by Terry Long
Wrapping her arms around his neck, she forcefully hauled him down to her open mouth and suckled on his tongue. Michael chuckled into her mouth seconds before giving her back equal, dedicated measures of desire.
Writhing underneath him while she dragged and clawed at his thick shoulders to get nearer, she gave up and panted. “Michael. Please.”
He grinned down at her. “Do you know, love, that everytime you want me inside you, you almost always beg.”
“I…”
“Because you love me.”
She went back to winding her arms around his neck, nodding quite zealously.
“So, you do love me,” he mused.
“You know I do.”
He brushed her parted mouth with his. “I want to hear it. Just once.” His pleading gaze made her chest wrench.
“Oh, Michael, I do love you.” She put her hand to his dark jaw. “Very much. I shall tell you this more than once, I assure you.”
“Do you’ve any idea how happy you make me?”
Feeling playful, she shook her head.
“Well, you should. I’m very happy when I’m with you.” Slowly, his hand glided over her shoulder, down her arm, across one breast, to finally rest between the valley of her bosoms.
“Is that right?” Her voice came out high and screechy.
He nodded. “Very…” He flicked a nipple back and forth with a finger until it hardened. “Happy…” Then he kneaded her breast gently, cupping and squeezing until she arched her back to give him more access.
“Michael…you must…I need you.”
“Because you like me inside you.” He smiled devilishly down at her, his sensuous mouth curved up in a crooked grin, and his eyes gleamed with pure wickedness.
She knew that look. He can’t be serious!
“Say it.”
“Oh, Michael, must I?”
He nodded as if he had all the time in the world, his eyes still dancing with lusty challenge.
“Why must I say such things?”
He let out a bark of laughter. “It makes me ache for you.” He pressed the firm length of his shaft against her thigh. “Not that I don’t at the moment.”
“I…like you inside me.” After the words left her mouth, Ally widened her eyes with surprise, unable to believe she’d utter anything so wanton. To her satisfaction, Michael looked just as surprised as she felt, his mouth forming an O. With this, she felt liberated, more uninhibited.
“I like you inside me,” she repeated, testing the words that left her mouth. She grinned. “I love you inside me. I need you inside me. Every inch, every—”
“All right, sweetheart,” Michael choked out. A muscle in his jaw jumped and his pupils dilated, turning his eyes to almost obsidian. Something like excitement mixed with torture crossed his dark features. “You’ve just about made me—”
She didn’t let him finish, what with dragging his head lower to plunge her tongue deep inside to mate with his. Lifting her hips, she shifted against the hard bulge between his solid thighs, over and over in a fluid movement.
A ragged grunt tore from his throat like a man overcome with madness. “My, God, Ally.” While grinding his stiff erection in a rocking motion over her, he rubbed and circled her pulsing flesh below with deft, knowing fingers, bringing her closer and closer…
Ally shut her eyes, her sanity almost as good as gone. She opened them to look into Michael’s face when he murmured something.
“What’s wrong?” she breathed.
“We’re in the morning room, sweetheart. The walls are thin here.”
She blinked at his words. He wasn’t making any sense. She hadn’t even said a word.
As if able to read her mind, he chuckled. “Your sultry moans.” He shook his head as if reprimanding her. “Bad, bad girl.” A wide, egotistical grin appeared.
Out of mortification, Ally shoved him off. But only half-heartedly.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” He spread her legs wider apart. “I’m not finished with you yet.” He began his sweet torment again, with total dedication and enthusiasm, fondling her in all the right places.
When she was wracked with pure ecstasy, he slid into her and stroked, bringing her to another state of rapture.
***
Seated behind his cluttered desk that afternoon, all Michael wanted to do was gaze at his wife. She was situated in one of the two matching, overstuffed chairs that virtually consumed her entire body. A blanket tucked around her lithe form, the way she always liked. When she read, her head cocked to one side, and sometimes, her lips moved wordlessly.
He couldn’t believe his good fortune. She loved him.
