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“I’m not happy with it, but I would have left it alone if Lady Caterina had not decided to alter the balance.

She makes excuses to call Lion back to Mandara at every opportunity.

She wants an heir for Mandara and she’s clever enough to know Marco will never cuckold Lion to provide her with one nor will the besotted idiot marry anyone else.

Which leaves only Lion to be lured back to Bianca’s bed and his duty to Mandara.

” He straightened away from the door. “I agree with Lady Caterina that it’s time the situation is resolved, but not in the fashion she’s chosen. Lion deserves to be free of this yoke.”

“Then in what fashion?”

“You,” he said. “A permanent liaison that will discourage Lady Caterina’s hopes and free Lion from the responsibility of Mandara.

That’s why you had to come here, Sanchia.

Lion has been very careful not to bring any women to Mandara for fear it would shame Bianca.

Lady Caterina must come to recognize that your presence here indicates a shifting in the balance of the situation. ”

“It means nothing.” Sanchia gazed at him, stunned. “You’re using me as a pawn.”

“Yes,” he said calmly. “But you’ll be a beautifully cared for pawn and, if you give Lion a child, you’ll never again want for anything.”

“A child?”

“Had you not thought of that? There’s a possibility you might be with child.”

“No, I couldn’t—” She had not yet had her flux but surely it was not yet her time. So much had happened it was difficult to remember.

“If you’re not with child, I’m sure that happy circumstance will occur shortly.” Lorenzo added, “And the child would belong to Lion just as you do, Sanchia.”

“No! The child of a slave is free.”

“Perhaps in Florence, but in almost every other city-state the child would also belong to the mother’s master.

” He paused. “Unless you could convince him to free the child. I don’t think you could bear to leave your babe and run away to this dream of freedom you’re nurturing.

Judging by the way you acquired your band of little friends in Florence, I believe you to have an extremely affectionate and maternal nature. ”

No, she’d never be able to leave her child, and how could she care for an infant by herself as a runaway slave?

What if she became hurt or ill? She had seen the fate of children abandoned to the streets.

She could feel the panic rising within her.

“There is no child. There will never be a child.” She blinked away the tears stinging behind her eyes. “I’m going away and—”

“I’d wait to determine that. It might be too late even now.”

“You’re very cruel,” she whispered.

“No.” For an instant his eyes held a distant sympathy. “We can’t all have what we want. We have to choose. I choose Lion.”

She drew a deep breath. “Well, I do not.”

He smiled. “We shall see.” He turned to go. “I’ll leave you now. I’m sure you’ll need time to get over the resentment you’re feeling toward me and think about what I’ve said. I’ll return tomorrow to make sure all is well with you.” He opened the door. “Good day, Sanchia.”

Sanchia gazed blankly at the door that had just shut and then turned and moved slowly, heavily toward the salon.

A child? Why had she never considered a child?

If she carried his child, Lion would never give up searching for her to claim it.

Surely God wouldn’t be so cruel as to give her a child.

She had only to be patient and Lorenzo’s words would prove false.

She had only to wait and be patient.

As Lorenzo had predicted, Lady Caterina called on Sanchia late that afternoon and was ushered into the salon by an excited and awed Rosa.

Sanchia stood up, bracing herself as she closed the book Lorenzo had given her. She smiled determinedly. “You honor me, my lady.”

“Yes, I do.” Caterina Andreas gazed critically around the room, evaluating the tapestry-cushioned bench and matching hassock, the deeply recessed leaded-glass windows, the polished oak cabinet.

Her gaze lingered longest on the huge amethyst on the lid of the silver pitcher on the richly carved Venetian table.

“This is furnished quite pleasantly. You must be very content here.” She turned back to Sanchia.

“Nevertheless, you must leave. I won’t have you at Mandara. ”

Sanchia had been prepared for a dismissal but still found herself startled at the bluntness of the statement. “I have no intention of remaining here,” she replied with equal candor. “As soon as I’m permitted to leave, I will do so. You’ve forgotten I’m not free to make that choice.”

Caterina’s gaze narrowed on her face. “Yet you said you considered yourself free even though my son does not.”

“I do.” She swallowed to ease the sudden tightness of her throat. “But there are certain considerations that may interfere with my attempting to leave at once.”

