Robert's Rescue [Lords of Hawksfell Manor 9] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Josie Dennis

  “Here, then.” He leaned back. “That’s a first for me.”

  Robert took the cloth and cleaned himself, then tucked his sated cock back in his trousers.

  “I don’t know what to say here. I…I don’t usually have any other contact outside the physical with my…” He couldn’t think of what to call his previous partners.

  “With your lovers?”

  “Not precisely. Let’s just say that I pay my staff well and have no relationship of any kind with a one of them.”

  “That’s sad, then.”

  Robert shrugged, turning his face away from his friend. “That’s the way of it. It’s part of being a Hawk.”

  Jared was quiet for a moment. “Yes, that’s what’s said about the earl. Or at least, that used to be true until he married.”

  That still astounded Robert. “I’ve met the countess. She is quite lovely.”

  “And what of Mr. Crowley?”

  Robert faced him again. “Her cousin?”

  Jared winked at him. “Third cousin, Robert. I believe that distinction bears mention.”

  The realization struck Robert then. “Never say he’s with the countess as well?”

  “And the earl, if the rumors the housekeeper forbids are correct.”

  “The three of them?”

  “Have you never loved two at once, then?”

  “I’ve never loved anyone.”

  “Fucked, then.”

  Robert shook his head. “Never. Sex is a necessity for me. Not a mutual seeking of pleasure.”

  Jared stretched and leaned back. “Ah, you have a lot to learn about sex. It can be a lot of fun, too.”

  Robert just stared at him. “Fun. I can’t believe that.”

  “Maybe I, and Rose, can show you the right of it.”

  Robert chuckled now, then opened his door and stepped out. “That little untried girl would never be up for what you’re proposing.”

  “I saw her look at you, Robert.” Jared stepped out of the car as well. He leaned on the motor and eyed him. “Well, how couldn’t she? You’re so damn big.”

  “Now I see you’re teasing me. I suppose that’s what friends do as well?”

  Jared smiled. “I think we should explore what friends do together. What can it hurt?”

  Robert bit his tongue on his reply. It could hurt plenty. He could lose a friend he’d only just found and compromise two members of his newly acquainted relative’s staff in one fell swoop.

  “I’d best return to the house.”

  Jared nodded. “And I’d best return to my duties.”

  Robert began to walk away, and then he turned. “You’ll have Rose, do you think? Truly?”

  “A man can hope, can’t he?”

  “That he can.”

  Robert left the carriage house, more confounded than ever. A man could truly hope to have sex and friendship. Lovers. A man could. But a Hawk?

  Never.

  Chapter 5

  “I don’t know if he’ll settle in,” the earl said to Lady Hawksfell.

  Rose focused on the lady’s hair as Lord Hawksfell paced their chamber.

  “How do you mean?” the countess asked.

  Rose’s ears pricked as she listened closely.

  “Well, Robert seems so solitary. More so than even Victor had been.”

  “Victor had his cousin Violet, if you recall. He wasn’t solitary.”

  The earl chuckled. “He’d been attempting to be.”

  Rose hadn’t heard about this Hawk before. Had he been at the manor before Stefan Hawk? Before Trevor? Oh, what did it mean to her?

  She finished the lady’s hair and stepped back. “Will there be anything else, my lady?”

  The countess, a lovely blond beauty with a heart as pretty as her face, smiled. “I think that will be all for now, Rose.”

  Rose bobbed a curtsey and kept her head down as she passed Lord Hawksfell. She couldn’t look into the earl’s eyes at the moment. Not when they served to remind her of Robert Hawk and that measured look he’d given her in the carriage house.

  As she exited the chamber and climbed down the stairs to the servants’ common rooms, she thought about what the earl said. Robert Hawk did seem solitary. Lonely. She’d seen that when she’d first laid eyes on him three days prior and, in the fleeting glimpses of him she’d caught since, that didn’t seem to be a condition he’d soon rectify.

