by Reece Butler
Highland Menage 4
A Lady’s Vengeance
Alana Sinclair has returned to Caithness as ordered but, refusing to marry her brutal cousin, has married an arousing pair of MacDougal brothers, Cormac and James. The proof of her fertility is already showing, which she hopes will appease her father, as he needs grandsons.
Her father, the Earl of Caithness, not only accepts them, he hears the truth about Alana's cousin beating her near to death. When the Earl throws William out he vows vengeance against them all. He is a weak bully but has allied himself with powerful men, enemies of the MacDougals.
Alana's men insist they will protect her so she must forget about vengeance. She agrees not to go after William but secretly prepares for the possibility of being captured. When William's hired thugs strike they take Alana far from her husbands' protection.
Who will be the one to gain vengeance? William, Alana, or the men who've sworn to protect her?
Genre: Historical, Ménage a Trois/Quatre
Length: 41,134 words
A LADY'S VENGEANCE
Highland Menage 4
Reece Butler
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
A LADY'S VENGEANCE
Copyright © 2015 by Reece Butler
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63259-282-8
First E-book Publication: May 2015
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2015 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
To the Romance Writers of America chapter volunteers who do so much for new authors, organizing speakers for monthly meetings, judging contests, and more. A special thanks to the RWA's Passionate Ink Chapter for erotic romance. I entered their Stroke of Midnight contest for unpublished authors a number of times. Five years ago Barefoot Bride for Three won first place for Historical and was published by Siren Publishing, Inc. shortly after, which changed my life.
A second book, a back-in-time set in the late sixteenth century in the Scottish Highlands, also won for Paranormal that year. I used research I conducted for that book to create the Highland Ménage series.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Epilogue
About the Author
A LADY'S VENGEANCE
Highland Menage 4
REECE BUTLER
Copyright © 2015
Chapter One
“What did ye just say to me, wife?”
Cormac MacDougal’s words might have been soft, but the intent was not. Alana Sinclair ban MacDougal backed away from the scowling, dark-haired man. One tanned arm rose above his head to rest on the ship’s mast. His chest was bare, revealing powerful arm and chest muscles. The legs beneath his plaid were equally robust.
No doubt his cock was already thickening under that plaid from her teasing. Her pussy throbbed in anticipation. She’d gone twenty-five years without learning the joys of bedding and was making up for lost time. The midwife at Castle Leod had warned her that once her all-day morning sickness eased, her body might demand pleasure. It did. Day and night. Luckily, her husbands were only too happy to indulge her needs.
Perhaps that was because Cormac and James had only been her husbands for a few months. They’d married her because she would be forced to wed a vicious brute if she returned home without a husband. They certainly hadn’t married her for her nonexistent dowry or to gain favor with her father. The Earl of Caithness may very well throw them in his dungeon, petition to have the marriage dissolved, and marry her off anyway. Both her brothers had died in that dungeon. Killing a pair of bastard MacDougals would be nothing to him.
Tomorrow the ship would dock in Wick Harbor and they’d have to face the future. She was not going to waste a minute of this last day.
“Captain MacKerlich, did ye mayhaps hear what me wife said?” asked Cormac. His pose seemed relaxed but it was a lie. His narrowed eyes promised retribution. They were becalmed, the ship barely moving. The crew had little to do but watch.
She was still learning how far she could push Cormac before he exploded. It was an enjoyable process. At least, the provoking was. The consequences sometimes gave her a desire to stand rather than sit. No doubt she’d be standing to eat her dinner. And maybe breakfast as well.
“Aye, Cormac,” replied the captain a bit too helpfully. “I heard yer lady wife say ye couldna spank her.” He shook his head at her, eyes gleaming. “Tch, the lass needs a beatin’, sure as I’m Captain Hamish MacKerlich.”
“We dinna beat women or bairns,” said James, ever calm and controlled. “We do, however, put
our wife over our laps, lift her skirts, and—”
“Hush!”
The crew laughed at her red-faced demand. There was no privacy on board a ship. They’d rented the captain’s cabin as it was the largest, but it was not big enough to hide what happened between two giant MacDougal husbands and one short, pregnant wife. They’d heard her scream before, both from spankings and the orgasms that followed.
