by Julia Talbot
“Really? What was that?”
“Alicia's child was born twelve months after she first started sitting for that painting. Her husband was impotent. But he was so thrilled with the idea that he might have an heir that he never said anything.”
“So she did have Venetti's baby.”
“Yes. At least that's what the evidence points to,” Marco answered.
“It's not just the evidence,” Cecilia said. “Remember what you said about gut instinct, Jacob?” At Jacob's nod, she continued. “When I saw the painting, I knew who Alicia was. I think I would have known even if I had never done any research on the family. And I knew that she and Venetti had been intimate. Something about the painting just talked to me that way. Which I suppose sounds no more crazy than you thinking you were brought here to help.”
“Not really, no. It's rather a relief, actually.” Jacob blushed a bit and glanced apprehensively at Marco. “At least you didn't have the overwhelming urge to sleep with me.” He threw it out there, trying for flippant and failing miserably. All of the times she had touched him and smiled at him came back in a rush, making him wonder.
Reaching over to pat Marco's thigh, Cecilia actually unbent enough to grin at him. “I wouldn't be so sure about that.”
Face flaming now, Jacob looked down at his hands. “Oh.”
“Yes, oh.”
Breaking the silence that had stretched between them, Marco cleared his throat. “Does that answer your questions, Jacob?”
“Most of them, yes. I have a few more.”
“Like what?” He was glad the ice was broken, once and for all. The next questions came much more easily, and Jacob had a feeling the answers would come that way too.
“Have you started going through channels to get the pardon?”
With a rueful grin, Marco made an affirmative noise. “Si. We started the same day we viewed the painting. And agreed to buy it. Cecilia was quite adamant about it, and I wasn't sure why. Later she explained her reasoning to me, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was the right thing to do. After all, this was obviously my ancestor. And we might not be the best Catholics on earth, certainly we have our problems with the church, but we are still old-fashioned enough to want a member of the family to have some justice.”
“Well, I can relate to that. But, well, I have to admit that I don't see why it's urgent. Alessio used that word. So did you, Cecilia, in a way. You said my research was very important, and that I needed to get as much done as soon as I could. I don't get it.”
It was Cecilia's turn to blush. And Marco was beaming. “I'm pregnant,” Cecilia blurted. She took a deep breath. “It just started to feel urgent once I knew that. Important. Like I had to do it now.”
Feeling his own grin spread across his face, Jacob turned to Marco and winked. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
“You're welcome. You do know how long this could take, though, right? I mean look at Galileo.”
With a frustrated sigh, Cecilia pushed her hair back behind her ears. “I know. And that's why I wanted your research. If we could somehow prove the Church did what it did maliciously, then they would have to pardon him.”
“For the original trial, and excommunication yes. But that still leaves the fact that he killed himself. That's another thing altogether to be forgiven for.”
“I know,” Cecilia said, her voice and expression heavy with a sort of pleading. “But we have to try. I feel like we have to make this right somehow.”
“Yes. I know what you mean.” Jacob paused to out his thoughts into some sort of order. “That's what I feel like. Like my situation here is happening to help put the last one right, somehow. So what we have to figure out if I'm going to help expedite this is why the Church went after him so hard, and why they refuse to have anything to do with him now. I mean, it's not like they don't have thousands of works by heretics and worse in their collections.”
“Theirs?” Marco questioned.
“Yes, theirs. I don't really see myself as part of the church right now. At least not the part that would do something like this. Maybe it makes me naive, or even silly, because I know the Catholic church has perpetrated some of the nastiest political crap in history. But it just hits me pretty hard, the idea that they would deliberately set out to destroy a man's life, and even worse, his legacy. Not to mention condemning him to Hell.”
Yawning, Cecilia got up and crossed to stand next to Jacob. She leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. “I'm glad you're going to help us Jacob. If you can think of anything you need from us to assist you, let us know. I'm exhausted. I'm going to take a siesta.” With one last lingering glance over her shoulder at Marco, she left the room.
