Chapter Twenty-Three #2
Briony took his hand in both of hers and kissed it, letting her lips linger on his skin. It was a strange gesture, and he did not know what to say, so he just nodded and rushed away, her slavish gratitude making him squirm inside. He was not worthy of it, nor of any woman.
Cullen walked down to the fields and sat amongst the wildflowers. He stared out to sea, imagining Lowri on a ship heading home to Scotland. Then he put his head in his hands and despaired.
‘What’s this? Brooding again, Cullen?’ said Connie, waving a greeting. She stood over him, hands on her hips. ‘You’ve no time for that.’
He glared at her, hoping she would go away.
‘Twas a foul thing, what happened last night,’ she said.
‘Aye. It was.’
‘How is Lowri?’
‘She’s gone off somewhere. That lass always goes her own way.’
‘Aye, she does. My man just returned from Larne, and he saw her go into the tavern. He would have followed, but you know that is dangerous, given that wrecking last night. Heap’s blood is up after all that violence, Butcher’s too.’
Cullen sprang to his feet, hands in fists.
‘I tell you this out of loyalty, Cullen, not to accuse the lass, for I like her. And you’ll not be doing her any harm, or you’ll have me to contend with.
But when Lowri gets home, you’d best have it out with her about what she was doing there.
’ She laid a hand on his arm. ‘I’d hate to have you cuckolded. ’
***
All was quiet. The inn’s occupants were sleeping off a night of debauchery, no doubt. Lowri banged on what she hoped was Butcher’s door, and, after a deal of cursing, he opened it.
The man was dishevelled, as if he had just crawled out of bed, but he was still heart-meltingly handsome. His eyes widened, and he raked his fingers through his shock of black hair, favouring Lowri with a devastating grin which made her breath catch.
‘Well, lass. I have a pounding headache from my indulgences last night, but you have banished it like a breath of fresh air.’
His charm grated on her. ‘For someone who witnessed terrible murder just hours ago, you seem remarkably unmoved.’
Butcher shrugged. ‘That wrecking was not my doing, and life must go on.’ He flicked his hand to beckon her inside, but Lowri hesitated at the threshold of sin.
‘Come on. I don’t bite, lass. Not unless you want me to.’
She took a deep breath and walked in. The door closed behind her with a little click.
Silence stretched, closing in, and Butcher stood too close.
He was dressed in just his shirt, which gaped at the neck, revealing a forest of ink-black hair over a muscular chest. There was triumph in his dark eyes as he stared down at her and took her chin between his thumb and forefinger. She was skewered by his gaze.
‘What can I do for you, Lowri?’
Her legs were jelly, and she forgot to breathe for a moment as his mouth inched towards hers. She brushed his hand away. ‘I came to get the truth of it, about Cullen, I mean.’
‘Must we have that cur’s name between us? I thought you came for me.’ Again that smile, drawing her in, his gaze intent, as if she was the only thing he could see.
Lowri tried to hang on to her wits. ‘I cannot believe Cullen would wreck a ship and murder those poor souls. Nothing I’ve seen makes him capable of that villainy. And it was your men on the beach, too. I saw that fellow, Heap.’
‘Do you think I can control that beast? He does as he pleases, and he was just after the rich pickings, like all the poor folk around here. I had nought to do with that wreck, but Cullen, now, he was there from the start. He lit those fires to draw the vessel to her doom.’
‘You’re lying. Tell me. Did you do it?’
‘Ah, women only see what they choose to see. Are you sweet on him, lass?’
‘No,’ she said, hoping the lie did not show on her face. And she did not miss the fact that Butcher had dodged her question.
He shrugged. ‘It’s alright, lass. It matters nought to me if you are besotted with that wretch. We can still get our revenge.’ His voice was as dark and smooth as treacle, eyes roaming over her face like a dog over a juicy bone.
Butcher’s arms came to her waist. ‘If you thought that I was lying about the wreck, you wouldn’t come here to be alone with me.
You would curse me as the worst villain and want nothing to do with me.
’ He stroked back her hair. ‘But you are here, Lowri, and to me that can only mean that you have opened your eyes to the failings of that dog you are shackled to. What has he done, eh, finally shown his true nature?’
‘No, it’s just, I think he has betrayed me.’
His grin broadened. ‘With that lass, he took from the wreck?’
She gasped and took a step away from him. ‘How do you know about her?’
‘I have my spies everywhere, and I watch you, Lowri. You must know that.’
The thought of Butcher spying on her made her skin crawl. Had he seen Cullen taking her in the fields, or by that church, the last time they were in Larne?
