Chapter 21

Chapter 21

She knew better than to grab onto farm equipment and work like a horse. Though she would have made the perfect wife for the farmer, she definitely wasn’t suited to being the wife of an earl. But it had been so long since she’d done anything that felt like she was using her body. A woman could only do so many push-ups in her room before her arms started losing muscle.

The plow tugged her back while her legs forced her forward. She felt like she was finally working for the first time since she’d arrived here. Her legs burned. Her lungs ached. And it was the best feeling she’d had in a very long time.

So by the time she was done, Luna didn’t care if she’d shocked them. She didn’t care if the men called her a witch and argued that she should be sent from this place in chains. She felt like herself again.

Walking back to their side, she planted her hands on her hips and looked between the two of them. Their shocked expressions said a lot. “What?” she asked. “Why do the two of you appear incapable of closing your mouths?”

The farmer was the first one to answer her, and he was all too pleased with himself. “Never seen a woman do that ever in my life. You’re impressive, miss...”

“Winchester,” she filled in for him. “My name is Miss Winchester.”

“Well, Miss Winchester. I’d hire you in a minute to work for me if this young man didn’t already have you tied down. You’d have made a fine wife for someone like me, but I think you’re more suited to a man like him.” The farmer chuckled into his fist. “I might be a bit too old for you as well, although I don’t like thinking of that to be honest.”

“You’re never too old. Age is a state of mind.” Sure, she was being a little too kind to the old man. But he was sweet and thoughtful and so few people were these days.

She would forever love the people who worked the land. They reminded her of her mother and of the good days when she’d spent hours in the sun, surrounded by greenery and lovely smells. If only she could return to that life, Luna thought maybe she’d be happier than she currently was.

Although... Looking at Luther reminded her that she’d been a lot happier lately. And that was terrifying, of course, but it was also wonderful to know that she could still feel that happiness.

“I’m afraid you cannot hire me,” she said, to drown out her own thoughts. “But you can have me for the afternoon, I suppose. Luther and I will do whatever it is you’d like. And I’ll fix what he doesn’t do a good job at.”

“Fix?” Luther snarled. “You won’t have to fix any of my work. I do a good enough job for the old man.”

She shared a look with the farmer before nodding. “Sure. Anyway, I’ll teach him if he starts doing it wrong again. I promise.”

“You have a deal.” The farmer held out his hand for her to shake, and then they were working. For hours. She hadn’t toiled with the earth this long in years, since she was a child, and that had made her forget how difficult it was to live this kind of life.

By the time the sun was on the other side of the horizon, Luna’s shoulders were numb. Luther didn’t look much better than her. They both ended up in a heap on the ground beside Farmer Barren’s house while he went inside to get them a drink of water.

“I’d forgotten what it feels like,” she said, breathlessly staring up at the clouds moving past.

“What what feels like?”

“Working like this. Spending your entire day forcing the earth to do what you want and having it battle you every step of the way. It’s hard work.” She pressed a hand to her thundering chest. “Good work. But I think I’ll sleep harder tonight than I have in years.”

“You didn’t do this before trying to steal from me?” He tilted his head on the ground and watched her.

She couldn’t help but notice how lovely he looked with grass blades tangled in his hair and dirt smudged on his cheeks. He’d become someone so different from who she’d thought he would be when they first met. She should be angry about that. Luna had always been able to read people rather well, and instead, this earl had put her right out of sorts.

Instead, all she could focus on was how handsome he was. How the sunlight had turned his skin into a lovely shade of bronze and there was the smallest smattering of freckles across his nose. Like he’d been kissed a few dozen times by the rays of light.

Damn it. She was being fanciful, and all he had to do was look at her. What would she do if he showed any real interest? Good lord. She’d make a fool of herself.

Turning her head away from the sight of him, she blew out a long breath. “Well, no. I spend most of my time in London these days. There’s more to steal there, and that’s become my living. I’m good at finding things of value and I’m good at handing them to the right people to sell.”

“Ah, of course.” He rolled onto his belly and started picking at individual blades of grass. “Do you like that life? I suppose that’s more what I’m asking.”

Did she? No, not really. Luna didn’t enjoy stealing from others and ruining their lives. She didn’t like making people unhappy and she certainly didn’t want to spend any more time with those horrible gangs.

She shook her head, forcing herself to hold eye contact with him so he could see the truth in her gaze. “No, I don’t like the life I’m living. But what else is there for someone like me?”

For a moment, she thought he’d say something. His eyes heated and his cheeks turned bright red. As though he were embarrassed. She supposed that was a normal reaction to someone admitting how bad their life was when he lived in a luxurious manor with everything he wanted at his fingertips.

He said nothing, though. He just stared at her with those warm eyes and rosy cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t say these things to you when I know this is temporary. Whenever this plan finishes, I’ll go back to that life. And it’s not that bad, really. I promise. So many other people have it far worse off than I do. I’ll always have my sisters to fall back on. And Martin.”

The last bit changed something inside him. Martin’s name was the wrong thing to say, because Luther bared his teeth in a horrible looking snarl. “Who?”

His canines were pointed, she realized. Jagged edged and sharp, like he had the mouth of a wolf. Not a man. “Martin?” she repeated. “Maeve’s husband? I told you about him.”

And just like that, all the anger simmered down. He closed his mouth, though she wondered if those horrible fangs had disappeared, and cleared his throat. “Ah, yes. Of course. You had told me about him. My apologies, Luna, I’d forgotten.”

