The Sultan's Favourite by Helen Brooks

Author:Helen Brooks [Brooks, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

THE rest of the journey was painfully beautiful in marked contrast to Louisa’s thoughts: lushly forested mountains plunging dangerously into crystal-clear unpolluted seas, ripe hazelnut groves, tea terraces, sprawling tobacco plantations green and rich in the afternoon sun, tiny sandy beaches as well as seashores of black pebbles from which the sea got its name, all fitted between craggy projections of rock that were as mighty as they were dangerous. . . So much wild and tamed beauty and so unexpected. The noise and frantic bustle of Istanbul seemed another lifetime away.

She had read somewhere that according to legend the Black Sea shores were the land of the Amazons, that fierce tribe of female warriors who had competed with men and reigned supreme, and as they went on into the dusky evening she found herself reaching out to the long-dead Amazons, asking for some of their strength for the days that lay ahead.

It was almost dark when they reached their destination, the sky a soft indigo-blue velvet canopy under which Melik’s tea plantation stretched endlessly along a vast mountain slope.

‘Tea?’ She had stared at him in amazement when he had explained what the estate entailed. ‘I didn’t know you were into tea.’

‘I am probably “into” many activities of which you know nothing,’ he had returned drily, his cool face betraying the fact that he had not quite forgiven her for her earlier defiance. ‘However, this is the ancestral home of the Hamans, as it happens; I was born here.’

‘Were you?’ She stared at the handsome closed face in fascination as the big car purred through massive gates after climbing steadily for twenty minutes or more.

He nodded slowly as they scrunched along on a beautifully laid road in marked contrast to the rough lanes they had been travelling on a few miles before. ‘My mother was booked into the finest hospital in Turkey, so I understand —my father was desperate nothing should go wrong — but they were here seeing to some estate problems when she was eight months pregnant and I decided I had waited long enough to see the world, and was born within an hour of announcing my arrival was imminent. She was still clutching a leaf of tea in her hand when it was all over, or so she says,’ he finished quietly.

‘Why tea? Why did your family decide to grow tea?’

‘Why not?’ He turned to fix her with his tawny gaze, his expression indicating slight surprise at her curiosity. ‘The main export crops are cotton, tobacco, fruit and nuts but my grandfather changed to tea for reasons of his own and now, since 1945, Turkey grows all its own tea in this area; we’re self-sufficient.’ He smiled slowly. ‘I’ve no complaints; we did well out of it all. The men in my family all seemed to marry well, bringing more wealth into the Haman fortunes, and now the business interests are vast — vast and time-consuming,’ he added ruefully. ‘This estate is a relaxing hobby in comparison.

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