‘Do not fear me, lass. I watch you only because I want you. I see you, lass, and not just your beauty, but that wild soul, yearning to be free, your passion for life, which is only matched by your unhappiness. It is a torment not having you, a tearing kind of desire that I will do anything to satisfy. Can you not see it in my eyes? They speak the truth.’
Indeed, there was a longing there which seemed sincere.
‘I know Cullen has a terrible hold over you, but what he doesn’t know can’t wound him, or harm your cause to find your freedom. What does it matter who gets you with child as long as it frees you? And it will be our secret. You will always know what he does not.’
‘And will you keep that secret?’
‘Of course. I can be relied upon to keep my mouth shut.’
The sincerity in Butcher’s eyes hardened to desire. ‘Just lie down with me. I can put a bairn in your belly to satisfy Griffin Macaulay.’
‘I’m not in the business of satisfying him.’
‘Then satisfy me instead, lass,’ he said seductively, pulling Lowri against him.
‘Cullen no longer has a hold over me,’ said Lowri, knowing she was encouraging Butcher, but Cullen’s deception about Donnan filled her heart with hate.
‘So you no longer care about your friends?’
She did not answer him. ‘I can do as I please, Butcher. Leave this place if I want to. I just need someone to take me back to Scotland.’
‘Ah, you don’t want to be doing that. Why not stay and keep me company and get your revenge on Cullen for all the weeks he’s kept you a prisoner of your conscience?’
‘Yet I fear you don’t have a conscience.’
‘I am not so burdened. You are right. It is the only way to live this life, free, sucking in my fill of pleasure and adventure. Don’t you want that too, lass?’
She could do this and pay Cullen back for his treachery.
There was no longer any need for a bairn to come to free her so-called friends.
Her only purpose in letting Butcher have her was to hurt Cullen, and once she let Butcher inside her body, Cullen would never forgive her.
And Butcher was sure to tell him, to humiliate him and prove he had the upper hand.
The man was a sight to behold. It would be no chore, and why should she not?
Butcher’s full mouth inched towards hers. Lowri’s heart fluttered at the smell of him, the heat coming off his body where it pressed to her belly. He did not break his gaze as his strong arms gripped tighter.
‘Butcher, I need money for the crossing to Scotland and a horse when I get there,’ she said.’
‘And what will you do for me in return, beautiful one?’ he growled, leaning in.
‘My brother will pay you back, tenfold, when I am home safe.’
‘That’s not nearly enough.’
His lips met hers. Butcher’s kiss was unexpectedly gentle, his lips gliding over Lowri’s in a smooth, practised way, his arousal evident in the iron bar pressing into her.
He moaned his lust into her mouth. But she felt nothing, just mild embarrassment.
Lowri tried to hang on to her resentment of Cullen.
She slid her hands up Butcher’s arms and around his neck, pulling him in, but she felt like a whore going through the motions of passion.
With Cullen, that passion bubbled up inside her like a fountain, uncontrollable and natural. It was a hunger, a scorching need.
Butcher deepened his kiss, steering her over to the bed, hands roaming into her bodice – hurried, grasping, pinching her nipples. ‘Does that rouse you? Do you like it rough or gentle? You are so beautiful, Lowri. I have wanted you for so long,’ he breathed.
But he was all rush – greedy, grabbing. Butcher didn’t smell right, his mouth was all wrong, his touch mechanical. She was a doll in his hands, to be posed and played with. Lowri pushed him back. ‘Why do you want me?’
‘Why does any man want a woman? I feel my desire for you deep in my loins. Your soul calls to mine, for it is wild like mine.’
‘I want your word, you will take me home.’
‘I’ll take you anywhere and any way you like.’
Lowri wanted to laugh at the absurdity of his words, his utter lack of sincerity, so she kissed him back to cover it up.
His mouth went to her neck. When Cullen kissed her there, her skin stiffened with goosebumps, and her loins flooded with heat.
With this man, there was nothing, just mild impatience and revulsion at the wet streak his lips left.
Butcher’s practised charm was not stirring.
It was grating. Cullen didn’t say sweet things.
He just did them. He didn’t tell her she was beautiful, because he didn’t have to.
He just made her feel that way. He may grunt at her instead of spouting flattery, but they communicated in other ways, sensual ways.
Over Butcher’s shoulder, she could see the bed, the sheets muddled, an empty whisky bottle on the table, his clothes strewn all over. The room reeked of sin. With a sinking heart, Lowri realised she could not do it.