The Devil's Match (The Devil DeVere #4)(33)

“Polly,” Diana said, “I must go out and cannot say when I shall return, nor can I explain. I may be gone for a week, but please know that I am safe. I only beg for your discretion.”

“Anything, my lady. You know there is none more loyal to you.”

“I know that, Polly.”

“Are you in trouble, my lady?” the maid asked, a frown puckering her forehead.

“I am not in danger if that is your concern, and any so-called trouble is strictly of my own making. I shall be fine.” She patted the anxious maid’s hand.

“It’s that devil DeVere, isn’t it?” Polly said with a scowl.

“I don’t wish to speak of it,” Diana replied. “Pray convey to Mustafa that I need a few minutes to prepare myself, and then you must help me to dress.”

“Of course, my lady.” Polly bobbed, the expression of disapproval never leaving her face.

***

“You will follow me as a servant,” Salime commanded Diana while they waited in the coach parked in the mews behind DeVere House.

Mustafa promptly returned with a message of welcome. “Enfendi will receive you in the hammam.”

Salime gave a nod of approval, and then she and Diana descended. Entering the house through the servants’ quarter, they proceeded through several passages that terminated in the back of the domicile where a separate, small building with a domed roof had been added on. “It is constructed just as those in my homeland,” Salime remarked.

Crossing the threshold through the arched doorway, Diana was first struck by the heat and humidity, but then taking in the chamber from its intricately tiled floor to the domed ceiling, she felt like she had been transported to another time and place. The interior floor and walls were comprised of vibrant mosaics. A gurgling fountain sat at one end, and a raised table constructed of marble commanded the room’s center.

“There are three chambers, Khanum, interconnected rooms. This is the s?cakl?k, a hot room containing the marble slab for massage; the second is the warm room for washing, and the so?ukluk is the cool room for bathing,” Salime explained. “The other rooms lie beyond and connect to Efendi’s private apartments.”

Diana was once more struck with a pang at Salime’s intimate knowledge of DeVere’s domicile and habits. A moment later, the door to the adjacent room opened to reveal the devil himself. Barefoot and garbed in a silk banyan, DeVere entered. Salime rushed forward to kneel at his feet. Diana reluctantly followed suit.

“I was not expecting you, Salime.” His voice held a hint of disapproval.

“But it has been much time since you sent for me, Efendi.”

“I have been away.”

“But now you are returned.” Salime smiled. “I beg you will indulge me, as I have acquired an odalisque to train.”

“Have you, indeed?” DeVere narrowed his sharp blue gaze at Diana, who with head and face covered, was quick to downcast her eyes.

“Yes, Efendi. I will leave here one day soon and have promised Madam Hayes I would teach another the ways.”

“And you wish to use me for her instruction?”

“It is best, Efendi, for you know the customs of the East. You do not mind?”

“I don’t recall ever having objected to placing my body in a woman’s hands before.” DeVere laughed and then fixed his gaze upon Diana. “May I know her name?”

“Didem,” Salime was quick to answer. “She has little English, Efendi.”

“Ah, then it is a good thing I know her tongue.”

Diana slanted Salime a panicked look, but DeVere said no more. His good humor seemingly restored, he dropped his robe and sauntered nude to the marble table. He moved without the least appearance of self-consciousness, with a confident and athletic grace that made Diana’s throat dry despite the damp. She watched as Salime laid down a large towel for him to lie upon and rolled another for the purpose of resting his head before he lay face down on the slab.

A light sheen of moisture already coated his skin, drawing her attention to the sculpted lines of muscle and sinew of his legs, back, and taut buttocks, truly a sight worthy of feminine worship. She didn’t know if the weakness in her knees was more from the heat or the sight of DeVere in his natural glory; either way, the humid room and his nakedness had begun to take its toll.

Diana followed Salime to the small fountain and lifted her veil to briskly splash cool water on her face to relieve the heated flush, while the other woman discarded slippers, bracelets, girdle and tunic, leaving only her light linen shift and trousers. Salime then retrieved a rough, woven mitt, a bar of soap, and a basin of water. She handed the bottle of almond oil to Diana.

“He will lie thus for a time until his body is warm and relaxed,” Salime explained in a low voice. “Then we massage and wash him as he desires. I shall begin, and you will follow, doing as I do.”

Diana cast a faltering gaze to the object of her forthcoming ministrations, wondering if she had the nerve to follow through after all.

“If you allow yourself, Khanum, you will discover you enjoy this almost as much as he, and if you please him well, perhaps Efendi may reciprocate.”

That thought, of his hot hands coated with oil, smoothing over every inch of her naked body, was nearly Diana’s undoing.





Chapter Fourteen