The arms cradled her, gently but firmly, and seemed in no hurry to release her. Jet-black eyes looked her over thoroughly, admiringly. “Are you a thief? Or merely a naughty little nun?” he asked.

“Neither.” She was amazed to find she still had a voice. “Please put me down, sir.”

“Not until I learn your identity, violet eyes. You are not veiled, so you cannot be Turkish. Who are you?”

Theadora had never been this close to a man other than her father. It was not unpleasant. The man’s chest was hard, somehow reassuring, and he smelled of sunshine.

“Have you lost your tongue, little one?” he queried softly.

She blushed and bit her lip in vexation. She had the uncomfortable feeling that he knew what she had been thinking. “I am a student at the convent,” she said. “Please, sir, would you help me back up onto the wall? If they find me gone, I shall be scolded.”

Setting her down, he quickly climbed onto the wall. Leaning over, he pulled her up onto the wall. Then, leaping lightly into the convent garden, he held out his arms to her. “Jump, violet eyes.” He caught her easily and set her on her feet. “Now you won’t be scolded,” he chuckled. “What on earth made you climb the wall?”

Feeling more secure now, she looked up at him mischievously. Reaching into a pocket of her tunic dress, Theadora drew out a peach. “I wanted one,” she said simply, biting into it. The juice ran down her chin. “The gate was locked, so I climbed the wall.”

“Do you always get what you want?”

“Yes, but I do not usually want very much,” she answered.

He laughed. “My name is Murad. What’s yours?”

“Theadora.”

“Too formal. I shall call you Adora, for you’re a most adorable creature.”

She blushed, then gasped in surprise as he bent and kissed her. “Oh! How dare you, sir? You must not do that again! I am a married woman.”

The black eyes twinkled. “Yet, Adora, I will wager that was your first kiss.” She flushed again and tried to turn away from him, but he gently caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “And,” he continued, “I will also wager that you’re wed to an old man. No young man with blood in his veins would leave you languishing in a convent. You are quite outrageously fair.”