Blakewood Read online

  “Looks like he’s going have a romp with his little redhead tonight.” Marcus lifted his face to the sky again and smiled. “It’s a good night for it.” I frowned. It was always a good night according to Marcus. That was just the problem. He never worried over anything. It didn’t matter to him that the business was down in numbers or that his actions might give a bad impression of us to our buyers.

  “Here she comes. And look. Your little governess is with her,” Marcus drawled as two shadows rounded the side of the manor. We watched them walk with heads close together like two children sharing secrets. We could have them both you know—Marcus opted for silence so he didn’t bring any attention to us—Mist them right now.

  I could hear the women clearly enough despite their hushed voices and was grateful when Marcus silenced his thoughts to listen, too.

  “Was he…you know…big?” Mildred asked with a little giggle. “I’ve oft wondered what he’d be like.”

  “I told you, Mildred. I don’t know what you are talking about,” Elizabeth insisted.

  “Everyone’s whispering about it. If you wanted to keep it a secret, you should've followed my example and met him outside of the manor.” Mildred shook her head as they neared the wall. “Susannah said she saw him standing naked outside your door.”

  “Susannah should worry more about finishing her work every day than starting ugly rumors,” Elizabeth snapped. “Go on to the man you have waiting for you and stop worrying over who you think is or isn’t standing outside my room.”

  “Don’t be angry with me, Lizzy.” Mildred faced her friend. “I think you should have whatever affair you like. At least it’s the master and not that retched Highcrest. I was afraid for awhile it would be he since you were spending so much time with him.”

  Elizabeth laughed abruptly. “Go on. I’ll wait for you.”

  “Whistle if someone comes looking for me,” Mildred reminded her, and Elizabeth nodded. Mildred sent her a big grin and darted toward the barn.

  I allowed Marcus to empty the bowl of the pipe onto the ground and tuck it away. Before I could stop him, however, he strolled forward, bringing us quietly up behind her, the wall between us. He leaned forward and blew against her hair. She whirled and stared at me with wide eyes.

  She’d avoided me for the past week, keeping mostly to her room or with Ritchie. Her drapes had been kept closed in case Marcus came tapping and, when she saw me in a corridor, she would all but run away from me. Grab her and kiss her, you fool.

  When I said nothing, Marcus spoke up. “You aren’t going to run and hide are you?” I winced as her eyes narrowed.

  “He’s here,” I told her. “I allowed him to come forward with me since I didn’t expect to see you out here. Although, I shouldn’t be surprised. From the day you arrived, you’ve proven to be the one who likes to go wandering in the dark.” Beatrice had told me she’d talked to Elizabeth about Marcus and me. She’d hoped to alleviate some of Elizabeth’s fears since we’d done such a poor job of it ourselves. Kiss her. I ignored him.

  “I can tell. The two of you have a different way of speaking.” To my surprise, she didn’t run, though for that split moment when she saw me, she looked as if she might. “Is this how it would be if the two of you joined as one?”

  “No. I’m still the dominant right now,” I explained. “We can join, but it’s difficult to keep his impulses under control.”

  “What impulses?”

  “Right now, he’s trying to convince me to jump over the wall and kiss you.”

  She caught her bottom lip between her teeth for a second. “That’s not what you want to do?”

  You see? She wants you to kiss her. I blinked then laughed. “It’s exactly what I want to do, but that’s how Marcus works. He finds out what you want and then pushes to make you give in to it.”

  She licked her lips. “Perhaps some impulses could be tolerated. You could learn which to act on and which to ignore. For instance, I have had to learn not to take a poker to a man’s head when he’s set upon keeping secrets from me that I might need to know before I allow him in my room.” She met my gaze directly.

  “And when he sees a woman on the street he takes a fancy to?” I shook my head.

  “Have you the same taste in women?”

  Marcus pushed forward, leaning across the top of the wall. “Leander Overton has never been prejudiced against women. He likes all types. Tall, skinny, plump, short.”

