Dangerous Weakness (15 page)

Chapter 24

A different Sahin Pasha than the sophisticate who had graced London’s ballrooms in the spring greeted Richard and Robert Liston. Clad in oriental splendor, he reclined on cushions in bright silken patterns surrounded by silk-clad servants.

“Welcome, Sir Robert. I see you bring my friend the marquess,” he said with no attempt to hide the amusement that crinkled his eyes.

The old reprobate!
No amusement softened Richard’s bitterness. “Where’s Lily?” He demanded.

Sahin gestured to the seats near him. “Such manners, my lord! Come. Sit. Eat.”

Liston reclined on a divan to Sahin’s left. Richard remained standing. He looked around desperately.

“I sat on your uncomfortable English chairs all spring. Come, come. Sit in comfort.”

Liston shot Richard a pleading look. He sank down onto the seat to Sahin’s right.

“Where is Lily?” he repeated through clenched teeth.

At Sahin’s gesture, platters of dates and honeyed sweets appeared alongside a pot of steaming Turkish coffee. The ringed fingers of a servant poured the drink into tiny glasses and faded away.

Sahin and Liston drank. Richard took a sip and grimaced.

“You will adjust,” Sahin chuckled. “Eat some baklava, sweet to counteract the bitter.”

“Lily,” Richard prodded before taking a bite as directed. His eyes widened when the taste of honey exploded in his mouth.

“Such intensity! You should have protected her, My Lord Glenaire.”

“We had her under protection!” Richard snapped.

“Yet she came to me for assistance. Who can probe the mind of a woman?” Sahin mused.

“Is there a story here I should hear?” Liston asked.

Sahin gave him a succinct overview of Volkov’s threats.

“I’ve come from Thessaloniki. You dealt with your traitor ruthlessly—”

Sahin shrugged. “It is always so with traitors.”

“—putting John Thornton in danger, not to mention Lily herself.”

“You understand, Sir Robert, why I felt obliged to offer the woman protection when she sought employment in the Seraglio.”

Damned poor choice of words.
Visions of Lily entertaining the old man made Richard sick. He set his tea down with a thump. “What do you mean by ‘protection,’ and what exactly is Lily’s ‘employment’ there?” he demanded.

“Your tone implies insult, my lord,” Sahin replied hotly, his benign façade slipping briefly to allow the hard core underneath full view. In the flicker of an eye, the avuncular diplomat came back into focus. “In spite of your western stereotypes about our domestic arrangements, she is perfectly safe. She shares the riches of her mind with the women of the Seraglio.”

“She’s a teacher?” Liston asked, obviously intrigued. Richard, for his part, simply gasped, incredulous.

“Exactly.” Sahin beamed. “By all accounts, an excellent one. My aunt, the Valide Sultan, is well pleased. She begins to have plans for Miss Thornton.”

“The Valide Sultan is a powerful figure, Glenaire,” Liston said. “The mother of the sultan, a woman of influence.”

“Alas the current sovereign’s mother is no longer with us. The position is held by his aunt, who by chance is also mine,” Sahin told them. “I assure you, Miss Thornton could not be in a safer place.”

“I demand to see her.”

“Demand? Such a harsh word. Where is the Marble Marquess’s famous sang-froid? His vaunted diplomacy so much in evidence last spring?”

Richard clamped his jaw shut.

“Can a meeting be arranged?” Liston asked.

“Do you expect me to believe you can’t arrange whatever you please,” Richard cut in. “I will see her at the British embassy.”
I want her where I can protect her.

Sahin ignored Richard. He answered Liston. “What we can arrange and what Miss Thornton may want may not be the same.” He turned to Richard, all pretense of friendliness gone. “There are audience rooms attached to the outer walls of the Seraglio that may be safe. The streets of this city, alas, are not. Whether Miss Thornton wishes to risk either is up to her.”

“Are you telling me she won’t see me?” Richard rose halfway from his seat. Liston cautioned him back with pained looks and a subtle hand gesture.

“Speak with Miss Thornton,” Liston said smoothly. “Tell her that, while His Majesty’s government trusts that the Sublime Porte treats her with all due respect and provides ample protection, concern for her welfare demands that we speak to her ourselves.” He held Sahin Pasha’s eyes.

Richard held his breath. The two other men ignored him. Sahin Pasha broke the gaze first.

