Skye O'Malley: A Love For All Time Part 29

"My lord," she began, "I realize that I should be grateful for your kindness, and I am. I would truly please you, but at this moment it is so hard not to remember."

"I know that," he answered, "for my dreams both waking and sleeping are filled with things that no longer are, can no longer be." He stroked her long, soft hair. "Ahh, my jewel, I am probably the only man to whom the sultan could have given you who understands what you feel, for I feel the same thing. This is the first time since my great loss that I have reached out to a woman for comfort. I need comfort, Marjallah! Do you not need comfort, too?"

Shocked by his admission as much as by his vulnerability she could only answer with the truth. "Yes," she said, nodding as she met his glance. "Yes, my lord Javid, I, too, need that comfort."

Pulling her close he hugged her gently, and then said, "Let us eat the fine supper that Hammed has prepared for us. He has gone to great trouble to create delicacies that he hopes will encourage us to love. He has been with me for many years; and he, too, misses my family."

"What happened to your family, my lord?" she asked him looking up at him. "Was it an epidemic?"

"Would that it had been," he said, and a spasm of pain pa.s.sed over his face. "No, Marjallah, it was not an epidemic that took my wives, my concubines, and my children from me, rather it was my twin brother, Temur. As I have told you, our mother was a Frenchwoman. She was captured by my father many years ago in his youth, when he went with a party of his friends, raiding deep into the heart of Europe. They wanted to reinforce their manhood with our people and so they traveled as far as the kingdom of Hungary one spring and summer. My mother, of n.o.ble lineage, was traveling with her family to her marriage with a prince of the country when my father and his men swept down upon their party, and captured them. He claimed her for himself. Her two sisters were taken by his second and third in command. Her father and mother were killed in the raid, only her brother escaped.

"At first, my father told me, she fought him like a tigress, but when she learned she was with child, she softened toward him, and when Temur and I were born they were quite reconciled. She went on to give him three additional sons, and four daughters. She was his favorite wife and so it pained them sorely that my brother Temur was so discontented even from the day of his birth.

"Temur is a throwback to the Tartars of old, although he has the height our people have gained through their centuries of intermarriage. Where I am blue-eyed and tawny like our mother, Temur has narrow black eyes, and black hair. He always prided himself on it, too, although I think it was just another reason for his discontent. Our parents never favored one of us over the other, and Temur is even my elder by several minutes, yet he has always been jealous of me, claiming that it is I our parents prefer.

"In our youth he constantly sought to outdo me, but he was always striving so hard that he invariably failed. His sullen disposition, his constant bullying and bragging ensured his isolation from the other boys our age, but for those malcontents like himself. I never deliberately sought to outdo him. To my sorrow he has always hated me. So it was we grew to manhood, and began to take women for our own.

"Over the years I took two women to wive. My beloved Zoe, a lovely creature with a nature so gentle that she could lure the wild birds from the trees to eat from her hand. There was no one who knew Zoe who did not love her. My second wife, Ayesha, was as mercurial of disposition as Zoe was sweet. I also possessed several concubines. We had six sons and two daughters.

"Regrettably my brother Temur, with his four wives, and his large harem could not produce anything but one son and a clutch of daughters. Here was another reason for his discontent, and his burning jealousy against me. Several months ago in a burst of madness he invaded the sanct.i.ty of my home with his men while I was away to slaughter my entire household. No one escaped. Not my women. Not my children. Not a single slave but for my cook, Hammed, who hid himself in an oven."

Aidan was horrified, and filled not only with pity for the victims of Temur's b.e.s.t.i.a.lity, but with compa.s.sion for the prince. "Oh, my lord prince," she said, and without realizing it she reached out to caress his cheek in a comforting manner, "how terrible it must have been for you. What happened to your brother?"

"No one knows," said Javid Khan. "Perhaps regaining his reason he realized the extent of his crime for he disappeared without a trace taking his men with him. My father ordered his wives and children bowstringed, but my mother and I begged for their lives. The women were innocent of Temur's crime as were his offspring. Actually his son is a sickly child who I do not believe will even live to reach manhood, and for the girls they are valuable to my father for the purposes of alliances. It would have been a shame to waste them. Besides my father has other sons who have sons, and so his line is safe.

"For weeks after the crime I grieved for my household. Finally my father decided that rather than send the yearly delegation of his sons to Istanbul with the sultan's tribute, he would send me as his amba.s.sador for the sultan has long wanted us to send him an amba.s.sador. It greatly adds to the prestige of the Sublime Porte."

