The Sextet Presents… By Male Order [In Days of Olde] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (7 page)

She should be ashamed. She should send them away. She should try to live a pious life.

Hope would do none of those things because she was falling in love with Thomas and Alec—if such a thing were possible.

Could a woman truly love two men?

Her heart said it was not only possible, but that it had already happened.

The men had come to mean so much more to her than she’d ever expected. They were supposed to be mere farmhands, men who helped her keep her farm running. Yet now she looked forward to rising every day just so she could spend a few moments with them as they ate breakfast in her kitchen. They always greeted her with smiles, and they offered their appreciation for anything she made for them, even if it wasn’t all that appetizing. Then the three of them would work through the day to complete the chores.

She couldn’t make it through a day without them.

Hope was weary. The farm was so much work—backbreaking, exhausting work. She longed to lay that burden down, but she had nowhere else to go. A single woman simply didn’t up and leave a productive farm to run away to the big city. She knew no one who would help her should she make such a bold move. No family. No friends. No connections. Most likely, she’d end up poor and desperate, living on the street or selling herself for money.

So she stayed on Billy’s farm, working to achieve a dream that wasn’t her own. That dream would work her into an early grave. At least that was what she’d believed until Alec and Thomas came into her life. They gave her a reason to drag herself out of bed in the morning and face the new day.

Rustling footsteps drew her attention, and she feared for a moment Abe Driscoll had come to try and catch her unawares. He was desperate for her land, but she was in no mind to sell—at least not now since she had nowhere else to go. She was even less enthusiastic about marrying the man, no matter how many times he asked. One marriage had taught her caution, and she didn’t believe Abe would be any kinder to her than Billy had been. He was too intense, too focused on his goal of owning her and her farm. Married to him, she’d find nothing but misery—just as she had in her first marriage.

Swimming for the shore, she hoped she could get to her clothes quickly. Damn it all, but she wasn’t about to let Abe see her naked or cowering in the cattails like some coward. Yet she knew she’d never make it in time.

Thankfully, Abe wasn’t the one who broke through the tall grass. Instead, Thomas and Alec approached, each with a drying cloth draped over a shoulder and wearing nothing but their breeches.

“Stop!” she shouted. “Don’t come any closer!”

They obeyed, but their smiles fell to frowns.

“We came to bathe,” Thomas announced, holding up a cake of soap. “I can still smell smoke on my skin.”

“We donnae mind sharing the lake,” Alec added with a hearty chuckle. “There’s plenty of room for all three of us.”

They weren’t fooling her one damned bit. They weren’t there to bathe—at least that wasn’t their primary purpose. No, they’d come to continue their assault on her sensibilities and her senses.

They were trying to seduce her.

If she were a good woman, she’d order them both to turn their backs so she could dress. She would hurry back to the house and lock the doors. She would stop listening to their sinful stories of King Arthur and Lancelot both making love to Guinevere.

Hope didn’t want to be a good woman anymore. Being good had brought her nothing but pain. The time had come to let the wanton inside her out. “Then, by all means, you should both bathe. I can’t abide being close to someone who smells of smoke and sweat, especially two of you. And I assume we’ll all be…
very close
this evening.”

Their wide eyes told her she’d properly shocked them. Not a surprise because she’d shocked herself as well. Their hesitation to join her made her fear she’d misunderstood their teasing and mistaken their jesting for true desire.

Could she have been that wrong? Could she have decided to cast her good reputation aside for no reason other than the fact she’d been drowning in lust since she saw them together?

Her face flushed hot, and just when she’d decided to apologize and get out of the water, the men dropped their drying cloths, tugged their breeches off, and bounded into the water.

Alec reached her first, swimming out to the deeper water where she treaded while Thomas trailed behind. When Alec reached her, he dove below the surface. She got a great glimpse of his buttocks before he disappeared. A moment later, Hope was dragged under.

She wasn’t frightened. Not only was she a strong swimmer, she somehow knew Alec would never hurt her. His arms wrapped around her waist, tugging her into his embrace. They surfaced together, each taking a breath before he pressed his lips to hers. They sank into the water, lips locked.

