by Claudy Conn
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Sneak Peek
About Claudy
BY Claudy Conn
Edited by Alicia Carmical
Cover by Dawn Sullivan
CONTENTS
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Sneak Peek
About Claudy
Copyright Page
Craving—First Thirst
By Claudy Conn
http://www.claudyconn.com
Copyright © 2017 by Claudy Conn
Edited by: Alicia Carmical
Cover Artist: Dawn Sullivan
All rights reserved
Published in the United States of America
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Names, characters, and events depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
Prologue
DEVIN MACLEOD
1875
I REMEMBER THE DAY I rode ahead of my lumbering coach. It was so long ago, but that day remains strongly emphasized in my memory. It was, for me, a turning point in my life.
Until then, I had spent a year conflicted by warring emotions.
I was on my way to MacLeod Castle—my ancestral home from London.
It had been a damned long trip, but along the way, I made promises to m’self, to m’late uncle, m’father and m’mother—promises I meant to keep.
I couldna go on wallowing in my solitude and grief. I had to pick myself up and do the right thing.
Finally, I could see the pinnacles of the home m’uncle had always told me one day would be mine. It was a sad fact.
As I approached our family seat, I stared at the fairy-tale castle of turrets and pinnacles against the blue sky. It was magnificent.
Awe swept through me and the feeling that always accosted me as a child, returned. I was proud of the men who had carried the title before me. I wanted to be, or at least try to be, as good and just as they.
In a few minutes, I would enter the castle and be addressed as his lordship by all the staff—some of whom would be strangers to me.
Here was a responsibility I meant to honor with fortitude and to the best of my ability.
I had not seen m’uncle since m’mother’s passing just over a year ago. I should have visited him because he had written and asked me to come. I meant to, but I thought I had time. I didn’t know he was ill. I should have known, but I didn’t.
Thus, I lost the chance to be with him in his last year.
I loved m’uncle—how had I not realized from his letters that he was ill?
When I received a letter from his solicitor advising me that m’uncle had passed quietly in his sleep, I had to read the words over and over for the unexpected, and unwelcome, truth to sink in.
I was the last one left in my immediate family.
He had no children, and I was next in line for the title, as well as the sole recipient of his considerable wealth. All mine, the title and all MacLeod estates. I would have preferred to have him alive and with me still.
When I recovered from the shock, at least two new emotions raced through m’heart.
One was profound grief.
M’uncle was a rare sort, forever jolly, forever kind. He had never married and had always treated me like a son. He and m’father had always been close.
I should have spent more time with him.
All through school, he maintained our bond by writing to me often when I was home with m’parents at MacLeod Manor. He would visit often when we couldn’t come to him at the castle.
His loss on top of both m’parents’ loss was deeply felt and I was overcome with sadness.
Selfishly, the second emotion I felt was a sudden determination to be a better man than I had ever been before.
This past year I had behaved like a self-absorbed bastard.
Bloody hell, as I look back, perhaps I deserved what was soon to become m’fate? Ah, but nae, nae, I dinnae think anyone deserved the fate I was slammed into.
Aye then, I had spent a devil of a year. I behaved as though I was surely hell-bent and hell-bound.
Excuses are just that, but if I give m’self one for the way I was that last year, it was that I was young—four and twenty. It was shortly after m’birthday that I lost both m’parents. First m’da, and then within months, m’dear mother.
It was said that m’mother died of grief after m’father’s passing. Aye, so they said, and so I know, for I watched it happen. I couldna do anything to stop it.
I went into a frenzy of misery and sought out the wrong kind of consolation.
I went through m’comfortable inheritance (m’father was m’uncle’s only and younger brother) and though not wealthy, he had managed to leave me quite enough to carry on his legacy. I am ashamed now to admit how I selfishly dived into excessive hedonism to forget…forget how helpless I had felt watching first m’father and then m’mother die. She went into a decline, right before m’eyes, and never recovered. Ye cannae know how useless I felt saying her name as her hand went limp in mine.
In short order, I ran to London from our estates just outside Inverness, and immediately got swept up into a whirlwind of drinking, gaming, and women—so many women.
I behaved like a coward unwilling to face life. There are never any excuses for weakness. I see that now.
Aye, but I was four and twenty…and bloody hell, I was on fire.
Women were luscious things meant to be revered and enjoyed, and I had enjoyed them.
Drink? Well, that allowed me to forget that I had lost all that was dear.
M’uncle’s passing changed everything. It was as though I woke up from an unending nightmare.
