A Wanton's Thief

by Titania Ladley

  The king, she knew, had as partial evidence, a copy of the letter she now drew from the unlocked side table near the hearth. Her hands shook as she studied the crumpled lines of the folded parchment.

  “Salena…”

  She turned with a shiver at the deep timbre of her husband’s voice. Falcon already had his mask on, his longbow and sword in place in preparation for the weekly raid. Since their marriage, she’d insisted on participating in this noble cause of returning property and monies to the rightful, hardworking landowners. Her own people within and surrounding the keep had been reinstated with their lands and possessions. Those men of Sheldon’s who had pledged their allegiance to Robin Hood had joined his band of vigilantes and excelled in their jobs, happy and prosperous for their families. Everyone began to flourish in one way or another. Crooked landlords were suppressed from their overbearing, selfish acts upon the serfs. Even King Henry was starting to curb his ways here and there, yet the Pilgrimage of Grace continued to rage on, flaring up here and there, giving them cause to continue in their own pilgrimage.

  “Are you ready?”

  “Aye, but first I must…” As he came up behind her, she held the note against her breast where the medallion rested.

  He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. Warmth and love enveloped her. She could detect that woodsy scent that told her he’d already been outdoors preparing for the foray to come.

  “What do you have there, love?”

  “‘Tis…the letter.”

  He kissed her earlobe, drawing it in between his teeth, making her thoughts go to mush. “Your mother’s letter? You’re going to finally read it?”

  “I feel I must. I awoke with a burning sense of curiosity for the first time in the last month.”

  “Ah, I can certainly understand that. But are you sure you want to read it now, right before we go?”

  “Aye, I do. I must.”

  He led her to a richly upholstered loveseat near the fire. Sitting, he drew her down on his lap. “Read. I shall be right here with you.”

  Her heart ached at the tender support he gave her. “Thank you, Falcon. Thank you for everything. For rescuing me from my brother’s plot to…to murder me.” She shuddered, surprised it was still difficult to say that ominous word. Salena twisted on his lap and pressed a hand to his stubbled jaw. Looking through the slits of his mask that never failed to excite her, she added, “And for loving me.”

  “Nay, thank you for loving such a scamp of a thief.” He leaned in and kissed her, his mouth wet and soft against hers. Fire swirled in her womb, but she held it at bay for the time being.

  “Aye, a thief you are, of my heart and my desire. I cannot live without you, brigand.”

  He unfastened her cloak and tossed it upon a nearby chair. His hand slid up her braies and found her vee. “Ah, I love it when you wear men’s clothes. It makes the fight to get in there so much more tempting. To see you outlined like this…”

  She sucked in a breath when he traced her labia with his fingers. But her hand shot down and gripped his wrist. “Please. I want you, there is no doubt about that. But let me read the letter first.”

  Falcon sighed and hugged her closer. “As you wish, milady.”

  Her hands trembled as she unfolded the note. And she read it silently, recognizing the familiar scroll of her mother’s handwriting as the firelight danced across the fancy loops and tidy lines.

  My dearest Sheldon and Salena,

  I do not know where to begin, but I suppose with the truth would be best. I’ve instructed my loyal maid to present this letter to Sheldon upon my death, which shan’t be much longer… In light of your father’s recent passing and my current terminal illness, I find it necessary to write this letter to you both so that you may have concrete documentation.

  Sheldon, though your intentions are noble and just where your sister is concerned, Salena cannot marry the Duke of Oxford. You see…he is your real father, Sheldon. Months after Salena was born, he raped me at a ball we’d attended. Of course, there is no definitive proof, but I know it in my heart, as did Salena’s father. You are the spitting image of the duke with your bright red hair and dark eyes, while Salena’s looks favor her own father without a doubt.

