Skye O'Malley: A Love For All Time Part 39

"Aye, ye have, but I'll take no chances now, Conn. 'Tis my ship, and my decision."

A wide strap of leather was fastened about the cabin boy's waist to which was attached a heavy rope threaded through an iron loop that was embedded in the belt. Michael settled himself into the boatswain's chair, which was nothing more than a plain board fitted between two ropes. The chair was then raised up by means of a pulley, and swung out over the side of the ship. Normally the boatswain would have simply climbed onto his chair without the benefit of the leather safety belt, but as Michael was to be responsible for lifting the silken sacque from Avram ben Yakob's little boat he would need both his hands free, and should he lose his balance the result would be obvious.

With stately grace Bon Adventure skimmed along the silvered tops of the green waves. Avram ben Yakob could feel his heart hammering within the narrow cavity of his chest as he felt the great ship easing slowly by him. He lifted the mauve silk sacque, the muscles in his arms bowing with the weight of the stones used as ballast to sink the victim easily to the ocean floor. For a moment his tired brown eyes met the lively blue ones of a beardless boy as he transferred his burden to the lad who to his surprise hefted the sacque as if it were weightless, and was quickly whisked up the side of the ship. Avram ben Yakob saw the sacque pulled over the bal.u.s.trade of the port side of the great vessel, and he could hear a cheer of victory on the wind. Then the boy was quickly lowered once more to deposit another mauve silk sacque into his little boat, and with a whish Bon Adventure was gone past him, and his craft rocked in its wake. Avram ben Yakob lowered his eyes, and continued rowing to his destination. It was not his business. The woman had been condemned. He had done a favor for Esther Kira, and she in turn had seen to it that his daughters would be well dowered, and that he and his Leah would be comfortable in their old age. No laws had been broken. His conscience was clear.

Ahead of the executioner's boatman the large ship sailed southwest down the Sea of Mamara toward the Dardenelles, and into the coming night. Upon Bon Adventure's main deck the top of the sacque was untied, and Conn bestowed upon young Michael the gold ribbon sewn all over with pearls that had been used to enclose the silk. The sacque was then carried into the master cabin, and laid upon the bed. Gently Conn and Robbie rolled the mauve silk down to reveal an unconscious Aidan, and clasped within her arms where Nur-U-Banu had placed him, Tulip. Both men stared openmouthed at the long-haired orange-and-white cat who was gently snoring against his mistress' b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

"G.o.d's nightshirt!" Robbie swore. "They were going to drown her cat with her! Poor beastie!"

"Perhaps Esther Kira saw that it came with her," Conn said. "It is the sort of kindness I would expect from the old lady if she knew Aidan was fond of the animal." Gently he removed the cat from Aidan's arms, and placed it at the foot of the bed. Then he stared down at his wife. She didn't appear mad. "I wonder how long she'll sleep," he said.

"Best to leave her be until she awakes naturally," Robbie ventured. "Forcing her to consciousness could harm her."

The two men finished removing the sleeping woman from the silk sacque rolling it down until her feet were free, and the ballast stones were revealed. Then Robbie said, "I'll get rid of this. Ye stay with yer lady. I'll sleep tonight in the little cabin next door."

Conn nodded, barely hearing his friend, already settling himself into a chair by the side of the bed. Robbie made a mental note to send Michael with some food before the evening was finished not, he thought, that Conn would be hungry. He had what he wanted after all these months, and it would be enough for now. He tiptoed from the cabin. Conn heard the door latch click, but he didn't look up. All he wanted to do right now was feast his eyes upon his beloved wife. His love lost, his love found.

She looked so pale, and her breathing was shallow yet regular. She, like he, was thinner, and upon her face there were tearstains. It was his Aidan, and yet there was something about her that was exotic, and very foreign. Her eyelids were darkened with kohl, and the scent arising from her lush body was heavy with musk. Her clothing was very rich in appearance, if not a little shocking to him. He could see her slim, shapely legs through the thin silk of her long trousers; trousers whose anklebands were thick with embroidery and small sparkling gemstones. Cloth of silver and turquoise-blue silk. The colors were flattering against her fair skin.

