Three Times the Scandal (22 page)

“
I want you to touch me there. I want to feel your fingers slide between my lips and dip inside me.”

How bold she’d grown in stating her desires.

“
How many fingers?”

Fortuna opened her eyes quizzically wide. “Two. Perhaps three.”

Giles smoothed two digits over her lips. “Just fingers, or do you desire me to please you with my cock as well? Tell me what you want. Direct me.”

Two fingers would feel good in her still tight passage; three would surely stretch her in a similar way to the cock she sincerely hoped he would pleasure her with this evening. She craved the sensation of him entering her again, of him filling her and feeling his cock flex inside her. When they were joined like that, as closely as any two people could get, moving as one, lost in the scent and feel of one another, gasping and utterly exposed, then, and only then did she truly feel at ease.

Fortuna grasped Giles’s hand and placed it above her stocking top, on the warm skin of her upper thigh. “Touch me.”

Two broad fingers swept upward towards to the apex of her thighs. They delved between the swollen lips of her puss and into the pool of gathered moisture, until they were coated in it, and glided lightly, bringing pleasure—fierce, bright flashes of it as he lightly stroked her nub.

“
You feel like silk.” Giles lifted his fingers to his nose and breathed in her scent, before sucking the dew from his fingertips. “You taste even better.” He touched her again and this time his fingers dipped into her opening. Fortuna pushed her mons against his open palm as she leaned towards him, her lips parting in anticipation of his kiss.

Giles’s lips were soft and dry. Their tongues wrestled as she sought to bring him pleasure in the way he was currently doing for her. The hidden buttons of his breeches popped open easily enough, then her hand was pressed to the warmth of his bare flesh, her fingers combing through the nest of curls at his loins, while his cock bucked and nudged at her arm seeking attention. Fortuna ringed his shaft with her thumb and fore-finger and stroked his erection as she’d seen Neddy pleasure himself. Giles’s cock was poker stiff, but supple and warm. His breath shortened with each stroke of her hand, until it blasted like steam from a kettle against her cheek.

“
You learn too fast, madam.”

“
I like to please.” Boldened, she drew her thumb around the crown of his cock, and slicked it back and forth in the dewy tears leaking from its single eye. Giles whimpered and his hips jerkily rotated, but he didn’t stop her. Instead, he clung to her, and lavished more attention on her clit.

Fortuna sighed against his shoulder. Their image was reflected in the dark glass of the window. How perfectly rude they looked, standing in the centre of the parlour, Giles with his erection poking from the placket of his breeches and her, with her skirts rucked up to her waist and his hand pressed tight to her puss, and all the ruder for being clothed, rather than undressed.

She prayed this wouldn’t be the only time they stood together like this. That regardless of Sir Hector’s intentions and her family’s wishes, or this foolish notion that her godfather’s gift might actually be worth something, she and Giles might somehow have more than a handful of days left together.

“
I like the feel of you in my hand,” she purred, “so hard and yet supple. I don’t think I’d ever tire of stroking you.”

Giles responded with a rather inelegant groan. It made her smile.

It wasn’t just the feel of him, she loved, but the knowledge that he was aroused by her, and that he wanted to be inside her, to possess her.

He’d possessed so many women. Had he loved any of them, or was the mutual gratification of physical needs all that mattered to him? She didn’t think Giles had ever truly fallen in love, for surely a man in love wouldn’t be quite so willing to share or grant freedoms that might exclude him from his lover’s life in favour of another.

“
How many lovers have you had?” A sudden desire to know their names and faces seized her.

“
Fewer than you imagine. And none quite so adept at rousing my seed without thorough practice.” He stayed her hand, and then gripped tight the base of his cock. Colour flooded his cheeks, and he gazed at her though half-shutted eyes. “You’ve a natural talent for sin, Miss Allenthorpe. Come, sit on my lap before you undo me completely and I embarrass myself by coming before I’ve tended to your needs.”

