CHAPTER: 37


    "I have not been able to forget you after that cold dawn in the square. But I have told you that," Damien


    said.


    "Yes." She turned to face him. "I believe a bond was formed between us on the gallows, Damien. Easy


    enough to understand, really. You were the only man there who seemed to care."


    "I did care," Damien said. And he sped her shoulders now, stepping closer to her, staring down into


    her eyes. "One look into your eyes, and I cared more than I had cared for anything in my life. Adira, I


    tried," he whispered. "I swear to you, I tried to stop them."


    Her hand came up suddenly, palm ttening to his cheek, and cupping it lovingly. "I know you tried,


    Damien. There is no reason for you to feel guilty for what they did. I knew you had no hand in any of


    that. You risked your own life to prevent it, in fact. You do not need to convince me. I was there," Adira


    told him.


    He nodded. And overwhelmed by feeling, by desire, he turned his face against her palm, let his lips


    touch it, kiss its tender center before rubbing his cheek against her palm once more. "Adira... there is


    something here. Some powerful emotion between you and me. You must feel it."


    She lowered her hand, and then her head. "I feel... a desire for you, Damien." Then she closed her


    eyes. "But it is a desire that you believe will damn your soul."


    He was shocked at her bluntness. He had never met a woman who spoke so inly. But he cleared his


    throat. "I did not believe that at all. I spoke without thinking. Adira, I burn for you, that is true. But I feel


    for you too. And what I feel is the purest and most holy sort of caring that I can imagine. It cannot be


    evil. It cannot be damning. And if it is so, it would not matter to me, dear."


    Slowly she lifted her head, met his eyes again. "And what do you propose we do about this feeling?"


    Her eyes fairly zed. Damien drew a breath, battled temptation. "We resist it, Adira. But only until we


    can be married."


    "Married?" she asked.


    The fire in her eyes seemed to cool, and she lowered her chin. He caught it in his hand and lifted it


    again until she faced him. "The Scriptures say that a man should marry than to burn with lust," he said.


    "What your scriptures say means very little to me, Damien." She sniffed and met his eyes. "My faith has


    only one rule."


    "Only one?" He searched her face. And what is the rule you live by, Adira?"


    "If it harms none, do what thou will." She shrugged. "It is the only rule I have ever needed, the only one


    that makes sense to me."


    "It is a good rule. But it does not say, thou shall not marry," Damien said.


    "Marriage between us... is something that can never be," Adira replied.


    "But---" Damien stopped mid-sentence.


    "It will harm none, Damien. To marry you... would harm you, you must see that. It would ruin you. I


    have been convicted of witchcraft and have been sentenced to death. And even here in this ce, the


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    suspicion about me have begun to stir afresh. No, I can be no preacher''s wife."


    "Were you my bride, Adira, they would no longer suspect you," Damien said.


    "Perhaps not," she said softly. "But would you?" She faced him, searching his eyes.


    Damien shook his head. "I will believe whatever you tell me, Adira. If you say you are innocent, I will


    not doubt it, I swear."


    "And what if I cannot im innocence, Damien? What if I am what they say I am?" she asked him.


    He gripped her shoulders, staring down into her eyes. "Are you?"


    She lowered her eyes. "That is the problem. I cannot tell you what I am. I have seen what trusting


    others can do, Damien. I have seen it in my mother''s eyes just before they murdered her."


    "You can trust me, dear," he said softly.


    "But I cannot. And you will not want a wife who kept such dark secrets from you, Damien."


    "You are wrong," he said. "Adira, I do not care what you are."


    "How can you say that?" she asked.


    "Because dear, it is the truth."


    She shook her head slowly. "Perhaps it is at the moment. But you will care, Damien. The time wille


    when you will demand I tell all, and that is something I can never do." She cupped his face in her


    hands. "We cannot be together as husband and wife."


    "And I cannot live without you, Adira," he whispered.


    "Then be with me, Damien," she urged. "Come to me in the cover of midnight, and secret. For that is


    the only way love like ours can be. A love for the moment, fleeting and precious. A love that is


    forbidden, and consigned to darkness."


    "It will be more," he whispered. "I vow, Adira, I will make it more." And then he pulled her into his arms


    and kissed her as he had been dreaming of kissing her. And it did not matter that she was keeping


    secrets, or that she had not denied the charges levied against her. All that mattered was this, holding


    her, alive and warm and real, in his arms, against his body.


    And perhaps loving her this way was a sin. If it was, then he would dly be damned, because he


    could not resist... nor did he want to.