He was glad he had not opened the sacque upon the deck for the skimpy little garment she wore on the upper half of her body left very little to the imagination. It was sleeveless, of a turquoise-blue silk that was edged in silver fringe, each piece of fringe tipped with a tiny aquamarine, and because it had no closures it revealed far more than it concealed. He could understand, he thought with a small smile, why a man would enjoy seeing his wife in such a garment especially if she was as perfect in form as was Aidan.

Reaching out he touched her glorious coppery hair. It was dressed in a fashion far different than he was used to seeing her wear it. Parted in the center it had been plaited into one long braid, the hair mixed with a silver ribbon that was sewn with pearls, and clear sea-blue aquamarines. It was quite lovely, but he longed to see her hair flowing free against her skin again.

Bending over Conn touched his wife's lips with his own, and whispered softly, "Ahh, Aidan, my love, how I have missed ye."

She stirred slightly, but she did not awaken, and at the bottom of the bed the long-haired cat stretched lazily with a small noise, and changed his position, but he, too, did not awaken.

The cabin door opened, and young Michael, Robbie's cabin boy, entered bearing a tray. With a triumphant grin he placed the tray upon the table. It contained half a chicken, some fresh bread, and a bowl of green figs. "Captain says yer lady won't waken till morning, my lord, and that ye'd best eat."

"Thank ye, lad," Conn replied. "I owe ye a great debt, ye know. Whatever ye want if it's in my power ye can have it! Name yer reward, Michael!"

"Well, my lord, I'm really a lucky fellow, I am. Ever since Sir Robert found me wandering in that alley, me head all b.l.o.o.d.y, and not remembering anything, I've had luck. Sir Robert gave me a last name. His. He taught me to read and to write, and I'm learning a trade. He says I'll be a captain someday if I continue to apply myself, and if I do, he'll give me a ship then. There's one thing, however, that I lack, and if yer lordship wouldn't think it too great a price, I would very much like to have it."

"No price is too great, lad, for what ye did this afternoon. 'Twas not easy to bring that sacque aboard Bon Adventure while she was moving, but ye did it! Tell me what you want."

"The only home I've got, my lord, is this ship. There's a small cottage outside Plymouth, overlooking the sea, that I know I could buy for the owner is dead, and the heirs don't need the place. It's been empty these last two years, and only needs a bit of work to make it right again. Once I've my own house, I can look for a wife to come home to in another year or so. Would that be too much to ask ye, my lord?"

"Nay, lad, 'tis a cheap price ye would have of me, and so I hope ye'll let me furnish yer house with all it will need to welcome a bride."

Young Michael smiled almost shyly at Conn. "Thank ye, my lord," he said. "I'm grateful for yer kindness." He bobbed a little bow to Lord Bliss, and was gone from the room.

Conn shook his head. His kindness? Without the boy's sure balance, and strong arms Aidan wouldn't be sleeping here upon this bed. Michael would have his cottage, repaired, and furnished, and a bit more into the bargain as well, thought Conn. He would deposit in Michael's name a nice sum of gold with the English Kiras. The boy would be a good match for some merchant's or well-to-do farmer's daughter. Pouring himself a goblet of Robbie's fine burgundy Conn nibbled on the chicken that had been brought to him, but he found he was suddenly too tired to eat. He drank his wine down, and drawing a coverlet over Aidan he lay down atop the bed, and was quickly asleep.

The Bon Adventure sailed serenely through the night on a light but steady breeze. It would take them several days before they reached the Aegean Sea, but they would be safe for they flew a pennant giving sure pa.s.sage to all those who traded with Turkey. The night was lit with the glow of a waning moon, and as the sky began to turn from deep velvet black to ash gray Conn awoke, and arose from the bed. Aidan was still sleeping although she did not appear to be in as deep a sleep as she had the previous evening. He longed for, as well as feared her awakening. Was she really mad as Esther Kira had said? He heard the slight change in her breathing, and looked anxiously toward her.

