Page 116 of My Fair Viking

"I expected… nay, I hoped… that you would say you loved me, too."

"Of course I do, you idiot."

"You do? Then all the other problems are nothing if we have that." He frowned as if something was bothering him. "If you love me, why did you go away… two times?"

"The first time is easy to explain. I knew we could have no life together… with your feelings about me and motherhood… which I presume have not changed, by the by. So, yea, we do have problems that seem nigh insurmountable. Plus, I had to leave to give my sisters a chance at marriage."

He pondered her words, then nodded. "It is a twisted logic, but I guess I understand, though why you could not tell me afore leaving, I do not know."

"You would have tried to talk me out of it."

"That is true, that is true," he agreed. "Which brings us to the second time. I rescued you, returned you to safety, and you deserted me again. I was mortified in front of all the others, and devastated by your lack of feeling for me."

"Oh, Adam it was never lack of feeling."

"Then what?"

She felt her face brighten with embarrassment. "I cannot tell you."

"You'd better."

"Something happened to me during the short time I was in the harem."

He immediately stiffened. "You were raped? My God, I will go back and kill the old buzzard. I thought you said you had not been touched."

She raised a hand to halt his tirade. "I was not raped. Nor was I touched in that way. Adam, I knew you were coming to my tent after we returned to the army camp. I knew you would expect to make love with me. And I could not do it… not after… I just could not."

"You are not making any sense, Tyra."

"They plucked all the hair off my body. So there! Now you know." She started to weep again, this time with mortification.

"Huh?"

"There are times when you can act the total lack-brain. Other than the hair on my head, those stupid eunuchs… it took eight in all to hold me down… plucked every hair off my body. Including..." She waved a hand to her groin area.

At first he did not understand. When he did, he grinned. "Let me see."

"Nay! And do not grin at me. There is no cause for mirth in this."

"Yea, there is, Tyra. Are you saying that you ran away because you are hairless there?"

She nodded. "You know how I feel about my body. I am too big. My feet are like snowshoes. I talk too loud. I scratch. Now this. Big and hairless. That is me."

"Let me see."

"I told you nay, and I meant it. I look like a plucked chicken."

"It will grow out," he said, trying for a consoling tone, but ruining it with his continuing grin. "Won't it?"

"I suppose. But not for a long time."

"How long?"

She shrugged. "Six months, mayhap."

"And you think you can keep me from your bed furs for six months?"

"I can try."