  It was a pity, that. He was a tempting man. Virile and strong like the earl but without Lord Hawksfell’s self-assuredness. Strange, that a man with so much money and status should be alone. She surely wouldn’t know how that felt, given the crowded, rowdy family she called her own. Lonely, however? She knew just how lonely one could be in the very middle of a crowd.

  “Good evening, Rose,” Mrs. Padmont rushed past her as she hurried toward the kitchen.

  “Good evening,” she said, even though the cook was quickly onto whatever task called to her in this last hour before the family dined upstairs.

  The footmen rushed about, getting ready their trays and making certain they looked their best for the earl’s family and their guests. No doubt the earl’s brother would attend with his wife. She’d heard the story about his marrying a parlor maid of all things, but that couldn’t be right. His lady was a bit cheeky but she was sweet and pretty and clearly adored by her husband.

  She took out the mending she’d set aside and began to precisely stitch up a small tear in one of the countess’s lace gloves. Humming to herself, she relished the sounds and commotion around her as the others began their service. They would all eat later, of course. After the family was finished and the table in the hall was set for the servants’ meal. As lady’s maid she wasn’t required upstairs and this was her time to feel connected yet at ease. That ease shattered when she heard footsteps and caught a fresh scent she knew could only be Jared’s.

  “Ah, Rose.”

  Ooh, the way he said her name made her toes curl in her shoes. She didn’t look over at him. She just couldn’t. She’d given him more liberties and taken a few with him, as well!

  “Good evening, Jared,” she said, keeping her focus on the needle and thread as she watched him out of the corner of her eye.

  He sat himself in the chair next to hers, turning it to straddle the seat as he leaned on the chair back. “Seeing to a bit of mending?”

  “So you see.”

  “Brr. That’s a little chilly. Not at all like the warm greeting I’m used to from those pretty lips.”

  She gasped then lifted her head to glance around the room. Blessedly, the butler and the boys were upstairs and the kitchen staff were otherwise engaged. “Really, Jared.”

  He just tilted his golden head and grinned. Her heart gave a little jump at the twinkle in those blue eyes of his.

  “I’ve missed you these past few days, Rose.”

  She snorted. “Surely you’re funning with me. You have your motor cars and your trips to the village to occupy you.”

  He blinked then sat back a little. “You believe I’ve been going to the inn, then? For a bit of fun?”

  She put down the glove, as she’d made a mess of the last few stitches anyway. “What I believe doesn’t matter. Where you get your fun is none of my concern.”

  “You’re jealous,” he said in a low voice. “Admit it. You don’t fancy anyone else enjoying my particular brand of fun.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “I am not jealous. I’ve no cause to be.”

  She returned her attention to her mending but knew he still watched her. She could all but feel his gaze on her skin.

  “There’s no reason to be jealous, Rose. There isn’t another girl for miles around who’s worth my time.”

  “Oh,” was all she could say.

  “Now, another man? Ah, that is an entirely different matter.”

  She stared at him. “You’re funning with me again, Jared.”

  Now his eyes sparkled. “After your run-in with the latest Hawk, he was in a bad way.”


  She thought of the night Jared had come to her room in a particular bad way himself. Had the earl needed release?

  “Never say you… Oh, I can’t think it.”

  “Well, do. You put him in a state and I eased him.”

  She couldn’t help but study his hands. Those strong, capable fingers that gave such pleasure. The thought of Jared pleasing Lord Waltham as well was enough to have her heart racing. Oh, what ailed her?

  “You touched him?” she breathed.

  Jared leaned close to her ear. “I pleased him.”

  She turned her head to stare into his eyes, stunned. “The two of you…did what you and I did?” she whispered.

  He nodded. “And I found I wanted him as much as I want you.”

  Her mouth went dry. How was that possible? Two men to love each other?

  “Is he built like you?” she had to know.

  Jared chuckled. “He’s built bigger.”

  She marveled at that. “That isn’t possible.”

  “I thank you for that compliment.”

  She straightened in her chair. “We shouldn’t be talking like this, Jared. It isn’t proper.”

