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She could see that indeed he was aroused again. As he reached for her, her other hand came up with a stinging blow to his face.
He raised his hand.
“Go on, knock me down. It wouldn’t be the first time.” Violence was ready to erupt in both of them when a low knock came upon the bedchamber door.
“Mr. Baines is below, sir. He says floodtide is early tonight.”
Antonia began to dress. She was seething inside. So, he was off on theFlying Dragonsmuggling God only knew what.
He watched her in brooding silence. She buttoned the lovely yellow pelisse and picked up her parasol.
“Have a care, Savage. If I open my mouth about you, I could have you swinging on the end of a rope!”
Adam Savage threw back his head and his laughter rolled about the room. By Satan, he’d taught her well how to threaten a man. “I’ll see you at Edenwood,” he said firmly as she swept from the room.
Tony almost choked on her anger. The liveried servant looked askance at her wildly disordered hair, but she’d be damned if she was going to try to tuck up the curls as Georgiana had done. She tossed it back from her shoulders. “Keep your damned eyes to yourself!” she snapped.
Chapter 38
TheFlying Dragonmade its familiar way into the mouth of the River Somme toward St. Valéry. Savage picked out the signal light that told him it was safe to dock, and the moment the plank was let down his crew began to transfer the cargo. They had done it so often, they were actually becoming so proficient that little time was wasted.
Savage knew all he needed was calm confidence to lull the fears of those he had to deal with. The money changed hands quickly and the clipper was out in the Channel again on a steady course for Gravesend.
Savage stood at the wheel, his mind thousands of miles away. Thoughts of Ceylon filled his head. Young Anthony Lamb was safely out of harm’s way, reunited with his mother, Eve. Suddenly a fertile oath dropped from Savage’s lips. What if Bernard Lamb took a ship from Madagascar to Ceylon? They were almost three thousand miles apart, but both were in the Indian Ocean. By now it would be clear to him that it was Savage who’d had him shanghaied aboard theRed Dragon.A premonition touched him. Deep down he suspected Bernard the Bastard would take his revenge by making his way to Ceylon. How ironic life was. Because of deliberate interference on his part young Anthony Lamb’s life might be in jeopardy. He had no choice but to return to Ceylon. Antonia would never forgive him if anything happened to her twin now that he had been restored to her. Antonia! He closed his eyes, knowing her image was ever before him.
How she had complicated his life. He had known he must return to Ceylon eventually to make a clean break with Eve before he married Tony, but, coward that he was, he had pushed the dreaded confrontation into the future. Now that her twin’s life might possibly be in danger, he would not delay. Above all things Savage hated having his hand forced. He was a man who liked being in control. His greatest challenge in life had been learning to control himself. Once he had achieved that goal he had worked twenty hours a day for eight years to make his plantation thrive and accumulate enough wealth so that he could control his destiny. His life had been unfolding exactly as he had planned. The stately home had been built, its chatelaine chosen. He had returned to his homeland with enough power to have a say in the running of the country. Then a green-eyed, long-legged female, with more guts and passion than any woman had a right to, had scattered all his carefully laid plans to the four winds.
He wanted her with every fiber of his being. He wanted her for his mate, he wanted her for his wife, and he wanted her to bear his children. He intended to do everything in his power to have her too. But the problem was he wasn’t in complete control. Tony was a bloody genius at upsetting the apple cart. He created order; she created chaos. She had stretched his patience to the limit when he had thought her Anthony, now she almost drove him to violence in his attempt to control her.
If she learned the unsavory details of his past, he ran the risk of losing her. Finally he faced the crux of the matter. If she ever found out he’d been involved with her mother, losing her was more than a risk, it was a probability.
He squared his shoulders and filled his lungs with the salt sea air. What the hellfire was the matter with him? Brooding and worrying weren’t his style. Life was a challenge! Lady Antonia Lamb was a challenge! The dice were not yet cast. He’d play the bloody game and he’d win!
Antonia decided to go to Edenwood after all. But she wasn’t going at week’s end and she wasn’t visiting the Marquess of Blackwater. She was going to have a cozy little chat with John Bull. If anyone knew what skeletons rattled about in Indian Savage’s checkered past, it would be his trusted friend and manservant.
She smiled as her wicked juices began to bubble. John Bull still thought she was young Lord Lamb. She wondered what he would make of her transformation.
Antonia felt decidedly guilty when she concocted a story of homesickness for her grandmother’s benefit. She had always had a passion for truth until lately and hated liars above all people. Now as she kissed Roz good-bye on the pretense of leaving for Stoke, she silently laid the blame at Savage’s door. When she was on the outskirts of London she told Bradshaw that their destination was Edenwood, not Stoke. She felt guilty as sin when he winked and informed her cheerfully that Mr. Burke had already told him to drop her off at Edenwood, then return to London.
When the carriage arrived at Adam Savage’s stately home, a welcoming committee of servants was led out onto the driveway by John Bull.
“Welcome to Edenwood, memsab. Excellency told me to expect you. All is in readiness. I am John Bull, Excellency’s majordomo.”
“John Bull, it’s me, Tony!”
He bowed formally, his blood-red turban almost touching his knees. “Yes, memsab. You are Lady Lamb, twin sister to honorable Lord Lamb. May I say the likeness is very marked indeed!”
“It’s marked because I’m him! I simply took off my pants and put on a skirt.”
John Bull turned imperiously to the curious servants and dismissed them. “Are you trying to tell me Lord Lamb has been defrocked?”
She giggled and took his arm. “I am trying to tell you that I am my brother Tony.”
He shook his head in admiration. “The disguise is perfect. You look exactly like a female!”
Antonia gave up. She squeezed his arm. “John Bull, I adore you. I only hope I don’t have to sleep on the floor this time.”
“Indeed not. Excellency bade me prepare the adjoining bedchamber to the master’s suite for Lady Lamb.”
