Star Crossed Seduction

by Jenny Brown

  It was possible. The way she’d withdrawn from him the previous night after being subjected to Sir Humphrey’s crudity had been profoundly disquieting, and as much as he’d longed to make love with her afterward, he had not been able to do it. The painful silence that had stretched out after he’d told her he would not demand she remain with him if she found India intolerable had chilled his heart.

  But too much was at stake at the moment for him to wallow in personal emotion. He must turn his attention to the vital matter that had brought him here. The Weaver’s real agent must be hiding somewhere in the Mad Nabob’s domain, eager to get his hands on the jewel, and ready to pounce if Trev dropped his guard. But so far, he had been unable to find a clue as to his identity.

  He’d charged his man with the task of determining whether any new servants had been introduced into Sir Humphrey’s household within the past few weeks, but he must not assume the Weaver’s agent would appear in the guise of a servant. The thief might be anybody. Trev must make no assumptions as to who the Weaver had sent to steal the jewel.

  This uncertainty strengthened his resolve to conclude his business with the nabob as fast as possible. Once he had taken possession of the jewel, they would leave immediately. The less time they spent here, the less chance there was of the Weaver’s agent making mischief.

  But as they must make a speedy exit, he must ensure that Temperance didn’t wander off somewhere. He couldn’t afford to waste precious time tracking her down when it was time to leave. So when he was done dressing, he said, “I must ask that you remain in this chamber while I conduct my business with Sir Humphrey this morning.”

  “Why?” Her surly expression left no doubt how she felt about his attempt to limit her freedom. “I had hoped to explore on my own some of the wonders that you told me were what tempted you here.”

  He sighed. Once again, he could not be frank with her. As much as he might wish he could be, as long as there was an iota of doubt about her real connection with the Weaver, he must keep her from knowing his plans. He had already erred badly in mentioning that they would be leaving for India so soon. It had just slipped out. He would not make a similar mistake again.

  So he said merely, “It’s for your own safety. I don’t wish to expose you to any more unpleasantness.”

  “I can take care of myself,” she replied. “You don’t need to wrap me in cotton wool.”

  “I know you can,” he said soothingly. “But humor me now. Stay in the room until I come back for you.”

  The set of her lip told him she didn’t entirely believe his explanation, but he didn’t have the time to stand here arguing. It wouldn’t be long until he would be able to explain everything to her, once the jewel was safely locked in the heavily guarded casket the under secretary had provided for it aboard their ship.

  He gave her a perfunctory kiss and set forth for his meeting. As he closed the chamber door behind him, he felt an irrational urge to lock it and take the key away with him but dismissed it. He could just imagine the fury with which Temperance would react to such a gesture. And she would have every right to be furious. As it was, in subjecting her to Sir Humphrey’s rudeness, he had already exposed her to more than she should have had to endure.

  He found Sir Humphrey in his study, where he sat cross-legged on the floor puffing contentedly on a large silver hookah decorated with arabesques. It gave off the sweet scent of ganja. Trev wondered if that, too, grew in Sir Humphrey’s hothouse.

  “I trust you slept well,” the nabob began. “Though with such a houri to delight you, I should wonder if you wasted much time on sleeping.”

  “I slept very well, thank you. But I would caution you against making any further comments about my connection with Miss Smith. I would find them offensive.”

  “Have no fear, my brave Captain. I shan’t poach your game. I have plenty of women of my own and have no need to steal yours.”

  “You don’t understand. I intend to make Miss Smith my bride.”

  Sir Humphrey fixed him with a hard stare and arranged his features into a formal smile. “Then I must offer you my congratulations and my hopes that the two of you may be happy.” He was clearly struggling to be polite, but his next words revealed he had lost the battle. “I wonder that any man would wish to yoke himself in marriage now, knowing that even a king cannot rid himself of an unfaithful wife. Look at how Princess Caroline gave our new king a cuckold’s horns with that Italian fellow, Pergami, and there’s not a thing he can do about it. Henry VIII could lop off a wife’s head for disporting herself with a lover, but those days are long gone—” He paused. “You know, of course, of his connection with the Jewel of Vadha?