Aidan was slowly rousing, but she did not open her eyes. As her brain began to function she remembered being handed the goblet of cherry sherbet which she had a.s.sumed was laced with poison, and indeed she had welcomed death. Better death than being bound to Murad for the rest of her natural days. Strange, she thought. She had not felt that way about Javid Khan, but then the prince had been the most tender and gentle of men. Death should have had no part of him for he was everything good about life.

She drew in a long, deep breath, and slowly let it out again. Where was she? Why had she been spared? Or had she? Perhaps the sherbet had just contained a sleeping potion to keep her quiet while some elegantly refined torture was devised prior to her execution. Murad, of course, would want to be involved in that. He occasionally enjoyed giving pain although at least she had been spared the worst of his nature on that account. Safiye, however, had told her of how a slavegirl had once displeased him so greatly that he had personally beaten her to death. A shudder raced through her body, and Aidan opened her eyes.

A ship? Why was she in a ship's cabin? On the floor by the bed she saw a mauve silk sacque. Recalcitrant women were drowned! Had not Safiye told her that? She was going to be drowned alive! Frightened Aidan sat bolt upright, and shrieked, "Noooooo!"

Conn, across the room seated in the window seat staring out at their wake heard the animal-like sound that issued forth from her mouth, and leaping up he hurried across the room into her line of vision.

"Aidan! Aidan, my love!" His arms reached out to enfold her.

Terrified she scrambled back across the bed, her hand outstretched as if to fend him off. Her eyes were dull, unfocused, and filled with fear. "No!" she repeated. "No!"

"Aidan!" he persisted. "Look at me, sweeting! Tis Conn, yer husband. 'Tis Conn!"

Conn? What had she heard? Aidan attempted to gain control of the awful fear that was engulfing her. She forced herself to hear the voice. She forced her eyes to focus.

"Conn?" she said. "Conn! Oh, G.o.d! Is it really you? I don't understand! What has happened? Where am I?"

She seemed to be making sense, he thought. Perhaps she was not mad after all. "Yer on Robbie's vessel, Bon Adventure, sweeting. We're out of Istanbul bound for England. I've been seeking ye since last summer, but I only reached Istanbul several weeks ago. Yer attempt on the sultan's life yesterday made it possible for Esther Kira to help us to rescue ye. Had ye not done such a foolish thing, we would never have been able to get ye back short of storming the sultan's palace which, of course, my brothers were all for doing. I'm afraid ye've quite spoiled their fun, Aidan, my love." He tried to make his voice light.

"How did you rescue me?"

Conn quietly explained how Esther Kira had cleverly conceived the plan to rescue Aidan, and how young Michael Small had actually brought her aboard the vessel. He finished by telling her how they had opened the sacque to find not only Aidan, but her cat as well.

"Tulip? Tulip is here!" Aidan looked about the room, and then her eye lit upon the animal at the foot of the bed. "Ahh, this is Esther's doing, G.o.d bless her!" Leaning over she reached out, and lifted the cat into her arms. The little beast's golden eyes opened, and seeing his mistress, he purred. A tear slipped down Aidan's cheek, and she said, "Javid loved him, too. He said Tulip was a perfect Tartar; unafraid, adventurous, and a great lover." She placed the cat back at the foot of the bed, and then looked up at Conn. "Javid Khan is dead, you know. His brother killed him, and destroyed everything that was his, but for me. I was not there."

"I know, sweeting," Conn said gently for he could see the pain and sorrow in her eyes. It amazed him that he could be so objective in the face of the fact that his wife had obviously cared for this prince.

"The sultan said I wasn't free," Aidan continued, "but I was! Javid Khan had freed me on our marriage, and when he was killed I wanted to come home to ye, Conn. They said ye wouldn't want me. They said ye had remarried another woman, and she would have yer children. They said without my papers I was not a free woman, and the sultan took me to his bed, and forced me to his will. I hated him! I wanted to kill him! I wish I had!"

