Beautiful Distraction

by Jess Michaels

  Olivia watched them go in shock. She hadn’t expected Liam to spill his every secret, but he responded to her like she wasn’t even a person.

  “He thinks low of me,” she whispered, refusing to look at Mal.

  Malcolm touched her hand. “He is simply very private. And…broken, which I’m sure you know from gossip. Truly, you cannot take his moods personally. I’ve known him for almost two decades and he still cuts me off just as he did to you.”

  Her embarrassment faded as she looked at Mal. There was a pinched, pained expression on his face as he watched their friends disappear from view.

  “Were you always in his service?” she asked.

  Mal shook his head slowly and lay back on the blanket with his hands propped under his head. As he motioned her to join him, she rested her head on his shoulder, spreading her hand against his chest as an act of comfort.

  “I was not as elevated as he in status, but we ended up at the same school. It may be hard to imagine, but at the time I was a very slight boy.”

  She sat up slightly to stare at him, all perfectly formed muscle and sinew. “No!”

  He nodded. “Indeed. Some of the more popular boys saw me as a target. Liam was their leader.”

  Her lips parted. “And he attacked you?”

  Mal smiled. “No. He stepped in and made it clear that I was to be his friend and if anyone else wanted to remain so, they would straighten up.” His smile faded slightly. “He was different then, charismatic and made to lead. Everyone wanted to be his mate and somehow I was chosen.”

  Olivia stared at him in wonder. It was hard to picture this strong, virile man at her side as a weak and frightened boy.

  Mal continued, “He took me in at school, but also at home. My father was not kind, often he was violent.”

  She flinched. That she did understand. “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged, but she saw the tension on his face that showed her how much he cared, even if he dismissed the past. “It was a long time ago. But Liam made certain I was invited to every Christmas, every summer holiday with his family, in order to separate me from my father. He made what would have been a living hell into some of the best years of my life.”

  Olivia sighed. He had confided some painful facts to her, ones that explained perfectly why Malcolm would stand by Liam, despite the earl’s prickly disposition. They were bound as best friends.

  And Liam despised her.

  She sat up and turned her face so he wouldn’t see how much that fact affected her, even as she tried to gather her emotions. But her eyes stung with tears and the familiar press of humiliation at not being quite good enough began to make her chest ache.

  Mal sat up too.

  “What is it? Olivia?” He tilted his head, trying to see her face, and when she couldn’t stop a tear from sliding from her eye, he caught her arms and turned her toward him.

  “Why do you cry?” he demanded, smoothing the tear away with a thumb.

  She shook her head. “I’m being stupid, so foolish,” she croaked out.

  “That doesn’t answer the question,” Mal insisted. “Tell me.”

  She looked down at the blanket. “He thinks so little of me. It’s clear by the way he treats me. And I’m not saying I don’t deserve that disregard, but, Malcolm, you care for him. His opinion means something to you—”

  He cut her off by pressing two fingers to her lips. “You foolish girl,” he said with a smile. “Haven’t I made it clear over the past week that I am captivated by you? For the first time in years, I don’t give a damn what Liam or anyone else thinks. I want you, I care for you. And if my friend doesn’t like it, then…” he trailed off, “…then I suppose he can find someone else to run his estates and calm his moods.”

  Olivia’s eyes went wide at this brash statement. “You cannot mean that you would abandon a friendship of such importance, not for a whore.”

  His jaw tightened. “I would thank you not to refer to yourself that way. Not in front of me.” He leaned closer. “And I would grieve the loss of my friendship if it came to that, but not enough to turn away from you.”

  He leaned closer and pressed his lips to hers. Immediately, she wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged herself closer, losing herself in him, in his sweet words and even sweeter kiss.

  He pulled back with a chuckle. “Too much of that and I’ll be forced to strip you naked and have you right here and now.”

  She arched a brow, her body leading her with its incessant needs. “How long will it take for Liam and Violet to walk around the lake?”

  He pondered that a moment, then began to unbutton her gown. “Long enough.”

