“Perhaps she is merely content to stay with her father and brother.
Some women are like that.”

Skye looked candidly at her sister. “Do you really think Claire
O’Flaherty is like that, Eibhlin?”

“No,” came the quick reply. “She’s a sly and secretive girl for
all she looks like an angel. There is something…” and here Eibhlin
hesitated, loath to criticize yet genuinely concerned. ‘There is some-
thing unwholesome about Claire,” she finally finished.

Skye agreed. But there seemed nothing she could do with Claire
unless she could find a husband for her. What bothered Skye most
was that Claire always appeared to be laughing at her, hugging some
secret to herself that she would not share with anyone else, least of
all Skye.

Eibhlin soon left to return to St. Bride’s, but she talked to Dom
first. He said later, “Since your sister tells me your health will suffer
if I get another son on you, you can hardly complain if I seek
diversion elsewhere.”

“Have I ever complained before?” she asked him, amused, hiding
her delight in the knowledge that she would be spared.

“Nay, you’re a good lass, and you’ve given me two fine boys.”

Skye smiled sweetly, and bit her tongue to keep from laughing.
Dom saw her only as a credit to himself. She had become, he thought, exactly what he’d always wished her to be-a gracious
chatelaine and a good breeder. He was willing to be generous now,
to leave her alone for the time being.

Her life now took on a sameness, giving her the peace she craved.
She worked to run the estate so that it supported them all and still
paid the MacWilliam his annual tribute as their overlord. Neither
Dom nor his father cared what she did as long as they had the time
and the wherewithal to pursue their own pleasures.

She drove her peasants hard, though she was fair. Used to the
laxity of the O’Flahertys, they had gotten out of hand. At first they
resented her, but when winter came and the peasants found them-
selves warm, dry, and well fed for the first time in years, they
blessed their lady. She had managed the miracle of preparing them
for winter.

Then Ewan was past two, and Murrough sixteen months, and one
day Skye realized that in all those sixteen months Dom still hadn’t
come near her. Silently she blessed the woman or women who were
keeping her husband amused. And it came to her that it had been
many months since she had heard any gossip linking Dom with any
particular woman. It was a disquieting thought.

It was June again, and Skye was eighteen. The weather was
unusually sunny and warm for Ireland. Her healthy, fully healed
young body was beginning to crave loving once again, even Dom’s.
Though they had been invited twice more to spend Twelfth Night
with the MacWilliam, she had kept to Ballyhennessey, using her
pregnancy as an excuse not to travel, and playing ill the second time.

She dared not see Niall again, although both her mind and her
body craved him with a desperation that almost tore her apart. With
the knowledge imparted to her by Eibhlin, she might easily have
become his mistress, with no one the wiser. The temptation had
been fierce, but she held herself in too high a regard to be anything
less than his cherished wife.

Dom and his father had attended the Twelfth Night revelries.
Skye had insisted that they go to the MacWilliam’s castle, leaving
her behind with her babes. Though she had impressed upon the two
men the importance of every opportunity in finding Claire a husband,
they had returned both times to say that no suitable husband could
be found. Skye could not understand it. Thanks to Dubhdara
O’Malley, Claire now had a respectable dowry that neither her father
nor her brother could steal. Either the girl was being too fussy, or
else there was someone in Claire’s life whom she knew was not
suitable, but foolishly sought after anyway. Skye was determined
to find out what was going on. for Claire O’Flaherty was seventeen now and Skye did not want to have her with them the rest of their
days.

Skye picked her time carefully, choosing an evening, after the
meal, when both Gilly and Dom had disappeared. She had seen
Claire head for her own rooms at the very top of the tower house.
Skye had never been there before. She had never been asked, and
there had never before been a reason to violate Claire’s privacy.

