Tiffany Clare - The Surrender of a Lady

She looked at him a long moment. “How long do you stay this time, my lord?”

“For the remainder of the contract.” He ran his finger along the veil’s edge. “I won’t leave for more than a day or two with our time coming to an end.”

He held his hand out to her, inviting her to join him on the divan. She placed her hand in his, and let him lead her to the bed. He lay down on his side and pulled her body in snug to his, till her back pressed flush to his chest. “What did you do while I was away?”

She turned her head enough that she could see him. What was she looking for in his gaze? She seemed reluctant to say something. Or perhaps she needed to edit her words. “I spent my days in the garden. It’s beautiful this time of year, with the fruit trees flowering.”

“Is that all there is to do in the harem quarters?” He trailed a path down her arm with one finger, watching the gooseflesh rise as he did so.

“We spend our mornings in the harem bath. Our afternoons are either spent teaching new girls to dance, or in language lessons.”

“Did you have to learn to speak the language when you came here? What’s your first language, Jinan?”

She stalled too long to make it a believable lie. “Turkish. Why do you ask?”

So they were back to this game. Griffin rolled over to his back and tucked his hands under his head. “You’ll have to do better than that to convince me you speak the truth.”

Jinan turned to face him, her head resting on her fist. “Why do you care to know so much about me? I should think you’ll find another beauty once you’ve finished with me.”

He gave her a long assessing look. “Do you really think that? I’m not a callow youth, my fine beauty. I should hope we can renew our contract until the time comes when you are bored with me.”

She gave a low, husky laugh. “I don’t think one would easily be bored with you. You are a generous lover.”

“Is that all I am, Jinan? I try to uncover even the smallest of your secrets and you shut yourself off from me. You’re like a damned impenetrable treasure chest.”

She placed her warm palm against his chest, her fingers drawing circles through the blond hair there. Placing his fingers under her chin, he tipped her face to the side.

“Remove your veil for me, Jinan. I want to see the real woman.”

“This is the one thing I cannot do, my lord. This is who I am and who I will always be, with the veil in place.”

“Is it? After everything that has passed between us, you won’t remove a simple piece of cloth? How can it mean so much, when it does so little?”

She pulled away, sat up, and gave him her back as she swung her feet to the floor.

There was no chance of him letting her escape so easily; she must have known it because she didn’t try to leave the divan.

Didn’t she know he would persist on this issue? Running his knuckles down her spine, he asked, “Tell me why this secrecy is so important. Who would I tell about you, Jinan?”

“It’s not that.”

“Are you afraid I’ll see something familiar in you? Recognize you from somewhere?”

Her back stiffened, her hands clenched the edge of the divan. “How could you know me?” she said so low he barely caught the words. “You from England, me from Turkey. We are worlds apart.”

I don’t think so. You give away too much with your actions. But he did not say it aloud. Not yet. Why he held back was anyone’s guess. Maybe because he was still trying to come to terms with the power she had over his will, his control. Maybe while he was away from her his obsession had turned into something else. Something more freeing.

More feeling.

Was there really a difference between obsession and love? Maybe for some people. Not for him. They were two extremes. In a person where one addiction led to another, it only seemed natural that he would form a deeper, more affectionate attachment to her. She’d long been in his thoughts and fantasies. She’d long been the root of his self-destructive path. Maybe not the root, but definitely the catalyst. And here he was, given the chance to clip her wings and keep her for himself after all their years apart. If only she’d let him.

He sat behind her, his naked thighs on either side of hers, his chin resting lightly on her shoulder.

Griffin resolved then that he would convince her they needed to stay together. To go on somehow. Grow together. Because he didn’t think he’d survive leaving her behind.

Or having her leave him behind.

He sighed and pulled her in tighter against him. “I’m tired. Lie with me a while.”

No, he wouldn’t survive leaving her behind. She belonged with him. At his side.

He’d do everything in his power to keep her there.

“I’ve upset you. I did not mean to.”

“All the traveling has worn me down. I barely slept through the last stretch of the journey. My thoughts were filled with you.”

