Free Mistress of the Storm by Terri Brisbin Page B

inland and would strike soon. She tried to determine how many hours of daylight were left, but the darkness of the growing disturbance above prevented that. The winds grew stronger, blowing down the valley and over the farm. As her hair whipped around her she closed her eyes and let the power of the storm surround her.
    The rains would be coming soon. They would be strong and would last for several days. She did not question how she knew—it had been part of her since . . . she could not remember when. Long-ago bits of memories came to her of her days as a child when she would warn her mother and their neighbors of the approaching rains. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Thinking back too far only made it harder to face the present.
    Opening her eyes she found Duncan standing just yards away from her.
    The winds caught his shoulder-length fair hair and blew it wildly. His amber eyes blazed like hot metal and she could feel wave after wave of desire pouring off him. Whatever feelings of lust he’d banked last evening, they were back in full measure. Clearly he was ready to claim that for which he had paid dearly. Looking around the area where they stood, she realized it was a secluded glen and not visible until one took the turn in the road to the east.
    His people would have seen him go after her and would know not to follow them. Harald and the men knew her purpose there, for certain, and Gunna at the least suspected it. Isabel had caught her surreptitious glances, but did not want to speak of such things to such a young and innocent woman.
    He took a step toward her and then another, and she found it difficult to breathe and impossible to move. How would she survive such an onslaught of sensations and pleasure if that happened every time they joined? Over the next weeks, every shred of control that she’d built up would be stripped away. She would be left with no way to protect herself, her heart and soul, from the damages of the life she led.
    She’d sworn never to lie to herself and she just had. The control she’d fought so hard to develop as a defense was stripped away whenever she was in his presence. For whatever reason, she could no more play the whore with him than she could refuse him. What would become of her once they finished? What would happen to her with the next man and the next and the ones after those?
    He stood but a few paces from her. He lifted his hand up and loosened his cloak, tossing it to the ground at his feet. Isabel’s body heated at the knowledge he would take her on it. The blood raced through her veins and her skin began to ache for his touch. Her breasts swelled and the sensitive folds in that place between her legs grew moist and throbbed at the thought that he would put his mouth there to lick and suck until she screamed out her release.
    He tugged his tunic over his head and reached for the ties on his breeches. Her feet moved toward him before she could think. Her usual way of planning and carrying out a seduction was useless, for she followed her body’s commands and did what it wanted, pushing his hands away.
    Giving in to the inevitable and accepting that she could not defend herself against the draw of the man, Isabel reached out and took hold of the laces of his breeches and untied them. His indrawn breath excited her and she fell to her knees to do exactly what her body was urging her to do—pull his trousers down and kiss a path down his thighs as the fabric gave way. Consequences be damned, for she would have to deal with them later, at a time when she had no choice but to face them.
    Duncan had waited behind to speak with Gunna, to try to ease any fears she had about the woman he’d brought with him. He was not certain how to explain Isabel’s presence, for he doubted Gunna had been exposed to women like her before. She’d grown up in the small village of Uig, in a large protective family. She’d spent little time anywhere but within walking distance of the