When the house had quieted, she slowly climbed the stairs to her
sister-in-law’s apartment. Entering the dayroom, Skye was shocked
to find many of her long-missing dowry items. The windows were
hung with the French velvets she had planned to use in her own
chambers. The small polished oak sideboard Dubhdara and Anne
had had made particularly for her stood against one wall. On it was
her small silver tray with her hand-blown Venetian goblets and
decanters! “God’s nightshirt!” she swore under her breath. “I’ll skin
the sly bitch!” Dear God! There were her silver bowls and candle-
sticks! Stunned, then furious, Skye was about to storm off to seek
out her husband and demand an explanation when she heard laughter
and the murmur of voices-one very definitely masculine-from the
bedchamber above.

So, she thought, Mistress Claire does have a lover! Well, whoever
he is he’ll soon find he has himself a new wife, unless, God forbid,
he already has one. Serf or lord, she’ll wed him! Silently Skye crept
up the stairs, reaching the little landing, then neared the bedcham-
ber’s half-open door. The closer she got the more vividly she heard
the sounds of vigorous lovemaking. Reaching the door, she peeked
into the room.

What she saw confirmed her suspicions. Claire and a man, both
naked, were intertwined. Color flooded Skye’s face at the sight of
Claire’s long, white legs wrapped tightly about her lover. He brutually rammed himself into the writhing, straining woman. Claire
began to moan.

“Harder, Dom! Harder! Yes, yes, brother darling! It’s so good!
So good!”

Skye felt the first wave of nausea sweep over her as she clung
to the door. Dom! Claire’s lover was Dom! Her own brother! Slowly
Skye slipped to the floor, still clutching the door, faint with the
sight.

“Whore!” Dom growled. “What a little whore you are, sweet
sister mine. Shall I fuck you until you can’t stand up? I’ve done it
before, haven’t I? Tonight, however, it pleases me to fuck you till
you beg me for mercy, and then you’ll pleasure me in a hundred
other ways I can invent!”

“Yes, yes…” breathed Claire. “Whatever you want, my darling!
I’ll do whatever you want! Oh, Dom, don’t I always?”

Still on her knees, Skye was frozen with both horror and terror.

“On your hands and knees, bitch!”

Claire scrambled to obey, and was quickly and cruelly sodomized
by her brother. Skye felt the bitter taste of bile rise in her constricted
throat as Claire panted, “Hurt me, Dom! Yes! Hurt me!”

Still Dom did not spend. Now he lay his sister on her back and,
straddling her, put himself into her open, eager mouth. Skye closed
her eyes to blot out the sight, but she could not close her ears to the
throaty, gobbling noises made by Claire, or the groans of pleasure
made by Dom. Unable to contain herself, Skye sobbed aloud.

Claire shrieked, “Oh, my God! There’s someone here! Someone
has seen us!”

Dom leapt from the bed and, yanking the door fully open, caught
sight of his half-fainting wife. “Well, well,” he murmured nastily,
”what have we here? It’s my sweet wife.”

Claire’s eyes narrowed. “Bitch! How dare you spy on me!” she
shrieked.

“I wasn’t s-spying.” Skye’s voice was shaking. “I came to t-talk
to you about getting m-married.”

Dom began to laugh uproariously, but a look from his sister
quieted him. “Married?! Why on earth would I want to marry, you
ninny?” rasped Claire. “The only man I’ve ever loved is Dom, and
I don’t ever intend leaving him. He’s mine! The only reason he
married you was for the money, and to get heirs. He’s got both now,
and we don’t need you at all, except to run the estate for us. So get
out of here, and don’t ever come back again snooping and spying!”

Skye turned to flee but Dom’s big hand grasped her shoulder.
His other hand slid around to squeeze her breast and as the nipple
hardened he laughed softly. “It’s been a long time, Skye.”

She tried to pull away. Claire snarled from the bed, “Leave her
be, brother! You don’t need her as long as you have me!”

“Be quiet, bitch! She has pleasured me too, and now I think I
would have you both at the same time.”

