Lost Love Found (56 page)

“It could be you beneath our lord and master, Naksh,” whispered Shakir, compounding her discomfort. “Yield to him, and he will make you the happiest of mortals.”

“Leave me be,” moaned Valentina. Dear God, the sight of Cicalazade Pasha possessing Gülfem was wickedly exciting!

“He is like a bull, the master! Inexhaustible and skillful in the use of his great lance,” whispered Shakir knowingly. “You, who have had a husband and a betrothed husband, are knowledgeable of men. Our master is far larger in his male parts than mere mortal men, Naksh. You see it! You know it! Think of him driving himself into your sweet, aching depths!”

“
Noooooo!
” Valentina sobbed, struggling in earnest against her bonds.

“Filling you beyond anything you have ever experienced,” the eunuch continued, his hot breath against her ear. “Bringing you a sweet fulfillment such as you have never known! You are his slave, Naksh! Yield to him and find paradise!”

Cicalazade Pasha’s clear gray-blue eyes bore into Valentina’s eyes as Shakir whispered his litany of lust. She could see how much the vizier desired her even as he took another woman. The power of his hunger almost took her breath away. With a sob of helplessness, Valentina fainted. Her head fell forward onto her chest.

“She has swooned, my lord,” the eunuch said, stating the obvious. “What would you have me do with her?”

“Release her from her bonds and bring her to the bed,” the vizier instructed his servant.

With help from one of the under-eunuchs who was waiting in the shadows, Shakir freed Valentina and laid her on the great bed. Then he retired to the side of the room with the lesser eunuch. The two sat on their haunches, alert.

“Poor Naksh,” said the sweet Gülfem. “She very much needs the sort of soothing only you, my lord, can give her. Why must she fight her fate? To belong to you, my dear lord, is heaven on earth. Can she not understand?”

Hazade and Säh nodded agreement.

Cicalazade Pasha smiled at his three gentle and docile concubines. “She does need to be soothed, my flowers, but not quite yet,” he told them. “Naksh is stubborn and overproud. She must learn, as you have learned, that her duty in life is to please me. Nothing more. Am I not the reason for your being?” he demanded of them.

“Oh, yes, my lord!” Gülfem said, speaking for them all. She flung herself down to cover his feet with kisses.

“Then you will help me to teach Naksh what seems to be a very difficult lesson for her to learn,” the vizier replied. He turned his attention to the beautiful woman in the center of the bed. Not since Incili had he been so ravished by a woman. She looked nothing like Incili, who had had tawny-gold hair and leaf-green eyes. So what was it about this woman that attracted him? No, fascinated him beyond reason!

Valentina opened her violet-colored eyes. For a moment, she looked startled. Then the look changed to frustrated anger and defiance. Of course, the vizier thought to himself, excited. It was not only her beauty—though her beauty was extraordinary, as Incili’s had been. It was that air of open rebellion that excited him. She was just like Incili in that way. He had known no other such women, for women were meant to be gentle, not savage. But the wildness that Incili and Naksh possessed excited him, arousing his sensibilities beyond anything else.

He stroked her entire length with a gentle hand, and his eyes silently commanded the others. Two of them caught Valentina’s hands.

“Let me go!” she snarled at them, her tone so fierce that they quailed. But loyalty to their master overcame fear, and they pinioned her firmly.

“Do not struggle, dear Naksh,” Gülfem begged. “How can you object to our lord Cicalazade’s touch? He is the most proficient and magnificent of lovers.”

“What can you know of lovers, Gülfem?” Valentina said scornfully, lashing out at the girl. “How many lovers have you had in your little life?”

Gülfem was mortally shocked. “I was a pure virgin when I came to my lord,” she said with a small show of spirit. “No man but my beloved lord has ever known me.”