  She laughed, then began to help him, stripping him out of his shirt, lifting her hips to facilitate the removal of her gown. Soon their clothing was all discarded and he pulled her over him, his mouth moving over hers as she straddled his erection and slowly eased herself over him in slick welcoming. He turned his face into her shoulder with a garbled moan, his fingers digging into her arms, his hips lifting to spear her fully.

  She smiled, loving how she affected him, loving how he affected her too. Then she began to ride him, hard and fast, driving her hips over him, stroking her clitoris at the base of his cock with every thrust.

  Her pleasure began to build and her hip movements grew erratic as impending release stole her rational thoughts. Mal chuckled beneath her and suddenly he sat up, his arms folding around her back, clutching her close as he lifted his hips up into her.

  She clenched her legs around his back and met him stroke for stroke, her head dipped back as pleasure began to mob her, overtake her. The orgasm was powerful, swift and all consuming, and she cried out Mal’s name into the wind as her body clenched his, milking him with her release.

  He cursed as he flipped her onto her back. Her mind spinning with pleasure, she managed to let her hands slide down and grab his muscular backside as he began to drive into her in earnest.

  The tendons in his neck tightened, his face twisting in a mask of pleasure as he grunted out release and poured his seed deep into her body. She clung to him, taking it all as he cupped her face and kissed her deeply, passionately.

  Now they were bound in a way they hadn’t been before. And as she clung to him, panting, her body still flexing around him, she knew that nothing in her life could ever be the same.

  Chapter Eight

  Olivia paced the parlor, her mind tangled by memories of her passionate joining with Malcolm earlier in the day. Even now, just thinking of it made her body ache and her heart swell with emotions that frightened her.

  There was one person she longed to talk to about her confusing feelings—her best friend. But Violet and Liam had never returned to the picnic spot, leaving Olivia and Malcolm to return to the house together and reluctantly part ways when Mal had some estate business to take care of.

  Olivia sighed as she left the parlor. She would find Violet if she could, for she truly needed pragmatic counsel in this matter in order to return to reality.

  As she moved up the hallway, she encountered a maid dusting and approached the girl.

  “Excuse me, have you seen Miss Violet?” she asked.

  The girl bobbed out a nod. “Yes, miss. She’s in the library.”

  The girl indicated which door down the hallway and Olivia headed that way, drawing calming breaths as she walked so that her emotions wouldn’t be clear on her face the moment Violet looked at her.

  When Olivia entered the library, she found Violet sitting in a comfortable chair by the window, scribbling on a piece of paper. At Olivia’s appearance, her friend frowned, folded the sheet and tucked it away. She didn’t stand, but merely stared and seemed to be waiting for Olivia to explain herself.

  Olivia shook her head. “Where did you and Liam go? Why didn’t you return?”

  Violet pursed her lips and anxiety gripped Olivia. She had displeased Violet, apparently.

  “Before we discuss that, I want to talk about something e
lse.” Violet arched a brow. “Why did you try to talk to Liam about his past?”

  Olivia stared at her. Here she had been trying to help her friend, and now Violet was upset with her?

  “Isn’t that what you’re here for? To wheedle the facts about those things out of him and report back?”

  Violet shot to her feet and rushed around her to close the library door. “Mind your tone, Olivia, you could ruin everything!”

  Olivia folded her arms, refusing to feel guilty over something that had been done out of a desire to be of assistance. Especially since her friend seemed to need it.

  “What everything, Violet? We’ve been in Bath for over a week. Have you even tried to pry anything out of him?”

  “Not exactly. I told you, it’s part of my plan.” Violet turned her back so Olivia couldn’t see her expression.

  Olivia stared at her in surprise. Here she had been fearful about her own feelings, and it seemed Violet was no more clear or calm about her own.

  “Yes, I do recall the plan, but it only works if you begin to obtain information from your target,” she pointed out as gently as she could.

  Violet shook her head. “He isn’t my target—you make it sound as though I’m attacking him.”