"It's over, Aidan," he told her. "It's all over, and yer safe with me now."

"Ye haven't taken another wife?"

Conn laughed softly. "Lord, sweetheart, I never had the time to even think about it for I was far too busy chasing after ye. Besides, I don't want another wife. I have ye."

"How can ye want me now, Conn? I have known two other men. One I cared for, and in this land I was considered his lawful wife. In our land, however, I should be considered an adulteress and bigamous wife, a wh.o.r.e! Women taken in slavery by the infidel are supposed to resort to suicide and martyrdom rather than yield themselves willingly, yet the women I have known here desired only to live. Was I wrong in choosing life? It is a question I wish I did not have to ask myself."

"Let me answer it for ye then, Aidan. Ye were correct to choose life over death. I would not have had it any other way. I love ye, sweeting, even as I have always loved ye. I want ye, even as I have always wanted ye." Taking her into his arms he laid her back against the pillows, and kissed her pa.s.sionately, his lips nibbling softly against hers, his firm mouth pressing firmly on hers. He covered her face with his kisses, and she shivered, but Conn pressed onward with his suit. He had to show her that he still wanted her, that he loved her, and he did it in the only way he knew how.

Drawing off her little sleeveless bolero he lowered his head to her beautiful, full b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and caressed them with his lips. His fingertips brushed over the satiny globes, relearning their contours. He gently teased at her nipples, and saw them pucker as her hotly began to respond to him. With surprising agility he removed the silk gauze trousers, and kissing her navel tenderly, he stopped to pull his own garments off, and then he laid himself atop her.

Taking her face in his hands he kissed her mouth again, and said, "I adore you, my lost love. Ye must believe me, Aidan!"

She felt his body on hers, and his hands and his lips that roved and roamed across her flesh. He said he loved her, and she wanted very much to believe him. This was Conn, her beloved Conn. Conn for whom she had mourned these many months of her captivity. This was her husband, her true husband! She felt him enter her with such incredible gentleness that she began to weep. Slowly he moved on her, attempting to aid her in gaining her pleasure, but she could not. It was as if her body had been frozen as cold as the snows that had been imported into the harem to cool the sherbets.

Finally Conn could contain himself no longer, and he poured his seed into her waiting womb knowing as he did that she had had no joy of their coupling, and he was deeply saddened by it. Rolling off her he drew her into his embrace, and tried to comfort her. "It's all right, sweeting, I love ye."

"Nay," she whispered, "it isn't all right, Conn, but ye must understand that I have been badly used these last few weeks. It is not something that I can put from me easily. Do not be angry with me nor impatient, I beg of ye. I am grateful that ye would want me back."

"Oh, Aidan, there was never a time when I didn't want ye back, my love! I would have come sooner, but that we were forced to remain in Algiers the winter," and Conn explained the predicament that had greeted them on their arrival in Algiers.

"I understand," she answered him, and she drew the coverlet over her naked body.

"Tell me of the cat," he said attempting to find a path that would be less painful for her. "Why is he called Tulip?"

A small smile touched her eyes. "When he awakens, and you can see his tail fully you will understand. The tip of it has the shape of a half-opened tulip bud, and its color is an orange in contrast to the rest of the tail which is creamy white. That is why he was given his name by Javid Khan."

"Can ye tell me of the prince?" he asked her curious.

She looked at him with haunted eyes. "Not yet," she said low. "Please don't make me speak of him. The wound is too fresh, Conn. I will tell ye this, though. He was a good man, and ye would have liked him."

He questioned her no more. Esther Kira had been correct. The daring that had enabled her to attack Sultan Murad with a fruit knife had been naught but a temporary madness. Aidan was sane. She was in pain from the terrors of the last few weeks of her life, but she was sane. Returned to her own world, however, she was having a difficult time coping with her own sudden feelings of guilt. At first she would allow no one else but Conn to enter the cabin where they were housed. Young Michael would bring them meals, and water; and leave them at the door.

