by Lynsay Sands
Elspeth swallowed a sudden lump in her throat and gave up her almost full bag to take the empty one when he instigated the switch. “Thank you.”
Greg shook his head as he tied the full bag closed. “You helped Lissianna and me when we met, Ellie. Didn’t you know we’d be there for you too?”
The words made her smile as she recalled her first meeting with this man. He’d been tied to Lissianna’s bed. Turning back to the fridge, she simply said, “Thanks for making Wyatt stop gnawing on my arm.”
“My pleasure.” He set the full bag by the back door, then returned to help retrieve items from the refrigerator, and commented, “I’m sorry about your mother. She seemed a bit overbearing when I met her all those years ago, but I didn’t realize she was controlling you as she was.”
Elspeth smiled wryly. “Neither did I, really.”
Greg nodded, but asked, “Does your father know what she’s been doing to you and your sisters all these years?”
“I don’t think so,” she said quietly. “At least, I don’t think he knew just how far she’d gone. He must have known about some of it, though, don’t you think?” she added with a frown, wondering now what he did know.
“Perhaps not,” Greg said gently and when she glanced to him dubiously, he shrugged. “Life mates are very interdependent. They need each other, and when a person is dependent on another, they tend to blind themselves to the other’s faults or misdeeds. They almost have to in order to ensure the continuation of the relationship. It’s why spouses are often blindsided by a spouse being unfaithful, despite there having been all sorts of evidence and clues ahead of time. They can’t see it, or they might have to do something about it. It’s called Betrayal Blindness in some circles.”
“And you think my father had this Betrayal Blindness?” she asked.
“I don’t think it. I’m pretty sure he must,” Greg said solemnly, and then pointed out, “If your father had allowed himself to see what your mother was doing to you girls, he might have had to do something about it and risk their relationship. For an immortal, even the thought of losing a life mate is unbearable.” Greg shook his head. “Aloysius wouldn’t have been able to accept what she was doing, no matter the evidence before him, and so he was no doubt blind to it to ensure the survival of their relationship.”
Wyatt started to shift sleepily, and then stilled when he felt a heavy weight on his chest. Opening his eyes, he blinked down at the head nestled there and then smiled when he recognized Elspeth. She was curled up against him, one leg and one arm thrown over him, her head nestled just below his shoulder, but curled down so that he couldn’t tell if she was awake or asleep. Turning his head, he glanced around the room, his eyebrows rising when he saw that all four of their guards were there; Sam, Alex, Lissianna, and Rachel, and all four women were asleep, he noted with amusement. Two curled up in the overstuffed chairs that were in the room when they’d brought him here, and two curled up in new overstuffed chairs that had been brought in at some point while he was asleep. The room was pretty crowded at the moment.
“Sam was the last to fall asleep, and that was just a few minutes ago.”
Wyatt glanced down in surprise at that whispered comment, and smiled when he saw that Elspeth was awake and had tilted her head up on his chest to peer at him.
“What time is it?”
“Nearly seven p.m.,” she said.
“And they’re all passed out?” he asked with surprise. Night was when immortals were most active, from what he could tell. This was like early morning for them.
Elspeth grimaced. “They’d all been up for something like twenty-four hours.”
“What?” Wyatt asked, and in his surprise, forgot to keep his voice down.
Elspeth pushed herself up on one arm to peer toward the women anxiously. When she saw they were all still asleep, she sighed with relief and then glanced back to him briefly, before pinching his arm and then slipping out of bed. Wyatt was just glancing down toward his arm, when she caught his hand to urge him up with her.
Forgetting about his arm, he tossed the duvet and sheet aside, and slid out of bed to follow her silently to the bathroom. His gaze moved with interest over the babydoll nightgown she wore. Sheer red, with two red bows holding the back closed, and black lace along the hem, it was short enough to reveal the red lace panties curving lovingly over her behind. Not that the nightgown itself really hid them anyway. He could see the rest of the panties and the black lace trim along their waistband quite clearly through the sheer cloth.