"Does no one look for your brother Temur?" Aidan asked curiously.

"Several of our younger brothers seek him. He will not escape our vengeance. Eventually my family will wipe out the blot upon our honor, and Temur will be removed from the face of the earth. His name has already been stricken from our people's history. It is as if he never existed at all, and I, Marjallah, will speak no more on it."

"Yes, my lord," she said, and thought to herself how Conn would have laughed at her obedient tone. Conn whom she would never see again. For a moment she wanted to cry once more, but then she thought how much greater his loss was than hers. Javid Khan's wives and children were dead. Their lives were over and done with, but her husband lived. He would find happiness elsewhere, and father the dynasty that they had so proudly planned upon the body of another woman. For a moment she wondered if he would forget her. She would certainly never forget him, but now her life was with this man. This man who had suffered so greatly, and who so patiently sought her love. She wondered if she could ever really love him, but she would try. Oh yes, she would try!

He sensed the inner struggle that she had, and gave her time to reconcile herself. Clapping his hands he signaled the slaves who had waited discreetly and unseen. They came forth bringing with them a variety of dishes to please the most picky appet.i.te, and set their offerings upon the low round table at which the prince and his slavewoman sat.

From the platters and bowls there arose an array of most appetizing smells. The tiny leg of baby lamb studded with rosemary and garlic cloves was placed before them along with a platter containing pigeons roasted golden brown, and a whole fish dressed with thin slices of lemon and capers. There were bowls of saffroned rice; pieces of pickled cuc.u.mbers; dark, ripened olives in a heavy, briny oil; and something he told her was called yogurt.

"May I serve you, my lord?" she asked him, and when he nodded she filled his plate high with everything, and set it before him. One of the slaves placed before the prince a goblet of rosewater.

The prince set about eating with a good appet.i.te, and then noticing that Aidan had nothing upon her plate said, "When I ask you to dine with me that is just what you are to do. Eat, Marjallah! Hammed is a fine cook!"

"I was not certain it was allowed," she said, and gratefully heaped her own plate with everything upon the table.

Javid Khan smiled to see her appet.i.te. It reminded him of his mother, who had always had an excellent appet.i.te, but who was also as slender as a girl. How his wives had envied his mother both her form, and her ability to eat whatever she chose.

When they had each helped themselves twice to the bounty before them so that little remained, the slaves brought silver ewers of warm, perfumed water and tiny towels so they might bathe the grease and oil from their hands and faces. Then the prince's coffeemaker appeared to grind his beans and brew the coffee while the other servants put upon the table plates of little gazelle-horn pastries and a bowl of fresh fruit. There were plump purple grapes, juicy pink-and-gold peaches, and fat, sweet brown figs. When the coffee was made, and placed before them with bowls of both chips of ice to cool the boiling liquid, and sugar to sweeten its bitterness, the prince warned, "Be careful not to drink the grounds for they linger at the bottom of the cup waiting for the unsuspecting enthusiast."

"I am not certain I can learn to like this coffee." She smiled at him.

"What do you like?" he asked, curious about her more than ever now.

"In England I loved to ride, and I loved my home, and I loved children and flowers, and I have a terrible sweet tooth," she answered him with another smile.

"You will have all these things here with me," he said.

"Even horses?"

"We will think about the horse," he replied.

"May I have the gardens for my own to restore?"

"Yes," he said wanting to see her smile again. He barely knew her, and yet he wanted her to be happy, to be content with him for there was something about this woman that bespoke a peace he needed to find once again. A tranquillity that he had never thought would be his again, and yet with her he believed he might regain some measure of his former happiness, even children. She was a big strong female who would undoubtedly bear him healthy sons to take the places of those that he had lost to his brother's madness.

The slaves came again with ewers of fresh water so they might perform their final ablutions before continuing on with the rest of the evening. Now she grew silent once more, and the prince knew that she was thinking again of what was to come. She had responded warmly to his tentative lovemaking before, and he thought that once he overcame her shyness that all would be well. He liked her reticence for it bespoke modesty on her part. He did not regret her lost virginity, but it pleased him that she lacked great experience. It would make their coming together far more interesting.

