by Vanessa Vale
A little spot in my heart opened up, a place I hadn't even known existed.
"I've...I've never belonged to anyone before. Not anyone who's wanted me," I admitted. My father was disinterested from the start, eager for a boy. Cecil was fully grown when I was born and did not live at home. I was too young to be a concern or any interest to him. He'd only become my champion when he heard about my impending marriage, and perhaps that had been more to irk his stepfather than to save me.
The looks on both men's faces softened and Connor stroked his knuckles down my cheek.
"We want ye, lass. Dinna think otherwise."
"And dinna think of Miss Travers as a threat," Dash added.
"Aye," Connor agreed. "Besides, I think Quinn may have laid claim to the lass, although I doubt she knows that."
I thought of how the man looked at Allison today, how he'd seen to her safety by taking her back to town himself.
"We could say the same for you, that yer brother took away yer choices. Perhaps there's a different man that caught yer eye in London?" Connor asked.
My mouth opened, and then closed, realizing that from their perspective, they too could be worried I'd been forced into the marriage without being given a choice. "I hadn't thought of that," I admitted.
"We may be big and brawny, but ye can bring us to our knees."
Could I hurt them? It seemed impossible, but they'd given me everything, every bit of their attentions, their focus, their time. If I was interested in another, I could hurt them readily enough.
I could only nod.
"Now, are ye ours, lass?" Connor asked.
I looked from one handsome face to the other. "Yes," I murmured.
Connor grinned as Dash climbed from the bed. "Good, then tis time to keep preparing yer arse to be claimed. Up on yer hands and knees."
CHAPTER EIGHT
CONNOR
We'd said we would push her, that she'd like it—need it, even—a little rougher, but after we admitted some truths, my emotions were a little raw. If I'd felt like I'd been ripped open, then surely Rebecca and Dash felt the same, or even more exposed. Gentleness was needed now. Rebecca went willingly and without complaint up onto her knees. Perhaps it was her trust in us, her ability to believe in what we were doing to her body was for all of our pleasures. I stroked my hand down her spine, then kissed the same path. Dash had crooned words of praise.
So beautiful, sweetheart. We are going to bring ye so much pleasure. This pussy, God, it's perfect. It's ours. This arse, we will take ye here, claim ye together. Good girl taking that plug. Yes, push back on it.
She'd come alive beneath our hands, because of our hands. She'd taken the plug in her arse beautifully. Her pussy was dripping wet and she was remarkably close to coming—I recognized the signs now—that Dash's cock slid in easily. Rebecca climaxed immediately and intensely, her back arching to take him deeper, which pushed him into an orgasm of his own.
I flopped down onto my back and Dash helped her straddle my waist. Even though she had the plug in her arse and was unbelievably tight, I slipped in perfectly until the crown of my cock bumped her womb. She knew what to do now in this position, how to move and use my cock for her desires. I lay there enthralled as I watched her breasts sway with the motion of her hips. I gripped her thighs as her inner walls clenched down on me. And when she ground her clit down on my lower belly and made herself come, I gripped the sheets in my hands and threw my head back, my balls emptying as my seed spurted hotly into her. Chances were great that we'd put a baby in her belly and the idea pleased me immensely.
When she fell asleep sprawled across me, the slick skin of her body pressed into mine, as if she didna have a concern in the world, I knew something inside Rebecca had shifted, perhaps even the smallest bit, that she was now more ours than ever.
***
"I'm glad you are here to keep me company," Laurel told Rebecca as she opened her front door and pulled her into an hug made slightly awkward by the size of her belly. Rebecca stood there stiff and surprised by the spontaneous affection. Laurel stepped back and Brody came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I would have come to your house, but it seems I am not allowed to go outside in this weather." She rolled her eyes at us and it was good for her that Brody couldna see it.
"We have the luxury of remaining inside and staying warm as the men go out in the cold finding lost cows," Rebecca told her. "I think we have the better arrangement."