Damn, Elspeth had some fine nightwear and a killer body, he thought and then nearly trampled her when she stopped abruptly in the bathroom.
“Sorry,” he whispered, catching her arms to steady her. But when she breathed out a little sigh and leaned back into him, Wyatt’s burst of chivalry faded under another response. Releasing her arms, his hands slid around her waist and then up to cup her breasts through the soft cloth, squeezing eagerly.
“Oh,” Elspeth moaned, pressing her bottom back into him as her hands covered his and squeezed encouragingly. But when Wyatt growled in response and ground himself against her soft bottom, she suddenly slapped at his hands and then broke away from him when he was startled into releasing her.
He was all set to apologize when Elspeth turned, but she didn’t give him the chance. She slipped around him and he turned to see her closing the door to the bedroom. When she turned back to face him then, he couldn’t have apologized if his life depended on it. His tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth as he took in the front of the short nightgown. It was as sheer as the back. He could see the panties, her belly button, and half her nipples before the black lace trim along the top of the cups covered the rest of them.
He wasn’t the only one staring, Wyatt noticed when he was finally able to tear his gaze away from her luscious body and up to her face. Elspeth was staring at him as well, her eyes roving over his chest, before dropping to settle on the erection that had suddenly sprouted between his legs. When she unconsciously licked her lips, though, he couldn’t take it anymore and caught her hand to tug her against his chest as his mouth dropped to claim hers.
Elspeth was ready for him. Her mouth opened before he’d even got his tongue out to request entrance, and her arms went around his shoulders, pulling tightly as she arched her back, lifting her breasts up to rub against his chest.
Growling deep in his throat with excitement, Wyatt thrust his tongue into her mouth and planted his hands firmly on her behind, one on each ass cheek. He squeezed the soft flesh eagerly, and then used his hold to lift her up off the floor until their faces were on the same level so he didn’t have to bend his neck so far. When Elspeth responded by wrapping her legs around his hips to help him hold her up, Wyatt let his fingers shift closer together until he could run them along the thin cloth between her legs.
The little mewls of excitement Elspeth gasped into his mouth, and the way she shifted her hips into the caress, sent a shot of stark pleasure through him, making him harden to an almost painful degree, and Wyatt went a little wild as those shots kept coming. They were waves and echoes of waves of pleasure, washing through his body and egging him on, and Wyatt found himself tugging her panties aside so that he could touch her without the cloth between them as his mouth slanted over hers one way and the other.
Wyatt felt the first brush of his fingers along her damp skin as if she had her hand on his cock and was drawing it down his length. It was incredible, impossible, but this was what it had been like that first time in her bathroom at the apartment. As Tybo had said, he’d experienced her pleasure, he was experiencing it now along with his own, and it was damned heady stuff.
Turning, Wyatt set her on the bathroom counter, and broke their kiss to growl, “Spread your—”
His words died abruptly, and he stared at Elspeth in surprise over the hand she’d suddenly slapped to his mouth. He understood, though, when she glanced anxiously to the closed door beside them. Frowning, Wyatt glance
d toward it as well. They had to be quiet or risk waking up her guards.
Elspeth tugged on his hand, and Wyatt glanced back to see that she’d slid off the counter and was moving toward the second door, trying to pull him behind her. Smiling as he saw that the other door was open and another bedroom lay beyond, he followed quickly. Elspeth urged him into the room, paused to silently close that door as well, and then spun away and led him to the bed. She turned to him then, and he thought she was going to kiss him again, but instead she suddenly caught his arms, swung him around, and pushed him onto the bed.
Wyatt landed with a surprised grunt that ended on a startled gasp as Elspeth quickly took him into her mouth. He’d landed with his legs hanging off the bed, and she was now kneeling on the floor between them, her head bent as she lowered her mouth on him, and then drew it back. For the first stroke, or two, Wyatt would have sworn she’d never done this before. But he knew she had at least once on that night four years ago. She’d been the same then, unsure and unskilled at first and then amazing. She was the same now, going from unsure and unskilled to freaking awesome. It was the shared pleasure, he realized. Elspeth could feel when she got it right, and she was quickly applying just the right pressure, using just the right speed, allowing her tongue to rasp around his shaft and tip in just the right way.