Was that jealousy? Had he gotten angry at the mere existence of another man in her life?

She should be angry with him. She should rage that he’d gotten so upset in such a short amount of time, but she was almost... flattered?

No. Absolutely not. This had gone on for too long if she was happy that his wolf came out whenever she mentioned another man. Luna had to get herself together and fast. Or she’d end up drowning in these feelings and that wouldn’t be good for anyone involved.

The internal berating she’d given herself almost worked, but then he moved. He rolled away from her and sat up, hands suspended over his knees for a moment, before he stood.

“Where are you going?” she asked, sitting up herself. What else could she do? He was the only way she had to get home.

Luther took a few steps away from the farm before pausing and shaking his head. “I just... I’m sorry for reacting like that. I have no right to you, I know that.”

“You have some right. Many people seem to think you’re my husband.” She thought joking might ease the tension in the air.

It didn’t. If anything, her words only made everything so much more tense between them. And she didn’t know why. Or how. Or what was happening right now, because he shouldn’t be angry with her. Not when all she’d done was mention that she had someone else supporting her.

He rolled his shoulders and something shifted underneath his skin. Or perhaps that was another being who fought to get out. “I don’t think joking right now is helping, Luna.”

She sighed and walked up behind him, so close she could have touched his back if she wanted to. “I know. I just don’t understand what’s happening right now. You’re so upset, and I didn’t... Well, I didn’t think I...”

He interrupted her stammering. “A good man would tell you to run. A good man would explain to you that there is more than just me wanting you right now, and that I know I cannot have you. Not when I’m like this and you are who you are.”

He wanted her? What did he mean by that? Did he want to turn around and kiss her because she’d give anything to have him do that. He had to know that she felt the same way. Luna wanted him to touch her. To kiss her. She wanted to taste a being who was truly wild.

None of that could be said. The words wouldn’t slip from her tongue because she wasn’t Maeve. She wasn’t so confident that she knew what to do with a man who shook in front of her with need.

Instead, all she could do was reach out and put her hand flat against his quivering back. “You are a good man, Luther.”

“No, I’m not.” He spun so quickly she didn’t see him move. Strong hands clutched her waist, yanking her against his sweat covered chest. “I’m a wolf.”

His lips descended upon hers, and she forgot what it meant to breathe.

Luther kissed like a starving man. Like a dying man. As if he’d been waiting for the moment when he could finally kiss her, and it didn’t matter if that meant he’d lose his head in a few moments. His life depended on her lips on his, her breath in his lungs.

A low growl shuddered underneath her hands that were somehow pressed against his heart. The sound rumbled through her palms and trailed down to her feet like she’d been struck by lightning.

He flexed his hands against her waist, his fingertips suddenly digging through the fabric in sharp points. Claws? Oh, who cared?

Luna wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him tighter against her. She couldn’t stand on her tiptoes like the girls in the story books, but that only meant every inch of her pressed against every inch of him and he was so warm, hotter than a wood stove in the middle of winter.

An answering hunger rolled through her body with every press of his lips, every shift in angle, every slow glide of his tongue. Her blood heated in her veins until she swore her body steamed with need for him.

All too soon, he pulled away from her mouth. With a gasp, then a following snarl, he looked down at her with shock in his eyes. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“I don’t regret it for a second,” she replied. “I’ve wanted to do that since the first time I saw you.”

“You were on the roof. In the cold.”

“I wasn’t thinking that I was all too cold.” Luna laughed and ducked her head so he wouldn’t see how brightly her cheeks burned. “I didn’t think this would ever happen between us. I never thought...”

She couldn’t finish her sentence. But she thought the words.

Luna had never thought she would ever find a man who found her pretty enough to bed. Let alone one who wanted to tell people she was his wife. And if this man had deigned to ask her to become his mistress, she’d say yes without question.

She’d never thought to have a family or a husband. All Luna cared about was a man in her life who thought she was beautiful. To find that for even a few weeks was both a blessing and a curse.

A low, breathy sound erupted from between his lips. He released his hold on her waist to cup her cheek. And it was claws, she realized. Long, wicked tips that gently carved a stinging line from just below her eye to her jaw. “Luna, my moon. I thought you were like any other woman when we first met. Then I realized you were the most frustrating, confusing person I’ve ever met. But now I know you are more wolf than I am.”

The words should scare her, but they didn’t. She grinned into his grasp. “You think I’m a wolf?”

“Wolves and women are more similar than you think. Both are hunted their entire lives, captured by some, but never domesticated by anyone with a hard hand. If a man is lucky, the wolf might choose him as a companion but never as their master.” That claw dug into her chin, forcing her head to tilt and accept the kiss he gently pressed against her mouth. “I see the wild in your eyes, just as I see it in the sky at midnight. You are made of magic and moonlight, Luna. It is I who am lucky to have ever met you. A lifetime of basking in your silver rays would never be enough.”

And oh, how those words washed over the old wounds from years of being called an amazon. Too large to be loved by any man.

Perhaps she’d been waiting for the right man to handle her magic.

She tucked her head against the small hollow at the base of his neck, ducking her head so she could press her cheek to his shoulder. They were the same height, but he still made her feel small sometimes.

“Perhaps there is a wolf in me,” she murmured against his skin.

“Would you like to find out?”