  “No, you aren’t. Though you should be.” Olivia sighed. “I’m sorry you feel I interfered by asking Windbury a few questions, but I was trying to help you. Though I judge by your upset with me that you didn’t attempt to walk through the door I created by bringing up tender subjects.”

  Violet sat back down hard in the chair she had vacated. She rubbed a hand over her face. “No,” she admitted softly, “I didn’t. I suppose I could have, I think he might have told me something had I pushed. But…I couldn’t.”

  Again, Olivia thought of Malcolm and her tangled feelings. She took a seat beside Violet. “Why?”

  “Because I have been increasingly questioning what I’m doing here, Olivia. This man has been through so much and though his sister means well, what she and her husband have asked of me is a terrible violation. The guilt of that…” she cut herself off with a gasp of breath, “…it eats at me.”

  “You are a good person, Violet. You always have been.” She thought of Malcolm and the fact that he didn’t know of her true motives in being here, any more than Liam knew Violet’s. “You are much better than I. But you cannot forget your goals, my dear. You have more to think of than just yourself.”

  Violet dipped her head. “I know. I know that and I know that what I’m working for, whom I’m working for, it’s worth this. But I can’t focus on the future too hard, Olivia. I don’t want to be disappointed if it doesn’t work out.”

  Olivia was shocked when a single tear rolled down Violet’s cheek. Her friend never cried, or at least she hadn’t in a great many years.

  “It will,” Olivia said, squeezing her hand. Violet needed encouragement and she would give it, no matter her own situation. “If you do this.”

  “I know you’re right.”

  Olivia smiled gently and shifted the topic of conversation in order to lift the tension in the room. “Now where did you and Liam go today?”

  Violet lifted her eyebrows. “Oh, you have questions about that? I’m surprised, considering what you and Malcolm were doing while Liam and I took our walk.”

  Olivia’s jaw dropped at Violet’s implication. She couldn’t possibly mean that the pair had seen her with Malcolm on the blanket, sharing an utterly tender, but ultimately very sexual moment.

  “I—we—you—” she stammered, her blush nearly setting her on fire.

  “Oh yes, we came back earlier than perhaps you thought we would and we saw you,” Violet confirmed with a shake of her head and a half smile. “We saw all of you, actually.”

  Olivia squeezed her eyes shut. So it was out and in the most humiliating way. But she had wanted to talk to Violet about this.

  “We may have gotten a wee bit carried away,” she said slowly. “I was truly sorry I upset Liam and Mal decided to…comfort me.”

  “You did seem comforted,” Violet teased. “If comforted is a euphemism for something else.”

  Olivia covered her face. “I am embarrassed. I’m sure Lord Windbury dislikes me more than ever.”

  Violet shifted slightly. “I wouldn’t say that,” she said. “But tell me about you and Malcolm.”

  Olivia pondered all the things she could say, should say, to hide her heart. But in the end, she couldn’t be false, not about this. Not now. She lowered her hands and smiled.

  “He’s—he is—I—” Olivia stammered, the words so hard to find.

  Violet drew back, her eyes widening as Olivia’s inability to express herself made her heart clear to anyone with eyes or ears.

  “You care for him?” Her friend said the statement with such incredulity, as if she hadn’t thought Olivia capable. And perhaps she hadn’t been until the moment she met Mal.

  Olivia nodded slowly. “I do, Violet. I truly do.”

  The words had been said out loud and Olivia’s heart swelled. She did care for him. More than cared for him.

  “I can see that,” Violet whispered when the silence between them had hung long and heavy. “Does he feel something for you in return?”

  Olivia paused, thinking of all Mal had said and done since her arrival. His tenderness, his acceptance of her past, his revelations of his own—it meant something. She knew it did.

  “It is hard to say, for men are so difficult to read when it comes to matters of the heart,” she said softly. “But I have reason to hope he does care for me.”

  Violet’s brow wrinkled. “What about the future? Will he become your protector?”

