All the Sweet Tomorrows

away and began to undress himself, pulling from his saddlebags a white silk nightshirt that he rarely wore. Tonight, however, it would be best to have as much as he could put between himself and Skye. When he turned back to her she was seated on the edge of the bed brushing her long black hair with a gold brush. 'Would you rather I slept on the floor, little girl?' he asked in what he hoped passed for an impersonal voice. 'I could easily wrap myself in the coverlet, and with a pillow for my head I should be quite comfortable.'

The floor is damp,' she said, looking up at him with a smile. Then her eyes widened, and Skye giggled.

Adam looked puzzled. 'What is it?' he asked.

'You're wearing a nightshirt!' she exclaimed, amused.

'You're wearing a nightgown,' he countered.

'I've never seen you in a nightshirt,' she answered.

'I never felt the need to wear one with you, Skye,' he said solemnly.

She thought a moment, and then said, 'Oh,' in a small voice, and her teeth caught at her bottom lip.

'I’ll sleep on the floor,' he said.

'No, Adam, you'll catch your death if you do. Look! The bed is large, and comfortable.' She paused a moment, then added, 'And if I am not ready, or able to… to… you know what it is I say; we are two grown people who surely can control our passions. I know I am being unfair, Adam, but I need you near me! Do you understand what it is I am saying?'

'Get into bed, Skye. The night has grown chill. You need your sleep, and we have an early start.'

Obediently she climbed into the big bed and snuggled down beneath the warm coverlet. Bending, Adam blew out the single candle, and only the low firelight lit the room as he slipped in next to her. For some minutes they lay in silence upon their backs, each stretched out long and stiff, and then Adam quietly reached out and took her hand in his large paw. 'You say nothing, and yet I can hear you screaming with your pain, little girl. Tell me now! Tell me what is in your mind and heart. Tell me before it grows so big that there is no controlling it, and you destroy yourself.'

'It was all for nothing,' she said, the anguish plain in her trembling voice. 'It was all for nothing, Adam.' She sighed, and a shudder rippled through her slender frame. 'Niall is dead. He is as dead now as he was to me two years ago; but two years ago I had learned to live with it. Do you know what I have done, Adam? I have whored. I am no better than those women who inhabit the waterfront brothels in every port. I used my body, and I have been used. I did not think when I agreed to Osman's proposal that it would be so hard, and perhaps if my husband had survived it might not have been; but Niall is dead now, and I cannot reconcile myself to the fact that it has all been for nothing.'

'You got him out of Morocco, Skye. He died a free man.'

It was as if she did not hear him, or if she did the facts were not enough to soothe her. 'Kedar,' she said. 'God's blood, Adam, how I hate the very sound of his name! He was Osman's nephew, and the man whose slave I was. Look at my ankle, Adam.' She stuck her foot out from beneath the coverlet, and in the dim light from the fire he could see something glittering on her ankle. 'Do you know what is written on the medallion of the anklet? It says, Muna, Property of Kedar. I have not yet had the time to have a smith remove it. Property of Kedar, Adam, and I was most assuredly that. My very life depended upon his goodwill. He possessed me with a ferocity I have never known, Adam. He took everything I was forced to offer, and much I did not. I spent those months in his possession, terrified that he would devour me both body and soul with his passion, with his terrible need to consume me. He did things to me, Adam, things that I did not imagine a man could do to a woman, and it was never enough! Oh, God! I shall never be free of him! The memories of him will haunt me all my life, and the memories of my beloved Niall will haunt me, too. I see now that it would have been better if I had left him to meet his end in Morocco rather than to betray the vows we made before God when we were wed. Oh, Adam! I am so lost!'

With a low growl of anger Adam climbed from the bed and flung the covers back. Gently he lifted her ankle in one hand while with the other he snapped the gold band from her leg as if it were a ribbon. Striding to the window, he threw back the shutters and flung the offensive anklet as far as he could. Then he closed the shutters again, and calmly climbed back into the bed.

Skye turned and, pressing her head into his shoulder, began to weep. Stunned, Adam wrapped his arms about her and let her cry. Tears, he knew, were a catharsis. There was nothing else he could do, for he could never completely wipe away the terrible memories she would retain of her time with Kedar. Gradually her sobs died, and her breathing evened out and she slept nesded against him. Adam also slept then, only to be awakened by piteous cries as Skye, caught in the middle of a dream, relived some of her Moroccan adventure. He did things to me, Adam, things that I did not imagine a man could do to a woman, she had said. He was both horrified and shamed by what a member of his sex had done to her. Skye was a woman to be cherished and adored. She was a good companion and a brave comrade. She had been made to be loved, and she was the best friend he had ever had. It both pained and angered him that she had suffered so.

***

It took them eight days to reach Archambault from Beaumont, and during those eight days Adam learned in detail Skye's adventures in Morocco. After that first night he had insisted that she tell him everything, and as more and more of her agony came to the surface, the less violent her nightmares became. As he listened he realized how very much he loved her. This time she was not going to get away from him, and the afternoon they neared his mother and stepfather's chateau through the exquisitely rolling green countryside of the Loire River Valley he told her so.

'You are going to marry me, Skye.'

'I will never marry again, Adam. I have had all I can of belonging to a man. I will be my own mistress until I die. Please try to understand that, my darling.'

'I understand that you have had a terrible experience, Skye, but I am determined that you will be my wife. Being married to me will not make you my property. You will always be your own woman; but you will be my wife as well. I love you, little girl. I have for so very long a time. My greatest treasures are my good name and my honor. I would bestow my name upon you.'

'How cruel you make me feel to refuse such a magnificent gift, Adam, but no. I must be free! Please try to understand.'

He sighed. 'You need time, Skye, and I am willing to give you all the time you need.'

'You are impossible!' she scolded him.

'I am a man in love,' he countered. 'You are the first woman I have asked to marry me in twenty-two years,