Lair of the Lion

least take back your cloak."
    Don DeMarco looked at the small gloved hand on his shoulder. "Look at me, my lady.
    Look at my face."
    She heard the swift intake of breath, of fear, by the two men guarding them. She didn't spare them a glance, looking only at Nicolai. For some reason she couldn't fathom, he was breaking her heart. He looked so aloof, so utterly alone. She boldly framed his scarred face with her palms. "I am looking at you, mio don. Tell me what I am to look for." Her gaze drifted over his face, taking in the handsome, sculpted lines, the deep scars, the blazing intensity of his amber eyes.
    "Tell me what you see," he commanded for the second time, his expression wary.
    "I see you, Don Nicolai DeMarco. A very mysterious man, but one some would call handsome." Her thumb stroked a lingering caress over his shadowed jaw. Isabella found she couldn't look away from his hot gaze.
    "Would you be one of those calling Don Nicolai DeMarco handsome?" he asked, his voice even lower than before, so that the wind whipped it away almost before she caught the words. His hand moved up to his jaw, covering the exact spot where her thumb had caressed him, holding her touch in the warmth of his palm.
    A slow smile curved Isabella's mouth, but before she could answer him, her mount reared back, forcing her to grab at the reins.
    Don DeMarco stepped hastily away from the animal, slipping quickly into the shadow of the trees. "Go now, Rolando. Get her home safely." It was an order.
    "Your cloak," Isabella called to him desperately as the captain caught at the reins of her horse. Already the horse was in motion, Sergio and the captain urging the animal toward the palazzo. She struggled to remove the heavy lion pelt, quickly tossing it back toward where she had last seen the don. "Take your cloak, Don DeMarco," she pleaded, afraid for him, a lonely figure impossible to see in the whirling storm of white.
    Isabella nearly turned completely around on the back of her mount. She actually considered leaping off the horse. There was a desperation in her, a fear that if she took her eyes off the don, she would lose him. But as hard as she tried, she could not make out his figure in the snow. She had merely the impression of something large and powerful flowing with fluid grace across the snow. He stooped to pick up the cloak and slowly straightened to watch her go. His frame wavered, became indistinct, as he slipped on the heavy cloak, suddenly taking on the appearance of an untamed beast. She found herself staring into glowing eyes, eyes blazing with fire, with intelligence. Wild eyes.
    Her heart stopped, then began to pound in alarm.

Chapter Five
    Sarina gathered Isabella into her arms, then led her quickly through the halls and up the stairs to her room. "You have had such trouble, bambina. I am sorry. It was good that Captain Bartolmei and Signor Drannacia were with you."
    "The one they call Sergio?" Isabella asked, struggling to get everyone's name straight.
    The men had been very nice to her, but neither would yield to her pleas to turn back and aid the don. "They left him there alone, in the storm, with no mount and no help should the lions attack him. He was completely alone, Sarina. How could they do such a thing to their don?"
    She was shivering uncontrollably, cold and wet from the storm, shaken from the approach of the rogue lion, but most of all, fearful for Nicolai DeMarco's safety. "They should have stayed and protected him. It was their duty to protect him first, above all others.
    I don't understand what is going on in this place. What good are these men if they are disloyal? I wanted to go back to him, but they wouldn't let me." She was furious, furious, that the men had prevented her from staying with Don DeMarco.
    "They were protecting their don," Sarina answered softly, and she made the sign of the cross twice as they hurried through the spacious palazzo.
    "You don't understand. He was alone, surrounded by those huge beasts." Isabella was shivering so hard her teeth were chattering. "They left him there. I left him there." That was worse, to think that she had been so frightened by the size and ferocity of the lion that she had chosen the coward's way out. She had scarcely even resisted the soldiers.
    "You are not thinking clearly, signorina," Sarina said gently, soothingly. "You would never have been allowed to stay behind. The captains had their orders to see you safely home, and they would have forced your