The Golden Barbarian (6 page)

“But eminently civilized,” he said mockingly. “My father kidnapped my mother and forced her to wed him after my birth. But I’m not my father. I’ve always found choice is far better than force.”

She gazed at him shrewdly. “As long as the choice is in your favor.”

“Why should marriage not benefit both of us?”

She nibbled at her lower lip. “Why me?”

“You’re the only daughter of the brother of the king of Tamrovia.” He met her gaze. “And you impressed me as possessing a certain boldness and sense of purpose that would be essential to my plan.”

“Three years and I’m free?”

He nodded. “You won’t find your life in Zalandan intolerable. We have certain comforts.”

“Could I have a horse? A wonderful, beautiful horse like Telzan?”

A tiny smile appeared on his lips. “It’s just as well I have little vanity, or I might be insulted that you require a four-footed bribe to wed me.”

“Could I?” she persisted.

He nodded gravely. “One beautiful horse. I have a golden palomino mare that would suit you admirably.”

Excitement and fear churned within her. “I don’t know.…”

“One more thing.”

She looked warily at him.

“I’ll require a child as quickly as possible.”

She stared at him in uncertainty. “A child?”

“You seem surprised. I don’t believe I’m being unreasonable.”

“No, every man wants a son.”

“It doesn’t have to be a son. Just a child to strengthen the bond. Your father would have a
good deal more trouble making a match for you if you were carrying another man’s child.” He stood up. “And in my people’s eyes a child would prove the strength of the alliance.”

It had been drummed into her from childhood that it would be her duty to bear her husband as many children as she was capable of bearing, but the possibility had seemed as nebulous as the man who would give them to her. “A child …”

“The babe would be no bother to you. I’ll keep it in Sedikhan when you leave.”

For some reason that thought brought a wrenching pain.

Galen’s gaze narrowed on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know.” She spoke haltingly. “But it hurt me when you took Apollo and Daphne away. What if … I might want—”

“I suggest we discuss the disposition of the child when it becomes a reality.” He smiled. “By ‘as quickly as possible,’ I didn’t mean tomorrow. I will let you become accustomed to me before the marriage is consummated. I’ve waited a long time. I can wait a little longer. Suppose I leave you to think about my offer.” He glanced over his shoulder as he walked to the door. “It’s a very good bargain. Everything you could want. Would you rather Sacha took you home to Belajo?” He read the answer in her expression and added softly, “Then be bold,
kilen.”

The door shut behind him.

She whirled and looked out the window again.

“Be bold.”

She had never lacked boldness, but these circumstances were different, and the step he wanted her to take would affect her entire future. She would be defying her father to journey to a wild land with a man who was as strange and barbaric as Sedikhan.

Yet Galen had been entirely reasonable and urbane as he had outlined his proposal to her. He had used persuasion, not force. Why was she still thinking of him as a barbarian?

She caught sight of him below, striding toward the stable. His pace was unhurried, almost leisurely, but every step held enormous power under complete control.

She suddenly realized his iron control was at the core of her fascination with him. She had sensed a deeply layered explosive violence in him as he outlined his proposition, and she had been waiting for it to surface.

She was being foolish. If he did possess a violent nature, she would probably never see it. He had given her a choice. But what if she refused his proposal? Would he still be so calm and reasonable?

Galen disappeared into the stable, and Tess felt a sudden easing, as if she had been released from bondage. Bondage? What an odd thought when he had offered her only freedom.

She turned away from the window and sat down in the chair. Resting her chin on her hand, she dreamily gazed into thin air.

Freedom. The thought was honey-sweet, and the temptation nearly irresistible. Three years and she could be free for the rest of her life. Three years was not such a long time. She had spent six at the convent, and Zalandan had to be better than that dreary place.

Freedom.

“Well?” Sacha asked as Galen came into the stable.

“I left her to mull over my proposition.” Galen took off his coat and hung it over the side of the stall again. He knelt beside Sacha in the stall. “I’ll carry on.”

“Does she need me?”

Galen’s brow rose as he glanced sidewise at Sacha. “I don’t know why you persist in believing I’m victimizing your sweet cousin. I was everything gentlemanly and courteous to her.”

“She’s still a child. I’d hoped while she was away, she would become—”

“Convents don’t contribute to worldly wisdom.” Galen dipped the cloth in the hot water again. “That’s why you were able to persuade her father to send her away.” He applied the salve and wrapped it tight around the stallion’s ankle. “She’s not really a child. She may lack experience, but we both know she is anything but ignorant and naive.”

Sacha remembered the luminous look on Tess’s face when she had spoken of traveling the route of Marco Polo. “She has her dreams.”

“So do I.” Galen waited another moment, then loosened the bandage and began to unwind it. “Sedikhan.”

Sacha frowned as he looked at the bandage. “How many times are you going to do that?”

Galen put the cloth in the hot water in the bucket. “As long as it takes to get the results I need.”

“All night?”

“If necessary.” Galen squeezed the water out of the cloth and began spreading the salve on the bandage.

Sacha felt a sudden uneasiness as he realized Galen’s determination in this matter, small as it might be, was as nothing compared to his devotion to his grand plan.

“Why don’t you warn her?” Galen suggested without looking at him. “It’s what you want to do.”

“You won’t try to stop me?”

“Why should I? It will make you feel better.” He wound the bandage tightly around the horse’s ankle. “And it won’t make any difference.”

“You think you’ve convinced her?”

“No,” Galen said softly, “I
know
I’ve convinced her.”

“You don’t have to do it.” Sacha gazed at Tess’s taut back as she looked out the window. “All you have to do is say you don’t wish to marry Galen, and we’ll set out for Belajo in the morning.”

