The younger woman looked puzzled. “As I have said, Yasmin,?he is gorgeous.”
“His nakedness does not offend you, or frighten you?”
“No, should it?”
“No, but some women are fearful nonetheless. Now, Skye, I want?you to go to Ali, put your arms about him, and press your body to?his.”
Skye did as Yasmin commanded, sliding her arms around the?eunuch’s neck, rubbing instinctively in a very provocative way?against the young man’s soft body. He shuddered, nuzzled her ear,?squeezed one of her buttocks, then cupped a breast in his hand. Her?eyes grew dark with desire, and she swayed slightly.
“Mistress!” Ali’s voice was pleading, and Yasmin laughed. She?had learned what she needed to know. Skye might dislike a woman’s?touch but she enjoyed a man’s. The lessons could continue. Without?giving Ali another thought, she dismissed him. He fled, gathering?his robe.
“What a funny creature,” Skye observed. “Didn’t he like me?”
Yasmin laughed again. “He liked you very much, and had you?been alone he might have made love to you. I will allow him to do?so when you have more knowledge. We use these young eunuchs?for that purpose, as we can hardly practice technique on our gentlemen.” She looked candidly at Skye. “You’re a good student, but?that is all we will do today. I will come tomorrow at the same time.”
After Yasmin had dressed and gone, Skye sat quietly for a few?minutes. Then her hands crept upward to cup her own breasts. Gently?she caressed her body and was amazed to see her nipples harden.?She thought about what it would be like to have a man stroke her,?and felt a tingling between her legs. It was all so pleasurable. What?other lovely things had her cursed memory wiped away? Sighing,?she stretched naked on the cushions and fell asleep.
That evening Khalid el Bey sent for Skye. She was fresh from?the baths and had just finished perfuming herself. Sliding a light-weight wisteria-colored silk caftan over her body, she ran barefoot?through the short, carpeted hallway that separated her room from?his apartments.
“How lovely you are!” he said as she entered the room. He noted?the sheen of her skin and the way her midnight-colored hair curled?in damp tendrils about her face. “Yasmin tells me your lessons went?well. She feels you have a talent and will progress quickly. She is?pleased with you, and therefore I am pleased.”
Her face became radiant. “I want to please you, my lord Khalid!?Without you I should be nothing.”
His big hand cupped her chin, and his dark eyes looked into her?blue ones. “I do not think so, my little lost bird. I do not think so.”?Then smiling, he asked gently, “What have you learned?”
“Just perfuming, and the proper way to disrobe before a gentle-?man.”
“Disrobe for me,” he commanded, sitting cross-legged amid the?colorful cushions. “Pretend I am to be your gentleman.”
She stood very still before him. Her fingers hardly seemed to?touch the tiny pearl buttons of her robe before it opened. He had not?but the barest glimpse of her breasts when she twirled gracefully.?The silken robe slid with agonizing slowness down the long line of?her back and over the perfect twin moons of her buttocks. She turned?to face him, her eyes modestly lowered. Sinking to the floor, she?said softly but clearly, “As my lord commands.”
For a moment he stared at the gleaming dark head that touched?his slipper. He was amazed not only by her easy skill, but by his?own reaction to it. Beneath his brocaded robe he was swollen and?aching, and he couldn’t quite believe it. He had always maintained?a perfect control over his body.
She raised her head, and their eyes met. “Do I please you, my?lord?” she asked innocently.
“Very much,” he murmured huskily. Don’t! Don’t! his saner self warned him, but he heard himself saying, “Sit next to me, Skye.”?And when she nestled in the curve of his arm he bent over her and?touched her lips. They parted easily beneath his, and he drew her?scented breath into his own mouth. His tongue sought for hers, found?it and they caressed one another with burning softness until he be-?came aware of her hands seeking his, and placing them on her naked?body.
‘Touch me, my lord Khalid!” she whispered urgently.
Fighting to control himself, he allowed his hands to slide over?her body. He had never felt such a desire in himself for any woman.?Her skin was softer than anything he had ever known, and when she?moaned with undisguised pleasure he trembled. He slipped his own?robe off. You must not! She is unschooled! You will ruin everything!?warned his saner self, but his lips slid down the pure pillar of her?throat, and his hungry mouth captured a taut nipple, sucking pas-?sionately on it until, with an angry half-cry of desperation, he yielded?to his own desires.
Swinging himself over her burning body, he impatiently parted?her thighs and thrust himself into the welcoming warmth of her. She?sighed and with a deeply rooted feminine instinct, she wrapped?herself about him and moved her lush body to match his frantic?rhythm. Her slender fingers slid down his long, smooth back, knead-?ing his muscled buttocks until he whimpered with pleasure. Within?her own body she felt a tingling tenseness that built with unbelievable?intensity until, cresting, it burst over her like a giant wave lifting?her high and then dashing her down into a swirling darkness.
“Skye! Skye! Ah, my beautiful beloved,” he murmured against?her ear. He caressed her gently.
“I did not remember until now how beautiful making love could?be,” she whispered.
“Do you remember anything else?” he questioned hastily.
“No. Only that I have done before what we just did, and that it?was good.”
“I should not have taken you,” he said. “What if I had frightened?you?”
“You did not frighten me, my lord Khalid, but perhaps I dis-?pleased you with my lack of skill.”
He laughed weakly. “No, Skye, you did not displease me. It is?true you lack the skill of a trained courtesan, but this same lack of?skills has given me a very pleasurable time.”
“Must I continue my lessons with Yasmin, my lord?”
“Yes. Your innocence has charm, my beloved, but there is no harm in your learning our ways. You will learn to pleasure your?gentlemen in a variety of ways. It is your duty as a woman to be?knowledgeable in the arts of love, and as Yasmin teaches you, you?will show me.”
She lay on her back breathing quietly and evenly. He lay on his?side so he might gaze down at her. His fingers traced a delicate?pattern down her breasts and torso. Shivering, she raised her blue?eyes to him. Bending down, he kissed her mouth with great tender-?ness, then her eyelids. “Go to sleep, Skye, and sleep in the knowl-?edge that I will watch over you.”
Her eyes closed. He again wondered who she was and where she?had come from. A noblewoman without a doubt, but from where??Her coloring ruled out the far north, and he did not believe her to?be either Spanish or French. When she had first regained conscious-?ness he had spoken to her in French and she had answered him, but?he knew her accent was not native to France. Could she be English,?or one of the Celtic races? Unless she regained her memory, they?were unlikely ever to know.
Khalid el Bey was not sure he wanted to know. Somehow this?beautiful creature had insinuated herself into his heart. It had been?a long, long time since he had felt more than just sexual satisfaction?with a woman, but with Skye he suddenly felt something he had?long believed himself immune to. That feeling was a longing for a?real home, and it took a wife and children to make such a home.
He smiled at his fantasies. Surely he was getting old, for the first?sign of age in a man like him was the longing for rest. He gazed?again at the woman by his side. Was it possible? Did he really love?her? What if he married her, and she later regained her memory??But that was unlikely. She would not regain her memory, or so his?physician said, unless faced with the very thing that had shocked?her in the first place.
Still, he would not move swiftly. He would allow Skye to continue?her lessons. It could do no harm. And later he would make a decision?about their future. He closed his eyes, sighed, and fell asleep.
Chapter 9
Yasmin was shocked. “You took an unskilled woman to your?bed? What on earth possessed you, my lord Khalid?”
He turned on her. “You presume on our long association,?Yasmin. Skye belongs to me, and I will do with her as
