressing
hers into the softness of the divan. Eleanor felt his weight
crushing her and then his mouth sought hers and he was kissing
her…kissing her with a savage hunger that took her breath away.
His tongue pushed inside her mouth, darting at the soft inner
flesh, arousing strange sensations in her so that she felt her body
beginning to melt in the heat of his passion. Oh, what was
happening to her? She had never felt like this before, never
experienced such pleasure. She moved her head restlessly on the
bed, her breathing thick and fast as a little moan escaped her and
she felt herself drowning in this new and wondrous feeling that
she felt herself drowning in this new and wondrous feeling that
was flooding through her. She knew that she did not want him to
stop kissing her, that she wanted him to do al the things Karin
had told her he would do—and yet if he did he would truly
possess her. And she was afraid of that—afraid to surrender
herself to him completely.
‘No! No…’ She suddenly began to fight him. ‘No! I shal not
let you…I shal not be your slave…’
‘But supposing I refuse to release you?’ His dark eyes
seemed to devour her. ‘Supposing I take my fil of you now?
What then, my dove?’
‘I—I cannot prevent you, but I beg you not to force me to
submit like this…’ She drew her breath sharply as he glared
down at her and closed her eyes, knowing she could not fight
him further. He would do as he wished with her.
Suddenly, Suleiman released her and stood up. She gazed up
at him fearfuly, expecting to find anger in his eyes, but instead
she saw laughter. Why was he laughing? She had defied him yet
again. Surely he ought to be angry? He held out his hand to her
and when she took it, puled her to her feet. The grasp of his
hand made her tremble inwardly and she could not look into his
eyes.
‘That was just a little reminder, my lady,’ he murmured. ‘I
wanted to test your obedience—for you promised to obey me
out of gratitude, but it seems you forgot your promise as soon as
it was given.’
‘It isn’t amusing,’ she said, her feathers ruffled by his
mockery. ‘I—I am sorry, my lord, but I cannot be as submissive
mockery. ‘I—I am sorry, my lord, but I cannot be as submissive
as your other women. It is not in my nature. I am too
independent.’
‘And is it this you fear to lose if you come to my bed,
Eleanor?’ He nodded as she remained silent. ‘Yes, I begin to
understand you, my lady—and I find you most amusing. You do
not see why, but that is no matter. It is not for you to know
everything—you are merely a woman. You should try to
remember that and your place in the world. Remember that I am
your lord and master—and tel me again why you think you are
qualified to be my friend.’
He was provoking her, trying to make her lose her temper!
She was beginning to know him now, to understand the quixotic
nature of this man who caled himself her master.
‘You are a wicked, teasing man!’ Eleanor cried. ‘No one has
ever mocked at me before.’
‘Have they not?’ Now she could see the laughter in his face.
‘Then perhaps it is time they did. Now, tel me—what would I
enjoy if I made you my counselor and friend?’
‘I have read much of ancient histories and the secrets of the
art of astrology are known to me. I know how to cast a chart
and how to read it—I could draw yours if it pleased you.’
‘Indeed?’ Suleiman looked at her, amusement dying to be
replaced by a new interest. ‘Can you use the instruments you
saw in my hal?’
‘Yes, my lord—at least, some of them. Some are new to me,
but I know how to take the angles of the stars and to interpret
what is meant by the alignment of one to another.’
what is meant by the alignment of one to another.’
‘Then I might find a use for you…’ The laughter was back in
his eyes again. ‘I agree that you would probably be poor sport in
bed, Eleanor. You do not have the arts and skils a woman
should properly have. It is Karin’s duty to teach you these things,
but I think in your case it would be a waste of her valuable time.
There are other women for pleasure, but I doubt that any of
them could cast a horoscope for me.’ He nodded, seeming
highly pleased with something. ‘I shal send for you again
tomorrow afternoon. Be ready to come to me every day,
Eleanor—and make sure you read the books I send you. I shal
expect you to be able to discuss the work I have set you.’
‘Oh, yes, my lord,’ she agreed eagerly. ‘You wil not find me
lacking in diligence, I promise you. I shal try to please you—and
I do thank you for your forbearance in the matter of my brother.’
‘I have behaved wel for a savage, have I not, Eleanor?’
Her cheeks flamed as she caught the mockery in his voice
once more. ‘I beg you wil forgive me for my ignorance in so
naming you, my lord. You are more inteligent and better
educated than most men I have met in my life. Indeed, I think
you the equal of my father.’
