Suzanne Robinson Read Online Free

ago? But that no longer matters.” Hauron drew in a long breath and let it out. “Though it grieves me, I know that it was the will of the gods that Rahotep died before I could reach him. It took much longer than I thought to arrange everything.”
    Anqet furrowed her brow. She paused in the doorway. “What arrangements are you speaking of, Uncle? Those for your visit?”
    “No, such details are safely left to underlings.” Hauron turned back and smiled down at her. “No. I meant the arrangements for your quarters at my house and the hiring of a staff to run an estate this large. I couldn’t leave Nefer in the hands of just anyone. Surely you realize that you must come to live in my household.”
    Anqet’s heart thudded in her breast. She opened hermouth to object, to correct the misunderstanding. Her eyes caught movement on the portico outside. Nebre stared at her over the shoulder of one of Hauron’s guards. Anqet suddenly noticed how many of her uncle’s entourage were soldiers. Any well-to-do citizen traveled with some protection, but Hauron had brought at least fifteen henchmen, each armed with bow or spear. It occurred to her that Hauron traveled with a great many warriors for a visit to a dying brother.
    Don’t he such a donkey. The man is cautious, that’s all. And you should be cautious too. He thinks he’s going to order your life for you.
    Under the pretense of giving instructions to a serving girl, she studied her guest. Hauron was a larger, older duplicate of her father. Where Rahotep had been slender, Hauron was thickset. Although he was tall, his musculature was of the sort that ran to fat without constant exercise. His brows arched high on his forehead as though he were continually surprised, but his face was square like her father s. Hauron possessed Rahotep’s thin wide mouth. Lines of temper, or perhaps severity, marred the skin on either side of his lips, and he carried the air of one who expected obedience.
    Anqet turned back to her uncle. Again she found him staring at her. Puzzled, she met his intense look. Hauron’s face was flushed. His jaw tightened, and he appeared determined to strangle the beaded belt at his waist.
    “Are you ill, Uncle?”
    Hauron wet his lips. “Weary perhaps.”
    “I have refreshment waiting. If you will honor my house?” She gestured toward the reception room where ale and food awaited.
    Hauron indicated that Anqet should precede him. He bowed as she passed and caught a whiff of jasmine and freshly laundered linen. He barely managed to keep his hand from reaching for the girl as she went by.
    She was even more beautiful than her mother had been. He hadn’t been prepared for it. He had not thoughtIsis would bestow her favor upon another as she had upon Taia. Those breasts. Each was a full, ripe lotus bud. He felt a tingling heat in his loins as he watched Anqet bend over a side table heaped with food. Her robe clung to her hip and leg, exposing the lines of her body.
    It wasn’t fair to be so cursed twice in his life, cursed with a demon’s obsession for a woman unavailable to him. At least this one wouldn’t humiliate him by refusing to—
    Hauron’s thoughts scattered as he watched Anqet move. He drew nearer, his eyes fixed again on the swelling abundance of his niece’s breasts. He took a goblet of ale from the girl but stayed next to her while she filled a plate with food for him. He edged closer as Anqet stood with her back to him. When she would have turned with the plate in her hand, he caught the dish from her and managed to move at the right moment so that she backed into him. He felt her softness meet his hips and opened his eyes wide. What was he doing? Did she suspect what he felt?
    “Forgive me, my child. I am clumsy with fatigue.”
    Hauron smiled beneficently at the girl’s flushed response. He took a chair opposite hers and waited for a servant to place a table before him.
    He waited also for his desire to cool. It did not. He had known