"I have instructed Captain Southwood to return to his ship, but he will be back for dinner," she told India.

"I cannot bear his company, madame. Please understand," India said.

"You do not call me Grandmama as you did in France," Lady Stewart-Hepburn said.

"I only met you for the first time there. I do not think of you as my grandmother," India answered her honestly.

"Then you must call me Cat," the older woman said. "I was baptized Catriona Mairi, but I was always Cat to my friends and family. I hope we are at least friends, my child."

"Oh, yes!" India said, favoring Cat with a smile. She arose from her tub, and Meggie wrapped her in a warm towel, seating her mistress upon a small chair and drying her wet hair as the two women continued their talk.

"You must forgive poor young Southwood," Cat said. "He was only doing what he thought was right."

"Like all men, he didn't listen, or if he did, he didn't hear," India said. "I have to get back to El Sinut!"

"You are certain you want to return?" The leaf-green eyes scanned the younger woman's face.

"Yes!" India said. "Ohh, Cat! I love him, and he loves me! I have never been happier than I was with Caynan Reis. We had so many plans. I told my cousin that I was glad to remain. I asked him to carry a message to my parents for me, but no! With his misguided sense of honor, and family loyalty, he had to steal me away. I cannot forgive him the pain he has caused me and my husband."

"I understand," she said. "I truly do, India. When I was separated from my lord Bothwell, I thought I should die. I could actually feel my heart cracking with my misery. The first thing we must do is send a message to your husband in El Sinut that you are safe, and we will say nothing to your cousin about our decisions. As long as you are certain, I shall not keep you from the man you love, even if the rest of the whole world disapproves!"

India burst into tears. "Ohh, thank you!" she sobbed.

"I shall excuse you from dinner tonight," Cat said. "You have had an exhausting voyage. Your cousin will be here for a short time, and before he goes, you will reconcile with him. He need not know the reason why, but you will do it to please me, India, since I have agreed to help you."

"Ohh, yes, Cat! I will!" India sobbed.

"May…" Lady Stewart-Hepburn called to her serving woman. "Go to the kitchens and fetch some of Anna's hot soup, a piece of fresh focaccia, some fruit and wine, for Lady Lindley. She must eat, and then I want her put to bed." She turned to Meggie. "What is your name, lassie? I am told you are one of us. Where do you come from?"

"I'm Meggie, your ladyship, and I'm from Ayr," was the answer.

"Go with May then, Meggie, and remain to eat something. Anna will see you are well fed. Then come back to watch over your mistress. There is a nice trundle beneath this bed which Susan will see has fresh bedding and linens for you. You look fair worn, child."

"Thank you, your ladyship," Meggie said, curtseying. "Mistress?"

"Go, Meggie. I will be fine," India said. She was now quite dry in the warm air, as was her dark hair.

Cat's other serving woman, Susan, came now with a soft silk nightgown which she slipped over India's body. "There, my lady. There's nothing like a nice bath and fresh clothes to make a body feel better."

"You're a Scot," India noted.

"Lord bless you, m'lady, aye, and we are. May and me is sisters. We hae been wi our mistress for longer than I care to remember. Conall is our uncle. We came from Glenkirk wi Mistress Cat many years ago."

"Do you ever long for home?" India wondered.

"Not really," Susan said honestly. "The climate here and in Rome is really far better than in our dear old Scotland. Come along now, m'lady, and get into bed."

India was glad to climb into a comfortable bed. She was certain she would fall asleep before May returned with her meal, but she didn't. The two serving women bustled about her, tucking a napkin beneath her chin, settling the tray, and then sitting by her side as she ate. They were full of stories of their mistress and her early adventures. India found herself laughing at the story of how Cat was in labor with India's stepfather, yet would still not marry his father until Patrick Leslie returned property of hers that her father had wrongly included as part of her dowry, instead of allowing it to remain in her hands.

"Did she get it back?" India asked, her mouth full of bread and delicious cheese.

"Aye," Susan said, "and then her waters broke even as she said her vows to her husband."

"She had spirit," India remarked, rather fascinated by these new glimpses of Cat.