“It was you, wasn’t it?” Tess asked in a low
voice. “I was surprised when my father told me I was to go to France. It was you who presented the idea and talked him into it. Why?”

“Galen decided you needed protection, and he believed the sisters would provide it.”

“And do you always do what Sheikh Ben Raschid tells you to do?”

“He convinced me it was for your good.”

“Yes, he can be very persuasive.” She turned to face him. “But I’m surprised he can so easily get you to do as he wishes.”

“He does not—” He broke off and grimaced ruefully. “It’s true he had no trouble molding me to his wishes at that time. I was a thoughtless popinjay who had more concern for the cut of my coat than anything happening around me.”

She studied him thoughtfully. “But you’ve changed.”

“Sedikhan changed me. Galen changed me.” Sacha glanced down at his gold brocade coat. “Though I admit I still like an occasional bit of flash and glitter.”

“There’s nothing wrong with flash and glitter.” She smiled affectionately. “And that empty-headed popinjay was very kind to me.”

“No, I wasn’t. I should have done more to help you. It’s not enough to care, one has to act.”

“Is that what you learned in Sedikhan?”

“Yes, that and other things.”

“Then it must be a very interesting country. Why are you trying to persuade me not to go?”

“I feel responsible.”

“And?”

“It’s a difficult situation. I don’t want you hurt.”

“Yet you consented to maneuver me into this position.”

“Galen needed you. Sedikhan needed you. I thought it wouldn’t be such a bad bargain for you.”

“And now you do?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Galen is … He’s not always …” After a long pause he said softly, “In Zalandan Galen is all-powerful, and his people love him. His power is even greater than my father’s.”

“That cannot be so bad if his people hold him in affection.”

“You don’t understand. Galen’s desire to have Sedikhan united is a passion that sweeps everything else away.” He gazed at her soberly. “I don’t want you to be swept away, Tess.”

She laughed. “Why should I be affected by all that? I’d be a visitor in Sedikhan for three years, perhaps less.”

He could see the excitement flushing her cheeks and had a sinking feeling his words had not swayed her. “Three years can be a long time.”

“I have only one question. Do you believe I can trust Galen to keep his promise?”

“Yes.”

She crossed the room to give him a fleeting kiss on the cheek. “I thank you for your concern, Sacha, but it will truly be fine.” A hint of bleakness
colored her voice as she continued, “I know I’m only a pawn to your friend, but when have I ever been anything else? At least I’ll have a chance at independence, if I agree to his terms. No one else will offer me even that possibility. You were right, he was right; It’s not a bad bargain.”

“You’ve made up your mind?”

She nodded as she took a step back. “And I’d better tell him. Where is he?”

“In the stable. I’ll go with you.”

“I’ll go alone.” She cast him a gamine grin. “Stop frowning. Everything is going to be splendid.”

Chapter 2

“What are you doing?” Tess asked from the doorway of the stable.

Galen turned toward her. The light of the setting sun behind her sharply silhouetted her slender figure, seeming to etch her hair in dark flame. “My horse was bitten by a snake on the way to Dinar, and the wound is infected,” he explained slowly.

“It’s getting dark, you’ll need a lantern.”

“I was about to light one.”

“I’ll do it. Don’t leave him.” She moved quickly to a lantern hanging on a post near the door. On a ledge below was a flint and stone. She struck them together, flame flared, and a moment
later she was carrying the lighted lantern to Galen.

He could see the shadow of her limbs through the thin blue batiste of the high-waisted gown she still wore.

She set the lantern on the ground beside the bucket and admired the horse. Her hand stroked his muzzle. “He’s beautiful. What’s his name?”

“Selik.”

“What happened to Telzan?”

“I use him for breeding now. Selik is one of his colts.”

“He’s very gentle. You don’t expect that quality in a stallion.”

He gazed at her curiously. “And what do you know about stallions?”

“Not enough. I need to learn more.” She knelt beside him. “Was the snake poisonous?”

“Yes, but it was only a glancing strike.”

“What salve are you using?”

“An herbal mixture of mustard grass and rye.”

“Have you tried mixing mint with it?”

“No.”

“It cools the flesh, which makes the animal able to tolerate greater heat from the cloth.”

“How do you know?”

“I experimented with several herbs when one of the Count’s mares developed a strain.” She reached past him, unwound the cloth from around Selik’s ankle, and gently stroked the horse’s ankle. “Just look. Have you ever seen such delicate bones?”

Her bones were far more delicate, he thought. He felt as if he could crush her with one careless caress. He could see the tracing of blue veins at her wrist, and the steady pounding of the pulse at her temple a few inches from his own. “Exceptional.”

“One has to wonder how ankles such as those ever manage to support all that weight.” She dipped the cloth in the bucket and squeezed out the excess moisture. “We’re going to need more very hot water.”

“I’ll get it.” He stood up, took the bucket to the door, and threw out the water, then turned and strode over to the kettle and filled the bucket again. “What count?”

“Hmm?” Her brow was knotted in concentration as she wrapped the ankle. “Oh, the Count de Sanvene. He owned the estate next to the convent. He had a fine stable of horses, but not one to compare to this boy.” She sat back on her heels to look admiringly up at the stallion. “Do you have many horses like Selik?”

“No horse is like another.”

“I agree.”

“The sisters let you visit the Count?”

“Not at first. I had to sneak away.” She grimaced. “I can’t tell you how many times I was caught and sent to the Reverend Mother for discipline.”

“How old was the man?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I never asked him.”

“Guess.” Galen heard the sharpness in his voice and tried to temper it as she glanced at him in surprise. “Young?”

She shook her head. “He had grandchildren, I think.”

Galen felt a little of his tension melt away. He brought the bucket of steaming water to her side. “You liked him?”