She usually slept in the bunk while Cormac and James used hammocks strung across the cabin. The hammocks, hip high to the men, were useful for purposes other than sleep. So was the bunk, the table bolted to the floor, the wall, and the floor. One thing she’d quickly learned was that her husbands were inventive. Even better, they were eager to please her while enjoying the process themselves.
Cormac straightened. He set his bare feet wide. He pointed to the deck in front of him. She shook her head, refusing his silent order to stand meekly and accept chastisement. He’d once spanked her high on the battlements at Castle Leod. She’d provoked him before running up the stairs, thinking he wouldn’t do something that obvious.
Wrong.
He’d bent her over the stone wall between two merlons, lifted her skirts, and applied his hand to her backside. Repeatedly. While no one could see her bare bottom everyone knew what he was doing. Perhaps if she hadn’t made so much noise they wouldn’t have noticed. Though it wasn’t the spanking that had her screaming. As soon as he’d finished he’d entered her from behind, full depth, and brought his fingers around to her clit.
If he spanked her on deck she would be mortified. She wanted his personal attention, but not here. She took a step back.
“Dinna run from me, wife. ‘Twill be worse when I catch ye.”
“Och, laddies, we’ll be needing sommat to plug our ears agin’.”
The sailor’s false complaint was accompanied by the other men’s grins. The captain and crew were related to the MacKenzie clan, so were allies. Laird Kenneth MacKenzie had provided refuge at Castle Leod until she was far enough into her pregnancy to safely travel. In return, Cormac and James had helped teach the men an unusual fighting method they’d learned while fostering with her father. They’d no doubt used a few of those wrestling holds on her. She loved that she could struggle as hard as she could, fighting them without escape. Yet one word, and they’d release her.
Alana hadn’t used that word yet. From the eager glint in Cormac’s eyes she might consider it today. She took another step back. He raised an eyebrow and lowered his head like a bull about to charge. She turned and ran for the hatch. A deep roar drove her forward.
She slid down the stair and scampered along the short passageway to the captain’s cabin. A bellow of disapproval followed her. As they were so tall her husbands had to bend their heads to follow, which slowed them down. She made it to the cabin, slamming the door behind her.
Where to hide? There were few choices. The most obvious place was a storage area under the bunk. She’d tried that once. They’d had a tough time getting her out, which had ruined the mood. She opened it an inch as if she was inside and rushed to stand behind the door on the far side of a tall set of drawers. Her pussy thrummed in the excitement of the chase and what would come with capture.
The door slammed back with a crash, making her jump. Cormac stomped in, followed by James.
“Tch, I told ye not to climb in yon cupboard,” said Cormac. He stopped in front of the bunk, eyes facing the small door. “Ye have ‘til three to climb out.” The ship rocked, making the door move slightly as if she were inside. “One.” James took up position beside him, both with their backs to her. “Two.”
“We’d best punish her well,” said James. “Who knows when we’ll have another chance.” They waited. “Alana, ye’d best crawl out of there.”
Cormac gave a deep sigh, though she could see his eager grin. “Three.”
He used his long bare toes to open the door. James titled his head to look in. He shook it at Cormac. They both turned to their right, slowly scanning the small room. Bunk to the left, wall with open portholes ahead, desk to the right, then the door. And then the space beyond the cupboard, where she stood.
Alana ducked her head, looking up at them through her eyelashes. She’d put her hands behind her and arched her back, so her breasts stood out. She leaned slightly forward so her oversized gown gaped. She pressed her lips together to hide her smile at their reaction.
“She’s laughing at ye, brother,” said James. He always noticed too much.
“Aye, well she willna be laughing fer long. The wee baggage will learn to obey her husbands.”
Cormac unbuckled his belt, holding onto it as his plaid hit the floor. He wore nothing but a wide, evil grin. She gulped, staring at his giant cockstand. She wanted that cock. In her mouth, her pussy, and her arse. A sharp crack made her jerk. Cormac had doubled his belt, then slapped it across his other palm.
“Thought that would get yer attention.” He held up the belt. “Ye’ll be tasting this afore ye get pleasure from that cock ye are eyein’ like a starvin’ dog slaverin’ o’er a juicy bone.”