Michael smiled behind a cup of the revolting concoction Matthews insisted he drain. He didn’t argue with the man. His head hurt like the bloody devil.
“I gather you have overcome your illness, brother,” Victor said at the door, assuming a lazy stance. His hands were shoved into his pockets, and one shoulder propped against the door frame.
“Victor!” Ally set her book down and stood.
“Good morning, Ally. So…” Victor said, presenting her a wide grin as he entered the study. “How dire was his condition?”
“Dreadful,” Ally returned, matching his luminous smile.
Michael watched on as his brother laughed and jested with Ally as if he hadn’t a care in the world, as if nothing bothered him.
When their conversation turned to dinner plans that evening, Victor turned his way. “I plan to travel abroad. My vessel leaves today.”
“Where are you going?” Ally asked.
“Oh, here and there. Definitely Spain…and Italy. Perhaps Africa.”
“Africa?”
Victor shrugged at her. “I plan on seeing elephants.” He flashed another gleaming white grin, and glanced at Michael.
“Well, I do hope you have a wonderful time,” Ally said. “I know you shall, and you must write to me regarding your travels. Don’t leave anything out.”
Victor nodded in response, and Michael noted that his brother had done so as if programmed to answer to Ally that way, even if he disagreed. Michael’s chest squeezed tightly, imagining Victor sitting somewhere in a foreign country, putting pen to paper, sharing his daily events with her, hoping she wouldn’t read between the lines.
“Do be careful, Victor,” she said, appearing concerned. Her knitted brows and slight frown reminded Michael of a mother’s disapproval. After she sighed, she said, “I shall leave you gentlemen now.”
“Goodbye, Ally.” Victor dipped into a low bow in her direction and offered her another nod when their eyes met. His gaze followed her as she strode to him and reached for his hand.
“I shall miss you dearly,” Ally told him.
Michael averted his gaze from his brother’s agonized face.
Victor remained standing in the same spot, even after Ally’s departure. Michael knew this could not be easy for his brother. Victor loved Ally. In fact, he loved her long before Michael had.
“How long will you be?”
Victor strolled closer to him. “Perhaps, until I discover an unknown territory? Or until I tire of foreign land?” He removed a hand from his coat pocket to study his fingernails. “I only request my bank account is well heeled,” he said, forcing an awkward chuckle. “If not, you’d see me back in London just as soon as you’d turn around.”
Michael didn’t want Victor to go, because the reasons for his leaving hit him hard like a brick of wall. “Won’t you stay?”
“No. I want to travel abroad.”
“I know you don’t really wish to see Spain again.”
“No, you are correct. What I really wish to see are the senoritas there,” Victor said with a wink. “You know what I imply.”
Michael wasn’t buying his poor disguise. “I know this is difficult. It is for me, too.” Guilt spread through him like wildfire. He didn’t want to be the reason his brother needed to flee England. Everything he’d done had been solely for Victor’s benefit- up until Ally.
As Michael exchanged gazes with his brother, another wave of remorse filled his chest. He’d never meant to fall in love with the same woman his brother loved. “Perhaps, if you stayed, the whole lot shall fall into place.” Even as the words left his mouth, he knew it sounded stupid. Nothing would be the same again.
Victor snorted and walked to the large windows, setting all pretenses aside. “Easier said than done.”
A long moment passed with Michael staring at his brother’s dispirited drooped shoulders, while the younger man pretended to examine the rose garden outside.
“Listen, you needn’t leave.”
“I must,” Victor said. “I’ve already booked my passage.”
“I’m sorry for—”
“Don’t!” Victor twirled around so sudden, Michael was taken aback. “Don’t apologize. It isn’t as if anything could have happened between Ally and me. She never wanted me that way.”
