Three Times the Scandal (Georgian Rakehells)

by Madelynne Ellis

  “I do hate to break up your delightful tête-à-tête gentleman, and lady.” The man with white hair pushed his way into their huddle. “But you are causing a rather large inconvenience. Perhaps I might offer you a nice room upstairs to address your dilemma?”

  “And you are?” asked Giles.

  “Queen Seraphina or Mistress Molly Coombe, if you prefer. The proprietor.” He gave a delightful curtsy. “And you, sirs are eating into my profits. The longer you stand about in my parlour causing a monumental fuss over the young lady, the less I am likely to woo back any members this evening. They do not care for discord, or young ladies,” he added looking pointedly at Fortuna. He turned his head to Darleston and eyed him thoughtfully. “I’ll overlook the fact that you brought a woman into my establishment, milord, and shall we say ten guineas will buy you a room for the night and all the privacy you require to resolve your difficulties?”

  Darleston flicked his tongue over his lip wound: “While we collect our thoughts, Giles?”

  Giles briefly closed his eyes and wished for the comfort of his own bed. He didn’t want to stay here, but he could suggest no better alternative. “Very well, we’ll stay.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Room eight was almost an exact duplicate of ten, save it had two chairs before the fireplace instead of one and no spy holes drilled through the walls. Fortuna entered ahead of the three men. She wasn’t sure of Darleston’s motivation in bringing them up here. Ever since Giles and Neddy’s arrival he’d become more and more unreadable. At least he’d bought them some time alone, which at this stage was all they really had left. There were only three options left open to her: forget her family, which she couldn’t do; return home and accept Sir Hector, or marry someone amenable to giving Sir Hector what he really wanted. Something told her, Giles wasn’t ready to consider the latter option, and she had no wish to bind herself to any other man.

  Fortuna skirted the bedpost and sat on the floral-patterned coverlet. She didn’t blame Giles. He’d been perfectly straight with her from the start. She wouldn’t ask him to change his principles, although, she’d hoped even before Darleston had suggested it.

  Her gaze wandered to where the two men stood by the fireplace. Giles’s hand rested upon the mantle, his image a mirror of Darleston’s. They were a curious pair. Closer friends than Giles and Neddy, and yet in some ways so cut off and distant from one another, almost as if they knew too much about each other already, and anymore would make them ill at ease.

  The dark undercurrents that flowed between them didn’t flow between Giles and Neddy. Their relationship remained comradely even in bed together entwined around her body.

  Neddy had taken himself off towards the window, which seemed to look down upon the street.

  Tonight was the end of everything, she realized. Come daybreak her independence would cease, she’d go home and accept the engagement announcement made in the paper as official, but she’d never forget any of the moments they’d shared. Never. She’d use them to warm and comfort herself as she faced years of solitude with Sir Hector.

  Neddy dropped onto the bed beside her. Seeking contact, she reached out to gently trace the outline of the bruise upon his cheek.

  “Don’t press,” he said, arching away from her.

  Shocked she withdrew her hand. “I wouldn’t. Who on Earth would?” It looked so tender. She wanted to hug and kiss him, somehow make it feel better, not inflict another hurt upon him.

  His gaze flicked towards his brother. “I’ve seen the Star, Fortuna, and it’s as radiant as you are. Tis no surprise it inspires both lust and obsession.”

  “You’re kind,” she said, smoothing her hand over the back of his. She felt neither radiant nor worthy of such devotion.

  Neddy shook his head. “Actually, I’m a coward. I haven’t the guts to find Macleane and put a pistol ball in his back.” He sagged a little at the shoulders. “It’s what one of us should do.”

  “No,” she gripped his hand more tightly. “Please don’t suggest that, not to Giles.” Bravery had nothing to do with it. Having just watched him split his best-friend’s lip over a slight, she suspected he’d delight in the idea of shooting Sir Hector, and she had no wish to see him hang.

  “Don’t worry. I haven’t, and I won’t. Besides, Giles’s a lousy shot, he’d probably miss.” Neddy swivelled around so his boots sat propped upon the headboard and he rested his head in her lap. Fortuna instinctively stroked her fingers through his sleek red hair. She looked down into his easy-going face and saw both compassion and sympathy there.