‘Then I am truly honoured,’ Suleiman replied, bowing his
head. ‘For I believe that you could not give a higher compliment,
Eleanor. Go now—I have important business awaiting me and I
have wasted too much time on a mere woman already.’
Eleanor’s temper sparked, then she caught the flicker in his
eyes and knew that once more he was baiting her—deliberately
emphasising a woman’s lowly state to make her fly into a rage.
He could read her far too easily! But he should not have best of
her. She smiled and curtsied to him in the manner she would
employ at an English court.
‘I am sure that a man of your rank must always have
important business, my lord. Forgive me for having given you so
much trouble by my foolish thoughtlessness—but as a woman I
must be forgiven for such lapses. I can know no better.’
Suleiman chuckled deep in his throat and she sensed that she
had pleased him. ‘That is very much better, Eleanor. If you
continue to improve your temper, we may yet reach this state of
friendship on which you set so much store. Go now—before you
push me too far. Remember always that though I may choose to
assume the manners of a civilized man—the savage lies just
beneath the
surface. Rouse him at your peril.’
Eleanor left, her heart racing madly. This new mood of the
lord Suleiman was very odd and yet it pleased her—it pleased
her very much. She had begun by fearing and hating him, had
learned to respect him for his generosity and had now begun to
like him.
The women gathered round Eleanor as she returned to the
harem. From their faces it was easy to see that they were
amazed she had returned, apparently untouched and none the
worse for her adventure.
‘What happened?’ Anastasia cried. ‘I was so afraid for you,
Eleanor. I thought you would be beaten—or put to death. You
were so foolish. Kissing and hugging that man in ful view of our
lord’s window. Did you not know what might happen to you if
Suleiman saw you?’
‘He did—he witnessed everything,’ Eleanor replied. ‘But,
you see, the youth I kissed was my brother Richard. He was
taken when our ship was attacked and I thought never to see him
again. I did not think of what I was doing when I hugged and
kissed him. When I saw him bending down to fasten the cage I
simply felt such joy and relief that I ran to him without
considering the consequences of my actions.’
‘Were you taken to our lord?’ Anastasia asked, looking at
her curiously. ‘Did he not punish you?’
‘Oh, yes, he punished me in his way,’ Eleanor said ruefuly
remembering his teasing. ‘But I have discovered that the lord
Suleiman is not by nature a cruel man, though his position in this
place may lead him to be so at times—he was just to both me
and my brother.’
Anastasia stared at her in awe. No other women would dare
to say such things. ‘But what did he do to your brother? It is
forbidden for a woman of the harem to embrace any man other
than her lord—even a brother.’
‘Yes, our lord explained that to me,’ Eleanor said. She was
determined not to disclose Richard’s fate, for she believed that
Suleiman would not wish it commonly known that he had been
lenient. Some might think it weakness on his part and try to
abuse his generosity. ‘He has done what he thought right and it is
abuse his generosity. ‘He has done what he thought right and it is
not for us to question that. I am to be given more scholarly work
to do and I shal be sent for each afternoon to perform those
tasks our lord requires.’
Anastasia was stunned into silence. Suleiman was not known
for his cruelty, but other women had been punished in the past
for less than Eleanor had done. It was clear that she had special
influence with him, and that meant the other women must look up
to her.
‘Fatima has been eagerly anticipating news of your demise,’
she said after a moment or two of reflection. ‘She wil be
disappointed to learn that you have not been punished.’
‘Yes—but I do not think our lord intends to take me as his
wife. It may be that he wil send for her again soon. For your
own sake, you must do nothing to antagonise her, Anastasia. She
is stil his favourite.’
‘Perhaps…’ The other girl looked at her doubtfuly. ‘Has…
has he not taken you to his bed?’
‘I think that our lord requires other things of me,’ Eleanor
replied, though in her heart she knew it was not quite the truth.
Suleiman was playing a game with her, but in the end he would
win and then she would have no choice but to submit. ‘We shal
see what happens in the future. I cannot tel…’
Nor could she tel her true feelings concerning these matters.
She had been so close to succumbing to those odd feelings that
had flooded her whole being as she lay beneath him on the divan.
For a few minutes she had wanted to please him—had wanted
him to pleasure her!
him to pleasure her!
Surely she had not come so far in such a short time? Eleanor
knew that she was gradualy losing her fear and dislike of the
world to which she had been brought forcibly. She quite enjoyed
being in the harem with her friends sometimes, and though she
also needed her privacy and her work, Suleiman had made both
these things possible. Though she fought against the truth, she
knew that the time she spent with him was a joy to her.
