The Treasure Read Free Page A

me.” She tried to smile. “You could hardly do better. Thea and I share the profits from the silk trade we started here at Montdhu. I’m a fine match.”
    “For any man.” He shook his head. “Not now, Selene.”
    “Why not? I told you, I’m not a child any longer. I don’t remember ever feeling like a child.”
    “That’s part of our problem.”
    Disappointment surged through her. But it was what she had expected. She launched her second foray. “Then bed me. Now. Tonight.”
    He went still. She could see the tightening of his lips, the slight flare of his nostrils. She took a step closer. She had struck home. “I want you to do it.”
    “Do you?”
    “I won’t go on this way.” She drew a deep breath. “Touch me.”
    He didn’t move, but she could feel the tension of his body.
    “You never touch me.”
    “There’s good reason,” he said thickly.
    She moved closer, took his hand, and put it on her shoulder. It was heavy and warm through the silk of her gown. She felt a thrill of fear mixed with an odd, hot tingle. “I watched men and women couple in the House of Nicholas when I was a child. A moment of pleasure and then it was over. I know it will mean nothing to you.”
    “Then why do you want it?”
    Because she wanted to be close to him. She had wanted that closeness since she had met him all those years ago, and now she saw a way to gain it. “Why do any of your lemans wish it?”
    “But you’re not like anyone else.”
    “Ware and Thea need not know. I could meet you in the hills and—”
    “You think I wouldn’t bed you because of my friendship with Ware and Thea?” He shook his head. “You don’t know me as well as I thought. If I decided it was right for us, nothing in this world would stop me.”
    Hope leaped high within her. “It is right. You’ll see.”
    “Ah, how I wish it was.”
    “Then stop wishing and
do
something.” She took his other hand and plopped it on her shoulder. “Now.”
    He chuckled. “You lack a certain subtlety. Should I drag you down on these stones?”
    “If you like.” She was losing him, she realized in despair. Lust was fading, and amusement and tenderness were taking its place. She was probably doing this all wrong. She slid one of his hands down to cover her breast. “Anything you like.”
    His smile disappeared. “Selene . . .” His hand tightened on her breast and he squeezed gently, sensuously.
    She lost her breath and felt a twisting in the pit of her stomach. Her eyes widened in shock.
    “You didn’t expect that?” He squeezed again, watching her expression. “What a delight it will be to teach you pleasure.”
    She swayed toward him. “Then stop talking and do it. . . .”
    He bent and brushed his lips in the hollow of her throat. She shuddered as a wave of heat went through her.
    “But not now,” he whispered. “You’re not ready. Go back to the hall, Selene.”
    She felt as if he’d doused her with cold water. Shock turned to anger. She shoved him away. “Ready? I’m tired of that word. If it’s not now, then it will be never. I won’t wait on your convenience. I’ll go away. I’ll marry Lord Douglas or Kenneth or—” She turned on her heel. “I hate you, Kadar.”
    “No, you don’t.”
    No, she didn’t. She wished she could hate him, but the bond of years was too strong. Her eyes were glittering with tears as she looked at him over her shoulder. “Wait and see. I’ll learn to hate you.”
    He smiled sadly. “But that would break my heart.”
    “Nothing could break your heart.”
    “You could. That’s why I have to have patience.”
    “May heaven curse your patience.”
    “Actually, heaven applauds it. It’s not often a sinner embraces such a virtue.”
    “It makes no sense. Why?”
    “Trust. You don’t trust me. I find I have a great hunger for your trust.”
    “I do trust you.”
    He shook his head. “You don’t trust anyone. Except perhaps Thea. You make a pretense of trust to the rest of