His passing made me realize how much I had to make up for.
I had been irresponsible and it was now time to be the man both m’father and uncle would wish me to be.
Ah, good intentions. Aye, but mine were pure and I was on the right road.
Those first months I set everything in order at m’late father’s estate. It was m’duty to make certain m’tenants had what they needed for their farms to thrive. It was m’duty to make certain m’father’s legacy was carried on as he would wish, and I did just that.
MacLeod Castle was only a half day away and I was busy between m’manor and the castle in those first months. Too busy for anything else becaus
e I dove right in and worked with m’late uncle’s estate man and MacLeod Castle continued to thrive, as did its tenants.
All was well, though…I couldna resist the charm of a barmaid now and then. Aye, I was only human, after all.
It was with the intention of taking the pretty Miss Sue, the Red Bull’s very fine barmaid, into the barn after a pint or two that I went there that damned night.
I wanted her lovely tits and ass beneath me. It was as simple as that, nothing more. I was a man wanting the feel of a woman in m’arms. She was a woman who wanted m’attentions.
I was enjoying a pint at a small table near the door and Miss Sue called out to me, with a smile and a wink. I raised m’glass to her.
Taking a sip of ale, I glanced towards the open double doors and went very still on the seat of m’chair. Aye, but there stood a beauty…oh, such a beauty. She was stunning!
She stood inside the doorway of the tavern and when our eyes met, she pushed her long blonde hair away from her shoulder and her cloak opened and came apart. I stared at her full swelling breasts nearly falling out of the low scooped bodice of her black velvet gown.
Our eyes had already met, and I found I couldna look away from her.
M’dick was hard and throbbing and m’brain was oddly fuzzy.
Her eyes sparkled deep hazel, and I fancied I saw a hint of amber in their recesses.
Her lips were cherry red and she licked them as I stared, and she smiled at me. She seemed, however, hesitant about entering the tavern.
I got to m’feet and as I moved towards her, her eyes never wavered from m’face. M’body was on fire, but I remember thinking it dinnae feel natural.
But a young man doesna always think when his cock does it for him. All I knew, all I saw was the beauty looking helpless and in need of help.
As I approached, I asked gently, lest I frighten her, “Are ye in need of assistance?”
“Yes, I am,” she said softly, so softly, with a glint in those amber tinged eyes.
I noted that her accent was English and I smiled, I hoped, reassuringly. “Far away from home?”
She gave me a quirky look but answered, “Very far. My coach has lost a wheel and my driver has been unable to repair the damage. He went up the road towards a nearby farm, but I came here in the hopes that I could acquire lodgings for my maid and myself for the night. But…I see this is only a tavern.”
I was surprised. “And yer maid left ye to walk here alone?”
“My maid remained in the coach. She is elderly and I did not know how far I would have to walk…”
“There is an inn just a bit farther down the road...in the center of the village. It is small, but quite clean and respectable. It should do for a night. Allow me to walk ye there,” I offered. It is what any gentleman would do, but to be honest, I dinnae have gentlemanly thoughts, or even plans in m’head right then. I was on fire for the lovely.
“Oh, would you? Thank you so very much,” she said, and put her gloved fingers on my bent arm.
Aye, I was unnaturally taken with her. But I gave that notion no thought.
Damn, but as I walked beside her, she spoke so quietly I had to bend to hear her and all I could think about was touching her full breasts. As she moved, one breast slipped out of her bodice and her nipple was taut and pink, and I stared.
She stopped, and said as she held it towards me, “Touch me if you want.”
I did, though I had a sudden urge to run. Now, I know why that was, instinct, but then, I thought it was because I was sure this was all moving too fast. I make it a rule to never take advantage of women. I have empathy for their position when they are unprotected in our society. It occurred to me, in spite of her forward manner, that she was alone and perhaps vulnerable. I didn’t want to do anything to her she might regret.
However, she put a stop to all such considerations.
She took m’hand and put it on her breast and I caved.
I was reckless and hungry and I fondled her, pulled at her nipple and teased her, pleased to hear her gasp with pleasure.
I bent m’head and got into position to suckle her exquisite perky pinks, but even as I heard her groan, she pushed me away and whispered, “No, not here. When we get to my room, I will give you a night you will never forget.”
She moved against me, making m’body ache for her…and even so, a warning light went off in m’brain. Something I couldna name, call it m’gut. I was, in spite of my hunger for her, wary in a way I had never experienced with any woman before. Again, something whispered in m’head—run!
I have asked m’self since that night, Devin, what were ye thinking? I wasn’t.