The shared pleasure made her so damned good, Wyatt nearly blew his load after a mere half a dozen strokes. But he didn’t want to go this way. If they were going to pass out, he wanted her in his arms, and his cock in her rather than him spread eagle on the bed, and her a crumpled heap on the floor. Besides, he was no five-minute wonder. He needed to slow this train down.
Elspeth gasped in surprise when Wyatt suddenly sat up, caught her by the arms and lifted her up until his erection fell from her mouth. Raising her head to look at him, she saw the determination on his face, and then he dragged her up next to him on the bed, rolled half on top of her, and kissed her again.
Startled she might be, but she kissed him back at once, her fingers roving over his chest and then skating lower until he caught her hands in his and pressed them to the bed on either side of her head.
Breaking their kiss, Wyatt smiled and growled, “My turn.”
Elspeth’s eyes widened and then she closed her eyes and bit her lip, her body arching as he began to explore her with his mouth. He nuzzled one breast and then the other through the cloth of her babydoll before catching the cloth with his teeth and dragging it down on the one side until the first breast popped free. Wyatt immediately released the cloth to suck that nipple between his lips.
Elspeth gasped when he claimed it, and then moaned when he alternately suckled and rasped his tongue over it. She was so caught up in what he was doing there, she didn’t notice him shifting his leg until it pressed tight between both of hers, rubbing firmly against her.
“Wyatt!” she gasped, arching her back and closing her legs around his. He released her breast at once and covered her mouth instead, his tongue silencing her as he drew her hands over her head, and shifted both of hers to one of his so that he could slide the other one down over her body. It grazed the bared nipple, paused to tweak it lightly, and then continued down across her stomach, before gliding under her panties and between her legs to replace his knee. Elspeth gasped into his mouth at the first touch, and then groaned deep as he found the center of her excitement and paid it serious attention. His fingers danced firmly around it, and then lightly over, and then firmly around it again until she was as taut as a bow and ready to blow. The moment Elspeth was sure she would, Wyatt’s fingers danced away and became almost soothing until she calmed a bit, but then they’d just glide back to excite her again. He was making her crazy, but Elspeth knew he was making himself crazy too, and that’s the only reason she didn’t bite his tongue to get it out of her mouth, and bark at him to stop mucking about and give her what she needed, what they both needed.
Still, Elspeth was pretty close to doing just that when he’d apparently finally had enough and removed his hand from between her legs. She groaned at the loss and then quickly lifted her bottom when he caught the top of the panties and started to tug them down. They were off and flying across the room in no time, and Wyatt immediately released her hands and shifted over her. Everything seemed to stop then. Her thinking, her breathing, her very heart seemed to stop in anticipation until he finally lined himself up and pushed into her.
Elspeth screamed into his mouth as he did, her body spasming at once as the pleasure he’d been building finally exploded inside her. She was vaguely aware that he had stiffened and released a muffled shout into her mouth as well, but the pleasure was already overwhelming her and pulling her under its mammoth waves.
Seventeen
Elspeth was the first to wake up, probably because she was suffocating under Wyatt. The man was a dead weight on top of her, crushing her chest. Moving slowly and carefully so as not to wake him, she lifted Wyatt slightly and slid out from under him, and then turned on her side to peer at him. His eyes were open.
“Sorry, I should have put you on top,” he mumbled sleepily, wrapping one arm around her waist and drawing her closer so that he could latch onto the nearest nipple.
Elspeth gasped in surprise, and then groaned and slid her hand into his hair, cupping his head as her so recently sated body began to fill with need again.
“Damn,” he mumbled against her breast suddenly.
Elspeth blinked her eyes open and peered at him uncertainly as he lifted his head.
“I have to use the latrine,” Wyatt admitted on a sigh, and then eyed the erect and now wet nipple he’d been suckling. Reaching out, he brushed his fingers over it.
Elspeth bit her lip and shuddered as her body responded.
