Victory pulsed through him as he set his cock at her entrance and pushed inside with one large thrust of his hips.
***
Fallon cried out for a different reason entirely when the growing pleasure flowing through her body was suddenly split by a sharp burst of pain.
“What the—?”
She could see the shock that registered on the bandit’s face, for his jaw abruptly went slack as those slitted eyes narrowed in on her face. “You’re avirgin?”
Well, not any longer,she wanted to say, but decided it wasn’t the best choice of words in that moment.
“Why didn’t you say something?” he almost snapped.
Butwhen he started to pull away, she grasped his arm. “Don’t leave me.”
She could tell he was waging an inner battle between honor and desire. In the end, he shoved a hand through his hair and bent down to kiss her softly on the lips. “Never,” he whispered.
This time when he touched her, it wasn’t that awful torment like before, but a soothing, gentle discovery that slowly had the pain from earlier fading from her mind. She was so lost to his hands and his mouth on her that when he slipped inside her body once again, she didn’t have time to do more than tense slightly before he was whispering words of encouragement in her ear ingaeilge. “You’re beautiful, Fallon. Perfect.”
As she relaxed, he started to pull out, and she held on to his shoulders, afraid that hehad changed his mind, but he soon began a rhythm of advance and retreat that had her head spinning in renewed wonder. Something told her the delights he’d shown her before would be nothing compared to what awaited her just over the precipice.
As he started to quicken his pace, it didn’t take long before her body began to respond to his movements. Soon the coil that had been twisting tighter and tighter inside of her released and she cried out,her hips liftingas a wave of ecstasy poured over her.Fallon saw the muscles in his arms and upper body bunch like iron bands as he stopped with a coarse shout and a rush of warmth flooded herbodybefore he collapsed on top of her.
Afterward, they were both breathing in ragged, shallow gasps. Fallon stared at the ceiling, not noticing until then that it was a plain brown. As she took note of the rest of the room, sheconcludedthat notonlyhad she given herself to a complete stranger, but it wasn’t in a setting that she had alwaysimagined, not that she had ever given it much thought. Growing up in Carraroe, the idea that she wouldever marry oreven have the chance to lay with a man was not something she hadgiven much thought.
Now thatthe lust-filled frenzy was over, she realized that she had turned into the Irish whore that Locklyn had claimed.
Shesuddenlyfelt sick. “I should go.”
The masked man above her lifted his head, but didn’t say anything as he moved to the side. Fallon glanced at her nakedness and thought about asking him to look away, but did it really matter at this point? It wasn’t as if she had any maidenly modesty to preserve any longer. She might as well sell her wares on the street corner. At least she would be able to afford passage back to Ireland.
She snorted as she donned her clothes. She heard him moving behind her and assumed he was doing the same. However, it wasn’t until she was lacing her boots that the pirate behind her said, “Is something amusing?”
“More like ironic,” she murmured. Once she was fully dressed, she re-pinned her messy braidon top of her head, before finally turningbacktoface the Raven. At last, she glanced in his direction. She couldn’t quite make herself look him in the eye.
“I’ll beawaiting further instructions.” With that, she started to head for the door. She wondered if he might call her name, but then, what could he really say? Thanks for theromp in the sheets?He’d already given her his word that he would help her.That should be enough.
And yet, as Fallon left the cabin, she was startled by a voice in the darkness, followed by a loud clap of thunder. She noted that the wind had also picked up. “I’m afraid I’ll have to blindfold you.” The masculine tone sounded almost familiar as he spoke in the nativegaeilge. “I can’t allow you to find your way back here.”
She remained still. Almost numb. “Very well.”
She waited as a dark cloth was put over her head and secured. She couldn’t see anything, and while it was confining, at least she had plenty of room to breathe.
Fallon stumbled along slightly, and then she was lifted and set atop a horse. After a brief ride, the rider stopped and she was deposited on the ground. “Wait five minutes and then you can remove thecloth,” he instructed.
With that, she heard the sound of retreating hoof beats. She felt rather foolish standing therewith a blindfold on, where anyone might happen upon her, but she waited for the required amount of time, and then removed thestrip of linen. Sheblinked andsaw that she was back at the Hythe docksand standing in front ofSamson.
She untied the reins and took hold of the bridle, ready to leap into the saddle, when shesawthather hands were shaking. She forced herself to pause and take several deep, calming breaths before she climbed onto thegelding’s back.
She pressed her lips together as she urgedthe horseinto a canter. They were still tingling with the remnants of the Raven’s kiss.In truth, her whole body was humming.
For someone who had led a rather sheltered life, Fallonstill couldn’t believe that she had allowed such an intimate actto take place, orthat she hadenjoyedit quite so much.The whole scene kept replayingover and over in her mind untilthe lights ofSouthamptoncame into view.
As she rode past the village and up the drive toShawsea Hall, the hairs on the back of her neckabruptlystood on end. She had thestrangestsensationthat she wasbeing watched. She turned around, but the night was calm and still, the storm that had threatenedearlier, now just a rumbleand flash on the horizon.
Unsettled, she didn’t waste any timereturningSamsontothe stables, giving him a quick rub down with the brush when she removed the saddle. With her feet dragging with weariness, she climbed the trellis to her balcony and entered her room without incident. She barely had enough energy to peel the clothes from her body and put them back in her trunk before she donned her nightdress and slipped under the covers.
***