  Sheldon, darling, I pray that you will forgive your father and I. To the rest of the world, you and Salena will always have the same father. But please know I felt it necessary that you know of your true heritage. And know, too, that your father and I loved you just as much as we loved Salena. The rape was unfortunate and a very difficult secret for us to keep, but we loved you no less for it and we often thought how lonely this house would have been if it never would have happened, if you had never been conceived.

  Salena, sweetheart, I hope you will find a man you can love for eternity and who will love you in return. It just cannot be Edward Devonshire, though I suspect that would not have been a love match anyway.

  God be with you both. And always remember your father and I loved you equally so.

  All my love,

  Mother

  The tears trickled down her cheeks. “So that is why Sheldon betrothed me to him immediately following mother’s death. He wanted to keep the money in the family.”

  “True, but once he learned of Devonshire’s gambling debts, he began delaying your wedding date—which I am very grateful for.” He nuzzled at her ear making shivers of gooseflesh spread over her body.

  “My mother, she must have endured such pain and turmoil from start to end.”

  “Aye, I cannot even fathom it.” He rubbed a hand up her leg stopping at mid-thigh, as if he sensed it was not the time. “Salena, we do not have to go tonight. If this news is too much for you…eh, let’s just stay home.”

  She smiled warmly, dashing the tears away. Her heart swelled with love. Raising the medallion, she studied its intricate swirls surrounding the stone. “I’d like that. But do not worry. I have long suspected Sheldon was…different. It comes as no surprise that he is only my half-brother.”

  “So you’re feeling all right inside?” he asked with a worried note. “I mean, you’re crying and all.”

  “Oh, it is a bit bizarre to actually see it on paper, but Sheldon is already in prison. I have already accepted it. It is just sort of touching to read my mother’s thoughts. It is…a relief, all of it. To finally understand and get so many questions answered.”

  He combed a hand through her unbound hair. It made her long to curl up and snuggle at his side. “Are you sure? Sure you’re all right here with me?”

  “Oh, yes! I’m fine and I’m not going anywhere.” She dashed the last tear away and gave him her brightest smile. “You’re not getting away from me, that easily, Montague. And I’ll have you know, you will make love to me this night.

  She paused and lifted the amulet from her breast, studying the breathtaking jewel. “I am so grateful…because of this, we have an eternity to make love.”

  He reached up and traced the pulsing stone with his finger. “Oh, aye. Keep the amulet around your neck and do not ever remove it. That way,” he grinned roguishly, “I get to seduce you until the ends of eternity.”

  Salena leaned into him with a sigh. “I still cannot get over how lucky I was to be one of few woman in many centuries of existence who happened to be born at the exact time that the sun and moon were aligned perfectly with your personal Centaurus star formation. It was so awe-inspiring when I saw myself there in the sky of my dream.” She pulled a face, a slight feeling of guilt settling in her belly. “Which would never have occurred if I would have been born the second child instead of the first.”

  He nodded, dragging his tongue down her neck. She gasped, bowing her head back.

  “‘Twas fate, beautiful, but I suppose I do have Sheldon to thank for that, in a sense.”

  She slid her arms around him, desire coiling tight in her loins when he found her pussy with one probing hand. “Please, let’s not talk of that, of the unfortunate event with Shel
don and how he came to be. Let’s talk of the amulet and how it will allow me to provide you with immortal energy forever.”

  “Ah, I agree. And always remind me of how much I owe you for that energizing power you give me with your love. Now, let’s discuss those gorgeous eyes of yours…” He planted a butterfly kiss upon each eyelid making her heart hitch at the tender gesture. “There couldn’t have been a more exact match to the Centaurus—thank the stars for that stroke of luck.”

  Her hand wiggled down between their bodies and found his erection. It poked out above his braies a layer beneath where his codpiece had been positioned. Just feeling the warm, moist tip with her hand was almost enough to take her to the edge of bliss.