  “Who?”

  “King Henry. It was his jewel. You can see it in those portraits of him by Holbein. It’s the large brownish stone you see in his ring, an oriental topaz.”

  “All I know about this jewel is that if you don’t hand it over, and quickly, so I can return it to its rightful owner, it will propel us into a costly war with the Nawab of Bundilore.”

  “Quite so, quite so.” Sir Humphrey nodded, with an expression a little too much like that of the crafty Mughal prince he pretended to be. “But it is because of the jewel’s connection with Henry VIII that the Nawab is so determined upon recovering it.”

  “I was told he wanted it because it was a family heirloom.”

  “That may be what you were told, but his real motivation is that he believes it has magical properties. Ones Henry found most useful.”

  Trev stood up. “Fascinating as it might be to speculate about such matters, our time runs short. I must take possession of this gem at once. The faster I get it to India, the safer our forces will be.”

  Sir Humphrey reached for his hookah and took another long draught. Then he slowly released the smoke in a narrow stream directed toward Trev’s face. The insult was obvious, but Trev ignored it.

  “You will have your jewel this afternoon,” the nabob said at length. “I have no desire to stand in the way of the progress of our glorious Empire. But before I hand it over, I will demand something from you, in return.” Responding to Trev’s expression, he added, “Not that. I know you begrudge me the gift Mr. Fanshawe promised me, but he also told me you are an excellent judge of horseflesh. So before I give you the jewel, I should like you to have a look at the new Arabian stallion I’ve just added to my stable. I paid a fortune for him. Take him out for a gallop and tell me if he’s as good as I thought he was, or if the fellow who sold him to me rooked me.”

  Temperance considered ignoring Trev’s command that she stay in the room while he attended to his business with the nabob but decided against it. If she were to make herself into a good wife, she must obey at least some of her husband’s commands, as much as it rubbed her the wrong way to do so. So to divert herself during his absence, she leafed through the book he had brought her, the Journal of a Residence in India, Written by an English Lady, looking for confirmation that she was not making a disastrous error in thinking she could be happy as an Indian officer’s wife.

  The authoress, Mrs. Graham, described with enthusiasm the rides she had taken on the backs of elephants, as well as tiger hunts, visits to ancient temples, and the warm hospitality of the English who had settled in India. Temperance must hope she would find them as satisfying.

  Her reading was interrupted by a knock on the door. She put down her book and called out, “Come in,” expecting it to be servant.

  But her caller was not a servant but the nabob himself, clad in a long, silken robe of a brilliant saffron hue. It was belted at the waist with a gold girdle from which dangled a huge, deep red ruby. He shut the door behind him with a decisive click.

  Instantly, all her senses went on the alert. Sir Humphrey was eying her with a look that reminded her of the way he’d let his insolent eyes caress her during his conversation with Trev the previous evening.

  “You fascinate me,” he said. “You have such beauty and such cunning. Why do you
throw yourself away on a nonentity like the captain? I have so much more to offer you.”

  Temperance glared at him. “It is a strange form of hospitality to try to win away your guest’s intended bride. Or is this some Indian custom I’m not familiar with.”

  “He promised to make you his bride, did he?” Sir Humphrey laughed. It was an ugly sound. “Surely you didn’t fall for such a transparent lie as that. No officer of his rank could marry a woman like you without destroying his career. I confess myself surprised you should have let yourself be so taken in.”

  “I was not taken in. He loves me.” She spoke quickly, fighting off her dismay at hearing her deepest fear put into words.

  “Nonsense.” The nabob sneered. “He brought you here as he was ordered to do by his superior. Whatever he told you, he said it only to convince you to come here with him. I have something his commander wishes very much to obtain. As part of the price I asked for it, I demanded they give me a woman to add to my harem. Fanshawe and I have been negotiating terms for the past several weeks. Your captain was detailed to bring you to me.”

