Daughter of Jerusalem Read Online Free PDF Page A

studying, but when I looked into the courtyard, I saw you stalking Mary the way a wolf stalks a lamb.” He was pale, and his narrowed eyes shone like fire. He looked startlingly dangerous.
    I grabbed my veil from Ivah and clapped it on my head. The two brothers glared at each other with open fury.
    Little Zebah slipped her hand into mine. “Why are they angry, Mary?” She sounded as frightened as I was. I shook my head, speechless. “I want to go away from here,” the girl whimpered.
    I didn’t know if it would be better to go or to stay and try to keep them from killing each other.
    Daniel’s eyes swung away from Samuel and met mine. “Zebah’s right. Take the children somewhere else.”
    I nodded, rounded up my charges, and herded them out of the courtyard and toward the house. As we walked away, I said brightly, “I’ll tell you a story. Which one do you want to hear?”
    “The one about the man who was swallowed by a whale!” Amos yelled.
    There was a commotion of agreement.
    “All right,” I said. “We’ll go into the front room, and I’ll tell it to you.”

    We were still in the front room, and I had moved on to the story of Noah and the flood, when Daniel found me. “I have to talk to you,” he said in a clipped voice.
    I gestured to the children, indicating that I could not leave them.
    “Get Leah or Ruth,” he commanded, and I ran out of the room.
    I found Aunt Leah alone in the kitchen, and I asked her to watch the children for a short time so I could speak to Daniel.
    “Why can’t Daniel speak in front of the children?” She was looking at me worriedly.
    I told her about how strange Samuel had been and how he and Daniel had looked ready to come to blows.
    She shut her eyes. “Mary, do you know how much trouble all this could cause?”
    I swallowed hard. I was beginning to realize that I did. “But Samuel has never liked me, Aunt Leah!” I cried.
    “I suppose you had better speak to Daniel.” Her voice was almost inaudible, and she went ahead of me into the front room. The look she shot at Daniel was somber, but then she turned to the children and engaged them in a song.
    Daniel and I slipped away to the empty courtyard.
    “This way,” he said, leading me to the door of one of the storerooms. He pushed it open and we stepped inside.
    The room was filled with the barrels used for packing fish, and the smell of wood and dust was strong in the air. Daniel left the door open a crack so we could see each other.
    The expression on his face as he looked down at me was unlike any I had seen before. His nose looked sharper, almost like a hawk’s beak, and his eyes wore a strangely intense expression.
    “What has happened?” My voice trembled despite my efforts to sound calm.
    “Samuel wants to marry you,” he said. “That’s what he told me after you left. The rutting old goat, he wants to
marry
you!”
    I stared at him in horror. “But he’s never liked me, Daniel! Remember how I once asked you what I might have done to offend him?”
    Daniel laughed harshly. “He was afraid to look at you. He lustedafter you, and he was married to another woman. You were a temptation to him. That’s why he never looked at you.”
    I shuddered at the thought of Samuel lusting after me. “What are we going to do, Daniel? I can’t marry Samuel!”
    He reached out and pulled me close. I rested my cheek against his linen tunic and felt the beating of his heart. I put my arms around his waist and held him tightly.
    He said my name and I looked up at him. He bent his head and kissed me.
    We had kissed before, but this was different. This kiss was full of urgency, full of need. This was a kiss I could feel all the way down in my stomach. My head fell back, and he cupped a hand behind it to support me. His strong young body was pressed against mine, and I was dizzy with what he was making me feel.
    “Mary.” His voice was husky and shaking. “This isn’t right.” He put both his hands on my upper