  “Proper isn’t what I want to be with you, Rose.” He looked about the room and leaned closer. “And neither does Lord Waltham.”

  She gasped. “I cannot!”

  “Are you afraid of your passions, Rose? Of what we’ve shared?”

  She had to be truthful so she shook her head.

  “Then why are you afraid of this?”

  “I’m pure, Jared. I’ve vowed to keep myself so. I need this position and I need my life to be my own. I can’t think of giving myself on a lark.” She stared at him blankly. “Or the possible consequences.”

  “You mean children?”

  “My family is teeming with boys and girls who are both blessing and burden. I don’t want that kind of life, thank you very much.”

  “Who’s to say you’d have a child?”

  She clicked her tongue. “Who’s to say I wouldn’t? And a fatherless one as well? No, thank you.”

  “You know, there are ways to prevent such things. To have pleasure without consequences.”

  She was so tempted to ask him just how that could be. She longed for the closeness and passion she’d felt with Jared beyond those heated moments. After he’d pleased her she’d ached for something more. Something she couldn’t name but craved nonetheless. And to think Lord Waltham wanted her as well?

  “I can’t think of it, Jared,” she said again. “I’m a simple country girl who has worked hard to rise to my current position. I won’t risk it all for a dalliance.”

  He looked crestfallen. “You truly don’t want to give it a go?”

  “I won’t flatter myself by thinking that sad look has anything to do with me in particular. You’re just looking for a playmate.”

  “A friend, Rose.” He frowned. “I’ve found one in Lord Waltham and I’d hoped I’d found one in you.”

  Was she his friend? Perhaps. She enjoyed his company and sought him out time and again but she wasn’t certain. She was certain that she wasn’t to be his lover.

  “I’m sorry to spoil your plans with Lord Waltham.”

  He looked at her a moment longer, then stood. “I didn’t mean any disrespect, Rose. Please believe me?”

  She knew he was sincere in that. He might tease and flirt but he’d never been anything but truthful. Giving a curt nod, she sought to put him out of her mind. He righted his chair and took a seat farther down the long table to await the servants’ meal.

  He didn’t speak of it again, to her great relief. She couldn’t keep the images from dancing through her mind, however. To think that Lord Waltham wanted her? That Jared proposed the three of them cavort together? She had no notion as to what that would entail but the two men had filled her mind over the past few days. Jared’s touch on her woman’s flesh, his scent filling her head. Lord Waltham’s large, strong hands on her arms as he’d held her for those brief moments in the carriage house.

  Her skin suddenly felt tingly and her drawers a little damp. She was a wanton, then. A harlot in the making, should she give in to the urges he encouraged.

  Would it be possible that she could indulge and not pay the piper afterward? She had serious misgivings about that. She glanced down the table at Jared, where he sat reading the paper. His golden head tipped, his lean yet muscular body at a fetching angle.

  Oh, how she wished she had the courage to give in just once.

  * * * *

  “She turned me down,” Jared said as Robert joined him in his rooms.

  He saw the flicker of a frown cross Robert’s face.

  “You asked her?” he asked.

  Jared nodded and shut the door behind him. “I couldn’t lose the chance that she might be agreeable simply because I hadn’t asked her.”

  Robert blinked those dark eyes at him. “I can’t believe she didn’t sock you in your manly parts.”

  Jared laughed and took the bottle of brandy and glasses Robert had brought down from the manor with him. He poured them each a drink and took a sip himself, letting the liquor burn pleasantly down to his belly. “This is quite good, by the way.”

  Robert nodded as he drank from his own glass. “It’s not ale at the inn but your rooms are decidedly more private.”

  His words sent a tingle over him. Ever since their time closed in his motor car, Jared had thought about how much they could share. At least with each other, if Rose continued to resist temptation.

  “She’s worried about the consequences.”

  “Her worries aren’t unfounded but we could find ways to keep her safe.”

