Free Bonded by Jaymi Hanako Page B

unbearable heat and pleasure racing through her veins.
    It felt like her heart would pound right out of her chest, the crazed beat matching the heavy contractions between her legs.
    “You like this, don’t you?”
    He didn’t really expect an answer, did he? She bit back the needy cries that threatened to give them away. “Jaren…”
    “Come for me, sweet. That’s it. Let go.”
    As wave after wave of pleasure began to wash over her, there was a loud crash. A tower of crates, just a few feet away, toppled to the ground. Followed by the sound of footsteps, of someone running out of the alley.
    Jaren slipped out from under her skirt and smoothed it back into place. His mouth was slick with her moisture, but he made no move to take their encounter further. “We should go.”
    “I’m not sure I can walk.”
    “I’m not sure I can either.” He drew her hand to the front of his trousers, and the feel of the large, hard shape outlined by the taut cloth sent a fresh surge of need through her. “But if we want to get back to the privacy of the inn…”
    “Maybe I could—”
    “No. Don’t tempt me.” Jaren softened the harsh words with another of those quick, fleeting grins. He pulled her away from the wall and tucked her arm back into the crook of his elbow. “Come on.”
    * * * *
    Ethlinda pulled the hood more securely around her face. Though she’d used magic to alter her appearance, it never hurt to be cautious.
    Anger coiled deep in the pit of her stomach as she watched the couple emerge from the alley. Even if she had not watched them, the looks on their silly faces would have given them away. The girl was flushed and flustered. Jaren wore a particularly smug expression, almost strutting with the knowledge of the pleasure he’d given his partner.
    How nice for them.
    She should have known they would find each other. Perhaps their involvement had begun years ago. It would explain her slave’s betrayal. Such an innocent girl would do many things for the first man who condescended to bed her.
    Ethlinda immediately dismissed the notion.
    Impossible. During their marriage, he had been wholly and completely hers. She was sure of it, and if there was one thing she knew best, it was men.
    Captain Caradoc, as her fourth husband, would have been the biggest prize of her life. His assets, though mainly off-world, were enough to rival even the wealthiest nobles of Lorus. And he’d fallen for her charms more than easily enough, giving every indication of being completely besotted by her. Like a schoolboy, almost.
    Of course, no man could resist Ethlinda when she chose to pursue him.
    Her beauty had always been both a blessing and a curse, raising her from relatively obscure, merchant-class roots to Lorus nobility, though it also brought her more attention than she cared for. Like the amorous aggression of her former jailor.
    In the past, however… Pair her appearance with a willingness to do anything a man wanted in bed, and her lack of high birth became irrelevant, though society still deemed each union the worst of scandals.
    Especially her first.
    He had been a lower-ranking noble. One of her father’s debtors—Ethlinda had been the final payment of what was owed to the man.
    Her first husband taught her the power of her appearance, and how to satisfy a man she didn’t want and didn’t care for. She blamed him for her father’s death, and even if she had not, he had been more than forty years her senior. Ancient and repulsive. An old woman working in his kitchens had taught her about poisons. Once he was out of the way, she’d taken the lessons learned in his household to continue climbing up the ranks of Lorus society.
    Each husband, each prize, had given her a little more of the reward she knew she deserved. Ethlinda had never imagined her hunt would be stopped by a mere girl more pathetic than she herself had once been.
    The treacherous little body slave had been a gift from her second husband. A wedding