Bedazzled

they will receive an additional reward when they return to Naples wi his answer. Greed is a powerful spur,' he finished dryly.

'They will go today?' India demanded.

'As soon as I put your message in their hands, my lady, they will depart the port,' he told her.

Cat supplied the parchment and pen, and India immediately sat down to write to her husband. She told him of how her cousin had invaded their private garden by coming over that tiny piece of the wall that was vulnerable to the outside world. How he had rendered her unconscious and carried her off, forcing Meggie to go, too. That she was now in Naples at the villa of her stepfather's mother, Lady Stewart- Hepburn, who had agreed she must return to her husband, but because of the constant strife between the Barbary States and Christian Europe, the women did not know how this end might be accomplished. She wrote that she loved him, and was desperate to be back in his arms again.

The waterproof parchment was then folded and sealed. Then it was placed into a leather envelope, and sealed again. Conall More-Leslie returned to the harbor, giving the leather carrier into the hands of one Captain Pietro, along with a pouch of coins. The captain weighed the pouch in his palm, his look thoughtful and assessing.

' 'Tis all there,' Conall told him. 'When you get to El Sinut, go to the dey's palace, and ask for the chief eunuch, Baba Hassan. Tell him the leather envelope contains a message from his mistress, and is to be given to the dey immediately. Then do exactly what this man tells you to do, and when it is permitted, you will return to Naples with any answer, coming to the Villa del Pesce d'Oro to deliver that reply and collect the rest of your reward. As I have told you, the dey will instruct us to pay you additional for your service, so do not fail us, Captain Pietro.'

'This is no plot against Naples, is it?' the captain asked.

Conall shook his head, rather amazed to find this smuggler was a patriotic man. 'It is a private matter,' he said. 'Nothing more.'

The captain nodded. 'Bene,' he said.

Knowing her messenger was on his way back to El Sinut softened India's stance somewhat toward Thomas Southwood, but she was not entirely mollified, and wouldn't be until a message of reassurance came from her husband. Still, she sat at the table that evening with Cat, her handsome son Ian, and Thomas Southwood. It was Ian Stewart-Hepburn who kindled his mother's emotions, and took the attention completely from India by announcing his intentions to go with Thomas Southwood.

'What on earth for?' Cat demanded.

'Because, my dear mama, it is time I made something of myself and my life. I am thirty-three years of age, and I have spent much of my time in idle pursuits. I cannot continue to be a wastrel.'

'But what will you do on Tom's ship?' Cat asked, somewhat confused. 'You are not a sailor, Ian, nor can you be one at your age.'

'But I can be a merchant-trader, Mama,' he told her. 'I've bought a cargo of fine olive oil, and I've sent to my saddle maker in Firenze for a dozen of his best saddles. I intend shipping them on the Royal Charles, and finding a market for them in Istanbul. Then I shall buy something there, perhaps silk, and return to Naples.'

'Ian! You are the son of the earl of Bothwell,' Cat said. 'What can you be thinking that you would go into trade?'

'Aye, I am the youngest son of Francis Stewart-Hepburn, once the earl of Bothwell, cousin to the royal Stuarts, but my father was outlawed, and driven from Scotland. Everything was taken from him. They even tried to take you from him, Mama. There is no title, or estates, to inherit, and if there were, Margaret Douglas's sons would have long ago laid claim to them, for she was his first wife, and her children take precedence over we youngest three, who were born when you were wed to the earl of Glenkirk. Until our father claimed us, we were thought to be Leslies, Mama.

'I am my father's son, Mama. I cannot live my life in idleness and boredom. I cannot return to Scotland, for there is nothing there for me, and I should be considered Bothwell's bastard, and scorned. I need to make a life for myself. I have been astoundingly well educated, and I have spent several years enjoying myself while I played. Now I need to move onward. Youj generous allowance allows me to attempt this venture. I think I shall be good at it. I like the business of business. Perhaps if I make a small success of this, I shall even take a wife at long last. I know that would please you, eh, Mama?'

For a moment she stared at this man who looked so much like his father, with his blue eyes and auburn hair. She wondered what Francis would have thought of his youngest son's desire to go into business. The world was changing, she realized, and those who did not change with it would certainly be doomed to extinction. Francis would have agreed with that sentiment. He, himself, had been a man born ahead of his time. At least their son wanted to make something of himself, and he had some Leslie blood in his veins through her, for Cat's mother had been a Leslie. The Leslies had always been fascinated with trading, and the wealth it brought them. 'I'm surprised,' she admitted candidly to him, 'but if this is what you want, Ian, then I cannot deny you. But make a success of it, damn it! Trade carefully, and be clever, and get your own vessel as soon as you can. That's where the money is, my son. In owning your own ship, and not having to pay someone else to ship your goods.'

'Exactly, madame,' Thomas Southwood said. 'The Royal Charles is mine, which is why I was so anxious to regain her custody.'

'Would you consider selling a third share in her, sir?' Cat asked the surprised young man. She turned to Ian. 'It would be my gift to you, which would allow you not only the profits from your own cargo, but a third profit from the ship itself.' She looked back to Thomas Southwood. 'The third share I buy for Ian will ease the loss of the cargo you carried when you were captured last year. I know you sail under the banner of the O'Malley-Small Trading Company, but do they own any share of the Royal Charles?'

Tom Southwood shook his head. 'She's all mine, madame,' he said. 'Several of my relations have their own vessels now, but we still sail under our family's banner for a number of reasons.'

'I understand,' Cat said, 'but will you sell me a third share?'

'Aye,' he consented, 'I will, madame. The price you agree upon will indeed ease my loss, and allow me to pay my men a small stipend, for they lost, too, by our sojourn to El Sinut.'

India had been fascinated by the conversation, but now as the talk turned to concluding the bargain, her mind wandered. How far had her message traveled? How would her husband retrieve her safely? What would her family think of all of this? She was hesitant to write to them just now for fear they might somehow manage to prevent her from returning to El Sinut. She knew it was a silly fear, for they were so far away in Scotland, or perhaps England, at this point in time. Still, she might err on the side of caution, and wait.

***

Several weeks went by during which the Royal Charles was restored to her full glory, but the cannon installed by the janissaries remained aboard. Thomas Southwood had decided that the loss of some cargo space was worth the ability to defend his ship. Finally, one sunny morning, he and Ian came to bid the ladies a farewell, the vessel being fully loaded, and ready to set sail for Istanbul.

'When do you plan to send India home?' the captain asked Lady Stewart-Hepburn. 'Have you written to your son yet?'

'There has been no time with all your excitement, and Ian's plans,' Cat