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She'd be about eight now."
    Alex caught her breath, shocked out of her own grief. She'd been looking at Captain Elliott only in terms of how he might affect her plight. Now she saw him for himself. He was a few years older than she, somewhere in his mid-thirties, she guessed. Though his tanned face was forceful, there was also humor and intelligence, and the hardearned wisdom of a man who'd lived a wide, full life. He was also, she realized, strikingly handsome. It was a measure of her frayed mental state that she hadn't even noticed. "I'm so sorry about your loss, Captain." He shrugged. "One learns to endure."
    But the pain never went completely away-she could see it in him still. "You humble me," she said quietly. "I hope I don't have to learn such strength."
    "You already have. You've survived six months as a slave, and are unbroken." He sipped his rice wine. "Have you been awaiting sale all these months?"
    "This was my third sale." She rested her head against the gilded bars. "I'm not a very good slave. Two different men bought me for their harems because I was an exotic foreigner, then decided I was too unruly and rebellious to keep around. The second time my price was lower than the first, and as you saw, this time I was gagged to still my wicked tongue and consigned to a public market." He gave a low whistle. "You're an indomitable woman, Mrs. Warren."
    "Not indomitable. Desperate," she said flatly "I fought so I could go after Katie. If not for her, I might have surrendered. It would have been so much easier." And safer. She would bear the scars of her intransigence for as long as she lived.
    "Is Katie in Maduri? "
    "A woman in the first harem, Amnah, asked some questions on my behalf, and was told that Katie was taken to a different island, but she didn't know which one. Katie could be anywhere." Alex paused to send a silent blessing to Amnah, who had been kind to a foreigner who was half-mad with grief. "But I will find her if I have to spend the rest of my life searching."
    "No one should bear such a burden alone." Expression taut, Elliott reached through the bars toward her hand, then withdrew without touching her when she instinctively flinched back. "I swear that you will be free, Mrs. Warren. And I'll do my best to help you find your daughter." She gasped, amazed that a near stranger would make such a sweeping promise when he scarcely knew her. But he meant every word-she could see that in his eyes. With swift insight, she recognized that losing his wife and infant daughter gave him a powerful need to save her and Katie. Though he hadn't been able to save his own family, aiding her might assuage some of the guilt and grief that haunted him. Slavery had stripped her down to ruthless pragmatism. She wasn't proud of the fact that she would do anything to get Katie back, even use a good man's pain, but no matter. Pride had been one of the first things to go. "I'll keep you to that, Captain Elliott," she said unsteadily. "And God bless you for your help."
    "How could I not help a woman in your situation?" Not even aware that he had just done something extraordinary, he rose to prowl the room, scanning the sumptuous furnishings. "I presume you're here for the night, so we must make you comfortable. This screen will give you some privacy." He folded the carved sandalwood screen and slid it between the narrowly placed bars. The spicy scent of the wood tickled Alex's nostrils as she pulled the screen inside, then positioned it to shield a corner of the cage from the view of the main door and Elliott's bedroom. "This is perfect. I can't tell you how much I've longed to have some privacy." Tonight she'd sleep behind the screen, and also use it to mask the humiliatingly public chamber pot. Modesty was another quality she'd had to surrender. "Thank you."
    "What else do you need?"
    "Is there a blanket or coverlet? It's getting rather cool."
    He disappeared into the bedroom and returned with a folded square of ikat fabric