Thalia could hardly contain her joy. “The most fortunate day of my life was when I filched that loaf of bread. I love your mother and your whole family.”
“Then welcome to the family, Thalia. I have always wanted a little sister.”
Suddenly Thalia looked frightened. “There is something I have never told you. As long as I can remember, men have been hunting me. I don’t know who they are or where they come from because I have always been able to elude them. But they frighten me. If they find out I am in Egypt, they may come for me here.”
Adhaniá looked troubled. “Could it have something to do with your past?”
The child shrugged. “I know not. I have a vague memory of living with an old woman somewhere—it was not Rome. I could tell she was keeping me hidden, but I never knew why. When she died, I went to Rome so I could survive. I know no more than that.”
“Then put the past behind you. Your future begins here in Egypt.”
The two of them entered the library, where Danaë and Ramtat were seated on the couch in deep conversation. They pulled apart, and Ramtat stared at Adhaniá. Danaë was right: there were shadows beneath his sister’s eyes, and although she smiled in greeting, there was no sparkle in her expression.
“You have a guest,” Ramtat said, watching his sister closely. “From Rome.” He watched her face go from disbelief to hope, then devastation. “He’s waiting for you in the garden.”
Her hand went to her heart, and she took a quick step, then paused. “Tell me quickly. Is it bad tidings—Marcellus has not been … he is not … ?”
Ramtat glanced at his wife, and they both knew she loved the Roman. “Why do you not ask him—your guest is General Valerius himself.”
Happiness burst through Adhaniá, and she ran toward the garden.
“I believe that was proof even you can believe, my husband,” Danaë said, smiling.
“Oh,” Thalia said, sitting down and looking from Ramtat to his wife. “You speak of Marcellus and Adhaniá. If you had asked me, I would have told you they love each other.”
Ramtat took the little sprite’s hand and frowned. “Tell me, my new little sister, what else do you know?”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Adhaniá spotted Marcellus standing near the pond. He must have heard her because he turned, watching her approach with an unreadable expression on his face.
He looked splendid wearing a silver breastplate molded to the lines of his muscled chest. She knew what it felt like to lay her head on that chest, and it made her ache to remember how close they had been for one night. When he moved, the layer of silver-tipped leather strips caught the setting sun.
He held out his hand, and she slipped hers into it. “Forgive the formal way I am dressed—I had an audience with Queen Cleopatra.”
Was that all he had to say to her, after being parted for so long? Her hand trembled in the warmth of his, and she felt a blush climb up her face. “I had no notion you were in Alexandria. How long have you been here?”
He still held her hand. “Two weeks.”
She pulled her hand away from his in aching disappointment. “As long as that?” It hurt that he had not come to see her before now.
“I had pressing matters that occupied my time.”
“Oh?”
“I was buying property.”
She searched his eyes. “Here in Alexandria?”
“Just outside the city. I think you will like the villa.”
He sat down on the marble bench and then stood, rubbing his hands together nervously, not understanding why there was such awkwardness between them. “Your brother has given me permission to ask you to be my wife.”
She had not expected this, and she did not know how to react. If he loved her, he would have rushed to her side the moment he arrived in Alexandria. “I must refuse you.”
He was stunned. “May I ask why?”
She shrugged, thinking she knew the reason he was proposing to her.
Obligation.
“I’m sure your mother told you I stayed the night with you to save your life, and now you feel you have to marry me.”
He shook his head at her lack of understanding “If I were merely grateful that you saved my life, I would have sent you a gift.” He stepped closer. “My feelings for you have been so marked, I cannot think you haven’t noticed.”
She nodded. “I remember well the night we were together, and I know you desired me when I danced for you.” She shrugged. “So did the other Romans when I danced for them. As well you know, it is a Badari dancer’s custom to entice the men she entertains.”
He smiled. “You did more than entice me that night.”
“I remember that as well. It is not a Badari custom for a dancer to lie with the man she dances for.”