  “I’m doomed to my fate,” she said sadly, as her fingers feathered down over his lips.

  “As are we all.” The edges of his smoky-grey eyes crinkled into a kind-hearted smile as he reached up. He slid his fingers into her hair and around the back of her neck. “Do you want me to kiss you, Fortuna? It seems an appropriate goodbye. Your mind’s made up, is it not?”

  “What choice do I have?”

  “Over kissing me, plenty. Over the other, not so much. Though there are always options.” He shook his head. Their lips brushed, once, twice, only just touching.

  “I don’t want to say goodbye, not to any of you, and it will be goodbye.”

  His frown stretched across his forehead, and as one they both turned their heads towards Giles. Fortuna dug her teeth into her lip. Staring always worked in ballrooms, and it worked here too. Within moments of gluing her gaze upon Giles’s back, he turned and queried her gaze with a frown. Somehow she forced a smile, and patted the bed beside her for him to join them. Neddy was right, this was the time for goodbyes, time she made a memory she could cling to in the coming darkness.

  Giles came to her, carrying Darleston in his wake.

  These three men—each occupied distinct spaces in her heart. They had become her friends, protectors and lovers over the last week, she didn’t want to give them up, but Sir Hector would never allow her to be with them again. Even a brief exchange of words would be unlikely in the future. Fortuna’s throat burned with the pain of loss. With difficulty she swallowed. “Won’t you kiss me?” she asked Giles.

  Taking her hand, he knelt down before her. “Is this the time?”

  “I can think of no better.” Just his touch, the scent of him so close made her cunny clench in anticipation. Wild butterflies fluttered in her stomach. It has to be good, she silently told herself over and over, although at least part of her rebelled. Dark shadows ringed Giles’s beautiful eyes, and an ashen pallor etched his skin. He looked as if he needed a good night’s sleep, not a night of wild debauchery.

  Beside them, Neddy tugged off his boots and chucked them at his brother.

  “What do you wish of me?” Giles asked.

  Her hand fluttered over his sleeve, working upward to his shoulder to urge him closer. She gazed down at him with all her heart in her expression. To be with him, to enjoy all the things he’d shown her, was all she truly desired. “Love me.”

  A smile slowly crept across his face and worked its magic in the depths of his eyes. “We’ll work something out, Fortuna. Trust me. I promised I’d protect you from him.”

  Perhaps she didn’t look entirely convinced, for he did rise up then and kiss her as she’d desired. Her puss clenched again, and the nervous butterflies in her stomach transformed into tingles of anticipation. This night was not just about her and Giles. It was about all of them. She found Neddy’s hand upon the covers and squeezed it tight as the kiss between herself and Giles deepened.

  Neddy let go. He slipped his hands between them to find her breasts. He massaged her through the layers of mannish clothes. Giles’s fingers traced her shoulders and the long arch of her neck. Gradually, seamlessly, the men changed places. Darleston lifted her foot and tugged away the boot. His lips wound about the toes, fingers smoothed across the arch, sending rippling shivers up through her body.

  Three men! It truly would be a night to remember.

  Chest heaving with the urgency of
her erratic breaths, Fortuna freed herself from Giles and Neddy’s kisses to gaze down the length of her leg at Darleston crouched by her feet. Why did it feel as if he were stroking his tongue across the lips of her puss and not her sole?

  “Sensitive?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.

  Fortuna wriggled, and found herself lifted onto her feet. Darleston remained to her fore, staring up at her like an obedient acolyte. She didn’t believe it.

  Giles dropped to his knees behind her and rested his head against the swell of her bottom, while he peeled away the fabric from her hips. The breeches bunched around her knees leaving her long slim legs displayed and the curling golden neatness of her pubic thatch only barely hidden by the edge of the oversized shirt. Giles’s hands settled possessively across the tops of her thighs. He pressed inwards, so his thumbs stroked through those golden curls, while his lips troubled the sensitive skin of her rear. The caresses sent her dancing up onto her toes.

