Chapter Forty-five
“Now that the money source is gone, the informants are lining up at the gates,” Jamil told Derek. “It will not be long before we have every last man who has been involved.”
He had returned to the palace late last night, but learned in the harbor that his trip had been for nothing.
It was his longing for Sheelah that had brought him back.
He had intended staying just the one night, then going on to Tripoli, where an informant had suggested Selim might have gone after leaving Istanbul. He knew now how false that idea was.
But Jamil had put off everything until he had straightened things out with his beloved Sheelah, and that had taken all night. Not telling her his plans in the first place had been a mistake. He understood that now, and his only excuse was that he hadn’t been himself when he left.
He had had a long conference with Omar this morning, and then he had joined Derek in the secret room, which he had returned to last night.
“Then it really is over?” Derek said.
“Did you think it was not? Ali gave his cutthroats a paltry sum to risk their necks, with the big prize promised only for the men who succeeded. Of course, there never was a fortune waiting for the culprits to collect. I paid Mara extremely well for her services, but the whole thing went on too long, draining everything she had. There were men to be paid for their constant vigil outside the palace. There were all the men to be paid who intercepted my couriers, and that was just to throw us off the scent. It was why Mara had to resort to stealing jewels from the other women. If someone had actually succeeded in getting to me, Ali planned to kill him when he showed up for the prize.”
“And now that it has been made known that the instigators are dead and the money gone…”
“No one is going to risk his life without reward. I am as safe outside the palace as I am within,” Jamil finished.
“And I can go home.”
Jamil laughed at Derek’s sigh. “And here Omar assured me you had been having a wonderful time.”
“Only at certain times of the day,” Derek grunted. “I have learned firsthand how quickly boredom can set in for the balance.”
“And how is the skinny little blonde who relieved that boredom?”
“Not talking to me, actually, ever since she had that confrontation with Mara. She seems to think the whole thing was my—your—fault, for not sensing that Mara was seriously troubled by her abnormality.”
Jamil frowned. “I suppose I might have sensed it under normal circumstances, but the fact remains that the woman did everything possible to ensure that she was punished, by deliberately insulting me or disobeying me, and when that didn’t work, by attacking me.
However, she was never whipped for long, nor even very hard, but when it was over, she was savage in her lovemaking.
You saw this for yourself. And I suppose I came to expect it, and so summoned her whenever I had need for such violence, which was more and more often after the weeks of self-imposed confinement turned to months. ”
“Your own frustration was abetting your assassination. A vicious little circle—ironic, to say the least.”
“It was ingenious. Suspicion would never have fallen on Mara. We had overlooked the harem entirely until Shahar overheard that conversation. Even then Mara didn’t come under suspicion.”
“I’m glad you’re putting credit where it’s due,” Derek replied. “You owe her a lot.”
“I am not denying that, Kasim. But I thought you would want to name the reward, considering she has been ‘our’ exclusive favorite all these weeks.” At Derek’s grimace, Jamil chuckled. “All the time I was gone, I thought you would be giving me the excuse I needed to weed out my harem.”
“Don’t give me that, brother. You were worried sick about it.”
“A little, perhaps. But I did hear that you found one of my favorites to your liking. Strange that it was only the Englishwoman who should attract you, and Jamila being the source of so much inquiry from the English consul.”
Derek grinned. Jamil had seen right through that one, so there was no point in delaying his request.
“You won’t mind letting her return to England with me, then, since you will be wanting to get rid of her anyway?”
“Your people would be pleased, I suppose?”
“They wouldn’t take it amiss.”
“Very well,” Jamil replied. “And your Shahar? Will you make the same request for her?”
“Actually, I don’t know what the hell I want for her.” At Jamil’s raised brow, he admitted, “I thought taking her to my bed would assure her a husband of her own when you returned. Englishwomen are particular about that, you know, having a man all to themselves.”
Jamil was surprised. “You mean you never intended asking for her freedom?”
“I think I deliberately didn’t consider it because I needed an excuse—”
Derek didn’t finish and Jamil smiled knowingly. “That she was a virgin was a problem, was it?”
Derek sighed. “A bloody big problem.”
“I was afraid her first meeting with me would have made things more difficult for you.”
“Oh, it did, but nothing I couldn’t get around.
It just took longer. And…oh, who the hell am I kidding?
Of course I want to take her out of here with me.
It’s what she would want, and she deserves that for solving your little problem.
” He didn’t add that the more he thought of it, the more he didn’t want to see her married to some other man.
“Then should I tell her, or do you want that privilege? Perhaps she will talk to you again after you give her the good news.”
Derek scowled, watching Jamil trying to hold back his amusement. “Actually, the longer I can get away without telling her the truth, the better. She can think she is sailing with you. She doesn’t have to know where.”
“But why?”
“For a few extra weeks of peace. The lady is going to raise holy hell when she learns I’m as English as she is, believe me. And it’s not going to be pleasant being confined with her on a ship once she realizes that I could have obtained her freedom without taking her to bed.”
“You are much too indulgent where women are concerned. You should be—”
“More like you?”
They both laughed, and Jamil admitted, “I do have quite a few women to placate after your single-minded pursuit of the new favorite left them all neglected. It will take me at least a month to bring contentment back to my harem.”
“I hear you started last night.”
“Sheelah is and always will be my main concern. And, Allah be thanked, she understood. She also begs your forgiveness if she made things more difficult for you. She said she sensed your guilt in not being able to tell her the truth.”
Derek shrugged that off. “It’s over and everything can get back to normal, including my own life.”
“Yes, you have that fiancée waiting for you, do you not? And Shahar? Will you keep her, too?”
Derek’s lips turned up at the corners. “Now that you mention it, that’s not a bad idea.”
Jamil snorted. “As if you had not already thought of it. But will she agree?”
“I got around her aversion to you. I can get around her aversion to being my mistress. After all, she will see herself as ruined and unsuitable for a decent marriage now.”
“Is she?”
“As beautiful as she is? Are you kidding?”
Jamil grunted. They might be twins, but their tastes in women just weren’t the same. “I wish you luck, then. But as you say, you will have to get around her anger first.”
Derek made a face. “Yes, there is that.”