Meggie undressed her mistress, and sponged her with rose water. Then India slid naked beneath the silk coverlet upon her bed, bidding her new servant good night. What a day it had been, she thought! Since this time last night she had lost her virginity, and had gotten married. Now the stories of her female relations' adventures began to surface in her consciousness. She had always listened with but half an ear when they were told. It had been Fortune who had been fascinated by these tales. India had always thought them a little shocking, and perhaps not really true. Just made up adventures to amuse. Now she wasn't certain.

There had been her stepfather's great-great grandmother, Janet Leslie, whose portrait hung in the Great Hall at Glenkirk Castle. She, it was said, had been the favorite wife of a Turkish sultan. And, of course, her own great-grandmother, the fabled Skye O'Malley, who had lived in Algiers as both a wife and a harem slave. And Great-aunt Aidan, who had at one time been wife to a Tartar prince, and held captive in a sultan's harem. And Aunt Valentina, who had been kidnapped, and held in a pasha's harem, the very same pasha who had once enslaved her stepfather's mother, the beautiful Lady Stewart-Hepburn. And, of course, her own grandmother, Velvet Gordon, who had been fortieth wife to the great Mughal ruler, Akbar of India.

It would seem she was following a family tradition, India considered wryly. The only difference was that all those women had eventually been able to make their way home. A tear slid down India's cheek. For the first time since her capture, a great feeling of homesickness overwhelmed her. Until recently, she had not dared to exhibit an ounce of weakness. Now, however, she could not help herself. She wanted desperately to see Mama and Papa, and Fortune and Henry, and the rest of their siblings. Had they cried when news of her capture came? Did they even know? Or had they assumed she had run off with Adrian Leigh, and was now his wife, and would eventually return? Did they even miss her, or had they washed their hands of her, taking Fortune off to Ireland to find her a husband? Fortune, who had thought it very practical that their parents find her a husband. Will they ever know what happened to me? India wondered. And she sobbed softly.

Caynan Reis had entered his wife's bedchamber quietly, and now, hearing the sound of her weeping, he hurried to her side. "What is it, my precious?" he asked, joining her upon her bed, and gathering her into his arms. "What has made you sad?"

"I…1 m-miss m-my family!" India wailed.

"Ahhh," he said, understanding her complaint. He held her close, and smoothed her curls soothingly.

"T-they don't know wh-where I am!"

"Give me a child so no one can steal you away from me, my precious India, and I promise you that you may write to your mother," the dey told her. "I have told you that I love you, and it is the truth. I could not bear it if some misguided parent took you from me."

"I… I love you, too!" India told him. "But I want my family to know of, and share in our happiness, my lord Caynan."

"In time," he vowed to her, and then he was kissing her passionately. "You are mine, my beloved, and I shall allow no one to take you back!"

Almost immediately she was swept away by his hungry devotion. All thoughts of her past life disappeared as his burning desire overwhelmed her. She loved, and was loved in return. There could be nothing more wonderful than that! "Ohhh, my lord," she murmured against his lips, "I do adore you!" Her hand caressed his shoulder gently. "I am content to be with you. Let me show you what the harem women taught me this afternoon when I visited them. Tell me if it pleases you."

To his great surprise she slipped from his embrace, and rolled him onto his back. Then she straddled him, and began letting her hands roam across his smooth chest. Shy at first, she grew bolder, taking his nipples between her thumb and forefinger, and rubbing them teasingly. He was about to reach up and take her tempting little breasts in his own hands when she leaned forward, and began kissing his chest, then licked at it seductively with her tongue. Slowly, carefully she moved down his torso, her dark curls brushing his smooth skin seductively. He was scarcely breathing for fear of deferring her progress, wondering how far she would go, and then her hand closed about his manhood.

Her fingers tightened about him briefly while her other hand brushed over his thighs, pushing between them to cup his jewels in the warmth of her palm. India bent lower, astounded by her own daring, but unable to cease her erotic actions. It had all sounded so wicked when the harem ladies elucidated upon it, but now, caught in the throes of her own rising desire, she knew she must continue onward. She squeezed him gently once again. He grew thicker and longer beneath her sensorial ministrations. Her head dropped, and she kissed the ruby-red tip of his manhood, then licked all around it.

