do not know. She said it tasted horrible.’
‘It was probably too well spiced. You would not have been given bad food. Your companion is too valuable to risk giving her bad meat.’
‘She is my cousin and I love her. Can you give her something to ease her?’
‘I may have something in my belongings that will ease her. Look in the sea chest in your cabin and you will find a small blue bottle. Three drops of the liquid inside mixed with water should ease her sickness, and the pain will go.’
‘You seem very sure?’
‘The remedy was given to me when I experienced similar sickness many years ago. I have kept it with me in case it was needed, though I have become accustomed to spiced food, as you will in time.’
‘I do not intend that we should stay in your country for long enough to become accustomed to anything. When I see your master I shall demand our freedom.’
For a moment a smile flickered in his eyes, as if he laughed despite himself, but then it vanished and his expression became hard once more. ‘I doubt that you will be noticed by the Caliph, lady—but even if you were, you would do well not to make any demands. Otherwise, you would soon find yourself in a place you would not wish to be.’
Harriet gave him a haughty look, turned and went back into the cabin. She opened the sea chest, found the small blue bottle and tasted one drop on her mouth. It was bitter, making her pull a face, but she knew it could not be poison, for the man with the blue eyes would not be so careless with the Caliph’s money.
Making up the medicine as she had been told, Harriet gave the cup to her cousin. Marguerite made a face as she swallowed it, but soon after she seemed easier and in a little while she had fallen asleep.
She was worn out with weeping. Looking at her with compassion, Harriet understood that her cousin was terrified of the future and with good cause. Her beauty would ensure that she would find favour in the eyes of the man for whom she had been bought. Harriet might spend her days as a servant if she were fortunate, but Marguerite would become a concubine.
Sinking to her knees, Harriet bent her head in prayer.
‘Please keep her safe,’ she whispered. ‘I can bear whatever happens to me … but please keep my cousin safe.’
Kasim was frowning as he went back on deck. The hellcat was living up to her name and he did not doubt that she would cause trouble in the harem. He felt a pang of conscience for he knew that it was within his power to set them both free. He could have found another woman for the Caliph’s son—or simply returned to the palace and reported his failure to find the right woman.
For a few moments he toyed with the idea of sailing for England, but then the bitter memories crowded in and he knew that he could never return to the life that had been his. He was settled in the palace and his life was not unpleasant. He would be a fool to throw away all that he had worked for, for the sake of a woman he did not know.
‘My lord Kasim …’ a voice called to him and he pushed the women from his mind.
Climbing to the bridge, he turned his mind to the voyage ahead. There were reasons why he needed to return to the palace. He must put away his vague feelings of guilt and concentrate on his duty.
Chapter Two
Harriet was bending over her cousin, bathing her forehead with cool water when the cabin door opened behind her. She swung round, feeling a little shock when she saw the man who had purchased them.
‘What do you want?’ she asked sharply, her heart racing. He had told her they were purchased for the Caliph, but the sight of him made her nervous—supposing he had decided to keep Marguerite for himself?
‘I came to see how your cousin was faring,’ he said and frowned as he sensed her apprehension. ‘You have nothing to fear from me, mistress.’
‘She is still unwell. Her skin is hot and she is sweating.’
‘Did you give her the medicine?’
‘Yes. It eased her for a while, but then she was sick again.’
He walked to the bed and placed a hand on Marguerite’s forehead. ‘She is warm. Perhaps you should sponge her down with cool water. I have heard it helps with a fever. She may have taken a fever rather than eaten something unpleasant. I imagine you were kept in a hold before you reached Algiers?’
‘Yes. It smelled foul and the air was dreadful. Your people have much to answer for, sir!’
‘The corsairs are not my people,’ Kasim replied, his eyes dark with thought. ‘You are not the only ones who have suffered at their hands. You will find life very different where you are going, for you will have the best of everything.’
‘We shall not be free.’
‘Were you truly free at home, Lady Harriet? If so, you are a remarkable woman. Most English ladies I knew were constrained by the rules of society and their families.’
‘You have been to England?’ Her eyes narrowed. His skin had a deep tan, but there was something about his features that made her wonder. ‘Are you English? Why are you here?’
‘You ask too many questions,’ he replied as Marguerite moaned. ‘I will mix another preparation for you—and then I shall leave you so that you can bathe her.’
‘Thank you.’ Harriet bent over her cousin, smoothing a damp cloth over her brow. She put an arm under Marguerite’s head as he returned with the cup, lifting her. ‘Drink this, dearest. It may ease you.’
Marguerite swallowed and lay back against the pillows, her eyes closed.
‘It will be a day or two before we reach port,’ Kasim said. ‘On board this ship you are free to come on deck if you wish. If you jumped overboard my men would fetch you back. I would ask you not to waste their time by trying to escape.’
‘Marguerite cannot swim,’ Harriet replied. ‘I would have tried to swim for the shore when the pirates took us, but she would have been left behind. I cannot desert her.’
For a moment his eyes met hers and she saw an odd expression in their depths. ‘You may not always be able to protect her. She is a grown woman and one day must choose for herself.’
‘She was going to Spain to meet a man who had asked for her hand in marriage, but she begged me to go with her. I think she was afraid that she might be compelled to marry against her will, but her father loves her. He would have let her choose—but she was anxious and I thought I might travel, see something of the world.’
‘Perhaps you have seen more than you would have wished. This is the world as it is, whether you and I like it or not,’ Kasim said, walked to the door and went out.
Harriet bent over her cousin once more. She pulled back the covers, bathing her limbs one by one, then, turning her on to her stomach, she lifted the tunic and bathed Marguerite’s back. She pushed back the loose sleeves of the kaftan and bathed her arms, then her face and neck. After that it seemed that Marguerite was easier.
Harriet watched her for a while, then went to look out of the porthole. The sky