“Then you can know nothing of lovers, having no basis for comparison! You speak with a fool’s voice,” Valentina shot back, attempting unsuccessfully to squirm away from the vizier’s marauding hands. “I have had a husband
and
my betrothed husband is my lover! I am experienced in the ways of men. No one, not even your master, can make love to me as my Padraic does!
No one!
”

The three concubines gasped with outrage. This woman was obviously quite mad.

Cicalazade Pasha bent down, his lips dangerously near hers, and said softly, “You have an evil tongue, Naksh. You must not shock my three innocent flowers. You will shortly come to accept their judgment in the matter of lovemaking, despite your vast experience. No one, my beauty, will make love to you as I will!” His mouth came down on hers, but to her surprise—for she had expected him to be harsh with her—the kiss was gentle. His mouth moved lightly over hers, exploring its shape, its texture, its sweetness. She was deeply shaken.

“I detest you!” she managed to declare when he lifted his head. She was furious with herself because she had almost enjoyed the kiss.

“Perhaps now,” he agreed, “but the time will come when you will love me, Naksh.” He lowered his head again. This time his lips targeted a nipple. For several long, agonizing moments, he drew deeply on the tender flesh, sending unwanted jolts of feeling through her. Then his tongue began to trace delicate patterns upon her body, moving ever downward while her heart began hammering with terror, for she realized his inevitable destination.

“No!” she pleaded with him. “Please! No!”

If he heard her, he gave no sign, and their three companions restrained her, Gülfem murmuring softly to her, “Do not resist, dear Naksh. Let the power of passion lead you to the pleasure world. You know that world well. Why do you resist it now?”

Valentina felt his thumbs gently opening her to his skillful tongue. Protest was useless, for he ignored her. She would not give him the satisfaction of knowing how he tortured her.

Why, she wondered, why was she so acutely aware of his touch, more so than she had been with anyone else in her experience? She could not seem to shut out that probing tongue. First it dipped like a bee’s straight into her passage, and when she whimpered with desperation, it moved to tease at her little jewel. Frantic, Valentina tried to deny her body’s reactions, but even her strong will could not prevail against Cicalazade Pasha’s skillful lovemaking. He would not be denied, and faced with his determination and skill, Valentina lost control of her very being.

He sensed that loss even before he heard her moaning, a sound of half pleasure, half sorrow. He raised his head to look upon her face, which had taken on a sweetly wanton expression. Smiling, he lowered his head again so that he might draw her just to the brink. When he had, he stopped, leaving her cruelly suspended between heaven and hell. Her beautiful body was racked with pain.

“Your behavior is quite unacceptable for the woman I have chosen to be my favorite,” he said in silky tones. “When you learn to be more amenable, Naksh, then,
and only then
, will I reward you with sweet fulfillment. Until that time, you will serve me only as a plaything, a secondary creature with which I whet my appetite for softer, more willing flesh.” Pushing her away, he drew Hazade to him and mounted the eager concubine, who wrapped her arms about his neck in eager welcome.

Valentina curled into a ball, shuddering with pain. Tears coursed silently down her face. She had never imagined that anyone could be so totally cruel. He had forced her against her will to yield a part of herself that she never thought to give to any other man but Padraic. Then, having gained his desire, he had rebuffed her. She hated him!

Suddenly, as the anger coursed through her, the physical agony began to recede. She wanted to taunt him with her victory, as he had taunted her, but she wisely hid her small triumph. She had become aware this night of how innocent she really was despite her marriage to Edward and her love affair with Padriac. Cicalazade Pasha had shown her a dangerous and sensual world she had not known existed.

The vizier was insatiable. His appetite for women was as great as the sultan’s, and as justly celebrated. For the rest of the night, he amused himself tormenting Valentina, then satisfying his desires on the willing bodies of his other three. With every assault, Valentina found it possible to ease away the effects of his attack, but she cleverly hid it.

She was greatly relieved when, in the hour before dawn, Cicalazade Pasha and his three nubile playmates finally fell asleep. The eunuchs also slipped into slumber, sliding down to sleep on the floor. Drawing away from the others, Valentina allowed herself the luxury of rest at long last.

