She sighed. For there was naught to do. Blood was blood. Her fortune was shackled firmly to Gilmor. He was not wrong when he’d said her portion was less now that he was no longer a captain.
It was true.
Orla gave her the harder tasks now that the Head-of-House didn’t fear one of the laird’s captains hearing of how hard she toiled. Fewer of the maids were willing to help her finish her tasks now that there wasn’t as much to gain from her good favor. The small chamber she sat in might even be taken from her at any time when the Head-of-House needed it for someone with more influence.
Such was life.
And such was the reason she’d help Gilmor with his plan, for there was nothing else to do but give up hope.
*
Thunder woke Cora.
It boomed above her head. Lightning split the darkness wide open a moment later. It illuminated the empty place beside her.
She sat for a long moment before the rain began to plummet the side of the tower. She heard it hitting the closed window shutters. The wind was whipping the water through the air. More thunder filled the night.
Cora got up, the energy of the storm making it impossible to stay in bed.
Ye met Faolan on a night like this…
She had, and she suddenly wanted to see the wildness of the storm as well as hear it. Cora crossed the floor to the side of the tower that the wind wasn’t hitting. She worked the latch and opened the shutters inward.
Her reward was a view of the next bolt of lightning. It crackled across the mass of swollen clouds. The flash was bright and so vivid, it felt like it warmed the tip of her nose. A fine spray of water was making its way into her face as the wind came in the open shutters and tugged at her chemise.
Thunder boomed again, making her laugh. Something about the pure strength of the storm amused her. It seemed to touch that thing inside her that longed for complete freedom.
When the lightning came again, she was ready. Only this time, she gasped, for it illuminated Faolan.
Like the first time ye saw him…
The tower the laird’s chamber was in was close to hers. Faolan was on top of it, his arms stretched out wide, and his face tipped upwards. His kilt was flapping in the wind as the storm pelted him.
He was magnificent.
At that moment, he was stronger than any man she’d ever encountered. It was flesh and mind combining into someone she seemed drawn toward with such power, even thinking to resist was impossible.
She would have gone to him with no promise of tomorrow.
No assurances of anything at all.
And her empty bed was a torment she refused to endure.
Instead, she turned and pulled the door open and went out onto the landing. There was another door there, one which led out to the curtain wall. It was a place she didn’t normally dare go for it was the domain of men.
Tonight, she flung the rules aside.
It’s hardly the first time…
Cora smiled. The rain was cold but not icy. Her heart was hammering away inside her, warming her and sending her blood speeding through her. The wind whipped at her, but the rain soaked her chemise and hair so that they didn’t fly wildly about.
Faolan turned and caught sight of her before she’d made it more than a few steps. As lightning crisscrossed the sky, she felt his gaze latch onto her. The flash illuminated his teeth, and something tore through the constraints she kept contained deep inside herself.
It was the part of her nature no one approved of.
Except for Faolan…
She didn’t know for certain that he approved of her, but he gestured to her, motioning with his hand, beckoning her forward.
Cora began her walk. It was more intense than the moment when she’d gone to wed him. Felt more true to her nature than when she’d worn the silk dress or been stripped down to await him in bed.
*
She was truly a siren.
Faolan felt her song reaching out to wrap around him. It was carried in the howl of the wind and the clamor of the bare tree limbs beating against one another. The thunder rounded it out.
The beast inside him growled with anticipation.
Her chemise was stuck to her body. Showing him her tight, high breasts with beaded nipples. She came toward him, uncaring of the storm.
No. That wasn’t right.
The elements thrashing at them both fed her spirit. He saw it in the way she came to him. It was in her eyes as the lightning cracked open the sky and flashed across her.
She was mesmerizing.
Faolan felt the moment sucking him in. There was a bond between them. Perhaps it was better to call it an obsession, for he was certain he’d rather die than not reach for her.
*
Cora gasped as Faolan pulled her against his body.
He was warm.
He bound her to his length, wrapping her in the iron strength she’d come to associate with him. Now, it seemed to flow straight into her, delighting her in a way she’d never thought possible.
His kiss was hot.
And hungry.
He stroked his hands up her back to clasp her nape so he might hold her in place for his kiss. There was no soft toying with her. Instead, he took her mouth and demanded surrender.
Cora denied him that.
Instead, she met him with equal force, moving her mouth as determinedly as he did. He growled, and the sound was swept up in the wind to merge with the storm swirling around them. In that moment, she was half certain it was a manifestation of everything Faolan had freed inside her.
The thunder.
The wind.
The lightning.
It was all part of her need to be connected with him. There was no slowing down. Faolan pressed her back against the wall, picking her up, so she clasped him with her thighs. She’d never been so needy, never craved to be connected with another person so very greatly.
Never been so wanton.
But there was no thinking. There was only motion. Cora felt the need to move so intently, and there was no possibility of her mind overriding the impulse. She felt the head of Faolan’s member slipping between the folds of her sex. She was suddenly so eager to have him inside her, she tilted her hips up.
The first thrust stretched her. It wasn’t as bad as the first time, though. Her body seemed to remember how to take his length. The prickles of pain receded in the space of a breath, leaving her gasping at the sensation of being filled.
Nothing could have prepared her for how much she enjoyed it.
Craved it.
The thunder crashed above them as Faolan began to move. He was an extension of the storm, formed from its swirling mass. She felt connected to the water, soaking her, like every drop of rain fed her strength.
“More,” she demanded. “More, Faolan.”
He growled again, moving against her in hard, deep thrusts. The pleasure grew from every motion of his hips. Cora met him every time, feeling the moment building. Inside her, something was tightening. It was like a string being stretched to the very breaking point.
When it came, it was explosive. Cora twisted in its grip, grinding herself up to meet Faolan’s next thrust. He let out a cry as his body drew taut. She’d never felt so connected to another person, and in that exact second, she wasn’t sure where she ended, and he began.
They were simply part of one another.
“Come now, lass.” Faolan lifted his head from where it had been resting on her shoulder. “I’ve got to get ye inside before ye freeze.”
Her legs were weak when he let them down. The water on the stones beneath her feet was cold. A shiver went up her body as Faolan grasped her hand and tugged her behind him. Across the top of the tower and inside. They both left a trail of water on their way into his chamber.