Josie Dennis (5 page)

“Actually, I’d contemplated such an arrangement just last evening.” He poured himself another drink. “Right after she stormed out of my room.”

“She left you? Why? Did you hurt her?”

“Oh, she might have cried out, but not in pain. She left because I tried to stake a claim on her, as she put it.”

James’s mouth fell open. “My God, that’s what I did as well. I received the same reaction, I’m ashamed to admit.”

“The girl is singular, and the one woman I can see myself with for the rest of my life.”

James sipped his drink, thinking about all the man was confessing. “You want to settle down. Not just in life but with one woman?”

“Shocking, I know.” Frederick smiled again. “I’ve sold my commission, as you have undoubtedly heard. It’s high time I take an interest in the running of the abbey, or so my father tells me.”

“Isabella won’t marry you,” James said, praying it was true. “Even if you stop diddling the maids there is your father to consider. She is terrified of him.”

“With good cause,” Frederick put in. “I would not shame a wife with indiscretions, however. Hidden or otherwise.”

James laughed softly. “You would have to replace your entire staff.”

“Nevertheless, we are getting ahead of ourselves. You are right. Isabella will never marry me, not while she cares for you.”

“I care for her as well,” James said. “I want her forever. I may not have Norrington Abbey, but I have a modest fortune and a good name. She is of a good family, with a brother who will no doubt want a man who can give her the respect and love she needs.”

“You love her, then?”

James was speechless for a moment. “I care for her,” he said again. “All right, I admit I’m falling in love with her.”

“As am I.”

“Now that, I do not believe. You spoke of sharing her just a moment ago.”

“But only with a man who cares as much for her as I do.”

“Me?” An image flashed in his mind, loving Isabella as Frederick pleasured her as well. Each holding her, caressing her, until she melted. “You can’t be serious.”

“Tell me you find the idea distasteful. I can’t say I would ever take you for a liar.”

James reddened again. “She is a remarkable girl, Frederick. She surely possesses enough passion for both of us.”

“And anger as well?”

He thought of those gorgeous flashing hazel eyes. “Yes.”

“We have to win her over. I’m dead serious about this being forever. If you cannot stomach the thought of my hands, my mouth, my cock, on her and in her then you had better step back and give her to me.”

Could he withstand the thought of another loving his Isabella? Frederick did care for her and she never would have lain with him if she didn’t care for him as well.

“I cannot bear to lose her,” James said in a low voice.

Frederick seemed to take his measure then gave a nod. “Ultimately the decision rests with our lady. She is stubborn and determined that neither one of us shall claim her.”

“What do you propose, then?”

He grinned. “We simply give her the opportunity to claim the both of us.”

James smiled, the tension he’d been feeling at last easing. She would be his, perhaps along with Frederick’s. No matter. She would be with him forever.

* * * *

“James, I told you—” Isabella’s mouth dropped open as she found Frederick in her doorway. “Frederick, what are you doing here?”

“Why? Planning an assignation with James Morris?”

She clicked her tongue. “Why would you say that?”

He shrugged. “I rid you of your pesky virginity last night. What better reason could there be for indulging with the man you truly want.”

“But I want you, too.” She slapped a hand over her mouth. She lowered her hand with a sigh. “Oh, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“I’m pleased you did,” Frederick said. “It confirms what your James and I discussed this very day.”

She flushed with mortification. “You discussed me after I left the two of you? That was badly done, Frederick.”

“We had to come to an agreement, love.”

She blinked. She’d heard him say the word last night but brushed it off as seduction. “Love?”

“Yes, love,” he said, his eyes downcast.

Was he blushing? “Frederick, you cannot mean to say that you love me.”

“I want you.” He faced her. “Forever.”

“What?”

“I know you care for James.”

She crossed the room and sat on the bed. “I admitted as much.”

“Why shouldn’t you have what you desire?”

“It is beyond selfish,” she murmured. “Besides, such a thing isn’t quite possible.”

“It is,” James said from the hallway.

Alarm trilled through her. “Oh, do shut the door!”

James nodded to Frederick and did as she told him. Something passed between them, something that caused a tingling all over her body. “What are you two about?”

