The Kadin (39 page)

“Ye hae been widowed ten years, sweetheart Had it been he who was left, would he have been so celibate?”

“Ye hae made me a whore.”

“I would make ye my wife.”

“Never!”

“By God, madame! Ye act as if I had insulted ye by offering ye my name!”

She started to laugh. “Oh, Colly! Don’t ye understand? My whole life has been controlled by men. This is the first time I’ve ever been in control of my own destiny. Neither Adam nor Charles would dare to interfere wi’ me, and I am wealthy in my own right I like it! If I married ye, then ye would hae the right to control both me and my money. I should never be free again.”

“My God, Janet, I want ye for my own!”

As she cradled his head against her breasts she thought Why not? I shall be an old woman soon. Why should I not take my pleasure while I may. He had no wife to hurt and I want him as much as he wants me. Perhaps even more!

She said quietly. “Ye shall have me for yer own, my lord; and ye shall be the envy of every man in Scotland—including the king himself—for the beautiful and wealthy Lady Leslie will be yer mistress.”

“Janet!”

“But betray me even once wi’ another woman, my lord, and ye’ll nae enter my bed again.”

Her hand wound into his dark hair, and she pulled his head down to her. For the first time she kissed him willingly, and her lips were softly fragrant beneath his. He caught his breath in surprise as she scattered little kisses over his body. Now she was beneath him, her body moving more voluptuously as each minute went by. “Not yet,” she murmured in his ear, holding him back.

“My Oed, Jan,” his voice was thick, “sweetheart, please! Yer driving me mad!”

She laughed softly. “But a moment, my lord Let me find my own paradise.”

Minutes later it was he who cried out his relief, and again her laughter echoed in the chamber. He slept deeply, never hearing her rise from the bed The tub still stood before the fire, and dipping water from it into a large kettle, she swung it over the flames, and when it was hot, poured it back into the tub. Climbing into the water she found the soap, a soft mass, in a corner. She scrubbed herself swiftly for the lukewarm tub cooled quickly, and the morning air was cold Toweling herself dry she slipped into the nightgown and robe that Ruth had laid out the night before, and turning back to the rumpled bed lay down and drew the coverlet over herself. A little smile played about her lips as she fell asleep.

Ruth for all her innocence had recognized the look in Lord Hay’s eye the evening before. Awaking before her mother, she dressed quickly, and silently she slipped up the stairs to her mistress’s bedchamber. Hearing nothing she gently opened the door and peeked inside. Janet lay curled on her side sleeping peacefully. Lord Hay slept sprawled on his stomach. Softly closing the door Ruth went downstairs to the kitchens. It was still early, and few people were stirring.

Ruth helped herself to a large joint of cold meat, freshly baked bread a large honeycomb, and a pitcher of ale. Placing it all on a tray, she hurried upstairs again. She was extremely relieved to have passed no one, and therefore not had to explain the large meal she carried Her relief turned to horror when she reached Janet’s bedroom and found Dumb Jock, the castle’s slavey, lugging buckets of water into the room

“Don’t drop that tray, girl, or I’ll slap ye!”

“Mother, I—”

“You thought I would be shocked so yon meant to keep it from me. Lord child! I knew she would take a lover sooner or later. We’re no longer in the harem, and she needs a man. She has been lonely without one. Dont slop, Jock lad! Don’t look so worried, daughter. Jock will nae tell on her. She’s the first that’s been kind to him. At the sound of her voice, his whole face lights up. What a pity he canna speak. Take that tray into them now and get the wine from my lady’s cupboard.”

The fresh tub steamed before the newly kindled fire as Ruth set her tray down upon a table. She had added the crystal wine decanter and two goblets from Janet’s own service.

“Come here, Ruth,” said Lord Hay.

Shyly, eyes lowered, she approached the bed. The master of Graybaven sat up, and reaching out dropped two gold pieces down the girl’s bodice. Hands to her chest, Ruth blushed.

“Colin!” Janet’s voice was amused, and mildly reprimanding. “Please dinna tease my Ruth.”

Colin’s eyes twinkled, and he replied, “I thought she might help scrub my back, binny. Would ye, Ruth?”

Ruth looked terrified and gratefully fled at Janet’s dismissal.

“Colly! She’s a virgin and gently raised.”