“As you wish, Sir Robert. I will ask Miss Thornton to indulge you in this.”

Richard felt his shoulders relax. He took a deep breath.

“Whether she wishes to see his lordship,” Sahin went on, indicating Richard with a shrug, “is for her to determine.” He looked over at Richard with stern disapproval.

Richard nodded in response.

In a flash, a sly look supplanted the disapproval. “Although such a meeting might prove entertaining at that.”

What the devil does that old man mean by that salvo?
Richard didn’t care.
We’ll see who’s amused after I talk with her.

Lily fretted in yet another anteroom. Word came that Sahin Pasha again requested an interview. The Valide Sultan professed to know nothing. This time, however, the woman left her as soon as they arrived in this anteroom. Ahmet, stern beneath his turban, stood next to her. He spoke no words of encouragement.

She smiled up at him; his expression did not soften.
His worried face does little for my peace of mind.

She had been called to a room on the outer walls this time, the sort she knew opened out into the public parts of the palace. She puzzled over the meaning of such a venue but ceased trying.
You’ve become immersed in palace politics, Lily. You try to parse the meaning of every little detail, looking for machinations that might not exist.

Lily glanced down ruefully at her enlarged belly. At just over six months, she had begun to feel unwieldy.
What do you think Sahin up to now, little one, hmm? He does not seem to leave us in peace.

The door whispered open, and a female slave bowed out. Lily entered an audience room, much like any other. The only obvious difference was that, this time, Sahin Pasha stood just inside waiting for her, blocking her view of the room. No obvious signs of ritual hospitality were in view.

He stepped forward and took both of her hands.

“You look well, little one. Your situation agrees with you.” He winked at her.

My “situation?” That’s one word for it.

“What is it, honored uncle? Word about my father?” she asked.

“I fear not, little one. Your government believes him safe with his studies in Copenhagen still.”

She studied his face. Something lurked behind his kindness. Sahin dropped one of her hands but held the other.

“Your government, regretfully, feels less certain about your well-being. They have made inquiries.”

Lily felt sick. Sahin, who blocked her view of the room, moved to her side, still holding one hand. Her heart soared and did a flip.
Richard.

A vortex of thought and emotion surged through her.
He came!
Confusion followed elation.
How? When? He’s thin. His hair is too long. He looks—

Blue eyes, wide with shock, stared back at her. Richard stood immobile, his face frozen in stunned disbelief.

She swung round to face Sahin. The old man’s lips twitched; sly amusement lit his eyes.
You manipulative old man! You let me walk into this with no warning. Richard, too, from the look of it.

When she looked back, Richard had not moved. His eyes had lost the glaze of shock, however. What she saw instead shook her to her core.

Still as a statue, he gaped, grief and longing stark on his face.

“Richard, I—”
He must hate me.

His eyes moved from her face to the swelling where her child—his child—grew.

He can’t take my baby, can he? Dear God, don’t let him take her.

Chapter 25

One by one, pieces fell into place, and, like boulders, flattened Richard’s dearly held belief in his own intelligence. The man who helped England side step the hidden traps of enemies and allies alike at the Congress of Vienna had missed the obvious.

Lily is pregnant
. He couldn’t take his eyes from the swelling beneath her gown.
Very pregnant.

He pulled his eyes to her face. Terror stared back.
She should be worried; she made a fool of me. I ought to be enraged.
Wonder, worry, and a surge of joy so great it threatened to upend him pushed all other emotions aside. He held his hands behind his back to still their shaking.

“Lily,” he began, utterly at sea. Nothing in his experience prepared him for the most delicate negotiations he had ever conducted. He swallowed hard. “We need to talk.”

She didn’t respond; her anguished look didn’t alter.

“Talk is needed,” Sahin Pasha agreed. He pulled Lily’s hand forward. She stumbled a step or two toward Richard.

“Sahin Pasha, may I have a moment alone with Miss Thornton?”

“One is never alone here,” Sahin said sadly, “but I will remove myself from the room. Perhaps Sir Robert may join me.” He raised a questioning eyebrow, but Robert Liston had already walked toward the door.

Sahin gave Lily’s hand one more tug. “Talk, little one, and listen to this man. Be a sensible girl. You will be safe.” He nodded at the eunuch who had followed Lily and now stood silent and disapproving from his place against the wall.

