Page 47

I had to find out if she was real and true.

“Léonie,” I said, pushing off the fence and walking toward her. “Come with me. I know where you can get a lot of berries.”

“I’ll come too,” Faustine said eagerly behind me.

“I didn’t ask you.”

She huffed, but my eyes were all on Léonie, a pink flush on her cheeks, a little white tooth worrying her bottom lip.

And she followed me right away, her trust sending a heady rush of blood all down to my cock.

I was going to find out who this woman was, because she was going to be 21 soon. Old enough to offer a bride-price to her father.

We wound our way up the mountains, Léonie following obediently behind me. Her smell was all up in my nostrils, that delicate wild mint and dittany scent that meant I knew she loved being in the mountains as much as I did.

She was my twin soul, the one the ancestors had sent just for me.

Everything in her sung to me, called to me.

Mme and Da were against this match. The Pinoteaux could not be trusted, they warned me over and over.

“Can’t you find any other girls you like?” Mme had cried just last night.

But no, no, I couldn’t.

There were plenty of girls around.

But none like her. . .

The effect she had on me made me angry, my gut tightening at the way her scent seemed to burn through my whole body, and when I had helped her up to where juneberries grew in a wild purple tangle, I took Léonie Pinoteaux’s chin with my fingers and kissed her.

It was nothing like I expected, her lips unbelievably soft underneath mine, and the rush of possessiveness I felt surprised me with its vehemence.

My cock was throbbing, pressing against the thin fabric of Léonie’s dress as she shyly reached out her hands for my shirt, and I could barely repress a lustful groan as she tightened her fingers against my chest.

This girl was mine. I put an arm around her waist, crushing her close to me, and was only able to drag myself away when she gasped in shock at the feel of my tongue plunging into her mouth.

My heart was pounding and my eyes were glued to where my kisses had made her pretty lips even plumper.

For a moment I wanted to flip up her skirt and take her right here on the hillside, and I could barely make myself step back.

Because I knew she would have done exactly as I wanted, and the knowledge was equal parts terrifying and thrilling.

“This is the best place to find these berries. Grab some,” I said roughly, and Léonie instantly plunged her fingers into the bushes.

Ancestors, that kiss had almost knocked me on my ass.

“Ouch!” she cried suddenly.

“What happened?”

Léonie pulled her finger back and there was a line of blood spiraling around her ring finger, dripping down in bright scarlet drops and coating her nail.

“I guess there was a thorn there,” she whispered.

“You should look first,” I said sternly.

“But you told me to,” she replied, blinking those big blue eyes at me, the pale lashes sweeping over her freckled cheeks.