The Treasure

“It smells… familiar.”

“It should. Nicholas offered me hashish when I was at the House of Silk. He smoked it on occasion. It’s said to relax and heighten sensation.”

“Did you take it?”

“No, I was there to buy you. I had to keep my wits, and I knew what hashish could do to a man.” He stopped before the heavy oak door. “Nasim keeps it burning in a copper brazier here. You cannot help but breathe it in. It’s not as potent as smoking it from a pipe, but it will affect you.”

“How?”

“It relaxes, increases sensuality, makes everything more vivid.” He looked down at her. “Are you ready to go in?”

“No.” Her hand was shaking as she reached past him and opened the door. “But I won’t be any better later.” She walked into the chamber. “If it must be done, let’s do it and get it over.”

The chamber was round and surprisingly luxurious compared to the austerity of the rest of the castle. Only two candles lit the dimness of the room, but she could see richly patterned rugs warming the coldness of the stone floor; a tapestry portraying a lion hunt in the desert occupied the wall across from the door, and two divans heaped with silk pillows were set facing each other in the center of the room. “It doesn’t look like a room that belongs in this castle.” Her gaze was drawn to the far corner and the large copper brazier Kadar had mentioned. “I think I’m getting used to it. I don’t smell it anymore.”

“I do.” He reached out and unfastened her cloak. It slipped from her shoulders to the floor. “Undress.”

She stood unmoving. “Is he watching us?”

He was swiftly disrobing. “Probably.”

“From where?”

“The tapestry. The lion’s eyes.”

She wheeled to face the tapestry. In the dimness she couldn’t discern anything but an outline of the lion. “Are you sure he’s there?”

“No, but I’m sure he’ll be there sometime tonight.”

Nasim was there, watching. Now she could see a moist glittering where the lion’s eye should be. The helplessness she felt suddenly changed to fury. She would not let him win this victory. “I don’t care. Do you hear me, Nasim? I’m not doing this because you force me. This is by my will.” She pulled her gown over her head and kicked off her sandals. “I feel no shame. The shame is yours. Watch all you please, you foul old man.”

“Selene.” Kadar was behind her. His hands fell on her naked shoulders. Warm, hard hands that sent a shock through her.

She whirled and buried her head in his chest. The dark triangle of hair felt springy against her cheek. “I hate this,” she whispered. “He makes me so angry I want to punch a stick through that tapestry right into his eye.”

“Ignore him.” He lifted her head and looked into her eyes. “Or show him that he truly has no power over this.”

“Of course he does. I was lying.”

“Then make it truth.” His head lowered slowly until he was only an inch away. His tongue touched her lower lip. “Help me and I promise you’ll forget he’s watching.”

Her lip felt strange under the warm moistness of his tongue; heavy, swollen. Her breasts, pressed against him, were beginning to feel the same heaviness. “What do you want me to do?”

“Be at ease. Relax.” He pulled her closer, his hands sliding around to knead her back. “It will be easier if you-”

“You’re not relaxed.” She could feel his arousal pressing against her, hard, demanding.

“I don’t have to be. You’ll recall, it’s vitally necessary that I’m not.”

His hands slipped down to cup her buttocks. “I’m going to lift you. Put your limbs about my hips.”

“Why-” She instinctively clasped him with her legs as he sank deep within her. Her eyes closed and she lost her breath. The sensation was tight, stretched, hot. “What a peculiar-” He was walking. She grabbed hold of him. “Where are-”

“Here.” He pressed her back against the tapestry. “Nasim can’t see here. Only straight ahead.”

Nasim. She should be grateful he couldn’t see, but she couldn’t seem to think. She was only aware of Kadar inside her and the soft tapestry against her buttocks.

And then she was aware of nothing but sensation, as Kadar began to lunge in and out of her with frantic force.

Need. More. Move.

She was making soft, frantic cries deep in her throat as the fever grew.

He reached between them, his thumb seeking, finding.

Her teeth bit into his shoulder to stifle a scream as his thumb pressed, teased, rotated. “Ah, you like it?”

She couldn’t answer. The muscles of her belly were tensing and releasing with every movement, and the tension was mounting, growing.

“Kadar, it’s-”

“I know.” His hand left her and he was driving harder, faster. “Let it go,” he said through his teeth. “I’m trying, but I don’t know if-”

Release. More fiery and climactic than anything that had gone before. She clutched him tighter. Tears streamed down her face.

“Good,” he gasped. “Oh, God.” He plunged to the quick.

She was vaguely aware of him shuddering, flexing within her, as she desperately held on to him.

His chest was laboring as he fought for breath. “Are you all right? Did I-hurt you?”

She didn’t know if she was all right or not. She felt as if she had been through a storm that had uprooted everything she knew and tossed it to the winds.

“Selene?”

“Not hurt. I’m-It was-”

“Hush. It will be fine soon.” He left her body and shifted his hold. He was carrying her toward the divan.

Softness beneath her. Kadar beside her, cradling her.

“Before it was pleasant,” she whispered. “That was not-pleasant. It felt-I was not myself. I didn’t know it would be like that.”

“No, pleasant isn’t the word. Much too tame.” He brushed his lips across hers. “But I think your pleasure was as intense as mine.”

Yes, it had been pleasure, she realized. The sensation had been so intense that it had been hard to identify. “Will it be like that again? Is that what you feel all the time?”

“The pleasure is deeper with you.” He cupped her breast. “But it will be like that again every time.”

“Then I can see why you rutted with every woman in Scotland.”

He chuckled. “I’m glad for your understanding.” He bent and ran his tongue over her nipple. “But I fear you’ve spoiled me for other women.”

Her breast was swelling beneath his touch and she could feel a tingling between her thighs. “Are we going to-”

“Soon. But the urgency is gone.” His fingers were delving between her thighs. “I thought we’d play a little first.”

“Play?” At Nicholas’s there was no play. The coupling she had watched was quick, brutal, and then the man left the house of women as if his partner no longer existed. “What are you going to-”

She arched upward with a cry as his fingers entered her and began to move. “You see?” Kadar whispered. “Play, Selene.”

“You’re very good at this,” Selene said drowsily as she cuddled closer. “I believe I approve of your apprenticeship at that house in Damascus.”

“I’m glad.” He brushed the top of her head with his lips. “At least one episode in my iniquitous past meets with your approval.”

“But just because I liked it doesn’t mean anything has changed. It merely makes this… tolerable.”

“Very tolerable.”