Free Bound by Sin by Jacquelyn Frank Page B

allowed that to happen. Besides, a slaughter of women and children and other nonmilitant types did no one any good.
    “I love how it feels,” Jileana said. Then another brightly colored dress, this one in brilliant purple, caught her eye. Krizan women were not the prettiest women on the planet, but they seemed to like colorful finery—plumage to make up for what their looks hindered. The dresses would fall to mid calf on a Krizan woman, but on Jileana, who was much taller, they would come to about her knee. There was something about the idea of being able to see her knees, perhaps flashes of her thighs, that made Jaykun go instantly hard for her. The reaction took him completely by surprise. Jileana was ignorant, laughing and coaxing the shopkeeper into relaxing. How was it she could do this to him? Make him forget where he was? Make him lose control over his body? He was a man in command of an empowered destiny. He held the lives of thousands of people in his hands. He controlled others; others did not control him.
    Jileana then pulled the tunic up over her head in full view of the entire bazaar and let it fall to the ground. The shopkeeper gasped and Jaykun lunged forward, grabbing up the tunic and crowding her body, hiding her from view as best he could. Oblivious, Jileana was wriggling into the dress, letting it fall into place, all the while with a huge, bright smile on her face.
    “Are you out of your mind?” he barked down at her. “Have you no shame?”
    “About what?” she asked, genuinely clueless as to the source of his agitation.
    “You can’t just strip in public, Jileana!”
    “Of course I can. I just did it. Weren’t you watching?”
    “I was! As was everyone else!”
    “They’ve all seen a naked body before, silly. They have one of their own.”
    She moved over to a long looking glass and viewed herself in the purple dress. Jaykun had to admit she wore it well. He had been right about it hitting just at the knees. The skirt was made of dozens of hanging kerchiefs, each falling freely from the waistband of the dress so that when Jileana moved, if she kicked her leg out far enough, they fell away completely and left her leg bared to mid thigh or a little higher. It was indecent in Jaykun’s opinion.
    “I’ll take this one,” she said of course. “I do not have money, but we can barter for it. I could perhaps clean your home for you or watch your children. Perhaps I can teach them to read or write. I am a very good teacher. Or perhaps—”
    “I have gold,” Jaykun said with a sigh. “I said I would buy it.”
    “Then I will owe you something in trade,” Jileana said with a smile. “Have you small children in need of teaching? Or perhaps you do not know how to read.”
    “I know how to read!” Jaykun said. “Several languages!”
    “Oh, that is good,” she said with a smile. “But I am certain we will figure something out.”
    Jaykun released a pained sigh. “It’s not necessary. I don’t expect repayment.”
    “Don’t be silly. I am eating your food, sleeping in your bed, and now wearing your clothing. Or course there is repayment. Perhaps I could entertain you? You seem to like me naked, so I could strip and then—”
    “It is a gift!” he said in a moment of inspiration before she could finish that thought aloud. Then again, he was incredibly curious as to where that thought would’ve ended up.
    “A gift?” she asked, one of her arched brows lifting high. “But I have no gift to trade. Gifts are always exchanged. One gift for one gift. At least this is the way of my people.”
    “A gift means you don’t have to trade. You get a gift for no reason at all and expect nothing in return.”
    “How odd,” she said, her eyes drifting over him from head to toe as she took in the measure of the concept. She smiled enigmatically then. “Very well, I accept your gift for no reason at all.”
    “But this isn’t the whole of my gift,” he said hastily. “The dress…Well,