She supposed there was no use in averting her gaze, not after how well they’d come to know each other last night.
Swallowing, she looked between them to the window overlooking the gardens. The sun had yet to rise, and the land lay in predawn darkness. The sight could not block out the image of her two lovers.
The thought sent a shiver of awareness through her of how close they were, how their hands and mouths made her feel, and how she shamelessly wanted to feel them again, despite the soreness of her body.
She’d never seen a naked man before so had only the two of them with which to compare, but Sarina didn’t think other men of her social circle looked like either Liam or Prescott. Before they’d worked the docks in their joint shipping business, they’d been in the army in Portugal and Spain, then in France.
Sarina suddenly had a new appreciation of the male physique. Even when they were dressed for a house party or ball, both men filled out their clothing rather nicely. More than once she’d caught herself watching Liam’s broad shoulders or Prescott’s muscled arms.
Shaking herself from such inappropriate thoughts, Sarina rapidly brought her drifting attention back to the conversation at hand.
Prescott picked up her hand and held her fingers tightly. He looked serious, more than she’d seen him since the day he and Liam had called to inform her of her brother’s death. “We’d never risk you or endanger our positions.”
“You could never guarantee that our involvement wouldn’t become fodder for public consumption.” Sarina shook her head and gently removed her hand from his grip. She looked at Liam and added, “I’m sure The Morning Post would be delighted to spread tales from our bedroom across their scandal sheets.”
“That will not happen,” Liam said. His voice was hard and firm, his eyes clear on hers.
Though she might be young, Sarina was fully aware of how these things worked. Of how scandals such as these spread through society like vicious gossip at lady’s tea; only the sweet pastry was more coveted. She raised a disbelieving eyebrow at Liam.
“Prescott and I,” Liam said in that same clear tone that spoke of promises, “have experience in maintaining secrets.”
Sarina wondered what kind of secrets he meant, and if they had experience keeping a woman and an illicit ménage private, which at the moment she wouldn’t put past them. She narrowed her eyes at both men, but then Prescott reclaimed her hand.
“You don’t rise to the position we have, without knowing how to keep secrets.” he said, his fingers refusing to let her go.
Sarina succumbed to temptation and she stared at him, her eyes roaming over Prescott’s naked form, taking in the hardness of him, his skin stretched taut over well-honed muscles she’d barely had the chance to explore last night.
Her fingers curled around his for a heartbeat, but then relaxed. She drew herself up. They, the both of them, made it sound as if having two men as lovers was an everyday occurrence and one able to be kept secret so easily.
Men. Did they not understand how these things worked? Sarina just barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes at the thought.
“This isn’t about finding a secret route from India to England,” she snapped, thoroughly exasperated. “Or what port master you paid off with a woman.” She tugged her hand, but Prescott merely tightened his grip. Refused to let her go. “This will not work,” she added in a quieter, harsher voice, listening for the servants. “Now please leave. Leave before the servants wake. We will speak of this in a more appropriate venue!”
She caught Liam’s gaze and made certain he understood her position as well. She didn’t know these servants, this household, but people talked no matter what. And Sarina had no desire to be the object of gossip below stairs.
“It’s bad enough,” she continued desperately, “that I’ve stayed the night in this house with the two of you. But with the fire and confusion from last night, I don’t think we’ll be questioned. But if the servants find us like this.” Sarina waved her free hand between Liam’s body and Prescott’s and tried to keep from being overly distracted. “Their tongues will wag to our destruction.”
What she really meant was her destruction. No doubt they’d come out of the resulting scandal utterly unscathed, but she’d never be able to show her face in society again.
Liam stepped closer and Sarina wondered how that was even possible. He didn’t take her hand, but feathered his fingers down her cheek. A shudder of pure, unrestrained lust shot through her. Sarina wondered if she’d ever be able to control her reaction and had a suspicion that her one night with these men was not enough.