She shook her head, her excitement fading. She’d been a curious child and had been punished often by those wishing to get back at her father. Though she trusted her husbands, she did not like the idea of being struck with hard leather.
“No belt,” she whispered.
“A man is responsible for his wife and bairns,” said James. “You insulted Cormac to his face in front of other men, on purpose.”
James, watching her eyes, undid his own belt. His dropped plaid revealed an equally impressive erection rising from a nest of dark curls. A dark trail led up toward a pair of flat nipples partially hidden by a sprinkling of soft whorls. His neck was topped by a strong chin and lips she knew concealed a tongue that could keep her on the edge of orgasm until she gripped his hair and screamed in frustration. When his lips quirked she dropped her eyes to stare at his cock. It bobbed with his heartbeat.
These men were her husbands. They would not smack a belt hard against her back, legs, and more, getting pleasure from her fear and pain. They would spank her with their palms and then make sure she was wet and gasping before sliding their cocks into her…
She licked her lips.
“Och, nay, ye’ll not get out of it that way.” Cormac pointed to a spot ten inches from the bunk. “Face the wall, and put yer feet here.”
“When I said you’d not spank me,” she said, having come up with an excuse, “I was meaning the earl will not let you harm the woman carrying his grandson. He cares naught for the vessel.”
Cormac grunted his agreement. The two brothers had spent many years at Castle Girnigoe fostering with her father. They knew he didn’t care about anything or anyone unless he could use them, or they stood in his way. Obstacles were removed, usually permanently.
“He willna ken what we do to you,” said James. He held out his thick belt, wrapped around his fist. “Yer cries willna be heard with your teeth clamped on leather. And what he doesna hear, doesna exist.”
She’d had to hide silent in dark corners for too many years. Crying out when she orgasmed, uncaring if the sound echoed around their chamber, was one way she proved she was alive in spite of what had been done to her.
“Thank you for the kind offer, but I willna be biting your belt.”
“That, or we gag ye,” replied Cormac with a careless shrug. “’Tis all the same to me. The lads have gone without a woman too long. The sound of ye reachin’ yer peak isna fair to ’em.”
The floor lurched under her feet. She took a step to balance. Her ankle went over. The ship shifted again, throwing her sideways. Strong arms caught her before she hit the deck. Intense dark eyes stared into hers a few scant inches away.
“MacDougals protect what is theirs,” murmured Cormac.
His words were soft, but his intent was clear. His eyes held a warning, that she must learn she belonged to him. He nodded once, seeing she understood, then set her on her feet.
She refused to lean her head back to look up at him. He didn’t release her.
“Ye are my wife, Alana Sinclair. I will protect and provide for ye with all that I have. In return ye must obey me. Remember the words ye said to the MacKenzie priest outside his kirk?”
Alana had promised to obey him, but in return he’d promised to love her. She clenched her fists in frustration. It was easy to tell by her actions if a wife disobeyed her husband. None could see into a husband’s heart to learn the truth.
She’d learned what Cormac thought of love days after their wedding when she’d overheard him giving advice to Colin MacKenzie, who awaited his fiancée. Cormac told him love was just a word said by rote as part of the marriage oath. He admitted he was fond of her and certainly desired her, but he’d married for practical reasons. She needed the protection of a husband, and he got a warm bed with a willing woman in it every night. He hoped her father would order the three of them back to Duncladach as Laird Somerled MacDougal, his eldest brother, needed a well-trained woman to run their castle.
She’d almost crumpled at his bald statement that she was a convenience, protected because she belonged to them. What she’d seen as a betrayal had hurt for months, but she’d gotten over it. She'd spent ten years before that with Lord Fraser. He openly loved his wife, valued her opinion, and treated her with respect. She’d dreamed of having the same but it was not to be. Few women of her station had a choice in their husband and could do nothing if they treated her badly. She was very lucky to have husbands who cared about her and gave her pleasure. They’d been raised in harsh circumstances by their older brothers, then sent across the country to foster with her father. The earl loved no one but himself. Women either served him, produced heirs, or were married off for gain.