  “You lie,” she spat. “It isn’t possible.”

  “Pish,” Sir Humphrey said. “Of course it’s possible. But let me hasten to assure you, though he brought you to fulfill his superior’s command, you won’t lose out by the arrangement. The woman who pleases me can expect to profit considerably from our connection.” His chubby hand seized the huge ruby that hung from his belt, and he held it up to her. “Take this, for example. It is a very valuable jewel. It could be yours, my dear, were you to agree to dally with me.”

  “Get out!” she shouted. “When Trev learns of the insult you offered me, he will kill you.”

  She must believe it. She could not allow herself to think the nabob’s poisonous claim could be true. But a treacherous voice within her whispered that if it wasn’t, why had Trev been so evasive about his reasons for visiting the nabob, why hadn’t he given her a chance to prepare for the journey to India, and why, this very morning, had he been so insistent she stay in the room?

  “Your faith in your lover is touching, but misplaced,” Sir Humphrey continued. “It was only this morning he described to me the pleasure I could look forward to in your arms. He says you’re a devilish good lover. Is it true, as he told me, that you bear the mark of Satan on your thigh?”

  She struggled against the sickness that welled up within her. “He told you that?”

  “Why yes. It’s the shape of a cloven hoof, isn’t it. As he had intended, it stimulated my desire to enjoy you.”

  “You lie,” she repeated, but this time she could barely get out the words. How else could the nabob have known of her cursed mark unless Trev had told him?

  “Believe what you like.” Sir Humphrey smirked. “But I was promised you as part of the bargain I negotiated with Mr. Fanshawe, and I will have you, whether you wish it or not. You can come to me willingly, in return for a substantial reward, or you can fight me. But depend upon it, your captain will not protect you. Now that he’s delivered you to me, he will claim the reward he was promised, his choice of the women of my harem. Even without the mark of the devil on their hinder parts, they will make him forget whatever delights you shared with him. My girls are exceedingly well trained.”

  He clapped loudly, twice, and two large turbaned men glided into the room.

  “You need not use force,” she said, grasping the ring her betrayer had given her and wrenching it off her hand. She threw it on the floor and stomped on it. Then, head held high, she turned to the nabob and let him lead her silently out of the chamber.

  It was good to be astride a horse again and feel the powerful muscles of such a fine animal propelling him along. As he rode the nabob’s magnificent stallion, Trev realized that the necessity of leaving his own mounts behind in India was yet another factor that had kept him from enjoying his leave. At least he’d be able to tell Sir Humphrey he had got good value for his money, whatever he had paid, though it was a damned shame such a prime bit of horseflesh should be wasted on such a man.

  He’d be glad to see the last of him, especially after their interview this morning, though the other man’s undisguised jealousy had taught him he’d have to get used to other men lusting after his wife—she was too beautiful not to attract attention. But he’d lost all patience with the way the Mad Nabob used his eccentricity to get away with outrageous behavior. The sooner he got Temperance away from him, the happier he’d be.

  He rode the stallion back to the stables, taking care to slow his pace to a comfortable walk before turning him over to the stableboy. Then he turned his steps toward Sir Humphrey’s office to make his report.

  But when he presented himself at Sir Humphrey’s door, it was not his host who greeted him but his majordomo, who sprang between him and the doorway, crying, “You mustn’t enter. He couldn’t tolerate the sight of you, not now. Not after what has happened.”

  “What has happened?”

  “Surely someone has told you.”

  “I’ve just come in from taking horse exercise and have spoken with no one. What are you talking about?”

  The man shook his head sadly. “The Jewel of Vadha. It’s gone.”

  “Gone? How could that be?”

  “It’s been stolen by that woman you introduced into his household.”

  “Temperance?”

  The man’s look said it all.

