AN ETERNAL LOVE

"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 clasped 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 flattening 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 plainly. 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 blazed. Damien drew a breath, battled temptation. "We resist it, Adira. But only until we can be married."

"Married?" she asked.

He caught it in his hand and lifted it again until she faced him. "The Scriptures say that a man should marry

little to me, Damien." She sniffed and met his eyes. "My faith has only one

what is the

only rule I have ever needed, the only one that makes

good rule. But it does not say, thou

between us... is something that can

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

would ruin you. I have been convicted of witchcraft and have been sentenced to death. And even here in this place, the suspicion about

would

said softly. "But would

head. "I will believe whatever you tell me, Adira. If you say you

claim innocence, Damien? What if I am what they

down into her eyes. "Are

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