God bless her diplomacy, for while Laurel wanted to go out and wrangle the cattle all on her own, Brody and Mason wanted to tie her to their bed to ensure nothing happened to her or their baby while they were gone. Rebecca was skilled at soothing the woman who was eager for freedom. When Brody silently mouthed 'thank you' from over her shoulder, I knew bringing Rebecca was a wise choice.
Mason came into the entryway, shrugging into his coat. "You're sure you're feeling all right? No pains?"
Laurel shook her head and shooed the men out the door with motions of her hands.
"Then Rebecca will have you take a nap before lunch, then feet up for the rest of the day," he ordered.
Laurel nodded and it was obvious she hadna actually agreed with her husband.
"Shall we go?" I asked, for it would be noon before we pulled Mason and Brody away at this rate.
"Quinn is at the stables today tending to the lame horse. Porter and two others are nearby as well," Dash added. "Say goodbye, gentlemen."
I kissed Rebecca on the head, and patted the pocket where I'd tucked the larger sized plug. We'd wanted to fill her arse with it first thing, but having it inside her while visiting was too long, so we had her put it in the pocket of her dress. We wanted her to feel the hard wood and be reminded of it, to think about what it was for and that we would insert it when we returned.
I went out into the cold, lifting my collar up around my neck, Dash following soon after. We stood there as we heard Mason and Brody saying their goodbyes. "A month to go?" I murmured to Dash. "They'll surely kill each other before the babe is born."
Dash chuckled as we unhitched our horses.
REBECCA
"What shall we do?" I asked, unsure what one did with a very pregnant woman. Cards? Embroidery?
I followed her into the kitchen, where she plucked a muffin from a basket on the table before carefully lowering herself into a chair. She offered me the basket and I took it from her.
"Eat," she replied, breaking off a piece of the muffin and stuffing it into her mouth in a most unladylike fashion. "I'm always hungry these days." She chewed, then asked with her mouth full, "You can't be anything but fastidious, can you?"
I put my muffin down on the table, took a cloth napkin from a pile at the center of the table and wiped my fingers. "Whatever do you mean?"
"I'm the one who lived at a boarding school just like you, remember? I'm the one whose father had no interest in me until it suited his purposes. I had the older man wanting to marry me solely because I was young and would do whatever perverted things he wanted."
We did have quite a bit in common, even while being raised on different continents. "I doubt the man who was to marry me would want to do anything immodest," I countered, thinking of the earl. "He wanted an heir."
She eyed me like I had two heads. "How was he going to go about getting that heir if you were modest?"
"Under the covers and in the dark." I frowned at the thought of the earl touching me, but then my mind shifted to Connor and Dash. "Do you think...? Never mind."
"Oh no," Olivia said around a mouthful of muffin. "Out with it."
I glanced up at her through my lashes as I picked at my muffin. "Do you think I'm immodest?"
"Do you think I am?" she countered.
I ate a bite of muffin to give myself a moment.
"You were yesterday in the pantry," I said finally.
Instead of being embarrassed, she had a dreamy look come over her face. "Oh, yes."
"It doesn't bother you?"
"Is what Connor and Dash do with me...normal?"
"What's normal?" she countered. "I questioned everything Mason and Brody did. Everything. Now I like it when they drag me into Emma's pantry and take me one after the other." She paused. "Do you think I'm immodest?"
"Not in your dress," I admitted. I did not know her well enough for a broader answer.
"I don't think you're immodest either, especially in your dress, but in your demeanor as well. I'm sure Connor and Dash have done things to you that would make your headmistress blush."
I had to laugh at that. "Oh yes," I breathed. I felt the heavy bulk of the plug Connor had put in my pocket and I discreetly reached in and put the smooth object in my palm. Just holding it made my core heat and soften. My back entrance clenched. Mrs. Dithers would have been struck dead by my thoughts alone. Plugs and being claimed there was certainly not part of her curriculum. "Scandalized."