Despite her words and her very real fear over discovery, she wanted them again. What had happened to her self-control?
But then she swallowed and shook her head. Liam’s hand didn’t fall from her face, but he cupped her cheek instead.
“Are you in love with both of us?” Liam asked.
Sarina blinked in surprise. The question took her aback. With a firm tug, she released her hand from Prescott’s and stepped away from Liam’s touch. She needed space. Room to think.
“Would I,” she asked in horrified accusation, “have done what we did last night if I wasn’t?”
“Then why,” Liam asked in that same calm, steady voice, “do you want to walk away? Why won’t you take this chance with us?”
“It wasn’t easy for Liam and me to come to understand that we can share you.” Prescott didn’t try to retake her hand, but Sarina kept her distance anyway. She needed a clear head, and maybe for them to put on their trousers. Their nudeness was more than a little distracting. “That we both loved you enough and held each other in enough regard to see this through and to build a life with each other.”
“But you didn’t think beyond that, did you?” she demanded. She listened for the servants, her heart pounding with every moment past, with the ever brightening landscape. “You want to hear I love you both?” She nodded once with a short jerk of her head. “I do. I have,” she added with tears caught in her throat, “almost since we met.”
Sarina stopped and took a deep breath, trying to clear her head enough for this conversation. One not suited for the front parlor, she supposed. But when she breathed in, all she could smell was the lemon oil from last night, the scent of sex, and the knowledge she couldn’t belong here.
“I’ve wanted each of you in different ways and it has been torture not knowing what to do with these feelings—not wanting to come between your friendship. I’m not a foolish or careless girl; I’m not one who would see your friendship destroyed simply to have one of you.”
Prescott took a step closer, his eyes thunderous with emotion. Liam watched her steadily, the change in him subtler but no less powerful. Her words hadn’t been the permanent break she’d intended, but they were honest. And that was more important, she thought even as she felt the sizzling crack of lightning between them and knew they understood.
“We know.” Prescott shot Liam a look and the other man nodded.
“That’s why this arrangement will work for us,” Liam said. His gaze bore into hers as he added, “We need it to work.”
“I can’t believe you don’t see all the problems with this,” she said in a quiet voice.
They really had tried to work it out, but they’d failed to realize the differences in gossip between men and women. Even a whiff of scandal would ruin her, while they could brush it off. And even if she married one of them, the taint would follow her for the rest of her life.
“We do,” Prescott promised. “But we also know we can handle them. Have faith in us, Sarina. We won’t put you in an untenable position. Our only concern is for you. Is to see that any arrangement we come to works for all of us.”
The sun brightened the land and her heart raced—both with the thought of discovery by the servants and by their promises. Oh, how she wanted to believe them and their promises.
“Will you give us a chance to prove it to you?” Liam asked.
&nb
sp; Sarina released a little breath and realized she released at least some of her reservations with that. Nodding, she pressed her lips first to Prescott’s then to Liam’s cheek.
“Yes.” She breathed out slowly. The agreement surprised her, but she wanted so much for this to work.
“But,” she warned, “you’ll have to convince me this won’t ruin us all.”
Pulling back, she studied them and wondered how she’d come to find herself in this situation. It wasn’t, she thought wryly, the sort of position her governesses had prepared her for. Sarina shook her head. What sort of governess prepared a young lady for this sort of situation?
What she wanted was an instruction guide written by a famous courtesan or well-traveled and experienced widow. Then again, how did one go about obtaining such a book? Who could she ask about such things?
She had entirely too many unanswered questions.
“All right,” she added with a half laugh, trying for lightness. Shaking her head, she stepped back, away from their seductive temptations. “But you must leave now,” she said with a nod toward the rising sun. “Leave before the maids find you in here.”
With a final look between them, and one last kiss to her, each man gathered his clothing and quickly dressed. Sarina didn’t watch. She was far too preoccupied in trying to control her own body’s reactions to their kisses. And she wondered if she would’ve accepted the two of them sooner if they’d kissed her before tonight.
