“As long as this war is going on, my darling, the future isstillnebulous.” Kate had to, in good conscience, point that out. Any one of them could receive orders at any time, and it wouldn’t matter if they were married or not. As long as they wore their country’s uniform, orders would have to be obeyed.
Gerald treated her to a fast, and very appealing, grin. “True enough. But we can now marry you—well, at least in the fashion that Benedicts tend to marry. So now, dearest Kate, we can ask you outright, and in front of witnesses. Sweetheart, will you marry us?”
She hadn’t seen him move, but suddenly, he was holding open a small jeweler’s box that held the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. Two diamonds and two blue topaz. Two, one for each of her men. Four stones, in the shape of a star, for this state that would forevermore be her home. Oh, her men were going to be a handful and, she suspected, they would touch her heart again and again.
It was all she could do right then and there not to cry.
“Kate?”
“Yes.” She hadn’t meant to keep them on the edge, waiting for her answer. The ring, the moment, had simply stolen her breath. “Oh, yes. I want to marry you both so very much.”
The rest of the family broke into applause, and Kate felt her face heat. But she smiled and met the gazes of most of them in turn. These people, who so recently had become so dear to her, were genuinely pleased by her acceptance.
Patrick reached over and took the ring out of the box. She knew he could feel her trembling when he held her hand so he could slip the ring in place on her finger. But that was all right. She figured a woman was entitled to shake with emotion at such a time.
“Thank you.” He brought her hand up to his lips. “Thank you, my sweet angel, for being the answer to every single one of our hopes and dreams and prayers.” Then he leaned over and placed a too-brief kiss on her lips.
“You’ve made us the happiest, and the luckiest men in the world, sweetheart.” Gerald ran his hand down her back, and when she turned to him, he, too, kissed her.
“I’m the lucky one.” Her voice quavered, but that was fine. “I’m going to spend my life being loved by the two most wonderful men in all creation.”
“We’d like to be able to call you wife soon,” Gerald said. “Do you have a date in mind?”
Thanksgiving was still a couple of weeks away, and planning had already begun for Christmas. She looked from Gerald, to Patrick, and then let her gaze once more roam the smiling, familiar—beloved—faces around the table. When her gaze met Sarah’s, that gracious lady, her new grandmother, nodded.
“Yes,” she said. “I do have a date in mind. I’d like for us to get married on Christmas Eve.”
* * * *
Patrick had the devil’s own time keeping rein on his emotions—and on his desire. He smiled all through the remainder of dinner, cheerfully accepting the congratulations of family, the hugs and kisses of the women and the hearty backslaps bestowed by the men.
All the while the only thing he wanted was to be alone with his brother and his woman. They were getting married in a little over a month, and he wanted very badly to celebrate that occasion with some completely uninhibited and totally unbridled sex.
It didn’t matter that they couldn’t be as unbridled or as uninhibited as he would like. Kate’s bedroom was away from the rest of the Home, true, but they still had to be somewhat circumspect in view of the residents who would be trying to sleep under the same roof.
Patrick had to bite back his annoyance when his father, Charles, corralled him, and asked him to step out onto the porch with him for a few moments.
Both of his fathers enjoyed an occasional smoke in the evenings. Neither he nor Gerald had ever cultivated the habit, but they’d both come to appreciate the time spent outside with one father or the other, or both. That had never been more true than that first weekend they returned from England.
Hell, that wasn’t all that long ago, when you think about it.Patrick ran his hand through his hair and shoved his annoyance away.
“You feeling a little itchy, there, son?”
Patrick caught the humor in his dad’s tone and the laughter in his eyes. He wasn’t surprised, therefore, when the door opened and Gerald, followed by his other father, Sam, joined them.
Okay, clearly the dads feel they have some sage words of advice to pass on at this time.All things considered, he figured they were entitled.
“Watching you propose to Kate took us both back, I think. To the day we proposed to your mother,” Charles said.
“It did. And for just a moment, I feltourdads right there with us,” Sam said.
“Yeah,” Charles agreed. “I felt that, too. They would have loved our Kate—just like we all do. You made a damn fine choice, there, boys.”
“Thank you,” Patrick said. His brother came and stood next to him, and he sensed the same tamped-down impatience in him as he felt inside himself.
“We may have more white hair than we’d like, and be semiretired,” Sam said, “but that doesn’t mean we don’t remember what it’s like to be young and in love. We were luckier, in that we had a few years with your mother and you before we had to leave and go over there.”
Patrick remembered then that neither of his fathers ever said much about what they’d experienced during their war. He and his brother had been small boys when they’d left home—he’d been five and Gerald had been seven—but he remembered.
He also remembered the day, over a year later, when they returned. He didn’t learn until he was older how the two men had stayed in upper New York State for a couple of months, long enough to ensure they didn’t have the Spanish flu, before returning home to their family. All he knew at the time was that his dads were back, and his world returned to normal once more.
