Love's Fortress Page 5

  “Surely I am warmer than marble,” Charles said, sounding amused. “I feel rather warm, truly.”

  Sarah licked her lips. “You’re very warm.” She was finding it hard to speak above a whisper. The whole situation was so fantastic, so unbelievable. No man had wanted to bed her in her entire life. And now she was with two very desirable men. Two men who seemed to want her. “You’re sweating.”

  Charles started to pull away. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Sarah said quickly. “I like it.”

  “Sarah,” Gideon laid his forehead on her shoulder and rolled his head, rubbing his face in her hair.

  “Is that wrong?” Sarah asked in sudden concern. “It just… It just makes him so real. It makes me know this isn’t a dream. That’s why I need to feel you too, Gideon. I need to know my new life is not a dream.”

  ———

  Gideon couldn’t deny her. She was so innocent, Charles had been right. But at the same time there was an unconscious sensuality to her that made him hungrier for her than he could ever remember being. Was it because she was his? His wife? His in a way no one had ever been before, not even Charles? And she meant what she said. She wasn’t playing at desire or trying to sweeten her pay by loosening his purse strings with empty flattery. She wanted to feel him.

  He pulled back slightly, going slowly so as not to overset his balance. Everything he did these days had to be done slowly. He felt a moment’s anger as he remembered how he used to be—quick, decisive, strong. He was a shell of that man now. But he could still please his own wife, dammit.

  He tugged off his cravat first and let it drop to the floor. Sarah must have seen something in the corner of her eye, because she began to turn around.

  “No,” he told her. “Charles.” He didn’t know what to tell the other man, he only knew he wanted Charles to keep her occupied. She could feel him but she couldn’t see him, not yet. It was true the scars ended at his collarbone and only began again on his left wrist. But he didn’t want her to see him just the same.

  Charles knew. Charles always knew. He reached up and cupped Sarah’s breasts through her thin nightdress and Sarah gasped. Just knowing that Charles held those soft, full mounds in his hands made Gideon’s cock twitch. He’d grown accustomed to that. He’d been disconcerted by it the first few times they’d fucked a woman together, the arousal he felt at watching Charles with someone else. But now he embraced it. It would work out tonight, it would. And Sarah would be more pleasured than any other bride in the country. They’d make sure of it.

  Charles climbed up on the bed still holding her breasts in his hands. He was so graceful in everything he did. He was kneeling in front of Sarah now, mirroring her position on the bed.

  “Let me kiss you again, Sarah,” Charles whispered.

  Gideon worked on the buttons of his waistcoat as he watched Charles lean in and take Sarah’s mouth. His hands were trembling as he watched them. Would he ever kiss Sarah? There’d been a whore once, but she’d closed her eyes. Charles claimed he was still quite a desirable man. Gideon felt his skin heat and thrust aside old memories that tried to surface. He focused on the present. It was a tactic that had served him well the last few years.

  When he had his coat, waistcoat and shirt off he moved in behind Sarah again. Charles gently broke his and Sarah’s kiss and pushed her back against Gideon. It was almost instinctive, the way Charles knew what he was doing and reacted to Gideon’s needs without being told. That was why Gideon wanted him here. Gideon was not good with words, and this…this physical closeness with others made him nervous and fumbling. But Charles smoothed the way for him. Charles made it all work.

  “Gideon,” Sarah sighed, and snuggled back against him. She reached back and dragged his arm around her again.

  Gideon was having trouble breathing through the lump in his throat at her obvious enjoyment of him. He leaned over and pressed the unscarred side of his face against the side of her head. He could feel better with that side. Feel the softness of her heavy fall of beautiful hair, the warmth of her. He rubbed his cheek against her, wishing he could carry the sweet smell of her always. Gideon tightened his arm around her and she ran a trembling hand from his wrist to his upper arm, just skimming the surface slowly. He broke out in gooseflesh at the caress.

  “You’re so warm,” Sarah whispered, “and hard too.”

  Charles laughed lightly and Gideon shivered. “Yes.” He didn’t know what else to say.

