Page 34 of Bought to Break
‘I wouldn’t expect you to.’ He began to unlace the front of her dress.
She blinked back tears. ‘So now you ravish the maiden after felling her father before her eyes?’
Kane’s expression gave nothing away. ‘Nothing so sordid, I’m afraid. There’s water for bathing, but I won’t be leaving you alone in case you try to escape again. I also wouldn’t trust many of my men to watch you and not fall on you like a rutting animal.’
‘I can undress myself.’
‘Shh. I won’t hurt you.’
After today she shouldn’t believe him, but she was so tired, she let him do what he willed.
He set her on her feet and pulled the dress down until it pooled on the floor. She looked away from him, a blush rising even as she berated herself for letting him anywhere near her after what he’d done. So what if her father had been planning to marry her off to a brutal warlord? He’d loved her really. She might have been able to bring him around. Now she’d never find out. Because of Kane.
And yet despite her loathing, even now her body responded to his touch. The lightest brush of his fingers on something as innocuous as her wrist was enough to make her yearn for him to put his hands on her, his fingers in her. She shuddered and he asked her a question. She ignored him.
He led her to a steaming basin and began to wash her. Slowly and methodically, he traced up her arms to her back and chest before doing the same to her legs with a cloth. When he reached the apex of her thighs, he paused, his eyes searching hers. Resigned, she breathed out slowly and widened her stance for him to wash her.
Someone came into the tent and Kane shielded her body with his immediately.
‘Get out.’
‘I’m sorry, sir. A bird from the Commander.’
‘Leave the message on my desk and fuck off.’
The sell-sword left and Kane led her to the bed. He didn’t dress her in anything, just laid her down and tucked her under the blankets bare. She closed her eyes, feigning sleep, and heard him go to his desk. Tears began to fall, and she was glad she was turned away from him.
She wondered at his gentleness. Was he feeling regret? She wouldn’t have believed that a man who killed so happily would feel guilty afterwards. He clearly didn’t believe killing her father had been wrong. She squeezed her eyes shut. She should never have gone with Kane, should have tried to escape him when she had the chance, though she couldn’t think of when there had been such a moment. But she should have fought harder. At least her father might still be alive, not lying in a forest, his body to be ravaged by animals.
She turned and looked over at the Brother responsible; terrible and beautiful. Why could she not control her reactions to him? Like Sorin and Viktor, she was drawn to them all. What was happening to her?
Chapter 17
Kane
Kane busied himself at his desk with the many documents and plans that had been awaiting his return – since days before he’d gone after the woman. The raid of the Islands was imminent, but much had to be done to ensure their success. The Commander was being less than useless, as per usual these days, and, as his second, Kane was picking up the pieces. He hadn’t even been given the full details of whomever was paying the Brothers’ Army for their support, though it must be someone obscenely wealthy for Greygor to entertain a campaign that could go so wrong. The invasion itself wouldn’t be difficult with their numbers, but the Islands had powerful allies. They might end up fighting battles on multiple fronts in the future. It was a risk and one that wasn’t worth the spoils as far as Kane was concerned.
The old man was getting on in years and it was beginning to show. Another Brother in his position would already have challenged his leadership, but Kane had never wanted that mantle. He was content to work from the shadows and carry on his own smaller, private wars. Greygor knew that, which was why he’d chosen Kane in the first place and, at least in Kane’s personal endeavours, success was more or less assured. Soon the culmination of his, Sorin’s and Viktor’s work since they had become a unit would be realised. Revenge would finally be theirs, and they could afford no distractions.
His eyes fell on a tiny parchment on the edge of the desk. The bird from the Commander. He’d forgotten it. He looked over at the woman, admiring her sleeping form on the other side of the tent – but still in his line of sight lest she try escaping again – and frowned.He’d forgotten it.Because he’d been too busy trying to comfort her, though he had not the first idea of how to do such a thing. He’d neglected his duty because of her. That couldn’t happen again.
He read the short note and sat back in his chair, staring at it. It simply summoned him. She wasn’t mentioned, but Kane knew Greygor. He would have no reason to meet again so soon. Greygor must be aware of her and, this close to the invasion, he would be suspicious of anyone joining them suddenly. Such people could be spies, after all.
His Brothers would have kept her existence a secret until after the Islands had been secured. They wouldn’t have said a word, which only left Uth, a Brother who had been a thorn in his side for years. Uth craved power but, like so many, would have no idea what to actually do with it. However, perhaps this time he’d done Kane a favour. He looked over at her again.A distraction.As far as he was concerned, she’d been nothing but trouble. He should have simply killed her and been done with it, but he couldn’t. He hated that he couldn’t. What was this power she had over them? It was dangerous, whatever it was.
If Greygor wanted her, he could have her. She wasn’t claimed, after all. Once it was done, Viktor and Sorin could do little about it without his agreement. They’d thank him in the end.
He got up and silently walked to where she slept. Her eyes were red, as if she’d cried herself to sleep, though he hadn’t heard her. He ignored the strange sensation in his chest, had no idea what to make of it. It was a hollowness, an ache. His fingers twitched with a powerful urge to pull back the blanket he’d tucked her under, knowing her dress was still on the floor near the wash basin where he’d bared her fully to his gaze. He hadn’t been disappointed.
Just fuck her and be done, a voice inside him coaxed. By the gods, how he wanted to rip off that cover, spread her legs wide and take her the way Dark Brothers took everything they wanted. He’d make her scream his name even as she struggled to be free of him. Kane’s cock grew painful against his breeches and he turned away with a curse. He had been hard almost from the moment he’d met her. With any other woman he would already have had her, but there was something about this one that warned him away. She was different, in his thoughts, and he was losing the tight control that had kept him alive when others had died. Yes, this girl was dangerous.
He went to the basin, stripped and washed in the water that had long since gone cold, hoping it would help. When he was finished, he looked over at the sleeping woman. He watched her for a moment and realised she was only pretending to slumber. Her eyes were open, just a fraction, but enough to see. She was watching him bathe. A part of him was shocked and another part shocked that he was shocked. It had been so long since anyone had surprised him as often as she was able to. He pretended not to notice her as he dried himself slowly. Then he took his thick rod in his hand, still hard as a rock, and began to stroke himself. He heard her gasp and smiled to himself when he saw that her eyes were now tightly shuttered.
He strode towards her bed, making his mind up suddenly. ‘Were you not enjoying the spectacle, Lana? Look. You’re missing the best part.’
Her eyes opened and widened as she took him in. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to–’
‘To what?’ he asked smoothly. ‘To watch me or to enjoy what you saw?’
