Opium!
He gazed about at the crates and chests lining the hold, selected another at random, and examined its contents. Lady Lamb was trying to export hundreds of boxes containing millions of poppy heads filled with their oily seeds.
Savage’s eyes showed such fury, the seamen stepped back away from him. To his credit he did not unleash his temper upon his crew. He had it under control within a few minutes and banked the embers of his anger so he could vent it upon the author of this abomination.
His issued his orders in a curt, clipped voice. “Unload every last crate and stow it aboard my Indiaman. I’ll get you another cargo for the China run by afternoon.”
True to his word, by noon he had bought a crop of dried red chili peppers and a second crop of tobacco, for the Chinese were great pipe smokers. He filled the remainder of the cargo space with bolts of chintz from his warehouse, knowing the bright, durable cotton would sell because Indian dye techniques were more advanced than those of other nations.
Savage told the factor at his warehouses that though he was sailing to England shortly, he was still in the shipping business, but that his headquarters would now be in London instead of Colombo. He explained that the East India Company was leasing his plantation and instructed the factor to give the Company priority at the warehouses for storage of tea and rubber.
When his banking business was concluded, Savage loaded his pistol, called for his horse, and headed home. If he rode all day and all night without stop he would arrive sometime before noon. His anger at Eve mounted with every mile. If she had been a young girl he could have excused what she had done because of ignorance. But she was a woman grown. A sophisticate, also, who had lived in the East ten years and must know of opium and its deadly properties. If she had asked his permission to export opium on his ships he would have refused immediately. If she had even consulted with him about dealing in opium he would have set her straight in no uncertain terms. The fact that she had kept him in ignorance purposely, damned her. She had also used her feminine wiles on him for permission to use his ship, thus making him an unwitting accomplice.
This was the thing that whipped him to a fury. She had always manipulated the other men in her life, easily wrapping them around her fingers to get her own way. Surely to Christ she recognized that he was different from other men? Lamb Plantation lay straight ahead and he knew he would stop and have it out with her before he carried on to Leopard’s Leap!
Chapter 8
Savage had ridden for twenty hours. He was unbathed and unshaven. The sweat and grime of the road were upon him, but he didn’t give a goddamn for the niceties. He handed his lathered horse over to a groom and strode into palatial Government House ignoring the sepoys who stood guard outside the entrance and dismissing her majordomo who came forward in the reception hall. His boots left a trail of soil across the white tile floor.
Government House was never without guests. Eve was in the breakfast room with an envoy from the Governor of Madras and a minor prince from the palace of Raja Singha. Both men knew him immediately by his reputation and by the telltale scar on his face. When Savage entered the breakfast room it was without apology. Eve’s eyes went wide with shock.
“Lady Lamb and I have important business to discuss. You will excuse her.” His deep voice held a note of commanding authority.
Eve arose immediately to avoid a scene before her guests and led him through to her private sitting room. She was wearing an exquisite morning gown. Her lovely blond curls were swept high with her tortoiseshell combs. She whirled to face him, her nostrils pinching with distaste at his disheveled state.
“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded coldly.
She was groomed so impeccably, her demeanor so cool and condescending, he knew an urge to shatter her composure. He took a deep breath to prevent himself from striking her.
“Fucking opium!” he ground out. “Madam, explain yourself.”
“Oh, I see.” A blush came to her pale cheek. “I—I know it’s illegal in some ports. I—I thought you would look the other way, darling.”
“I don’t give a good goddamn about legal or illegal, as well you know. The stuff is an abomination!”
“I need the money,” she explained coolly, as if this would excuse her actions.
He took out his wallet and threw five thousand pounds on the table. “I’ve bought your opium, madam.”
“Adam, I had no idea opium was so—”
“Don’t insult my intelligence, Eve,” he cut her short. “You’ve lived in an Eastern society for a decade. You know opium’s obscene properties. You know it’s addictive, you know it condemns millions to a living death, and you know there is no cure.”
“But they are only Chinese peasants,” she said faintly.
He took her by the shoulders most ungently, his strong fingers bruising her delicate flesh. “They are human beings! You’ve heard Russell and I describe opium dens where hundreds lie on wooden pallets in delirium. Millions sacrifice everything to their addiction, their farms, their families, they sell their wives and their children. They run rickshaws all day without food so they can eat opium until they die in excruciating agony. Opium is so odious and corrupting, it carries a curse and befouls any who deal in it.” He shook her. “I know! I made my first attainted fortune exporting it to Canton, and I paid the price. I not only carry the scars on my body, I almost destroyed my soul. Now I make just as much money from tea and rubber. I may sometimes work eighteen hours a day, but is decent, clean work. I can sleep at night.”
Eve realized his convictions were so strong, she had made a terrible blunder. She should have waited the few months until he sailed for England before attempting to export her opium.
“It was wrong of me not to discuss it with you,” she said softly.
“There are two cargoes my ships willnevercarry to the Orient, opium and ivory. Butchers wound and trap elephants and cut off their tusks while they are still alive. It, too, is abhorrent to me.”
Ivory!thought Eve.Why didn’t I think of ivory? Fortunes are paid for Oriental carvings.
Savage glanced down at her and saw the tortoiseshell combs. He swept his fingers into her immaculate coiffure and pulled out the two combs. “Just like this stuff. Tortoiseshell is taken from the back of a living hawksbill; an inhuman practice!”
He had said all he had come to say and more besides. “Forgive my rude interruption, Lady Lamb.” In a voice more cutting than any nobleman possessed he said, “I know no better. I am from peasant stock.” He bowed with more than a little irony and arrogance and departed for Leopard’s Leap.