Page 84 of Inconvenient Honor
“Lies,” she sighed, breathing in the male scent of him. His breath on her skin heated her whole body.
“But you didn’t deny it, tantamount to agreement.”
She snapped upright, but he held her fast. “What are you saying?” she asked.
“In some parts of the world, a declaration of that sort constitutes marriage,” he told her. “We’ll want to formalize it when we can, but, Lily, make no mistake. You are my wife. Nothing that comes next will change that.”
He turned her in his arms and claimed her with a fierce searing kiss, a kiss of possession. The last of her resistance crumbled. Shematched his passion in a response that left no doubt. However much she might regret it later, she belonged to him—heart, body, and soul.
The little burden between them brought them back to reality with a sudden flurry of movement. Richard pulled away only far enough to look down; he kept his arms around her. With a sad smile, he set his forehead against hers.
“I will get us out of this, Lily.”
Or die trying. He didn’t say the words, but Lily heard them in her heart all the same.
“Hamidou hasn’t sent for ransom,” Lily told him.
“Not yet. He will. Money matters. In the meantime, we’re safe enough here.”
Pray God that’s true. He can’t possibly know for certain.She didn’t point that out to him.
“I hope they plan to feed us, though,” he said when he released her. He stretched shoulders she knew ached him. “The sun has been up for over an hour.”
“They sent grains last night.” She shrugged. “It could be worse.”
The ragged door to their prison swung open. A young woman stood, as if on command, holding a bowl of barley cakes and dates. The scar-faced guard loomed behind her. At the sight of the man who had held a dagger to her throat in Constantinople, Lily froze.
Hamidou may negotiate reasonably, but does he control Scarface?
Chapter Thirty-One
The girl, who had given Richard only a nervous glance, spoke a few words to Lily. Lily accepted the food and spoke back.Thanking them? How does she do that?Lily picks up languages as if she absorbs them through her skin.
Lily crossed the room to offer him food with her head inclined.
“What?”
“Just take it,” she whispered with her head bowed. “They expect you to eat first.”
He took a little. “How often will they bring it? You come first.” He took a bite.
“How should I know? I suspect twice a day. Just eat,” Lily said, smiling back at the girl who seemed to examine Lily closely.
Lily withdrew from Richard, and the two women continued to study each other. Lily still wore the silken brocade robes of the Seraglio. Her head covering had disappeared. The girl clucked in what Richard thought was disapproval.
Unlike upper class women in Constantinople, none of the women Richard had seen in this village covered their faces. A striped scarf with broad bands of red, yellow, and black covered this girl’s forehead and wound up into a sort of turban around her head. Black hair escaped the scarf down the sides of her face on either side of her chin.
I imagine that arrangement makes hard work easier to accomplish,he thought.She looks harmless enough, but I wouldn’t trust her.When the girl reached out a hand to touch Lily, he set aside the bowland took an involuntary step forward. Scarface responded with a step inside, his face thunderous. Richard stepped back.
Is he more worried about the girl’s safety or about keeping us in our places?
The two men eyed each other warily while the Berber girl fingered Lily’s silken shawls avidly. Her own dress had been woven with rough fiber in bright colors. A loose dress covered her from chin to sandal-clad feet. The same fabric made a sash. A fish-bone design had been tattooed from lip to chin to neck; it disappeared down her dress.
Lily reciprocated the girl’s interest. She reached a hand to feel the sash.
“Soft. Softer than I expected,” she said. The girl looked puzzled at her English words. Lily tried Turkish. The girl responded in a flurry of speech.
“What does she say?” Richard asked. He once more envied Lily’s command of languages.