I ignored the instinct I should have followed. Och aye, and I led her towards the inn at a slow pace and tried to keep up a steady stream of conversation. She wasn’t very talkative, except to tell me she was about to fuck me to death.
That shut me up, as I had rarely heard a woman say anything close to that and I have had a bawdy wench or two in m’day.
It was a particularly dark night. There was no moon to light our way, but we made the walk undeterred. All the while I couldna shake the feeling that something was off about her, and about her story.
“As soon as we get to the inn, I’ll send a groom with a wagon to fetch yer maid and yer luggage,” I said as we passed the stables of the small inn.
She smiled up at me and whispered, “How kind you are.” She stood on her toes and kissed me then, hard…our first kiss and when she pulled away she told me, “My name is Allora Brently and I am on my way to Brently Manor. You will remember that when you awake.”
I was surprised again. Brently Manor had been abandoned years ago and had stood empty. When I awake? What did she mean by that? I supposed she wanted me to remember her. I said, because I knew Brently was in near ruins, “But…surely the old manor is not in any condition to receive ye?”
“Ah, but it will be in good time.”
“Time?” I scoffed. “Och, lass, it will take a great deal of time and…work. The place is in disrepair.” I felt some concern for her. After all, she was a woman, and it seemed without male protection.
“When one has time, it is of no consequence, you see,” she said and added, “have you ever thought what it might be like to be young and beautiful for all time?”
“Nae, it isn’t possible,” I answered. “So why think about it.”
“Because it is. It is very possible,” she said, and pressed up against me. “How old are you, sir?”
“I am about to turn five and twenty,” I said smiling. “M’birthday is next week.”
“Well then,” she said, “’tis time, Lord Devon of MacLeod…for you to grasp life with a fever and never let go.” Her arms went around my neck as she kissed me again, and it was a kiss of desperation and hunger.
I was taken by her kisses, by her touch, and was quite off balance.
Something about her intensity…about the blood she drew from my bottom lip as her teeth grazed over it, made me want to get her safely inside the inn and turn away for home. Aye, m’body ached to lie with her, ram m’self into her, but m’brain clicked off a warning I couldna deny.
The pretty, lively Sue was all the body I needed that night, m’logic drilled into me just in that moment.
I was not enamored with Allora Brently, and in fact, I felt wary now, more than I had during our walk towards the inn. Something was off about her…something about her repulsed me.
I took her into the inn and under the disapproving eye of the innkeeper, acquired a key for a room abovestairs and started to hand it to her.
“Walk me up,” she said.
I wanted to refuse, but felt compelled to do as she asked. M’brain said nae, yet I followed her upstairs.
“Look at me,” Allora said after she closed the door and leaned back against it. “Look deep into my eyes, Devin, and listen to me.”
As a moment ago, when she compelled me to walk her upstairs, I found I couldna look away.
/> “I have chosen you,” she said. “It is an honor you will one day thank me for. That’s right, you are about to enter a world where life is eternal. You are about to be mine forever!”
I felt her teeth sink into m’neck. I felt the blood drain from m’body slowly and then everything went dark!
~ One ~
PRESENT TIME
Bobbie Skye:
Manhattan, NY
I PUT DOWN THE box I was filling with personal items I just could not throw away. I have only a week left before I will be out of a job, and because my job was managing the apartment building where I live, I will also be out of an apartment.
The building is going condo. Boom!
I sealed the box and plopped on the borrowed couch that had served to comfort my ass for the last year, and sighed.
On the coffee table was my mail. Sure that it was nothing but bills, I had not yet looked through the few pieces scattered there.
Negligently, I fingered through the envelopes and found one that looked business-like. Hopeful, so hopeful it was from one of the companies that had interviewed me, I quickly ripped it open and read:
Dear Miss Skye,
MacLeod Castle, which is thirty miles outside Inverness, Scotland, has been in the MacLeod family for centuries.
Until recently, I have managed the estate for his lordship, who is abroad.
I find my activity at my firm hinders my ability to properly look after the estate and its neighboring properties.
Therefore, we have been put to the task of hiring an estate manager and should you accept, that would be your position at MacLeod. This position would give you great leeway in the smooth running of his lordship’s estates.
Your name was submitted with high praise and a staunch recommendation.
Attached herewith, you will find a contract with a generous offer, as we realize you will be taking on quite an ambitious job and taking it on with little to no assistance.
Also, please note, a bedroom suite will be prepared for you at MacLeod with everything you might need for your comfort.