“Good grief, I’m not going to harm her!” Richard exclaimed. Sahin Pasha’s guard remained.

“Ten minutes, my lord,” Sahin said and departed.

Richard ran his hand across the back of his neck.
Ten minutes? Where to start?

“Lily when—that is, I know when, but why didn’t you tell me?” He thought rapidly.
Five months? Six? More?
His brain refused to calculate the time.

“You can’t have her!” Lily burst out. She looked frantic.

“What are you talking about?”

“You can’t take my baby.”

“What do you take me for? Do you think I’m some kind of monster that would separate a mother from her child?”

“Isn’t that what your lot does? Hide indiscretion away?” She sounded desperate. “I’ve done it for you. Leave me here and—”

“My son will not grow up in some heathen harem!”

“My
daughter
will be perfectly well with me, and these people are more compassionate and civilized than your London society.”

“
My
society? You were comfortable enough in London six months ago.”
Dear God. She fainted at Georgiana’s. She must have known even then.

She wouldn’t look at him. He watched her wrap her arms protectively around her belly.

“Did he just move?”
He did; my son moved. I saw it.
He couldn’t breathe.

“She did,” Lily looked up with a sad smile.

He walked close, fascinated, and grateful she didn’t pull away. He put out a hand, and the guard pushed away from the wall.

Lily reassured the man with a simple gesture.

“May I touch?

She bit her lip. For a moment he felt certain she would deny him. She nodded instead.

He reached gingerly for the place he saw movement without taking his eyes off Lily’s face, watching for signs she would change her mind. His hand came to rest on silk over a hard, smooth curve.

Too absorbed to think even of Lily, he froze in place. A flutter rewarded his attention and then another. Just before he would have pulled his hand back, a movement so strong he could see it vibrated against his fingers.

“A kick!” He looked up at her then to share his joy and saw only wariness. He jerked his hand back.

“Why Lily? Why didn’t you come to me as you should?”

“As you ordered me to? I told you at Chadbourn Park I would manage myself whatever the consequences,” she reminded him.

“Even if you didn’t want marriage, I would have taken care of you.”

“Pushed me into some cottage as far from London as you could manage—kept us there far from prying eyes? You will forgive me for choosing not to be your shameful secret. This is better. In a few years, I can return home a widow with child, and no one need gossip about the Marble Marquess.”

Richard groped for words.
What did the fool woman expect when she wouldn’t marry me?
“Lily, we would have managed something.” He had no clue what.

“All I wanted from you was my father home. Papa could have helped, but all you had for me was delay after delay.”

Fair enough. I failed you in that. I let Castlereagh and Foreign Office come first. It can’t be helped now. None of it can.
“Why did you lie about it?” he asked. “You told me no further action needed.”

“I didn’t lie. No action was or is needed from you,” she said, her defiant little chin raised.

“You led me to believe there was no baby.”

“You needed to get on with your courtship,” she said, red color blossoming on her neck. “How could I let you continue your absurd little dance of worry over me when all London knew you were to offer for Lady Sarah, and I knew I had no intention of taking your help.”

A pained look slid over her face.

Idiot! “
Are you well? Do you need to sit? Should I call for help?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Physically I’m fine,” she said, smiling ruefully, “besides, when I get down on those cushions I have the devil’s own time getting back up.”

They shared a smile at the image she evoked, the first shared pleasure since she entered the room.

I could get lost in those eyes. I could spend my life laughing with this woman.

“Marry me, Lily.”
Badly done.
He realized it immediately. His grace and poise had fled.

She pulled away immediately.

“Aren’t you betrothed?”

“No.”
Thank goodness for that.
“It never happened. The Duke of Lisle demanded my attendance. I sent him a polite refusal, and I left.”

“Left?”

“I came to find you.” A faint smile teased her lips. He loved to look at those lips.

“Marry me. You know we should.” He touched the place where the baby lay briefly. “We must.”

“I told you no. I will not be the ambitious little parvenu who trapped the great Marquess of Glenaire into marriage. I will not be shoved into some country backwater with my baby when you grow embarrassed by my ‘less than desirable background?’”

Did I really say that?
His own words hung in the air between them.

“Is this better?” he shouted. The guard moved a fraction. “And Mountview is not some backwater,” he mumbled.