  Trev rocked back on his heels. This must be a nightmare. Like an automaton, he heard himself saying, “He must be mistaken. Tell me exactly happened.”

  “It’s not a pretty story,” the man said, hedging. “And it doesn’t reflect well on my master.”

  “To hell with your master. I must know everything. Leave nothing out.”

  The man took a step backward, frightened by his vehemence. “There is little to tell. Sir Humphrey had just taken the jewel out of his safe so he could give it to you when you returned from your ride, when that woman of yours made her way into his private quarters. She drew him into an intimate situation and did not leave until she’d reduced him to a condition of total exhaustion. Then she pinched the jewel.”

  “Temperance wouldn’t have done such a thing. It’s impossible.”

  But, of course, it was all too possible. It was just what Fanshawe had warned him she’d been hired by the Weaver to do.

  It was he who had talked himself out of believing she wasn’t in the Weaver’s employ. How he’d clung to that belief, even yesterday, when he’d seen the note from Snake with his very own eyes. He’d been so eager to accept her explanation, so greedy for the love she’d offered him. But now he remembered the furtive look in her eyes as he had walked over to the grate and the jolt that had run through him when he’d seen the damning paper going up in smoke.

  The majordomo interrupted his harsh thoughts. “By the time Sir Humphrey realized the jewel was gone, she had disappeared. He sent men out to search, but they found no trace of her. He assumes she must have had an accomplice waiting to speed her away.”

  She had left him without warning. He struggled to get a grip on himself. “I must speak to Sir Humphrey immediately.”

  “It would be best if you didn’t. He is extremely perturbed. I cannot guarantee your safety should you confront him.”

  “I cannot guarantee your safety if I don’t.” He drew himself up to his full height and, with his hand on the hilt of his sword, advanced. The man stepped away from the door and let him in.

  “You!” The Mad Nabob snarled. “I wonder that you have the effrontery to show your face after your whore has made off with our precious Jewel of Vadha.”

  Trev forced himself to stay calm. Face-to-face with the nabob, he couldn’t bring himself to believe Temperance could have given herself to such a man. “Show me proof,” he demanded. “I won’t believe she stole it, simply on your say-so.”

  “Why not? Did you believe your woman is different from all others of her kind? I told her she would be very well rewarde
d for letting me sample her charms.”

  “Temperance would never give herself to any man in return for a reward.”

  “Believe what you will, but she did. Face facts, Captain. You let her lull you into a state of willful blindness with her confounded sexual allure. She is one in a thousand, I grant you. Never have I had a woman who sent me to such heights.” He squeezed his piggy eyes shut as if remembering. Trev barely restrained himself from blackening them with his fist.

  There was an alternative explanation for the nabob’s outrageous claim. Keeping his voice level, Trev said, “You made up this despicable story so you could avoid giving me the jewel. You’re just pretending she stole it, so you can hold on to it.”

  “You may believe that, if it salves your wounded pride. But you’re wrong. The jewel is gone, and your woman stole it. I’ve sent for runners to apprehend her and offered a heavy reward. When they find her, you’ll have your proof, but until then, you’d be a fool to doubt me no matter how thoroughly your Circe enchanted you.”

  The nabob paused. “She is an enchantress, I’ll grant you that. I took my pleasure with her thrice, and each time that woman of yours played me like a flute, nipping me with those little white teeth of hers and driving me wild. I will never forget that mark high on her thigh, the cloven hoof. Surely you’ve seen it when she’s opened her thighs to you. How fitting she should be marked like that, for by God, she is the devil’s tool.”

  Trev’s vision clouded as the blood rushed to his head. For a moment he thought he might faint. But he didn’t, even though he had received a death blow.

  The nabob favored him with a look of contempt. “Do not doubt it, Captain. Your strumpet stole the jewel. She’s made fools of both of us. I just hope Mr. Fanshawe won’t blame me too harshly. But most likely he will, and then his men will go through my accounts just as he threatened and make my life a misery.”