Moon Borne (Halcyon Romance Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

he refused to abort his plan. Let Kyme sleep on the floor. Better if she hated him now.
    She would surely hate him later.
    ***
    Kyme awoke, stiff and sore from sleeping on the cabin’s hard wood floor. As she rolled to the side, her stomach went in the opposite direction. Heaving, she crawled to the chamber pot and vomited. Before she finished, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her, held back her hair, and wiped her mouth with a handkerchief. The arms then drew her backward and surrounded her in their warmth. It might have been pleasant, if her stomach didn’t threaten to perform an encore. “ Uhh …” She gripped her head, attempting to steady it. Hot breath caressed her ear.
    “Never been on a ship before?” The slaver’s chest vibrated as he suppressed a chuckle. “The next few days are going to be very entertaining. You ought to have told me, proud Amazone . I could have made this easier for you.” He picked her up and carried her to the bed. After he placed her on the plush mattress, he tucked the blankets in around her, ignoring her feeble protests. A gentle creaking echoed. The slaver had opened the windows wider to let in more of the fresh sea air.
    A few moments later, he eased down beside her, his heavy weight causing her to roll closer to him. “Here, Cook’s special tea for growing sea legs.” He raised her with one hand and settled in behind her. His chest to her back, and his legs falling on either side of her, he lifted a mug to her lips. She dutifully swallowed the bitter liquid.
    After she finished the brew, she dared to ask, “How long?” She had to discern her enemy in order to defeat it.
    “It’s different for everyone.” He lifted and dropped one shoulder. “You are young and healthy, so I imagine not more than a day or two.”
    She laughed. “Healthy perhaps, but I’m afraid you’ve been misinformed. I am not young.”
    He trailed the fingers of his left hand along her arm before placing his lips at her ear and whispering, “How long have you lived in such self-denial, Kyme?”
    His caress made her shiver, and she purred as she relaxed deeper into him. She shouldn’t share anything with this man, yet her tongue formed the words, “One hundred and forty-three years.”
    “Gods, that’s a long time.” He let out a slow breath. “In all those years, no man has ever touched you?” The timbre of his voice thickened. His hand wavered in the air for an instant before his finger accompanied his words, tracing her collarbone and leaving a trail of heated skin. With a tender stroke, he drew a line between her breasts, down her belly, and curving around her thigh. Why, oh why, did she permit him? Her hazy mind formed no argument for resistance.
    He toyed with the buttons of her shirt, well, his shirt. Since she hadn’t bathed and her tunic was soiled, she’d donned one of his garments.
    The hem fell past her knees, but on the bed, the fabric had ridden up, catching her at mid-thigh. A feverish heat spread across her skin. Her limbs grew heavy so she allowed her entire weight to rest against the slaver. Mmm … He was so warm, so solid. Her chest rose and fell in wanton pants as the slaver’s hand inched upward along her inner thigh. She moaned and he froze.
    “ Amazone , you’ll be the death of me,” he growled, jerking away his hand. “I need some air.” Untangling from her, he retreated from the bed.
    ***
    Steady those hands. Button up your shirt. Arsenius turned his back to Kyme and finished dressing. The opium he’d given her for the seasickness was having an unexpected side effect. The ambrosial scent of her arousal blasted through the cabin and damn, he longed to pleasure her. She’d hate him even more if he did.
    Though it violated every argument he’d made to himself, he hadn’t been able to watch her suffer on the floor. It would have been so much wiser. Logic was easy to listen to away from her, yet every time he glimpsed the Amazon…
    He’d even been a