Matthew's Mask [Lords of Hawksfell Manor 3] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (5 page)

“Yes, it is.”

She gasped and reached for the lamp. She switched it on and saw that William sat on her bed, his hands clasped between his knees. His eyes were intent on her.

“William, what are you doing here?”

“I came to see you, and you weren’t here.”

Her cheeks flamed, and she held her blouse closed over her breasts. Her corset was still loosened, and she saw his eyes narrow. Her gaze followed his, and she realized he glimpsed the laces dangling below the hem of her blouse.

“Where were you?” he asked.

“I had to clean the hearth in the library.”

“Yes, Tilly’s sick,” William said. “What took you so long?”

A flash of irritation struck her. “Why do I have to answer to you?”

“Because I…” He dragged his fingers through his thick, brown hair. “Because I care about you.”

She blew out a breath. She didn’t want another go-around with him tonight. She wanted to wash and change into her nightgown. She wanted to climb into her bed and revel in everything Matthew had done to her in the library. She didn’t know what would happen next, but she couldn’t deal with William right now.

“I’m tired, William.”

He stood and crossed to her. His dear face was so close, and she fought the urge to curl up against him. The last night he’d been in her room he’d stayed with her and she’d fallen asleep with her cheek pillowed on his sculpted chest.

“You’re tired?” He opened her blouse, and her breasts all but spilled out of her loosened corset. “God, he fucked you!”

She pulled away. “He took me in the library, yes.”

“Did he force you?”

She glared up at him. “Do you think he’d have to?” she countered.

Hurt flashed in his eyes, gone in an instant. He curled his lip. “What did he do, crook his finger and you fell to your knees?”

Her lungs seized. She slapped him so hard her palm stung. “What I do is none of your concern.”

He rubbed his injured cheek. “I thought this was over, now that the earl was married.”

“You thought what was over?”

He turned from her. “You, giving away what I want.”

She reached out and touched his rigid shoulder. “William, I never…” Tonight wasn’t the time to tell him the truth. Not now that she’d just given herself to Matthew with such enthusiasm. He’d never believe her.

“Why aren’t I enough, Posy?” he asked, his voice low.

She gasped. “You’re more than enough,” she said.

He looked at her and shook his head. “You went to him. You never knew he existed before today, and you went to him.”

“No.” She had to tell him. This truth she couldn’t conceal. “I’ve been with Matthew. Before I ever came to work here.”

His mouth dropped open. “What?”

“He was my first lover, William. Before.”

William blinked those gorgeous eyes and wrapped his arms around her. “Tell me you still want me.”

She did. As amazing as that should be after what Matthew had done to her, she did. His cock pulsed against her as it had that afternoon. Her pussy clenched with want, greedy for William. She didn’t deserve to have him, though. Not tonight.

Instead she dropped to her knees. “I’ll always want you.” She freed his cock and stroked him. “Always.”

He groaned as she took him deep in her mouth. His taste was clean with a hint of spice, just like William. She didn’t know what Matthew tasted like, probably hot and fresh like his kisses. Her body began to heat as she thought of what he’d done as she sucked William’s cock. Matthew’s tongue had been like magic on her pussy, his fingers stroking her just the way she’d needed. She moaned before she could catch herself, and the sound seemed to break through to William.

He lifted her off her knees and pressed her down onto the bed. “I don’t care if he fucked you tonight,” he said, tearing off her drawers with even more haste than Matthew had displayed. “I have to feel your pussy wrapped around my cock, Posy.”

“William,” she gasped as he spread her legs.

“
My
cock.”

He drove into her, and she arched beneath him. She was wet from what Matthew had done, but not from his seed. No, he’d come on her belly. She was wet with her own juices from loving William with her mouth and wanting him in her pussy.

Thoughts scattered from her mind as he pounded within her. She was so tender, so sensitive, that she began to pulse around him. Clutching at his arms, she met his thrusts and climaxed. He groaned again and bent his head down to kiss her. She sucked at his tongue as she had his cock, and he shuddered. He came then, deep inside her as he exploded. It was like he was claiming her, but she couldn’t rouse any anger. It felt right, though she suspected it would have felt that way had Matthew done the same.

He lifted his head and smiled down at her, a sweet smile she could almost believe was something like love.

“Ah, Posy,” he said, his voice soft and tender.

Tears burned in her eyes, but she blinked them away. “William.”

He pulled out of her and straightened. “I should go.”

She wanted him to stay, just as she’d wanted to curl up in Matthew’s arms in that comfortable chair. She didn’t deserve that from either one of her lovers, though. Instead of asking him to stay, she simply nodded. He kissed her again and quietly let himself out of the room.

She rose on shaking legs and washed as she’d planned to do earlier. Dressed in her nightgown, her hair brushed and braided, she slid beneath her coverlet. She had two lovers now. They were the only men she’d ever been with, true. But she’d made love to both of them in the same night and reveled in every bit of pleasure they’d given her. She let the tears come at last.

Oh, she was even worse than anyone at Hawksfell Manor believed.

Chapter 5

“Good morning, William,” Viscount Lindhurst said with a smile.

William’s stomach churned as he arranged his lordship’s cufflinks on the low dresser. “Good morning, my lord.”

He’d stepped into the room only to find the viscount closed in the bath. He’d straightened the room, but the huge bed hadn’t needed much attention. The sheets were barely rumpled. The man had no doubt slept like the dead after fucking Posy in the library.

“What should I do today, William?” the viscount asked as he dropped his robe. “I find I’m at sixes and sevens here at the manor.”

