Page 22 of Silver Angel

“I think I understood her motives better once I came to know Robert Sinclair. I came to love him, Jamil, just as she does.”

“And how I hated him for being the reason you were taken from me.” This was said quietly, without the earlier heat Jamil had displayed.

“I did, too, at first. I hated everything English. But then a little girl of no more than six put me in my place, demanding of me, ‘What have you to be so high and mighty and god-awful arrogant about? You’re just a boy, and an orphan at that.’”

“An orphan?”

“It’s the story our grandfather put out, to explain why I showed up alone on his doorstep. My father was supposedly a foreign diplomat my mother had met and married while abroad, and both parents died, leaving the Marquis to raise me. It kept things simple and generated sympathy. Ah, the sympathy.” Derek chuckled. “When I was only twelve, there was the prettiest little kitchen wench who insisted on showing me how very sympathetic she could be.”

“Twelve?” Jamil snorted. “And our father made me wait until I was thirteen before any female slaves were allowed to serve me.”

They both grinned, remembering their first attempts at making love and how very hesitant and scared they had been at that early age. Then Jamil added, “And the unwise female child who insulted you?”

Derek laughed. “She became my closest friend.” He laughed harder at Jamil’s incredulous look. “It’s true. She made me realize what an utter ass I was for taking out my loneliness and resentment on everyone around me. I was there, and there to stay, so I began to make the best of it.”

“But a female friend, Kasim? I know Europeans feel differently about women, but you’re only half English.”

“I had only just left the harem, Jamil. It felt more natural for me at the time to associate with this girl rather than with the men of the Marquis’s household. And as you say, Europeans feel differently about it. There, it was all right for me to remain friends with Caroline, even as we grew older. And now,” he added with a grin, “I’m going to marry the lady when I return.”

Jamil shook his head. “You have waited a long time to marry.”

“It takes a bit more time to think about it when you’re stuck with your first choice.”

“Yes, only one wife.” Again the Dey shook his head. “Can you be satisfied with only one?”

“Come on, Jamil. You know very well that Europeans enjoy as much variety as you do. We just have to be discreet about it. Actually,” Derek added truthfully, “I still wouldn’t be getting married just yet if the Marquis hadn’t insisted on it. He wants to see some children before he passes on.”

“You have none yet?”

“None that I know of. And you? How many are there now?”

“Sixteen, but only four are sons.”

“Then you’ve had three more daughters since I last heard from you? Congratulations.”

Jamil started to shrug that aside, for daughters were not considered at all important except when it came time to marry them off, but the fact was that he adored all his little girls, and they were all still young, under the age of six.

He was grinning proudly when he replied, “My first wife has given me two daughters now, as well as my oldest son. They are angels, Kasim, the youngest only three months old.”

“I hope I’ll get to see them while I’m here. I am their uncle, after all.”

“Of course,” Jamil said with some surprise, for if Kasim agreed to Omar’s idea, he would see not only Jamil’s children while he was here but all of his women as well. “Didn’t Omar tell you—” He fell silent at his brother’s bland look, only to explode, “That son of a camel’s turd! He didn’t tell you why you’re here, did he? He left it to me!”

Derek grinned. “Actually, it didn’t come up. We ended up discussing horse breeding instead.”

“Horse breeding!”

“Yes, because of the matched pair of Thoroughbreds I brought along for you.”

Jamil’s expression changed to one of boyish delight. “You did?”

Derek chuckled. “Yes. But now that you’ve mentioned it, whyamI here?”

Jamil cringed at the reminder. “It was Omar’s idea. I refused at first to even consider it, but he wouldn’t give up badgering me about it, and finally I let him convince me to at least ask you. Even so, I would have refused if I weren’t certain Selim is behind this plot. He hates me, Kasim, and always has. You know that. You must remember. He was even worse than Mahmud in his spitefulness and cruelty. If he succeeds in eliminating me and comes to power, he would see that my wives, my children, all perish.”

Derek did indeed remember Selim. “Yes, I’ve no doubt of that. So what is Omar’s idea?”

“For you to take my place.”