The days that followed blurred into one by virtue of their sameness. There were walks in the garden and baths and massages until her skin was so sensitive that even the slightest touch hurt. Delicate and delicious meals were fed to her, and several nights each week Cicalazade Pasha visited the Starlight Kiosk to amuse himself and to continue his attempt to break her spirit.

Although Valentina was able to resist him with her mind, her body responded more and more readily to his very passionate touch. The battle between them was never-ending; there seemed to be no victory in sight for either of them.

She thought of Padraic constantly. Was he still in Istanbul? Was he still trying to find her? Was he any closer to success than three months ago when she was taken?

After his first visit, the vizier had said nothing more about Lord Burke and Valentina would not ask, lest she give him the satisfaction of seeing how desperate she was, for Cicalazade Pasha was likely to use anything to his own advantage.

Escape from the Island of a Thousand Flowers seemed impossible. The distance between either shore was too great, the currents too dangerous. There was no vessel available except by prearranged signals, one signal for the daylight hours, another signal for the night. To her disappointment, Valentina could not learn what the signals were. Had she been able to learn them, she would have attempted escape. Night would be best, of course. She was not afraid of the eunuchs. They could be dispatched easily, for she had learned where Shakir kept his supply of herbs and drugs. She doubted that Gülfem, Hazade, and Säh would give her any trouble, but she would leave while they slept.

Her only hope seemed to be in wearing Cicalazade Pasha down. He had not yet taken her completely. He needed her total submission before he would enjoy her. So she prayed that, when he finally realized he would never achieve her submission, he would free her. Surely that would be soon. Autumn was coming, and Valentina wanted desperately to go home.

Chapter 13

“I
t is impossible for anyone simply to disappear without a trace,” Lord Burke said firmly. “There is something strange about all of this. It has been three months since Val was taken, and no one can be found who will even admit to having seen her abduction. How can that be, Simon Kira?”

Simon Kira and his father, Eli, both looked uncomfortable.

“My lord,” began the younger man, “we have done everything possible to find Lady Barrows.”

“It is not enough!” shouted Padraic Burke, anger and frustration boiling over.

“Easy, lad,” Murrough O’Flaherty cautioned. He was as frustrated as Padraic, but he knew that in the East, the wheels ground slowly.

“Padraic is right,” Tom Ashburne said. “It is not enough. If it were, we should have
some
idea of what happened to Lady Barrows. But as it is, we have made no progress in three months.”

“The valide is very distressed by what happened, and her aid to us has been invaluable,” Simon Kira said hopefully.

“Yet, for all her help, we do not have Valentina back,” Lord Burke said bluntly.

“The sultan was outraged that such a crime could be committed in broad daylight on the heretofore safe streets of his city,” Simon continued. “He has even appointed his chief vizier, Cicalazade Pasha, to investigate. I do not know what more can be done.”

“What is this?” Esther Kira’s black eyes were suddenly alert. She had been sitting silently, allowing the men to argue, as men were wont to do. “When did the sultan tell Cicalazade Pasha to investigate?”

“He has been involved from the very beginning, Grandmother,” replied Eli Kira. His elegant fingers worried at his long beard. “As soon as we brought our complaint to Sultan Mehmed, he delegated authority for the investigation to his chief vizier.”

To the amazement of all, Esther Kira began to laugh, wheezing with great amusement. They wondered if she had gone mad. When her humor finally subsided, she pierced them all with a fierce gaze and said, “Asking Cicalazade Pasha to seek the truth in this matter is tantamount to setting the cat among the canaries. Whether the sultan is involved in this, I do not know. But I would stake my life on the certainty that our good friend the vizier has possession of Valentina.”

“Grandmother! Beware of what you say! Such an accusation is the sort of slander that could endanger our very lives,” Eli Kira blustered.