Prescott held her close, one hand cupping her cheek. His kiss was a hard press of lips to hers, no more. “I love you. And I need you. Always.”
With one final look, Prescott left, his gaze lingering on her as he did so. Sarina felt no tension between them, no sense of jealousy or anger over one kissing her versus the other. She shivered and licked her lips, a move she realized only after the fact did more to entice him. His gaze darkened as he watched her, and she swallowed hard.
The door closed softly behind Prescott, and suddenly Liam stood before her. His large hands framed her face, his kiss tender and loving. No, there was no suspicion or mistrust between either man. The thought warmed her, surprised her, yes, but wrapped around her like the most loving of caresses.
“The day I saw you march over to Mrs. Cartwright and plainly inform her that her vicious supposition about Miss Greenwood was unladylike and harmful, and that unless she’d been in the room when Miss Greenwood had her supposed assignation, she needed to keep her crude mouth shut.”
He grinned, a brief flash of teeth and honesty, but all Sarina saw were his eyes. The bright blue, the openness that pulled her in. Suddenly it hurt to breathe.
“Was the day I fell in love with you,” he admitted.
“Oh,” she breathed.
She’d never dreamed she’d hear those words from either man, and to hear them from both in so short a time made her dizzy with want and happiness.
“No other miss in London would’ve done such a thing.” This time, his kiss was longer, warmer, deeper, and Sarina lost herself in it.
Before she could wrap her arms around him and pull her close, Liam pulled back. He smiled again then nodded once. Without a sound, he slipped out of the bedroom as well.
In the quiet of her room, her heart pounding erratically, Sarina stared at the door her two lovers—two!—had just left through and wondered what she’d got herself into. It didn’t matter, because she wouldn’t change a single moment of the previous night.
Not last night, not even of this morning. Especially not this morning, when they’d both confessed their love for her. Warmth spread through her at the remembered words and she grinned, feeling so very carefree.
Wandering to the window, warm and happy and somehow knowing the future would work itself out between the three of them, Sarina looked across the lawn. Sunlight cast a bright glow on the frozen landscape, and suddenly she remembered her cousins.
Her smiled dimmed, and some of the coldness of the room seeped into her bones. They’d made it out of the fire; she’d seen them or Prescott had said he’d seen them. And she knew he wouldn’t lie to her. But she needed to return to London and let them know she was safe.
And, too, there was still the matter of Lord Strathmore and her potential engagement to him. Now that she’d slept with both Liam and Prescott, any marriage to another was entirely out of the question.
The problem was, how to tell Maryanne and Henrietta that? Henrietta would be thrilled, but then…which man would she marry? And once married, would jealousy then come into play? Or would all three of them be able to continue sharing? Sarina dearly hoped so.
Pleasure shot through her at the memory of last evening. The initial arousal, the hesitation, the both of them surrounding her. Uncomfortable at first, Sarina wondered if every time could be like that—the blinding pleasure, the exquisite tug of need. She wandered to the window and looked over the ever-brightening garden.
The scratch at her door surprised her, and Sarina panicked for a moment. She called out for Iris to enter and frantically hoped the other woman didn’t just know what she’d done in here last night. But the girl didn’t seem to notice and talked of the aftermath of the fire while she helped Sarina dress. As she sipped her tea, Sarina wasn’t surprised to hear that Liam had ordered the servants to head into Kingsnorth to help any way they could.
“The stories we’ve heard, Miss,” Iris said with a shudder. “’Tis terrible. Everythin’ is gone now. The fire took the whole village.”
Sarina’s stomach twisted at the knowledge, and she wanted to help in some way. But she needed to return to London and let Maryanne and Henrietta know she had escaped unscathed. Turning to Iris, she said, “If there’s anything I can do, any help I can offer, please contact me. I’ll leave my London address with the butler.”