  Olivia dropped her chin. And this was where her experience, or in this case, lack thereof, made her hesitate. She had never cared for someone, nor wished for them to care for her. What in the world did happen between a woman like her and a man like him?

  “Perhaps that is all I should expect, considering my past.”

  “But you want more.” Violet said it as a statement, not a question.

  “I do,” Olivia whispered.

  Violet reached for Olivia. “Then I wish for nothing less than you deserve, happiness and joy…and love.”

  “Do you think that is possible?” Olivia asked, hardly breathing as she awaited the answer.

  Violet nodded. “I…I do, Olivia. And you have earned it—that is the truth.”

  Olivia could hardly breathe. Violet would never be anything less than honest with her, she knew that to be true if nothing else in this world. The fact that her friend could hold out any hope for her future made Olivia believe even more that it could be true.

  But as she hugged her friend, there was still a niggling concern that kept her from a perfect happiness. And that was the fact that Malcolm knew nothing of the deception which had brought her here. Nor did she know how he would react to it.

  Malcolm was angry as he stormed down the long hallway toward the office where he knew Liam was working. He hadn’t been angry for a very long time.

  Actually, that wasn’t true. He had been angry, but he had stuffed it down, swallowed it, forgotten it, forgiven it, all to protect his friend. Only right now he had someone else in mind to protect and she was beginning to trump everything else in his life.

  He threw the door open, letting it bang against the back wall, then slammed it shut behind him.

  Liam’s head jerked up from his ledger, but Malcolm refused to allow him to speak, to argue or to make this moment about him. Instead, he folded his arms.

  “Do you know that you made Olivia cry?” he managed to ease out past tightly clenched teeth.

  Liam took a moment to close the ledger before him and then spoke. “How did I do that?”

  “Getting up and stomping off like a child does that sometimes,” Malcolm snapped. “And you have been cold to her since her arrival.”

  “She attempted to intrude upon—” Liam began.

  But Malcolm didn’t want to
hear it. He slammed his hand down on the desk to shut his friend up. “She attempted to connect with you, as people sometimes do. You do remember how human beings treat each other, don’t you?”

  Liam pressed his lips together and Malcolm could see he was fighting his reactions. But this was Liam, and Liam didn’t recall the finer points of self-control anymore.

  “Horseshit,” his friend snapped. “She wasn’t worrying over me as a friend and you know it. She was poking at a wound, hoping to see if it would bleed.”

  “She isn’t like that,” Mal snarled, his face heating at this new slur.

  Liam barked out an ugly laugh. “How would you know? You’ve been fucking her for a week—you know nothing but her body.”

  A veil of red rage settled before Mal’s vision and the emotions that had been simmering now bubbled to an almost out-of-control level as he grasped Liam and shook him.

  “Shut up, Windbury,” he shouted. “You’re talking about the woman I love.”

  Liam wrestled free and stumbled back, staring at his friend in utter disbelief. Disbelief Mal felt himself. Until he’d uttered those words he would not have admitted such a depth of feeling. But it was true, all true. He loved Olivia. Despite their short acquaintance, despite the obstacles, he loved her.

  “Love her?” Liam repeated in surprise. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I love her,” he repeated and now the words didn’t sound as foreign or outrageous. They were just…true. “And I want to marry her.”

  Liam went as tense as a piece of steel before he muttered, “You idiot.”

  Mal’s eyes narrowed at this response to his confession. “You would prefer that I follow you around my whole life, trying to keep you from walking over a cliff or putting a bullet through your ear?”

  Liam’s eyes widened, but Mal didn’t stop. This showdown had been a long time coming and in reality, it had nothing to do with Olivia or love or anything except what Mal had been protecting Liam from for years.

  “Oh yes, I know your dark thoughts,” he continued. “I’ve seen them on your face when no one else was looking. And I have watched you, guarded you from yourself because I care for you, you pompous ass. Because I know you will allow no one else to intervene on your behalf. I don’t regret any sacrifices I’ve made to be your friend and your confidante. But I do not agree to live in your misery forever, Liam.”