Onyx by Elizabeth Rose Read Free Book Online

around him. They all looked like they’d had a satisfying tumble in the hay, and Onyx cursed under his breath for missing it.
    “The t’s right, Onyx MacKeefe, ye left me waitin’ in the cold, and I’ll ne’er lay wi’ ye now, so dinna bother te ask – e’er again,” said the sister he knew was supposed to have been his. He didn’t even know any of their names, but then again, what did it matter? The girl reached out and slapped him across the face. Well, now the best part of his birthday was ruined.
    “Let’s go,” she said to her sisters , and they took off across the room.
    “ Dagger, who’s the lassie?” asked Aidan, brushing down his tangled hair with his hand and throwing a stray piece of straw to the ground.
    “I’m Lady Lovelle de Lacy, Baroness of Worcestershire,” she said and held out her hand to the boys. They both grabbed for her hand to kiss it at once, and Onyx just blocked them with his arm to stop them.
    “She’s English,” he said in a low voice.
    “She certainly is,” said Ian, his eyes fastened to her, as he was always interested in any good-looking lassie, and always able to get them all with just a smile. “Me name is Ian and this here is Aidan, me lady.”
    She just smiled and nodded her head.
    “No wonder ye didna show up in the stables. Ye had yerself a better present inside.” Aidan crossed his arms over his wide chest, a silly smile painting his face.
    “I’ m here looking for someone,” Lovelle said. “Perhaps you gentlemen can help me.”
    “Nay, they canna ,” Onyx interrupted. “Callum, I think I need another drink.”
    “Fenella willn a like thet, Dagger,” said Aidan, and Onyx just cringed inside.
    “Oh, so you do know the woman I’m looking for. Her name is Fenella , and I can’t imagine that is a very common name,” she told them.
    “Aye, we ken Fenella,” agreed Ian, “she is Dagger’s mathair, dinna he tell ye?”
    “No,” she said, half-smiling and shaking her head as she looked toward Onyx. “I can’t say he did. So where is Fenella, boys?”
    Onyx noticed the way she was using her smile and that damned good-looking body of hers to lure the boys into telling her exactly what she wanted to know. He and his friends weren’t used to being around such a refined lady. He shook his head in disgust by the way Aidan and Ian’s tongues were hanging out of their mouths no better than slobbering hounds following after a bitch in heat. If only they could see how they were acting. Onyx felt immune to such things as beautiful women – but probably only because he knew he never had a chance with them, with his friends around.
    “There’s no one here by thet name and they dinna ken anythin’. Isna thet right?” Onyx glared at his friends. They finally figured out what was going on, and he could see the look of apology on their faces.
    “So you’re not goi ng to tell me where she is?” The woman tried to use the smile on him and leaned forward to expose her cleavage. For one small moment, Onyx felt like clay in her hands and was willing to give her whatever she wanted just for a chance to taste her lips and run his hands over her soft curves. His body was aching for a woman, and he was still angry at having missed out on the triplet sisters. But this woman was a lady, and that excited him even more, because he always liked a challenge. So mayhap he wasn’t as immune as he thought.
    “Nay, I’m no’ goin’ te tell ye,” he told her, looking away from her rather than to focus on that alluring cleavage any longer and be pulled under her spell.
    “It’s all right, Onyx . Ye dinna need te protect me anymore.” He heard the voice of his mother, and looked up to see her standing at the foot of the stairs just beyond the drink board.
    “It’s her!” The old dock man appeared in the crowd and pointed close to her face. “She’s the one, I tell you. I’d know her anywhere.”
    “I should o’ kent ye’d ne’er stop givin’ me trouble,”