examining the throbbing elbow.
"I'll bind this now, Captain," Suryo said. "Though not broken, already there is swelling." He picked up a bandage and began wrapping the joint.
"The sultan said he's traced Katie, Alex," Gavin said quietly. "She was sold to the Rajah of Sukau, and should be quite safe."
Alex lit up, luminous with joy. "Thank God! And thank you." She swiftly brushed a kiss on his cheek, then ducked back, blushing at her forwardness. She smelled like tropical blossoms. As she was escorted away by guards, Gavin touched his face. Alex's lips seemed to have burned their imprint into his cheek. In her own way she was as dangerous as Kasan. The sultan merely threatened his freedom and life. Alex might have the power to reshape his soul.
CHAPTER 10
That night, Alex paced through the slanted moonlight and of her cage, fidgety as a puppy. Though she'd had to move silently, without even a hint of jangling chains, Gavin eventually emerged from his bedroom. Fair hair rumpled and dressed in light-colored tunic and trousers, he looked like the ghost of some fabulous pagan god. "You couldn't sleep either?" he asked.
"No." She took a deep breath to keep the tremor from her voice. "I'm sorry to be such a burden. I feel ready to shatter into pieces from sheer nerves."
"You're not a burden. You're a remarkable woman. I suspect that if I were captive and you had to play a Lion Game to free me, you'd do it magnificently."
Exasperated by his offering her such an unearned compliment, she blurted out, "I know the terms of your bargain with Kasan. Dear God, Gavin, how could you pledge away ten years of your future for the sake of a woman you scarcely know? In the middle ages, men like you were called saints."
"I'm no saint, Alex," he said, taken aback. "It's just that ... how could I live with myself if I abandoned a woman of my own people in slavery?"
"To me, that's sainthood. Or at least courage and honor above and beyond the call of duty." Her mouth twisted. "With all you've been through, have you wished that you hadn't passed the slave market when you did? "
He hesitated, too honest to lie. "It would have been easier if I hadn't seen you, but who says easy is better? Most things of value require effort."
"Losing control of your life can't be better."
"Even if I end up working for the sultan, my situation will be very different from yours. I'll have wealth, authority, and considerable freedom." He shrugged. "I might even be better off staying in the East. This could be God's way of keeping me away from London, where I may fracture my skull by banging it against walls."
"You expect trouble there? "
He ran stiff fingers through his hair in a rare gesture of uncertainty. "Not exactly trouble, but-I hate Britain as much as I love it. Going back is something I've longed for, and also a great piece of idiocy."
"If the walls are too hard, you can return to America. From what I've heard in your voice, your love for your adopted country isn't complicated at all."
His expression eased into a smile. "You're right. When I finish laying my English ghosts, I'll go home." Thinking of all he'd done in the last days, she said, "I imagine you'll deal with those ghosts as capably as you deal with everything else."
"Ghosts are a little out of my usual line. Chests of tea, now, or typhoons-those I can manage very well."
His teasing tone dissolved the tension between them, leaving intimacy. She gazed up into his shadowed eyes, almost regretting that this rare, strange interval was nearly over. If all went well, in two days they'd be on the Helena. Surrounded by his crew, they'd resume their real lives as captain and lady, even though inside she'd changed irrevocably. There would be a safe emotional distance between them. But there was no distance tonight. In the last days and nights she had learned the rhythm of his breath, the texture of his skin, the wryness of his humor. They had become comrades in a great and strange adventure, and
"I'll bind this now, Captain," Suryo said. "Though not broken, already there is swelling." He picked up a bandage and began wrapping the joint.
"The sultan said he's traced Katie, Alex," Gavin said quietly. "She was sold to the Rajah of Sukau, and should be quite safe."
Alex lit up, luminous with joy. "Thank God! And thank you." She swiftly brushed a kiss on his cheek, then ducked back, blushing at her forwardness. She smelled like tropical blossoms. As she was escorted away by guards, Gavin touched his face. Alex's lips seemed to have burned their imprint into his cheek. In her own way she was as dangerous as Kasan. The sultan merely threatened his freedom and life. Alex might have the power to reshape his soul.
CHAPTER 10
That night, Alex paced through the slanted moonlight and of her cage, fidgety as a puppy. Though she'd had to move silently, without even a hint of jangling chains, Gavin eventually emerged from his bedroom. Fair hair rumpled and dressed in light-colored tunic and trousers, he looked like the ghost of some fabulous pagan god. "You couldn't sleep either?" he asked.
"No." She took a deep breath to keep the tremor from her voice. "I'm sorry to be such a burden. I feel ready to shatter into pieces from sheer nerves."
"You're not a burden. You're a remarkable woman. I suspect that if I were captive and you had to play a Lion Game to free me, you'd do it magnificently."
Exasperated by his offering her such an unearned compliment, she blurted out, "I know the terms of your bargain with Kasan. Dear God, Gavin, how could you pledge away ten years of your future for the sake of a woman you scarcely know? In the middle ages, men like you were called saints."
"I'm no saint, Alex," he said, taken aback. "It's just that ... how could I live with myself if I abandoned a woman of my own people in slavery?"
"To me, that's sainthood. Or at least courage and honor above and beyond the call of duty." Her mouth twisted. "With all you've been through, have you wished that you hadn't passed the slave market when you did? "
He hesitated, too honest to lie. "It would have been easier if I hadn't seen you, but who says easy is better? Most things of value require effort."
"Losing control of your life can't be better."
"Even if I end up working for the sultan, my situation will be very different from yours. I'll have wealth, authority, and considerable freedom." He shrugged. "I might even be better off staying in the East. This could be God's way of keeping me away from London, where I may fracture my skull by banging it against walls."
"You expect trouble there? "
He ran stiff fingers through his hair in a rare gesture of uncertainty. "Not exactly trouble, but-I hate Britain as much as I love it. Going back is something I've longed for, and also a great piece of idiocy."
"If the walls are too hard, you can return to America. From what I've heard in your voice, your love for your adopted country isn't complicated at all."
His expression eased into a smile. "You're right. When I finish laying my English ghosts, I'll go home." Thinking of all he'd done in the last days, she said, "I imagine you'll deal with those ghosts as capably as you deal with everything else."
"Ghosts are a little out of my usual line. Chests of tea, now, or typhoons-those I can manage very well."
His teasing tone dissolved the tension between them, leaving intimacy. She gazed up into his shadowed eyes, almost regretting that this rare, strange interval was nearly over. If all went well, in two days they'd be on the Helena. Surrounded by his crew, they'd resume their real lives as captain and lady, even though inside she'd changed irrevocably. There would be a safe emotional distance between them. But there was no distance tonight. In the last days and nights she had learned the rhythm of his breath, the texture of his skin, the wryness of his humor. They had become comrades in a great and strange adventure, and
Similar Books
