‘Touch me, my lord Khalid!” she whispered urgently. “Please, please touch me!”
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 I choose. I do not need your approval.”
“I only meant-“
“You are an insolent slave,” he said cuttingly. “I have rarely found it necessary to use the whip, but you tempt me now, Yasmin. You tempt me greatly.”
She had gone very white. Flinging herself to the floor, she im- plored his forgiveness. “Get up,” came the cold reply. “You will continue Skye’s lessons, Yasmin, and if I should ever hear of your mistreating her in any way, I will sell you. Go now!”
The Circassian scrambled to her feet and fled the room. Her heart was thundering. In all their years together he had never spoken to her that way. Yasmin was deeply frightened. Was he in love? Allah forbid! The worm of jealousy gnawed at her heart, and Yasmin began to hate the woman called Skye with an impotent fury.
She dared not act openly against her yet, but once Khalid sent Skye into the House of Felicity, she would be at Yasmin’s mercy. Yasmin thought with pleasure of a Syrian merchant who visited them twice yearly, and whose delight was in watching two women perform before he took them both. Knowing Skye’s revulsion at another woman’s touch, Yasmin intended to punish her by forcing her to participate in such a show. For now, however, Yasmin would bide her time.
She smiled at Skye as she entered her room and bid her good day. “Today,” she said, “we will review yesterday’s lessons, and go on to the study of anatomy, both male and female.”
Skye nodded. Annoyed by her poise, Yasmin sought to shock her. ‘Tomorrow I will bring a girl from the House of Felicity with me, and she and Ali will begin to demonstrate to you the various positions of love.” She stared hard at the younger woman.
“That should be very interesting,” replied Skye with infuriating calm. “I would learn quickly and well so I may please my lord Khalid.”
Yasmin had to bite her lip to keep from shrieking. Skye’s lack of emotion was totally unnerving. Would she be one of those cold creatures who felt nothing at the height of passion? If that was the case then she would have to be taught to simulate emotion, for nothing frustrated or angered a man more than an unresponsive female. Yasmin realized that it might be harder to train Skye than she had previously thought. But train her she would, and when she was through Skye would be the most magnificent creature ever to grace the House of Felicity. Then Khalid would realize Yasmin’s great value to him, and finally make her his first wife. She had waited so long for an opportunity like this, doing his bidding unquestioningly all these years, seeing to his interests.
Catching herself, she ceased daydreaming, called for her eunuch, Ali, and threw off her silken robe. “A thorough knowledge of both the male and female body is essential, Skye,” said the naked Yasmin. ”With small-breasted women such as yourself, the breasts are usually very sensitive, and most women are highly sensitive on the little button that lies hidden beneath the Venus mound. Demonstrate, Ali!”
Yasmin lay among the pillows, the young eunuch propped on his side next to her. Fascinated, Skye watched as he caressed the soft globes of Yasmin’s breasts, using both his hands and his mouth. He worked slowly and as Yasmin’s breasts became harder and firmer, a small moan escaped her. Ali shot Skye a small triumphant smile, which his partner missed. One hand moved lower to Yasmin’s Venus mound. A finger probed delicately, rubbing gently, and another soft cry escaped the writhing woman.