by Nancy Wells
Isabella could not bring herself to meet the eyes of the duchess. She was aware her behavior was as unladylike as one could get. She was not ashamed of what she did in that alley, but everyone might not share her opinion.
“Let me show you the guest room where you will be staying the night, Lady Isabella.”
She sighed in relief, grateful to the duchess for not asking unwanted questions regarding that incident. She stood up from her seat and followed the hostess as she showed her the room where she was supposed to sleep tonight.
RUSSELL RETURNED LATE in the night with Elliot. They had gone to purchase a house in the town of Manchester, away from his old life. He had already submitted a letter of resignation to his superiors. His superiors were not happy about his decision, but his spotless track record turned well in his favor. His last job was to apprehend the man he was after these days and then he would be free to go. On Elliot’s counsel, he had invested in small businesses. He was planning for the future and Elliot was helping him.
They were met at the entrance by Elliot’s butler, who told them about the unexpected guests. Elliot did not bother with asking questions about the guests and went straight to his wife’s room because at this point Elliot had stopped questioning the twins need for doing crazy things. Russell, on the other hand, was impatient to see her. She was under the same roof as he. It would be preposterous if he let this opportunity slide.
He did not bother with knocking at the guest room door because the lamp was turned off, suggesting the occupants were asleep. He could have waited until the morning, but his heart was impatient for a glimpse of his beloved’s face.
He turned the knob, silently opened the door and tiptoed towards the large bed where two figures were asleep. Sitting at the edge of the bed, he leaned down to steal a kiss from her. His lips were near her face when his gaze collided with the little sister’s open eyes. He remained frozen in his position, caught red-handed, afraid the little sister would scream.
“Take her to your room,” Margaret whispered. “I will pretend to be asleep and remain unaware of her absence.”
He started to laugh silently. His shoulders were shaking from the mirth. It never crossed his mind that her sister would suggest something so bold. He had not come here to take liberties with her, but now that the suggestion was planted in his head, it seemed like a crime to not act on it.
“I appreciate your discretion.”
He lifted her from the bed in her nightdress and held her close to his chest. She was not light as a feather, but he was strong enough to lift her without sweating. He was near the doorway when Margaret called after him.
“Promise me, you will stay in our lives forever,” Margaret said with eyes full of hope.
His plan was to keep her forever, but he had never thought about the little sister. It never occurred to him that Margaret had become attached to him. At that moment, he realized he had truly gotten a sister in his dalliance with Isabella. It was not the outcome he had expected but was happy about the result, nonetheless.
“I am staying forever, little sister,” he said.
Margaret smiled and shut her eyes. As she had promised, she was pretending to be asleep, giving him the chance to take his beloved to his own room. He shook his head, chuckling softly at the dubious working of her mind. Who would have thought a younger sister would aid a stranger in taking advantage of her defenseless older sister? It was obvious, Margaret considered him much more than a stranger.
He took her to his room and laid her with care on his bed. He disrobed before joining her in bed. He wanted to feel her against his skin. She stirred, her forehead crinkling as soon as he joined her in bed. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him. The thin material of her nightdress did nothing to hide her features from his gaze. He traced her fine figure with his hand, stopping every once in a while, to squeeze her flesh. She moaned and stirred in her sleep but did not open her eyes.
The nightdress was sheer, yet he was getting irritated with the barrier. He bunched her dress near the small of her back, baring her rounded bottom for his hungry gaze. His breath was getting irregular while his member hardened.
One arm was wrapped around her chest, feeling her hardening nipples against his skin, while the other wandered towards her nether regions. He rubbed her slowly, extracting moisture from her folds and soft moans from her mouth.
“Wake up, my Siren,” he whispered breathily near her ear.
Isabella was experiencing the most exquisite dream. She was being pleasured by invisible hands. She started thrashing as the hands rubbed her furiously and pushed her off the cliff into the pool of pleasure. She was in the throes of passion when she felt a sting on her shoulder and her eyes shot open.
“I thought you would never wake up,” he said from behind her.
She turned her head around, staring at the familiar face. This time she knew it was really him and not his brother. The love in his eyes could never be mistaken.
“Did you just bite me?” she asked.
He turned her in his arms and chuckled softly. He had kissed her on her shoulder blade and throat when she had started to tremble beneath his hands and did not hear him when he asked her to wake up. He had gone on his way and kissed her so hard on her shoulder that his teeth had left a mark. He had left a love bite on her shoulder.
He did not feel the least bit of remorse for his actions. He would do it again if she reacted so profoundly to his touch again. He was marking her as his own.
“Sorry about that,” he said softly.
She took notice of her surroundings for the first time. She was not in the guestroom, which meant he had taken her in her sleep. The move was romantic, but scary as well. Margaret had been sleeping beside her in that guest room and she was not a sound sleeper. If Margaret had caught him abducting her, she would have screamed for help.