Why, then, was she fighting what she knew must be
inevitable? He could take her whenever he chose and she would
be powerless to resist him—and yet he had waited. Why? What
more did he want of her?
She had told him she had come to respect and admire him,
and she was beginning to like the man she suspected very few
others ever saw—but what was this other feeling he had aroused
in her?
Chapter Seven
The expression in Suleiman’s eyes was harder than granite as he looked at the creature before him, his fury leashed only by the
thinnest of threads. His treatment of Eleanor and her brother
earlier had been very different from the punishment he intended
for Abu now that his inquiries were complete.
‘Do you deny that you sent the youth to the harem gardens?’
Abu looked into the unforgiving eyes of his half-brother and
trembled inwardly as he saw the contempt there. ‘No, I do not
deny it,’ he said. There was little point in lying for his plan had
somehow gone wrong, and the woman went unpunished despite
her crime. ‘I saw no harm in it—he was but a youth and I
wanted to show you that the infidel woman would betray you
given the chance.’
‘So it was done for my benefit?’ Suleiman’s gaze narrowed in
contempt. Did the eunuch think he was so easily deceived? Wel,
he was about to discover his mistake. ‘I am not such a fool as to
believe that, Abu. You did it because you blamed her for your
removal from the harem. You should know that she had nothing
to do with that—I have had it in mind to remove you for some
time. Rumours have come to my ears…tales that, if true, would
mean your death.’
‘You may do with me as you wil,’ Abu muttered sulenly.
‘You have the power. Our father gave you everything—while I
was given the choice of remaining here as half a man or being
sent to work in the galeys. I know that you have always
despised me—and now you have your chance to kil me. So be
it—my life is worthless to me anyway. I shal not beg you for
mercy.’
‘Had I been given your choice I would have gone to the
galeys,’ Suleiman replied harshly. ‘You would have had your
chance to earn your freedom after five years and could have
perhaps become master of a ship yourself. Better to risk death in
the galeys than live as you do now.’
‘I have not your strength. I should have died chained like a
dog,’ Abu said and looked at his half-brother with hatred. ‘You
do not know what it is like to be a slave—you have always been
the favourite son…’
‘But you knew that before you made your choice. You
stayed and you abused your position of t
rust. And now I may
punish you as I see fit. Our father has left the choice to me—
what shal I do with you, Abu? What would be a just punishment
—not only for the foly you committed in giving the key to the
harem gardens to that youth—but for your other crimes?’ He
saw a flicker of fear in Abu’s eyes. ‘Did you realy imagine that I
would not discover what you did, my brother? Did you believe
that you could dispose of your master’s property without being
discovered? You might have succeeded had you been content to
indulge in your sly little deals once or twice, but like al thieves
you became greedy. You were noticed coming from the slave
you became greedy. You were noticed coming from the slave
merchant’s house and it was reported to me some months ago. I
did nothing for a time, waiting to see if it was just a single mistake
—but I know al now. I know that six women and two youths
have disappeared without trace from the palace.’
‘Then kil me…’ Abu’s eyes flared with defiance. ‘Do it
yourself, Suleiman. Give me the honour of death by your scimitar
—or have you no stomach for it?’
Suleiman looked at him consideringly for a moment, then he
walked over to a little cabinet, opened a drawer and took out a
wicked-looking knife with a long curved blade. He removed its
sheath and walked back to Abu, the blade revealed in al its
deadly beauty. Then he threw the knife to the floor about three
feet from Abu’s feet, which was an equal distance from his own.
‘Pick it up and try to kil me,’ he said. ‘You complain that I
have al the advantages—now I am offering you the chance to
live. Kil me and you wil be granted your freedom.’
Abu’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. ‘You lie to trick me,’ he
cried. ‘The moment I move towards the knife your guards wil
rush in and kil me.’
‘No, they have orders not to interfere,’ Suleiman said. ‘But
they are aware of what we are saying, make no mistake. I,
Suleiman Bakhar, grant you your life if you can kil me.’
‘It’s a trick…’ Abu shook his head. ‘No, you cannot force
me to fight you. I should lose anyway. I have no chance of
winning against you. Everyone knows you are skiled in these
arts. It is a sham and I shal die whatever I do.’
‘So you are stil a coward?’ Suleiman’s mouth curved in a
