The Golden Barbarian (3 page)

Galen smiled as he urged his horse into a trot. “You’ve done more than I hoped. You’ve introduced me at court and persuaded your father to listen to the wild man from Sedikhan. I wouldn’t have received even that boon if you hadn’t interceded.”

“I may not have done you a favor. Both my father and older brother have little use for me.… I’m much too flippant for their tastes.”

But, Galen knew, beneath Sacha’s flippancy lay keen intelligence and a good heart. Soon after
making the acquaintance of Sacha Rubinoff, Galen had realized that the young prince’s notorious pranks and mischief-making stemmed from boredom. The society into which he’d been born simply did not suit his volatile nature. Of late, Galen had begun to wonder what kind of man Sacha would have been if he had been raised to the sword and seasoned by battle. “You’ve done me a very great favor. You’ve given me what I came to Tamrovia to obtain.”

Sacha’s smile faded. “Don’t count too much on this audience. It’s difficult to stir my father into any decisive action these days.”

“I have to try.” He tried to suppress any show of desperation. “I have to make your father see that an alliance must be formed for the sake of both our countries.”

Sacha pushed back his chair and stood up when Galen strode out of the audience chamber into the anteroom. “How did it—” Galen’s stormy expression answered his question, “Not well.”

“No alliance,” Galen said curtly. “His Majesty sees no advantage in aligning himself with a primitive tribe that can offer him nothing for his protection but promises.” Galen strode down the hall past the row of footmen, his every step charged with explosive energy. “Fool! Can’t he see that a united Sedikhan could offer Tamrovia more than he could offer us?”

“You’re speaking of my august father,” Sacha
reminded him mildly as he fell into step with Galen.

“He
is
a fool.”

“Yes,” Sacha agreed amiably. “A very stubborn one.”

“I needed this alliance to mold the tribes into a single central government. With Tamrovia as an ally the El Zalan could use the threat of a foreign invasion to rally the chieftains. There’s little as powerful as a threat from an outside force to unify those who enjoy being at odds.” Galen’s voice vibrated harshly off the fresco-decorated domed ceilings. “Dammit, the wars
can’t
go on. They’re ripping Sedikhan apart. We can’t go forward as long as the tribes continue to raid and kill each other.”

Sacha had heard it all before and remained sympathetically silent.

“Tamrovia’s forces are puny compared to the might of Sedikhan’s warriors. Your father is a lunatic to believe we couldn’t help defend his borders.”

Sacha didn’t mind this further insult to his father as he felt much the same. However, he wasn’t sure he liked his country’s military might impugned. He decided to change the subject. “So what do you do now?”

“Go home,” Galen muttered savagely. “What else is there for me to do? Go back to warring and killing and protecting my own. It’s the way of life in Sedikhan.”

“You could stay here.”

“Where I’m looked upon as a barbarian?” Galen shook his head. “No, my friend. I’d soon grow tired of the jokes, the innuendos, and show them how a real barbarian behaves.” He glanced at Sacha. “Why don’t you come to Sedikhan with me? You have no fondness for the life here at the court.”

“I might do that. I hear your women are beautiful and exceedingly generous to us poor males.”

“Come and find out.”

Sacha’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “But one can spend only so much time involved in bed play. And, since you’re determined to make Sedikhan into such a boringly peaceful place …” He studied Galen speculatively. “I’ve always wondered why you chose such a path.”

Galen didn’t respond.

“You’re matchless with a sword, a dead shot. Yet you—”

“What does it matter?”

“I’m curious. I’ve found that anything I do well I wish to do again.”

“I … I like it too much,” Galen said haltingly, not looking at him.

Puzzled, Sacha gazed at him. Then, suddenly, he understood. Powerful emotions seethed beneath Galen Ben Raschid’s apparently calm exterior. Once allowed beyond Galen’s facade, Sacha had found the sheikh possessed a recklessness and undisciplined nature that matched his own.

How would a nature so untamed respond to the unlimited opportunity for violence now existing in Sedikhan?

Galen was watching the expressions flitting across Sacha’s face. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I’m even more of a savage than they think I am.” His lips tightened. “But I don’t have to be. I have intelligence and strength of will. A man need not remain uncivilized because of his birth and perhaps even his instincts.”

