A Storm of Pleasure Read Online Free Page A

been a moment, when his ice-blue eyes seemed to glow with some mysterious light and when her will seemed to fade, replaced by a call that rippled through her blood. Gavin of Durness shifted then in his sleep, reaching his hand out to the place where she’d lain.
    “Angel,” he whispered.
    So drunk that he thought her a Valkyrie first and then an angel! Katla shook her head in disbelief and looked up and down his sleeping form. Not an ounce of fat marred his body. Tight, lean muscles covered a tall frame, and she felt their strength as he’d held her and caressed her and when he pulled her on top of him. Because he’d not bothered to undress her or himself, they’d tupped in their garments so she’d seen little of his body. Now though, she realized he’d fallen asleep with his trews loosened and his cock was there for her to see. As he whispered “Angel” again, it filled and hardened as though ready once more for another bout of bedplay.
    Katla smothered a laugh, afraid to bring him out of his sleep or to gain his attention again. Not afraid of swiving him, but of being discovered before she’d made all her plans. Her brother’s fate now lay squarely on her shoulders, and she had little time to discover something valuable to the Truthsayer, something she could use to bargain with him for his help.
    The earl used the Truthsayer’s talents only for the most important matters, and her brother was not high enough in his esteem to warrant such an intervention. The Scots’ king had sent questions of his own about charges of treason against her father and brother and was demanding that Kali be sent to him for judgment. Only Earl Magnus’s own journey to the Norse king had delayed the matter. But on his return, expected in weeks, she did not doubt that the reprieve would end. Once Harald turned Kali over to the earl, there would be no guarantee of his safety or his life.
    Standing now, she gathered her hair and tied it back. During the climb down the steep cliff to the cave, she’d lost her head cloth and the leather strap that bound her hair. No doubt the unruly mass of pale blond curls had made the Truthsayer think she looked like an angel.
    She smiled then, for no one in her life had ever thought her to be such a soft creature as that. Hellion was more the claim and the curse, spoken in anger by her stepmother and her father as she tried time and time again to be more than just a daughter to the great warrior Sven of Gairsay.
    And more than just the daughter of a freed slave woman who’d caught the eye of the powerful chieftain. Freeing her mother as she struggled to give birth to his child had been Sven’s only act of kindness, and it was said that Katla only had status in her father’s household because she resembled her dead mother so closely.
    Searching around the cave, she found a blanket and covered Gavin with it.
    This man was a stranger. He had used some strange power to draw her into his embrace and to make her lose her own will. At least for a short time…but even when her mind had cleared of the haze of his control, she could not make herself stop him.
    Truly, she’d never felt anything like the sizzling sensations that pulsed through her body and soul as he touched and caressed her. Harald’s attentions had not been unpleasant, but never had they caused the waves of pleasure and desire that this man had. Small spasms yet rippled deep within her, and part of her wished to wake him, to crawl back into his embrace so she could feel them again…and again.
    Shaking her head, she forced away such thoughts and walked around him to the rocky entrance. The roar of the ocean was louder there than the rushing of the river from overhead. She shielded her eyes from the sun and searched for the small, hidden trail on one side of the entrance. Climbing down was difficult, but climbing back up along the steep and slippery path would be even more treacherous. Katla reached down, gathered the length of her tunic