“How did you manage to evade my sister?” she asked curiously.
He opened the front of her nightdress, baring her chest for his lustful gaze. She forgot about her own query as his head dipped towards her chest and he took a nipple in his mouth. Her eyes rolled back in her head as he twirled his tongue around her hardened nipple and sucked deeply. His mouth left her breast with a pop while she moaned loudly.
“She gave me her blessing to ravish you in my bed,” he said before dipping his head towards the other breast.
She was unable to make a coherent reply while he wreaked havoc upon her senses. It took her a while to comprehend his meaning. Her traitorous sister had taken his side and let him take her from the guestroom. Margaret had been her partner for as long as she could recall, but her loyalties seemed to be shifting towards him.
He straddled her knees and trailed down a line of kisses from her throat to her navel while she tried unsuccessfully to suppress the sounds coming from her mouth. He twirled his tongue in her belly button, making her breath short and erratic. She could feel the moisture from her cunny on her thighs. She knew she would not last long if he kept kissing her with passion.
He pushed her nightdress out of the way as he went further south. He licked her once on her folds and her hands grabbed the pillow. He was holding her down with one hand on her mound while the other was opening her folds with a thumb and forefinger. She mewed and moaned when he started licking her with determination. She could not think straight while he pulled pleasure out of her body in ruthless waves.
“Oh my God,” she screamed, flying apart as his tongue entered her cunny.
She lay beneath him, replete and sated while he kissed her softly on her folds. She looked down at his smiling face between her legs. She had the urge to make him feel the same pleasure and lick him in the same manner he had licked her.
“Can I touch you in the same manner?” she asked.
She would never force him to do anything he was not comfortable with. She knew he would get spooked if she put her hands on him without seeking his permission. She respected his boundaries and would never try to make him fe
el pushed towards doing anything he did not want.
“There is no reason for me to deny you this simple request,” he said.
He smiled and lay on his back on the bed. He did not tell her that she was the only person who would ever get to touch him like that. He had never allowed a woman’s hands or lips anywhere on his body. The only way he took a woman was by restraining her to the bed or any other furniture.
She touched his face softly and then took her hand away, letting him adjust to her touch. He stilled for a moment, but then started breathing normally.
“I am fine,” he said, reassuring her.
She straddled his knees and put the tips of her fingers on his chest. His heart was beating fast. He lay still beneath her, trying to forget about his old memories and replace them with her soft hands, but it was not easy to replace something so ugly in one day.
Ants were crawling up his skin while her feather-light touches roamed on his chest and face. Just when he thought he could not take it anymore, her hands went away. She could read his feelings too and it made him feel more strongly towards her.
“I am going to kiss you beneath your chest,” she said. “Do you have a problem with that?”
She was wearing her heart on her sleeve. If he looked at her, he would see the love she felt for him clear as day. It was the first time she had touched his body and it felt amazing. She wanted to feel his skin for a long time, but the hitch in his breath made her aware of his limits. He was a fragile person. She needed to handle him with care. He was broken, but not irreparably. He only needed someone who would help him with the healing process, and she vowed to become that person.
“No, not a problem there,” he said, releasing the breath he had been holding.
She bent her head and kissed him on his flat stomach. Following his example, she trailed kisses down to his manhood. Wrapping her fist around the base of his member, she licked the tip with her tongue, making him arch up from the bed and eliciting guttural groans from his throat. She licked fast like he had done and made him further overwhelmed.
She was not strong enough to hold him down, but she knew how to prolong his pleasure. She took his member into her mouth and sucked him hard and fast, forcing loud cries of pleasure from his throat. Just as she felt the first drop of his semen in her mouth, he grabbed her hair and pulled her mouth away.
“Lie back,” he said hurriedly. “I want to release inside you.”
He pushed inside her warm cunny as soon as she was flat on her back. He closed his eyes, trying to hold back for few more seconds to feel her warmth around his member. He pulled out his member and pushed back in a hard thrust. He was increasing the ferocity of his thrusts with precision. In no time, he was thrusting hard and fast inside her.
She had believed that his mouth and hands were magical, but now she was rethinking her opinion. His member was capable of eliciting more pleasure from her body in less time and with more intensity. The first time had hurt a little, but this time there was no discomfort.
They reached their peaks together with him grunting and her back arching from the bed. He was still releasing his seed inside her when the door to his room opened and Shane stepped inside.
Shane’s eyes widened, not expecting to catch him with a woman in his bed. His room was his sanctuary. He had never allowed a woman inside his bedroom before which was the reason his brother never bothered to knock before coming inside.
“Get out,” he said, wrapping himself around her to shield her nudity from his brother.
Shane ran outside, shutting the door behind him with a bang while Russell cursed him. He could not believe his insane brother did not hear the ruckus coming from his room before barging inside.
He felt her laughing beneath him. She found it funny that they were caught in the middle of their coupling by his brother, but he did not appreciate his brother barging inside his room in the middle of the night. His brother was lacking manners. He was fine with it before, but all this had to change.