“Yet you did.”
“Aye, I did.”
“Since we are speaking of Badari customs, you are indebted to me,” he said with a smile. “Surely you recall what you told me that night in my chamber.”
“I said many things that night—some were the truth, others were not.”
He touched her cheek with tenderness. “Did you or did you not tell me that since you saved my life you were responsible for me?”
“I merely explained to you an old Badari custom—one that is rarely honored these days.”
He pulled her toward him, and she stiffened. “I am holding you to that custom. Will you not be responsible for my care and happiness for the rest of our lives?”
“Do you say this to me out of obligation?”
“Adhaniá, I say this because I need you,” he murmured. “Do you not recognize a man who is desperately in love?”
“Why did you not come to see me sooner?”
He took her hand and pulled her to him, clasping her to his heart. “Shh,” he whispered thickly. “If you only knew how difficult it was to stay away from you, you would not rebuke me. I wanted every detail to be in place before I came to you.”
She did not understand. “What details?”
“I did not want to come to you until I had a home for us here in Alexandria. I wanted everything perfect for you when we start our life together.”
Her doubts faded when she looked into his eyes and saw a wellspring of tenderness there. “You love me?”
His voice was deep and husky when he said, “My beloved, my heart, you have walked with me in my dreams every night since we parted. I have come to you because I could not envision a life without you. Don’t send me away and condemn me to a life of loneliness.” He tilted her face up to his, and doubt crept into his tone. “Unless you do not feel the same way about me.”
She was quiet for a moment, trying to grapple with the happiness that lit her heart like sunlight reflecting on water. “I have loved you almost from the moment I saw you,” she admitted, as if the words were forced through her lips. “I want to be with you for the rest of my life.” She touched his face, his hair, took his hand. “It was difficult to leave Rome, believing I would never see you again.”
He touched her face and laid his cheek against hers. “When I returned home and found you gone, there was no light in my world, no hope for the future.” He touched his lips to hers briefly. “Will you be my wife?”
She pulled back as happy laughter spilled from her lips. “I will honor my obligation and be responsible for you and your happiness.”
He clasped her to him. “Soon, I pray it will be soon.” His lips touched her ear, and he whispered, “I want you in my bed so we can recapture the night you gave yourself to me.”
She felt her knees go weak and pressed her body against his. “I will speak to my brother and tell him we want to be married right away.”
Adhaniá could not believe her happiness. She held his face between her hands and smiled mischievously. “I will make certain he understands that we do not want to wait until he can gather the whole Badari tribe.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
A pronouncement came from Queen Cl
eopatra, honoring both Marcellus and Adhaniá for their bravery and devotion. She blessed their upcoming marriage, and her wedding gift to them was twelve Badarian horses.
The wedding took place two months after Marcellus proposed, and in another month they would make the voyage to Rome. They planned to include Lady Sarania in their life in that city.
Adhaniá loved the sprawling villa Marcellus had given her as a wedding present. Her mother had helped her staff the villa with servants both Egyptian and Roman. Heikki and Layla had been given permission to marry, but Layla would remain Adhaniá’s servant and Heikki would be her personal guard.
The party Ramtat had given the newlyweds went on for hours. Marcellus was embraced by his new family. He liked Adhaniá’s mother upon first meeting her. He could see she had knitted her family together with love and devotion to one another.
At last Ramtat finally found his sister alone and took her aside. “I have something for you that I had meant to give to you sooner, but it never seemed to be the right time.”
She looked puzzled as he handed her a long ebony box. Across the top, her name was written in gold.
“What can it be?”
He smiled. “You must open it to find out.”
She nodded and slid the lid up, gasping at what she saw inside. Tears filled her eyes, and she leaned her head against Ramtat’s shoulder. “A golden arrow.”
He clasped her to him. “Your name has been entered on the roll of worthy warriors.”
“Thank you, dearest brother,” she said, smiling through her tears and clasping her precious prize to her.
