By Love Enslaved (52 page)

Then Keavy did raise her hand, slowly and cautiously, clearly hoping to touch his soft golden-brown feathers. Yet she did not have to reach far. The eagle raised himself up and stretched out, extending the tip of one great wing straight toward Keavy’s face.

She closed her eyes as the smooth dark gold feathers brushed gently over her cheek and the surface of her hair. Then the bird settled back onto his branch, still watching her.

Keavy could not speak for a moment. She could only gaze back with a look of wonder in her green eyes, clearly understanding that she stood in the presence of something magical. “All my life I have heard the tales of such things as this,” she whispered. “Tales of those who had the power to change their shape if they chose—into a hunting wolf or a leaping salmon or even a great golden eagle. I can only believe that this must be what you are.”

The bird ruffled his feathers again and opened and closed his sharp, curving beak, though he made no sound. “And if you have power enough to take the form of one so magnificent as the eagle, you must be a great druid—or maybe even a king.”

The bird gave a short cry and cocked his head.

“Always I will remember this,” Keavy said, her eyes shining, and took a step back.

The eagle raised his wings as though ready to take flight; but instead he carefully preened the feathers of his right wing and then dropped one golden-brown feather to the fresh new grass below the birch tree. As Keavy watched, entranced, the eagle did the same with his left wing, and a second gold-brown feather fell to earth. At last the great bird ducked his head and ran his curving black beak through the plumage over his heart, and dropped a third and final feather to the grass.

Then, with a loud cry, the eagle leaped up from his branch and climbed into the air on great strokes of his powerful wings. Keavy swung her head to follow his flight, her pale hair heavy as it swept behind her. The eagle circled overhead, waiting until she picked up the three feathers from the grass; and then, with a last cry of farewell, he soared away on the currents of the sky until he was lost from sight.

By Love Enslaved

Phoebe Conn

Every house has its secrets…

Captured on the isle of Erin by raiding Norsemen, Brendan has spent the last several years as a slave, passed from one owner to the next. Now the property of a prosperous Danish farmer, he passes the time playing family members against each other. All the while bargaining himself one step closer to a near-impossible dream. Escape—and home.

His regards his current mistress as little more than a pagan bitch. Until her unexpected kindness rouses a completely new—and unwanted—feeling. Desire.

Dana wants only to have the family farm run smoothly while her father and brother are away for the summer. It’s not her fault that her aunt can’t control her female servants’ lusting after Brendan, but the belligerent slave is now her responsibility nonetheless.

Except he’s different from any slave she’s ever known. He’s rakish and charming, and his fine horsemanship is an asset she could use…if only he’d obey. Risky flirtation and magic kisses soon become a dangerous passion that burns away the line between mistress and slave.
 

But if she gives him his heart’s desire—freedom—it could cost her everything. Especially her heart.

This book was previously published.

Warning: A Celt slave fights for his freedom and the love of the Viking woman he adores in an unforgettable adventure with love as the ultimate prize.
 

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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

11821 Mason Montgomery Road Suite 4B

Cincinnati OH 45249

By Love Enslaved

Copyright © 2012 by Phoebe Conn

ISBN: 978-1-61921-400-2

Edited by Linda Ingmanson

Cover by Kim Killion

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First
Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
electronic publication: Novmber 2012

www.samhainpublishing.com