He had to fight hard not to react to that kiss. When he looked up, though, Marco was smiling at him in a friendly way. “She has that effect on me too, Jacob. Don't worry. I'm flattered you find her so attractive. And unlike my ancestress, Cecilia is faithful.”
“Right.” Jacob said, relieved.
“So what do you need from us right away?”
He thought for a minute. “I need to you look through your old family records. See if anything else about Venetti might be in there. Anything at all. Petitions to the church, or bills of sale for the portrait, anything. Any sort of evidence I can provide will help.”
“I'll get Terri on it. And Jacob, I want to apologize for the run around you got when you first got here. But, well, frankly Cecilia was scared of you. The gut feelings; as she called them made her nervous as Hell, and she wasn't sure how you would react to being here.”
With a self-deprecating snort, Jacob stood. Marco rose too, and they left the library. Before they turned to go their separate ways, Jacob touched Marco's arm reassuringly. If Cecilia's gut feelings were anything like his own visions, he could well see why she had been upset. “Believe me, confused and scared I understand. But I'll accept the apology and thank you for it.”
Chapter 9
His head was swimming with all of the things he needed to do. He had phone calls to make, and records to search and he had to sit down and come up with a plan. But the meeting with the Miggliozzis wore him out just as much as it did Cecilia. Well, maybe not quite so much. He wasn't pregnant. Now he was getting silly. Time to nap. It was amazing how easily he'd gotten used to that habit. Jacob wandered into the twins’ room and stared at the big bed there, but much as a nap appealed it looked lonely. Sleeping with those two was another habit he'd gotten into, and it was going to be hard to get over it when he had to leave.
The study sounded good all of a sudden, and Jacob headed out and went back downstairs. That big leather couch just begged for someone to sink down into it and sleep the day away. Of course, Jacob thought, he could have made that decision before he trudged all the way upstairs to the bedroom, but that would have been too easy. He was making his way past the ballroom when the ring of metal on metal stopped him in his tracks. The sound was aggressive, and crashing loud and he hoped no one was hurting anything.
When he cautiously opened one of the huge double doors and looked inside, Jacob decided that someone was indeed going to be hurting, but it was probably going to be him. From pent up lust. Damien and Gianni were in the empty ballroom. The rugs had been pushed off to one side, like they were for the masquerade, and the two of them were using the open floor as a fencing studio.
The night before, when they were dancing around jabbing at each other with pens, they'd been funny. This was as far removed from funny as you could get. This was an intricate dance of thrust, parry and riposte that made his mouth go dry and his cheeks heat up. They used foils, and even from a distance he could tell they weren't tipped. They had none of the usual heavy padding he was used to seeing, and they didn't wear facemasks. What might have seemed like arrogance to someone else, Jacob took as an expression of their trust for each other. They would never actually hurt one another.
It was gorgeous to watch. They were stripped t
o the waist, wearing only workout pants, and all thoughts of weariness and a nap flew right out of Jacob's mind. Another lesson in how far he'd moved away from what he'd been when he came here, he thought. There was no shame in him now where these two were concerned. He could admire them as freely as he wanted. And he did.
Gianni lunged, and the muscles in his back and arms flexed and moved highlighted by a sheen of sweat. Damien danced back, and to the side and his body rippled as he moved. Jacob couldn't look away. The rest of him was appreciating this as much as his brain, probably more, and if he let go of the doorframe now he might fall. Somehow this was just as intimate, just as overwhelming as the first time he'd seen them together in the study. Maybe it was because they fenced with the same pleasure, the same intensity that they put into everything else they did.
A sudden lunge from Gianni disarmed Damien, and reminded Jacob why Gianni was really the dominant twin, more self-confident, quicker to make a decision. Damien just held up his hands and laughed, and Jacob loved how that fit him, too, more easy going, less inclined to anger. Jacob almost turned to leave, hating to interrupt their time together, but his body chose to remind him rather urgently at that moment why he had stayed to watch. He cleared his throat and they both whirled to face him.
