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and blend in with the rest of the kattanee.”
    As if it were some forbidden sound, Eden never said Jamar’s name. Kierra understood the reason. Her mother was in just as much fear as her daughter. A whipping was one thing, but death was wholly another. “I want to stay, but I don’t want to work in his rooms any longer.”
    “You don’t have a choice about what part of the villa you work in, Kierra. You know that.”
    “I know.” No choices. Kierra disliked that her choices, if she’d ever had any, were being taken away from her. If the bossman, who took orders from Jamar’s mother, required her to work in a specific part of the villa, she had no choice. If she worked elsewhere, even if she were out in the fields picking nattak and working harder than inside the villa, she’d be whipped. She had no choice.
    The night air smelled of swamp water but was also fragranced by blooming, wild roses. The blossoms, in shades of pink and peach, were pretty, seemingly fragile, yet Kierra knew them to be sturdy—like the kattanee.
    Eden got to her feet. The wind blew at stray strands of hair that had escaped the tight knot at the top of her head. “When you’re ready to leave Becutan, say the word and I’ll make the arrangements.”
    “Okay.” But that time will never come. I’d miss watching Jamar from a distance. I’d miss not seeing him when I have the rare chance.
    Eden walked away, her steps as silent as the moonlight filtering around her. Kierra sank back against the caya tree, recalling Jamar’s tender expression as he caressed her cheek with his knuckles, remembering how his throbbing shaft had slid into her pussy. He’d fit her perfectly. In fact, she could still feel the ache between her legs where he’d made love to her.
    “Jamar,” she whispered into the stillness of the night. “You’re my best dream come true. And the worst nightmare. I love you, and I’ll never stop, but we’re worlds apart, and we must keep it that way. We have no choice.”
    * * * *
    Well after midnight, Jamar watched from behind a distant tree as mother and daughter hugged each other. The moon danced in the fronds of the caya above him, and the lingering scent of wild roses drifted around him.
    Eden had hawk-like eyes. She saw him before he stepped from behind the tree. She was as tall and beautiful as her daughter, though her eyes were careworn and not as bright as they had been.
    She paused beside him and touched his upper arm with elegant grace. “She loves you,” she said softly, meeting his eyes squarely. “You can do for her what she can’t do for herself.” With that sage counsel, that said much but left more unsaid, she walked away.
    Jamar watched as she blended into the darkness, her footsteps as quiet as the night air around them. Creeping shadow met creeping shadow. He’d have never known Eden was near if he hadn’t kept an eye on her. In the villa, he knew it was the way of the kattanee to tread softly, but out here in the swamp, he’d have thought they walked louder.
    For several minutes, he observed Kierra. She did nothing more than sit quietly, her back resting against the caya tree. The moonlight slivered through the tree fronds and lit her hair. If this had been the first time he’d seen her, he’d have said she wore a halo, that she was an angel come to soothe his mind and touch his heart. Maybe, in a strange way, she was in his life for that very reason, yet what was he to make of it that he was a mistake, as she claimed?
    Creeping quietly from the swamp and the towering caya trees, Jamar shook his head in denial. He and Kierra were no mistake. Not together. Despite their different skin colors, they’d been intended for each other, which only confirmed for him that he’d made the right decision earlier that evening.

 
     
     
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    The next morning after a sleepless night, Kierra tiptoed into Jamar’s rooms, hoping he wasn’t there. The antechamber was quiet, and after