Finally the slaves had cleared away the last of their meal, the lamps had been trimmed so they would not smoke, and lowered so that they glowed softly. Then the slaves silently withdrew from the prince's apartments, and Aidan knew that they would remain alone. Standing, the prince reached out a hand to her, and drew her up.

"Come," he said. "Let us walk in the gardens for a bit."

They moved from the salon through a small door and outside into the evening. Considering her scanty garb it was fortunate that the night was warm, Aidan thought somewhat wryly. The garden was surrounded on three sides by the palace, but the fourth side opened into the larger gardens, and it was here that he chose to lead her. The night was very still, and overhead a huge moon rode full across a cloudless sky. Its light dappled the waters that surrounded them.

Silently they walked deep into the large garden, and there in the brightness of the moonlight Aidan got her first good look at the Black Sea. "It looks as vast as our ocean," she said.

"But it is not," he answered. "Still it is a power to be reckoned with, my jewel. The storms upon it can be fierce beyond belief. It has been a major waterway since the beginning of time. The great empire that controlled Istanbul before the Ottomen claimed it, and there are great cities built upon it that date back to ancient times."

"It looks so beautiful in the moonlight," she said.

"As do you," he answered quickly, and catching her to him looked down in her face saying softly, "I want you, Marjallah! It is not simply my need for a woman for since the death of my wives I have not felt that need; but there is something about you, my jewel, that intrigues me, and ensorcells me so that I must have you! How have you captivated me so completely and so quickly? Was it only last night that the sultan gave you to me? It cannot be for surely we have known each other since the beginning of time."

His words seemed almost like poetry to her, and Aidan's heart fluttered madly at these romantic utterances. "My lord," she whispered, "you attribute to me powers that I can never before remember having."

"You are so fair, Marjallah," he replied. "I can never again look upon the fullness of the moon without thinking of the fullness of your beauty."

"I am not beautiful," she said. "I am big and almost plain."

"You are beautiful, my jewel!" he insisted, "and it is your radiance that reflects upon the moon to light it!" He cupped her oval face in his hands, his thumbs smoothing across her cheekbones. "Your skin is like heavy cream washed with roses. Your stormy eyes and your burnished copper hair ravish me. I am," he continued, kissing the very tip of her nose, "going to fall in love with you."

Her eyes widened just slightly at his words, and she again was overcome . with that breathless feeling that had a.s.sailed her earlier. She swayed, and put out a hand to steady herself. Loosing her face he wrapped his arms tightly about her drawing her hard against him so that he might feel the fullness of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, so that she might feel the urgency of his need for her. Lowering his head he nibbled on her lips sending little shivers down her spine. Slowly her eyes closed, and she gave herself up to his kisses, returning the homage of his lips one for one. For a long time they stood there, their mouths hungrily exploring each other, their bodies pressed against each other.

She liked his kisses, Aidan decided. Although she felt him in complete control of the situation he also allowed her the freedom to express her budding pa.s.sion. Her palms pressed against the silk of his robe and felt the hardness of his body beneath. Slowly she moved her hands up the smoothness to finally wrap about his neck. This had the effect of wedging her even more tightly against him, and Javid Khan groaned against her mouth breaking off their desperate embrace.

Startled Aidan asked, "Have I displeased you, my lord?"

"Displeased me? Nay, my jewel, you have not displeased me. You please me very much in fact. So much that did I not cease kissing you just then I should have next taken you upon, the very ground where we now stand. I do not want to do that, Marjallah. You are not a honeyed confection to be greedily gobbled up, and I am not a green boy unable to control his desires. Pa.s.sion must be shared if it is to be savored to the fullest. Come! You are ready to be loved now. Let us return to my chamber where I may pay my full tribute to your exquisite loveliness." Taking her by the hand he led her back into his apartments. Once they had regained the salon he commanded her gently, "Remove your garments now, my love."

Her heart was hammering, and suddenly she felt shy of him again, but when she looked at him his bright blue eyes were warm, and filled with encouragement. Aidan slipped off the little sleeveless bolero, and laying it aside stood to meet his gaze. His eyes were filled with admiration as they swept over her round b.r.e.a.s.t.s. They were, he thought, probably the most perfect b.r.e.a.s.t.s he had ever seen. Zoe and Ayesha could certainly not match Marjallah's perfection of form which even without her removing the rest of her garments he could see. With great restraint he forced himself not to touch her. Not yet.

