Scales of Gold - Dorothy Dunnett [202]
‘He won’t kill Simon,’ said Nicholas. ‘Simon might try to kill him. I’ve warned Gregorio. As a family, we leave something to be desired.’
‘What do you desire?’ Gelis said. She moved the lamp slowly to illumine his face. His eyes were heavy, and his skin moist in the heat. Her hair, still unloosed, fell forward a little.
‘You,’ he said. ‘Was that what you wanted to hear?’
‘It was polite, certainly,’ she said. ‘Then why not come to Lagos?’
His lids had closed. He smiled. He said, ‘There is no privacy on a caravel.’
‘Then,’ Gelis said, ‘I shall have to stay, shall I not, in Timbuktu?’
His eyes opened then, but their expression was one of guarded amusement. He said, ‘I want to be there when you break the good news to Bel.’ Then he said, ‘You can’t mean it?’ He had lifted his head from the wall.
‘I always meant to,’ she said. ‘Diniz and Bel owe a duty to Lucia, but I don’t. I want to stay. I’ve begun learning Arabic’
His gaze searched her face. He hardly listened to what she was saying. He said, ‘You do mean it. Why?’
‘You said you desired me,’ she said. ‘You half meant it.’
‘Men often do,’ he said. He had all his wits about him now, she saw. He said, ‘You would like to tease me? It isn’t much your style. You were ready enough to go home an hour ago.’
‘Then I thought you were going as well. Would you like a drink?’ Gelis said. She rose from the bed. ‘I should like to tease you.’
‘All the way to Ethiopia? Without Bel?’
‘I should stay behind while you did that. Umar would see to my household. I’ve found some milk. I’ve found something else. Oh!’ She turned round. ‘Fermented spirits? Nicholas!’
‘Bring it,’ he said. ‘Take some yourself, if you want it. It was invented for moments like these.’ His hand was steady, taking it from her, although she made sure that her fingers touched his. When he only sipped, she knew she had lost him.
She said, ‘So you are too old to be teased. When you find Prester John, perhaps you should bathe in the Fountain of Youth. I shall wait for you.’
‘Do. You might have to suckle me,’ Nicholas said. ‘So what is it? You want to be the first to know if we die?’
‘More or less,’ Gelis said. ‘That is, when you die, someone has to take home the gold.’
‘And that is why you let your hair loose,’ Nicholas said. He set his cup down. Gelis smiled, and moved up to collect it. He stretched one arm to prevent her, and then, lifting the other, imprisoned her suddenly. She gasped and stumbled, half to sit on the bed and half over him. He took her by the arms and sat her primly upright confronting him. She felt his hand touch the back of her hair, and for a moment thought he was going to draw her to him. Then she saw his face, which was thoughtful.
Her own, she hoped, was impassive. She hadn’t resisted. ‘Well?’ she said. ‘I think you may have left it too late, but whatever you have in mind, I still propose to remain.’
His hands steadied her and then lowered, leaving her sitting there. He said, ‘I wondered. But thank God …’ He stopped.
‘What?’ she said. Without her knowing it, her breathing had halted.
He said, ‘You don’t know how to seduce. Never do it. Never, never do it, do you hear?’
She could have done many things, including striking him. She was stopped by the look on his face. She said, ‘If you let me stay, I shall be as Umar to you. Nothing more.’
‘Let you stay?’ he said. ‘How could I prevent you? By force?’
She rose slowly, thinking of the stricken joy in Godscalc’s face, seen in the courtyard. Of Umar’s anguish, and the painful relief in the face of Diniz, given his congé. She said, ‘Force? Nicholas, a man seldom needs to apply force who is himself a master of the art of seduction. If you want me to go, you’ll get rid of me. If you don’t,