The Furies by John Jakes Page B

added, “Maybe you would have preferred her. She claimed she could please a man better than I do.”
    Cordoba gathered both her hands in his. She felt the weight of his forearm against her left breast. She was touched by the almost childlike tenderness of his expression.
    “You have pleased me more than any woman I have ever known, Amanda. You have made this filthy campaign bearable. Brought me comfort just with your presence. You know I’m poor at talking like a romantic—I am a soldier. I’m trying to say you are the dearest—”
    Swallowing, he stopped. The familiar redness tinted his cheeks again.
    She smiled. “But I don’t seem very good at giving a man what he wants most from a soldadera —” She was only partly teasing now. His closeness—the warmth and hardness of his arm—stirred something in her that was part passion, part hunger for reassurance. “I’ve really wondered why you never touch me.”
    “Because”—his eyes brimmed with pain—“because I have a wife.”
    He bowed his head.
    She reached her right hand across her breast, ran the palm down the faint stubble on his face.
    “I know that, Luis.”
    He jerked back. “You know ?”
    “Well, I guessed. One night, in your sleep, you spoke a woman’s name several times. I decided it was the name of a sweetheart or, more likely, your wife.”
    Each word cost him effort. “I have wanted you very much, Amanda. But I dared not ask—”
    “Always so honorable—” Gently, she touched his forehead. “That’s a terrible burden to bear in a dishonorable world.”
    “I told you before—I can’t help what I am. I know I must go home to my wife in the capital one day—”
    “That could be a long time in the future.”
    He said nothing.
    “Do you have children?”
    “Alas, no.”
    “Well, I wouldn’t want you to do anything that would make you feel ashamed later—”
    “Stop!” he exclaimed. “It’s only on your account that I’ve held back. You’re a beautiful woman—and a decent one. If you were just a camp whore, I’d have taken you and thought nothing of it. Well—almost nothing. You deserve better. I could never dishonor you with lies. False promises—”
    “I don’t need promises, Luis. I just need you.”
    Again he averted his head. “Sometimes I wish I’d never seen you. But I did. And I have come to—to love you with all my being. More than I have ever loved any woman.” He raised his head. “Any woman.”
    “If that’s how you feel, nothing else is necessary. Blow out the lamp and lie down with me—”
    She saw the dawning wonder in his eyes. Wonder mingled with suffering. He was still agonized by what he had revealed about himself. She tried to relieve his conscience with a light tone.
    “It is about time you treated me as a proper camp follower! Besides, I’m too sore to sleep on the ground one more night.”
    Slowly, slowly, a smile forced itself across his mouth. A tentative smile that turned to joy as he reached upward for the lantern.
iv
    In the darkness, he cursed, then apologized. He’d tangled his feet in his breeches as he pulled them off.
    He lowered himself beside her on the narrow cot, touching her cheek almost hesitantly. She circled his neck with her arms, turning her head to the proper angle for a kiss.
    When their lips touched, much of Cordoba’s restraint disappeared. He pressed his mouth hard against hers. She felt his yearning in the sudden clasp of his arms beneath her back—
    He murmured her name over and over as they embraced. He spoke lovely, courtly Spanish as he caressed her body. She sighed with pleasure when his hands closed on her bare breasts.
    A moment later, she maneuvered beneath him, guiding him and laughing when he gasped at her boldness. He entered her gently, although his breathing roared loud as a storm in her ear. When she urged him to speed, he complied, and with each quickening movement of his body, she understood again that this was no weak man, only one who was