"Well, I might as well get this over with," she said. Not waiting for his response, she swept past him and marched to the closed door of what she surmised was the bedroom. But she wasn't sure. She'd never been in the bungalow before.
Throwing open the door, she stared at an empty bed with rumpled muslin sheets. She looked around the room. There were no signs of female occupancy. No mirrored dresser with tortoise combs and silver-handled brushes. No oils and pomades and other female notions set about. No sheer negligees or frilly chemises or lace-trimmed drawers—the kind of garments a man like Damon would expect of a prized mistress—strewn about after a morning of passion. All she saw was a room stripped of everything but a rumpled bed, a wardrobe with men's clothes, and a straight-back chair with Damon's robe tossed over the back and his boots standing together where they'd been removed.
Damon's voice came from behind.
"What is it you want, Elizabeth?"
"I don't know," she said. "I thought..."
"What? That I'd have a woman here?"
"Well... yes... no. That is..." She stared at the empty bed. "Then Mara is not still your mistress?" she asked, wondering how long the woman had been gone.
Damon put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around. "She left two years ago and hasn't been back. Or any other woman. True, you complicate my life in ways I could not even dream up, but it's only you I want, only you since the moment I saw you at the horse fair, and nothing's changed. Can you possibly believe me, Elizabeth? Is it so hard for you to understand that I love you and want you for my wife? Not my mistress. Never my mistress. My wife."
Elizabeth was still trying to adjust to the fact that all this time there had been no other woman. And she'd put Damon through hell thinking there was. She looked up at him. "But the things you said on the steamer..."
"Angry, hateful things said by a man who was frustrated to be in love with a woman who'd turned his world upside down and was helpless to do anything about it. I love you, Elizabeth. In spite of the unforgivable things I said, all I want is to have you as my wife. I've wanted you as my wife ever since we repeated our vows on the steamer, but I only recently came to realize it. And if it means selling Westwendham and living here at Shanti Bhavan with you, then that's what I'll do, as long as I have you for my wife."
"But all I want is to be with you," she replied, while trying to absorb the words that Damon said. Words of love... of loving her... and wanting her for his wife. And she knew this time the words had come from his heart. She reached up and touched his face. "And no, you don't have to sell Westwendham," she said, "I'm ready to leave this intolerable place. As long as I can leave it with you." She looked up at him then, and felt a pang of regret.
It must have shown on her face, because Damon trailed a finger over her cheek, and said, "What is it, love? I can tell something's still bothering you."
Eyes stinging with tears of remorse, she replied, "I know it's not my fault that the opal is gone this second time, but if I hadn't stolen it from you in the first place, you would have long since returned to England as a very wealthy man. I don't know how you can ever forgive me for that when I can't even forgive myself."
Damon looked at her soberly. "If you hadn't stolen my opal," he said, "I would never have met a spirited gypsy girl who also stole my heart. I love you Elizabeth. It never occurred to me to want a wife until I met you. Now I can't imagine my life without you. So if the Burning of Troy brought you to me, then it served its purpose in my life. Now, I'll hear no more about it... Ever again." He smiled then, a slow smile that let her know that everything would be alright.
Elizabeth looked at his lips and wondered how long it would be before he kissed her. The thought had barely come when he pulled her into his arms and claimed her lips in a deep, heartfelt kiss that lasted until they had to break for air. "Now that we've sorted through that," he said, "I have one question." He untied the lacings on her hat and tossed it aside. "What did you intend to do if you found me in bed with Mara?"
Elizabeth lifted her chin. "I don't know," she said, irritated. "Maybe rip off the covers and see what Mara had that I don't."
"My sweet, exasperating, exotic, little bird," Damon said, pecking at her lips. "Mara has nothing."
"But... could you be happy living in England with a gypsy hoyden?" she asked. "Even I can't predict what I might do." She tipped her head back, allowing him access to her throat and the trail of kisses she knew he'd place there.
"That's precisely why I want you for my wife," Damon said, his fingers moving to the top button of her blouse. "I like living on the edge."
Elizabeth gave him a sultry smile. "Does that mean you're giving me permission to behave like a gypsy queen again?"
"Only if I'm allowed to behave like a pirate king and haul you off to my quarters and claim you as booty," Damon said.
Elizabeth placed her palms on his chest, and said between kisses, "It just so happens that this gypsy queen is ready to be claimed." She glanced down, and added in a silky voice, "And I see the dragon has raised his sleepy head."
