Devil's Daughter (Devil 2)

“I am charmed, signorina.” He poured her a goblet of wine and handed it to her.

Her cheeks were flushed. “I am mortified,” she said.

“Besides being disobedient,” Adam said, “she believes that I cannot conduct my own affairs without her protection. She stowed away aboard the Malek. When I discovered her, it was too late to turn back to Naples.”

“I have another friend, my lord,” Hamil said, “who has a fondness for white-skinned women with red hair. Perhaps you would like to—”

Adam burst into laughter, covering Rayna’s horrified gasp. “I will keep her,” he said finally. “I believe she is correct. It is revenge the contessa seeks.”

“To hear a woman speak wisely is refreshing,” Hamil said.

Adam smiled, but his thoughts were elsewhere. “I was right, then. My sister is to be bait. Bait for my father.”

“Yes, it would appear so.”

“Why, highness, have you not returned to Oran to reclaim your throne?”

Hamil stared thoughtfully into his goblet of wine. “My half-brother Kamal,” he said. “I have always held great fondness for him. I do not know if he is involved in this treachery with his mother. I wish to be certain before I proceed.” He raised dark eyes to Adam. “My wife is in Oran, in the palace harem. She still lives— that I know. I will do nothing to place her in danger.” He added, his voice filled with pride, “She carries my child.”

Rayna broke the brief silence. “If the contessa sent Arabella to her son, it does not bode well for his innocence.”

“No,” Hamil said, “it does not.”

“And the contessa will most assuredly return to Oran,” Adam said.

“Of a certainty she will.”

“Will Kamal harm Arabella?” Rayna asked.

The men’s eyes met across the table. Hamil said slowly, “It is true that my brother carries the blood of the corsairs, but he was educated in Europe. I cannot imagine he would harm a gentle, well-bred lady.”

Adam cursed. “My sister, unfortunately, is about as gentle as a desert storm, a—”

“A sirocco,” Hamil supplied. Again he met Adam’s worried gaze. “I understand your feelings about your sister, my lord, but you must understand mine. I had hoped to capture the contessa and wring the truth from her. That failing, I must, somehow, manage to see my half-brother alone, without warning, and learn the truth. If he is part of his mother’s treachery, I cannot risk my wife’s safety.” He rose gracefully from the cushions. “I will leave you now, my friends. I must tell my captain to set course for Oran.”

Hamil strode from the cabin.

“Perhaps,” Rayna said, “Arabella will be too frightened to anger this Kamal.”

“What is likely is that I shall have to kill him,” Adam said. ?

??If she hasn’t killed him already.”

Kamal flexed his shoulder and winced at the pain the movement brought him. He tried to shake away the image of Arabella’s face, streaked with tears of frustration at her failure to kill him. It came to him again that she had hesitated before she struck. What kind of woman was she? He was, he decided, seven kinds of a fool to see her again.

She looked too proud, too calm, when she stepped into his chamber. Her hair fell nearly to her waist, her dark eyes looked velvet black, like midnight. He felt a stirring in his loins as his eyes fell to her breasts. She stood silently, saying nothing, enduring his scrutiny.

“Come,” he said in an oddly hoarse voice. “I wish to speak with you.”

Arabella glanced at the food set upon the table and felt her throat tighten. She nodded and eased down on the cushions.

A slight Nubian slave boy poured wine into her goblet. She downed it quickly. Her goblet was quickly filled again. She raised her eyes to Kamal’s face as she sipped the sweet wine.

“I trust you wear no hidden weapons tonight,” he said.

“No. Would it matter if I had?”

He gave her a twisted smile, watching her gulp down some more of her wine. “It is I who should be wary of you,” he said quietly. “I do not know what it is you expect me to do to you, but you needn’t drink yourself into a stupor.”