The Panther and The Pearl

by Doreen Owens Malek

  He snorted. “Men aren’t beautiful.”

  “You are.”

  “What about all those investment bankers back in the United States?” he asked.

  “What makes you think I would want one of them?”

  He took her hand and held it to his lips. “Some people would say a man like that is more appropriate for you.”

  “I know what I like,” she said, tracing the full lines of his mouth with a fingertip.

  “It took you some time to admit it.”

  “I’m stubborn. You’ve said so yourself. In fact, you isolated me so that I could think about it.”

  “I’m sorry I locked you up in the harem,” he said softly. “I was afraid that you would get away before...”

  “Before this happened,” she finished for him.

  “Yes.”

  “It’s all right. It was almost like being in a convent. Or a girls’ school. Safe and boring.”

  “No one bothered you there?”

  She knew he was referring to the sexual play she had seen with Roxalena in the Sultan’s harem.

  “No, that was the one advantage to being the hated foreign ikbal. Everyone left me alone.”

  “Everyone left you alone because I made it known through the khislar that anyone who even approached you would be answerable to me.”

  Sarah stared at him. “I see.”

  “I wanted to keep you for myself,” he said.

  “You did.” She ran her hand along the hard line of his thigh, roughened with dark hair. “I guess we have to forgive each other for quite a few things.”

  “I forgive you for driving me to the brink of madness,” he said piously.

  “And I forgive you for Fatma,” she said promptly.

  “Fatma?”

  “I think you remember her,” Sarah said.

  “There’s nothing to forgive.”

  “Kalid, please. You were sleeping with her while I was under house arrest in the harem.”

  “I was not.”

  Sarah sat up and glared at him. “Are you going to lie about it now? Memtaz told me you were sending for her. I saw her vest in your room!”

  “I recall the circumstances vividly,” he said dryly.

  “Well?”

  “I saw her, yes, and she brought that thing she was embroidering with her and left it behind. But it wasn’t sexual. I was consulting her on another matter.”

  “What?”

  “I wanted her to mix a love charm for me.”

  “A love charm?” Sarah was dumfounded.

  “Yes, she was skilled in such things. All the people in her area of the Caucasus study the effects of potions and philters.”

  “And poisons. But you don’t believe in love charms, do you?”

  “I was willing to try anything,” he said shortly.

  “To win me over?” Sarah asked softly.

  “Yes.”

  “You wanted me that badly?”

  “You like to hear me say it, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  “Then yes, I wanted you that badly.”

  “But Kalid, don’t you see how cruel it was to bring Fatma into it? She was in love with you herself, and you were asking her to dream up an elixir to help you win me!”

  “I was desperate,” he said.

  “But that’s why she treated me so badly, can’t you see that? That’s why she eventually poisoned me. You must have driven her wild with jealousy.”

  “I know I handled it badly. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I don’t know what else to say.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me what was going on when I saw that piece of her underwear in your room?”

  “I was angry, frustrated and disappointed, not to mention in physical pain. I saw no reason why you shouldn’t suffer a little too, kourista.”

  “I suffered a lot, imagining you entwined with Fatma while I was playing mah jonng with Memtaz in the harem.”

  “I never touched Fatma, or anyone else, after I met you. You have my word on that.”

  “Fatma worked very hard to make me believe otherwise. I was completely miserable thinking that you had resumed your affair with her.”

  “And all I wanted from her was a little piece of magic,” he said in reply.

  Sarah leaned against him and kissed his cheek. “Actually, I think it’s very sweet. Consulting her for a love charm, I mean. It’s very...Turkish.”

  He closed his eyes. “Yes, my gullibility is so charming, so amusing, isn’t it?”

  “Why, Kalid? Why was it so important to win me? Why did you want me so much?”

  He looked down at her, his dark eyes full of feeling. “I don’t know.I have learned not to question such things. We here in the east believe in fate.”

  “Yes, I know. Kismet.”

