by Josie Dennis
“I love you!” she sobbed, burying her head in the crook of Colin’s neck. “Oh, I love you both.”
Graham withdrew and fell against her, stroking her back and kissing her cheek. “Ah, Lily,” he said, breathing in deeply. He ran his lips over her shoulder and gently nibbled on her flesh. “I love you, too.”
She froze, her heart skidding to a stop. She had to be hearing things. Her climax must have rattled something loose in her head. Graham loved her?
Shaking her head, she slowly turned to catch his beautiful Hawk eyes staring into hers. They were solemn and intense and held an emotion she’d never seen before. “Graham?”
“I love you, Lily,” he said again, his voice steady despite the rapid heartbeat she felt against her.
“W–what?” she stammered.
“He loves you,” Colin said, collapsing beneath her and bringing her down to the bed with him. He withdrew as well and held her stretched out over him. “I love you, too.”
She shifted, turning to better face Colin. “What did you say?”
Graham caught her chin and tilted her to face him. “We both love you, Lily. We want a future with you.”
Oh no. It was as she feared. Scrambling a bit, she slid off of Colin and sat on the bed. She pulled her knees to her chest and buried her face in her hands. “I have no future.”
Tears choked her as she came to one horrid conclusion. They wanted her in their bed. She tugged at the sheets and brought them up over her breasts and nodded as she realized the truth. She loved them so much she couldn’t imagine being their mistress. Yet she wanted to be with them forever. “All right.” She lifted her head and swiped at her tears. “I’ll come with you.”
Colin blinked, his blue eyes clouded. “I certainly hope so.”
Graham took her shaking hands in his. “Lily, what’s wrong?”
“I love you both, Graham. Both of you. I cannot stay here at the manor. Not once Lady Hawksfell learns of what I did!”
Graham smiled, cupping her face so gently she nearly cried from the tenderness. “Lady Hawksfell won’t care one whit when she learns you’re to be my wife.”
The bed seemed to dip beneath her and she clutched on to her knees. “What are you saying?”
Colin clicked his tongue. “Not the right words, apparently.” He took one of her hands in his. “Graham is asking you to marry him, Lily.”
She gazed into his beautiful blue eyes and began to cry again.
* * * *
Graham stared at Lily’s stricken face, completely at a loss. “Lily, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, how can I marry you? I’m nothing!”
His heart flipped, and he looked to Colin for help. He also looked confused as he helplessly shook his head.
“Lily,” Graham began, determined to clarify matters. “You are not nothing. You’re everything.”
She shook her head. “I’m just a maid, Graham. A maid who had nothing but the good opinion of her employer and now I won’t even have that.”
“The countess cares very much for you,” Colin said. “Don’t you know that?”
“Now, perhaps. But what about when she learns of this.” She waved a hand to indicate their three naked bodies still so close on the bed. “And Mrs. Holmes, who had always been so kind to me. She’s been like a m–mother!”
“You know, she all but raised the earl,” Graham said. “Surely she knows of the Hawk curse.”
When she paled, he knew that had been the wrong thing to say.
“This was all because of the curse?” she screeched. Tears poured down her dear face as she twisted the sheets in her hands. “I’d heard of a dark history at the manor before I came here.” She sniffled, dragging a hand over her cheeks and blinking her remarkable green eyes. “A strong lust that ran in the Hawk men. Something about the servants and every Hawk in history. Cabot had said something…”
Graham thought of that afternoon he’d found Cabot teasing her out by the garage. “Tell me you didn’t take the word of that boy who just wanted to get under your skirts,” he said.
She stared at him for a beat. “And what happened after you discouraged Cabot, Graham? Didn’t you manage to get under my skirts?”
“Now, Lily,” Colin started but Lily gave a firm shake of her head.
“Why didn’t I press the other servants for more information?” she asked.
“Maybe their loyalty to the earl kept them quiet?” Colin offered.
Graham nodded. “That’s a very good thing, I wager. It would have been a tragedy if you had known about it from the first.”
Her eyes widened and she sniffled again. “What are you saying? My ignorance made this…” She waved a hand over the bed again. “This liaison easy for your both?”
“No, Lily,” Graham said.
“Was keeping me in the dark just what you had planned all along?” she asked, her voice taking on that screeching quality again. “To take advantage of me?”
Graham swore to himself and tried to take a different tack. “God, I’m making a royal mess of this.”
Colin chuckled. “Yes, you are. Lily, Graham loves you. His curse is something Hawks either surrender to or break. Do you know how they manage to break that curse and live a happy life?”
She shook her head but he saw the acute interest on her face.
“Love,” Colin said. “With all these happy Hawks in and around the manor? Surely you saw evidence of that happiness.”
“I love you,” Graham said. “Colin loves you. Can’t you see what the three of us can be?”
She blinked those incredible eyes and stared at him. “The three of us?”
“Could you bear to be without either one of us?” he asked.
“No,” she said without hesitation.
He found himself smiling. “And I can’t imagine a life without you and Colin in it.”
“You love Colin?” she asked.
“I do. And he loves me.”
“You both love me?”
They nodded and the light in her beautiful eyes was stunning to see.
“We do,” Colin said.
Her gaze slid away as she fingered the sheets now down around her slender waist. “I never thought I would find passion, not after what the old baron did to me.”
Graham exchanged a look with Colin, but they both knew she had to talk about that horrific time at her previous position.
“I never thought I would want to experience everything you two have shown me.” She raised her head and stared at the two of them. “I want you both, Colin. I love you both, Graham. My body and my heart…” She shrugged. “You two are everything I could want.”
“You love us,” Graham stated. He wasn’t going to take anything less than that admission, now that their bodies had cooled. “You love us both.”
Colin smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “So will you spend the rest of your life with us, Lily?”
She bit her lip and nodded, her eyes bright. “I will gladly spend the rest of my life with the only two men I have ever loved.”
“Then I guess Lady Hawksfell will have to find another new maid,” Graham said.
Lily’s lovely, expressive face showed her every emotion, and Graham didn’t need her to say the words again. She loved him. Loved him and Colin both.
He held her close as the three of them settled down on the bed. He marveled at what had happened to him since coming to Hawksfell Manor. He’d found a family in Gabriel and the other Hawks. A sense of belonging he never had with his great aunt and uncle despite their kindness. More than that, he’d found a love he’d never expected and finally recognized one he’d always had.
This might have all started as a game. By giving up the pretense he usually wore, he became the man he never thought he could be. A man worthy of Colin’s love. Worthy of Lily’s love. Worthy of a future he never realized he wanted.
Life might indeed be a game, but he wouldn’t play it by his own rules any longer. No. He’d live his life
with Lily and Colin.
This was a game they’d all win.
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.
For all titles by Josie Dennis, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/josie-dennis
Siren Publishing, Inc.
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