Read Online The Cursed Towers by Kate Forsyth - Free Book Online Page B

ye find her, Donagh my dear?"
    "Is she no' delectable?" the fat man responded. "As pale as the blue moon, as ethereal as sea mists . . ."
    "And no doubt as expensive as moonbane," the young laird responded dryly. Black Donagh blew out a long plume of smoke, smiling enigmatically. "But o' course, my sweet. She is choosy indeed about whom she bestows her favors upon, and if she likes no' the cut o' your doublet or the smell o' your armpits, she'll give ye naught but her very smooth, very cold shoulder. She is the most exclusive o' all our courtesans."
    The laird raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "Indeed? She is bonny, it is true, but even the dim lighting ye have in here shows me she is past the first flush o' her youth."
    "Ah, yes, but she has talents, my sweet. I can promise ye will no' be disappointed should ye choose to ... ah, sample her wares."
    The young laird lay back on his cushion and observed the clarsach-player through heavy-lidded eyes. His long, white fingers played with the circle of diamonds securing his plaid so they flashed with brilliant light. Gently, sensuously, the musician swept her fingers over the strings and began another song, one of hoarse longing and husky promise. He moistened his lip, then smiled. "Very well, Donagh my dear," he said.
    "Just how much do ye wish for your mysterious siren?"
    He was the son of one of the richest of the Rionnagan lairds and used to paying highly for his pleasures. Nonetheless, the amount named was enough for him to lift his eyebrow. "Ye had best hope she does no'
    disappoint me, my sweet," he said softly.
    Black Donagh waved the spiced cake in his hand with an expression of bliss on his face. "Disappoint?" he purred. "I think no', my laird."
    When dawn finally fingered its way through the heavy velvet curtains of the upstairs boudoir, the young laird lay sweat-dampened and satiated in the tangled sheets, his eyes hungry on the pale shape of the woman dressing before him. "Will ye no' stay with me?" he said throatily. "I will set ye up in your own house, ye can have a houseful o' servants to attend ye and none but me to satisfy."
    "But do ye no' live in the highlands, my laird?" she answered in her deep, husky voice. "It would no'
    amuse me to live so far away from the city."
    "Ye can have anything ye want, anything," he answered.
    She tossed the heavy bag of coins he had flung at her to make her stay with him till dawn. "This is what I want," she answered, "and I have taken all that ye have."
    "I can get more," the laird said eagerly. "I just need to speak with my father . . ."
    "Then come back when ye have more," she answered indifferently. He lunged across the bed and caught her arm, dragging her back onto the bed and ripping open her bodice so he could kiss her breasts. Suddenly he stilled, looking at her with dread. In the dim light filtering through the curtains, he could see three thin, translucent slits on the .side of her throat, which fluttered gently as she breathed. She did not attempt to resist as he tore the dress from her shoulders, revealing the wide, serrated fin that curved out of her spine, the frills of fin that ran from elbow to wrist. He understood now why she had insisted on snuffing all the candles before disrobing, despite his pleas for light, and why she had not allowed him free play with her body, teasing him unbearably by withdrawing each time he tried to caress her. He had thought it a game and it had excited him immensely. Now he knew there was a deeper reason for her teasing and tantalizing, but his lust for her was only heightened. He pressed his hot, urgent mouth to her flesh, and she lay still, watching him with mocking coolness.
    "Ye are an uile-bheist!" he cried. "They will stone ye to death if they should find out. If ye will no' come with me, I shall tell Donagh, I shall betray your secret!"
    She smiled and ran her webbed fingers through his sweat-damped hair. "Ye think Black Donagh does no'
    ken? Why do ye think I am so expensive?