For certes he was unlike anyone she had ever known. Handsome to be sure--with a rock hard body, images of which occupied her thoughts much too often. And his generous mouth was an unbidden fascination. It could accommodate a childlike smile, tempering all the fierceness he worked so hard to portray. Or it could accommodate a reassuring smile, making her believe everything in her troubled world would be all right.

And his mind was also intriguing. As strikingly developed as his form, it was a quality she truly admired in him. Along with religion, Brother Thomas had taught her about foreign methods of reasoning and the use of logic different from her own. Knowledge could be a powerful weapon, and Faran appeared well armed.

To her benefit, he seemed preoccupied with the present and not with prying into her past, nor did he threaten to rule her future. He treated her differently, he treated her like...a friend. The idea stunned her. Life had never afforded her the opportunity to know or cherish another person in such a manner. Another new experience. Then a spark of yearning for more than mere friendship flickered inside of her. You can never trust a man, she chastised, you can only believe in yourself. Unyielding logic cooled the fiery ember of need, but not before it claimed a barren part of her never before touched by warmth or light.