Giles sank onto the chaise, his legs widely parted. His cock stood proud, deep mahogany at the tip. She wanted to lick him, to lavish more attention upon that virile column, but when she bent her head, Giles caught her under her arms and lifted her up. “No. It feels as if I haven’t fucked you for days.” In truth it had been only that morning. “I need to be inside you.”

“
I want that too.” She was dripping with need for him, as he dragged her astride his lap. With her legs so splayed she was open for him. His glans kissed her clit, sending another gush of dew down to lubricate her passage. Fortuna wriggled until they had the angle right. Giles still held himself at the base as she lowered herself until her body swallowed the whole of his cock and she felt his curled fingers brush against her labia. Every muscle he possessed seemed to be drawn tight; even his teeth were gritted as she kissed him.

“
I’m too close,” he hissed when she tried to joust her tongue with his. “Keep still. Don’t move.”

“
But I want to move.” She drew herself up slowly.

Giles gripped her tight about the hips. “Do that again and I’ll come.” His own body undermined him, his hips lifting, cock seeking the tight, blazing, comfort of her sheath.

“
That feels so good.” She tilted her head back, feeling wildly seductive.

“
Fortuna!” He bit down hard enough to leave white indents in his lips that turned deep red a moment later.

“
It’s fine,” she soothed, stroking his hair.

Giles started panting. His cheeks turned the same bright hue the crown of his cock.

“
What can I do?”

“
Nothing. Just give me a minute.” His grip moved lower to tug upon his balls. Fortuna rested her head against his shoulder and blew against what little of his neck lay exposed above his collar and cravat. “You know you’re rumoured to be one of the most skilled lovers among the ton.”

“
Christ!”

She gently bit his earlobe, recalling all the ways he’d teased her the previous night. In her opinion the reputation was warranted.

Giles ground his teeth. Inside her, his cock flexed so vigorously she thought for a moment he truly had lost control. She squeaked, recalling his earlier concerns about releasing his seed inside her. Giles began to chuckle. “I’m not yet gone.” He churned his hips in a slow figure of eight. “Easy now. That’s it beautiful. Steady now. It’s just like churning butter.”

‘
And how often have you done that?”

“
Never.” His jade-green eyes crinkled at the corners and he smiled, affection and lust sprinkled throughout his expression. “Macleane’s a fool. You’re far lovelier than any gem.” He worked a hand between them, stretched his fingers across her belly, while his thumb split the seam of her labia and caught her clitoral hood. Round and round. The resulting ache built inside her womb and wormed its way up to her nipples, which tightened.

Fortuna pulled the pins from her front of her gown and scooped her breasts upwards, free of her low-cut stays. “Please Giles.”

He suckled, drawing first one nipple and then the other into his mouth, so that the connection between the three points of pleasure grew stronger. She could no longer hold still and let him control their motion. Instead she jigged up and down, trying to increase the pace, but succeeded mostly in increasing the rapturous throb in her clit as his thumb continued to drum against it, and his cock stroked her from within.

Within seconds her gasps matched Giles in both volume and gusto.

“
That’s it,” Giles breathed, “take what you need.” He lifted her now, with every thrust, so that their flesh slapped when it met. Orgasm speared her with invisible barbs that made her tingle from head to foot. Wave after wave of shivery pleasure licked at her skin. “Oh, Giles!”

His cock flexed inside her. He tried to grip his balls again, but too late, he was bucking, his seed spilling hot inside her. Hotter against her skin as he pulled out, groaning at the loss.

Completely spent, they bent their heads and rested their foreheads together, the evidence of their passion still sticky upon their skin.

“
Gads!” He smiled into her eyes, and rubbed their noses together. “Good enough to maintain my reputation?”

“
Not bad.” She smirked. “Of course, you’ll need to do it another twice to really prove your mettle.”

“
Twice.” He yawned. “I’m a gone case. I’m not even sure I can walk well enough to carry you up the stairs after that.” Despite the assertion, he did carry her, and gently roused her to another peak with his lips and tongue within the comfort of his bed.

Afterwards, he cradled her, and whispered sweet endearments into her ears until his words lulled her to sleep.