  “Why do you say it so scornfully, kourista? Isn’t it possible that we were destined for one another? Why did you come so far from your home to wind up in the Sultan’s harem? Why were you there at the precise moment I came for my state visit? Don’t you ever think about it?”

  “I think about it,” Sarah admitted.

  He kissed her. “Kismet, Sarah. Surrender to it or it will destroy you.”

  “I surrender,” she whispered.

  He guided her hand to him and closed his eyes as her fingers encircled him.

  “Are you all right?” he said thickly, as she caressed him. “Are you still bleeding?”

  “I’m just fine,” Sarah said. “Do you want to make love to me again?”

  “What do you think?” he said quietly.

  She moved across his body to straddle him and said softly, “Show me how to do it this way.”

  He lifted her hips and eased her onto him. She made an animal sound and fell forward, tucking her head into the curve of his shoulder as he set his cheek against her hair.

  “You learn quickly,” he said, as she moved sinuously in his arms.

  “I want you to teach me everything,” she replied, running her tongue along his collarbone.

  “Everything,” he said, and began another lesson.

  When Sarah awoke this time it was evening and the sun was setting. She and Kalid were curled up like puppies under the tree, the darkening sky above them streaked with purple and crimson and gold. She felt sticky and sweaty and in need of another dip in the river.

  As she sat up Kalid’s long fingers encircled her wrist.

  “Where are you going?” he said.

  “Just to rinse off in the river.”

  He got up and ran his hands through his hair, looking very tall and very male and very nude. Sarah suddenly felt embarrassed, standing there with both of them stark naked, as they had been all day. She ran the few steps to the river and plunged in, gasping as she hit the chilly water. When she raised her head Kalid was next to her, and he took her in his arms.

  “Don’t pull back from me,” he said softly. “Sex is natural. You can’t think back on what we’ve done and feel skittish about it, there should be no shame.”

  Sarah clung to him, wondering how he could read her thoughts so accurately. When he took her by the hand and led her back to the riverbank she followed obediently, looking up at him in the fading light as he handed her items of her clothing.

  “Much as I hate to see you get dressed,” he said, “it is turning colder and we have to think about getting back.”

  “Now? It will be dark in an hour.”

  “Aren’t you at all hungry?” he asked, thumbing his hair back from his face. It sprung into ringlets when wet, later drying into thick waves.

  “Starving.”

  “Well, Khan is tied up about two miles from here and my pack with all the food I brought with me is on his back. If you want anything to eat tonight we have to find him. We’ll go the rest of the way in the morning.”

  “Can we ride double on the bedouin horse?”

  “That’s the plan.” He handed her the wide sleeved blouse she’d been wearing when she was kidnapped and then grasped
her arm, holding it aloft.

  “Your skin looks translucent in this light,” he said softly. “Like mother of pearl.”

  “My real name means ‘a pearl’,” Sarah replied, buttoning the blouse.

  “Your real name?”

  “My given name is Margaret Sarah, but from childhood everyone called me Sarah, to distinguish me from my mother. She was Margaret too.”

  “And so what does ‘Sarah’ mean?” he inquired, fastening his trousers.

  “Gift of God.”

  “A God given pearl. I like that.” He draped his shirt over his shoulder and put his arm around her, kissing her forehead. “Come along, pearl, it’s time to eat.”

  She walked at his side back to the horse.

  Chapter 12

  “Captured by the bedouins,” Roxalena moaned. “Oh, no. What will become of my American friend?”

  “Kalid has gone after her,” Osman said.

  “Are you sure?” Roxalena asked sharply.

  “Yes. Turhan Aga was present at the audience Kosem granted to her cousin James, and she told James that her grandson had set off alone to rescue his ikbal. Turhan repeated this to me himself when I met him at the bazaar in Bursa.”

  “Then Sarah has a chance,” Roxalena said with relief. “If anyone can bring her back, Kalid can.”

  “I thought you didn’t like him,” Osman said, feeling a twinge of jealousy at her confidence in the other man.