  “That’s just what I told her.” Jared stretched out on the small couch in front of the hearth, watching the fire dancing behind the grate. “You know, I’ve never done this.”

  Robert sat beside him. “Had brandy?”

  Jared smiled and set his glass down on the side table. “Had a man in my rooms.”

  “I’ve been here a few times now, Jared.”

  Jared met his gaze, letting his own desire show. “I’ve never had a man, truth be told. But I want you, Robert.”

  Robert’s well-formed mouth dropped open, and then he crushed his mouth on Jared’s. He tasted like the fine liquor and that spice that seemed to cling to him. His tongue stroked in and out, starting a rhythm that matched the throbbing in Jared’s cock.

  “Robert,” he gasped, pulling back a little.

  “What?” Robert set his glass down then seemed to recover himself. “I want you, Jared. Not just some faceless maid or footman. I’m tired of fighting temptation. Aren’t you?”

  His words didn’t tell him anything he couldn’t guess already from the rigidness of the man’s features. He was pure lust at the moment. Want and need mixed with a heat in his dark eyes turned solely on Jared.

  “Take me, Robert.”

  He came in for another kiss then pressed his brow to his. “Do you mean it? I can have you? You’ve never been with a man.”

  “But you have.” Jared smiled into his startled gaze. “I can trust you know precisely how to go about matters.”

  Robert cursed softly then made that rough sound of his that passed for laughter. “I do.” He rubbed his big hand over the front of Jared’s trousers and they both moaned. “Let me show you.”

  Jared pressed upward just once, feeling those strong fingers on his shaft, and shivered. “Oh, aye.”

  They stood, stripping off their clothes as if they were on fire. They were soon both naked, chest to chest as they kissed again. Jared had never held a man so closely. Had never felt his own cock nestled between rock-hard thighs as Robert’s huge, hot shaft pressed into his belly.

  “You’re beautifully made, Jared,” Robert rasped, cupping his ass with both hands.

  Jared ran his own hands over Robert’s wide chest, then down his ridged abdomen. “And you’re a right god, you are.”

  Robert began to tease him, hi
s fingers tickling at his hole. “I want to fuck you.”

  Jared shivered again. He was about ready to burst himself, from what Robert was doing and from the need in his voice. “Take me, Robert,” he said again.

  Robert turned him around so Jared faced away from him. “I brought cream.” He nibbled Jared’s ear as he thrust between his ass cheeks. “Found it in my guest room.”

  Jared glanced over his shoulder to see Robert held a small jar in his hand.

  “You were planning to give in then?”

  Robert met his gaze. “I was hoping.”

  Jared gave a small nod. With one long finger, Robert scooped a bit of the white, fragrant cream and eased it into Jared’s body. Tingles spread from the contact.

  “Christ,” Jared moaned.

  Robert wrapped an arm around Jared’s chest and held him as he moved his fingers, first one then two, in and out. Jared’s cock twitched, pulsing as his pleasures rose.

  “I have to get inside,” Robert rushed out, withdrawing his teasing fingers. “I’ll try not to hurt you.”

  Jared held his breath as the broad head of Robert’s cock eased into his hole. Robert growled behind him as his passion took charge. Jared stretched to accommodate him, amazed at the sensations crashing over him.

  They were one now, both moving as Robert drove them both toward climax. Every thrust was accompanied by a brush of his lips against Jared’s neck. He was so close himself now. He reached up and grabbed onto Robert’s shoulders, taking all that Robert had and needing to come so badly himself that he was whimpering.

  “Am I hurting you?” Robert asked roughly.

  “No.” Jared moaned. “I need…”

  In an instant, Robert reached around and grasped his cock. He stroked as he continued to move inside of Jared, bringing him swiftly to an orgasm that weakened his knees. Robert came in the next instant, shuddering behind him as he held the both of them upright.

  Their breathing was harsh, their bodies now slick with sweat as they both recovered from their shattering release.

  “Jared,” Robert whispered in his ear. “That was astounding.”

  Jared swallowed then gave a nod. “I’ve never come so hard.”