The Cunning Man || ONC 2021

3: Siren

As it turned out, Nora and I had very different emotional responses to finding common ground. I remained wary, and even a bit resentful. I didn't want magic to be the thing that brought us together. Nora, on the other hand, seemed quite emboldened by the thought that our magics had something in common.

So much so, in fact, that the following morning she didn't scamper behind the dressing screen as soon as I rolled out of bed. She stayed seated in her little nest of sheets, her legs crossed beneath her and her curly hair a tangled halo around her head.

I felt naked in front of her, even as I pulled my trousers up over my drawers and buttoned the front of them.

"Is, uh, everything all right?" I was so discombobulated by her raven-like regard that I settled my suspenders over my shoulders before I realized I hadn't put my shirt on yet.

"I thought I was allowed to look at you, being my husband and all." Her tone was flirtatious and her smile was mischievous.

"Well, uh, sure." I rubbed a hand over my mouth and tried to swallow the rising panic. "But, uh, it might be a bit more proper if I was dressed first, don't you think?"

I tried not to appear frantic as I looked around the room. Where the hell was my shirt?

"Cade, we've been married for three days. Why am I still a virgin?"

The more the damn woman talked to me, the less I was able to predict what came out of her mouth. I froze like a man on the wrong end of a revolver.

"Uh, well, that was forward," I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

She bit her lip in a clear attempt to stop a laugh. I really shouldn't have found the sight of her straight teeth sinking into her plush bottom lip as attractive as I did.

"I think it's been well established that we're both forward people," Nora's eyes danced.

"Yeah, well, I've spent the last five years tossing roughnecks out of town, and five years before that herding cattle to Oklahoma and back. You're a young lady from a respectable family."

"Of sailors," her smile grew into a goddamn grin. "You're conveniently forgetting the part where I grew up the only girl in a house full of boys overseen by a sea captain. I think when it comes to bawdy, sailors have it over cowboys."

"Lawman, miner, and cowboy," I counted out each of my professions, all known for their lack of social grace. "Not a chance, sweetheart."

"Then why on earth are you so flummoxed over standing in front of your wife without a shirt?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Why on earth are you so damn determined to see me shirtless?"

Nora arched an eyebrow, and the tiniest smirk pulled up a corner of her mouth. All she had to do to make her point was drop her gaze below my neck. I felt my ears turn hot as she took her sweet ass time looking me over.

I wasn't what I'd call 'vain', but I knew that I was a handsome man. I was proud of the muscle I had put on since leaving home. As a boy, I'd been all awkward joints and boney limbs, and far too easy a target to beat and bully. I was still a bit on the lean side, but I'd gained a reputation over the years for a powerful right hook. Why, then, did I feel so damn shy when Nora's gaze lingered on the breadth of my freckled shoulders, and when her eyes traveled down the veins that stood out against my forearms?

I shifted, uneasy, from one bare foot to the other. "I thought respectable women, regardless of their family origins, were supposed to bear their wifely duties with dignity, not actively seek them out."