“James wants you,” Frederick said. “I want you.”

Dread curled in her belly. “Are you going to make me choose? I tell you, attempting to do so is what brought me to this sorry state in the first place.”

James took her hand, sitting beside her. “You don’t have to choose, Isabella.”

Frederick came to sit beside her. Their scents combined, fresh and spicy, to set her senses reeling. Her mouth watered, her breasts swelled, and her pussy flooded with juices.

“I don’t?”

Again they exchanged a look of import.

“Not on our account,” Frederick said.

Before she could convince herself that this was beyond foolishness, she kissed Frederick’s beautiful mouth. He gave her his tongue and she sucked greedily at it as she felt both his and James’s hands on her. James buried his face in her neck, licking and nibbling as she clutched at him. Frederick stroked her breasts, teasing and tweaking her nipples until she let out a low moan.

“Take me,” she sighed.

“Which one of us?” James asked.

“Both of you.”

Frederick placed her down on the bed, a smile on his face. “Ah, that is for another night.”

James said something to Frederick, his words lost to her as she stared at the two of them disrobing. Oh, they were so beautiful. Frederick was built like a statue, all finely honed and lean. James was a bit broader across the shoulders, his chest swirled with black hair. Both were delectable, their strong hands now so skillful on her body. She closed her eyes and just…felt.

“I wanted to eat your pussy last night,” Frederick said, brushing his mouth over her belly. “Tell me you want me to eat your pussy, Isabella. Give me orders like you did last night. I take orders quite well.”

She would not feel shame, not at this moment. “Lick me, Frederick.”

He flicked a tongue over her clit and she felt a rush of pleasure. As he began to eat her, James nibbled on her breast. She grasped his head and held him close, writhing on the counterpane as everything pulled tight within her. Frederick’s gifted tongue and James’s careful attentions sent her soaring to the heavens as she bucked hard beneath them both.

Spreading her legs wide, she came.

“So sweet,” Frederick said, his voice thick. “James, you were right.”

She peeped open one eye to see James nod his agreement. “James, you told him?”

“There aren’t any secrets between us now, are there?” he asked.

She looked at them, both naked as the days they were born and loving her with their hands and mouths. And their very impressive cocks, if she had her way.

“None,” she said.

Frederick gave her pussy another lick, sending a shiver through her, then kissed her belly. “James will fuck you tonight, love.”

She eyed James’s cock, long and thick and so very hard-looking. “Oh, yes.”

Frederick shifted, coming to kneel beside her as James settled between her legs. He watched as James began to enter her, his eyes dark. This was different than last night, as there was no barrier to his penetration. No pain. But it was more than that. James’s taking was just as remarkable as Frederick’s, though made even more so as that man seemed to take pleasure from it as well.

“She’s tight, isn’t she?” Frederick asked.

James squeezed his eyes shut. “And hot. God, she’s so hot.”

Isabella flicked her gaze between the two of them, but soon she was too consumed by what James was doing. He thrust inside of her, faster and faster, until she felt another climax begin from where their bodies touched.

“Come, Isabella,” Frederick rasped.

James grunted his assent and groaned her name. She grabbed on to his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist. She came in the next moment, arching sharply as she heard James cry out in his release.

Panting for breath, she sank back down on the bed. James held her close, whispering words of praise as he dropped kisses on her face.

“My God, I love to watch you come,” Frederick said.

She managed to open her eyes at last and found him gripping his beautiful cock. “Take me, Frederick.”

“Are you sure?”

She felt herself grow wetter as she thought about him inside of her. She nodded and he covered her.

In the moment before her climax struck she had the fleeting thought that having both of her men inside of her was the closest to paradise she’d ever be.

Whether this was forever or just for the length of her visit to the abbey, she would take what they offered. What she wanted.

If she got her heart broken as a result, she had only herself to blame.

“Is something troubling you, Isabella?”

Isabella looked at her sister-in-law across the large sitting room, finding Catherine’s gaze as piercing as the girl’s brother’s had been last night. Oh, he’d been more than intense. Bold and eager, and just the thought of him deep inside of her caused her skin to heat.

