'Have I not always? And have I not always respected and supported the corps?'
'You have indeed,' Aruj Agha said, placated. 'That is what I told Hussein Aga in the baths yesterday when he expressed doubts of your loyalty.'
The dey clapped his friend upon the back. 'We are like two draft animals, harnessed together, my friend,' he said. 'Between us we have kept El Sinut prosperous and safe. I am a good administrator, but I could not have ruled without your cooperation. May it always be so.'
'As Allah wills it,' Aruj Agha agreed.
'How go the repairs on your vessel?' the dey inquired.
'Well. We should be able to set sail in another month, and Osman is working very hard to prepare his round ship for service. I believe we shall go out together the first time. I mean to allow him to captain the
'It is customary for janissaries to be aboard our ships,' the dey said calmly. 'I think you wise to take a seasoned captain, and restore him to his rank. My wife will be pleased you do honor to her cousin.'
And India was indeed delighted with the news. 'Perhaps when we send the janissaries packing,' she said, 'my cousin will help you form your new guard, my lord. There are many good men from Europe who might welcome such an opportunity.'
'You must be more discreet, my precious,' he advised. 'Nothing has been graven in stone yet, and we must not tip our hand.' He sighed. 'I regret that I dare not trust Aruj Agha in this matter, but Baba Hassan is right. My friend's loyalty is to the corps of janissaries.'
'Perhaps when the time comes, he will see the wisdom in your actions,' India attempted to sooth her husband. The dey truly enjoyed this one male friend with whom he hunted in the hills and, until India had come, played chess. It would be lonely for Caynan when Aruj Agha was sent back to Istanbul, but certainly her cousin, Tom Southwood… Osman, might take his place. She wished she might see Tom, but now it was no longer possible. At least not until he was admitted to the dey's inner circle as a trusted captain, as well as the relation of the dey's first wife.
Thomas Southwood had heard that the dey had made India his wife. He was relieved she had gotten some common sense, and was protected. He had no doubt that, given the chance, she would want to return to England, and he intended that, when he went, she would go, too. He had promised it to her those many months ago, and how could he justify leaving her behind to the family? Enough of their female relations had been in the same situation as India, and they had returned home. There was no great tra-rah over it. India's fat dowry would erase any number of sins in the eyes of a titled husband. Particularly one in the highlands who would have never heard of El Sinut. He had no doubt both India's grandmother and her mother knew of ways of making what was broken quite whole again. India's husband would have no doubt as to his bride's virginity.
Tom Southwood had been patient. He understood that if he wanted to succeed he had to bide his time. How many poor fools had attempted escape from captivity in the Barbary States and ended up dead? He had counseled those of his crewmen who had remained with him to practice forbearance. They were not ill-treated, and indeed, except for being confined to certain areas, they suffered not at all. 'It is a great adventure you will tell your grandchildren in Devon one day,' he assured them. 'Learn everything you can from the place. Enjoy the women. Enjoy the food. Enjoy the sun, and the warmth.
And while he kept their spirits up, he thought carefully of how they would make their escape. To be successful, the planning must be faultless. There was so much involved. He ruminated over and over again on it like a cow with a cud. The lighthouse keepers would have to be incapacitated so they could not raise an alarm. The great chain between the two lighthouses at the harbor's entrance would have to be lowered, and then raised again. Most believed the chain was raised only when an attack on El Sinut was thought to be imminent. Few realized it was raised each night to protect El Sinut from a surprise onslaught. It had been the state's policy as long as anyone could remember that vessels were not welcome in El Sinut's harbor either before sunrise or after sunset.
The hardest thing, however, would involve getting into the palace by stealth to bring India and her servant girl out. Tom Southwood had learned that his cousin's personal servant was a Scottish girl, the daughter of a ship's captain killed when his vessel was taken. Few of that crew had survived, but three had ended up in El Sinut, and one had been wise enough to accept Islam. He had been assigned to 'Osman's' crew. It was from this seaman, Captain Southwood had discovered India's serving maid was one of them. She would therefore be rescued as well, but how he was going to do it was a difficult problem.
And Adrian Leigh. He was another problem. There was simply no way they could rescue him, as he was chained to his oar with several other men. To attempt to free Viscount Twyford would endanger their plan, for his shipmates would want to come, too, and then so would all the other galley slaves on Aruj Agha's ship. Many of them were unsavory types, and uncontrollable. They would want to rape and pillage El Sinut before departing. Such rash behavior would destroy any chances they had of making a clean escape. It just couldn't be done, and he hoped that India would not be too distressed over it. They would, of course, notify young Leigh's family as to his whereabouts when they returned to England. It would be up to them to ransom the young man then, but at least they would know where he was.
Slowly and carefully Tom Southwood set everything in place. His men were primed, and ready to go. It was just a matter of time. They had to pick the right time, for he knew they would only get one chance. If they failed, they would be killed. And their deaths would not be easy or pleasant ones. He had seen what had happened to men who attempted to escape their captivity here on the Barbary coast. He did not intend such a death to happen to him, or to any of his men. He would be as patient now that the moment approached as he had been over these past months. Then he would succeed, and they would be home in England within a year of their having been gone.
'Soon,' he told his men. 'It will be soon. I feel it in my bones. Each one of you knows your task when I give you the word. There can be no mistakes, men.'
And then Thomas Southwood saw the perfect opportunity.
Chapter 14
India lay naked in her husband's arms, smiling up at him. 'I understand you wanting to hunt, and camp in the hills with Aruj Agha for a few days,' she told him sweetly. 'I have five brothers, and many uncles and cousins, my lord. Hunting is a man's sport.'
He caressed her beautiful breasts lightly, watching with pleasure as her nipples responded. 'Did you ever hunt with the men?' he asked her. 'I had heard women in your land enjoy the hunt.'
'Some do. My mother and my younger sister both enjoyed riding off with my father and brothers to spend a day on the hills or in the forest, but I never really enjoyed such sport.' Twisting herself about, she licked the flesh of his belly, then looked up at him seductively. 'This is the sport I favor,' she murmured.
'You are insatiable,' he said, laughing softly and pulling her back into his embrace where he might continue to caress her. She had the loveliest body, and being just newly with child, that body had not yet begun to change. Her belly was yet flat, and her rounded limbs in perfect proportion. The only change he could see was in her breasts, which had become a bit rounder, and the nipples more sensitive. He pulled her about so that she sat upon his thighs, facing him, and, leaning forward, he took one of those nipples into his mouth, his hand holding the breast to which it belonged firmly in his grasp.
Her senses were atingle. Her nipple was like a small stone niblet, yet so
