India giggled in spite of herself.
“Now there’s a nice sound,” he told her. “You must do it more often.”
India blinked in surprise. “I’d almost forgotten how to laugh,” she admitted. “It’s been so long since I’ve had anything to laugh about or anyone to laugh with.”
“That will change,” he promised. “You’ll see.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Believe it or not, there are gentlemen out there who value all the wonderful qualities you possess.”
“What qualities?”
“Strength and pride and honesty and courage and beauty. And any gentleman who desires those qualities more than he desires cash would be proud to marry you,” Jonathan said softly.
I would be proud to marry you. The thought came unbidden, and Jonathan could almost feel his bachelor status slipping through his fingers. He nervously cleared his throat and awaited the outcome of his impulsive declaration.
Lord Barclay’s thoughtful answer touched India almost as much as it surprised her. He sounded almost as if he believed it. “Then I shall have to hope there is such a gentleman at the Admiralty Ball,” she said. “And that he asks me to dance. In the meantime . . .” She hesitated, moistening her suddenly dry lips once again. “My invitation still stands.”
“Invitation?” he croaked.
“The cottage has two bedchambers,” she reminded him. “And you’re welcome to one of them.”
“No,” Jonathan repeated firmly, keenly aware that his willpower was in danger of crumbling. “Thank you for the invitation, but no.” He collected his coat and reached for the doorknob.
“Wait!”
Jonathan gave her a wary look.
“Please,” she said. “Wait.” She turned and walked out of the kitchen, disappearing through the doorway that led to the other rooms in the cottage.
She returned to the kitchen with a pillow and an arm-load of bedding in one arm and dragging a large, thick, red silk mattress behind her. “If you won’t accept the offer of a bedchamber inside the cottage, then at least take this.” She handed Jonathan the pillow and clean sheets, then maneuvered the mattress between them and offered him the thick loop she’d used to tug it out of the main bedchamber.
“What’s this?”
“Mustafa’s pallet.” Lady India looked up at him. “There’s no reason you shouldn’t sleep in comfort, even if you are determined to sleep in the stable. After all,” she said softly, “he won’t be using it.”
“No,” Jonathan agreed, “I don’t suppose he will.” He touched her fingers as he took hold of the loop she offered. “Good night, Lady India.”
“Good night, Lord Barclay.”
&nbs
p; “Pleasant dreams.”
India shivered as if someone had walked over her grave. Five years in the seraglio had put an end to pleasant dreams. In the seraglio, troublesome concubines were strangled while they slept or were smothered, or poisoned, or had their throats cut . . . Sleep didn’t bring pleasant dreams. It brought death. India had learned to fear sleep and she’d all but forgotten that there were people in the world who still had pleasant dreams. And someone to beckon them the way Lord Barclay had wished pleasant dreams upon her. “And to you,” she called, as he closed the back door and headed for the barn.
“The infidel will die on the morrow.”
India opened her eyes and sat up, pulling her knees to her chest, and wrapping her arms around them as she huddled against the headboard of the bed. From the other room she could hear Mustafa muttering a litany of malevolent threats and promises in the mixture of Turkish and French she had come to understand and fear.
“I know you do not sleep, English. I know you listen. I know you hear my voice.”
India pressed her face against her knees, bit her bottom lip to keep from answering, and silently conjugated Latin verbs in a desperate attempt to block out the sound of Mustafa’s voice.
“He will have to loose my bonds eventually,” Mustafa continued. “And that will be his undoing.”
The eunuch made a sound that might have been a groan, but could have just as easily been a chuckle. “His death will be slow and painful,” he promised. “And you shall watch as he bleeds from a thousand cuts. You shall watch as the floor grows red and slick from his blood. You shall watch as I cut out his tongue and replace it with his rod and testicles.”