“No!” wailed Skye, struggling to reach the door, but his arms
closed about her and Claire, a sudden vicious look in her pale-blue
eyes, reached out and ripped Skye’s gown from her. As her sister-
in-law’s body became more visible, Claire’s gaze softened, becom-
ing almost dreamy, and she reached out again, this time to caress
Skye’s body. Skye shrank from her touch, sick with revulsion. Claire
laughed nastily. “Let me have her first, brother. Let me prepare her
for you, please! You can watch while I love her. Remember how
you loved watching me and the little maid I once had?”

“No, Dom! Oh, God, no!”

Dom smiled sweetly at his sister, his eyes bright with memory.
Then he nodded. “I’ll watch, but when I’m ready, Claire, you must
give over. Promise me now? No teasing like you did with little
Sorcha.”

“Yes, darling,” Claire purred, and then with Dom’s aid they tied
the struggling Skye’s arms to the bedposts.

Claire straddled her victim and, holding Skye’s head between her
hands, she kissed her slowly, and wetly. Skye seemed faint and,
laughing, Claire began leisurely to explore the shrinking flesh. The
degradation she was inflicting added to her enjoyment. Taking
Skye’s nipples between her thumb and forefinger, she rolled them
gently before bending and sucking on them. Bound though she was,
Skye fought to escape, but her helplessness only stimulated her
antagonist/

Slowly Claire slid her lush body down Skye’s until their breasts
and bellies met. Then she rotated her pelvis and mons veneris against
Skye’s, murmuring vilely, “Don’t tell me that, with all the sisters
you have, you’ve not done a bit of girl-fucking in your time. And
remember-while we pleasure each other, Dom is watching us and
readying himself for both of us, big bull that he is. Don’t fight me,
sister, for now that you know about Dom and me there’s no reason
we cannot share him and enjoy each other all the time.”

Skye turned her head away, ashamed of what was happening to
her and confused by the stirrings of desire she was beginning to feel.
Claire thrust and moaned against Skye’s helpless body with increas-
ing fervor until suddenly Dom pulled her away and, mounting his
wife, thrust into her.

Skye screamed, which only seemed to madden him. Claire was
now kneeling within Skye’s view, slack-mouthed with lust as she
watched her brother use his wife. When Dom had sated himself with
Skye he rolled off her and loosened her bonds. He pushed her away,
pulled his sister over, and mounted her next, Skye curled into a
tight, protective ball, and sobbed. She had never felt so fouled in
her entire life. She knew that if anyone so much as touched her
again, she would kill.

Strengthened by this realization, she marshaled her courage and
crawled off the bed. Stumbling across the room, she reached the
door. Dom and his sister had finished by this time and Claire saw
her. She cried out, “She’s escaping, Dom! Get her back! I want her
again!”

Dom lurched off the bed and lunged for his wife. Skye had now
wrenched the door open. As he reached out for her, Skye sidestepped
him. Dom stumbled through the door, lost his balance, and fell screaming headlong down the flight of stone steps leading to his
sister’s day chamber.

There was a stunned silence. He lay still, twisted grotesquely.
Claire leaped from the bed and stood gazing down into the room
below. Then she turned on Skye and howled, “You’ve killed him!
You’ve killed Dom!”

Holy Mother forgive me, thought Skye, but I hope so! Then as
relief brought strength sweeping over her, she turned on Claire and
furiously slapped her, leaving the imprint of her hand on the girl’s
face. “Shut up, you vicious little bitch! Shut up!”

“We must get help,” whimpered Claire.

“Not yet.”

“You do want him dead,” came the horrified accusation.

“I’ll not deny it,” said Skye flatly, and Claire shrank away from
her. “But before we can get help we must all dress. How will it look
to the servants to find the three of us mother naked? I’ll not put that
scandal on my sons. Get dressed! Then go and fetch me some clothes
from my room. Quickly!”

The procedure seemed to take forever, but at last both women
were dressed. Struggling together, they forced Dom into his clothes.
To Skye’s sorrow, he was still breathing.

“Now,” said Skye, “rouse the house.”