  Sarah reached up and wrapped one hand around his biceps, and he couldn’t stop the instinctive flexing of his arm. She held on while she slid the other hand along his forearm. Gideon nuzzled her hair out of the way and kissed her neck. Very gently he dragged the tip of his tongue along her pulse and Sarah pulled in a shaky breath. Her head fell back on his shoulder and he let his lips trail along her soft, fragrant skin until he softly kissed her cheek. She began to turn her face to him, and Gideon pulled back.

  “Sarah, let me see you.” He couldn’t believe he’d had the nerve to ask that. It was too soon. He would frighten her with his demands.

  She struggled to turn. “I’m trying…”

  “No.” Gideon stopped her again. “I mean let Charles and me undress you.”

  She stopped struggling and her heartbeat raced like a small bird trapped beneath his hand.

  “Everything?” Her voice was small but steady.

  Charles smiled. Gideon could see the gleam of his teeth in the candlelight. “You aren’t wearing that much,” he said. “But if you don’t want to, Sarah, that’s all right. Gideon and I don’t mind.”

  “Would you like that?” she asked, the curiosity in her tone making her voice stronger. “The way I like to see you both?”

  Both. Gideon closed his eyes. She hadn’t seen him yet. But she didn’t realize that. She felt him. She liked it too. She hadn’t fabricated the pleasure in her caresses. He would keep her that way, enjoying this, enjoying him. He watched as she reached for Charles’ chest again. He had sat back on his heels, putting distance between him and Sarah, but as her hand moved he sat up again and met her halfway. Charles put his hand over hers and ran it over his chest, rubbing her palm across his nipples. It was obvious they both enjoyed it. Gideon could see the outline of Charles hard prick through his breeches. He wanted her. He wanted Gideon’s wife. Gideon felt a deep, smug satisfaction at the sight.

  “Yes.” Charles answered for both of them.

  Sarah moved then, a little tentatively. She slowly pulled the hem of her nightdress from under her knees so that it pooled on her thighs. Gideon held his breath. Her face was down, hidden by her hair. She clutched the material in her hands, seeming unable to take the next step.

  “Let me,” Charles said softly. He pushed her hands away and she allowed it. Then he hooked his thumbs in the hem and slid his hands up her thighs, pulling the gown with them. “Raise your arms,” he told her in the same soft voice, and Sarah rose high on her knees and raised her arms as he instructed. Gideon caught a side view of her face. Her eyes were closed.

  He watched as Charles slowly raised the gown, loosely held with just his thumbs as his hands glided up over her hips and along her sides. Sarah shivered, and Gideon wasn’t sure if it was the breeze on her newly bared skin or the feel of Charles’ hands on her. A little whimper escaped her but it was not of distress, and Gideon had his answer. It was Charles’ hands, then. Gideon understood that.

  Gideon pulled back and looked at Sarah’s exposed back and buttocks. She was exquisite. Her skin was pale, smooth alabaster, a temptation in itself. But covering such delicious curves. Without thought Gideon let his hands, both hands, reach for her. The dimples in her lower back were pronounced, punctuation marks separating a long, elegant back from a full, round derriere. He set his thumbs in the dimples and wrapped his hands around her generous hips just as Charles pulled the nightdress over her head and let it flutter to the floor beside the bed.

  “Jesus bloody wept,” Charles whispered wo
rshipfully as he sat back and gazed at Sarah’s naked form with awe.

  “Charles,” Sarah said, and she sounded so prim, so shocked at his language that Gideon laughed.

  “Beg your pardon, Sarah,” Charles told her with a grin, a blush staining his cheeks. “But you are so bloody gorgeous I forgot myself.”

  Sarah laughed self-consciously. “Yes, of course I am,” she answered wryly. She sighed. “I forget sometimes that you used to be soldiers.”

  Charles moved in close to her again, crowding her back against Gideon until her hot flesh was pressed against both men, trapping her between them. Sarah was shaking, but she wrapped a hand around Gideon’s wrist and one around Charles’ upper arm as if steadying herself. She wasn’t shying away.

  “If we are too rough, you must tell us,” Gideon told her, hating the rasp in his voice that made him sound harsh.

  Sarah didn’t seem to notice it. She shook her head. “No, no, you are not.” She sounded breathless and aroused, and Gideon wanted to lay her down and mount her and fuck her until they both cried out. He squeezed his eyes shut. But he couldn’t do that. Not to Sarah. And even if Sarah let him, he couldn’t do it. He didn’t have the balance for it anymore. But there were other things they could do to her.

