Entwined by Kristen Callihan

he had a proper substitute, one that he could move with ease, that he could regain his confidence.”
    The corners of Lu’s pink lips curled in a soft smile. “That was kind of you, Eamon.”
    “It was something I could do.” Eamon touched a finger to the metal. “I can do more. I can fashion arms and legs for those wounded at Waterloo. I can help.”
    She glanced up, and her dark eyes narrowed. “But why do you need real human limbs?”
    “To study. I need to understand how they work, need to replicate their shape.” He shrugged. “As I said, I don’t enjoy that part, but it is necessary.”
    Lu took a shuddering breath and laughed lightly. “I feel like a fool. Here I am imagining Gothic horrors and you’re doing your part to better mankind.”
    Eamon let himself smile. Relief was a cool balm that flooded his sore muscles. “I’d have screamed as well had I walked into that unsuspecting.”
    “Somehow I doubt that,” she said, but returned his smile.
    “So you aren’t planning to flee at first light?”
    Her gaze flickered to his mouth and then over his body. “No, Eamon,” she said in a low, rich voice. “I’m not leaving you.”
    Tension coiled within his gut, a low pleasurable burn that had nothing to do with fear. “That is good, wife.”
    Lu’s lashes lowered on a blush. “Come then, let us see to that bash upon your head, and we’ll have our dinner.”
    Eamon followed, watching the subtle sway of her rounded arse beneath her skirts, wanting nothing more than to skip dinner and take her directly to bed.

Chapter Ten
    Over the years, Lu had been given specific instructions as to what to do upon the night of her wedding. That her father had been the one to give the instructions had been both mortifying and aggravating. His words rang clear in her mind still. “Come to your bed in a gown of white. Wait for him and do as he says. No begging or pleading, girl. You are a Moran, whether you want it or no, and you will do your duty.”
    She’d wanted to hit him whenever he spoke of it, to tell him that he could take his well-laid plans and get stuffed. But she’d been under his thumb, and they both knew it. Without money or a man’s protection, a woman’s world was a cold, dark place that often led to pain, degradation, and eventually death. Lu had been too cowardly to run off and try her odds. The unfairness of it had cut into her. Only Aidan’s letters and the promise of his love had staved off her rage. For Aidan, she would have endured anything.
    Lu snorted. “See where that hope got you.” Her voice echoed in the cavernous space. The room was dim and cool, the fire’s heat barely reaching the high, canopied bed upon which she sat. Some maid had turned down the covers, and the fine linen was soft against the bottoms of her feet.
    Knees tucked against her chest, and her obligatory white nightgown tenting over her legs, Lu had made herself as small as possible. Try as she might, she was frightened, and her heartbeat would not slow.
    After Nan had fussed over Eamon and slapped a raw steak straight from the cooler onto the side of his head, they’d had a nice, quiet dinner. Eamon was easy to talk to and quite witty when he let his guard down.
    Lu had found herself both comfortable and entertained. Yet all the while, a certain tension had remained between them, for they both knew what this night would bring. He’d left her at her door with a proper kiss to the back of her hand and a promise to see her at the turn of the hour. Lu hadn’t missed how Eamon’s eyes had gone molten blue, or the way his breath quickened to match her own. He wanted her. She understood it instinctively. And she wanted him. Even if she feared the act in equal measure.
    Now she waited.
    Nan had prepped the room, putting fresh, pure white linens on the bed and placing a large vase of sweet lilies upon the mantel. The clock ticked, and outside the wind groaned. When the clock struck nine, the door snicked open and