SILK AND SECRETS (53 page)

At the top of the gangway Juliet closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled. “Mmm, smell that wonderful greenness.”

“I’m glad Britannia is cooperating and sending a fine sunny day for your return home.” Ross took her arm to steady her down the gangway.

“I wouldn’t have minded rain,” she said cheerfully. “Without it, there wouldn’t be so many lovely trees and flowers.”

They were halfway down to the dock when Ross suddenly exclaimed, “Look! Sara and Mikahl have come to meet us.”

Juliet grabbed his arm in sudden panic. “I’m not ready to meet Sara again! She’ll push me off the dock for the fishes to eat because of what I put you through.”

Ross was not usually demonstrative in public, but now he turned his wife toward him and gave her a firm kiss. “No, she won’t. Sara must have received my letter weeks ago, so she’s had time to get used to the idea.” He smiled down at Juliet teasingly. “I told her that I had traded three camels for you, which was too large an investment to abandon.” He gave her stomach a quick, unobtrusive pat. “And you are definitely getting to be quite a large investment.”

“Wretch!” Juliet said feelingly, but Ross’s nonsense helped her regain a grip on herself. Following his glance, she saw Sara, who was waving to get her cousin’s attention. Her old friend was lovelier than ever, with a glow that spoke of deep happiness. She was being escorted through the crowd by a tall, dark gentleman whose formidable presence was sufficient to keep anyone from jostling his wife.

When Ross and Juliet reached the bottom of the gangway and stepped onto the dock, Sara abandoned her husband and darted forward to hurl herself into her cousin’s arms. Juliet hung back. She was reasonably sure that Ross’s parents would be willing to let bygones be bygones, since their daughter-in-law was doing such an efficient job of producing an heir, but gentle Sara, who could easily forgive transgressions against herself, could be a tigress in defense of those she loved.

Before Juliet could succumb to nerves, Sara’s husband turned and bowed to her. “It appears that our graceless spouses are too busy to provide introductions. I am Mikahl, and you, of course, are the woman for whom Ross paid three camels.” His lazy gaze surveyed her approvingly. “He got a bargain.”

She laughed and offered him her hand. “It’s a great pleasure to meet you, Mikahl. Ross has told me so much about you.”

He rolled his eyes, which were the greenest she had ever seen. “I demand equal time to state my defense.”

Juliet was still chuckling when Lady Sara released her cousin and turned to her. For a very long moment the two women regarded each other, Sara thoughtful and Juliet tense. Then a slow, impish smile crossed Sara’s face. “Someday, in a year or two, I’m going to give you a tongue-lashing that will make your curly hair go straight. But it will have to wait, because just now I’m too glad to see you.”

Then they were in each other’s arms, half-laughing and half-crying. Juliet should have known Sara would accept anything that made Ross happy. As she hugged her friend, any doubts Juliet had had about living in England dissolved like smoke in a high wind.

When she and Sara were done with their embrace, Juliet glanced over at Ross, who was just disentangling himself from Mikahl’s exuberant greeting. As the two couples began making their way through the crowd to Mikahl’s carriage, Ross took Juliet’s arm and said in a low voice, “The prince and princess came home, and now, as in all good fairy tales, they will live happily ever after.”

“Lucky prince,” she murmured, her eyes warm with love and tenderness, “and lucky, lucky princess.”