“But we’ll revisit this in a moment,” he promised in a growl as he tweaked her nipple, and then he released it with a little groan and leapt off the bed to hurry to the bathroom.
She watched him go with amusement and then rolled onto her back and stretched happily. Life mate sex was amazing, and Wyatt was “lit,” as her students would say. Seriously, the man was amazing. He was smart, funny, commanding, and sexy, and he knew his way around a bed, that was for sure. It wasn’t just skill—that was a given when it came to life mate sex. Even she, who had no experience at all—well, that she remembered—could be awesome in bed with the shared pleasure leading the way. But Wyatt had control. He’d dragged the pleasure out to an almost painful degree before giving in to it and blowing both their minds. She suspected not a lot of immortal males could manage that.
She’d really won the life mate lotto with Wyatt, Elspeth decided with a grin.
“My feet.”
Blinking her eyes open, Elspeth lifted her head to peer at Wyatt at those words. He was standing just inside the bedroom door, and she watched him stare at his feet with confusion.
“What happened?” he asked with amazement, lifting one to look it over and then setting it down to look at the other. “Just how long was I asleep?”
“Er . . . a day and a half, I guess,” she said, trying to work it out. So much had happened, Elspeth wasn’t sure, but she thought she’d turned him just yesterday morning. Yes, she had. They’d emptied the kitchen of every last bit of food and drink and restocked it with the new stuff when Marguerite and the girls had returned from shopping just that day. It was now—she glanced at the bedside clock—eight o’clock at night the day after she’d turned him. Wyatt had turned quickly, but then, he’d been in great shape before the turn—well, other than the cyanide poisoning and the burns, anyway. Elspeth supposed she shouldn’t be surprised he’d turned so quickly. Not that the turn was probably done. The nanos would still be working on stuff inside him for the next little while and he’d need extra blood while that continued. But the worst of it was over.
“A day and a half and my feet are completely healed?” Wyatt asked with disbelief.
“Oh,” Elspeth said with sudden understanding. “You don’t remember.�
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Wyatt stared at Elspeth for a moment, his gaze sliding over her in that damned barely-there nightgown and almost let his concerns go and jumped her again. She looked way too sexy for him to think clearly, but his feet were completely healed. Not only that, they were unscarred despite the burns they’d received, and he needed to know what the hell was going on.
“I remember the twins,” he said finally on a sigh. “Your sisters caught me dragging myself back to the bed after a bathroom crawl, and Victoria carried me the rest of the way to bed.” Grimacing, he added, “I was naked at the time. Most embarrassing.”
Elspeth nodded. “What happened after that?”
“The girls gave me milk and a doughnut and started telling me your mother left the house, headed for the Enforcer House, and they thought she might be flying home,” he recalled slowly, and then raised an eyebrow and asked, “Did she?”
Elspeth nodded. “She did.”
“Huh,” Wyatt muttered.
“What happened next?” Elspeth asked.
Frowning, he searched his mind briefly and then said with surprise, “Oh yeah, you came rushing in . . .” Wyatt furrowed his brow and tried to grab on to that memory more firmly. It seemed a bit foggy to him. He had a vague recollection of Elspeth being in a panic, and shouting something about . . .
“Poison?” he asked uncertainly. “I think you were shouting something about poison, but it’s pretty vague and the memory stops there.”
Sighing, Elspeth sat up on the bed and nodded her head. “The doughnuts were filled with cyanide.”
“Jesus,” he muttered, moving to the bed to sit down on the end of it because his legs were suddenly weak. “Did anyone else eat—Is Gran all right?” he asked with alarm.
“She’s fine. Rachel smelled the cyanide and stopped her from eating it,” Elspeth assured him quickly.
“Oh, good, good,” Wyatt nodded, and then bowed his head. He stared at his feet blindly for a moment, and then frowned and focused on them. They were perfect. Unscarred. And he’d been poisoned . . . He’d eaten a doughnut full of cyanide. He could have died. He should have died. Jerking his head up, he stared at her. “You turned me.”