“She fears you.” Lella rose ponderously. “We will speak again, child. I will take care of Elena, at least for now.”

Arabella watched Lella draw Elena into conversation, and true to her word, the two women disappeared into her chamber.

Kamal stood naked as Ali sluiced him with cool water. He flexed his tired muscles and tried to focus his thoughts on anything but the English girl. He had lain awake for hours listening to her breathing the previous night, wondering what he was going to do with her. Actually, he really did not have to do anything with her, simply wait until her father came for her; but at that thought, he shook his head. He wanted her; he wanted her to cease fighting him and cease lying. He wanted her to look at him with desire, not fear or hatred.

“What did you say, Ali?” he asked, realizing that he wasn’t listening.

“I wondered, master, if you wished Orna to dance for you this evening?”

“No—yes.” Kamal smiled to himself. Orna would dance for him and for the stubborn English girl. “And, Ali, tell Raj that I want the English girl again tonight.”

Arabella was waiting for Raj to come with a summons from Kamal; indeed, she was looking forward to it. When he appeared, a worried frown on his fleshy face, she smiled, a soft smile.

“His highness wishes your company this evening,” he said.

Arabella lowered her head. “As he wishes,” she said.

“I have brought you new clothes.”

“That is very kind of you, Raj. May I see them?”

Arabella fingered the gossamer trousers and the yellow jacket. There were matching yellow leather slippers. “They are beautiful.”

Raj frowned, but said smoothly, “I selected the colors. You will look lovely.”

Arabella said, “Yes, you chose well. I thank you.”

“Are you well, my lady?”

“Yes, of course.” She allowed a deep sigh and stared beyond his massive shoulder toward a point unseen. “I have been thinking today. You told me to accept my fate. Perhaps that is what I have done.”

“You wish to be with his highness?”

“Why not? Lella told me he is not a barbarian. If I am more understanding, perhaps he will be also.”

“His highness will be surprised.”

“But pleased, Raj?” she asked. “Will he be pleased?”

“Undoubtedly,” the eunuch said.

He left her then to dress. When he returned for her, she was standing in the doorway gazing out over the garden. She looked utterly beautiful, her golden hair flowing free down her back, her body outlined clearly through the trousers.

“Do you still feel as you did, my lady?”

She smiled slowly, but her eyes were infinitely sad. “Yes, certainly. It is just that—” She raised her hand in a small gesture, then dropped it to her side.

“What troubles you, my lady?”

Arabella looked down at herself. “I am used to showing myself to advantage, Raj.”

He eyed her full breasts straining against the soft material. “I see no flaw in your beauty, my lady.”

“It is probably nothing,” she said. “I just wish for a jewel, a brooch perhaps to make me more elegant.”

He had not thought her vain, nor had he believed her capable of thinking herself anything less than a great lady, no matter her circumstance or costume.

“I should feel more confident in myself had I something to wear that reminded me of happier times.”

Tags: Catherine Coulter Devil Historical
Source: readsnovelonline.net