Damon laughed. "Not only has he raised his sleepy head, but his eyes are wide open, his nostrils are flaring, and he's breathing fire, and he'll need a dragon tamer to put the fire out," he said, scooping her up in his arms.
Elizabeth curved her hands around his neck. "If this dragon tamer doesn't get the fire put out the first time—" she sent a trail of kisses across his jaw "—she'll keep trying until she succeeds. Practice makes perfect, they say."
Damon lowered her to the bed. "I completely agree."
Elizabeth rolled onto her back and sighed dreamily. "But there's one little requirement," she said, as his fingers negotiated the buttons on her blouse. "Since you are the keeper of my dragon, I will expect you to keep him confined when I'm not present."
"And when you are present?" Damon said. "What then?"
"You may turn the dragon completely loose," Elizabeth said, a chill rippling through her as Damon toyed with the silk lacings on her chemise. "In fact, this dragon tamer is already dreaming up new and unique ways to subdue the unmanageable fellow. She's clever like that. She's also anxious to get started with his first obedience lesson."
Damon removed her blouse and tossed it to the floor. "That may be," he said, slipping the chemise from around her and dropping it on top of her blouse. "But first, the keeper of your dragon is going to thoroughly and methodically introduce the dragon mistress to his touch. Then she can tame her dragon." He stripped off her riding pants and under drawers and tossed them to the floor, then added his drawers to the pile.
Elizabeth smiled. "Now that you've relieved me of my protective armor, Mister Dragon Keeper, please get on with the touching so I can get on with the taming."
And he did. With his hands, with his lips, with his words of love...
It took several tries to put the fire out though—embers kept flaring. But ultimately the job was done. At least for a little while.
High on a rooftop in Calcutta - two weeks later
A Bengal monkey held between his tiny wrinkled palms the treasure he'd taken from his master's pocket. Studying it with curious eyes, he tested it with his teeth and flicked his tongue over its smooth surface. Inclining his head to one side, he turned the thing over and inspected it thoroughly, then raised it with delicate dun-colored fingers. Catching the light, the thing came alive with flashes of fiery reds and iridescent blues and glittering golds. He let out a screech of pure delight and jumped up and down on the roof.
"Hanuman! Come! Bring!" his master bellowed the sharp words in Hindustani from the piazza far below. Hanuman saw the movement of fingers, but the snap they should bring did not reach his ears. Or if it did, Hanuman did not acknowledge it, so focused was his attention on the thing he held in his palms.
"Hanuman!" the word came again, but with a sharper sting. A small crowd gathered around the master, faces tipped up. Still, the master was evident among them from the twist of red about his head. "Hanuman!
Come! Bring!" the words came again.
Angry words. Fighting words. Fists shaking.
Hanuman looked at his treasure, then at his master. And back at this treasure, which caught the waning sun and exploded into dazzling colors.
A screech of pure pleasure burst from his throat.
"Hanuman!" The word was harsh. Biting.
Hanuman screeched a shrill reprimand.
The master shook a fist. Both fists. And let loose with a string of Hindustani expletives that leapt to Hanuman's ears with the fury of a raging fire.
Tucking his treasure to his chest, Hanuman peered down at the master one last time. Then he launched himself from the building, his piercing reproach trailing behind as he sprang from rooftop to rooftop, moving across porticos and verandahs and colonnaded mansions, and through bazaars crowded with knaves and whores and beggars as numerous as flies, and disappeared into the milieu of palki-gharries and landaulets and carriages and masses of humanity that together made up the rhythm of life, and the pulsing, vibrating, heartbeat that was Calcutta.
###
AUTHOR'S FINAL NOTE: Immediately following World War I, when the Austrian capital city of Vienna was experiencing severe financial distress, officials there valued the Burning of Troy so highly that they refused to sell the stone for any price. At the outbreak of World War II, however, the opal once belonging to Empress Josephine disappeared yet again, and has never resurfaced. Perhaps, in time, it will again make itself known
BOOKS BY PATRICIA WATTERS
HISTORICAL ROMANCES
Colby's Child
Her Master's Touch
Day of Reckoning
Miss Phipps and the Cattle Baron
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCES
Adversaries and Lovers
Suddenly Single
Justified Deception
Unwelcome Legacy
A Dolphin's Gift
BOOKS SOON TO BE RELEASED
Come Be My Love
Touch Me With Love
LOOK FOR THESE BOOKS ON AMAZON
Some books are available in book form. Check
the following website to find out which ones at:
www.patriciawattersromances.com
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
C HAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
Her Master's Touch Page 22