“This war has already lasted longer than that one, at least for the two of you. You might not get a lot of time with Kate before your next orders come through. We know that,” Charles said.
“You said that she seemed to like the place,” Sam said.
Patrick understood he meant the house at the edge of town, the one that he andhisbrother had built for their bride.
“She did.” Thoughts of Kate and that house brought back memories of the afternoon they’d spent there and he tried, very hard, not to let that particular memory show on his face.
“You’ll likely want to redo it some,” Charles said. “Bring it into these modern times.”
“We had thought to do that,” Gerald said. “We haven’t discussed it much, because—well, because we were in limbo. We thought we couldn’t marry Kate until the war was over and who the hell knew when that would be? But now that wecanmarry her, and have a date set…” His voice trailed off. He met Patrick’s gaze and Patrick realized that neither one of them had given any thought to the fact that very soon, theyneededto provide a house for their woman to live in.
She probably would, for the most part, stay at the Convalescent Home, but when he and Gerald were on leave, they’d want their space and their privacy.
“Well, hell,” Gerald said. “We don’t have much time, do we?”
Patrick met his brother’s gaze. “Especially when you take into consideration that we can’t get away to do anything.Damn.”
Charles and Sam both chuckled. “Yep,” Sam said, “kind of hard to think about the practicalities when other considerations take center stage in the brain—or should I say, the smaller brain.”
Patrick thought to deny the charge, true though it was, but Charles waved that off. “We remember,” he said. “Planning things out, taking care of the details, that’s what most women do so well. We men, well, we can be somewhat more simpleminded, and our goals not quite what you’d call long term.”
Patrick and Gerald shared a glance. “Thanks,” Gerald said, “for bringing the need to think of the practicalities to our attention. We seriously didn’t give them a thought.”
“That’s why you have us,” Charles said. “A man doesn
’t stop being a father and taking care of his sonsjustbecause the sons can shave.”
“Damn straight,” Sam said. “And that’s not the only reason we called you boys out here. We wanted to let you know that we didn’t furnish theentireplace for you, but there’s a table and chairs in the kitchen, a couple of chairs and a sofa in the parlor, and a bed and dressers upstairs.”
“Plumbing’s good, too, we checked it all, and there’re linens there, too,” Charles said. “We’ve also connected the electricity for you. You could move in tonight, if you had a mind to. The rest of the stuff—the painting and furnishing and landscaping—those can be done in time.”
“Now, let’s go in and make polite conversation for a little while. Then you boys gather your fiancée and head on over there,” Sam said. “We’re taking your mom and are going to relieve LuAnn at the Home for the night—and I believe that Rose and Chelsea are going to relieveusaround noon tomorrow. No need to rush back.”
“Course,” Charles said, “there’s no Benedict-sized bathtub there yet, as the one we used to have had to be removed to our bathroom here when we moved in. But then, some things don’t necessarily need to be repeated, do they, boys?”
Patrick felt his face turn red and looked to his brother, wondering what they could say to these two men—the men who had loved them and raised them and did for them—and who never let an opportunity to rib them pass.
“Thanks, dads,” Gerald said. “But we’ve found the bathtub at the Home works well enough for now.”
The only uncomfortable moment came when his mother asked him what had the men all laughing as they came back into the house. But he was able to sidestep the question by telling her that he loved her, and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
He was proud of his brother and himself. They didn’t just grab Kate and rush her out the door with them, as they both very much wanted to do.
They must have waited at leastfiveminutes after coming back inside before doing that.
“You’re both grinning a great deal,” Kate said as they escorted her to their car.
“We are,” Patrick said. “We’re anxious to be alone with you.”
“It’s early yet, darling. Most of the residents will still be up. We won’t be alone for hours.”
“We’re not going back to the Home. Mother and the dads are going there for us, instead,” Gerald said.
Patrick held the door for Kate, and when she’d slid across the seat to sit close to Gerald, he got in after her. Once the door was closed, he kissed her. “We have a surprise for you. If, that is, you want to be completely alone with us.”
“I want that more than anything,” Kate said. “To tell you the truth, I’ve felt anxious to be alone with you both for hours.”
“Perfect,” Patrick said. He picked up her left hand and kissed her finger, just above where their ring sat. “You are so damn perfect for us.”
“You are,” Gerald agreed. He’d started the car, but took a moment to kiss her, too.
“Drive, please. I don’t know where we’re going, and at this point, I really don’t care. I just want to be with you both.”
Patrick thought those were just about the most beautiful words he’d ever heard.
Chapter 20
“I don’t know how I’m ever going to face your parents tomorrow.” Kate looked at the beautiful bed—a Benedict-sized bed if ever she’d seen one—all made up with fresh linens, just waiting for them.
“The name of this townisLusty, I’ll remind you, almost-wife,” Gerald said. “Grandmother Amanda may have chosen the name, but I can assure you, our parents have done their very best to uphold it.”
“It’s our duty,” Patrick said, “to follow their fine example.”
