Guardian of Werewolf Keep (Werewolf Keep Trilogy) Read Free

Victoria's Empire from the beasts of the Sevastopol.
    But that fateful moonlit night , nine years ago, had changed everything. His parent's coach had overturned on the way home from a party. He had been thrown clear. When he'd regained consciousness, it was to a nightmare of blood and horror unrivalled even by the stories from the Crimea.
    Help had come that night in the form of villagers who had heard the accident. Their torches had driven the beast off. But the horror was not so easily driven away. Not when he staggered to his feet to find his parents torn to bloody pieces before him, and the coachman, blood-soaked but alive, groaning in agony.
    What happened next had been stamped on his memory for ever, although for many days after the event he thought he had dreamed it. The villagers checked him for wounds, and finding none, assisted him. But the wounded coachman they had killed, right there in front of him. He had been in shock, or he might have tried to stop them. But to his befuddled brain, it was just one more horror to add to so many others.
    Captain Patrick Davenport, dressed in full crimson and gold regalia, had come to see h im the next morning. He had offered his condolences, and offered to help Byron track down the wolves that had killed his parents. Byron had been so in awe of the war hero that he had willingly accepted the assistance. The villagers had tried to discourage him from going with the Captain, but their livelihoods depended on the land they tenanted from him, so none could say an overt word against him.
    Had they told him the truth, he would not have believed them. By that time , he had convinced himself that it was wolves he had seen in the darkness. What other explanation was there for the carnage that had taken place?
    Shaking the memories away, Byron turned back towards the staircase he had just descended. He didn't have a room ready for her. There had been too much happening since the Captain's death to deal with the practicalities of a possible visit from the new heiress. 
    She would have to have the best chamber in the Keep , and he hoped it was furnished well enough to suit this young, well-bred lady. There would be no fire in the grate, but it was not as bitterly cold in midsummer as it was at other times of the year. Hopefully, the new heiress would be only mildly put out by its lack.
    He would deal with the room's regular occupant in the morning.
    He heard her footsteps on the marble stairs behind him. Even as exhausted as she had to have been, her steps were still light. He was reminded of the speed she had shown when dashing up the stairs to put her foot in the doorway, to stop him closing her out. That had been impressive, if foolhardy.
    At the top of the staircase he turned left , and wound his way along the stone balustraded balcony until he reached the door he was looking for. He pushed it open, and made a graceful bow, as he gestured for her to enter. It was only partly cynical.
    'You will find everything you need in this room. There's a chamber pot under the bed , and there will be fresh water to wash with in the morning. Not before. Do not, under any circumstances, try to leave your room until I come for you in the morning. Keep your door locked at all times. There is a key on the inside. Use it.'
    She stood in the door way of her new room, and stared up at him. He had the strongest desire to tear off her bonnet and loosen her hair, so he could see what colour it actually was. At the moment, in the glow from the lamp, it looked like burnished copper. He wanted to feel the silky texture of it between his fingers. He wanted to brush the stray locks back from her pale face.
    As they stared at one another , it seemed as if time had stopped. He watched in bemused delight as her cheeks darkened with a blush, and her eyes sparkled. Her breasts, so tightly cocooned beneath the sober bodice, rose upward, and seemed to struggle to escape their bondage. She swallowed, and sucked in her lush