  “I didn’t want to marry him any more than he wanted to marry me, but I have the utmost respect for his abilities. He’s very determined when he wants something.” She paused. “And apparently he wants Sarah very much,” she added thoughtfully.

  “Your friend must be tougher than she looks. She already survived a poisoning by the pasha’s former favorite.”

  Roxalena sighed. “Sarah wanted to learn about harem life. I think she knows about it now.”

  “Turhan said the rumor at Orchid Palace is that Kalid Shah was planning to execute the poisoner and her accomplice in the old fashioned way, but the valide pashana persuaded him to merely banish them.”

  “Why would he listen to Kosem?”

  Osman shrugged. “Supposedly Kosem told the pasha that Sarah would not like it if he killed them out of hand.”

  Roxalena nodded. “Sarah would not like it. In America they have trials about such things, no one is ever executed on the word of one man.”

  “What is a trial?”

  Roxalena shrugged. “A group of Americans sit in a box and listen while the authorities discuss the case and examine witnesses. Then they decide if the prisoner should be punished or go free.”

  Osman made a disbelieving face.

  “It’s true. Sarah told me all about it. She thinks it’s a system far superior to ours, and I have to admit, I’d rather trust the judgement of several average Turkish citizens than the whim of a man like my father.”

  They both drew back as a guard on patrol passed within a few feet of them, his rifle on his shoulder. They held their breath until they heard his footsteps fade into the distance.

  “You’d better go,” Osman whispered. “I’ll see you tomorrow night in the Bibighar.”

  Roxalena stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, then drew her feradge over her face. She stepped out of the shadows and slipped onto the path that led through the Garden of the Kadins, heading back to the harem.

  “I think you should go to see Secretary Danforth again,” Beatrice Woolcott said firmly.

  James took another sip of his Boodles gin before replying irritably, “I’ve told you before, Bea, that man is not going to help me. He is only concerned with not making waves and keeping his job. The last thing he’s going to do is buck the local authorities over an insignificant tourist like my cousin Sarah.”

  “Then what are you going to do?”

  “Wait for some news from the valide pashana.”

  “Do you really think that old woman is going to tell you what’s happening? If the pasha wants to keep Sarah, as it appears he does, you won’t hear another word even if he does bring her back from the bedouins.”

  “If you have any other suggestions, Bea, I would certainly like to hear them,” James said wearily, draining his drink. “I’ve already spent three days just getting inside Orchid Palace and the only information I was able to obtain I’ve just told you.”

  Beatrice fell silent, glancing around their parlor as if she might find an idea hidden in one of its corners.

  “I’ll wait a week and try again,” James said, relenting.

  Beatrice nodded.

  The stillness in the room was overpowering.

  “Welcome home,” Kosem said, embracing Sarah warmly. “You look very well for someone who has survived such an ordeal. We were so worried about you.”

  “I’m feeling very well, thank you,” Sarah replied, stealing a glance at Kalid, who smiled at her. Sarah colored faintly.

  Kosem did not miss the interchange.

  “Would you like to have a bath and a rest in the harem?” Kosem asked. “Memtaz is waiting for you.”

  Sarah nodded.

  “I will see you in my quarters after the evening meal,” Kalid said to Sarah, who looked at him, and then away, almost shyly.

  “Take the ikbal back to the harem,” Kalid said to the waiting eunuchs.

  He watched Sarah depart the audience room with her escort and then threw himself onto his throne, one leg over the arm of the chair, grinning at Kosem.

  “I gather it went well,” Kosem said dryly.

  “She gave herself to me,” he said.

  Kosem nodded sagely. “Yes, I can tell. She follows you everywhere with her eyes, touches you as often as she possibly can, and behaves in every way like an initiate wildly in love with her instructor.”

  He closed his eyes. “I can think of nothing but her.”

  Kosem withdrew a slip of paper from her capacious sleeve and held it out for him to see.

  “What is that?” Kalid asked.

  “The Constantinople address of her cousin. He was here while you were gone and I gave him an audience. I promised to contact him if I had any news of Sarah.”