  “Other boot,” remarked Neddy, tilting his head to briefly rest it upon her shoulder. “And let’s get these breeches off.”

  “Will you take yours off too,” she asked.

  “Maybe, if you’re lucky.”

  Giles returned to the bed and pulled her back against him, so that her naked bottom met with the firm heat of his lap. The twins each raised one of her legs. Neddy tugged off her remaining boot, before they both divested her of her breeches, which sailed towards the fireplace like a russet-coloured bird.

  Expectant desire flared in both sets of grey eyes. The smell of arousal lit her senses. It recalled to her that spiked sweet fragrance that lingered in the summer air before a lightning storm, when the very earth seemed to vibrate with energy. She outstretched her arms feeling the tingling pull running between them all. Giles slid his palms up beneath her shirt again, causing her nipples to crinkle and peak. Warm pleasure plumped her quim. Fingers—she wasn’t sure whose—slicked moisture over her nether lips in readiness.

  “Spread your legs a little,” Giles urged. He left off stimulating her nipples and stroked his palms up and down her inner thighs, until she was sopping wet with desire. Still on his knees before her, Darleston licked his lips and Fortuna shut her eyes tight.

  Someone unwound the streamer of white linen from her throat.

  “Wider,” Giles coaxed. He stroked lightly over the outer lips of her puss, so that she was displaying everything, and her clitoris poked eagerly from its hood. A single fingertip ran between her swollen lips to pet her bead. “How many times shall we make you come?” He stroked, teased, tearing a cry from her throat. Teeth grazed her earlobe. A thumb pushed inside her, fucking her, while other fingers toyed with her sensitive nipples.

  She had no reply for him. Only that she wanted more.

  Now Neddy knelt before her half undressed. His cravat dangled loosely around his throat, and a faint smattering of chest hair showed through the open V of his shirt. The urge to expose it, to run her hands through those auburn curls gripped her tight. Fortuna plucked at the linen, but Neddy seemed more interested in applying his tongue to her puss than divesting himself of any more clothes. His tongue touched her, dabbed at her most sensitive flesh.

  Darleston came to her aid, and tugged off his twin’s shirt.

  The sight of Neddy’s naked torso whipped Fortuna’s need higher, as images of their first night in bed together trickled through her mind, the way he’d stumbled about and laughed, been so relaxed had put her at ease. Neddy always seemed to calm her. She pushed her hands into his hair as he worked harder.

  Simultaneously, Giles sucked at the pulse point in her neck, and every fibre of her being sat up and sang the same demanding tune. The pleasure immobilized her. She wanted to come, was going to. Her cunt rippled, seeking something thick to clench. “Giles,” she gasped. “Giles.”

  Before her, Darleston sat poised upon a cushioned stool with his long legs outstretched. He remained fully clothed. “Strip,” she ordered, unsure if he’d obey.

  “Or else?” he mouthed.

  Fortuna sucked her lip. She had no threat at her disposal to stir him with, and no means of enticing him to join in other than what she was already offering. To her relief he rose.

  Candlelight soon painted flames across the lean planes of his naked body. Darleston was everything Neddy was, slender, wiry, neatly muscled. A raised mark stretched across one side of his stomach, which he quickly covered with his palm. He turned his back to her, and displayed the shadowed hollows of his toned bottom first, before presenting a profile view. His cock stood proud. Engorged with blood, it hugged the flat expanse of his belly.

  “Come closer,” she hissed, reaching out to touch him.

  Darleston kept one hand held fast to his stomach. Fortuna touched him, remembering how she’d held him flaccid earlier and how he’d stiffened at her touch. He felt so solid in her palm now. She squeezed a little and gloried in the catch of his breath, but his gaze was not on her, but on Giles.

  “Stroke him,” Giles whispered into her ear.

  Fortuna curved her palm more firmly around Darleston’s red-hued glans and stroked her thumb back and forth over the sensitive eye. She still had no real idea how to make a man come with her hands, and it was hard to concentrate on remembering how Neddy had touched himself, when he was currently teasing her clit with merciless precision.