“N–Nothing is troubling me,” she managed to say. “Where is John?”

An expression flitted across her face, one Isabella could only describe as lust. She should know that look well, as she’d seen it on her own face in the glass this morning upon rising.

“John and Henry decided to ride about the estate. I thought that James would accompany him, but he wasn’t at breakfast this morning.”

Isabella swallowed, fingering the silk-embroidered flowers twining through the skirt of her day dress. “Oh?”

“Yes. It’s quite singular, really. Both he and Henry’s brother were absent and the general seemed put out by that.”

Then the general didn’t know what she’d done last night. Relief crashed through her and she caught her breath.

“He did wonder about your whereabouts, however,” Catherine said.

“What did he say?”

Catherine shook her head. “Nothing of import, and I was certainly not going to ask him to clarify his grumblings. I refuse to engage that odious man in conversation, even while sitting at his fine table and eating his fine food.”

She saw the hurt on Catherine’s face and her anger at the general grew. “He treated you horribly, Catherine. You did not deserve it.”

Catherine sniffed. “He believed I had designs on his son.” A smile teased her lips. “John surely shocked him when he informed the man that he was to be my groom, not Henry.”

General Tilman had been more than shocked, but that was because Henry had announced that he was leaving the abbey. Surely the general had no love for Catherine and had been vastly relieved she wouldn’t catch his younger son. What would he think about her own actions with his eldest son? And with Catherine’s brother as well? She shuddered to think of it. Well, the general’s opinions had no bearing on her. That was certain.

“Isabella, something is troubling you,” Catherine insisted. “At first you looked a bit embarrassed, but now I wager you’re piqued at something.” Her eyes rounded. “Oh, tell me James hasn’t done anything to you!”

She gasped. “To me?”

“To upset you. I know Frederick was teasing you and James seemed put out by his attentions. Did he say something to you last night after dinner?”

She appeared embarrassed and angered, did she? Apparently embarrassment won out now and her cheeks flamed. “James did not upset me, Catherine.”

“Oh, Frederick then.” She nodded. “He is a scoundrel, that one. What he said to John and Henry about me last year…Well, that doesn’t bear repeating.”

If Catherine knew what he’d said about the three of them just the other night she would be mortified. Imagine, thinking they both slept with her. In a flash her mind filled with images of both of her own men loving her to oblivion. But Catherine? She loved John. That was clear. She was fond of Henry, however. No, she was too sweet, too good, to give herself to two men. That was a sin reserved for Isabella alone.

“Frederick did not upset me, either,” Isabella assured her. “I’ve just been at sixes and sevens for several weeks now.” She smiled at her good friend and sister-in-law. “Perhaps it is being an island alone in a sea of love at Thorne Manor.”

Catherine colored prettily, assuring Isabella that the girl was worthy of the love John showered on her. And if Henry kept her in his heart as well? That was only natural, until he found a woman of his own to love.

They fell into a companionable silence, each working the needle as that was evidently the sole acceptable activity for women on a long country manor visit. Isabella’s mind was working as fast as her needle, however.

Was that what she was for James and Frederick? A woman to share until each of them settled on their own women forever? Oh, she should have thought long and hard before surrendering her virginity. She should have considered her future before throwing all caution to the wind and bedding both of them. Both of them! She was a harlot and a wanton and unworthy of the love she’d once hoped to find. Catherine and John’s marriage notwithstanding, she’d never seen real evidence of love strong enough to last forever.

Fool that she was, it was what she wanted. With both Frederick and James. She was doomed to love two men and have neither one’s heart in return.

That realization wouldn’t keep her from indulging with them for as long as they wanted her, however. Their beautiful bodies meshed with hers, their skillful hands and gifted mouths on her flesh as she soared to orgasm. She’d never imagined such pleasure, not when Frederick had eaten her nor when James had pushed his cock deep inside of her. She feared she would never find such passion with any other than the two of them. Of course, that would serve her right. She’d spent so many years refusing all beaux who dared to broach the walls of her heart. Why, she’d given nary a kiss to a one of them!