Robert Small understood her anguish for he had spent many years of his life in trading with the Near East. The few women who managed to escape their captivity usually had a difficult time readjusting themselves to their old life; for everything they had learned in their youth in their native Christian lands told them that they committed a great wrong in surviving their shameful, carnal captivity let alone returning to their homes to take up their old lives again. Only his beloved trading partner, Skye, had come through her own captivity whole; but then Skye was a woman of enormously strong will. Still, Aidan must also be strong else she would not have survived herself, let alone attempting an attack on the sultan's life. Time, Robbie counseled Conn, was the great healer.

Time. They had enough of that, Conn thought, for it would take them eight to ten weeks to reach England. They had followed a Venetian trade route from Istanbul to Greece where they had made port in order to take on fresh water and food. Crossing the Gulf of Messenia they had slipped into a Genoese shipping lane that brought them to their second port of call in Sicily. Leaving Sicily they alternated back and forth through the Mediterranean between Venetian and Genoese routes stopping again in the Balearic Islands and at Gibraltar before entering the Atlantic for the last leg of their journey home. To avoid any run-ins with the Spanish Bon Adventure sailed well off her coast and across the Bay of Biscay around Brittany, and up into the English Channel. This was the longest leg of the voyage for they did not make port again between Gibraltar and London.

Aidan's uneasiness eased somewhat over the weeks to the point where she was able to finally greet Robbie, and meet Conn's three elder brothers who were, of course, anxious to see the lady whom they had spent so many months in rescuing. To Conn's surprise his usually self-confident wife was somewhat shy and reserved, but as Shane and Shamus were equally shy of this lady who had such an adventure, there was no offense taken on their part. Brian, however, blunt as always, was the one who strangely put Aidan at ease.

Enveloping his sister-in-law in a bear hug he growled at her, "Poor, little la.s.s. Ye've been cruelly used, but we've got ye safe again. Welcome home, Aidan, and thank G.o.d for it, I say!"

Aidan burst into tears, but when Conn would scold his elder brother for his words she defended Brian O'Malley heatedly to them all. "He really makes me feel welcome," she said. "He makes me feel as if I have some hope of living a normal life again! Can ye not understand that?" Then she hugged Brian back. "Thank ye, my good brother," she said looking up at him. "Thank ye with all my heart!"

Brian blushed to his brothers' delight, and hoots of derision for they teased him about being softhearted over Aidan, and perhaps he was for Brian was a warrior at heart, and there was something in Aidan that spoke of her own personal strength and dignity that appealed to him. For a moment a familiar twinkle appeared in Aidan's eye, but it was quickly gone, and Conn mourned its loss even as he ached for the inner turmoil of conscience that racked his wife.

Beginning with the first morning he had attempted to resume their physical relationship as a means of proving to her his love and devotion. She had not denied him, and yet it was painfully obvious that she was not enjoying what had once been to her a joy. Finally he had found the courage to ask her to speak honestly to him on it for though he would not say it to her, making love to her had become very much like making love to a corpse.

"I love you," she said. "I never stopped loving you even though I gave up hope of ever seeing you, of being with you again. Do you understand me, Conn? I gave up hope for there was no hope. My friend, Safiye, was brought to the Yeni Serai when she was twelve years old. She was the daughter of the Venetian governor on Crete, but for women brought to the sultan there is no hope. Though my heart was, is yours, I made my peace with my situation, my fate as the Turks would call it. I made my peace, and I sought to make another life for myself with Javid Khan.

"He, too, was alone, and in pain for his wicked brother had murdered his two wives and his children. Like me, everything he had was gone. I have told you that he was a good man, and when we found ourselves thrown together by fate, we made peace with that fate, and we comforted each other. Between us it was good as it was between you and me.

"Esther Kira has told you what happened when Javid Khan was murdered. I cannot say that Murad is a bad man, but he is a l.u.s.tful one. I cannot speak of what happened between us yet. Perhaps I shall never speak of it to you. I do not know, but I do know that whatever spark there is within my soul that caused me to respond with pleasure and with joy to you and to Javid Khan, that spark is now dormant, if indeed it even still exists.