  Gideon slid his hands up her sides and along the underside of her arms, raising them until they were held straight out from her shoulders. He used his good hand to caress her arm and then glided his hand down and under her breast, cupping it. Sarah jumped and a little squeak broke free. Gideon smiled. He rubbed his thumb over her distended nipple. It felt plump and hard, the size of a firm raspberry. Her body was racked by a shudder.

  “Wrap your arms back around my neck,” he whispered. Sarah complied. The movement thrust her chest out, and Gideon cupped her other breast then and treated her nipples to another caress. Charles leaned down as soon as Gideon’s thumb rubbed over and off, and he licked her right nipple slowly with the flat of his tongue.

  “Oh,” Sarah said hoarsely. Just that one word. But there was shock and surprise and pleasure in it. Gideon squeezed the mounds of her breasts gently and Charles licked her nipple again, this time swirling his tongue around it before sliding over it. Sarah’s breathing was ragged. Her hands clutched Gideon’s back and her head fell onto his shoulder again.

  “Do you like this?” Gideon whispered in her ear.

  Sarah nodded and licked her lips. “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  Gideon couldn’t get enough of her skin. It was so smooth, like the finest silk—perfect. It was a shock, really. She had been so practical, so no-nonsense in their encounters thus far. He hadn’t expected this. Hadn’t expected her to be this yielding woman melting in his arms, this lush feminine softness under his hands. He caressed every inch of her he could as Charles worshipped her breasts. He had always loved a woman’s breasts, Charles had. And Sarah’s were full. They had been heavy in his hands when he’d held them.

  Gideon’s hands were continually in motion, rubbing her stomach, her sides, her arms, then gliding to her hips and even around to cup the plump cheeks of her bottom. After only a few minutes of their caresses, Sarah was relaxed and pliant in Gideon’s arms, her body straining for their touch. Experimentally Gideon ran his hands down to Sarah’s thighs and dragged his fingers gently along the crease between them. Sarah jumped a little but Gideon maintained the soft caress, up and down that hot crevice, wishing, hoping that she would open them and let him in.

  Finally Gideon could wait no more. He pressed on her thighs, seeking entrance. Sarah resisted for only a moment and then, with a little hiccup of a sigh, she spread her legs.

  “More,” Gideon whispered. Charles had pulled off the breast he’d been kissing and sucking. Gideon could actually see it gleaming in the candlelight, wet from Charles’ mouth, and his cock jerked. It felt good. Gideon wanted more. More of all of it, not just Sarah, but Sarah and Charles and him.

  Charles moved back, sliding his knees on the bed to give Sarah room to spread her legs. He watched unabashedly, his desire and anticipation filling the air with a heady sense of expectation. He wanted to see her. And Gideon wanted to show him. Gideon slid his palms down the slight break Sarah had made between her legs, pushing them farther apart. She moved as he directed, letting him press her open, letting him show Charles her secrets.

  Gideon pressed close against her back, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. He wanted her to stay like this, where Charles could see. Gideon moved his good hand along her inner thigh and Sarah moaned softly.

  “Damn,” Charles whispered in wonder. “She’s gorgeous, Gideon. All swollen and wet.”

  At his words Sarah tried to close her legs, but Gideon pressed harder on her thigh. “No,” he said firmly, and she stopped. He continued to slide his hand up her thigh until it was cupped over the curls on her mound. They were thick like her hair, and Gideon enjoyed the feel of them on his palm. He circled his hand, rubbing against her, and Sarah squirmed.

  “Gideon,” she protested, feebly trying to move his hand.

  “This is where I need to be, Sarah,” he told her softly, continuing his circling motion. “This is where I will take you.” He stopped and slid a finger down her crease to her entrance and Sarah cried out.

  She was wet. So bloody wet it made Gideon lightheaded. Clearly she had more than liked their intimacies so far. He moved his hand in a slight rocking motion, increasing the motion little by little until the tip of his finger slid inside her. She was so soft, softer here than her outer skin. Soft and swollen and untried. Again Gideon had the urge to mount her, to claim her roughly, and subdued it.