“Nice,” he said, and his voice came out rough in spite of the throat clearing.
They turned to each other and smiled, then turned back toward the door, and him. They advanced on him, looking predatory, all hot, sweaty male. Jacob backed away, grinning like a madman, then turned to make a break for it. He ran down the slippery marble hall in the opposite direction he'd come from, heading for the study. They were behind him all the way, the slap of their feet and the sound of their laughter ringing in his ears. He knew they could have caught him any time, but it was sweet of them to let him take this where he wanted to go.
The study door was open, and Jacob slid right into the room as he tried to stop. His slick bottomed shoes found no purchase on the waxed wood floor there, and he almost went ass over teakettle, but Gianni was there, catching him before he could fall. They were all laughing, panting from the sudden exertion, and Jacob leaned on Gianni's strength until his legs righted themselves. Damien didn't really let him get his balance, swinging him around in Gianni's impromptu embrace to plant a wet, sucking kiss on his lips.
Suddenly, none of them were laughing. They were urgent and needy instead, and Damien pressed forward against Jacob, rubbing against him. Jacob grabbed Damien's arms to hold himself upright, and Damien's skin was slick and hot beneath his fingers. Gianni pressed close from behind, his loose trousers leaving nothing to the imagination as he settled himself into the crease of Jacob's ass. Distantly, Jacob heard himself moaning. He was trying to crawl up Damien's body, leaning back into Gianni while his legs wrapped up around Damien's hips. The kisses Damien gave him were drugging, making thought impossible, so it was Gianni who had to think for all of them.
With a muttered “Dio” Gianni wrapped his arms around Jacob's chest and waist and pulled. Jacob and Damien separated, and Jacob turned to Gianni to seek his mouth. They kissed, lips meshing and tongues stroking. Gianni maneuvered him around to the deep leather couch without releasing his lips and sank down on it, pulling Jacob with him. Watching them, Damien made little appreciative noises, then dropped to his knees beside the couch to help Gianni tug off Jacob's clothes.
It smelled the same. The deep scent of leather, sex and sweat. But that was where the similarity to the last time he'd been in this room with them ended. There was no hiding in the dark this time. Light streamed into the room from the windows high on the wall. There was no running away either. Even when Damien and Gianni left him there to stand and struggle out of their pants, there was no self-consciousness in his nudity. He was no buff stud, but they had shown him over and over how much the appreciated his body, praising him with hands and lips.
Gianni was closest, and Jacob couldn't resist reaching out to trail a hand along one furred thigh. Gianni turned to him and Jacob leaned forward, wrapping a hand around Gianni's leg and pulling him close. Jacob pushed his face into the jointure of Gianni's thighs, nuzzling against his hard cock and soft-skinned balls. He inhaled the rich, earthy smell and licked at the hot, hot skin with his tongue. Gianni sucked in a breath and rolled his hips into the touch, then pushed Jacob away, back down onto the couch. Gianni knelt beside him as Damien had done earlier, at the head of the couch and took Jacob's hand in one of his. Pulling Jacob's arms up over his head, Gianni leaned down to kiss him, hard, biting little kisses that left his lips throbbing.
Distracted by Gianni, Jacob didn't notice Damien arranging the rest of his body. He didn't notice until Damien settled between his legs that one ankle was hooked up along the back of the couch and the other leg was bent at the knee, foot resting on the floor. The position left him feeling pried open, and vulnerable, but it didn't scare him. He arched his neck back, opening his mouth wider beneath Gianni's kiss, and let it go. Damien plucked at Jacob's nipples, and nuzzled at his belly, and between the two of them the twins seemed determined to put every inch of him in their mouths.
When Damien sucked Jacob's cock into his mouth it hit every nerve like a lightening bolt. Jacob cried out and his hips rocked into the motion and Gianni smiled against his lips. The suction was unbelievably good on his sensitized skin, and the feel of Damien’ hands on his balls made his eyes roll back into his head. He struggled against Gianni's hold on his hands, but Gianni just nuzzled against his ear and whispered, “Shhh, this is for you.”