"We have suffered in this past year, Conn. I would not cause ye further suffering, but if ye continue to seek my bed that is exactly what I shall do. Perhaps once I am home again this will change. I need the green hills of Worcestershire, Conn. I need Pearroc Royal! These, I believe, will revive my soul. Can ye understand that? Can ye still love me?"

"Ye've not lost yer bluntness in our time apart," he said quietly.

"I am what I am, my lord, and there was a time when ye loved me for it," came her quick answer.

"I still love ye for it," he said smiling into her eyes, and for a brief moment she felt his warmth. He drew her into his embrace. "I don't just want half of ye back, Aidan. I want all of ye back, and so I shall wait until ye feel that ye can give me that part of yerself that is now lacking."

She laid her copper-colored head against his velvet-clad chest, and sighed softly, deeply. "Once," she said to him, "ye told me that ours was a love for all time. I believed then that I understood what that meant, but I think I am only just beginning to understand yer words, my lord husband. Understand them, and be grateful that even if I did not have full comprehension of those words, ye for all yer youth, did."

His chin touched the top of her head, and he stroked her hair with one hand. "We are only just beginning, Aidan, my love," he promised her. "Trust me as ye have always trusted me, and we will both come safely through this for the worst is over, sweetheart, and we have each other back again."

Chapter 17.

They had landed in London, and Aidan and Conn had transferred from Bon Adventure to the large, comfortable Greenwood barge which was to take them up the Thames to Oxford. It was not the fastest way to travel, but it was the most comfortable. Aidan remembered the last time they had come this way, a far more innocent time of life for them both. The day of their arrival in England was August I9, and it was Aidan's twenty-fifth birthday, the first birthday she had ever spent with Conn.

There had been no time, of course, for him to purchase her a gift, but the barge was filled with flowers as was the room in the inn where they spent their first night home. At Oxford their large traveling coach was awaiting them, and Aidan faced the first of her retainers, but to her surprise Martin, the coachman, and his a.s.sistant, Tom, as well as the grooms merely welcomed her, she later noted to Conn, as if they had simply been on a visit to some mundane place.

"That is precisely what they do think," he informed her. "They believe that upon my release from the Tower we were sent to Skye's home in France, Belle Fleur, to cool our heels. It is the sort of thing that Bess would do."

"Then no one knows where I have really been?" There was just, the faintest note of hope in her voice.

"Mag and Cluny, of course. My sister Skye and her husband, Adam, too."

Aidan nodded. She liked her sister-in-law, and she somehow thought that Skye would not condemn her for what had happened. Now if she could but make peace with herself, but that was a far harder task than any she had ever had before. She blamed herself for none of what had happened for Aidan was no fool, but what she could not erase from her memory was what she had gone through at the hands of Murad. It haunted her both waking and sleeping.

The countryside was lushly heavy with the late summer, and the fields were already being harvested of some of their crops. It had been a dry August, and the roads were dusty, but even so Aidan leaned from the coach windows as the landscape with each pa.s.sing mile became more and more familiar. At last Pearroc Royal came into her view, and she wept unashamedly with joy for she had never thought to see her home again.

As they turned into the drive of the great estate Conn pulled his wife into the coach, and began wiping her cheeks with a damp handkerchief for her tears had mixed with the dust from the road, and her face was dirty. "Ye don't want to look like an urchin, sweeting," he said. "One of the grooms rode ahead this morning, and the whole staff will be awaiting us."

And they were. Beal and his wife, Erwina, Leoma, Rankin, Haig, Young Beal the steward, and his brother Harry the gamekeeper, and all their helpers right down to the potboy and the knife sharpener. Lined up in the order of their importance, and all smiling broadly as their master and their mistress descended their coach, they greeted them for the first time in well over a year. Aidan's eyes searched the crowd, and she found at last whom she sought. Mag, clinging to Cluny, and suddenly looking older than Aidan .could ever remember her looking.