  “Give me that,” Kalid said sharply. Kosem handed him the scrap of paper. He glanced at it and then tore it up, flinging the bits on the carpet.

  “Why did you admit that man to the palace?” Kalid demanded furiously of his grandmother. “He already sent me a letter through the American Embassy and I replied that I wouldn’t be able to see him for some time.”

  “I was distraught, Kalid! I didn’t know if I would ever see either one of you again, and I could understand very well how Sarah’s cousin feels. How can you let that poor man go on wondering if she is all right?”

  “You’ve just seen her! Does he look ill or unhappy? Just when I have finally won her, you expect me to bring in this relative who will try to persuade her to leave with him?”

  “If she loves you, she will stay.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. The pull of her old life is very strong. I need time, time to bind her to me, time to make her see that she will have no future without me.”

  “So you will not tell her about her cousin’s visit.”

  “No. And I forbid you to say anything about it to her.”

  Kosem opened her mouth.

  “I forbid it, do you understand?” Kalid said, rising and shoving his forefinger under her nose.

  “I advise against this,” Kosem said quietly.

  “When I want your advice I will ask for it,” Kalid said tersely. “Now go.”

  Kosem stood before him regally, staring him down, her raisin eyes boring into his.

  “Go and leave me to think,” he said, and she obeyed reluctantly, looking back over her shoulder at him.

  Kalid saw a fragment of paper on the rug and kicked it away from him viciously.

  Nothing would stand in the way of his life with Sarah.

  Nothing.

  “Ah, you are so beautiful, mistress. My master wi
ll be very pleased.”

  Sarah was wearing a smock of fine white silk tissue, with wide sleeves and mother of pearl buttons down the front, the sleeves and hem edged with gold, her body visible through the gauzy material. Over it she wore a rose brocade caftan with a satin girdle of deep rose pink, fastened with an amethyst clasp. A cap of wine velvet embroidered with pearls perched on her hair, which flowed down her back in a silken profusion. Pearl earrings falling from amethyst studs and white kid boots completed the ensemble.

  “Such lovely clothes,” Memtaz said. “Though I think you will not be wearing them for very long.” She giggled.

  Sarah smiled and shook her head. Nothing was secret from Memtaz.

  “You look so happy, mistress. Why did you resist the pasha for so long?”

  “It’s... complicated, Memtaz.”

  “What means complicated?”

  “It means that there were many issues involved and I...oh, forget it. Just call the eunuchs to take me to the mabeyn.”

  Kalid was waiting for her in his austere anteroom. When he saw Sarah come through the door he opened his arms and she flew into them.

  “Go, you’re dismissed,” he said over her shoulder to the servants, who fled, exchanging knowing glances.

  “I missed you,” Sarah sighed.

  Kalid was already unfastening the girdle at her waist. “Why so many clothes?” he asked.

  “Memtaz insisted that I be properly dressed,” Sarah replied, laughing.

  Kalid tossed the girdle and the caftan on the floor, removed her shoes and began to unbutton the silk shift. As soon as one creamy breast was revealed he had the nipple in his mouth. He wrestled with the smock for several seconds, shoving it down to her waist to allow him access. Then Sarah gasped as he grabbed the shift by its open neck and ripped it from her body impatiently, flinging the rent garment aside.

  He lifted her quickly into his arms and carried her into his bedchamber. He set her on his sleeping couch and tore off his shirt, but before he could undress any further Sarah stood up and put her arms around him.

  “Let me love you,” she whispered, kissing his chest, then the line of dark hair that bisected his torso, disappearing under the waistband of his trousers. He leaned back against the wall next to the bed as she worked her way down his body, finally kneeling before him and undoing his trousers. His head fell back, his eyes closed, his fists clenched on his thighs, as she took him in her mouth, acting on instinct rather than knowledge. She caressed him until he was groaning, his breath coming in short bursts, his body so tense she could feel an immediate reaction to her slightest movement. Finally he sank his fingers into her hair and pulled her head back, his chest heaving.