Read WindLegends Saga 9: WindRetriever for Free Online Page A

have always been sorry they did for without fail they have suffered because of it!"
    She stared up into his gleaming sapphire glower and felt her knees growing weak. If he but knew, she thought, how deep were her feelings for him, he would do to her what he intended to do to his wife, and that she could not allow.
    "It won't happen again," she told him.
    "It had better not!" he snarled, letting go of her. He stepped away from her, skirting the desk and slammed himself down into his chair. "That's all I wanted. You may go."
    Rachel lifted her chin. "May I say something?" He flung out his hand in agreement. "I know what you plan in regard to your wife. I …."
    "Leave her out of this!" he commanded.
    "All right," Rachel concurred. "I just want to know what will happen when you return from St. Steffensburg."
    His brows drew together in irritation. "What are you talking about?"
    "You are going to leave her there, am I right?"
    He ground his teeth together. "What I do with Catherine is none of your concern."
    "You will need a woman," she said. She watched his face turn hard and cold.
    "Will I?" he sneered. "And are you volunteering for that dubious place of honor?"
    "Yes," she surprised him by answering.
    Conar sat forward, laid his arms on the desk and threaded his fingers together. He stared up at her as though he could not believe she had dared to admit such a thing to him.
    "I am no whore, Khamsin," she told him, mistaking the look he was giving her with one of contempt. "But I can satisfy your needs and at the same time make sure no female spy infiltrates the Samiel through your bed."
    For a long time he didn't speak. He just looked at her, seeing the way she held his silent gaze easily and without a flicker of self-consciousness. When at last he leaned back, his eyes locked with hers, all he did was nod his consent.
    "Then it's settled?" she asked.
    "Yes," he said, using the alien word that he knew would mean more to her than just the 'aye'
    of his agreement.
    Rachel let out the breath she did not know she had been holding. "Will you tell her?"
    "There's nothing to tell," he answered.
    "It would make things more final when you left her if she knew there was someone else Charlotte Boyett-Compo WINDRETRIEVER 23
    waiting for your return," Rachel advised him.
    Conar looked away from her. "That would hurt her."
    "I am sure it would, Khamsin," Rachel said, "but if you mean to annul the marriage, what better grounds than adultery?"
    He winced. His marriage to Elizabeth had been set aside for just such charges. It had hurt him then and it would hurt him now. Back then, he had been guilty. Now, he was not. He shook his head. "No such betrayal has been committed, Mam'selle," he answered. "I can not admit to a lie."
    "It doesn't have to be a lie," she countered, meeting his unsure look with an encouraging one of her own. "It takes only a few moments to turn a would-be lie into the truth, Khamsin."
    Conar knew Catherine would never forgive him if he betrayed her. She was not a woman to grant clemency for deceit and transgression. He knew little of her religion, but he did know adultery was considered a deadly sin, a more than adequate cause for the dissolution of a marriage.
    There would be no way her church would absolve him of such a sin and neither would Cat.
    His gaze went to the door, held for a moment, and then returned to her. Slowly, his hands went to the laces of his shirt. "Lock the door, Mam'selle," he told her.
    Charlotte Boyett-Compo WINDRETRIEVER 24

Chapter Four
    Sajin finished giving the orders to Asher's men and let out a deep, heartfelt sigh. Leaning back in his chair, he thrust his long legs out in front of him and closed his eyes. It had been a very long day and on the morrow, they would be sailing to St. Steffensburg.
    "I hope tomorrow isn't anything like today's been, don't you?" the Kensetti asked the other man in the room. When there was no reply, he opened his eyes and looked across the room. His expression