The Kadin Read Online Free

time to present Gianetta with her gifts.” He clapped his hands, and a troupe of servants entered bearing trays of packages and bouquets. Much to everyone’s amusement Janet cried out in delight
    “Now you see why I am hesitant about letting her wed so young,” chuckled Patrick to Duke Sebastian.
    “Marriage will mature her,” replied the duke.
    The white-leather case Janet first reached for contained the San Lorenzo pearls—the traditional gift of the reigning duke to his future daughter-in-law. The duchess presented her with a red morocco toilette case containing two combs, a brush, and a mirror of gold; a gold box holding tortoise-shell hairpins; three Venetian crystal scent bottles, one filled with rosewater, one with lavender, and the third with rare Eastern musk; and a pale blue velvet bag containing pure white wax candles and a crystal-and-gold candlestick.
    Young Adam had brought his sister a gold ring fashioned with the Leslie coat of arms and engraved inside with the words, “To my own dear sister, Janet from Adam.” She rose, walked over to him, and kissed him on the cheek.
    “You are the sweetest brother any girl could have.”
    Adam flushed and wriggled in embarrassment.
    Janet turned back to her gifts. On the last tray was a beautifully carved leather saddle.
    “Oh, Rudi,” she exclaimed, “it’s wonderful!”
    “But it is not from me, cara. It is from your father.”
    “But you said you had another gift for me, and there are no others left”
    “Greedy wench,” said Patrick.
    “Oh, father,” she giggled. “I’m sorry. The saddle is a marvelous gift”
    “It goes with something else, little sweetheart. Come out on the terrace and see what your grandmother has for you.”
    The entire family adjourned to the terrace. There, standing quietly, was a beautiful white mare, and holding her bridle was a young black man wearing bright red satin pantaloons, a yellow turban with a white plume, and a gold earring in his left ear. His bare chest had been oiled, and it glistened in the bright sun.
    “The mare’s name is Heather,” said Patrick.
    “And this,” said Rudi, placing a hand on the black man’s shoulder, “is Mamud. He is a tamed and Christianized African, and my special gift to you. I purchased him from a trading ship that put in here last week. He is gelded, and therefore a eunuch.”
    Though Janet was delighted with Mamud, Mary Mac-Kay was not She was quite horrified. “Black as a crow, and he’ll bring bad luck, too,” she said. “What could Master Rudi have been thinking to give ye such a gift?”
    Mamud regarded the Scotswoman warily out of liquid brown eyes and immediately summed her up as the enemy.
    “Don’t be silly, grandmother. Blackamoors are becoming quite the fashion.”
    “If he were a child, it would be one thing,” persisted the older woman, “but he is not Gelded or nae, I dinna like the looks of him.”
    That evening, Janet stood on her balcony overlooking the sea. The day had been a long one, and she was relieved that it was over. A jagged streak of lightning cut across the sky, followed by a nimble of thunder that echoed into the hills. Soon the rain would begin, bringing an end to this awful heat
    Janet moved from the balcony and lay down on her bed. Closing her eyes, she let her body relax and her mind wander. Something had happened to her this evening that seemed to indicate that Rudi was as eager as she to be wed.
    They had been sitting in the duke’s garden. Rudi, who up to this point had given her no more than an occasional kiss on the cheek, had slipped his arm around her and kissed her on the mouth. At first she had been startled, but as Rudi whispered soft endearments in her ear, she had allowed herself to be kissed again. Her innocently ardent response had encouraged his hands to begin a gentle fondling of her breasts. Janet had heard herself murmuring in soft contentment as her body grew warm and strangely weak. But the sudden loud sounds of her