Page 57 of Bound

What Beck doesn’t—won’t—understand is that people need to beneeded. Those women enjoyed giving their queen a gift she appreciates. Beckholds himself apart. While the people love him for his loyal defense of theirlives and property, they rarely speak to him beyond saying hello. They rarelyask his counsel or wonder about his health. Meg is going to change some ofthat.

If she survives meeting the goblins.

“Are you ready?”

“No.” I don’t particularly want to go meet the goblinswithout Beck at my back.

“Good,” she replies as though I had cheerfully said yes.

She picks up her basket and walks straight out the door.

Where did my day go wrong? I planned it all out. I workedhard all week so I would be able to spend this afternoon seducing my wife, andnow I have to follow her into a goblin cave where she intends to talk them intoexchanging their precious liquor for sweetened oat cakes.

I’ve gone down the wrong road.

I slide off my stool and run to catch up with my wife. Herhips sway invitingly in her pretty skirt. She turns and winks as she walks downthe lane. I jog the last of the distance between us and slip my hand into hers.She’s talking and moving with a sweet feminine energy that has me sighing.

I might be going down the wrong road, but it’s the one shepicked. I will never let her walk alone.

ChapterTwenty-Seven

Meg

I chatter happily with my husband as we walk throughthe village toward the caves where the goblins are based. I smile up at Cianand realize I really do think of him as my husband. It isn’t merely a titlesomeone stamped on us. We’re married. When had that happened?

The last week has been a revelation. I’ve begun to fit intovillage life. I’m not delusional. I know I’m not the best cook in the world. Mypoor husband is suffering as I learn, but I’m not about to give up. The cottagehas rapidly become my domain. Cian convinced me to stay there while Beck isgone. There are many daily tasks that require a resident.

It was a smart play on his part. I wasn’t able to holdmyself apart. I find myself rearranging the furniture and reorganizing thingsto suit me. I found yards of gauzy fabric in a trunk in the closet andfashioned some pretty curtains with Flanna’s aid. I weeded the frontflowerbeds. The gnomes were happy to give me bulbs to plant.

I’ve even becoming fond of the chickens. It makes it almostimpossible to eat them. I’ve become fond of all the animals. I learned to milkthe cows and how to brush Sweeney’s mane. I didn’t let Cian kill the rooster.The rooster only crows about half the time. Cian’s cock is a much better judgeof when dawn is here. It presses against me every morning as the sun rises,seeking relief.

It hasn’t found any, yet.

That will change soon. I can’t deny him much longer. I don’twant to. I dream about him at night, Cian and his brother. As wonderful as Cianis, I’m still heartbroken over Beck. I miss him, but I need to move on withCian. He doesn’t know it yet, but I intend to do that tonight.

We become quiet as we trudge through the forest toward thecaves. I feel Cian’s hand squeeze mine as he helps me over a puddle.

Beck’s been sending letters. They began arriving the dayafter he left. They popped up on the vampire computer, but each was written inhis own careful hand. Beck’s writing is like everything else about him,carefully controlled and wholly masculine. There are two every day, oneaddressed to Cian and the other to me.

I refused to read the first one. Cian read his aloud andthen dictated his response. The brothers ask about each other’s health and thestatus of their endeavors. Beck inquires about the farm and the village, whileCian asks about the job Beck is doing.

I remain silent.

I’m going to have to deal with Beck eventually. I don’tunderstand him at all. Beck left me behind, but then writes to me every day.The day before, I broke down and read one of his letters. It was full of himsaying he misses me and wants to make up for the way he treated me. He promisesto come home soon with gifts. He promises me a life of comfort.

The trouble is I don’t want that life. I’m enjoying the oneI found. I feel a great sense of belonging and accomplishment when I thinkabout the changes I made to the cottage. I’m bonding with the villagers andrapidly becoming important to them. Cian seems to need me as well.

I have no intention of allowing Beck to hire a woman to domy work. Although, if he proves as insensitive as he was before, he might haveto pay someone to sleep with him.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Cian’s whole body istense.

I smile sweetly at him. I don’t have high hopes that Cianwill be able to truly top me when it comes to sex. He’s far too indulgent. He’snothing like his brother. Beck would have ordered me to stay away from thegoblins. If I disobeyed, he probably would have locked me away. Cian followedeven though it’s obvious he’s reluctant.

“Yes.” I don’t feel a bit of the trepidation Cian isexperiencing. I’ve met vampires and faeries and trolls and those rude dwarves.How bad can goblins be?

“Aye,” comes a deep voice. “I thought I smelled somethingtasty coming this way.”

Holy crap. What the hell is that?