His plan was simple: give her a few weeks to adjust to life outside the harem, then take her back to England. How he was to reintroduce her into society, he couldn’t guess.

But he was resourceful enough to find a way.

Tying the silk around her eyes, he watched the last of the daylight rays filter through the window. Dusk wasn’t coming soon enough. His hand smoothed over her stomach in a soothing, coaxing motion; anything to make the drug-induced state come on quicker.

She started to nod off. Her head sagged to one side and then jerked back up as she tried to fight off the tiredness weighing her down. She must never have been under the influence of opiates; she didn’t put up much of a fight as the drug pulled her beneath the surface of consciousness.

Pressing her legs closed, he braced his thighs on either side of hers in support. Her body finally giving out with the tincture, she slumped, her wrists tightening in the truss he’d slung her in. Pulling her against his chest, he loosened the knot easily and stretched her out on the divan.

The eunuch stood waiting on the outside of the room. The bribe had been negotiated a week ago. Griffin didn’t care what reasoning the eunuch had for his deception against Amir. This was his last chance to take Jinan out of here.

Tucking her body into his, he watched the entryway. He didn’t move until the eunuch’s hand appeared under the silks in the arch of the alcove. Griffin was given the count of five. He was off the divan, had shrugged into his coat, and had Jinan in his arms before the eunuch’s hand reached one and then lifted the silks aside.

Sliding under the material, Griffin nodded when the eunuch came into view. He kept to the wall until he hit the exit. There was only one exit out of the Pleasure Gardens, and Griffin had chosen the alcove closest to that door so he could make a quick and easy escape. Amir kept a tight watch on his harem girls. How the eunuch had rid the entry of the other guards he wasn’t sure, nor was he inclined to care.

Very few people wandered around this room after indulging in their sexual escapades. It was just after the dinner hour now, only a few hours of light left. This was the quietest part of the day here—so far as he had noticed. Amir had warned him this was his last night and that he wasn’t welcome until the next auction.

It was that simple for Amir.

Not so simple for Griffin to give her up.

He had paid handsomely for Jinan.

It was better this way. No use dragging out an inevitable conclusion. Anger faded in time.

Once in the main hall of the palace he found his way. His sense of direction was faultless. The eunuch took him to a servants’ entrance, seldom used when the palace wasn’t full of patrons, and led Griffin through a private garden.

The only room that looked out this way was Amir’s, and he was currently occupied in the inner harem. Or at least Griffin hoped the man was busy elsewhere, as he had been for the last three weeks.

Situated at the far end of the gardens, the door was well hidden by the shade of tall flowering trees. It opened to reveal the rocky embankment of the beach. There was no hope of safely making it through the main exit undetected; that area would be crawling with servants and guards alike.

Outside the palace walls, Griffin almost breathed a sigh of relief.

Not yet. They were not out of harm’s way yet.

He turned and looked at the eunuch. Jerking his head to the right, he motioned for the man to follow. Griffin had left Jinan a week ago and arrived back at the island yesterday, bringing his fastest ship with him. He had a feeling he was in for a race to escape Amir’s attempts at recapturing Jinan, the favorite harem girl. Or so Griffin was led to believe. She was his favorite girl, and he had so much more to offer than Amir.

Two days and he’d be at his private villa. Two days, and he could release Jinan from the servitude of this life. No one would look for him there, since he rarely set foot in his Brindisi villa; he’d seen it for the first time when he’d inherited it from his uncle. He preferred his own villa outside Florence, where the weather was more hospitable.

He carefully made his way down the stony terrain of the coastline. It was a difficult path to descend but this rock facing proved to be the only place to hide a skiff.

Finally making it to the water, he saw the first mate lying in the bottom of the boat.

“Lord Rothburn.” The boy sat up quickly and took the oars in hand. He couldn’t be more than fourteen years.

Griffin nodded, deposited Jinan in the bottom, and turned to the eunuch. The man’s hand rested on his scimitar. Griffin pulled the emerald from his pocket, a five-carat family heirloom he’d had removed from a necklace. He held it toward the eunuch. It was pinched from his hands, pocketed so fast he didn’t see where, and the eunuch turned and trudged back up the rocky ledge.

Griffin stumbled down into the skiff and took the other set of oars. There was no sense in dallying. They needed to move.