Much as Hope enjoyed the feel of Alec’s kiss and wanted to drown in it, if they kept this up too long, they’d both drown for real. She pushed away from him and swam underwater for as long as she could. When she put her feet down, she was grateful to feel the smooth stones that lined the lake against her feet. Drawing on her bravado, she waded out of the water and walked to her clothes. She picked them up and wondered whether she should bother donning them.

Thomas took the choice away from her. He strode purposefully out of the water until he stood before her. He grabbed her clothes and tossed them back on the grass. “No, my dear. You won’t be needing those right now.”

Heat flooded her cunny. She felt needy and restless and wondered why she’d grown so slick between her thighs. “I won’t?” Her words came out in squeaks that betrayed her nervousness.

“No, my love, you won’t.” He gripped her shoulders, staring into her eyes with a vulnerability that touched her heart. “Unless, that is, you don’t wish to be with us. Perhaps we have pushed too hard?”

Hope put her fingers to his lips. “No. No, my Arthur. You are here because I wished you to be.”

With a heart-stopping smile, he dragged her into his arms. His mouth took hers in a kiss that was almost brutal in its intensity, especially coming from a man as mild-mannered as Thomas. She parted her lips to his insistent tongue, enjoying the riot of feelings the kiss evoked. She was both boiling hot and shivering cold. Her tongue glided across his as she learned his taste, trying to free herself of any inhibitions as she mimicked his actions. She might be damned on the morrow, but she needed these men tonight, and she would hold back nothing. For once, she’d be wanton and free and not concern herself with consequences.

Alec pressed himself against her back, nudging between her cheeks with his hard cock. Her whole body reacted, making her wiggle back against him while sucking hard on Thomas’s tongue. The heat from their bodies was incredible and arousing. Thomas’s erection rubbed against her lower belly, and the feel of their arousals made her long to end the torture of waiting.

As though he’d read her mind, Alec moved away, picking up her clothes and spreading them on the grass. Then he pulled her away from Thomas, kissing her long and deep before scooping her up in his arms. “Sweet Hope. We’ve waited a long time for this.”

“Not so long,” she replied, pushing her arms around his neck. She twirled a lock of his damp hair around her finger.

“It seemed long to me.”

Thomas swept her wet hair over her shoulder and brushed his lips against the back of her neck. “Seemed long to me, too, my love. I’ve wanted to make love to you from the moment I saw you.”

She smiled at him. “You may be king, but you are also a liar, Arthur. You weren’t happy to meet me when you first arrived. Nor did you want me.”

“Oh, I wanted you all right. The anger you saw was because I was jealous.”

“Jealous?” Her gaze searched his. “Of me?”

“Och, aye,” Alec replied. “He was jealous of ye. Verra jealous.”

“I don’t understand.”

Thomas ran his tongue around the shell of her ear.

Hope gasped, savoring the way his touch set her quivering.

“Alec wanted you, Hope. I was afraid he would fall in love with you and no longer love me.”

“He didnae understand,” Alec said, grinning at Thomas.

Hope tugged gently on his hair. “You two are driving me daft! What didn’t he understand?”

“That my heart is big enough for both of you.” Alec carried her to the bed he’d made of her clothing and set her down.

The two of them loomed over her, their erections bobbing in front of them. Had she not been so aroused, she might have found those shafts intimidating. Instead, she thought they looked glorious. Those hard members showed that she’d affected them. Perhaps their words were nothing but sweet fibs, but their bodies couldn’t lie.

Fluid glistened on the tip of Alec’s erection. Hope rose to her knees, wanting to learn about his body, to figure out what it was like to truly be loved rather than used. She hesitated as she reached out to touch him, fearing she was being far too bold. Alec chuckled, took her hand, and led it to his erection. Then he closed her fingers around the shaft.

His flesh was so hot. Billy had never let her touch him, nor had he expressed any interest in doing anything except mounting her, thrusting into her a couple of times, then rolling off and falling asleep. The adoring look in Alec’s eyes when she stroked his erection made her believe he enjoyed her touch.

