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Scene #27
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
The Curse
Scotland, in the year of our Lord thirteen-hundred and eighty
"Kael?" Elise whispered her husband's name and dropped a bouquet of purple saffron. She shook her head in disbelief and choked on the sob filling her chest.
Twilight glistened off Kael's sweat-slicked back as he
held another woman against the ancient stone—their stone—and thrust
wildly between her legs. The musky scent of sex blended with the
salty aroma of the sea. Waves slapped a hideous melody against the
shore at the base of the cliff. Elise stood immobile, unable to
turn away from the scene before her.
The woman propped herself
up higher on the free-standing boulder and clasped her ankles
around his buttocks. She leaned to the side and bit Kael's ear, her
lips curling into a wicked grin. Glowing green eyes leered at Elise
from over Kael's shoulder.
Elise stared at her, confused by
her appearance; pale hair, gold lashes, high cheekbones. Her image
mirrored Elise. Who was she?
The man Elise had called husband
for nigh six months held tight to the woman's hips and drove a
final thrust. A deep throaty moan Elise had heard often enough
prefaced the whimpers coming from the female snake intimately
coiled around him. His muscles rippled and his head fell back as he
spent himself inside her.
The woman laughed—a tinkling
bell-like giggle that cut Elise's ears and sliced through her
heart. She gripped the amulet Kael had given her the day of their
wedding and yanked it free from her neck. He'd vowed to be
faithful. He lied. He betrayed her.
"Ye bastard!" she
yelled.
Drawing deep breaths, Kael whipped his head to the
side. Dark brows dipped low above blue eyes filled with confusion
and distance. He searched her face then offered a fleeting glance
toward the woman he was still buried inside. "Elise?"
Seething
with anger, Elise felt cool tears fall over her hot cheeks and
wished her father had never given her to the leader of Clan Kraig.
"Damn ye and your clan! Ye are a liar. May you and all those who
share your blood be cursed for eternity." She threw the amulet at
him.
The woman shot out a hand and caught it in midair. Kael
jerked out of her as she spread her naked form over the massive
bolder and chanted words of the old language. Words of black magic.
She arched her back and raised her hand above her. Purple rays of
light beamed out of the fist wrapped around the amulet.
"So
shall it be done, dearest Elise, and may ye be forever blinded by
the truth."
Chapter One
Italy, 1486
"Remove your
garments, per favore."
Although, her forthrightness shocked
him, Taveon Kraig had no intention of denying the beauty's request.
Her nonchalance confirmed the lingering question that had pecked at
him for nigh a sennight. Her association to the wealthiest families
in all of Italy could no longer be denied. She was a courtesan to
the Medici Empire.
Excitement, raw and feral, whipped through
him as he released the clasps holding his burgundy doublet
together, more than eager to be rid of the garment. Hell must
surely lie directly beneath Firenze soil as he'd never known such
sweltering weather.
"There is a robe on the chair if you are
modest." She gestured toward one of the few pieces of furniture in
the chamber.
Modest? Taveon grinned. There wasn't a modest
bone in his body. After removing his boots, he peeled his tunic off
over his head and neatly draped the garments over the chair's back.
Only briefly did he drag his eyes from her to glance at the
renderings of serpents and cherubs carved into the wood. Everything
at the Medici Palace was elaborately decorated—the furniture, the
door panels...the women.
The coquette raised her ivory skirt,
exposing bare toes, and gracefully floated across the chamber to
push open shutters of an arched window. Eyes closed, lips pursed,
she tilted her face upward and smiled. Light poured over her
flawless skin. Long locks cascaded down her back like a veil of
black silk.
Anticipating the moment he would tangle his
fingers through the masses set his palms to itching. His bollocks
pulsed inside his braies.
He couldn't peel them off quickly
enough.
Do not get familiar with the girl, else she'll end up
in the grave like the others. The soothsayer's warning stuck in his
head, but he decided becoming familiar with the Italian lassie
might be the best means of locating the amulet.
He freed
himself of the last of his apparel without taking his gaze from
her. She was exquisite, and the little minx intended to make merry
in the full light of day in a room scarcely furnished. "Is there no
bed?"
"No. You will remain in an upright position." She
turned, making his heart beat out of cadence. 'Twould take all his
strength not to spend himself inside her, for if he failed his
task, he would poison her womb with his cursed seed the same as he
had Nessa.
"I'm ready." Stripped to his skin and feeling quite
vain, he held his arms out in presentation. When she yielded little
reaction to his physique, he flexed his muscles and waited for her
to pay heed to what he deemed a most impressive erection. But
her gaze never once detoured south.
He frowned. What was wrong
with her?
"I trust Messer Lorenzo explained to you how I
work."
"Aye," he lied. Taveon had skulked on rooftops and in
corridors just to get to her. For two nights he'd awaited the
opportunity to sneak past the handful of sentries guarding the
palace.
She padded toward him and stopped a baw hair from his
chest.
Sweet Venus! She was a curvy lassie, full breasts,
narrow waist, flaring hips. Oh, she would be soft, supple; with an
ample amount of flesh for him to dine on. He thought of all the
ways he intended to wrap her body around him. Carnal desire raced
through his veins. He'd yet to be this close to her and became
entranced by her eyes.
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