Bianca (28 page)

Azura knocked at the carved door, opened it, and walked into Amir’s bedchamber. She wanted to run to the bed and cover herself, but there was simply no avoiding her nudity. She glided across the floor as he watched her. He wanted to grin, for he could see her distress. She had given up much for him, not really knowing the world she was about to enter, and he could not bear for her to be unhappy now.

“Usually when called to her husband’s bed, a wife crawls across the floor and up into the bed,” he teased her as she slipped in next to him. He too was naked.

“That’s almost as awful as it is ridiculous,” Azura told him. Then without waiting another minute she kissed him full on the lips, pushing him back amid the pillows.

His strong arms wrapped about her, pulling her atop him. His hand smoothed down her graceful back and over her sweetly rounded buttocks. “I can see you have missed me, beloved,” he said, laughing softly. She was so different from the other two, allowing her passion to bloom before his eyes while the others always remained restrained beneath him. It was he who had awakened her to love. It was she who had awakened him.

“That whole voyage was made worse by the beautiful landscapes we sailed past, the moonlit nights, and our inability to be together. I can see that you missed me as well, my husband,” Azura told him, kissing him again. She sat up, straddling him boldly.

Reaching up, he captured a lock of her hair, bringing it to his lips to kiss. Her fragrance assailed him, but as much as he would have enjoyed taking her then and there, he wasn’t going to do so. When they had first become lovers, in that brief, sweet time at Luce Stellare, he had been gentle with her, loving her in a way that would not frighten her. Now, however, she was his wife. Now she would learn that the man she was wed to was filled with great passion and lust for her.

He gazed up at her, smiling. She was so very beautiful. Her round breasts enchanted him. He leaned forward so he might kiss their dainty nipples, drawing her down just slightly in order to bury his face in the sweet valley between those breasts and inhale the fragrance of her skin. He had been hard before she even entered his bedchamber. Just thinking about Azura aroused him. No woman had ever affected him in the way that she did. No woman had ever had his love until Azura.

She pulled away again so she was just above him. The palms of her small hands glossed over his smooth bare chest, making little circles of movement. His skin was beautifully soft, but his body was also hard and sculpted beneath her touch. He lay perfectly still, enjoying her attentions. Her shapely thighs held him as if he were her mount.

His hand reached out to brush over her plump mons. Two fingers pushed past her nether lips and beneath her, past her love jewel, gliding slowly into her wet sheath. He smiled a slow smile, seeing her eyes widen in surprise. “I want you to ride my fingers,” he said softly as he sensuously stroked the hot hidden flesh that closed around those invasive digits. “Ride until I tell you to cease, Azura. This is but the first of the pleasures we shall share this evening, beloved.” His dark blue eyes glittered wickedly.

At first she could not move. Her very breath seemed caught in her throat. He had never made such a request of her, touched her in such a voluptuous manner so that her body felt as if it would shatter with a word, a single touch. However, she had never before clambered atop him in so bold a fashion. The sensation of those two fingers inside of her was acute and very exciting. She obeyed his command without another word.

Azura felt deliciously wicked as she began to move her body just slightly so that the fingers now buried deep inside her began to mimic her rhythm, stroking her, fanning the flames of her increasing desire. Her eyes closed, and with each subtle movement she made, her need increased. She moved faster, faster, faster until suddenly she felt the walls of her sheath convulsing around his fingers. She shuddered with release, and felt her cheeks grow hot with the realization of what had just transpired.
“Oh! Oh! Oh!”
Azura gasped as another and final tremor wracked her.

Amir’s fingers slid from her body. He pulled her down, rolling her onto her back.

“A sweet beginning, beloved,” he murmured in her ear, kissing it, his breath hot, nibbling on the fleshy little lobe. “You are a most obedient wife, Azura,” he teased.

She opened her aquamarine eyes and looked up at him. “You treated me with more delicacy in my villa by the sea,” Azura said to him.

“You were a properly raised Florentine woman, a young widow, with only a cruel and crude knowledge of passion. I think I would have frightened you to death had I been as bold then as I will be now,” Amir told her.