  “Gideon,” she groaned.

  “Bloody, fucking beautiful,” Charles said in a whisper.

  “Charles,” both Gideon and Sarah said chidingly at the same time, and they all three froze for a moment in surprise.

  Charles broke the silence with a hoarse groan as he shuffled his knees forward again. He made his way between her thighs, spreading her even wider, and her hips thrust just slightly but enough to force Gideon’s finger deeper. She gasped and Gideon was about to remove his hand when she did it again. And again.

  Her hands had fallen to her sides and Sarah now gripped his arm around her waist as Charles got close enough for Gideon to feel the heat of his breath. Charles was staring down at Gideon’s hand between her legs and Sarah moaned as she thrust down again and again, her rhythm awkward but undeniably sensuous and pleasurable.

  Charles looked up at Sarah’s face and moved to nuzzle her cheek. Sarah murmured in protest and tried to shy away, but she didn’t have enough space between them.

  “Sarah, what is it?” Gideon asked, pressing his hand against her sex, pulling her closer.

  “Not my cheek,” she said in distress. “Don’t look.”

  Gideon didn’t know what to do. He’d forgotten about her birthmark. “Does it hurt?”

  She shook her head.

  Charles hadn’t moved. He was still right there, his lips a breath away from her. He moved then and nuzzled her cheek, then kissed it. Sarah was panting, her hips still, her heart pounding. Charles still did not move away. He spent endless moments making love to that cheek. Gideon watched in amazement as Charles kissed it, rubbed his nose against it, licked the soft contour of her cheekbone beneath the strawberry mark and then licked her tears away as they fell silently from her eyes.

  “You are beautiful,” Charles whispered, and Sarah shuddered in his arms.

  Gideon gently pushed Sarah toward Charles, pulling his hand from the warm cavern between her thighs. He needed to kiss Sarah too. But he was too damn afraid to do it like Charles. So he’d do it his way.

  Chapter Six

  Charles wrapped Sarah in his arms and she clung to him. He looked at Gideon and with a twist of his head Gideon indicated that Charles should lay her down on the bed. Without words, Charles knew exactly what Gideon wanted. He leaned her back over one arm and smoothed her hair off her cheek.

  “Sar
ah,” he whispered. He kissed her, softly at first and then passionately. He felt no remorse for being here in their marriage bed. It felt right, so incredibly right. He wanted to watch them together. He wanted to watch Sarah and Gideon come together for the first time. He wanted to give Gideon to Sarah. Wanted her to know the pleasure of being fucked by Gideon. She was beautiful. That moment, when she shied away from his kiss, was the first time he’d seen her so unsure since that first day in Gideon’s office. Surely she must know the birthmark did not detract from her beauty in any way? If she didn’t, they would show her.

  He laid her down across the bed so that her legs were by Gideon’s hip, and then he followed her down. He lay down on his stomach next to her, holding himself up on one forearm, wrapping the other around her and pulling her close to his side. His erection was pressed almost painfully into the bed. He liked the feel of it. He liked to be this excited by a woman.

  He closed his eyes and shivered a little as the bed moved while Gideon re-situated himself between her legs. Anticipation fired his blood. He wanted to watch Gideon eat her. Maybe that wasn’t the gentlemanly term for it, but that’s what it was. He wasn’t born a gentleman. He was a common man and he liked common things, like the taste of a woman’s cunt or watching and feeling her squirm while another man’s mouth ate at her. Gideon, actually. He liked to watch Gideon eat them.

  “What?” Sarah was confused, her eyes slightly unfocused. They’d done that to her with their hands and mouths. He looked down at her succulent breasts. They were full and heavy, her nipples dark red and swollen still from his mouth. He wanted to suck them some more. Suck them hard so that her hips thrust up and pressed her sex against Gideon’s mouth. Sarah’s eyes flew wide and she gasped then cried out. He’d started. Gideon was on her.

  “Shhhh,” he whispered against her temple. “We like this. We like to taste you, Sarah. A woman’s passion tastes so sweet.” He breathed in her smell. She smelled like lavender and some other flower. And sex. He could smell her wet cunt. One of his favorite things in the world. He took several more deep breaths while Sarah squirmed beneath him.