The earl met his son’s eyes across the hall. He heard Arabella say, “Father?” He had prayed that neither of his children would ever learn what had happened so many years before. Now, he realized, there was no hope for it. He felt the waves of tension sweeping about him like eddies in a whirlpool. He saw Rayna Lyndhurst in the circle of Adam’s arm, her father standing still as a stone beside them.
“Giovanna,” he said, his voice clear and calm, for he was speaking not only to her but also to Rayna and his children, “I told you Cassandra was innocent. She is more innocent that you know. It was I who forced her to accompany me to Genoa. I stole her from the man she was to have married, Edward Lyndhurst, but a day before her wedding. I wanted to wed her, but it was she who refused me. She was my prisoner, Giovanna, at my villa. It was many months before she came to return my love. Let me ask you, Giovanna. Would you have tried to kill her had she been my wife?”
Giovanna knew he spoke the truth. Memories, so many memories. Cesare, the earl’s half-brother, telling her that the English girl behaved like no man’s mistress he had ever met. She had been so young, so golden, so proud. Her eyes sought Arabella. Young and golden and proud, like her mother.
“You have caused too much misery and grief, Giovanna,” the earl said. “You have hurt many innocent people, including your own son. It must cease.”
“You left me with Khar El-Din. You knew he held me. Damn you, you knew.”
“Yes,” the earl said. “I knew, for he wrote to me to claim his reward. I left you with him, Giovanna, because I wanted my wife to know no more fear. I have answered my own question for you, I believe. Had I arranged for you to return to Genoa, you would not have rested until you had killed my wife.”
The truth of his words hung in the silence. The earl felt no sense of triumph, only an ineffable sadness for the misery of it all, the waste.
“Madam,” Hamil said, “I am the Bey of Oran, and you are subject to my judgment. Because you are the mother of my half-brother, I will not have you killed. You will take the veil of your religion. Perhaps in the years to come you will regret what you have done. If you do not, it will not matter, for we will be safe from your schemes.” He turned to Hassan. “Escort her to Raj. Tomorrow she will travel to Sicily.”
Kamal said quietly, “No, my brother. I shall escort her to Raj.” He gazed at Arabella as if memorizing her face, then took his mother’s arm and led her from the room.
Hamil said to the earl, “You shall be repaid for the ships and goods she had taken. I am sorry that so many men lost their lives. My brother was guilty only to the extent that he believed his mother, and vowed as a dutiful son to carry out her vengeance. He is an honorable man, my lord.”
“I understand, highness,” the earl said, his gaze going briefly to his daughter.
“Now I wish to see my wife and my son. Hassan, see to our guests’ comfort.”
“Papa,” Arabella said, and flung herself into his arms. He hugged her tightly to him, his eyes closing for a brief moment.
“You smell like a horse,” he said, holding her away from him.
She grinned up at him. “You should have smelled me and seen me when I arrived here. But it is all right, Papa,” she added. “Kamal is not like her. His name is Alessandro. I love him.”
The earl tried not to be shaken at her words. “So certain, Bella?”
“Yes,” she said in her clear sweet voice.
“Life is never what one expects, is it?” he remarked, more to himself than to her.
“No,” Arabella said, “it isn’t. Papa, did you truly abduct Mother? The day before her wedding?”
“Yes, my dear. I wanted your mother, had wanted her for several years. I took her. She fought me, escaped me, nearly got herself and me killed before she decided to keep me. She is a valiant woman, Bella, and you are much like her.”
“But how could she not love you immediately?” Arabella asked in a wondering voice.
“Your faith in me is warming. I was, however, rather ruthless, you know. She was a gently nurtured young lady, and she thought she loved Edward Lyndhurst.”
“Then I am right to love Kamal,” she said with alarming certainty. “He too was ruthless.”
“I am not certain,” the earl said, “if that is a trait I much appreciate in a man involved with my daughter.”
“Well,” she said, “since I didn’t already love someone, it didn’t take me long at all to decide I wanted Kamal.”
“I see Lord Delford looking quite purposefully at me, my dear. We will discuss this ruthlessness later.”
“No wonder Lord Delford would like to send all of us to perdition.”
“I have spent six long days with Edward Lyndhurst,” the earl said. “Let us hope that he is resigned to having Adam as his son-in-law. He became quite drunk one evening.” The earl shook his head in amusement. “He was positively jovial.”
“You mean he became human?” Arabella asked, awed.
“Absolutely. Well, Adam, Rayna, you are both fit, though like Bella, you are in need of a bath.”