  She drove him back, no longer wanting to come so fast. “Neddy.” She let her eyes communicate her intent. He sat back upon the floor and slid off his breeches. He stood, as did his cock. Fully erect it stretched up past his belly button. She touched him too, holding him as she already held his twin. “Please, somebody,” she murmured, unable to articulate her need. She wanted to coat herself in their combined musk, so that she’d always be able to smell and remember them. “All of you.”

  She felt Giles shift away from her a little and fear made her turn her head. Had she somehow appalled him, demanded too much? But he smiled. “What have we created?” he chuckled as he eased her off his lap. “Help me. I’m starting to feel distinctly overdressed.” He remained the only one still clothed.

  Fortuna stripped him. Then the twins closed in upon her again.

  “Are you sure about this?” Darleston’s voice rumbled in his chest as he pressed against her. With Neddy, he drew her from Giles and urged her onto the bed, where he spooned her back. Fortuna squirmed back against his hips, enjoying the feel of his cock slipping and sliding between the cheeks of her bottom.

  She was sure, she had never been more certain of anything. “Don’t make me beg.”

  “I’ve not the stamina for that,” said Neddy. He lay to her front, his kiss intent upon her lips as his enormous cock pressed taut to her stomach. “Giles, are you undressed yet?”

  “Almost.”

  Darleston rolled onto his back, dragging Fortuna on top of him. His cock moved against her bottom, causing a dart of pleasure to surge as she recalled their earlier coupling. “Lift a little,” he urged, holding her hips. “Then press down slowly.”

  Heat flared in her cheeks. She’d done this. Enjoyed it. Wanted in many ways to share that bond of trust again. Her gaze fluttered to Giles, seeking his approval.

  “If it’s what you want,” he mouthed. She noticed that he kept his gaze upon her face, not any lower down.

  Darleston’s cock pressed hard to her anus, not painful but exciting and slightly tender. “Sh,” he soothed when she moaned at the pressure. “Ned, my coat pocket.”

  He lifted her again, and Neddy slicked his brother’s cock with cream. The slow pressure resumed. Her body seemed to fight the first inch, as if it had never experienced the bliss of penetration before, but once he was inside her, the heat, and the rush lapped at her like a thousand tiny mouths. Fortuna lay against him, her back pressed to his stomach and her head nuzzled against his shoulder as he very gently rocked.

  The smoky haze of Neddy’s eyes swam above her. Neddy straddled them both, and angled the tip of his cock to her puss. Fortuna’s muscles
twitched in anticipation. Only a few hours ago she blushed and fussed over Darleston’s mere suggestion of her having done this with Giles, now she wanted it with every inch of her being.

  She expected a great deal of wriggling to be involved in order to align their bodies, and for it all to happen quite slowly. Neddy had no such plans. He thrust and went deep, forcing a gasp of shock from her lips. Fortuna squirmed, but that only made the feeling of being stretched and full more intense.

  “Hold still, relax, get used to it.” Giles’s voice soothed her. His palms cupped her face. He stood at the foot of the bed, above her head. “Let them take charge and find the rhythm. Just enjoy. They know what their doing.” His voice shook as he spoke. Fortuna laced her fingers with his. She wanted him to be part of this ecstasy too, not to stand on the side-lines as a simple observer. She clung to his arm, and gradually tugged him closer, so that he stretched over Darleston the better to reach her. Fortuna pulled him downwards, seeking the pleasure of his lips. Her fingers wove into his hair, but even when Giles gave a startled gasp into her mouth she continued to hold onto him, kissing him, wanting him. He was her strength.

  His fingers squeezed tight over hers, then slowly uncurled. Urgently, he drew back from her kiss, his eyes wide, and his breathing sharp. “Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God!” he gasped. Sweat beaded his brow. Ecstasy chased shadows across his jade-green eyes, and tinted them with slivers of viridian. Giles lifted a little further, and his hands feathered back over her shoulders to where Darleston’s head lay.

  Darleston had moved slightly from his original position as she’d kissed Giles. She’d felt him shift, noticed the slight adjustment in the way their bodies fit together. His head now hung over the edge of the eiderdown, so that his mouth stretched open and formed a wide O around Giles’s rampant cock.