"Well, what do we have here?" he asked, reaching out to catch her arm as she hurried past. "What are you doing out so late of a night, tarrishagh?"

She could smell the liquor on his breath and tried to pull her arm free. "Let me pass, milord. Please."

"Come into the light and let me see you, dearling," he insisted, his words slurred.

His brogue was that of the invading troop, driving fear deep into her gut.

"I'm not a prostitute," she said, twisting her arm now in an effort to get free. "I work at the hospital and...."

"She'll do, my brother," another male voice said. "I don't have to look at her face to take my pleasure of her."

"Watch your tongue," the first man said. He backed her up against the wall, pinning her there with his muscular body. "How 'bout a kiss, tarrishagh? Can I have at least that much of your sweetness?"

Though she tried to evade his kiss, he dipped his head and slanted his mouth over hers, his tongue probing hotly at lips she kept tightly pressed together. That seemed to amuse him. He raised his head, squinting to see her face in the shadows of the alley. "You taste of cherries," he told her.

She put her hands to his chest and pushed, pleading with him. "Milord, please. There are plenty of women available to you. Please, let me go."

"Never," he said, grinding his lower body against her.

The press of his erection frightened her even more. She struggled against him but she was no match for his strength.

"She's a whore," the other man said. "It's just a matter of agreeing to her price." He reached down to drag the skirt of her gown up.

"No!" she hissed, beginning to fight him in earnest as his fingertips touched the bare flesh of her thigh.

"Stop that," her captor said, batting his companion's hand away. "I want another kiss, pretty one."

She tried to knee him in the groin yet that only made him laugh as he wedged himself between her thighs, trapping her legs to either side of his.

Straining to get away from him, she heard him laugh, and before she knew what he was doing, she was hanging over his shoulder with his arm like an iron band clamping her legs together.

"Help!" she screamed. "Help, me!"

Nevertheless, no one came to her rescue as her abductor took her deeper into the alley and through a door his companion opened. The room was dark. It smelled of gunpowder, and when she was lowered to a soft mattress, she bucked, trying to scramble away.

"Oh, no, you don't," he laughed, grabbing her ankle and dragging her beneath him. He pinned her down with his heavier weight between her legs, his fingers tight around her wrists as he pressed her hands to either side of her head. "I just want a kiss. Nothing more. You taste so good."

Once more, his mouth covered hers, his tongue sweeping over her closed lips. The second man struck a match and the smell of sulfur filled the air. She blinked against the harsh intrusion of light that hurt her night-adapted eyes as he put the flame to an oil lantern. Golden light filled the small room.

"Ah, she is exquisite, Reese," the man above her said in a soft, awed voice. His eyes roamed over her face.

"What difference does that make? She's a cunt to be used so use her."

"No," the man staring down at her said. "She is an angel to be cherished."

For a long moment, she stared at her attacker. It was a handsome, boyish face with a deep cleft in the chin, and smiling lips that she beheld. His teeth were white and even, his nose straight. Long, thick lashes fanned over dark eyes that were filled with merriment. Broad shoulders bracketed a strong-looking neck. He did not bear the common traits of a Tarryn trooper. This man was nobility.

She tried appealing to that nobility.

"Please, milord, I am not a whore," she said, her bottom lip quaking.

He let go of her left wrist and laid his palm to her cheek, caressing her tenderly. "I am sure you are not, tarrishagh," he whispered. "And I am no rapist. I just want a few moments of your time to ease my loneliness." He tilted his head to one side. "Is that too much to ask?"

She was mesmerized by the sheer male beauty of his face and the press of his heavy body was doing strange things to hers. There was a clenching in her belly as he smiled gently at her, stroking the backs of his fingertips down the side of her face, sweeping the pad of his thumb over her lips.

"So beautiful," he said. "The most beautiful woman I've seen in years."

He lowered his head to claim her lips once more and this time he coaxed her into opening her mouth to him. His warm tongue slid between her lips to stroke hers. The feel of it was so heady she felt the breath leaving her lungs on a long sigh.

"Give yourself to me, tarrishagh," he whispered against her lips. "Let me give you pleasure."

She knew the Tarryn word he spoke meant beloved and its meaning went a long way in unlocking the hold she had on her control and to dissolving the fear running through her blood. His voice was so soft, so gentle, his eyes filled with tenderness. His mouth was sinful as he brushed his lips over hers in a silent plea to succumb. And his face! His face was that of a god, and she felt as though she was being pulled down into the heat of his dark eyes.

"You feel it, too, don't you? I don't know why but I want you as I've never wanted another woman," he told her, his lower body rubbing over the juncture of her thighs. Beneath her gown, her body oozed with heat, her juices flowing for the first time in her young life.

"Get on with it," the other man hissed with irritation. "We haven't got all night."

"Give yourself to me, dearling," the handsome one said again. He trailed his hand to her bodice to cup her breast.

She arched her back--thrusting her breast into the strong, warm hard--and groaned. Nineteen years old and never been kissed, never touched or held, or even had a sensual look aimed her way all combined to make her ache for something she didn't understand. It was being offered to her from those beautiful dark, beseeching eyes that would not look away. That looked into her very soul. That made her willpower dissolve. That drew her like a magnet.

He kneaded her flesh then dipped his head to place his hot mouth over her straining nipple through the fabric of her gown.

"Oh!" she cried out, her free hand going to the thick ebony of his hair. She held him against her as heat flooded her lower body and her belly clenched once more.

"I want you," he said huskily and his hand moved down to the skirt of her gown, inching it up until his palm was against her inner thigh. "I need you. Please don't deny me."