Read Online Branded By Etain by Jianne Carlo - Free Book Online Page B

held, cleaned, and cooed over. Those peckers had been cute and wiggly, not that she had dared touch them, but it had been impossible not to inspect the peculiar little things intently.
    Brand’s organ proved both enthralling and intimidating. His prick seemed to have a will of its own, for the more she gawked at it, the more it twitched and jerked. A drop of moisture leaked from a slit right on the top, and she followed the glistening wetness as it spread. He had tasted her sex; should she taste his?
    Her belly quivered, and the flesh between her thighs began aching anew. A lick of excitement caused the buds of her breasts to tighten and tingle.
    “Loath though I am to wash away the evidence of your pleasure, it needs be done if we are to sit at the dais and preside over a lengthy meal.” Brand pushed her down, parted the furs, and nudged her legs apart.
    Étaín focused on the rafters while he cleansed her. She heated from within. ’Twas both embarrassing and wondrous to be cared for so tenderly and thoroughly. Surely ’twould be the same for him. Had she the courage to be so bold?
    Aye. She would find the pluck to win his love.
    From the moment she had set eyes on him, Étaín had known he would be the one to erase the remnants of the timidity and fear Eachan’s torture had engendered. According to the legends, she had to capture his heart, or forever lose her truthsaying abilities and be doomed to a barren existence.
    When he tossed the cleansing square into a basin on the floor, she shook her head to clear away the scrumptious laziness his actions had induced, and sat up. Firming her chin, she met his gaze, and declared, “I would do the same for you, my lor—Brand.”
    The silence while he studied her peppered shivers across her bare shoulders.
    “Nay.”
    He did not want her touch. Moisture brimmed in her eyes and she lowered her lids to hide the hurt and humiliation slashing at her soul. She could not stand to see the rejection on his face.
    “Étaín, to me.” His palms warmed the sudden chill in her cheeks, but she had not the mettle to look directly at him. “If you touch my prick, I will be erect and aching again. ’Tis nigh on impossible to concentrate on siege and defenses when my pecker is stiff and throbbing like it has been all morn.”
    Each word he uttered was a balm to her fragile confidence. She lifted to see him and pressed her lips together to contain the beam threatening to split her face in two. He had told her the truth.
    “I can see you have myriad queries buzzing like bees in here.” He kissed the top of her head.
    He tilted her chin and their gazes met.
    Would she always feel thus when she looked into his sky eyes? Entranced and complete? Convinced he, alone of all men, could see into her damaged soul and make her whole again?
    The lines bracketing his eyes deepened when his lips curved. He traced first one brow and then the other. “Come, we must dress and make our way to the hall. Your father has called a meeting of the Council of Caul Cairlinne for after the noon meal. We are to settle on our plans for defending the settlement.”
    Étaín sighed and forced her focus away from Brand’s pecker and the numerous vivid dreams of their loving that had haunted her sleeping and waking moments these past months. As princess, she had duties to her people and Brand that would always supersede her personal wishes and wants.
    “How long think you we have to prepare?” She turned her face into his palm, kissed the underside of his wrist, and lurched to sitting.
    Brand shifted to allow her to scramble off the bed. “’Tis two days journey from Rathane Isle to Caul Cairlinne with a favorable wind. The morn dawned scarlet. A storm is on the way. The breezes are changing and will work against Gunnar. Mayhap five days, mayhap three, but we will prepare for him to attack in two.”
    Étaín blinked. ’Twould be no time for dallying if the whole settlement had to be ready so soon. She gathered