Devil's Daughter by Catherine Coulter Read Free Book Online Page A

instructed my captain, Bajor, to destroy two of the Earl of Clare’s ships.”
    So he had at last learned of it. She had hoped he would not until she was ready to tell him, but it made no difference now. She would appeal to his man’s honor, as a helpless woman. She smiled a bit to herself at the thought, but answered him seriously enough, “It is a vendetta, my son. I have had to wait over twenty-five years to have . . . justice rendered. Now that you are the Bey and a powerful man, I ask that you help me.”
    His thick brow remained arched. “Vengeance, Mother? You are responsible for making me a liar and breaking tribute with a powerful English nobleman. By God, madam, do you know what you have done?”
    Giovanna lowered her eyes to her smooth hands, for Alessandro, like his father, was talented in reading people’s eyes. She frowned a moment at the several small brown spots.
    “Yes,” she said quietly, “it was I, and I know what I have done.” She raised her eyes and saw cold, disbelieving anger on his face. “Alessandro, before you judge me harshly, please listen. Twenty-five years ago I was captured by your father and brought here to Oran as a slave for his harem. A slave, my son,” shesaid, her voice rising, “and I was a contessa, a noblewoman, in Genoa.”
    “I listen, madam, and as yet I do not hear anything I do not already know. You have spent half your life here, as my father’s second wife. You have given me no reason to assume you were displeased with your station in life.” He gazed about the richly furnished chamber.
    “But a slave nonetheless. You have lived many years in Europe. You know that European women live with their men, eat at the same table, go out with them in society. They are not shut away, their faces covered with veils.”
    Kamal heard trembling anger in her voice. “You digress, madam. I trust this vendetta in some way gives meaning to your foolishness.”
    “I will tell you what happened, my son,” Giovanna said. She saw Raj from the corner of her eye, standing silently near the doorway, and drew to an abrupt halt. She had no idea how much the eunuch knew, but she did know he disliked and distrusted her, though he had never shown her any overt disdain. She dismissed him with an angry wave of her hand.
    She stretched her slender hand over the small table and clasped her son’s wrist. “Twenty-six years ago, I was to wed a wealthy man, half Italian and half English, a man who was a peer of the English realm. His name is Anthony Welles. His title, the Earl of Clare. He is a man of substance in banking and shipping. He spends half his time in Genoa and half in England. It is he who was responsible for my capture.”
    Kamal frowned at her unexpected words, but hisvoice was calm. “And why did the Earl of Clare do such a thing?”
    Giovanna drew a convincingly shuddering breath and forced a furrow of pain to her brow. “It was not actually he, my son, but rather the harlot he had brought from England with him. You see, I was to wed him, but this little English slut, one of his mistresses, knew of it, and offered a great sum of money to your father to remove me permanently. The earl wed the woman, while I languished here, a slave.”
    Kamal’s frown did not ease. “This Earl of Clare, did he know what his wife had done?”
    “Yes, but only after he had wed her. Your father told me that.”
    “The earl made no inquiries? Made no attempt to right the wrong done to you?”
    “The little harlot had spun her web about him by that time and was to bear his child. He did nothing.”
    “How was an Englishwoman able to contact my father?”
    “I do not know, but the fact remains that I am here, and have been for more years than I care to count. Both of them merit my hate, Alessandro, and yours, as my son. They must be punished for what they did.”
    Your hate has already plundered two ships and brought me dishonor, he thought. “Continue,” he said.
    “They are responsible