"Mag!" Aidan, smiling, and patting out at her retainers, moved through them to enfold her tiring woman into her arms. "Dearest Mag!"

"Thank G.o.d, my baby!" wept Mag. "Thank G.o.d yer safely home!"

"Now, Mag," said Aidan patiently, and she hugged her tiring woman, "France was not that far, and I promise ye that I shall not go away again!"

Mag was not so old that she did not still have her sharp wits about her, and so she hugged Aidan back, and said no more while about them the rest of the household staff smiled benignly upon their lord and their lady, happy to have them back. An estate without its master and mistress was never a whole thing.

"Lord and Lady de Marisco are awaiting ye in the house," Beal informed them when he was finally able to put in a word amid all the greetings.

Skye took one look at Aidan, and knew that there was something very wrong, but what it was would take time to ferret out. She had been in the Mid-East twice in her lifetime; the first experience being a wonderful one, the second a nightmare. She, however, had been more experienced than Aidan in matters of the flesh. She could see that Aidan was tired, and so after warmly greeting her sister-in-law, and welcoming her home, she and Adam departed.

As much as Aidan loved Skye she was relieved to see her go. She wanted to be alone, and she didn't want to have to make idle chatter. Waving her in-laws off she walked round the house to the gardens behind it, and slowly made her way along dearly familiar paths among the roses, the asters, the dainty sweet william, the many-colored gillyflowers, the baby's breath, and the Michaelmas daisies now in bloom. There were large fat yellow-and-black b.u.mblebees drifting lazily with comfortable buzzings amidst the fragrant blossoms, and it was for a brief time as if she had never been away.

Returning to the house she walked through each room, reaching out to touch each piece of furniture, to finger the hangings, to rub her fingers over the well-remembered carvings on the chair backs. She breathed deeply the particular smell of the house; a mixture of old wood, and herbs, of Leoma's cooking, and of the flowers that filled the rooms. Home! She was really home!

Conn let her wander unrestrained. He knew better than most how dear Pearroc Royal was to his wife. His wife. His whole life he had roamed restlessly, never knowing exactly what it was he sought until Elizabeth Tudor had married him to Aidan. He was not a man for power. Wealth he had more than enough of, and his handsome face and quick wit had won him social acceptance with the queen and the court. Still it had not been enough. Nothing had until he had married Aidan, and discovered to his surprise that he was basically a simple man, a faithful man. With some delightfully beautiful fluff of a kitten he might not ever have discovered this surprising side of his nature; but Aidan with her sharp mind seemed to bring out the best in him. He was so very relieved to have her back, and whatever problems she had to overcome he would be there to help her for he loved her, and it was really as uncomplicated as that.

Those first few weeks pa.s.sed easily enough, and Aidan seemed to be regaining her equilibrium. As the reality of her situation began to finally sink in he could see her old confidence beginning to renew itself. Although she could still not bring herself to give him her body, she was becoming more and more affectionate both in public and in private with him, and he hoped that in time all would be well between them again. Then one day all his hopes shattered when he arrived home from overseeing the last of the harvest to discover that Aidan had locked herself in their bedchamber, and refused to come out.

"She won't talk to me, my lord!" Mag sobbed.

"How long has she been in there?" he demanded of the near-hysterical tiring woman.

"She's not come out at all today, my lord. When I came to bring her her breakfast the door was bolted, and she would not let me come in to her. Oh, what can be the matter?"

Ordering his servants to remain below Conn ascended the stairs and traversed the long hall to their bedchamber. Stopping outside the door he listened, but he could hear nothing. "Aidan?" he called to her. "Aidan, my love, what is it?" A deep silence greeted him. "Aidan, if ye do not answer me I shall have to break down the door to gain entry to the room. Ye have already frightened the servants half out of their wits for they cannot remember ever seeing ye this way. Do ye really want me to destroy a perfectly good door and lock as well as injure myself which I shall surely do?"

For a moment he thought she would not answer that plea either, but then her voice came through the door. "I want to talk to Skye."

"Very well, I shall send for her, but in the meantime will ye open the door to me?"