"Scandalized," Olivia repeated. "And yet, your men want that with you. With you."
Yes, there was a distinction between doing scandalous things with me instead of to me. I tilted my chin up, this time with resolution. "I don't want to be fastidious and reserved all the time with them. What should I do?"
She waved her hand in the air. "That's simple. Kiss them."
My eyebrows went up. "Kiss them? That's it?"
She nodded. "Trust me. You've never had a friend to share confidences, have you?"
I bit my lip and thought back to school. "I had friends, of course, but there was really nothing to share, for we were all suffering the same fate." I folded my napkin neatly, then realized what I'd done, then tossed it across the table. "I didn't realize how miserable I was until after I left."
Olivia frowned, and then offered me a reassuring smile. "You have friends now, four of us in fact."
She folded her hands, tilted her head to the side ever so slightly and lifted her chin and I realized she was mimicking...me.
"I don't look like that, do I?" I pointed at her.
"Besides the huge belly? Absolutely."
I sighed. "Oh dear. I can only imagine what Dash and Connor think of me. Surely they don't want a woman who's so tense all the time."
Olivia shook her head. "Nonsense. I promise you, I was pretty uptight and tense when I came here as well." She smiled slyly. "I'm sure Dash and Connor have made it their main task in life to make you less tense."
I flushed at her words, for every time that they made me come, I was not the least bit tense. "Yes, I believe you're right. Dash had no choice about marrying me. My brother took me from one arranged marriage to another."
"Which bothers you—the fact that Dash was forced to marry you or that you were forced to marry him?"
"You heard Allison yesterday. She has her sights set on Dash," I said, my voice a little dejected. "Even though he's said otherwise, I wonder if there might be another woman to strike his fancy and then wish he hadn't been shackled to me."
"I'm sure he'd enjoy being shackled to you," she replied shamelessly. She frowned briefly, and then ran a hand over her belly. "Don't worry about Allison. Quinn will redirect her right into his arms."
I looked down at the crumbs on the table and realized I'd eaten my entire muffin. "A man wants to be tied to a woman, like with rope?" I thought about how they'd bound my hands behind my back, restraining me. I'd been helpless against whatever Dash had wanted to do to me. Connor had spanked me once, but it had been Dash who'd pushed me all the way to my pleasure.
Olivia nodded dreamily, then frowned again, this time shifting in her seat.
"Are you all right?"
"My back hurts, but it's nothing. It's been this way since last night. We can talk about this all day long, over and over again, so I'll ask, do you like being in their arms?"
I nodded.
"Do you like how they touch you?"
I nodded again.
"Do they give you pleasure even—and especially—when you question them?"
"I do enjoy it."
"Then don't wait for them. Seduce them."
I laughed at that. "I don't even know how to talk about my feelings, let alone show them."
"As I said, all you have to do is go up to Dash and kiss him. Or Connor. Start with that."
"Really?" It was that simple?
Olivia pushed off the table to stand. "Really," she replied with a groan. "I think I need to lay down because—oh, I think I just wet myself." Water trickled, then pooled on the floor at her feet. "The baby!" she cried, then glanced around. "It's time. This happened to Emma, too. What do I do?"
The baby was coming? I knew nothing about having babies; I'd only just learned how to make one! I stood abruptly and spun in a quick circle as if the answer were somewhere in the room, then stopped, took a deep breath and looked at Olivia's panicked expression. She needed me to be calm and in control, even if I pretended.
I tipped my chin up in the exact way Olivia had mimicked me a few minutes before, and went over to take her hand. "Babies take time to come, or so I've heard. Let's get you out of these wet clothes and into something more comfortable. I'll help you upstairs."
By the time she was in a clean nightgown and propped up in bed, she was calmer. I wasn't calm in the least, but all the years of learning to hide emotions was useful now. I didn't know how to deliver a baby, but I could help keep Olivia calm. I had to remain calm.
With her head leaning back against the headboard, Olivia breathed slowly through her mouth, eyes closed at the beginning of the next round of pains.