Iris nodded, and with a quick bob she left. Sarina crossed to the secretary and wrote her address down, intending to give it to the butler, and supposed she was as ready as ever to leave the bedroom and face the rest of her day.
As she walked down the stairs, she heard Liam dismiss the servants to help in what remained of Kingsnorth. Stopping the butler—she never did learn his name—she handed him the paper with her address and reiterated her promise to help in any way she could. She waited in the front parlor for the servants to leave, trying her best not to stare at Liam and Prescott.
Then the house was empty save for the three of them. A driver and footman waited outside, but Sarina barely remembered them. She watched the heat in Prescott’s gaze, the almost predatory way Liam moved across the room.
She swallowed, but didn’t run. No, she wanted this entirely too much to leave. Even with her body so sore, Sarina wanted their touch on her once more.
Liam’s mouth crashed against hers, hard and demanding. Prescott stood behind her, his hands cupped her breasts, teased the tops of them above her bodice. Sarina whimpered and arched into the touch, into the kiss. With a boldness she wouldn’t have thought herself capable of yesterday, she turned and kissed Prescott. Liam’s hands were on her hips, his mouth trailing along the back of her shoulders as she kissed her other lover.
Prescott pulled away first, his eyes nearly black with passion. “We should leave now,” he said in a growl that shot straight through her and warmed places she desperately wanted to explore again.
Wordlessly, Sarina nodded. Her fingers trembled as she tied her cloak, and she pulled up the hood to cover as much of her face a possible. She didn’t need to see herself to know her lips throbbed from their mouths and her cheeks flushed from renewed need.
Silently, she climbed into the carriage, uncaring as to the lack of propriety in having no chaperone. And wondering how it would work, the three of them making love in a carriage. She doubted such an arrangement was possible, but oh, she wanted to try.
The ride back to London was uneventful. Mostly. Except for the moment when Liam’s hand slipped beneath her gown and Prescott kissed down the side of her neck, over the tops of her breasts. Sarina tried to
be silent, tried not to cry out as her pleasure crashed over her, but wasn’t certain how successful she’d managed to be.
She exited the carriage, flushed from their fingers and mouths.
“Sarina!” Henrietta waited for her at the doorway. Her cousin enveloped her in a hug the instant Sarina crossed the threshold.
“Oh, dearest, we were afraid we’d lost you,” Henrietta said, pulling her into the front parlor where Maryanne sat.
“We couldn’t find you, and it was such a chaotic mess.” Henrietta shuddered and, if possible, paled even further. “The screams and the heat—it was terrifying. It’s a good thing we were already next to the carriage house when the fire erupted. We sent George and Jonathon back to Kingsnorth after they brought us home last night. We haven’t slept a wink,” she said with a dour look at her sister.
Sarina shed her ruined cloak and hugged Henrietta again. “I’m fine,” she reassured her.
“We were afraid something happened to you,” Maryanne said, her face even gaunter than usual.
“I saw you last night,” Sarina said with a slight smile as Maryanne joined them. “We climbed up a hill behind the town but weren’t able to get to you.”
“We’re just glad you’re safe,” Henrietta said with a glance behind her.
Sarina looked at Prescott and Liam with a soft smile. “They saved me,” she added in case neither of her cousins understood who the “we” she spoke of was.
“Yes,” Maryanne said with a glance at the men. “Thank you,” she added sincerely. “But I’m afraid we must speak with Sarina privately now.”
“Oh, but—” Sarina started, but Maryanne’s hand tightened on hers and she stopped. Her eyes wide, she looked between her cousins, confused as to why they seemed so intent on rushing out the two men who protected her last night.
“Thank you,” Henrietta added in a softer voice, “but I’m afraid we do need to speak with Sarina.”
Finding it unusual, she turned and looked at them apologetically, but held her tongue.
Liam bowed before her, his blue eyes light with private humor. Prescott nodded and took his leave as well.
Lady's Temptations: A Winter's Regency Menage Page 5