“What considerations?” Caterina asked fiercely. “You like living in this fine house and having Lion pamper you with gowns and jewels? Well, it won’t do. I won’t permit—”

“No,” Sanchia cut through the tirade. “I want nothing.” She drew a deep breath.

“That’s not true. I’d be foolish not to want all of those things.

Of course I want them. But not enough to—” She broke off and then said, “You don’t have to worry about my staying here, Lady Caterina.

Give me a little time and I promise you I’ll leave Mandara. ”

“And what if I don’t give you time?”

“Then I’ll take it anyway.”

A look of surprise crossed Lion’s mother’s face followed by grudging respect. “You’re very bold for a slave.”

“I’m not bold at all, but I am determined.” Sanchia smiled sadly. “A slave isn’t permitted the former and would not survive without the latter.”

“Indeed.” Caterina studied Sanchia. “The same could be said of a wife.”

“I have no experience with which to judge the truth of what you say.”

“I have.” Caterina whirled toward the door in a flurry of violet silk skirts.

“I’m not satisfied, but I’ll obviously win no further agreement from you, and I’m not fool enough to waste my breath.

I’ll hold my peace for a time while you ponder your ‘considerations.’” She shot a level look at Sanchia over her shoulder.

“But if you’re not gone by the end of the fortnight, you may expect me to take action. Be warned.”

She didn’t wait for a reply or issue a farewell but swept majestically from the room.

Sanchia sighed in relief. She felt as if she had been pummeled.

It hadn’t been easy to face Lion’s noble mother as an equal when she was accustomed to behaving with a show of servility even to shopkeepers.

This new life into which she had been tossed had a bewildering number of threats and challenges with which she had to learn to contend, and today she had been confronted with too many of them.

She didn’t want to be thrust into the tortured relations of the Andreas family. She didn’t want to have to face intimidating women like Caterina while she was still so unsure of herself. She didn’t want to be Lorenzo’s pawn or Lady Caterina’s nemesis.

And dear lord, most of all, she didn’t want to be held captive to Lion Andreas by a child within her womb.

“I like her.” Caterina wrapped the quilt around her nakedness and slipped out of bed. She padded barefoot over to the table and poured wine into a goblet with one hand while she clutched the quilt to her breasts with the other. “She’s no fool.”

“She has strength.” Lorenzo sat up and leaned back against the carved mahogany headboard. “I thought you’d appreciate Sanchia.”

“It means nothing, of course. She still leaves Mandara.” Caterina lifted the goblet to her lips and smiled at him over the rim. “She told me she would leave as soon as possible.”

“Then I’m sure she’ll make the attempt. I’ve always found Sanchia to be truthful.”

Caterina’s smile faded. “She also said there were considerations to ponder. Which smacks of your interference.”

“Does it?”

She took another sip of wine and strolled back to him. “You’re a rogue, Lorenzo.” She handed him the goblet and sat down on the side of the bed. “If I were wise, I’d put hemlock in this cup instead of good Mandara wine.”

“You are wise.” Lorenzo sipped the wine. “Though hemlock is far too obvious a poison for me not to recognize. If you wish to murder me, you must be more subtle, Caterina. I am, after all, a master of the art.”

Caterina tried to hide her start of surprise. In all the years she had known him, Lorenzo had never once mentioned his former profession to her. She took the goblet from him, drank a little and returned it to him. “Poison?”

He shrugged. “At times. It’s cleaner than most methods and relatively safe. However, there are so many ignorant and bungling practitioners in Italy today that it’s no wonder most noblemen and men of means have tasters.”

“But you’re no bungler.”

He met her gaze with eyes as clear and cold as polished stone. “I’m the angel of death himself, my dear Caterina. I am superb.”

She drew the blanket more closely around her to shut out the sudden chill. “You’re no longer an assassin. You haven’t been one for a long time.”

“You’re wrong. We always remain what we are no matter how our circumstances change. If you lost everything, you would still be a great lady. If I became the pope, I’d still be an assassin.”

“Nonsense.”

His long slender Fingers caressed the raised design on the silver goblet. “Truth. Why are you so belligerent? Does it bother you that you’ve taken a murderer to your bed? A reformed assassin is acceptable, but a—”

“Why are we talking about this?” she interrupted abruptly. “What you were before you came to Mandara makes no difference to me. It’s what you do in this bed that’s important.”