I am.”
“What is between us is good, Skye. Your lovely body responds?well to mine. We like each other, and more couples than not have?started life together with less. Do not fear, my love. You do not?cheat me. It is a good bargain we make between us. Your concern?for me does you credit. But now, my beautiful one,” he swept her?up in his arms, “I want to make love to you again.”
She wiggled, wet and protesting, against him. “It is morning!”
“A most delightful time,” he agreed, laying her on the sun-?warmed tiles that surrounded the pool. He straddled her.
“Someone will see us, Khalid,” she protested.
“No one would dare to disturb us,” he growled. His staff was?hard and seeking against her thighs. “I want you, Skye. I want your?tempting little body. I want you hot and sweet and yielding beneath?me,” he whispered against her ear. She shivered deliciously as his?tongue explored her ear, and shivered again as he moved downward?along the scented length of her neck, biting gently at her silken?shoulder. Skye soon forgot the bright sunshine. Khalid’s hands were?on her hips, stroking and stroking the fires of her passions. He?suckled at her breasts, drawing a cry of pleasure. “Open your legs?for me, now, my love,” he murmured. “That’s it, my darling, take?me into your fiery sweetness. Ahh… Skye, your little honey-oven?is made for me! Hold me tightly, my love! Ahhh!”
His words aroused her greatly. His hands never stopped loving?her body, and when his great rod entered into her she felt filled to?overflowing with him. His body movement was strong and rhythmic,?each stroke bringing her nearer and nearer to sweet oblivion. She?climbed higher and higher. Then she was caught in a jeweled whirl-?pool, and she heard a long soft woman’s cry mingled with a great?masculine sob.
Her next conscious thought was that the sun was hot on her face,?and she heard water lapping against the tiled sides of the pool. She?opened her eyes, and looked about. He lay on his back, eyes closed,?but his voice brought a furious blush to her cheeks. “You were made?to pleasure a man,” he said, “and I am grateful that that man is me.?After we have breakfast, I shall see Osman the astrologer, and he?will tell me what day this week is most favorable for our marriage.?I am having Jean draw up papers freeing you, Skye.”
She pressed herself into the curve of his arm. “Oh, my Khalid,?you are so kind to me! I swear I shall make you a good wife!”
He smiled and caressed her. “I know you will, my love,” he?answered her.
They breakfasted on yogurt, green figs, and boiling-hot Turkish?coffee. Afterward Skye returned to her own apartments, and Khalid?el Bey welcomed Osman, who greeted him by saying, “So, my old?friend! You have finally fallen in love again.”
Khalid laughed. “I have no secrets from you, do I, Osman?”
“The stars tell me all, my lord. And they tell me some things?about your love that you might be interested in knowing. She comes?from a green and misty land to the north, a land peopled by strong?spirits and great psychic forces. She was born beneath the sign of?the ram which, like all fire signs, is a strong and passionate one.”
Khalid el Bey leaned forward eagerly. “How can you know all?this, Osman?”
“Because, my lord, such a woman has recently appeared in your.?own chart.”
“I want to marry her.”
“I cannot stop you, my lord.”
“You do not sound enthusiastic, Osman. What is it you are not.?telling me?”
“She will not remain with you, Khalid. It is not her fate. Her fate ‘?is back among her own people, and so it. is written in the stars. There?are many men in her life, but she will always steer her own course,?rule her own destiny. One man in particular stands out in her life.?Their paths have crossed before and will most assuredly cross again.?It is with this man that she shares her soul, my friend, not with you.?Can you not just enjoy her while she is with you? Why must it be?marriage?”
He was shaken. The astrologer had always been accurate. “Will?it make any difference if I marry her?”
“No, my lord, it will not.”
“Then I shall marry her. For I love her above all women, and?would place her above all women.”
“And when she leaves you, will you let her go?”
“She will not leave me, Osman. She will not leave me because?of the children she will give me. She is not a woman who would?abandon her babes. She will give me children, won’t she?”
“I cannot be sure, my lord. She will be mother to several children,?but without a comparison of her exact birthday and yours, I cannot?tell you for certain.”
“She will bear me sons!” he said positively, and Osman smiled?faintly.
Still, he was concerned for his friend. The woman brought a?confusion into Khalid el Bey’s chart. There was a dark area now?that Osman could not fathom, and it worried him. Still, if his friend?insisted on marrying her, then at least he would pick the best day.?He scanned his charts carefully, made swift new calculations, and?finally pronounced, “Saturday, at moonrise, you will take her as?your wife.”
“Thank you, my friend. You will come, of course, and celebrate?with us.”
“Yes, I shall come. Is it to be a large celebration, Khalid?”
“No, Osman. Just a half-dozen or so are to be invited-my banker,?the head of the merchant’s guild, the mullah, the Turkish comman-?dant, and my secretary, Jean.”
“What of Yasmin?”
“I think not.”
“Yasmin loves you, Khalid.”
“Yasmin thinks she loves me, Osman, and therefore she will?accept my plans because of her belief in me. Besides, she will have?no further contact with Skye. I cannot allow my wife to associate?with a whore.”
Osman had to laugh. “There, my friend Khalid, speaks both the?Spaniard
Khalid el Bey sat pondering for a few moments after Osman had?left. The astrologer was right. Yasmin would have to be dealt with,?and the sooner the better. Rising, he called for his horses and, in?the silent midafternoon heat, he rode down to the heart of the city,?to the House of Felicity.
The building in which this famous brothel was housed was built?around a planted courtyard that had a spraying fountain at its center.?The side of the house facing the streets was white and devoid of?windows or any decoration save the double-doored entry of black-?ened oak with polished brass studs. Guarding the doors were two?huge black giants in scarlet satin pantaloons with cloth-of-gold?sashes, turbans, and ridiculously turned-up shoes. Their large bare?chests and muscular arms were oiled so that they gleamed in either sun or torchlight. They smiled broadly with flashing white teeth as?their master rode past them into the courtyard.
Khalid el Bey dismounted, tossing the reins to a pretty young girl?of ten who smiled at him in an adult and provocative fashion. Both?her feet and her budding breasts were bare, and she wore only white?gauze pantaloons that revealed her round little buttocks. A clever?innovation, he thought, for many of his Berber clients liked prepubescent girls best of all.
For a minute he stood and looked about the courtyard with a?proprietary air. Everything was in perfect order. He was pleased.?The brick walks were well swept, the shrubs well trimmed, the?flower beds colorful and fragrant.
“My lord Khalid, you honor us!” Yasmin swept down the steps?to greet him, her black-and-gold silk caftan billowing. An odor of?musk was strong about her, and he could see her vermilion-tinted?nipples through the sheer silk. Her golden hair was plaited with?black pearls, and behind one ear was a creamy gardenia. It contin-?ually amazed him that she always knew of the arrival of an important?guest, and was instantly there to greet him.
“My dear Yasmin, you are as lovely as ever.” He chuckled in-?wardly as she bridled with pleasure. “Come. I wish to talk with?you.” He led the way to her apartments, waiting patiently as she?served him coffee and small honeyed almond cakes.
At length she asked, “How is Skye?”
“That is what I have come to discuss with you,” he answered.?”I have decided she is quite unsuited for this sort of life.”
“Praise Allah! You have come to your senses!”
He smiled faintly. “You do not like Skye, do you?”
“No!”
“Then you shall not be burdened with her any longer, Yasmin.”
