The Golden Barbarian Read Online Free

wasn’t she?”
    “Yes,” he said curtly as he stopped at the foot of the marble staircase. “French and Tamrovian.” He changed the subject. “I’m going back to my apartment and tell Said to make arrangements for the journey.”
    “But I’ll see you this evening?”
    Galen nodded, and a reckless smile lit his face. “By all means. Meet me here in the hall at eight. We’ll find several accommodating ladies, and I’ll show you how a warrior of the El Zalan takes his pleasure.”
    Before Sacha could speak, Galen was swiftly climbing the staircase.
    “Several?” Sacha murmured, intrigued. He was suddenly sure it was going to prove a most interesting evening.
    Someone was watching him.
    Galen came wide awake in bed.
    His muscles were tensed, ready to spring, but he lay quite still, his eyes slitted. His dagger was on the table by the bed, but he’d have to reach over the woman curled on his left to reach it.
    “My lord Galen.”
    His lids flicked open. Gray eyes gazed down at him from a white, strained face surrounded by a riot of auburn curls, a child’s face.
    Tess Rubinoff’s small hand tightened on the copper candle-holder she held. “Have you had too much wine too?” she whispered.
    “What the devil are you doing here?” He jerked upright, instinctively reaching for a sheet to cover his nudity.
    Tess breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re not drunk. I went to Sacha’s chamber first and could not make him understand.…” She took a step back. “I need help. I can’t do it by myself. Will you—” Her glance fell on the naked woman curled up on the far side of him. “Two of them? Pauline never had more than one at a time. Why do you—”
    “How did you get in here? I wasn’t too drunk to lock the door.”
    “Through the dressing room. There’s a secretpassage that leads into many rooms in the palace. I discovered it three years ago,” Tess murmured absently, still studying the golden-haired woman nestled close to Galen. “That’s Lady Camilla, isn’t it? She looks thinner without her clothes. Who is the other one?”
    “That’s none of your concern.” He frowned. “Said is sleeping in the dressing room.”
    “Your servant? I was very quiet. He didn’t wake up.” She shrugged dismissively. “But that’s not important. I need your help.” She glanced at the sheet he’d pulled over his hips. “Are you cold?” She turned and snatched his crimson velvet robe from a chair beside the bed. “Here, put this on.”
    “Thank you,” he said dryly as he slipped his arms into the sleeves of the robe. “You’re very considerate, if not overly circumspect.”
    Camilla turned over and moaned in her sleep.
    Tess glanced casually at her. “They’re both sleeping very soundly. Are they in their cups too?”
    “They’ve had a few glasses of wine.”
    Tess critically studied the slumbering women. “More than a few glasses. But I suppose we don’t want to chance waking them. I really shouldn’t be here.”
    “I believe I’ve already made that observation.”
    “I’ll wait for you in the dressing room.” She turned and started across the chamber to the door of the antechamber.
    “If Said wakes up, he’ll cut your throat before I can join you. The men of our tribe do not appreciate midnight visitors.”
    “I’ve learned to move very quietly. I won’t wake him.”
    “Then you can move right back to your chamber. I have no intention of going anyw—” The back of the child’s white gown was spattered with brown-red stains. Bloodstains.
    She glanced over her shoulder. “What?”
    “Nothing. Go on. I’ll join you in a moment.”
    She opened the paneled door and disappeared from view.
    Galen muttered a curse as he carefully climbed over Camilla and slipped from the bed.
    He didn’t need this problem after several hours of roistering and sexual indulgence. His head was only a little clearer than Sacha’s, and his temper was not of the best. If the child had been beaten by that