“We move as fast as your arms can carry us, Jimmy.”

“Aye, my lord. We’ll be on the Belladonna in a jiffy. Timed it meself how long it was. Not more than a hundred pulls to get us there.”

Griffin looked down at Jinan. There was too much skin exposed, her belly and thighs visible. Why hadn’t he thought to wrap her in a blanket before making his way down here? Though the boy tried not to look at her, he was blushing a furious red seeing so much female flesh. Griffin clenched his jaw and cleared his throat. The boy tugged at his neckerchief when he caught Griffin’s angry expression.

“You’re sitting on the ferace and yashmak. Hand it to me, boy, and look toward the Bella.”

Griffin clenched his jaw, angry for the furious outburst toward the youth. But he didn’t want anyone looking at her. She was so much more than what she appeared. What did it matter? Once she was dressed in English fashion, no one would know she’d ever been brought so low.

He released the oars and snatched the muslin out of Jimmy’s hand. Pulling the silk robe, made for this occasion, over her head, he settled her more comfortably between his legs and put the yashmak in place over her existing veil. The less everyone saw of her, the easier it would be for her to adjust to her new life. He longed to be in the privacy of his villa. Clothes awaited her, both in Turkish style and English. He wasn’t sure what she’d choose.

He picked up the oars and put all his weight into pushing the skiff faster through the unsteady water. The sooner they were on the ship, the closer they came to reaching safety. When they hit the side of the Belladonna,  ropes came down to haul them up.

In passing the captain, he informed him, “We sail to Brindisi as fast as you can.”

He hadn’t taken any chances by telling anyone his plans, except his man of affairs, prior to abducting Jinan.

“Aye, me lord.” The captain seemed at a loss for words as he looked at the wrapped package carried in his master’s arms. The captain’s jowls wobbled, then he seemed to think better of saying anything and turned on his heel, barking out orders to raise the sails.

Griffin wasted no time in taking Jinan belowdecks to his own quarters.

Sequestered there, she’d be safe from having to reveal her identity to anyone but him. His crew probably had figured out at some point today that he planned on bringing a mistress home since he’d had Jimmy placed ashore out of eye’s view.

Once in his quarters, he laid Jinan on his bed and went for the skin of water he’d set on his desk earlier. He trickled a few drops of water down her throat, then hung the skin on a hook beside the bed. The drug would dehydrate her so he’d have to keep giving her fluids.

He went about stripping her down to her scarves and placed a light blanket over her. It wasn’t that it was cool—it was rather warm in his cabin—but he didn’t like the possibility of anyone seeing her in a state of undress.

Tomorrow night she’d be awake. He expected her to be confused, angry, and maybe even frightened. He’d deal with it when the time came, whatever her mood. Right now, he need only worry about keeping her hydrated.

The aftereffects of the laudanum would not be pleasant when her mind finally swam out of the fogginess that had taken her under. Never had he been a fan of the stuff, but it was the safest sleep inducement he knew of.

So lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize he’d been staring at her unmoving form until moonlight filtered through the porthole.

He stood and flattened the creases in his trousers. Leaning over the bed, he pressed the back of his hand to her forehead to make sure a fever hadn’t set in. She was cool, but not sweating. He retrieved a warmer blanket and tucked it around her prone form.

He needed to get himself abovedeck to see if anyone followed his ship. Amir would have noticed the absence of Jinan by now. It wasn’t as though Griffin could trust the eunuch to remain quiet when his association with a missing harem girl could be construed as grave defiance.

Griffin was confident enough to know there wasn’t a ship on this side of the hemisphere that could catch his clipper. He’d brought the Belladonna down from Liverpool where he shored her. Those Americans made a nice, fast sail.

One Amir could not catch with his best xebec.

Taking the skin down from the hook, he trickled more water into Jinan’s mouth, then hung it back up before leaving the cabin.

Griffin wasn’t sure if this sickness was the effect of the laudanum or something else.

She was running a high fever, sweating profusely no matter how many times he mopped her off with a cool cloth. He’d spent the greater part of the night trying to cool her skin down, using half the ship’s store of fresh water. She’d been frighteningly ill, vomiting throughout the early morning. He couldn’t imagine what was left in her stomach to expel but still she heaved.