“Go … find your husband,” he said in a thick voice. “I give you into his keeping.”
Later Danaë came to the newly married couple and whispered that their transportation was waiting to take them to their new home.
The bedchamber was magnificently furnished, the bed covered with a blue silken coverlet. She smiled when she saw the blue lotus blossoms that had been painted on the ceiling.
Adhaniá heard Marcellus’s footsteps approaching the door, and her heart beat faster. Amazed that she felt no modesty now that she was Marcellus’s wife, she wore only a sheer blue undergown that tied at the neck.
Marcellus paused in the doorway, his gaze sweeping slowly down her body. The light from the dying sun made her gown all the more transparent, while a warm breeze from the open window rippled the gauzy fabric, exposing her naked body underneath. “If I live to be an old man and lose the sight of my eyes, I will always remember the way you look at this moment.”
“Do I please you?”
He smiled at the feminine question that was so unlike Adhaniá. Then he sobered. “My dearest wife, you please me greatly.” He wore only a white tunic, and he stopped to untie his sandals before moving to her.
Taking her hand, he pulled her forward, groaning as his mouth touched hers. Hungry lips found hers, and starving bodies strained against each other, unable to get close enough to satisfy either of them.
He pulled back, tracing his finger across her slender neck. “You belong to me, Adhaniá.”
“I do,” she agreed, watching him slip out of his tunic and stand before her wearing only his loincloth.
Her gaze moved across his muscled shoulders to his flat stomach. “I cannot imagine anything more pleasing to my eyes,” she said, boldly stepping toward him.
Marcellus slowly untied her gown and pushed it off her shoulders. “I am an architect, but I could never have created anything as perfect as you,” he said, lifting her in his arms.
Impatiently, he carried her to the bed and hovered above her, staring into her golden eyes. “My dearest wife, you heal my heart and make me whole again. You legally accepted me as a husband, now will you receive me as a man?”
She smiled, licked her lips and said, “How can I refuse such an offer?”
He threw back his head and laughed. “You are going to disrupt my world. I know your propensity for finding trouble.”
She slid her body against his and whispered against his chest, “But you will be there to rescue me, brandishing your sword and hacking away at my enemies, like you did that day on the road to Rome.”
Marcellus removed his loincloth and eased himself between her legs. “But one thing I want you to understand,” he said thickly, nibbling on her lips. “You are never to dance for anyone but me.”
Her eyes closed as he slid inside her, and she thought she was going to die of need. “I dance only for my husband,” she said, arching her spine and taking him inside her.
Marcellus’s mouth plundered Adhaniá’s, stirring her blood. Glancing past her veil of dark lashes, he saw a passion reflected there that matched his own. Hotly, sensuously, he made love to her. “Adhaniá,” he whispered, driving deeply into her warmth, “my heart is yours.”
She held him to her as he took her body. “And you have mine,” she answered with a groan.
When their bodies had been sated, her head lay against the crook of his arm. “I felt something for you that night in the Bedouin encampment,” she admitted.
“As soon as that? When I saw you dance, I knew something inside me had changed, but I didn’t know what it was until later.”
His hand moved across her breasts, and he bent to touch his mouth to each nipple, feeling them swell. His hand moved over her stomach. “I want my baby to be nurtured here.” She shivered when his lips touched her stomach.
“I cannot wait until you plant your seed in me so I can give birth to little Romans.”
He cocked his head and gave her a bemused glance. “Shall we try again on the chance I did not impregnate you the first time?”
Adhaniá held her Roman to her, knowing she had found her place in life—her destiny and her happiness lay with her husband.
Their journey together had been a perilous one. But somehow, even amid the blood of revolt and in a time of chaos, hope had blossomed and triumphed—and two people from very different cultures had been united in love.
Sword of Rome
© 2007 Evelyn Gee
ISBN: 9780843958225
LEISURE Books
Ed♥n
Sword of Rome Page 24