But it would be a lifelong battle between Galen’s innate savagery and reason, Sacha thought with sympathy. “When will you leave Tamrovia?”

“Tomorrow at dawn.” Galen smiled brilliantly. “Stop frowning. I haven’t given up. I’m just going home to regroup my forces. If I can’t get Tamrovia for an ally, perhaps I’ll go to France and apply to Napoleon.”

“France is a long way from Sedikhan.”

“And Napoleon is very greedy. He might decide to ‘protect’ me out of all the gold in Zalandan.” Galen shrugged. “Still, it’s something to consider.”

“Your mother was French, wasn’t she?”

“Yes,” he said curtly as he stopped at the foot of the marble staircase. “French and Tamrovian.” He changed the subject. “I’m going back to my apartment and tell Said to make arrangements for the journey.”

“But I’ll see you this evening?”

Galen nodded, and a reckless smile lit his face. “By all means. Meet me here in the hall at eight. We’ll find several accommodating ladies, and I’ll show you how a warrior of the El Zalan takes his pleasure.”

Before Sacha could speak, Galen was swiftly climbing the staircase.

“Several?” Sacha murmured, intrigued. He was suddenly sure it was going to prove a most interesting evening.

Someone was watching him.

Galen came wide awake in bed.

His muscles were tensed, ready to spring, but he lay quite still, his eyes slitted. His dagger was on the table by the bed, but he’d have to reach over the woman curled on his left to reach it.

“My lord Galen.”

His lids flicked open. Gray eyes gazed down at him from a white, strained face surrounded by a riot of auburn curls, a child’s face.

Tess Rubinoff’s small hand tightened on the copper candle-holder she held. “Have you had too much wine too?” she whispered.

“What the devil are you doing here?” He jerked upright, instinctively reaching for a sheet to cover his nudity.

Tess breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re not drunk. I went to Sacha’s chamber first and could not make him understand.…” She took a step back. “I need help. I can’t do it by myself. Will you—” Her glance fell on the naked woman curled up on the far side of him. “Two of them? Pauline never had more than one at a time. Why do you—”

“How did you get in here? I wasn’t too drunk to lock the door.”

“Through the dressing room. There’s a secret
passage that leads into many rooms in the palace. I discovered it three years ago,” Tess murmured absently, still studying the golden-haired woman nestled close to Galen. “That’s Lady Camilla, isn’t it? She looks thinner without her clothes. Who is the other one?”

“That’s none of your concern.” He frowned. “Said is sleeping in the dressing room.”

“Your servant? I was very quiet. He didn’t wake up.” She shrugged dismissively. “But that’s not important. I need your help.” She glanced at the sheet he’d pulled over his hips. “Are you cold?” She turned and snatched his crimson velvet robe from a chair beside the bed. “Here, put this on.”

“Thank you,” he said dryly as he slipped his arms into the sleeves of the robe. “You’re very considerate, if not overly circumspect.”

Camilla turned over and moaned in her sleep.

Tess glanced casually at her. “They’re both sleeping very soundly. Are they in their cups too?”

“They’ve had a few glasses of wine.”

Tess critically studied the slumbering women. “More than a few glasses. But I suppose we don’t want to chance waking them. I really shouldn’t be here.”

“I believe I’ve already made that observation.”

“I’ll wait for you in the dressing room.” She turned and started across the chamber to the door of the antechamber.

“If Said wakes up, he’ll cut your throat before I can join you. The men of our tribe do not appreciate midnight visitors.”

“I’ve learned to move very quietly. I won’t wake him.”

“Then you can move right back to your chamber. I have no intention of going anyw—” The back of the child’s white gown was spattered with brown-red stains. Bloodstains.

She glanced over her shoulder. “What?”

“Nothing. Go on. I’ll join you in a moment.”

She opened the paneled door and disappeared from view.

Galen muttered a curse as he carefully climbed over Camilla and slipped from the bed.

He didn’t need this problem after several hours of roistering and sexual indulgence. His head was only a little clearer than Sacha’s, and his temper was not of the best. If the child had been beaten by that brutal ox of a father, it was Sacha’s concern and not Galen’s. She was not his kinswoman, and he had no reason to feel such a flare of rage at the sight of blood on her gown. His emotion for the waif probably stemmed from his rescue of her from the bog. He would listen to her tale of woe and then send her back to her chamber with a promise to talk to Sacha in the morning.