The skin was silky soft, yet the flesh beneath was hard as stone. Such a miracle of nature. She rubbed her thumb over the clear fluid, loving the sticky feel—like honey. More of it leaked from the slit, and she suddenly needed to know its taste. Alec had seemed to enjoy making love to Thomas with his mouth. Would she like it as well?

Afraid to ask, Hope boldly licked the cap of his shaft. More fluid emerged, and she lapped it up. Alec groaned, and she took it as encouragement, taking as much of him into her mouth as she could.

Alec’s fingers tangled in her hair, and just as Thomas had done when Alec loved him with his mouth, he thrust his hips forward. “Oh, lass. Ye’re taking me to heaven.”

She had no idea what she was doing, but Alec didn’t seem to care. As she circled her tongue around and around the cap, she reached for Thomas with her other hand.

His member was longer, but not as thick as Alec’s. The differences were erotic. Thomas’s erection was just as hot and as hard, and he was every bit as receptive to her touch as Alec. Happy to know they wanted her attention, she shifted to lap at the fluid seeping from Thomas’s slit as she stroked Alec. Curiosity made her reach between his legs to cradle his soft sac in her palm. She wanted to learn every inch of them.

“Ye keep that up much longer, love, and this dance will be over ere it begins.” Alec knelt beside her and gently pulled her away from Thomas, who groaned in response. “Let us please
you
now.”

He laid her back, his gaze blatantly raking her naked body.

She was suddenly self-conscious. No man—even her late husband—had ever seen her without a stitch of clothing. Thomas and Alec kept her so busy from the moment they arrived, she hadn’t even thought about being naked.

She was thinking about it now.

What if Alec and Thomas didn’t like what they saw?

When she tried to cover her breasts with her hands, Alec seized her wrists and smiled. “Hope, you are so verra beautiful. Donnae hide from us.”

Before she could respond to his sweet compliment, he dropped to lave one of her breasts. The nipple tightened into a tight pebble, and she let out a soft moan. Never could she have imagined how wonderful it would feel to make love. When he suckled her, drawing the nipple deep into his mouth, she buried her fingers in his hair, never wanting the torture to end.

Thomas moved to her other side, and with a smile, he stroked her other breast, pinching the nipple gently between his fingers. The tingles he inspired raced all the way to her toes. “Alec is right, Hope. You are a very beautiful woman.” He followed his kind words with a kiss, letting his tongue lazily mate with hers as Alec released her breast and pressed kisses down her ribs and over her belly.

His hand slipped between her thighs, guiding them apart. She couldn’t even ask what mischief he was about because Thomas kept her well occupied with his kisses. Alec’s first intimate kiss made her gasp against Thomas’s lips.

Alec’s fingers separated her folds, and his tongue stabbed into her, driving in and out until she feared she’d go mad. Then he shifted, sinking a long finger deep inside her while his lips and teeth tickled the sensitive nub. He added a second finger, and she began to raise her hips in answer to each thrust.

Thomas lifted his head, smiling down at her. “Do you enjoy what Alec is doing to you?”

“Yes! Yes!” Hope didn’t want his attention to ever end, yet she also feared the way her body bucked and tightened. Would he hurt her by touching that sensitive spot so hard and so long?

Thomas scattered her fears when he dipped to pull her nipple between his teeth. A knot formed in her cunny, growing tighter and tighter until she thought she could take no more.

The knot snapped, sending waves of pleasure washing over her. She thought she let out a scream but didn’t care. What they’d made her body do felt so good, so wonderful, she wanted to savor each second of it.

When Hope finally came back to her senses, the men were lying on either side of her. “That was so…so…magnificent.” She was breathless and giddy. “I didn’t know I could…do that.”

“Magnificent? My dear Lancelot,” Thomas said, rolling to his side to prop himself up on an elbow. “I do believe you’ve given our Guinevere her first orgasm.”

Alec smiled, holding himself up as well as his eyes found hers. “Did I make you come, love?”

“Come? Orgasm?” She felt ignorant. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“When you cried out, your body was having an orgasm,” Thomas explained. The matter-of-fact tone of his voice helped her feel less awkward. “People often called that ‘coming.’”

“Oh…I didn’t know that, either.” Seemed that Billy had left her ignorant of a lot of things where mating was concerned.