"Dammit, I'm not a stranger," Daniel burst with savage violence. "Can't you see that I need to know?"

"Yes, I think I can see that," Clancy said thoughtfully. "Experiences like what the two of you have shared together have a way of melding two people together, but it's something more than that, isn't it?" Daniel inhaled raggedly. "It's something more," he said tightly. "I'm not asking to know anything about her relationship with Bradford. I just need to know what made her look at me the way she did." The pain of that moment was still like a raw wound within him. It had been doubled because he had felt the pain and despair in Zilah as if it were his own.

"But her relationship with David is part of what you saw in that bedroom this morning. You can't separate the two." Clancy shook his head. "You're not going to like it. It's not going to be comfortable to live with. Not if you care for her." "Tell me."

"When she was thirteen years old Zilah was living with her grandmother in Marasef while her mother acted as housekeeper for Karim Ben Raschid. She was a bright, pretty little girl, always bubbling with enthusiasm and laughter. One day she disappeared. She just never came home from school. Her mother was frantic. She went to the police, searched the streets herself, and did everything she could think of doing. Then she asked David Bradford to help. Six months had passed by that time and the trail was cold, but he and Alex finally located her." He paused.

"She was in a bordello called the House of the Yellow Door. She had been taken by a vice ring that specialized in kidnapping young girls, drugging them with heroin until they were hopelessly addicted, and using them as prostitutes." He ignored the exclamation Daniel made. "I don't have to tell you what kind of shape she was in when David brought her back to Zalandan. It took her almost eight months to lick the heroin addiction." His lips curved in a bitter smile. "After that there was only the psychological damage of the experience itself to contend with. A real piece of cake."

"Thirteen," Daniel said jerkily. "She was just a child." He covered his eyes with his hand. "My God, I feel sick."

"David sent her to live with his parents in Texas and she hasn't been back to Sedikhan until now. She's been under psychiatric care all these years and has made a remarkable recovery." He frowned. "But judging from what I saw today, it obviously wasn't a total recovery."

"How the hell could it be?" Daniel's voice was muffled. "I don't know how she even survived it."

"She survived it because she's an exceptionally strong personality," Clancy said. "It was her choice to come back to Sedikhan for this visit. She thought she could handle it."

"She thinks she can handle everything in the whole damn world."

"Does she?" A slight smile touched Clancy's lips. "That's good to know." He took a sip of his bourbon. "So there's the story. Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Just one thing." Daniel's hand dropped from his face, revealing eyes that were cold as death. "Did you get rid of them?"

Clancy nodded. "The vice ring was smashed and the head of it was taken care of in a very permanent manner."

"I almost wish he hadn't been," Daniel said tautly. "I need to kill him. I need to do something to help her." He closed his eyes. "I feel so damned helpless, I think I'm going to explode."

There was a flicker of sympathy in Clancy's hard face. "We all felt the same way when it happened. You were lucky not to have been around to see her right after we found her. It was enough to tear your heart out."

"I don't think I was lucky. Bradford was there to help her and I wasn't," Daniel said harshly. "If I had been there, she would never have looked at me as if I were some kind of monster. She would have known she could trust me."

"She was burning up with fever. She didn't know what was happening. She obviously thought she was back in that bordello."

"Oh, yes, I realize all that." Daniel's mirthless laugh had a touch of desperation in it. "I also realize that after an experience like that she's going to have a hell of a time trusting or responding to any man." Dear Lord, that was putting it mildly. He had been so confident last night that he could ease friendship into a commitment. He had been almost brutal when he had taken Zilah. It was a wonder that she hadn't run away from him screaming instead of yielding so sweetly. She couldn't have enjoyed it. Gratitude or pity? It didn't matter. He just hoped he hadn't done any permanent damage by lovemaking that must have appeared closer to rape to Zilah. He had to make sure that she knew it wouldn't always be like that. That he was capable of treating her with the gentleness and care her fragility demanded.

"Surely you aren't  thinking about getting involved with her?" Clancy asked. "May I point out that you've known the woman only one day?"

"I'm already involved." Daniel tossed the rest of his brandy down his throat and set his glass on the desk with barely restrained violence. "I didn't ask for it, but there it is. She's mine now, problems or no problems."

Clancy stiffened. "I hope you're not speaking in the carnal sense. According to the last psychiatrist's report Zilah still isn't able to respond sexually to any man. I sure as hell didn't send you out there to seduce the girl. I'm not sure David would tolerate that kind of action on your part."

"God!" Daniel's stomach muscles clenched as if someone had knocked the breath out of him. It was even worse than he had imagined. She was still scarred, still hurting, and he hadn't even been particularly gentle with her in the first experience she'd had since that nightmare. Yet she had responded. At least he had thought she had responded at the time. How could he be sure with the swirling darkness and the earthquake of passion that had shaken him? Perhaps she had only submitted. Dear heaven, he hoped that hadn't been the case. If it was, then it was no wonder she had mistaken him for one of those monsters from her childhood.

He was trembling, he realized with disgust. This wasn't the time to give in to weakness. He still had Clancy to deal with, and that was never easy. "Too damn bad," Daniel said coolly. "You can tell Bradford she's no longer his concern."

"And what about Zilah? Doesn't she have any say in this?"

"Do you think I'm going to lock her in a room and rape her?" Daniel's expression was a mask of pain. "She's never going to know fear or pain again as long as she lives. I'll see to that. But I'm not letting her go, Clancy. I can't run the risk of her shying away from me as she did this afternoon. Evidently it wouldn't take much to trigger that panic again. That rules out any type of normal courtship."

"What are you suggesting then?"

"I'm not suggesting anything, Clancy," Daniel said quietly. "I'm telling you I need time and that you're going to get it for me."

"Time?"

Daniel nodded. "Zilah stays here for two weeks alone with me. I don't want any interference from Bradford or her mother or anyone else. Not even you, Clancy. I'm going to have enough problems without trying to fight my way through a battery of protective guardians."

"You're out of line, Daniel," Clancy said crisply. "You know I can't arrange that."