Michael opened his mouth to counter that response, but his words died in his throat when Victor’s statement settled. “You said you and Ally…”
“Nothing happened between us,” his brother cut in. “Ever. Not before she met you, and not after. She said…” He shifted his feet and turned his mouth as if he’d eaten something distasteful. “She said I am like a brother to her.” Blowing out a breath, Victor jammed his hands into his simple dark blue coat pockets.
Michael regarded the rest of his brother’s attire and couldn’t help but raise his brows in question. No velvet coat, no silk cravat, no over-starched shirt present- all the makings of Victor’s standard garb.
“What I said to you,” his brother went on, “I only wanted to see if you’d still want her after…well, you understand.” He smiled awkwardly, the way he always did when Michael found him guilty for his mischief. His teeth were clamped, and Michael could see no spaces between those pearly whites. His ears glowed bright red.
“So now, I know,” Victor added with a shrug.
“An unscrupulous attack.” Michael scowled, striving to appear like the confession meant naught to him. In truth, the fact that Ally never permitted Victor to tup her pleased him a great deal. His wife had loved him all along.
“You deserve her,” Victor said after a long stretch of silence. “After all, Michael Langdon needs a lady like Ally to keep him sensibly leveled,” he said, gesturing to the desk with his head. “She’ll make you work less.”
Michael glanced down at his cluttered desk with ledgers piled high, documents in disorder, and found his first smile for his brother.
“I should be leaving now. They weigh anchor at noon.”
“Write when you can.”
Victor nodded. “I shall.”
Michael walked around his desk. When he stood in front of his younger brother, whom he had practically raised, he didn’t know what to do, or what to say. He sighed in defeat.
Victor grinned and initiated a hug, and Michael followed in suit, clamping a heavy arm around his brother’s shoulder.
Epilogue
Michael’s gaze slid to his sleeping wife, who lay curled up on the settee like a comfortable kitten. Her faint and even breathing filled his study and his heart, leaving him whole. Although summer’s heat warmed every room in their home, sometimes to the point of discomfort, Ally never failed to make use of her grandmother’s small coverlet.
She appeared peaceful, so unruffled in her sleep now, but a mere ten minutes ago, she’d wept uncontrollable joyful tears because their five-year-old son had taught his little sister how to sail a kite through the wind.
Boisterous voices sounded from outside, making him glance toward the window with a scowl.
Miss Paine? It couldn’t be. The children’s governess always carried herself in utmost solemnity, her manners impeccable. Though, with the way his son grumbled, she also wasn’t very lenient.
Michael strode outside toward the racket.
“Are you telling me I cannot converse with the children?” the voice of a man rang out, dripping with incredulity.
“There is a time and place, sir. Now, is not the time.”
Michael turned the corner and found Miss Paine standing a mere foot away from her assailant, with her fists balled at her sides. Michael had never seen her so outraged. Come to think of it, he’d never seen her feathers even slightly ruffled- even when his children decided to put worms in her slippers when she first took on the role as their governess.
“Might I ask you, why the hell not now?” the man whose voice bore profound authority, whom Michael now recognized was his own brother, asked. Though the immaculate attire fitted the Victor he always knew, the wild hair did not. It reminded Michael of a pirate’s during a gusty storm. Was that a diamond winking in his ear?
Unlike Miss Paine, Victor illustrated no form of irritability or annoyance. Instead, he wore a churlish smirk on his dark face and crossed his arms over his wide chest. Even from where Michael stood, he sensed a wave of incivility emanating from his brother.
Though Michael didn’t want his children to be exposed to the blasphemy, he remained hidden from their view. He wanted to know how she’d get out of this one. He crossed his arms and leaned against the stone wall.
Miss Paine murmured a few things to the children, and much to Michael’s surprise, they both obeyed without an utterance. They each collected their book and notepad, and made a dash for the door- likely relieved to have been excused from their current lecture.
“I won’t have you tarnishing the children’s purity with your mouth, sir.”
“What do you suppose I do with it instead?”
Michael rolled his eyes heavenward. Had the six years of continuous travel turn his brother into the devil? Before Victor could chase Miss Paine out of Somerset Hall with her tails between her legs, he stepped from the obscurity of the shrubbery.