Undoing her belt Aidan let it drop to the floor, and pushed the full dark blue pantaloons over her hips so that they too slipped down about her feet. Undoing the tight anklebands she stepped from the trousers to stand nude before him, and it was precisely as he had antic.i.p.ated. She was flawless. There was nothing, he considered as he walked slowly around her, that he would change. Reaching up he removed the ribbons from her hair, and then without a word he picked her up and carried her into his bedchamber to lay her gently upon his couch.

Now he stood before her, and raising the long embroidered robe he wore he drew it over his head, and tossed it aside. Curiously Aidan gazed upon the second naked man she had ever seen in her life, and found that although men like women were basically the same, each had his differences. Where Conn had had a great growth of dark hair covering his arms, his legs, and his chest and torso, Javid Khan's well-muscled and tanned body was smooth, and devoid of hair. He stood quietly for a long minute giving her the same privilege that he had so recently taken. The time to view him as he had viewed her. He was not as tall as Conn, nor as finely made, but he stood six feet, and was st.u.r.dily built. Where Conn had a bush of dark hair to encircle and pillow his manhood, Javid Khan's groin was as smooth as the rest of his body giving his manhood the appearance of being larger. It thrust straight out from his body, and she was somewhat taken aback to see that at its tip was a fiery k.n.o.b that Conn had not possessed, but then she realized that he was circ.u.mcised which Conn had not been. How strange, she thought, and she almost giggled for it had been Skye who had told her the differences between the two types of manhood, but she had certainly never expected to see such a thing or encounter any other man but her husband.

"Do I please you?" he asked her as he lay down upon the bed next to her.

"You are very handsome, and very different from . . . from Conn," she said softly.

He reached out and took her hand, giving it a squeeze, and then raising himself up he looked down into her face.

"You have little experience, I know, but I promise you that I shall be kind to you, my jewel." Then his lips brushed tenderly over her lips and her chin moving down her slender throat and around to the sensitive little hollow beneath her earlobe that Conn always liked to kiss. For a moment his warm mouth tickled her there, and then slipped downward to trail kisses over her graceful shoulders, and down a long arm. Taking her hand he turned it, and placed a hot kiss in the center of her palm. A hard shudder rocked her for it was as if a streak of lightning had pierced her vitals.

Javid Khan rested upon one elbow now, his head in his hand while his other hand touched her in earnest for the very first time. Tenderly his long fingers traced the shape of her breast following the swell and the curve of her flesh in a manner far more provocative than if he had simply fondled her. Teasingly he lingered about her sensitive nipple, encircling it slowly and in a deliberate manner several times until she squirmed ever so slightly under his ministrations. She could not help but watch him, but when he lowered his head to take her nipple within his mouth her eyes grew suddenly heavy, and closed. Now the hand that had so lately caressed her first breast moved to the second while his mouth greedily loved her nipple. She could feel both her b.r.e.a.s.t.s growing tight, and the nipples began to ache with what she knew was a longing for far more than the prince was now giving her.

He transferred his attentions to the second nipple, and when he had contented himself he raised his head to her saying, "Sweetness seems to pour from your beautiful b.r.e.a.s.t.s, my jewel. I can never remember a woman's b.r.e.a.s.t.s giving me such incredible pleasure. Tell me that I have given you pleasure, too?"

"Oh, yes!" The sound was breathless, and he smiled well satisfied.

His hand smoothed over her belly, and slipped downward to push between her soft thighs that his fingers might insinuate themselves between the tender folds of sensitive flesh to quest for the sentient little pearl of her womanhood. Finding what he sought he lowered his tawny head, and loved her with his mouth.

Aidan stiffened, and gasped with shock. What was he doing to her? Conn had never done such a thing! "No! No!" she cried even though her body was beginning to melt with sweet rapture.

He raised his head up, and looked at her. "Did your husband not do this?" he asked frankly.

"No! Never!"

"Then he deprived you of great pleasure, Marjallah, and I will not." The tawny head lowered itself again as his mouth found her once more.

For a moment she was simply stunned. He wasn't hurting her, yet she wondered about the rightness of what he was doing. Surely it couldn't be right, and yet . . . ? An ache was beginning to rise in her loins, and she could not help the little sob that slipped through her lips. She could feel his tongue teasing at her flesh, and unexpected heat raced through her veins to overwhelm her. He was making her fly with the wind as happened to her when Conn took her. She hadn't known that it could happen so strongly without having a man pulse within her, then he was to her dismay stopping, but before she could protest he was swinging over her, and thrusting himself totally within her.