“So you did plan to send me to the country!”

“I didn’t say that. Don’t twist my words.”

“To answer your question, yes. This is better. Don’t let the walls fool you. Here I have respect and care. Here I’m close to the center of power and politics. Here I have voice.”

Lily could waltz through the highest circles in Europe, a magnificent diplomatic hostess.

“Our baby deserves a father. He deserves to know me.” He caught her frantic glance around at the impassive eunuch; he thought for a moment she looked guilty. She leaned in close.

“I am a widow,” she said. He looked startled. She dropped her voice very low. “Everyone here believes I am a widow.”

“You lied to the Valide Sultan?” He whispered back. She bit her lip and shook her head. Her eyes pleaded with him to let it go. He looked up at the guard.

“We ought to marry. You know that. You owe it to your child,” he said more loudly.

“Your offer is very kind, my lord, but I respectfully decline,” she replied through clenched teeth. She signaled to the guard, said “I take my leave now,” and turned to go.

The door opened on silent hinges, and a beaming Sahin Pasha entered. “All is well?” he asked.

“Certainly, honored uncle. The marquess is ready to leave.”

“We’ll talk again, Lily,” Richard said to her retreating back. “We are not finished.”

“Ask your spy,” Richard roared. The two men faced each other in the same room Lily had just left. Robert Liston stood quiet but observant to one side.

“Ahmet is Lily’s protector. He is no spy. His presence was to lend what you English call propriety.”

“You could have warned me.”

Sahin put on a mask of innocence. “About the guard?”

“The baby, as you well know,” Richard replied through clenched teeth.

“You did not know? I expected the English services to have better care for their citizens.” Sahin’s mocking smile lasted a few more moments.

“This has nothing to do with the government.”

Sahin relaxed, and a look of what might have been genuine concern took the place of mockery.

I’m never sure what this damned man thinks.

“Miss Thornton’s baby is yours then?”

He jerked his head in a nod and flashed a guilty glance at Robert Liston. His majesty’s representative in Constantinople looked grim.

“You will have wanted to do the honorable thing?”

“Of course, damn you. I offered for her immediately and again in London and three times just now. She won’t have me.”

“Foolish chit,” Liston declared.

Sahin shook his head. “Who can fathom the minds of women? Lily Thornton should have more sense than to turn down a future duke.”

“She doesn’t care about that. She claims she wants a life of politics and diplomacy. What does she think I do? I can give her all that.”

“Which she knows very well.”

“She may have gotten the impression I look down on her background,” Richard mumbled.

“Ah. Do you?” Sahin looked over at Liston. To the man’s credit, his face had lost its mockery.

“No! Some might.”

“Your most elevated mother?”

“And those who fawn on her. Lily’s family isn’t from the highest circles, but adequate.”

“Adequate?” Sahin laughed. “How that must reassure her!”

“She more than makes up for it in intelligence and talent needed in a diplomat’s wife.”

Sahin nodded. “That she does. Here we value merit. It is possible to rise far in the Sublime Porte on talent alone.”

“Then what does the woman want? She has to be made to see reason.”

“It is my experience that women who are nesting rarely concern themselves with grand affairs. Reason, I fear, is not what she seeks.”

“What else then? She isn’t a fool, but she has acted like one ever since—”

“Since my men borrowed your horses and left you at a country inn? We returned them to the earl, by the way.”

“Yes, then. What does she want?”

“You will have to reason that out for yourself, my dear marquess. For now she wishes to stay here.”

Richard glared at Sahin.
Not if I can help it. I can bring the power of England to bear. I can—

“Such a fierce look. I suggest you return to your embassy with your reasonable friend Sir Robert and allow our Zambak time to think.”

“Zambak?”

“Our word for Lily. One warning, my lord,” Sahin said. “Miss Thornton’s position here is at the will of my aunt. The Valide Sultan has conceded a deception that would reflect poorly on her if it were to be known.”

Richard shrugged.

“Take me seriously, please,” Sahin insisted. “Court the widow Thornton—as well you should—but do not demand the return of an unmarried Englishwoman. We will not allow it.” His implacable look gave teeth to what was without question a threat.

Richard leaned into his face. “Make no mistake. I’ll do whatever it takes to bring Lily home. She belongs with me.”