He took a step toward her.
“Stop. Stay away from me.” Arabella scrambled among the cushions until her back was pressed against the wall.
No woman had ever fought him; indeed, with many European women, he had sometimes felt as though he were the one being used for their pleasure. Why did this girl fight him when she had given her favors so freely to other men?
It angered him beyond reason. He moved so quickly that Arabella’s screams were stuck in her throat. He pulled her to her feet and threw her over his shoulder.
He moved his fingers over her, knowing that to her it was the most effective punishment. She struggled, but to no avail. He carried her into his bedchamber and dumped her unceremoniously onto the floor.
“You act like an ill-broken mare,” he said, standing above her. “I will treat you like one.” He pulled off the leather belt at his waist, seized her hands, and bound them together.
He retrieved another leather belt, tied it to the one about her wrists, and jerked her toward the bed. She was screaming at him in English, a whore’s curses, he thought, not slowing.
He secured the length of the belt to the bedpost and stepped back from her. She lay on her back, her arms drawn upward.
He started to tell her that she would spend the night on the floor, but held himself silent. Let her wonder.
Arabella watched him shrug off the white shirt. When his hands went to the buttons on his white trousers, she closed her eyes. And waited. She heard his boots hit the floor. She tugged at the belt wrapped around her wrists, but could not ease them. She felt his presence very near her, but would not look at him.
Kamal checked to see that the belts were secure. He started to touch her, but pulled back his hand. Her hair fell about her face and down her back. He wished she were not so lovely.
Arabella heard the bed give under his weight. She opened her eyes, but could see nothing, for the chamber was dark. She passed the next hour tugging at the leather with her teeth, half her attention on the man in the bed.
Finally she fell into an exhausted sleep. She did not hear him rise, nor did she feel the weight of the blanket he tossed over her.
Chapter 19
“Wake up, lady.”
Arabella felt a hand on her shoulder and jerked upright, a cry of pain on her lips because of her numb wrists. She stared into the black eyes of a young man she had seen the previous night. She looked frantically around for Kamal, but the chamber was empty save for the two of them.
Who are you?” she whispered as he unfastened her bonds.
“Ali, lady. My master said to release you and take you back to the harem.”
Arabella rubbed her aching wrists and slowly rose to her feet. “Where is your master?”
“With his soldiers. He enjoys training with them.” Ali studied the girl who had spent the night tied to his master’s bed. The welts on her wrists were black and purple.
“I hope,” Arabella said, “that someone runs a sword through him.”
Ali drew back, no pity for her now. “A worthless woman does not speak of his highness like that. You are lucky he didn’t kill you.”
Arabella sighed. “I am too valuable to be so lightly discarded,” she said. And she realized that it was true. If she were dead, the contessa and her son would have no bait to lure her father to Algiers. She knew too that her father would verify that she still lived before he came. Then come he would.
“No woman is that valuable,” Ali said.
“I’m hungry,” Arabella said.
Raj stood at the gate to the harem, waiting for her. He spoke quietly to Ali in Arabic, then dismissed the boy. “Come, my lady,” he said. “Lena will bind your wrists.”
Arabella followed the huge eunuch into the harem garden. It was still early in the morning and few of Kamal’s concubines were up and about. Those who were, stared at her and whispered to each other behind their hands.
“How many girls does that perverted jackal keep prisoner here?”
“There are twenty girls presently in his highness’s harem,” Raj replied, not pretending to misunderstand her.
Arabella wondered for one insane moment if she could get all the girls together and foment a revolt. She laughed aloud at the thought.