“He is a bit peculiar,” she said.
He lay to her side, breathing hard. He did not want to crush her under his weight. His brother was all kinds of deranged person. He was something but a bit peculiar was not the right term for him. He was a lunatic who was in need of restraints.
“A bit is not the word I would use if I referred to Shane,” he said dryly.
He descended from the bed and picked up his discarded clothes. He knew his brother would wait outside until he gave him permission to enter, but he had no intention of letting him inside while she lay on his bed in her nightdress.
“He can come inside,” she said. “I am no longer indecent.”
“No!” he said sharply.
He did not appreciate someone else having a glimpse of what belonged to him. He was possessive about her. Her body was only for his pleasure. No one else was allowed to look at her, not even his brother.
She did not make a comment, only smirked at him. She saw the possessive look on his face and it made her feel special. This look was only reserved for her.
“Behave,” he said, throwing his coat at her.
She was giggling as he left the room. This would be her life once they got married. She was anxious to start her life with him. She would remain happy for the rest of her life with his lovemaking and Shane’s strange behavior. A life of pure bliss was waiting for her in the near future.
Outside the room, Shane was waiting for him, which was expected, but the look of pure horror was something he had not anticipated.
“What do you want, Shane?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
Shane did not look at him. He was staring in the distance. Russell was getting a bit worried about his brother. His brother was deranged, he knew that, but it was not an everyday occurrence to see his brother in shock.
“I saw a mole on your buttocks,” Shane said. “We are not built exactly the same.”
Russell rolled his eyes. He should have guessed that his brother would say something stupid. It was not his fault that Shane barged inside the room without asking for permission. They were not children anymore. Shane should know better than to barge inside another person’s personal space.
“What did you want when you came inside the room?”
“Huh?” Shane said in a daze. “Just wanted to see the look of surprise on your face when I told you about her. I thought she was sleeping in the guest room and you were alone in your room.”
Russell felt bad for being angry with his brother. Shane had made an elaborate plan to see them together for the purpose of putting a smile on his face. Some might find his brother a bit much, but he knew his brother would go to any length if he were ever in need of aid.
Grabbing his brother by his shoulders, he hugged him. Shane was brought out of his reverie and he returned his embrace. Russell did not realize that it was the first time he had initiated contact with his brother, but Shane did not miss this miracle. Shane was aware that all these changes were due to the lady on the other side of the door, but he was still afraid his brother would get hurt. What he witnessed inside that room was not two people in lust. Shane saw Russell’s love for the noble lady, and it scared him.
Chapter 8
Four days had passed since she had last seen him in her own chamber and months had passed since she slept in his bed. Every time he visited her chamber, he made love to her and they shared lots of stories from their childhoods with one another. It took him a long time to adjust to her touch, but she had finally achieved the goal. The damaged person she had once known was not afraid to let her near him. He had not proposed formally yet, but she knew it would not be long before he set a date for their wedding.
These four days had been the most excruciatingly slow time in her entire life. Time passed with the pace of a snail. He had already told her about the reason for his departure, but her heart was still unsettled. He had shared the details regarding his line of work, which had made her worried for his safety, but he had
also assured her that he was resigning once he had apprehended the criminal and then they would marry, but as long as he trailed that criminal, she would remain worried. She wished there was a magic ball where she could look at him whenever she desired.
She was deep in thought while walking in the gardens, unaware of the people around her. Margaret had been busy these days. With her mother’s permission, she was allowed to visit the duchess’ house where she played for a long time with Willy. Every time she returned, there was a look of carelessness on her face. It was not a good thing that her sister was getting attached to these people because they had to return to their home once the season was over. Isabella was worried her sister was not strong enough to stomach the grief of being separated from her only friend.
“This came for you, Lady Isabella.”
She looked towards the maid who was holding a letter in her hands. She took the letter, puzzled as to who would send her a letter. She opened the envelope and found a letter from Shane. He wanted to meet her and discuss something important with her, but there was no mention of a time and place for their meeting.
“The person who handed you this envelope,” she said. “Where is he now?”
The maid looked around, making sure no one was eavesdropping on them. Once the maid was satisfied, she smiled at her and leaned forward to whisper near her. She had never seen her servants behaving in such a manner before. Something else was afoot here and she was not privy to the details of the matter.
“Your betrothed gave me this, my lady,” the maid said coyly. “He is waiting for you in your room.”
The servants could not distinguish between the twin brothers. Shane must have misled the servant and used his similar features to his advantage. She did not understand as to what could be so important as to merit his unexpected visit to her room.
“If my mother asks,” she said. “Tell her I am resting in my room because I have a mild headache.”
She giggled along with the maid, playing along with whatever scheme Shane was concocting. When the maid left, she went straight to her room. Shane was sitting on a chair near the hearth, twirling brandy in a glass.
