Devil's Angel by Mallery Malone

Author:Mallery Malone [Malone, Mallery]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General, Romance, Historical, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9781619214385
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Published: 2013-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Erika froze, her blade at the ready. Her enemy was almost in her grasp. Just a few heartbeats more…

Someone sneezed, shattering the tense silence. The hen squawked and flutter-hopped out of her reach. A decidedly unladylike curse escaped Erika as she chased after her quarry in the kitchen yard. Several of the dun’s children, attracted by the clamor, laughed with delight as their mistress chased the terrified bird about.

Erika blew her bangs from her sweating forehead after the hen eluded her yet again. “Do you think you can do better?” she challenged her young spectators.

The children nodded enthusiastically. She couldn’t resist a smile. “Very well. The first to capture yon bird receives a ride on Tempest.”

The idea of riding the Angel’s warhorse proved irresistible, and soon the yard was filled with shrieking laughter as the children joined the merry chase.

Damnable minutes later, Erika pounced on the hysterical fowl. Grasping the fattened bird securely beneath her elbow, she prepared to sever the head with her dagger.

“Milady, no!”

Múireann’s warning came too late. Erika quickly realized that hens took great offense to being decapitated. The dismembered bird fought her more viciously after she killed it than before. By the time it ceased its death throes, she and a goodly portion of the yard were drenched in blood.

“By Odin’s one eye, ’tis easier beheading a man than this foul-tempered fowl,” she exclaimed, wiping her forehead with her sleeve. “How do you do this several times a day?”

Múireann released her laughter with an explosion of sound. “First, ’tis simpler to twist their necks, or put them in a bag before beheading them.”

“Twist their necks?” Erika felt her stomach churn at the thought. “Well thank goodness I do not have to entertain such a deed again.”

She thunked the bird down on the worktable. “I have dispatched the enemy. Now what must I do?”

She watched Múireann attempt—and fail—to school her features into a semblance of seriousness. “Now you must pluck it.”

“Pluck it? You mean I must pull the feathers out?” Her stomach rebelled anew. “Can I not just skin it with my blade?”

“No my lady, we will use the feathers, with fresh herbs and straw, to stuff the mattresses. Your mattress.”

“Oh.” Erika felt heat flame her cheeks. Last night in their eagerness she and Conor had ripped their bedding, sending feathers throughout the room. Attempts to gather the airy bits resulted in a wrestling contest that in turn became another interlude to pleasure.

Heat increased in her cheeks, and in the sensitive place between her thighs that Conor knew so well. What was happening to her? From the moment of the consummation of her marriage, she had become a wanton. No it was before that, on the moonlight ride when she discovered caring beneath the Devil’s stern exterior.

Now she could not even look at her husband without remembering and wanting. Damn his hide if he didn’t exacerbate matters with the sensual twist of his lips that twisted her insides into knots, and knowing the exact moment she was alone.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.