  “Oh, I did notice its color. ‘Twas why, I believe, it seemed familiar to me at first sight. Now…” She kissed his neck tasting the beginnings of perspiration brought on by sexual arousal. “You just said you’d like me to remind you of how much you owe me for my gift that energizes your immortality each time we make love…”

  “Lorcan, help me, the wench bargains with an immortal who can, at this very moment, read her mind.”

  Salena gasped and leaned away from him, capturing his wily gaze with her own. “Oh, I forgot about that, you cunning, devious thief of minds.”

  He chuckled, his hand moving to unfasten her braies. “I do not always invade your thoughts, love, but this time, I could not resist.”

  “And what,” she asked, planting a fist on one hip, “did you read exactly?”

  She watched as his breaths came quicker. It made her own do the same. The warmth and strength of his thighs beneath her bottom made her passage fill with a slow rush of cream. His eyes glazed over with that wild, untamable passion she so loved.

  “You thought that you’d like to kiss my…rod while being pummeled from behind—for John’s sake and my own, of course. The energizing, you know.”

  Her pussy throbbed at his confirming words. Excitement danced in her belly, remembering he’d once vowed that all she ever had to do was say the word and it would be all right to invite John in with them. Theirs was a different sort of reason, a customary way to these immortals. It was very common among those of their kind, she was learning, and just as accepted as monogamy was with mortals in good social standing. And all without risking the love of the initial relationship.

  She enjoyed the thrill of it, as well as the giving of energy for immortality’s sake, while never having to risk her relationship with her husband.

  “It would be my way of thanking him for healing me after Sheldon’s abuse of me. Oh, Falcon, I love you and only you. But I do feel this need to show my gratitude by giving him a store of energy as my thanks.”

  “Yes, at the time, I was not completely sure of what the medallion meant for you. But once I learned of its meaning, I was, nonetheless, still grateful to him that he’d hastened your healing, despite the medallion’s ability to eventually do so. You know, it saps his energy to accelerate healing, and he’d already performed his mending talents on another wounded woman that very night. So, aye, I invite him in, as well, for a token of our appreciation.”

  “And you will see that Lorcan waves his hands and tosses some magic dust or whatever, to dispel John’s seed from me?”

  His eyes twinkled with undying love. “So that only my seed can impregnate you in the future?”

  “Aye,” she whispered.

  “Consider it done.”

  She leapt to her feet, the crotch of her braies sticking to her wet pussy. “Then let’s go seek him out. Where is he?”

  “I am here.”

  Salena swiveled her head around, noting that Falcon did not, as if he’d been expecting John.

  “John.” Her voice came out throaty. She welcomed the pounding of her heartbeat at every pulse point in her body. “How did you know to come?”

  “Uh…I’d already invited him along when I went to seek you out,” Falcon admitted sheepishly. “He’s been waiting out in the corridor. He…he’d just informed me his powers are dwindling. He needs a fix very badly. He had hoped—we’d hoped—that you might oblige him. But then you were reading the letter and…I’m sorry, Salena.”

  “No, please, ‘tis all right. John, come in to the study and shut the door. And lock it. I…I’m eager for this joining as much as you are in need of it.”

  John sauntered over to where she stood beside Falcon who remained sitting upon the loveseat looking lazily up at her. She inhaled John’s smoky scent tilting her head just enough to mix some of Falcon’s masculine aroma with it. The spot between her legs pounded with insistent need, as if it instinctually knew on its own what would come.

  John reached for her, enveloping her in his thick arms. “Thank you, Salena. I need this badly. Just today, I tried to invisilate from here to the hot spring for a bath. I could not get there. I had to go the whole distance on horse. And healing…’tis no use. I cannot mend a flea with the meager powers that are left in me.”

  She did not have to ask why he did not just go and find some harlot’s house and go on a marathon night of sex. John was a noble man with other causes that came first. One just would not see him in a brothel or frequenting the town pub for a few swishing skirts. He sought out the energy when he needed it desperately and only then. John did not cheapen the act; he held the consummation in high, respectful regard.