"I'm going to go and get help," I told her, turning toward the door.
Olivia's eyes flew open and she reached out and grabbed my hand in a tight grip. "Don't leave me!" she cried, her eyes wild once again.
I patted her arm and shook my head. "No. I'm not leaving, only going downstairs to fire the gun. Isn't that the way to get help?"
She nodded as her face contorted in pain. I tried not to wince as her grip tightened painfully on my hand.
"I'll be right back," I vowed, yanking my hand free and hurrying down the steps. I remembered a rifle on pegs above the kitchen door at our house and when I entered the kitchen, was relieved to see one in the same place here as well. It was too high for me to reach, so I slid over a chair, stood on it and pulled the heavy weapon down.
I had no idea how to fire it. I'd seen a gun used before and knew about the trigger and had to assume the rifle was loaded and ready to use. Pushing the chair out of the way, I opened the door and went out onto the back porch, the cold air making me shiver.
I gripped the weapon, put my finger on the trigger and pulled. The sound of the shot was deafening and the butt of the rifle hit me in the shoulder, knocking me back a few steps. The pain from it was jarring and I cried out. Thinking of Olivia upstairs and the possibility that I'd have to help her deliver her baby by myself, spurred me to lift the weapon again, this time placing it directly against my shoulder. I closed my eyes and fired. The kick wasn't as bad, but the pain in my already bruised shoulder had me hissing out a breath. My ears rang. Unfortunately, when I shut my eyes, I'd moved the gun and I shot a chunk out of the porch railing.
"Damn," I muttered, remembering my brother swearing as he'd been seasick on the boat across the Atlantic.
Two shots. People should come running from two shots. When I heard Olivia scream in pain, I knew I needed to fire the third shot to signal an emergency. This was an emergency. Having a baby with me as the only helper was a bloody emergency. I lifted the weapon quickly, stepped to the edge of the porch and aimed at the sky and fired. Nothing. The weapon was empty.
"Damn," I muttered again. I put the rifle down on the porch floor and dashed into the kitchen, searching by the door for more bullets. I quickly found some in a jar.
Back out on the porch, I had to figure out how to reload the weapon. I was fumbling with that when Olivia yelled for me. "Rebecca!"
The guttural scream that followed
had me dropping the bullets and left the gun on the porch, running through the house and up the stairs.
Olivia had her knees bent up and her hands resting on them. Her face was dripping with sweat and her cheeks were flushed. "I think the baby's coming," she groaned, then let out a long, painful moan as pain ripped through her.
"Now? It's only been ten minutes since you started having your pains," I countered.
"I don't think this baby cares!"
I dashed to the bed, sat down on the side of it and pushed up the long hem of her nightgown. A head wasn't showing between her legs, but I didn't doubt her.
"I've got to push."
She was panting hard now, then crying, and then moaning in pain.
"Olivia, look at me." She didn't, lost in her body's actions. "Olivia!"
My shout had her eyes on me. "Keep looking at me. That's it. Now breathe. Slow, good. Think about your men and how eager they are to see this baby."
"They did this to me," she hissed. "I never want to see them again." A pain gripped her and then she looked at me with pleading eyes. "They're going to miss it!" she wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
I'd never seen someone affected by so many emotions at once. I had to keep her calm, but clearly I was terrible at it. How did I keep her from panicking, all the while on the inside I was going to go insane?
"Where the bloody hell is everyone?" I muttered, grabbing for her hand and holding it.
That made Olivia pause. "Did you just swear?"
My eyes widened and nodded. She grinned as she winced in pain.
"I'll keep swearing if you try to breathe through the pains."
Her entire body tightened. "Oh God, here comes another pain! Ah!" she cried.
I looked down between her legs and this time I saw a patch of dark hair emerge. "The baby's head is coming. Do you want to push?"
She nodded frantically as she held her breath and bore down.
Wide eyed, I watched as the more hair became visible.