Bedazzled

accused of murder, we never went back to London. Oh, young Master Adrian did, but the family never did. The folk hereabouts likes you. You'll do fine.'

Diarmid laughed. 'I'm flattered that you think so,' he said to the old man, 'but I'm naught but a highland lad. I'll need all the help ye can give me, Dover.'

' 'Taint the experience, laddie,' Dover told the Scotsman. ' 'Tis the bearing and the attitude, and you have both,' he said wisely.

The only one of the servants refusing to retire was Mrs. Cranston, the cook. 'I only replaced Mrs. Dover when she died some eight years ago,' she told India. 'I'm years younger than the rest of them as you can plainly see, m'lady, and I'm not ready to be put out to pasture yet!' She stood before her young mistress, hands upon her ample hips, her white cap bobbing vigorously, her plump cheeks red with the constant heat of her kitchens.

'Do you need any more help?' India asked her.

'Well,' Mrs. Cranston allowed, 'most of them is young, and suits me fine, but if I might have a pot boy, and one more lass to scrub, I'd be most grateful, yer ladyship.'

'Have you anyone in mind?' India asked cleverly.

'Well, yer ladyship, I do. 'Tis a young niece and nephew of mine that I would place in your service. They're honest children, and will do their work well, for they've had obedience beaten into them by my sister, their mother.'

'His lordship must make the final decision, Mrs. Cranston, but I believe he will concur that your niece and nephew are suitable. Bring them into the house. They will have their wages at Michaelmas, and be given room and board. What are their ages?'

'The lad is nine, and the lass eleven, your ladyship,' Mrs. Cranston replied, smiling broadly, 'and I thank you kindly.'

***

To India's surprise, her husband did not arrive back home for some five days. Entering the house, he noted many new faces smiling at him. At the evening meal India told him of all the changes she had made, with his permission, of course. He approved it all, and India sent immediate word to the staff as she retired to her apartments to await her husband's coming. She bathed, and, dismissing Meggie, climbed into her bed.

When he entered her chamber, she was surprised to find he was wearing a white silk nightshirt. 'We must talk,' he said quietly, and began to pace back and forth about the room.

'About what?' she asked him, wondering what it was she might have done to displease this strange man.

'Tell me about your first husband,' he said bluntly.

Her heart leapt in her chest. What could he possibly have heard? Had Adrian somehow returned, and exposed her adventures to his elder brother? 'What do you wish to know?' she ventured nervously.

'You said he died.' Deverall Leigh was looking directly at her.

'Yes,' India answered. Her fingers clutched at the coverlet.

'How?'

'There was a rebellion in his country,' she answered him. 'He was killed.' Her chest felt tight, and she could feel tears coming.

'How do you know he was killed?' the earl persisted.

'How?' What did this man want from her? She swallowed back her tears.

'Yes. How?'

'I was with my grandmother, Lady Stewart-Hepburn, in Naples. She was arranging for my return to my husband when word came of the rebellion, and that my husband had been killed in it. I never returned back to my husband's lands again. Lady Stewart-Hepburn returned with me to Glenkirk. I was content to buy myself a house here in England, and live quietly the rest of my days, but my stepfather would not have it. I told you it was he who insisted that I remarry. I did so to escape him, and to regain control of my own wealth. Nevertheless, my lord, I shall endeavor to be a good wife to you in all ways. We need not be enemies.'

She had thought him dead. But that did not solve the problem of how she got to Naples, although he was certain it was in the ship stolen by Thomas Southwood. He pressed her further. 'Just who was this man to whom you were wed, India? What was his name?'

India closed her eyes a moment to regain her composure. Then, looking directly at him, she said, 'My husband's name was Caynan Reis, and he was the dey of the Barbary State of El Sinut. Are you content now, my lord? I was a captive, and I was made the dey's wife because we fell in love with each other! Are you horrified? Will you divorce me now that you have discovered that I was the beloved of an infidel?'

'How did a dey's wife get to Naples?' he demanded. 'Is it not unusual for a woman of the harem to be allowed to travel so far?'

'What does it matter how I got to Naples?' India cried. 'Why do you pursue this matter, my lord? Why should you care?'

He ceased his pacing, and sat down upon the bed next to her. Taking her face between his two hands, he said to her, 'Regardez-moi, India. Look at me!' The blue eyes softened. 'Do you not recognize Caynan Reis in Deverall Leigh? The beard is gone, and I have a scar, but can you not see me, my love?'

Her eyes widened in shock. His mouth! His kisses! That was what had been niggling at her all this time. 'You bastard!' she hissed venomously at him, pulling away from his hands, leaping naked from the other side of the bed. 'You bloody bastard! How could you have done this to me? And you say you love me? I will kill you!' Reaching for the nearest object at hand, she flung the bowl of roses at him.

' 'Tis I who should kill you,' he shouted back at her, ducking, 'but not before I find out what you did with my child!'

'Your child? Your child!' she shrieked. 'Is that what this has been all about? Your child?' Grabbing up her silver hairbrush, she hurled it at him. 'Why could you not have come to Glenkirk to reclaim me? Do you know what I have suffered over you, my lord?' Her eyes cast about for another object to throw at him, but the room was virtually empty of such trinkets. She bared her teeth at him, moving about the bed toward him. Then she launched herself at him, fists pummeling him, nails seeking out his eyes.

He would have laughed at this naked fury if the situation had not been so serious, but now he realized if he did not calm her anger, and indeed his, nothing would be resolved between them. He caught her hands in his, and, forcing them to her sides, wrapped her in his embrace. 'India, India,' he pleaded. 'There is some terrible misunderstanding between us, and we must rectify it. Stop struggling, you little wildcat, and tell me how you got to Naples? It was with Tom Southwood, wasn't it?'

She squirmed against him, pulling half free of his grasp. 'I can say nothing if you persist in smothering me,' she snarled at him.

He loosened his grip slightly, but not enough so she might do him a mischief. 'How did you get to Naples?' he repeated.

'That fool of a cousin of mine learned of a small section of wall that surrounded your garden that opened onto a narrow public street. He had wheedled the information out of Aruj Agha by means of flattery. He came with one of his men the night of the terrible storm. I told him I loved you. That I was