  And she was honored to oblige and to be chosen as this solemn, devoted man’s mode of energy. It did, after all, afford him the ability to do good for others.

  Besides, coupling with his soul-brother Falcon gave both immortal men far greater stores of power than single encounters did.

  “‘Tis no problem at all, John. I welcome your advances whenever you feel the need to invigorate yourself. Falcon and I have already discussed it.” She leaned out of his embrace and looked up into his ruggedly handsome face. His icy-blue eyes had the power to nearly bring her to her knees with potent arousal. “I have accepted the ways of your kind and consider it an honor to…assist.” To that, she couldn’t help adding a grin.

  “Don’t delay,” Falcon rasped, and she glanced down to see that he’d pushed down his braies and was already stroking his cock. “I long to feel your lips wrapped tight around my shaft, to watch John take you from behind, just like I heard in your thoughts.”

  She couldn’t take her gaze from him. A surge of need barreled over her as she dropped to her knees in front of her magnetic husband. The Oriental rug beneath her knees cushioned her fall. She hurriedly slid her braies down her thighs to expose her ass for John’s sake. Both men groaned in response. Warm heat from the fireplace soaked her buttocks and the moist lips between her legs. Salena bent and took the enormous shaft in her hand. Its rock-hard feel made her think of silk wrapped around granite. By the light of the fire, she could see the veins that engorged his tool. Her mouth watered so she obeyed its hint and stuck her tongue out, dragging the wet surface of it from the tight sac all the way up its length to the moist tip.

  Falcon slammed his head back against the sofa and groaned. She heard the swish of John’s movements and sensed that he now kneeled behind her. His large hands spanned her hips and massaged up and down her spine and buttocks. Salena shut her eyes on a moan at the sensual ripples it sent to her pussy, and she closed her mouth over Falcon’s cock at the same time. He tasted salty and sweet all at once. The silky-hard flesh was unyielding against her tongue and yet it never felt softer to her than it did at this moment.

  John’s hand traced her spine from top to bottom. He cupped the globes of her ass sliding one hand down and between her legs. She drew in a breath around Falcon’s shaft and tightened up in anticipation when John’s fingers probed her slit.

  “Salena,” he rasped, raining kisses over her shoulders and back. “Your mons, it’s so slick and tight—” he shoved two fingers inside her forcing a guttural cry from deep in her throat, “—with the sweetest fragrance.”

  “Ah, I’d have to agree with you there, John,” Falcon gro
wled, threading his fingers into her hair. “And her flavor…have you tasted her juices yet?”

  Salena’s heart raced. She knew they teased her. Except for tasting her honey on her mouth when John had kissed her in the cave, Falcon was very aware that the only part of her that John had ever tasted was her ass. What he was doing, Salena knew, was tempting John to do exactly that, taste her cream. So he did. He lay on his back and scooted up between her pussy and her braies, still bunched down around her knees. The feel of that tongue swiping her lips brought a rush of heavy heat to her vee. The flesh swelled and ached with want to be further explored. She raced her tongue around Falcon’s cock, sucking and taking him deeper into her throat with each flicker of John’s tongue over her clitoris.

  But tensions were already running high. Falcon hissed when she tasted his pre-cum. John quickly changed positions and returned to his knees behind her.

  “I cannot take it anymore. I have to feel my cock inside her,” he said to Falcon.

  “Do it. Take the power from her and give her back pleasure she’ll never forget.”

  Their words of encouragement for one another ignited her libido into an inferno. She cupped Falcon’s balls rolling the marble-like sac in her hand. With her other hand, she stroked him as her mouth went up and down on him.

  “Hurry, John. I’m going to blow in her mouth if you don’t hurry.”

  “Believe me, I’m almost as close as you…” And he found her cunt with the tip of his penis. Swirling it around to wet the tip with her dripping elixir, he gave her clit one more flicker before pushing into her pussy with brutal force.