“Now that I am the infidel’s wife,” she said softly.

“Yes, you are my wife, beloved. Mine! I will open those beautiful jeweled eyes of yours to the many sweet ways that lovemaking can be pursued,” he told her.

She smiled up at him and said simply, “I adore you, Amir. Teach me to please you, and please me as you will. I have no fear of your love, for I know you will never hurt me. I trust in you, my love, so much so that I am willing to share you with your other wives.”

“Never bring them into this chamber when we are together, Azura,” he said gently. “I will always hold them in my esteem, but it is you that I will forever love.”

Then he kissed her, his lips proving as they moved over hers the truth of the words that he had just spoken. Everything about her excited him. Her exotic scent, her silken hair, the very warmth of her sweet nature, her growing wisdom, her kind heart.

They could not seem to cease from caressing each other. He cupped her breasts in his two hands. She stroked his cock with teasing fingers. Their bodies twined and untwined, learning and relearning. Their tongues tasted each other’s flesh, licking, nipping, their soft moans of longing echoing in the air. The time and the distance that had separated them had only increased the passion they felt for each other.

Finally Azura took his handsome face between her two hands, scattering little kisses across his eyelids, the bridge of his long nose, and across his thin but sensuous mouth. “Am I shameless that I can wait no longer?” she asked him.

In answer he covered her with his body, sliding into her welcoming sheath. “Am I?” he countered, smiling. “I have waited too long for you to return to me, beloved.” Then he began to move on her, slowly pressing forward, slowly withdrawing, over and over and over again until she wrapped her limbs about his torso. Her nails raking down his long back, she hissed one word at him.

“Faster!”

With a growl of delight he complied, his cock flashing back and forth with increasing rapidity.

Azura’s eyes closed as she began to drown in pleasure. She reveled in the sensation of his thickness, his length, the fire he was arousing within her very soul. His body felt so solid beneath her hands, beneath her legs as they squeezed him. She could not remember being filled with such deeply felt gratification. It had always been wonderful with him, but suddenly it was beyond that. Her head was spinning with such intense feelings she wasn’t certain she could survive it.

“Amir! Ohh, Amir!” she cried out as the sensation of being swept up into the heavens overcame her.

He groaned deeply. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her. He thrust harder and deeper until his swollen manhood cried its surrender, exploding, his heated juices filling her hidden garden, overflowing onto the bedding beneath them. He could scarcely catch his breath. He was suddenly both exhausted and filled with contentment. When her legs fell away from his torso, he wrapped his arms about her, drawing her so close she protested, but only faintly. Then they both fell into a deep sleep.

Towards the dawn, Ali Farid came to find Nadim seated cross-legged outside the prince’s bedchamber door. “Why have you not escorted your mistress back to her own bedchamber?” he demanded of the old eunuch.

“They are not yet ready to be separated,” Nadim told the head harem eunuch.

“He has never lingered so long with the other two,” Ali Farid said, puzzled. “In fact he has taken his pleasure quickly, and then dismissed them.”

“He does not love the other two,” Nadim replied. “He does love my mistress, the lady Azura. She has his heart.”

Ali Farid nodded slowly. The old eunuch could be correct, and if he was, no matter that Maysun and Shahdi were the first and second wives. It would be Azura, the third wife, who would hold the power in the harem. He would watch and think on this new information. “Continue to wait,” he said to Nadim.

When the sunlight finally filled the room outside the prince’s bedchamber, the door opened. Nadim was instantly upon his feet, surprisingly agile for his age. He draped a soft cotton kaftan over Azura, and wordlessly led her from her husband’s quarters to the harem bath, where she was bathed, and then to her own small bedchamber where she lay down and slept for several hours. When she awoke there was a meal awaiting her.

The harem quarters were quiet. She called for Agata, and together they went out into the gardens. There they found Maysun and Shahdi carefully pruning some rosebushes. The two other wives greeted Azura with cheerful smiles, and Maysun suggested that they walk together, handing her shears to an attending gardener.