He shuddered with the voluptuousness of her behavior, gasping softly as she enveloped him within her mouth and began to suck upon his throbbing member. Tongue and teeth teased at him, causing his whole body to quiver with excitement. Then a single finger reached beneath his pouch, pressing into a spot so sensitive that his whole frame arced with pleasure, and he groaned with sheer delight. "Ohhh, sweet witch, they have taught you well! Ahhhhhh! Enough! Enough!"

India released him, and looked sloe-eyed upon Caynan Reis. "I do not please you?" she asked innocently.

"You please me, my precious, and you kill me, too, with your skill." He pulled her forward, and, lifting her, said, "Come now and mount me, my beloved. I would encase my weapon within your pleasure sheath."

Now it was India who gasped as she felt him sliding into her eager body. Her eyes closed, her back arched, and instinctively she rode him until his lusts burst within her and she fell forward upon his chest, whimpering with her own pleasure. He maintained the union, gently rolling her onto her back so that it was he who was now the dominant one. His kisses covered her face, and India sighed deeply as she slowly, and most reluctantly, returned to earth.

"I shall reward the ladies who encouraged and developed your skills," he told her, smiling into her eyes.

Now India blushed, realizing what she had done. "I was bold," she said softly, touching his face with her hand.

"Very bold," he agreed affably. "I hope you will continue in your daring, India. I gained great pleasure from it." He slowly kissed her, thinking as he did that she had the most kissable mouth he had ever known. Nibbling upon her lower lip he told her so.

"I like kissing you," she admitted.

"Are my kisses sweeter than your English milord?" he demanded.

"Aye," she told him, realizing as she did that it was the truth. "I did not kiss him a great deal," she admitted candidly, "but I do not believe he had your skill, my lord Caynan."

"Perhaps I shall ransom him," the dey said.

"It would be kind," India agreed. "If he has survived these past months in the galleys, surely that is enough punishment for his rudeness toward you, my lord. His father is old, and sickly, and he is his mother's only child."

"Did you ever meet his parents?" the dey asked her.

India shook her head. "His father remained at his home in the country. He has not left it, I am told, since his elder son killed Lord Jeffers and then fled the country. As for his mother, even poor Adrian admitted the woman was little better than a bawd. He avoided her as much as he could. As I am certain she would have wanted her son's marriage to me to take place, she wisely avoided both my family and me. My parents were taking me back to Scotland to get me away from Adrian when I eloped."

He nuzzled her neck, his kisses sending shivers down her spine. "Did you really intend to wed him, or were you having second thoughts?" he gently pressured India.

It was so hard to think when his body pressed hers so closely and his lips did such delicious things to her senses. "I didn't like running away," she admitted. "It seemed so precipitous, but Papa was so obdurate in his opposition to Adrian. Now, I think, that might have had more to do with encouraging my hasty actions than any love I felt for Adrian. I realized as we traveled that while the adventure was exciting, perhaps we were being dishonest. I should have not allowed Adrian to push me to such an abrupt act. I have only hurt those I love best," India concluded.

"But had you not run away, I should not have made you mine," he murmured softly, his tongue pushing into her ear to tease it.

"No," she whispered. "Ahhhh, my lord, you are growing hard inside me!" She trembled against him. "How can this be?"

"Be quiet, little fool, and let me love you," he growled at her. "You arouse me as no female ever has." He began to move upon her.

Oh, God! This love was so powerful a thing, India thought, as she felt his length begin to slowly piston her afresh. Her eyes closed once more, and her breathing became shallow as he pleasured her a second time. She could actually feel him within her. Hard, and throbbing with heat. If she had only known, India considered muzzily, she never should have resisted him for so long. She felt so safe in his arms. She trusted him entirely, although she didn't understand why. She soared with the waves of hot delight beginning to wash over her as he moved within her fevered body.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear. "You are my precious one; my adorable and adored wife, India. I worship you with my body."