Pride Of A Warrior by Stein Andrea K

Author:Stein, Andrea K.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Muirgen® Publishing, LLC
Published: 2021-12-13T16:00:00+00:00

El soaked her fingers in rosewater and oil while her maid, Basira, rhythmically massaged her back and shoulders. At an insistent tap at the door, she shouted, “Go away.”

George Neville pushed open the door in spite of her warning and began to pace up and down the length of her bedchamber.

“Never mind what I want. It’s what the great Captain Neville wants.” She sighed and turned her head to the side.

“How can you lie there like that when so much is at stake?”

“Be thankful I’m lying down and Basira is soothing my muscles after the long trip from Falmouth.” She raised her head and leaned forward on her forearms, flexing her back muscles. “You do know if you force me to interrupt Basira’s ministrations to my back, I’ll have to run you through with my sword.”

He stopped pacing and gazed at her for a moment. “Please.” He tilted his head and smiled. “You know after breaking so many laws of England, Algiers, Turkey, and probably most of the res t of the world, we have to stick together.”

“And why is that?” She spoke in sharp tones.

“Because, my dear El, after we finish our business here, we’ll have to spend the rest of our lives fighting off our enemies, back-to-back.”

She threw him her best cross look and then burst out laughing. “You’re right. I’m probably stuck with your scrappy self until I die.” She frowned then and motioned for Basira to bring her the long silken caftan hanging from a simple hook near her bed.

She pointed to the silken cushions lining a banquette beneath a wall of windows overlooking the harbor. “Sit and tell Auntie El what’s wrong.” She lounged onto a cushion and pulled up her feet, sinking into her favorite crossed-legged yogi position. “Although, let me guess. Hmmm. Would your current agitation by any chance have anything to do with a stubborn creature with long golden hair and large blue eyes?”

“God, yes. Why can she never do what she’s told?”

“I wasn’t aware you’d told her to do anything. If I recollect aright, you said you told her you loved her five years ago, you sailed away to Africa, and then let her believe you’ve been dead all this time. Have I missed anything?”

“You know perfectly well what I mean. I’m sure her father, Lord Howick, forbade her to go haring off to Algiers. Yet here she is.”

She bored a stare into his unforgiving frown. “Yes, here she is. That poor woman still loves you and believes you’re languishing somewhere as a slave. It appears to me that you’re all-a-mort over a muddle you’ve created yourself.”

“She should have forgotten all about me by now. Why hasn’t she married some high-born nob? Why isn’t she swilling tea in high society and raising a bunch of brats?”

“Why indeed?” El paid close attention to the rapidly changing expressions on her old partner’s face until he jumped up to commence pacing again. His face had betrayed him. The look in his eyes did not match the cold-hearted remarks rolling out of his mouth.

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