Dennis, Josie - Wild Heights [Classics Rekindled 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)
Page 8
She managed to swallow. “Surely you are not trading in gossip, Mr. Everett?”
He shook his head. “I merely wish to put you on your guard. To…get the truth of the matter from you to silence the tales.” He gulped. “It has been said that you are involved in a…dalliance with the two gentlemen.”
She could see he was disturbed, ready to believe any explanation she could form. Well, she couldn’t lie to him no matter the cost.
“How can you come here like this?” she asked. “You, who were such great friends with my father, accuse me of such actions?”
“I do not accuse! I mean to put you on your guard, Miss Earling. To urge you to be attentive to the impression you put forth in the village.”
“My impression? I daresay I am as I always was.”
“I believe that is the crux on the matter.”
She pulled in a breath. “What are you saying?”
“You keep to the manor, Miss Earling. You have no particular friends in the village. I believe this led to tales carried by young ladies who have no affection for you. No allegiance.”
“This will surely do nothing to change that, believe me.”
The vicar nodded. “I believe if I can have your assurance that nothing untoward—”
“I am to assure you that I have not dallied with Mr. Linden and Mr. Heath?” she cried. “And how, pray, am I to prove such a thing?”
Mr. Everett just stared at her.
She turned from him. “Oh, this is beyond the pale.”
“Indeed,” she heard Edward say.
She hadn’t heard the horses, hadn’t noticed Maggie go to the door, but there stood Edward in the parlor. “Edward.”
“Ah, Mr. Everett,” he said smoothly. “Are you here to offer your felicitations?” He smiled at Cathy, that bright expression she’d sorely missed. “Or perhaps your services?”
“Mr. Linden?” the vicar returned in a bewildered voice.
“You see, sir, Miss Earling has agreed to marry me.”
“Indeed?” Mr. Everett’s face broke out in a grin. “Oh, that is wonderful news!”
Edward watched her with sparkling eyes as if daring her to speak, but she could not ask the questions she longed to now. Not with the vicar watching.
“What of the tales?” she asked Mr. Everett.
“I do not know if this will…” He fingered his hat. “You see, there is still the matter of Mr. Heath.”
“Did I hear my name?” Henry asked, joining them.
“Ah, Henry,” Edward said. “Mr. Everett, Mr. Heath will serve as best man at the wedding.”
“But…”
“Mr. Heath and I are as close as brothers,” Edward said. “He loves Miss Earling as I do. And she loves him. No doubt that is what the attentive folks of Highmoor saw.”
“And perhaps misinterpreted?” Henry put in.
“Oh, yes!” the vicar said. “I daresay such would set their tongues to wagging.”
She remained silent, keeping her expression even lest the vicar see her distress. To lie so to a man of the cloth! This surely compounded her sins.
“Post the banns, Mr. Everett,” Edward said. “I am certain that will cease those tongues.”
The vicar nodded vigorously, wished them all happiness, and took his leave. Cathy sank down on the settee, all the strength leeched from her body.
“There, you see?” Edward asked, throwing his arms wide. “All is well.”
“All is well,” she murmured. She glared up at him. “All is well? You are mad if you think such a lie will cease these rumors!”
“It is not a lie, Cathy,” Henry said. He sat beside her and took her hand. “You will marry Edward.”
“But…” She swallowed as Edward sat on her other side. “But I love both of you. How can I—”
“You will belong to both of us, love,” Edward said, taking her other hand in his. “Our marriage will be legal, and all will leave us in peace.”
“Though ours will be decidedly illegal,” Henry said, dropping a kiss on her fingers, “it will be no less real.”
She pulled out of their grasp and stood. “Marry both of you?” She shook her head. “No. It will never work.”
“Whyever not?” Edward came to his feet. “Tell me you do not love us.”
“Of course I love you both! But how can I expect to be the only woman you will ever be with? Oh, you will grow tired of me. You both have had many women, Edward.” Speaking the words aloud caused her heart to twist. She faced Henry. “Henry, how can you promise me you will keep yourselves to only me?”
“We love you.” Henry took her hand again. “We want only you.”
Oh, how she wanted to believe him. Love was truly in his countenance. She saw that expression mirrored on Edward’s face as well. She could only shake her head, not trusting her voice. Her throat was thick with the tears that threatened.
Henry leaned closer to her. “That last night, love. Did that not prove that we are completely satisfied with only you?”
Heat flared within her at the memory. Both of them making love to her at the same time, each of them giving her so much pleasure she thought she’d die there in their arms. Could the three of them truly stay together? Forever?
“You both love me?” she asked again, looking from one to the other.
“Completely and utterly,” Edward said. He kissed her, gently at first then sweeping in with his tongue to stroke hers. He pulled back and smiled. “We want to spend our lives together.”
Henry turned her face to his. When she opened her mouth to his tongue he tasted deeply of her. Oh, the mixture of the both of them was heady indeed!
“What say you, love?” Edward asked.
She looked from him to Henry and back again, seeing sincerity in all their looks. That, and the heat that simmered among the three of them.
“Yes, I will marry you!”
They each let out a shout, taking turns twirling her about the room until she laughed.
Maggie returned to the parlor, an expression of cautious hope on her face as she set the tea tray down on a table. “All is well?”
“Miss Cathy is to marry me, Maggie,” Edward declared.
Maggie looked at Henry then met her gaze. Cathy saw the older woman knew more than she was saying. The smile on her face was genuine, however.
“’Tis a good thing. Perhaps the two of you will be able to keep her in line,” Maggie quipped. “Goodness knows I’ve enough gray hairs.” She closed the doors, leaving them alone.
Henry and Edward took advantage of the gift of privacy. Edward turned her toward him, kissing her deeply while pressing his hard cock against her belly. A wildness seized her as Henry caressed her breasts from behind, her fichu a memory. He teased her nipples until she gasped. His cock fit so well against her bottom she was unable to keep from rubbing against him with a low moan.
“Quietly, love,” Henry rasped in her ear. “As accepting as Maggie appears, we would not want her to discover you so.”
“H–how?” she breathed as Edward’s gifted hands lifted her skirts to stroke her pussy. “How is that?”
Edward spread the lips of her pussy dipping two fingers deep inside of her. “Satisfied,” he growled.
She writhed in their arms, lost to all but their touch, their scent. They loved her! Pleasure poured through her as she felt herself shatter in ecstasy held snugly between them.
They each kissed her as she settled back to her senses. She soon saw they were still aroused, their beautiful cocks bulging in their breeches straining for release.
“What of you two?” she asked with a sigh.
“I daresay you shall be able to satisfy us, Cathy,” Henry said with a grin.
Edward nodded as he sat with a soft groan. “Later, at the Grange.”
She poured the tea as they spoke of their future together. She would have the loves of her life forever. Never again would she pine for them when they were gone, nor long for them in her loneliness. The three of the
m would build a life together, in and out of that very large bed at the Grange. And none in Highmoor would have a word to say about it.
She found love on the moors with the two of them. They were two halves of a whole and in her heart forever. She would revel in their wild romance for the rest of her life.
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Josie Dennis writes erotic romances for the discerning reader. Her characters find love in the most amazing places and the Happily Ever After is a guarantee. Readers who like their romances hot, and their heroes and heroines open to ideas they’ve only explored in their fantasies, will find her Erotic Romances quite satisfying. Josie divides her time between Central Florida and New England.
Siren Publishing, Inc.
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