Race of Scorpions - Dorothy Dunnett [54]
Later, he lay on his face. She said, ‘I cannot go away. I could ask for another cabin. I am not sure why you suddenly think this is wrong.’
He had explained nothing. She was good at divining. He said, ‘It isn’t wrong. But it is a waste.’
‘Waste!’ she said. ‘That word again? What blows have you had, that you feel unshriven unless someone is beating you? Ten months of misery were a waste. But pleasure is not.’
‘Then let us say,’ Nicholas said, ‘that I don’t deserve it. One should work, and one should take relief from one’s work. That, my dear, is the Flemish way.’
She was quiet, as she always was when he held her at arm’s length. His thoughts were his own, and not Primaflora’s. His vision of Catherine and Pagano, locked exactly thus in this room by their voracity. Catherine his step-daughter, and Pagano Doria, whom he had caused to be killed. He turned over. ‘But your way is better, and I’ve been ungrateful. So long as you’re prepared for a parting. You know I’m going to refuse to serve this man. James the Bastard. This alternative king of the sorry island of Cyprus.’
She said, ‘If you worked for him, you could have both your relief and your trade. In the Flemish way.’
Her eyes were not smiling. He said, ‘You would stay with me? There must be more …’
She said, ‘Do you expect a declaration of love? You won’t get it. I made that mistake once, and fell out with my employer. Now I need another patron, and it would amuse me to stay with you. Also, you require someone like me. You learn quickly. You conceal what you know. I had not expected –’ She paused.
‘What?’ said Nicholas.
‘To talk,’ she said. ‘In the evenings, when we hold conversation, it is what I enjoy most.’
He smiled at last. ‘Shall we,’ he said, ‘write this down and post it up on the door? It might earn me the respect of the crew; but I very much doubt it.’
She said, ‘Then you will keep an open mind about James?’
‘No,’ said Nicholas. ‘If I don’t serve Carlotta, then I’ve no wish to serve James. I will hear him and leave, if he will let me. If he does, will you stay?’
She had a robe she wore in the heat, light as a chemise. It lay crumpled about her as she reclined on one elbow, considering him. He had given her no time to undress. She had not complained, but had been generous. He added, ‘I should be afraid for you.’
Her eyes opened. ‘Would you?’ She lifted her head from her hand and, stretching her arm, ran her fingers down his bare arm. She said, ‘I said you were young. I can look after myself. What happens to me is not your affair.’
‘But you wouldn’t leave with me?’ Nicholas said.
She smiled, and moved the track of her fingers. ‘You don’t want me. We share an appetite, and satisfy it as well together as any man and woman could do. But your mind is set on war, and I need a great household to live in.’
He bridged her hand with his fingertips, stilling it. He said, ‘But you were willing to stay with me in Cyprus?’
She looked at the silent embargo, but made no effort to break it. ‘Because you would have earned a great household,’ she said. ‘I won’t deceive you. I tease you over your youth, but you have in you the fire of success. I should profit from that, as you would profit from – what you have just had. I shall ask you something. Why have we been made to share a chamber like this?’
‘I thought we knew,’ Nicholas said. ‘To exhaust me into docility.’
‘So once we reach Cyprus, I am not needed,’ she said. ‘Unless there is another reason for making us lovers.’
Of course, she was far from simple. She had wondered about this, as he had. He had not talked about it. They might have been thrown together for the sake of prurience. Even at second hand, such things could excite men’s imagination. But of course, it was not only that. He said, ‘Perhaps they are uncertain of both of us, and hope passion will solve all their problems. If I elect to serve King James on Cyprus, you will reject Carlotta for ever and stay with me. If I leave, you will go with me and will not remain