Her arms, one above her head, the other at her side, raised themselves, and clasped him to her. Her rounded nails dug half-moons into the hard flesh of his shoulders, and she groaned aloud at his sudden entry. The walls of her hidden pa.s.sage were being stretched to their capacity, and she realized that he had only been half-roused when he had disrobed himself. He was enormous, and she could actually feel his bigness within the tightness of her body.

He had almost shouted with exultation at his possession of her. She lay pinioned between his two strong arms, his, now totally his! Slowly he withdrew his great shaft almost to its tip, and then plunged back within her. She cried out, and the sound was one of utter pa.s.sion. He repeated the motion over and over again, slowly delving within her honeyed flesh, pushing as deep as he could possibly go only to withdraw slowly and as tantalizingly. Soon, however, he began to tire of the game as his own pa.s.sion began to boil, and so his movements became quicker and quicker as he moved back and forth within her tight pa.s.sage.

Aidan was sobbing now with unconcealed pleasure as Javid Khan made tender love to her. Her body, pa.s.sionate in its nature as Conn had quickly discovered, could not help but respond to the handsome prince; and yet her mind struggled against what she believed was a betrayal of everything her love for Conn O'Malley had been. She was enjoying his lovemaking, and yet how could she? She had given him her body without a struggle because she had believed she could not possibly enjoy the attentions of any man but her husband. She had had no real choice but to yield herself to him, but she had never expected to savor the prince's attentions, and yet she was. How could it be? she tried to question herself, but the rapture was much too great for her to do naught but obey its commands, and so she gave herself over to it, sliding helplessly into the maelstrom of white-hot desire that he had woven so tightly about them.

Aidan remembered nothing more until she awoke sometime later. Beside her Javid Khan slept, if not sated, at least contented for the time being. What had happened? She had obviously lost consciousness, and for a moment Aidan was filled with admiration for her lover. Gingerly she sat up, and turned to look at him. His strong features were only slightly softened in sleep, and she felt a sudden tenderness for him. He had been kind where perhaps another would not have been. She had seen the look that Sultan Murad had given her before he had lifted the prince with her. It had been a look so full of l.u.s.t that it had taken all her willpower not to shiver openly. The sultan, she knew, would not have been kind. He would have ravished her without a thought or care for her body or her emotions. She now knew how very fortunate she was to have been given to Javid Khan.

Reaching out she gently caressed his face, and was startled when, eyes still closed, his voice said, "Oh, Moon of my Delight, I am fast learning to adore you!" And then his blue eyes opened, and he smiled up at her with love.

Chapter 12.

A night in Aidan's arms had told Javid Khan a great deal about the woman called Marjallah. He had never been a man to hide his feelings, nor had he been slow at making a decision. That single night had told him that although he could never be totally relieved of the pain of his household's slaughter, at least Allah had given him another woman he might love. She was as painfully vulnerable as he himself was, and it was that weakness that endeared her to him. They had each suffered a tragic loss, and now together they would build a new life.

To Jinji's delight he gifted her with exquisite jewelry that he traveled to Istanbul to personally purchase for her. Emeralds for constancy, he told her smiling down into her eyes, and when she smiled back the eunuch saw she was less guarded, and knew that his lady was also beginning to love again even if she didn't know it yet. He bought her gossamer fabrics of pale mauve, springtime lilac, apple green, tawny orange, and a carved silver belt studded with moonstones and lapis lazuli from Persia. There were a full dozen slaves (the market was simply flooded with Portuguese captives from the battle of Alcazarquivir) to tend to the gardens, and whose purchase Javid Khan smilingly explained by saying, "We cannot be certain of the local farmers, my jewel. If it looks cloudy they will not come for fear of rain. If the day dawns fair they are just as likely to remain at home because of the heat. They will always put their own fields first. They are simply not reliable. These men belong to you, and must do your bidding whether it be hot or cold, rainy or dry."

"First they must be housed," she reminded him. "We have no place here in the palace for them for it is small."

"Let them sleep in the stables until they can build a place for themselves," he answered. "You need not be concerned with them. My wives never bothered with the servants. They are replaceable."

