Lords Of The Dark Fall - Fabian Read Free Page A

for his arm. Tig’s offer was too tempting for a mortal body that had reached its limits.
No
, his pride countered. It was all that remained. He would not yield it easily.
    “I say that like all women, you talk too much. Take off the shirt,” he said evenly. “Or I kill the beast.”
    “Fine,” Tig nodded, more as an acknowledgement of the stance he was forced to take, than a capitulation to his superiority. “We’ll do it your way.”
    Rain. As her coat dropped to the ground, the heavens opened, soaking them in a heartbeat with driving relentless rain. Fabian opened his mouth and tipped back his face, letting it cool his parched skin. He tilted his head so he could drink and watch Tig reluctantly disrobe. Through the sheeting rain, he caught vague glimpses of white flesh, the darker tips of her nipples, outlined by the rain against her flimsy undergarment. This half-dressed rain-drenched waif of a girl, who, under the bulky coat was even slighter than he’d imagined, had no idea what an erotic spectacle she presented.
    For a moment, he was completely in her thrall, and glad of the distance between them, although she did not watch him with other than fleeting glances as she fumbled back into the coat. His control was a gossamer thread, about to snap. A thousand years without a woman would do that to a man, he supposed.
    “There.” She pushed back her dripping hair and offered the shirt. Shouting now above the noise of the deluge, she commanded Cafino to stay so he could release his death-hold of the beast.
    He did so with great relief, flexing his unbroken arm to release the tension. Tig’s trust in him was unnerving, a feeling he’d rarely indulged. Only in the bedroom, had a woman offered her wrists to him with such compliance. But Tig was not being bound for his pleasure. She was master here, not he; he recognised that in the way she clamped her wrists together so he could easily tie the knot while still holding the sword. The patience in her eyes when his shaking fingers fumbled and would not obey. He left the knot loose, so loose she could escape at any time. She acknowledged the concession with a half smile and inclined her head towards the saddle-packs.
    “Drink,” she said. “And then, let’s get out of this rain.”
    He was shaking now, in earnest. But not from the cool chill of rain on bare skin. To give a thirsty man water was no small kindness. To place your life into the hands of an unknown in order that they might salvage their pride? In all of the heaped tributes of gold and silver, palaces and land he’d received, never before had anyone offered him so precious a gift.
    Now that he’d tied her hands, he realised she could not easily mount the beast. And he had little in the way of strength left to help her.
    “What happened to you?” she asked with genuine concern in her voice.
    Tipping the water-bottle to his mouth, he watched her slow appraisal of his hacked off hair and the bruises that should have been battle honours but only signified defeat, adorning his skin. Soft fingers drew a line over the break in his arm. “Where is your home, warrior?”
    “I don’t know,” he replied, willing her to touch him again. Spontaneous affection. Is this how it felt? Compared to Tig’s simple and touching concern, the bowing and scraping of those who’d frequented his court, the women who’d extolled his prowess, seemed so hollow. Wealth and power made a man easy to love. Now who would even look at him twice? Stripped of all he was, penniless and wearing a blanket he’d stolen from a beast.
    “Come on, Fabio.” Tig nimbly manoeuvred herself into the saddle, despite her bound wrists. “Climb up behind me before anyone else sees you.”
    She did not ask if he required help, for which he was grateful. And she was still smiling, as she did whenever she mispronounced his name. While he struggled to mount, she might have kicked the beast into action and left him lying on the wet sand for