Claimed & Seduced Read Online Free PDF

into the forest again. Around twenty mins later, another farm came into sight, this one familiar. Jarlath hesitated, his heart skipping a beat as he struggled with his decision. This wasn’t a good idea, not when he should be at the castle whittling down his list to one marriageable woman.
    But he didn’t give Black the signal to walk on when his beest pulled up outside the gate leading to Keira’s dwelling—an attractive cream farmhouse with two levels. Instead, Jarlath dismounted, opened the gate and led Black into the yard. He tethered his cambeest to a hitching post.
    Someone was singing, the words in a foreign language. The language of the Cawdor, he thought with a frown. Ellard had said Keira came from Gramite.
    He knocked and the singing ceased. Footsteps signaled someone was coming to answer the door. He stepped back, heart pounding. Was he walking into the parlor of their enemy? Ellard hadn’t mentioned anything about the House of Cawdor, and by mutual consent they’d ignored the subject of Keira after leaving her yesterday.
    The door flew open and the scent of berries and baking flooded his senses.
    Keira blinked at him in clear confusion. “Prince Jarlath.”
    Jarlath hesitated now that this new knowledge battered his brain. Was this a honeycomb trap? Aware of the lengthening silence, he said the first thing that entered his mind. “I’ve come for pie.”

Chapter Three
    K eira stared at Prince Jarlath, took in the black eye in the aristocratic face, the ruddy cheeks, the dusting of stubble and the curtain of untidy black hair before his firm lips with the hint of sharp canines distracted her, brought a flash of a warmth. A tingle.
    He was real. He was here—standing right in front of her—and he wanted pie.
    “I’ve come at a bad time,” he said, a flash of chagrin making him seem less princelike. “I’m sorry for the interruption.”
    “No!” She seized his arm and tugged before he could retreat. She stared at her pale green-tinged fingers, felt the ripple of muscle from his hard forearm, even through the black sleeve of his tunic. Heat surged to her face, and she snatched her hand away. “Sorry. I…ah…you don’t have to leave. How is your eye?”
    “It looks worse than it feels. The bruising will heal quickly.”
    “Ah, that’s good.” Stupid, stupid fool. She was behaving like a jackass rabbit, drunken and silly from gorging on allyweed. It was that stupid dream, of course.
    The hot, naked dream full of her vivid imagination and fantasies.
    That cursed hotness in her face. Without fail, the prince would notice her vivid green cheeks. Gah! She thought she’d outgrown broadcasting her emotions long ago, all emotion sucked out of her by a stern father—the leader of the House of Cawdor—who demanded obedience. She sucked in a calming breath and backed away.
    “Come in. The pies are cooking. They’re not done yet.” There, she sounded almost normal. Bolstered by this, she risked a glance in his direction. What she saw almost buckled her knees. Sweet, hot lust blazed from his moss-green eyes. No, not moss green, she decided as she stared, ensnared by his gaze. His irises were a curious color—a dark green in the center while there were bands of light green around the outside. Stunning, even with the decoration of bruises.
    “I can wait.”
    “But what about your duties? And where is your guard dog?”
    Prince Jarlath shrugged. “I rose earlier than usual. No one was awake and I saw no reason to disturb anyone.”
    “But you’re the prince.”
    He grimaced. “I’m a man first.”
    Keira cocked her head, his expression and tone prompting curiosity. “People don’t see you as a man?”
    “They see me as an opportunity to exploit.”
    “Ah,” she said. “This, I know something about. My father sought to marry me off to a man who brought wealth and power to his house. We are—were—both tools.”
    She’d said more than she should have. He’d start asking questions. He