“She’ll nae be a virgin long the way Red Hugh looks at her.” He turned back to Janet and enfolded her in an embrace. “You are warm, and soft, and,” he sniffed appreciatively, “you smell delicious.”

“I bathed before I slept”

“Bathe wi’ me now.”

“I have no need to bathe again.”

“Ye will, soon enough.” Laughing he kissed her hungrily, his kisses becoming deeper and sweeter.

“Pig,” she murmured weakly at him, her own body beginning to move in rhythm with his.

Minutes later he grinned down at her, and said, “Ye’ll need a bath now, sweetheart”

She laughed in spite of herself, got up, and climbing into the tub she asked him, “Dont ye ever take no for an answer?”

“No,” he replied, joining her.

Marian had thoughtfully provided a fresh, hard cake of soap that smelled like wildflowers, and Janet lathered herself liberally. Handing the soap to Lord Hay, she rinsed and climbed out of the tub. Drying off, she walked to the garderobe and emerged a few minutes later wearing a pale pink silk caftan and soft kid slippers. He had already toweled himself dry and was drawing on his trunk hose as she moved across the room and sat down at the table.

“Wine, or ale, m’lord?”

“Ale.” He sat down across from her.

Filling a goblet with ale and a plate high with meat, some bread, and half of the honeycomb, she handed it to him. He ate with gusto, not speaking, quaffing the ale in three gulps. She refilled his goblet

“Yer not eating?”

“I’m waiting for Marian to bring me my coffee maker. I think she may hesitate to invade our privacy.”

“Nonsense,” snapped the little woman bustling through the door. “I have simply been too busy fending off the lady Anne.”

“Jesu! Is she here?”

“Was, madame. Was. I have sent her packing in a fine huff.”

“What in God’s name has possessed Anne? She has visited my tower only once since I arrived Why now? Why this morning?”

“Because, m’lady, she knows ye bathed last night and this morning she caught Dumb Jock hauling water up here again. Then, too, no one has seen my lord Hay since last night She is suspicious of ye.”

“She is envious of me! How did ye get rid of her?”

“I simply told her ye were bathing, and she could not go in. She was very angry.” Marian chuckled

Janet couldn’t help but chuckle back. “Thank you, old friend”

Marian sniffed and placed the coffee making equipment on the table.

“I’ll do it” said Janet “Go back, and guard my door from that dragon.”

“Is that Turkish coffee?” asked Colin when Marian had left them.

“Aye. My friend Esther Kira sent it to me.”

“Can ye make two cups?”

She nodded “Where did you learn about Turkish coffee?”

“I’ve done my share of traveling about the Mediterranean. Being born into the lesser branch of the family meant that I had to acquire money on my own. Each time I married I married richer, and wi’ each dowry I mounted a trading expedition to the East Like you, madame, I am very wealthy.”

“Didn’t ye love any of yer wives?”

“Moireach, my first wife was a colorless and dull little thing who died bearing me my equally dull and colorless daughter, Margaret Margaret is a nun. She visits me regularly every two years, sighs over my way of life, my current mistress, and the state of my soul. She goes away promising to pray for me which I am quite sure she does.

“I killed my second wife, Euphemia, when I found her in bed wi’ my head groom Insatiable little bitch! Fortunately there were no brats.

“I came closest to loving my last wife, Ellen. She was a sweet gentle, kind woman who kept my house, and my life, in perfect order. She gave me my two sons, James and Gilbert, and never complained about my mistresses providing I was discreet—which I was. She died five years ago in the winter.” He turned to her. “And you, my dear. Did ye love yer lord?”

For a moment there was perfect silence in the room, and then Janet spoke one word. “Yes.”

“Just yes?”

She struggled to gather her thoughts. “I loved my husband more each day he lived. When he died I would have died, also. Had my son not called me back from the brink of the grave, I should not be here now.”

Reaching over he took her slim hand in his own great paw. Their eyes met “If you could gie me but a hundredth part of that love, my dear, I should be well satisfied.”

She smiled and handed him a tiny enameled cup of steaming coffee. “Ice, m’lord?”

He took a piece from the bowl she proffered, and dropping it into the coffee drank it down.

“Now, my lord, before Anne forces her way in and causes a painful scene—”

He grinned at her, and standing up walked over to Ruth who had come in and was busying herself by the sideboard. “Make sure the dragon isna lurking about luv.” He patted her backside. Giggling, she slipped from the room.