“I want to say it is good to see you, but I’m afraid Miss Paine here wouldn’t be of the same opinion.”
Miss Paine flushed an unhealthy shade of red. She presented him a curtsy to dismiss herself, but didn’t wait to see if Michael agreed to her quick exit.
As soon as she turned, Victor murmured, “Coward.”
His governess paused mid-step and swiveled back around, giving Victor one of her severe stares.
Michael cleared his throat. Best to prevent a battle before it began. “Victor, meet the children’s governess, Miss Paine. Miss Paine, this is my brother. He’s been abroad.”
While Michael watched on, the two gave each other false acknowledgement; one bowed far too low, while the other dipped a curtsy fit for royalty. Victor, he noticed, regarded the governess as if she were a piece of tasty morsel he’d like to get his hands on. Miss Paine, on the other hand, regarded his brother with a look of utter disdain.
“If you’ll excuse me, Mr. Langdon,” Miss Paine said to him. Michael nodded his consent for her to leave.
“I shall be so fortunate if I see you once more today, Miss Paine,” Victor said.
She viewed him with pure skepticism laced in her large, brown eyes.
Victor rested a forefinger on his chin and drummed, pretending deep deliberation. “I wonder if the name has any association with the attitude.”
She glared at him. “Good day, sir,” she bit out before turning on her heels. Her tight chignon was as firmly in place as the rigidness in her spine.
Victor chuckled. “Touchy.” While a tug pulled at the corners of his mouth, his gaze never left her. Only when she disappeared from sight did Victor give Michael any attention. He turned to him with a devious grin. “Where did you find such a dreary, stale woman?”
Michael hid a smile by coughing. “Ally will have your head if she hears you speak poorly of her favorite governess. She’s taken Miss Paine in and treated her like family.” He nodded toward the house. “Let us go inside.”
A fortnight later…
Dinner turned out to be an eyebrow-raising and mouth-gaping affair. Michael did all the eyebrow-raising, while Ally did the latter.
Victor needled Miss Paine, which was nothing new, but this evening, there seemed to be more tension than Ally could bear. What Miss Paine did to ensue such atrocious manners from her brother-in-law, she’d never know. To her way of thinking, though, nothing Miss Paine could ever do warranted such behavior.
Michael looked tremendously amused with it all, Ally couldn’t deduce why. Victor was acting like an egocentric monster, and she didn’t like it one bit.
“Victor, why don’t you tell us about the elephants in Africa?” she asked, hoping to turn the discussion into a more pleasant one.
“I’m sure Miss Paine doesn’t want to hear about elephants,” he countered, waving his fork in air with a piece of ham still attached to it.
The horrid behavior brought a scowl to the governess’ face.
Ally hurried to say, “Well, sure she does, don’t you, Miss Paine?” before Victor could say something uncouth about how old the frown made her look again.
“Of course, Mrs. Langdon,” Miss Paine said politely. “Please tell us about the elephants, Mr. Victor Langdon,” she said, but she didn’t bother to make eye contact with him.
Victor regarded their governess over the rim of his wine goblet. “You’re sure about that?”
Miss Paine gave him a distinctly sharp nod; a lock of dark brown hair escaped her chignon and framed along the curve of her jaw. That unbound tress made her appear less…stern, more of her age.
As a matter of fact, Miss Paine was only a year older than herself. Ally guessed it was her governess’ decorum. Had she possessed such restraint and demureness, Nana would have been proud, she thought with a small smile.
Victor stared hard at her governess as if willing himself not to move. Then, a measured smile began to broaden across his face. While he kept his gaze fixated on the woman seated across from him, he set his goblet down. “You see, when these mammals mate—”
Miss Paine stood from her chair so fast, it screeched over the marbled floors. “This is most inappropriate, sir!” Although she flushed a bright shade of pink, she held Victor’s amused gaze with outraged ones.