Her men had moved so that she wound up being in her favorite place—between them. Everything they had just said was absolutely true. She supposed she might be able to look the women of Lusty in the eye the next morning without blushing overmuch.
She inhaled, and the scent of her men—a combination of soap and the sweat of each of them that her body and her soul recognized as her mates—filled her.
Suddenly, she didn’t care about anything except being between the men she loved with no barriers in the way.
“Then, by all means, let me do all I can to help you perform your…duty.” Every other time they’d been together, they’d undressed her. This night, fresh on the heels of her promise to them—the promise that, once fulfilled, would see her join her life to theirs forever—this night, she wanted to undress herself.
She wanted togiveherself to them, heart and mind, body and soul.
Kate stepped away from them, and the flickering light from the hurricane lamps on the bedside tables cast beguiling shadows against the walls.
She liked the lamps, liked the softness of the light they gave. Very much feeling the heat of their gazes upon her, Kate reached up and began to open the buttons of her blouse.
With each piece of clothing she removed from her body, more of her shyness fell away, so that finally, when she stood naked before them, she felt both seductive and very, very desirable.
“My God, Kate, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” Gerald’s husky praise shivered down her spine, a fine,satiny caress that soothed and aroused at the same time.
“Only you, angel.” Patrick’s voice quavered, and she knew the emotion would always be so much closer to the surface with him than it would be with her other husband.
Patrick reached out and with the knuckles of his left hand, gently stroked the underside of her breast. “For the rest of my life, there will be only you. You’re the beginning, and the end. You’re everything.”
“I never felt beautiful, until you. I never believed I would ever want to marry, until you. From this moment on, we’re a family, and there willneverbe anything more important to me than our family. The three of us here, and however many children we have, and whatever grandchildren and great-grandchildren we share. I promise you that—until I have breathed my last, there will only beus.”
“Kate.” Gerald reached for her. His hand trembled as he caressed her cheek. As he lowered his head to kiss her—a soft, reverent kiss—she saw the tears he didn’t even try to hide.
“For us, too, love,” he said. “You, us…that’s the center of our world.” He gave her to Patrick, and began to strip.
“Katie.” Patrick said nothing more, just her name, and his kiss blessed her with the same touch of reverence as his brother’s had done.
Before they got lost in each other there was one thing she wanted. Something spoken of, but not yet given.
“The last time we were here,” she said softly, “you made me a promise.”
“So we did.” Gerald met her gaze. She had to believe that he could see the excitement burning in her eyes.
“There have been a few times, love, when you’ve led us to believe you’d like to try different things—things outside of the norm.”
Kate grinned. She looked from him to Patrick, both of them looking too delicious by half. “Well, I’d say being with the two of you fulfills that. But yes.” Kate licked her lips. “There have been times when you’ve hinted at different things—things outside the norm. And I’ve hungered in response.”
“It turned you on that time you first took me in your mouth when you were on your knees before me.”
“It did.”
“And again, when I told you that I would put you over my knee and spank you.”
“I can’t explain it,” Kate said, “but that did arouse me.”
“The fantasy of it did. Now it’s time to see if the reality of it measures up.”
Gerald sat on the bed and held his hand out to her.
Kate’s stomach felt as if a thousand butterflies had taken flight inside her. But at the same time, the hum of arousal racing through her blood made her wet.
She knew she could always stop them with a single word. But she really did want to experience everything, at l
east once.
She took his hand and when he tugged, she laid herself across his lap.
“Just a taste, love,” Gerald said. He ran his hand over her ass, and she shivered even as her juices began to flow.
“All right, then. Just a taste.” She didn’t need that taste to know this was something she would need from time to time. She already knew it was.
“We’re going to give you four swats, wife.”
Kate thought of that very first night back in Washington, and the way Gerald had, like now, made his intentions known to her. She grinned and said, “Well, if you’re going to give me a spanking, make it a damn good one.”
His bark of laughter had her on the very verge of laughter, too.
Smack.His hand landed on her ass and instead of laughing, she sucked in a breath. Her eyes watered in response to the sting, and everything inside her clutched.
“One.” He smoothed his hand over where he’d spanked her and the heat seemed to spread out in all directions.
He lifted his hand but didn’t pull his arm back.
Smack.
“Two.” Patrick’s voice shivered down her spine. She heard the edge in it, the slight tightness that told her he was aroused. Certainly Gerald’s cock, pressing against her side, felt hotter and harder than ever before.
Smack.
“Three.”
Kate couldn’t hold back her moan, nor the way her hips moved as she tried to rub herself against him. She’d never been so aroused.
Smack.
“Four. That’s all you get, Katie. For now at least.” Patrick smoothed his hand over her ass, then pushed his fingers between her legs. “You’re so wet for us, angel.”
Patrick plucked her off Gerald’s lap and wrapped her in his arms. He kissed her, a long, tapering kiss. When he eased back and met her gaze, she saw that she wasn’t the only one aroused.
A Very Lusty Christmas [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 20