“Yer a most outrageous man,” laughed Janet “Ye hae both Marian and Ruth eating out of yer hand. Especially my dearest Marian, who I thought would nae forgive me if she found I had taken a lover.”

“Was she with you from the beginning?” he asked.

“Not the first year. My husband gave her to me as a gift when he learned I was to bear him a child. He bought both her and her husband.”

“What was his name?”

“Marian’s husband? Alan Browne.”

“Yer husband,” he said quietly. “You always refer to him as ‘my husband’, or ‘my lord’. Ye never use his Christian name.”

“No,” she replied. “I don’t”

Their eyes met and then he said, “Yer Charles and my younger son, Gilbert, were close friends at the Abbey School. About a year after Charles came, some epidemic ran through the school Every child there had it in some form, and the good brothers could nae keep up wi’ the nursing. Parents were asked to come, but my Ellen had just lost another babe. There was nothing for me to do but pack up and go to nurse Gilly. Charles was also sick, and as Anne was busy at the castle nursing both Ian and Agnes, I cared for both my son and yers. In his delirium Charles spoke Turkish, and having traveled the Mediterranean I understand Turkish.”

She sat very quietly, listening to his deep voice.

“There were,” he continued, “several things he said that puzzled me. He spoke of ‘my father, the sultan,’ his Aunt Zuleika who died in the Tile Court, his brother, Suleiman, and his sister, Nilufer. He talked the most of his mother the bas-kadin. He wept because he must leave his mother and father and perhaps never see them again. He worried constantly that no one must know who he really was, or his mother would die. I have never spoken to anyone, even Charles, of these things.”

“I thank ye for that Colin. These things are in the past, and not important.”

“I’m a curious man, Janet I want answers to my questions.”

“Ye hae not the right my lord Hay.”

“But I do,” he replied quietly. Sitting down on the tumbled bed, he drew her down beside him, and turned her so she faced him.

“Last night I told you I had waited forty years to bed you, and ye accused me of a number of things, but the fact is, my dear, I spoke the truth. I watched you every moment I could the weeks ye and yer father were at court all those years ago. I was at the age where girls were beginning to interest me greatly, and you particularly interested me. I remembered playing wi’ ye several times as a child; but now ye were neither a child, nor a woman; and I was on the brink of manhood. God’s toenail! Ye were a pert minx the way ye stood up to the king’s cousin! Leslie’s fiery little wench they called you at court for weeks after you left for San Lorenzo. Then came the word that ye were betrothed to the heir of that damned duchy, followed a few months later by word of yer kidnapping. The king offered to make a match for me, but I would hae none of it. I dinna take my first wife until I was twenty-five, and only then to please my father, for he so desperately wanted grandchildren, heirs to Grayhaven.

“My second wife, Euphemia Keith, was a redhead. I think I married her because I imagined she looked like you would have when ye grew up.”

“Did she?” Janet asked.

“Nay. Not at all. When Charles and I had become friends, he showed me that exquisite miniature you gave him to remember ye by. Who painted it?”

“Firousi.”

“Who was she?”

“My sister-in-captivity.”

“Was she beautiful, too?”

“She was exquisite! Far lovelier than I. A tiny silver-blond with eyes the color of turquoise. Firousi was my best and dearest friend.”

“And Zuleika?”

Janet laughed. “Yer as persistant as a terrier after a rat”

“Tell me!”

“Nay, Colly. There are others involved. Political implications that ye canna imagine.”

“If what I believe to be true really is, then such information in the wrong hands could be very dangerous, my love. I dinna for one minute believe ye were married to a kindly Christian merchant Ye were probably one of a number of wives of some potentate. I imagine Charles is a prince in his own land.”

“Charles is a Scot This is his land” she said sharply. “He has spent more of his life here than there. He would be dead now had I not smuggled him out There are malcontents in every land and if it were known that Charles were alive, his brother could be endangered Enough of this, Colly! I will discuss it no more!”

Before he could pursue her further, Marian bustled into the room. “Madame, that woman is back. I canna budge her from the anteroom.”

Janet rose and calmly walked across the room to a large hanging near the fireplace. Reaching up she touched a thistle carving on the mantle and pulled the hanging aside. A hidden door was revealed.