"My lord," she said patiently, "perhaps in your homeland you had a large establishment, and it was run very efficiently by a large staff of servants; but here, my lord, you have a small palace, and naught but Hammed to cook for us, and that scruffy troup of Tartars that you have brought with you to serve you. They are not house servants, and are, I see, far more adept at riding, and hunting than they are at being domestic. Therefore I must be, and I should like to spend my time being useful. I was trained for it. I always have. I cannot occupy my time simply bathing and perfuming myself to lie idly upon a couch awaiting your attentions! As your father's amba.s.sador you must attend upon the sultan at his court most days. I will not just sit eager for your return!"

He chuckled at her outrage. "But I want you eagerly awaiting my return," he teased her. "After all, was not woman created merely for man's pleasure?"

"You will not find much pleasure in an empty belly, or dirty linens, my lord, and that is exactly what you shall have if you do not let me run your house," she threatened, but her gray eyes were laughing at him.

"Woman," he growled at her, and with a leap across the room he captured her. To his delight Aidan shrieked her surprise, "You presume far too much. First you wheedle the gardens from me, and now you desire the house. Will you never be satisfied?" He held her tightly within his embrace.

"Never," she giggled, rubbing her body against his until they both felt his rising desire, and she boldly drew his head down to kiss him pa.s.sionately.

"Ah, my jewel, you are becoming so much a part of me," he admitted softly.

"Then give me the house," she murmured seductively against his mouth, and her hand caressed the nape of his neck with a sensuous touch.

"You must earn your privileges," he teased back, and then with a movement she certainly wasn't expecting he kicked her legs out from under her, and together they fell to the thick carpet. His hands pulled her pantaloons down, exposing her vulnerability, and Aidan shrieked again with surprise.

She was not helpless, however. Realizing that it was but a game he played with her she rolled quickly from beneath him, kicking out with a kid-shod foot. "Give me the house!" she cried.

His answer was to grasp at both her ankles, and yank her forward, pulling her legs over his shoulders as he did. Then his mouth fastened upon her flesh. He tongued her provocatively, seeking every hidden crevice, probing softly at the delicate flesh until she gave down her honey.

She writhed beneath him, both fire and ice filling her veins at the satin time. "My lord! My lord!" she moaned desperately.

Javid Khan lifted his head. "Say please," he whispered.

It was enough of a respite from his delicious tortures. "Give me the house!" she managed to gasp.

He lowered his head to tease at her again for a few moments, and then pulling himself up so that their faces were level he kissed her deeply and pa.s.sionately as he pushed his swollen shaft into her welcoming body.

She sighed with open relief, and smoothed her hands down his back to cup his tight b.u.t.tocks to her as opening herself to him she wrapped her long legs about his body. He was, she thought, the most marvelous lover. As tender as her husband had been, but different, and she liked it. She thrust her body up to meet his downward movement for she was not a pa.s.sive partner. She could already feel the tumult building in intensity, and she welcomed it. "Yes, my darling," she whispered with hot breath into his ear encouraging him, "oh, yes, my lord Javid! Oh, I am shameless! I cannot get enough of you, my lord! Please, please, do not stop!" She shuddered with pa.s.sion. She could feel him pulsing and quivering within her soft body. She could feel him growing bigger with his hunger.

The prince gritted his teeth with his great desire for the woman beneath him. Allah! She could not get enough of him? If he spent the next thousand years in her arms like this he would never be satisfied! He could feel the great shaft of his manhood, engorged with his love for her, throbbing within her soft sheath. Over and over again he drove into her softness until unable to bear any more his love juices cascaded into her hidden garden, and in his own language, a language she could not understand, he groaned, "I love you, my jewel! I love you!" Then he fell across her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Instinctively she cradled him within the circle of her arms for she, too, was lost in paradise. Then as reason began to return she gently stroked his tawny head, and asked, "What did you say to me, my lord?"

"I said that the palace is yours, my jewel," he murmured in reply. It was not that he regretted his words for he did not, but he would not say them to her until she had learned to love him. She must not have any advantage over him. With women such a thing was dangerous. He rolled off her, and she put her head upon his shoulder.

"You are so good to me, my lord Javid," she said.

"I want you to be happy," he answered her, "but I fear that my father and brothers would chide me for I spoil you dreadfully."

"Ah," she teased him, "but do their women care for the house as I do? I am a very valuable slave, my lord."

"Yes," he said, tenderly kissing the top of her head, "you are a most valuable woman, my jewel. Now, however, I think we should get up from the floor. My poor Tartars would be shocked to find me so enslaved by my slave."