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Antonia stepped from the bathwater, then dried herself with a thick Turkish towel. Immediately the little maid came forward with the white cotton camisole and petticoat Tony had picked out. The child had wanted her to wear a formal silk gown, but instead Antonia had chosen a simple white batiste, embroidered with scarlet hibiscus blossoms.
Antonia had just begun to brush the tangles from her long black hair when her mother floated into her chamber. She offered up a quick prayer of thanks that Eve had not caught her naked.
“Antonia, we have a guest staying with us. You will have to wear something a little more formal for dinner.”
Tony bit her lip. Her mother had a knack for making her feel awkward and gauche. “Adam assures me cotton is acceptable anywhere in the Indies, but it won’t take me a moment to change. I hope Anthony will be here for dinner.”
“He and Bernard always return at sunset.”
“Bernard?” Antonia repeated the name, hating the very sound of it.
“Yes, your cousin Bernard Lamb is staying with us. A most attractive young man.”
“Holy Mother of God!” Tony cried. “He intends to kill Anthony!”
“Don’t be absurd.”
“It’s true, Mother. I must tell Adam.” She turned to the young native girl. “Please find my riding boots.”
“Antonia, I forbid you to go running off to Leopard’s Leap, and stop calling him Adam! Mr. Savage and I are to be married. He will shortly become your father!”
Chapter 44
The blood drained from Antonia’s face until it was ashen. She felt herself slipping away into unconsciousness. She flung out a hand to grasp hold of something that would keep her on her feet. The dusky female thrust the boots into her outstretched hand.
“The evil one has a gun, memsahib,” she whispered.
Antonia blinked two or three times to banish the dizziness and the nausea that threatened to overcome her. She wanted to scream a denial. Her mother and Savage; she simply couldn’t bear it! Any other woman would have deeply wounded her, but Eve? In that moment Antonia believed her wound would prove fatal. She felt as if her mother had plucked her heart from her breast.
Then she realized her mother was just as much a victim as herself. Savage had seduced her and made love to her, knowing Eve waited in Ceylon for him to return and marry her. Antonia recoiled from the vile deception. His treacherous duplicity made her sick at heart. She realized she had started the dishonesty between them by misrepresenting herself, but how could any man be so cruel, so vile, as to seduce both a mother and daughter? It was vicious and morally contemptible.
“Russell Lamb is the only father I will ever have.” She pulled on her boots. “I must find Anthony. Bernard Lamb is a cold-blooded killer, in spite of the fact you find him so attractive. I am afraid you are a lamentable judge of men’s characters.”
Eve stepped back at the searing look of contempt. Even as a child her daughter had been incorrigible. So be it. Let her run off into danger. Ceylon wasn’t England, but the headstrong girl would have to learn that lesson for herself!
Tony found the stables and startled a uniformed sepoy by taking his saddled mount. She knew Leopard’s Leap was the next plantation, but she also recalled it was spread over twenty thousand acres. Though the task of finding Anthony would be difficult, she refused to think it impossible. Twins had an invisible thread that connected them somehow in mind and in spirit.
She rained a hundred curses upon the head of Savage. Thanks to his cunning plot Bernard Lamb was once again stalking his prey. Antonia was blind to the exotic paradise that stretched before her, blind to the tropical sun that turned the sky to saffron shot with brilliant gold as a prelude to setting. She urged the horse to thunder through the rows of strange-looking trees as she cried out her twin’s name over and over. She was gripped by such a sense of urgency, her mind blotted out everything save her beloved brother.
At that moment Anthony was on foot, leading his horse so he could get a closer look at the exotic fungi that covered the fallen trees on the jungle floor. Some were brilliant orange with black spots, others were dark purple on top, pale mauve beneath. Even the shapes were unlike any he’d seen before. Some were like frills on a fop’s shirt, others looked like painted gnomes’ stools from an illustrated fairy tale.
Anthony looked up at Bernard, who hadn’t bothered to dismount. He realized he was boring his cousin to tears. “I guess we’d better get going. By the dimness in here I can tell the sun is going down. The jungle comes alive after dark. It’s not a healthy place to be.”
Bernard smiled. “Not a healthy place at all,” he agreed, pointing his pistol at his companion.
Anthony thought his cousin was aiming at some jungle creature that threatened them until he felt the searing pain explode in his chest. He felt himself knocked backward, then everything went black.
Anthony’s horse bolted the moment the gun discharged. As Bernard looked down at his cousin’s body, a surge of power swept through him. He watched the crimson spot on his white shirt spread and unfurl until it looked like an hibiscus blossom.
It was the hour when the Tamils of Leopard’s Leap ceased their labor. As they streamed in from the far reaches of the plantation they stared with superstitious dread at the apparition riding wildly, like some glorious goddess. They feared it was Hakshasa, the Hindu myth made manifest. She was here to warn them of impending disaster. Their voices rose in panic and they began to run. Mothers sought their children then took refuge in the huts.
Adam Savage heard the commotion from the verandah where he sat talking with Denville. He sprang to his feet immediately, then began to run swiftly in the direction of the upraised voices.
Antonia, astride a black stallion, galloped toward him at a furious pace. Her skirt was pulled up, baring her lovely long legs, her knees pressed into the horse’s belly. When she was only yards from him he saw that she did not rein in but intended to ride over him. With one powerful, lithe lunge he grabbed her bridle, bringing the animal to a flailing halt. His icy blue stare bored into her. “Are you trying to kill me or yourself?”
“I don’t much care!” she flung the words at him, wishing they were weapons. He knew instantly that Eve had revealed what he had desperately hoped to conceal. “Tony, we have to talk!”
His earlier words came flooding back to her. He had warned, “Don’t bestow sainthood upon me.” She wanted to laugh, but her blinding tears prevented her. “Let me go, you black-hearted devil. If I had a gun, I think I would kill you!”
