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Robert Morehouse
He’s been through a lot with Kevin Corcoran. If anyone had told him at the beginning of the war that this bold, unkempt soldier would save his life and become his friend, Morehouse would have laughed in their face. Yet there it was, the truth of the matter, and he wouldn’t have changed it, no matter how much he regretted the loss of his leg.
Now he sees Corky struggling through his troubles, and he helps when he can, though he knows it isn’t much.
Robert knows one thing though. Corky wants her, in spite of everything. God help the man.
* * *
Annie
Corky wants her. Annie knows when a man wants to stick his thing in a woman. Corky, he’ll never say anything. He’s not a gentleman, but he’s better than gentlemen. Gentlemen are pigs. The thing is, Mrs. Haverford must know what he wants. She was married, and Annie knows better than anyone what kind of man he was. Still, maybe he never touched his wife, or maybe he was cruel to her as well. Maybe that’s why she looks at Corky like he might be the thing she’s looking for. Maybe it’s good with someone you want just because you want them, and not because you need the money or someone’s forcing you to touch them. Maybe it’s good then. Annie’s not too sure, but there’s something about the way Corky looks at Mrs. Haverford. It makes her want to know.
* * *
Sergeant Padraic Byrnes
The way Corky looked at her. The young fool should know better than to let his gaze even touch the hem of her dress, a lady like her. She was above all that. But not Corky, no, Corky dared so much more. He always did. Somehow he had wormed his way into the lady’s affections. His grubby hands aching to be all over her. Byrne would like to take the young ruffian out behind the police station and thrash the living daylights out of him until he never put another foot forward and knew his place. But there’s a look in Corky’s eyes that says Hands Off. A warning that even Byrnes is unwilling to risk. So he waits, and maybe the copper’s infatuation with the lady will bring him down. It can only lead to his ruin after all. After all, he knows Corky.
* * *
Eva
She knows Corky. Knows him inside and out. Knows the violence that’s in his soul, layered with the tenderness. Knows that he’s torn between the loss of his daughter, and the knowledge that he may never know what happened to his wife.
She sees the way he looks at Mrs. Haverford. Sees the way his eyes follow her movements. Eva knows what that means. Knows he’ll never look at her that way. But he’s here, in bed with her, he’s stretched out on his back as she rides his cock, and she’ll wear him out until he’s too spent to move. Then she’ll lie against him in the dark, and maybe this time it will be different.
* * *
Corky
It’s different with Eva. She’s in his bed, and he’s glad of it. But it’s nothing like what he had with his wife.
This, though. He doesn’t know what to make of it. Doesn’t know what to make of Elizabeth Haverford, except he knows she’s dangerous. She crept into his thoughts at the oddest hours of the day, simply wondering what she was doing. What did ladies do in their afternoons? He knew what his wife had done, but Mrs. Haverford was different. Educated, genteel, a real lady.
Whenever he had to call on her, he was nervous. She belonged to a world miles above his. That didn’t stop him from yearning for her.
Yearning for her while he tried to find his wife who had vanished. Yearning for her while he was in bed with Eva. It’s not fair to her, not fair to his wife. But he can’t help it. He yearns, even as he doesn’t let himself hope.