"She still does," Susan replied, "even if our life is not quite so exciting as it once was."

When India had finished her meal, and drunk down a goblet of wonderful red wine, the two servants took the tray and left her to rest. She wasn't certain she could sleep now, or that she would sleep well, but she slipped into a slumber that lasted until early the next morning, when she awoke to find Meggie snoring happily upon the trundle. India lay quietly in her bed, listening to the sounds of early dawn. The air coming through the long windows that led onto her balcony was sweet with the scent of flowers. Only the early chatter of the birds broke the silence. It was all very lovely, but she missed El Sinut. Cat had said they would send a message to Caynan Reis, but how? That was something that had to be settled today. Surely Cat was not attempting to gull her.

But the older woman was very serious in her attempt to reunite India with Caynan Reis. She had sent Conall to the harbor that very morning to find a ship that would travel across the Mediterranean and stop at El Sinut. There were none. Finally Conall found a fishing boat willing to make the passage and take a message to the dey.

"But can he be trusted?" India asked the highlander, who had brought his information to his mistress while India was breaking her fast with Lady Stewart-Hepburn.

"The man says he fishes, but he and his crew smuggle a little, too," Conall said. "Their little felluca goes back and forth between Tunis, El Sinut, and Naples wiout any difficulty. They pay protection to both ports, and half the men aboard are Arab. They can get there, get your message delivered, and they can get back."

"And they will do it?" Cat asked her majordomo.

"Aye, they will. I've promised them an extraordinary amount of coin, half before they go, half when they get back. And, I've hinted they are doing the dey of El Sinut a great service for which they will receive an additional reward when they return to Naples wi his answer. Greed is a powerful spur," he finished dryly.

"They will go today?" India demanded.

"As soon as I put your message in their hands, my lady, they will depart the port," he told her.

Cat supplied the parchment and pen, and India immediately sat down to write to her husband. She told him of how her cousin had invaded their private garden by coming over that tiny piece of the wall that was vulnerable to the outside world. How he had rendered her unconscious and carried her off, forcing Meggie to go, too. That she was now in Naples at the villa of her stepfather's mother, Lady Stewart-Hepburn, who had agreed she must return to her husband, but because of the constant strife between the Barbary States and Christian Europe, the women did not know how this end might be accomplished. She wrote that she loved him, and was desperate to be back in his arms again.

The waterproof parchment was then folded and sealed. Then it was placed into a leather envelope, and sealed again. Conall More-Leslie returned to the harbor, giving the leather carrier into the hands of one Captain Pietro, along with a pouch of coins. The captain weighed the pouch in his palm, his look thoughtful and assessing.

" 'Tis all there," Conall told him. "When you get to El Sinut, go to the dey's palace, and ask for the chief eunuch, Baba Hassan. Tell him the leather envelope contains a message from his mistress, and is to be given to the dey immediately. Then do exactly what this man tells you to do, and when it is permitted, you will return to Naples with any answer, coming to the Villa del Pesce d'Oro to deliver that reply and collect the rest of your reward. As I have told you, the dey will instruct us to pay you additional for your service, so do not fail us, Captain Pietro."

"This is no plot against Naples, is it?" the captain asked.

Conall shook his head, rather amazed to find this smuggler was a patriotic man. "It is a private matter," he said. "Nothing more."

The captain nodded. "Bene," he said.

Knowing her messenger was on his way back to El Sinut softened India's stance somewhat toward Thomas Southwood, but she was not entirely mollified, and wouldn't be until a message of reassurance came from her husband. Still, she sat at the table that evening with Cat, her handsome son Ian, and Thomas Southwood. It was Ian Stewart-Hepburn who kindled his mother's emotions, and took the attention completely from India by announcing his intentions to go with Thomas Southwood.

"What on earth for?" Cat demanded.

"Because, my dear mama, it is time I made something of myself and my life. I am thirty-three years of age, and I have spent much of my time in idle pursuits. I cannot continue to be a wastrel."

"But what will you do on Tom's ship?" Cat asked, somewhat confused. "You are not a sailor, Ian, nor can you be one at your age."