"I'll think of you and Dharjistan whenever I wear it." Then, for the fourth or fifth time that day, Laura said, "Do you think the men will be back today?"
"I hope so, but it might not be until tomorrow." The maharani sighed. "I understand your impatience. I shall be very glad to see my husband, too. Even five days of separation are too many, but I do enjoy the reunion s. Oh, before I forget, take a look at this book. I think you'll find it intriguing."
As the other woman began writing down the ingredients for the perfume, Laura opened the text, but at first she made no attempt to read the Persian script. Three long days had passed since her discussion with Kamala. In some ways, it would have been easier if Laura had been able to act immediately on her resolve to have a real marriage, for the waiting was difficult.
Kamala, bless her, had decided to distract her guest by demonstrating aspects of the education of a Hindu lady. East and West agreed that a gently born female should be able to sing, sew, dance, and play a musical instrument.
Laura was adequately skilled in those areas, but her knowledge of magic, sorcery, and cockfighting was sadly deficient, her ideas of how to adorn the female form were very austere by Indian standards. And she'd never once in her life made a couch of flowers.
The sessions were interesting and sometimes hilarious. Laura had enjoyed learning how to mix perfume and make sherbet, and being massaged with scented oil had been delightful. That was one skill she would be glad to demonstrate on Ian, for it would be a perfect excuse to run her hands over every inch of his lean, muscular body. She thought that he would like it, too.
The trick would be getting to that state of happy intimacy from the strained situation they were in now. Laura had not yet decided the best way to go about seducing her husband when she had just persuaded him that they must stay apart. It was one thing for her to be willing to lie with him, quite another to make the first move. But she was the one who had turned her marriage into such a muddle, and it was up to her to sort it out.
She hoped that Ian would be back that night, because the delay was making her a nervous wreck.
Telling herself to stop brooding, she looked at the manual the maharani had given her. Within a minute, her eyes shot open. People actually wrote such things down? "Kamala, does this say what I think, or am I no longer understanding Persian?"
The maharani looked up with a smile. "I thought you would find the Kama Sutra interesting. The pursuit of pleasure, kama, is one of the Four Aims of life, so the sage Vatsyayana wrote a treatise on the subject. Since sex is one of the great pleasures, a good part of the book is devoted to it."
"The sage seems to have a passion for counting and classifying," Laura said weakly.
"It's rather tedious to read about the eight kinds of love bite and the eight stages of oral intercourse," Kamala agreed. "And he cheats by counting mating after the fashion of deer, asses, and horses as different positions for intercourse. To me, those positions seem much the same."
"I haven't got that far yet. But tell me, is this even possible?" Too embarrassed to read the passage aloud, Laura showed the page to her friend.
"Ah, very difficult. Really only suitable for a trained acrobat," the maharani observed with a twinkle. "If you wish to try it, the sage Suvarnanabha recommends practicing in a hot bath, so that neither of you hurt yourselves."
Laura gasped. "Is that why Indian bathtubs are so large?"
Kamala laughed. "One of the reasons." Her expression sobered. "Don't take everything the Kama Sutra says seriously, Laura, but I thought that reading it would expand your horizons. Though the book is interesting and covers many topics other than sexual congress, it's not half so romantic as a verse of fine love poetry. Still, it's useful to know some of the techniques."
"Oh, indeed," Laura agreed, still a little dazed. "I had no idea there were so many possibilities."
"If you were Indian, your education would have started much earlier. In the temple, young girls see and handle lingams, stone phalluses, so that they become accustomed to the idea." The maharani chuckled. "Though your education began late, I think Falkirk Sahib will be pleased with what you have learned."
Laura hoped so, too. As she returned to the book, she remembered his Indian mistress, Leela. He must know all about these interesting and athletic maneuvers. She stopped and reread one passage. As Kamala had said, there was nothing romantic about the blunt description, but the thought of doing it with Ian made Laura tingle in spite of her embarrassment.
The maharani rose to her feet. "I must hold audience now, but first I will give you something to aid your endeavors."