He opened the door to the dressing room to find Tess sitting patiently on a chair against the far wall. Lord, she was tiny. Fine-boned and fragile, she looked closer to nine than twelve in her prim, full-skirted white gown. The candle she had set on the low console beside her chair revealed a dusting of golden freckles over her small nose
and burnished her wild aureole of curls. Said slept peacefully on a cot opposite Tess, Galen noticed with exasperation. How the devil had she managed not to wake him?

Galen stepped inside the room. “Said!”

Said Abdul raised his tousled head, instantly awake. “What is—” He broke off as he saw the child sitting a few yards away. “Who—”

“That’s not important.” Galen could hardly blame him for being stunned. When Said had retired for the night, the females with whom Galen had been occupied had definitely not been children. “Leave us. I’ll call when I need you.”

Said nodded dazedly, rolled out of bed, wrapping his blanket around his naked body. In another moment he stumbled past Galen into the bedchamber.

Tess sat up straighter in the chair as Galen shut the door and leaned back against it. “I have to hurry. Father told my mother she must take more concern in my upbringing, and she may check on me tonight.”

“Your back?”

She frowned uncomprehendingly. “What are—Oh, is it bleeding again? I’m glad you told me. I’ll have to soak my gown in cold water when I get back to my chamber.” She shook her head. “No, my mother suspects Pauline of not watching me closely enough.”

“Your presence here certainly supports that supposition.” His lips tightened. “I’m glad someone cares that you’re not in your bed at this hour.”

“Of course they care,” she said, surprised. “I have value for them. They have no son, and I must make a great marriage to compensate for my mother’s failing. If anything happened to me, they would have nothing.”

“I see.” Arranged marriages were also common in his country, but for some reason the idea that this child was treated only as a game piece filled him with anger. “And who are you to marry?”

“It will be decided later. I should really be affianced by now.” She wrinkled her nose. “But my father hopes I will become more comely later and attract better offers.” Her gaze went to the door of the bedchamber. “Like Lady Camilla. She had many offers before they wed her to Count Evaigne. You must be a great relief to her after fornicating with that old man.”

He bowed mockingly. “I tried to make the experience memorable. She did not seem disap—” He broke off as he realized he was talking to her as if she were an experienced lady of the court instead of a girl still in the schoolroom. “We should not be talking about the lady’s infidelities.”

She turned her crystal-gray gaze on him. “Why not? I meant no insult. I know that this is how things are done. First, the marriage, and then a young, strong man to bed. Pauline says that every wife has a lover, sometimes two or—”

“I’m not interested in what Pauline says,” he said irritably. “Why are you here?”

She drew a deep breath. “Apollo.”

Whatever he had expected, it was not this. “The dog?”

Tess nodded, her small hands clutching the arms of the chair. “I was stupid. Pauline was angry about the gown, and I told her about Apollo arid the bog. She told my mother, and my mother told my father, and—”

“He beat you.”

She looked at him, startled. “Why should that bother me? I expected nothing else. No, it was Apollo. My father was angry, and said that this was the last straw. The bitch will not mate, and Apollo had almost cost him dear.” Her enormous eyes were filled with tears that shimmered in the candlelight. “He ordered them both killed.”

He felt a sudden surge of tenderness as he gazed at her. He, too, had experienced the pain of having beloved animals taken from him by death. “I’m sorry.”

“I did not come to you for sympathy. I need help.” She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “It’s not done yet, and I can’t let it happen. As soon as they locked me in my chamber, I came out the secret passage and across the courtyard to the kennels to see Simon, the kennel master. He’s a good man. He said he could put off killing the dogs, but they must be gone before my father visits in the morning.”

“And you want
me
to get rid of them?”

“No, I wanted Sacha, but he was in—”

“His cups,” Galen finished. “So I’m your second choice.”

“Don’t you see? I have no place to take them where they’ll be safe, and, in truth, you are a much better choice than Sacha,” she said eagerly. “Because even if Sacha sent the dogs to one of his estates in the country, my father might still hear of it and take action, but he would never go to Sedikhan.”