“Then I’ve a confession, as well. There was not a day I didn’t think of you.”

“Three weeks isn’t nearly enough time with you. What will you do when the contract has finished?”

“I try not to think about it. If things were different—if our lives were different—I wonder if we would have ever come together.”

“Tell me something. What damage would be done in revealing your true self to me?”

“Is the contract, the time we spend with each other, the passion we share, not enough for you?”

“No. You are holding a larger part of yourself back from me. Your true self. I’m a greedy enough man to want all of you. Whatever the truth is, you can’t frighten me off.”

“We both know the truth. Yet we both choose not to speak of it. At least not outright.” She turned in his arms, wrapping her legs around him and locking her ankles at his back. One hand stretched up and she brushed her fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp in the process. “Nothing more can come of this, Rothburn.”

“Because you refuse to share the full truth.” He closed his eyes, enjoying her soothing touch.

“No. Not at all. The truth will only hurt us more in the end.” Her fingers trailed down his arms till she found one of his hands at her back. Taking it, she placed it behind her head. “Remove my hairpins.”

His eyes drowsily looked into hers as though he could lock her in place. He didn’t give her a moment to change her mind and gripped both ends of the pins and pulled them free. The weight of the brass rings at the edge of the veil pulled it the rest of the way down.

His first thought was that she really hadn’t changed much over the last ten years.

What was revealed was definitely his Elena. Her mouth was still full, her chin dainty and pointed. His second thought was that he now understood why she’d insisted on the veil.

Anyone with a good eye for placing a face from the past would immediately recognize her. When she looked at him, he read sadness in her eyes.

“Is it so awful to reveal the truth to me, Ele—”

“Shh”—her hand covered his mouth before he could finish speaking—“that name is no longer mine. I told you the truth would do neither of us any good. I have given you more than I have given any man. Let that be enough between us.”

“Let me take you away from here.”

She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m afraid that is not possible. I’ve gone to great pains to make this my home. The women do not leave this place once we’ve set foot inside the palace walls. It is perhaps our fate to be star-crossed lovers. But I don’t regret your coming back into my life, even for this brief, fleeting amount of time.”

“Jinan. There is no amount of money I won’t pay to release you from this place.”

“And there is no amount of money Amir will take to let me soar free. We have three weeks left. I suggest we make the most of what we have left,” she countered.

“I’ll ask you every day until you change your mind. I can be a persuasive man when necessary.”

“Ah, but you must promise not to share the truth of my identity with anyone. You cannot let Amir know of our past. He would certainly have you removed from the palace. I told you my most frightening secret before you left. That I had feelings for a patron. It is forbidden. In truth, it is the only thing aside from leaving the island that is forbidden to us. Let us have this time together.”

“I will not give up hope on us.” When she gave a nod in understanding, he lowered his lips to hers. “You’ve given me more reason to pursue this.”

“Does this please you, my lord?” Jinan asked in a docile, exotic voice, fingers seductively skimming her bared thigh.

His gaze followed the view she presented—one pointed toe in front, revealing the long line of her leg. The jewels and copper coins that adorned her ankles twinkled in the amber sunset that settled around the room. Rothburn’s face was shadowed so she couldn’t read his emotions. He inclined his head, his jaw squared as he concentrated on her forward progression.

The dumbek beat its alluring thrum. The sound vibrated through the whole of her body, triggering a lustful throb in her veins as her senses were intoxicated with anticipation. She danced and swayed to the music. Everything in the background fell away as the drums, tambourine, and vocalist enveloped her and Rothburn.

Every thrust of her hip landed on the timed beat of the drum’s doum. Two thrusts to her right and the drummer caressed the skin, one thrust to the left—another stroke ended the sound, then the process repeated.

She knew this tune well. It allowed her to display her body to all its advantages—her generous hips begged for a man’s strong hold, her breasts jiggled, demanding a man to latch on and suck them deep into his warm mouth. The naked glimpses of flesh beneath her scarves titillated his lordship into finding the treasure beneath the silk, taunting him to search out the glistening pearl.