It went on and on until he thought he might just have a heart attack from the pleasure. He was begging, thrashing against the pressure low in his belly, gasping at the feel of Gianni wrapping his hot mouth around one nipple. Gianni bit into his nipple, hard, and Damien sucked him up against the roof of his mouth, and Jacob was coming. His body lifted up off the couch, muscles wound as tight as they would go and he shook with the force of it.
When Jacob came back down from it, he blinked the stars out of his eyes and saw the two of them kissing each other. They were pressed together from knee to lip, hands roaming over each other desperately. He'd seen them before, but then he hadn't allowed himself to like it, to appreciate the symmetry of them, the sameness. They rubbed against each other in an increasingly needy rhythm, moaning to each other in their own secret language. It should have made Jacob feel excluded, but it didn't. How could he feel that way? They were two parts of a whole, trying to come back together. They rode it out together, crying out in one voice, and Jacob felt his exhausted cock throb at the sight.
When they could move again, Damien pulled Gianni with him to the couch and Jacob helped to pull them both up onto it. They tangled together, pushing Jacob until he was trapped between them and the back of the couch, half on top of Damien with Gianni resting up against his chest. They dozed like that for a long while, and Jacob only knew that time passed because the shadows and light kept moving on across the floor.
Jacob was drifting, warm and happy when Gianni mumbled something into his chest that sounded like a question. He moved around, careful not to dig and elbow into anyone, and lifted Gianni's face so he could see and hear him. “What?”
Gianni refused to meet his eyes. “I said, when are you leaving?”
A glance at Damien showed him the same question written in those blue-green eyes. Jacob shook his head. “What makes you think I'm going?”
They started the back and forth speech pattern that meant they were nervous. Jacob had learned that early on. “You said you would talk to Cecilia before you left,” Damien started.
“And you've met with her twice in the last few days,” Gianni finished.
“You must be done with your paper. You're going back, no?” Damien sounded sad, while Gianni's voice was angry, defensive.
“No. At least, not right now.” Jacob wanted to reassure them, but he wasn't sure how much he was ready to tell them. “I'm not sure when I'll go back, if at all.”
&n
bsp; “What does that mean?” More shifting, like a bumpy ride on a raft, and Jacob was sitting up again with a twin on either side of him.
“It means I have a lot of thinking to do. And anyway, I think you could say that this Venetti project I'm working on will be an extended project.”
“How extended?” Gianni demanded.
“I don't know.” Jacob looked from one to the other, and held out a hand to both. When they took hold, he pulled them back into him and toppled them back to the couch. “Let's just say I'm not leaving “til you make me.”
Two voices said something that sounded like a muffled, “Not going to do that.” And then they cuddled in and dozed some more.
The rest of the day was spent with the family. Jacob couldn't bring himself to go off and do work when the twins looked at him with big puppy eyes and couldn't seem to keep their hands off him. He was amazed at how at ease he had become with all of them, not just the twins, but the whole bunch. It wasn't like he had no issues to deal with, but he could push them aside without much thought. The shaking, horrified moments of realization were past. Now he just had to deal with the fall-out.
As for the visions, they had all but stopped. Every so often he would have one of those moments, like sliding sideways, that would hit him and make him pause. But the hard ones, the ones that made his heart pound as his stomach roll seemed to be gone. Jacob wondered if that was because he was doing what he was supposed to do. The logistical problems were still astounding, but he figured he was doing the right thing.
In some strange way, the afternoon and evening he spent reassuring the twins helped to reassure him, too. By morning, he was ready to get moving again, and he gathered up all of his notes and started making phone calls. He called Father Bertolli first, but the man was out. Jacob spent a frustrating fifteen minutes talking to Paolo, the assistant. The man's prurient curiosity made Jacob grit his teeth, but he remained calm and polite. He left a message that he would like to come by sometime that day, and finally got off the line.