“You pleased him well last night,” she told Azura. “We heard him singing this morning. It is rare that he sings.” The truth was that they had never heard him sing.

Azura blushed. Having her intimate moments with Amir discussed so openly by another woman was a new experience. She wasn’t certain it was something she would become used to, and she was not certain what to say in return. The other two wives took her silence as modesty, and were well pleased by it.

“You have made him happy again, which means all here at the Moonlight Serai can be happy,” Shahdi added. Secretly she was a little annoyed, for she had believed their husband was content before Azura came. Now it would appear he had not been. Why could she and Maysun not be enough for an unimportant prince who avoided both battle and the responsibilities of his great family?

“I am glad, then,” Azura replied, finally realizing that the two older wives appreciated her demure manner.

“You have not been trained in the way of harem women,” Maysun said. “I have heard that proper women from the West come to their husband’s beds as virgins, but know nothing of how to make love. They rely on their men to teach them these things. You had a husband once, didn’t you?”

“Yes, a cruel man,” Azura said. “His manners with me were depraved and corrupt. When my mother learned of it she stole me from him, hid me away, and my family attempted to have the union dissolved. It was then I met Prince Amir. We became friends, but not lovers, as I was a married woman even if I did not live with my husband. Eventually my husband found me. He beat me, but the women who served me drove him from my house. He was returning to Florence to get aid in his attempt to bring me back when he was murdered upon the road.”

“By robbers?” Shahdi asked. “Or enemies? Or was it your family?”

“It was not a robbery, for his jewelry remained upon his person, and his full purse was still on his belt,” Azura said. “No one has ever found out who killed him. His reputation was such that no one, even his grown sons, cared. They were glad he was dead. He was an evil man, and had no real friends.”

“Being a virtual innocent then was quite permissible,” Maysun said, “but now we share a husband. We would be remiss if we did not school you in harem ways. Amir loves you, but as with all men, love is not enough. We will teach you how to entertain him like a good Turkish wife. He must not get bored, and seek a larger harem.”

“You mean a fourth wife?” Azura asked.

“It isn’t just another wife we must all consider,” Maysun said.

“He could add other women, such as concubines, to this harem,” Shahdi explained. “He wouldn’t have to give them the status of wife as he has given the three of us, but he may have other women. You must learn how to keep him happy, Azura, for all of us.”

Agata snorted at this, and spoke in their native Florentine dialect. “They would put a great deal of responsibility upon you,” she grumbled. “I do not know if I would trust these two. What is it they wish to teach you? Will it be proper behavior, or will it shock the prince, causing you a loss of his favor?”

“I think I can trust Nadim to guide me,” Azura replied. “I believe these two mean well. They have no illusions about Amir’s love for them or his love for me.”

“What is it your woman says?” Maysun asked.

“This new language is difficult for her,” Azura explained. “She wanted to know exactly what it was you were saying to me. She has been with me for many years, and did not have to follow me here, for my younger sister would have taken her into her service in Venice. But she came, and like a mother is protective of me.”

“Ahh,” Maysun said, smiling and reaching out to pat Agata’s arm reassuringly. “You need not worry, faithful one,” she said. “We mean your lady no harm.”

Agata nodded enthusiastically, smiling back. “I understand now, lady,” she told the first wife in halting Turkish. “Thank you! Thank you!”

It was a very credible performance, Azura thought. As far as Maysun and Shahdi were concerned, Agata was a devoted retainer, even if she was not too clever.

“In a few days’ time when you have settled yourself,” Maysun said, “we will begin to teach you the many ways in which a woman can pleasure and please a man.”

“I will be happy to have my ignorance corrected and hope to be a good student of your wisdom,” Azura assured the first wife.

Over the next few days Maysun became more reassured by the respectful attitude exhibited by the new third wife. Bianca was a kind woman at heart. Shahdi, however, remained wary and suspicious. She had secretly hoped one day to win Amir’s heart, and especially now that he seemed to be home for good. Azura’s arrival had given her pause for thought. Shahdi wondered if she could win Amir away from the lovely Azura, or if he might come to share his heart with her as well. She must rethink her strategy.