“I’m sure you can find an occupation, my lord.”

William tried to keep his gaze on his lordship’s clothing, but he couldn’t help eyeing the man’s body as he helped him dress. He was big like the earl, both his body and his cock. Muscular and defined, his back and legs and ass were like a statue’s. Pity he was as big a rogue as all the Hawks were, excepting the earl.

“I’m afraid I don’t know the area.” The viscount stepped into his pants. “Have you been to the village much?”

William brushed his hands over his lordship’s firm buttocks as he adjusted his trousers. His palms tingled, and he fisted his hands. “There is no other place close, my lord.”

The viscount held out first one sculpted arm then the other as William helped him into his shirt. “Do you go there often?”

“I walk into the village on my half-day.”

“Ah.” He held his chin up as William fastened the buttons of his collar.

The viscount had a strong throat. Had Posy grabbed on to his neck as she came, like she sometimes did with him? He imagined his lordship’s big body pressing into her luscious one, his thick, long cock pounding into her pussy as she cried out with pleasure. He felt a flash of jealousy, along with a hint of arousal he couldn’t deny. How could he want a man—really want a man—especially one he should despise for taking Posy before he could even formulate a plan to spend his own future with her?

The viscount was a beautiful man, though. The image of his body entangled with Posy’s perfect form made him ache. He dragged his eyes away and turned to reach for the man’s jacket.

“But what do you do for amusement, William?” he asked.

William bit his tongue.
I fuck Posy after you do.
“This and that, my lord.” He held the jacket with tight hands as Lord Lindhurst shrugged his broad shoulders into it. He restrained from stroking those shoulders. What the devil was wrong with him this morning?

The viscount brushed his thick, black hair back from his handsome face and stared into the mirror. “Well? Do I look like the brother of the Earl of Hawksfell?”

“Too bloody much,” William said before he could stop himself.

His lordship jerked, turning to face him. “What?”

William’s cheeks flamed. “Nothing, my lord.”

“No, William.” His dark Hawk eyes bore into him. “You said something.”

“You look just like the earl.” He struggled to hold up his chin. “It’s no wonder she gave herself to you last night.”

The viscount’s mouth dropped open. “Never say my brother was with Posy.”

The possibility still bit at him, but he wouldn’t reveal that to the viscount. “I don’t know for certain, but it’s assumed as much.”

The viscount was quiet for a moment. With that pensive expression on his face he was beyond compelling. William had to get out of there before he revealed that
he
could be as easily seduced as Posy had been at the inn last spring.

“Will there be anything else, my lord?” he asked.

The viscount’s brows drew together. “Actually, yes. I wondered about the girl myself, William.”

William didn’t want to talk about Posy, not with the man who had her first. He thought about their interlude last night in her attic room. His lordship hadn’t had her last, though.

“This isn’t a conversation we should have, my lord.”

“Nonsense. My life at Lindhurst wasn’t so formal as it apparently is here at the manor. Tell me about her.”

“Tell you about her? You had her last night!” William took in a calming breath. “You took her, and she probably sucked your cock like she did mine after.”

The viscount’s eyes rounded. “You were with her last night?”

William turned to stare out at the magnificent view of the grounds afforded through the leaded window. “I was waiting for her in her room in the attics. I didn’t know she’d been with you.”

He heard the viscount step closer. “You’ve been with her before.”

“Almost from when she first started at the manor.”

“Four months ago,” the viscount said.

“Yes, four months ago.” William fisted his hands again as he faced him. “I know you were with her first. At the inn.”

“She told you?” He cocked a brow. “Hmm. Singular girl.”

Singular? There was no woman like her!
“You might have been with her first, but I was with her last.”

The viscount shrugged. “Until tonight, I wager.”

William turned to go. It was either that, or he would punch the viscount in his handsome Hawk face and lose his position. And any chance to have a future with Posy.

“Wait,” his lordship said, grabbing onto his arm. “I don’t mean to use her, you know.”

William snorted and pulled away. “Plan to make her your viscountess, then?”

He laughed. “I think it might be a bit early to read the banns, don’t you?”

William smiled a bit then schooled his expression. God, he didn’t want to like this man. “I’m sorry. It’s just that with Posy… I’ve never known a girl like her.”

“It’s the same for me as well.” The viscount settled into a chair beside the small writing desk. “Last spring I’d drunk too much and flirted too hard with a pretty girl staying at the inn. I hadn’t known she was going into service here the next day. Hell, I hadn’t known she was a virgin until I took her. I doubt any of that knowledge would have stopped me, in any event.”

He thought of Posy’s confession last night. “She was telling the truth, then.”

“You doubt her? That speaks toward your relationship, William.”

William began to argue, but the bloody man was right. He leaned against the windowsill. “I know. She’s only been open with me, and yet I find myself seeing her with every footman and groom around every corner.”

The viscount’s eyes looked troubled. “She really was with the earl? My brother?”

William shrugged. “I believe so. Why wouldn’t she be? Nearly all the rest of us have been.”

A spark of something lit in the viscount’s eyes. Surprise and speculation. It made him look devilishly handsome. Even more so than the earl. A lick of desire stroked over William’s body.

“Never say you were with him?” he asked, his Hawk eyes sparkling.

The viscount looked aroused, and William had to look away again. “You’re a Hawk, my lord. You know the way of things.”

“I know about the pain of solitary pleasure, William.”

William glanced at him and saw remembered anguish on his face. It was gone in an instant, like a mask had dropped down to conceal it.

“I also know that he used to fuck his staff,” he went on. “Before he met the countess, apparently.”