Marissa Day Read Free Page B

summer—thanks to a precisely timed and entirely forged note from his estate manager. It was quite dark here except for the light that shone over the wall, but Corwin did not have to slow down. His night-strengthened instincts guided him, as did the deepening awareness of Darius’s presence.
    Miranda laid her head against his shoulder, lost in a daze created by desire and her dreamlike journey in his arms. He wondered if she could hear how his heart hammered in his chest—not from exertion, for this little walk was nothing to a man of his kind—but with a lust that was profound and simple at the same time. He wanted the woman in his arms. He wanted her naked beneath him, or on top of him; he wasn’t feeling particular. He simply and urgently wanted to plant his cock deep in her sheath and he wanted to hear her scream his name.
    All the hells, Corwin, calm yourself! Darius’s impatient voice sounded in his mind.
    Corwin bared his teeth in the darkness. You wait, Darius, until you meet our Catalyst. You’ll roar like a lion.
    The quality of the other Sorcerer’s silence was skeptical. Corwin snickered.
    ’Tis not so funny. There’ve been lights hanging about and someone tried the gate while you were gone.
    This got Corwin’s attention. A Sorcerer?
    I sensed no magic, admitted Darius.
    Just some sneak thief seeing the dark house and trying their luck, then. Nothing for us to worry about. Corwin lowered his head to breathe in the scents of lavender and desire that perfumed Miranda’s hair.
    This, of course, made her lift her face toward his, and he could not resist a third hot, open kiss from her delicious mouth. And even as he tasted her there, opening himself to the tentative explorations of her tongue, he wondered what this mouth would feel like around his shaft. His cock throbbed and his balls tightened.
    “No more, no more, dear one.” Corwin pulled back and smiled gently at the confusion in her eyes. “We’re almost to the place prepared for us. There, I promise you shall have all that you desire.”
     
     
    All that you desire. Corwin’s words robbed Miranda of her remaining strength and her head dropped back against his shoulder. Her mouth tingled from his kiss. Her thighs burned from his promise, and from the visions he had shown her.
    Magic, he had said. Magic was impossible. Her father had been a man of the Enlightenment. He taught her that magic and superstition belonged to the distant Dark Ages. But how else could she explain what she had seen, much less what she now experienced?
    Unless I am more fully my mother’s daughter than I realized. The thought sent a chill wind through her, threatening the flames Corwin had raised with such ease. The tension between desire and sudden fear tore at her and she moaned again.
    “What is it, Miranda?” Corwin cradled her close and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “What’s the matter?”
    “I’m afraid.” To her shame, she pressed her face against his shoulder. Probably this was a mistake, for she could now inhale his intoxicating scent and feel the soft brush of silk against her cheeks.
    With exquisite care, Corwin set her on her feet. They stood on a gravel path. Behind him, Miranda could see the bulk of a large town house. Beside it stood a small trellised bower hung with grapevines. Blankets had been laid on the ground and cushions piled about to make a lover’s nest. Miranda turned her face away, because she did not want Corwin to see the doubt in her, after she had come so far, had said such things ...
    But Corwin touched her cheek, turning her face toward him and tipping up her chin so she had to meet his gaze.
    “Listen to me, Miranda,” he said. “I swear by all that is holy, you will take no harm from what we do in this place. Nothing happens here but what you desire, and nothing will be taken that you do not freely give. Here, there will be only pleasure, and all that will return home with you is the dream of pleasure.”
    Moonlight