Much later, Giles stared into the darkness of the tester bed’s enveloping canopy. The candle had burned down to a molten puddle. Fortuna lay asleep in his arms.

Free love
. He’d made it his personal manifesto, had taken to heart all its dictates. He wanted Fortuna to have her freedom, but it still irked him that Neddy had been naked in her bed in his absence. Still, he couldn’t have it both ways. Either he embraced the concepts as he always had, or he abandoned them and lived like so many other repressed fools. There could be no middle ground.

Giles tucked Fortuna closer against his side and stretched to place a kiss upon her brow. He’d avoided mentioning the necklace again. She wasn’t ready to believe in its authenticity, and despite Darleston’s prodding, he hadn’t the heart to tell her of her father’s gambling debt. Let the old man explain how he’d wagered her future on the turn of a card.

Chapter Nine

Alicia had barely slept a wink. She’d tossed and turned only to fall into horrid dreams in which she ran along the landing of Dovecote’s house, throwing open doors in search of her sister. Behind each she found Fortuna lewdly posed, or else entwined in the arms of a faceless man. Yet she would gladly have endured a thousand nightmares in exchange for one single reassurance that her sister was safe.

It was just shy of four o’ clock when the sounded of urgent banging jogged her nodding head upright. Alicia squinted at the small mantle clock in her room. It was still too early for even the servants to be abroad, and they were always unerringly quiet, whereas the current noise seemed to make the very floor vibrate.

Swathed in a billowing nightgown and Fortuna’s best shawl, with which she’d been sleeping, she scurried down the stairs. Her father’s valet stood yawning in the hall as he brushed the snow from a recently shrugged off coat. “Pearce?” she asked. He nodded towards the study, where a faint glow of light spilled from beneath the door.

Alicia knocked. “Father, may I come in?” Not waiting for a reply, she inched the door open, and peeked around the wood. Mr. Allenthorpe lay slumped face down before the hearth. With a yelp, Alicia threw the door wide and ran to him. “Father, Father, are you well?” On her knees beside him, she pressed a hand to his shoulder.

Mr. Allenthorpe groaned and slowly raised his head, before pushing himself onto his knees. His cheeks were florid and a vicious raised welt stretched across his brow over his left eye. “I stumbled, that’s all. The fire has gone out.”

“
It’s late, father. Oughtn’t you to retire?” She leaned in closer to assess the extent of the hurt with her fingers, but the stench of spirits on his breath made her recoil.

“
I’m not for bed yet.” He flapped an arm towards his favourite chair.

Alicia helped him to it.

“
Thought it was worthless,” he mumbled. “Sarah’s always said it was.”

The mention of her mother by her Christian name turned Alicia’s head, used as she was to hearing her addressed as Mrs. Allenthorpe, or your mama. “What have you lost, Father?”

“
Been a fool…Fortuna…It’s my fault.” He waggled his head in an ungainly nod. “It’s real, you see. Didn’t know it until too late…should have realized Hector’s interest was suspicious.”

Alicia squeezed his clammy palm. The reassurance did nothing to ease the tension in his limbs, nor did it help focus his rheumy gaze. “I don’t understand, Father.”

He nodded sagely, as if that were only to be expected. “A worthless bauble I could have negotiated a price for, but not for that ghastly thing... It’s more than I could ever raise—a king’s ransom. Though I doubt ol' Georgie has the funds for it either. Stupid doddering old…” He continued to sway his head, as he muttered further self-remonstrations. “Can’t even hand it over to the irksome bugger to be free of him. Just like James to add a whole deal of nonsense to the terms.”

Her father never spoke like this. Never. He was always polite, taciturn. Alicia swallowed the hard lump of panic forming in her throat and bit her knuckle. “You’re talking about Sir Hector and Fortuna, aren’t you?” she whispered.

Her father’s watery eyes settled upon her and became curiously focused. “She has to marry him, you see.” His gaze pinned her. “We’re all ruined otherwise. Macleane will take everything. He wants the Star, you see, but he can’t have one without the other.”