  I shoved him back, growling under my breath, “Stop it.”

  But I didn’t miss the twitch at the corner of Elizabeth’s lips. The damned woman was laughing at us. Well, it was better than staring at me with horror, I decided.

  “I’m accustomed to him. You don’t have to stifle him around me. I can tell the difference between the two of you.” She suddenly turned and walked along the wall until she reached the break and stepped to my side of the wall. I watched her move back toward me.

  She isn’t afraid, Marcus said in my head.

  “Be quiet,” I said under my breath, but she heard me as she halted and tilted her head to the side.

  “You are talking to him.”

  “We needn’t speak aloud to communicate.”

  “I wonder how that feels to have another inside your head.” She continued to regard me closely.

  “You are never alone. It’s irritating sometimes, but then sometimes it isn’t bad to have someone understand your thoughts without your having to say them.” I didn’t know how to explain so she could understand.

  “Always someone there, holding you back, telling you how you shouldn’t do certain things, how to speak to people,” Marcus added. Despite my wanting to shove him back again, I didn’t.

  “I’m certain he holds you back for good reason,” she said with a little smile.

  “It’s maddening sometimes,” I told her.

  “If you merged into one, it might make it less so.” She shrugged. “But then I don’t really know. I can’t imagine having another inside of me.”

  “I can.” Marcus spoke before I could stop him. “I’d love to show you how it would feel to have me inside of you.” Her cheeks reddened, and she looked away.

  “Forgive him. He thinks he’s being charming,” I growled.

  “Was it both of you there when you were in my room?” she asked without looking at me.

  “While he witnessed our affection, he was not the one who touched you. When we were younger, we did share, but we’ve learned to respect one another when in intimate situations,” I told her.

  “You could always let me in and then know the differences in how we do things,” Marcus grinned.

  Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. “I suppose afterwards I could sleep with your brother when he arrives. Perhaps you could bring other family members to share me with as well?”

  “I’m not the possessive one. I don’t mind sharing.” Marcus winked. “You’ve never been kissed until you have two men kissing you at the same time. Want to give it a go?”

  Again, she looked away.

  “He’s only trying to goad me into a fight,” I told her. “He’s still angry with me for stopping him from coming to your window. He thinks of those that aren’t vampires as playthings and uses them for his amusement.”

  “You said you couldn’t control his impulses, but you admit you could stop him from doing something you didn’t want him to do.” She frowned. “Perhaps it’s not a fear of not stopping him, but a fear that you wouldn’t want to.”

  I felt Marcus’ smugness seeping into every vein of my body. It made me furious to be opened so easily.

  “You want me to act like him? To indulge in every thought that comes to me?” I reached forward and grabbed her around the waist and, at the same time, pushed Marcus behind the wall in my head. I kissed her roughly and fully expected her to slap me. She didn’t. Instead she responded with equal fever. I could hear Marcus laughing in the back of my mind, but blocked him out as I spun and pinned her between the garde
n wall and myself.

  My heart thumped in my chest as I jerked her dress up around her waist and tore her under clothes away. I could smell her. Somewhere between my admitting I wanted to kiss her and Marcus’ inappropriate comments about sharing her, she’d become aroused.

  “Wait,” she pulled her lips from mine. Thank God. She realized the mistake we were making, which brought me back to my senses. “Not Marcus.”

  I stared at her. “It’s just me.”

  She breathed out. “It’s just too much for me to consider.” She was actually apologizing for not wanting him there with us. I instantly regretted being so rough. She didn’t deserve to suffer my temper. “I can only handle one vampire at a time.” She reached up and slid her hand behind my head and pulled me back to her.

  When her hot tongue sought mine, my fingers tightened on her waist. Her free hand swept over my chest then between us and rubbed boldly against me. Heaven help me, she wanted what I wanted and didn’t care how I wanted it.

  “Lean back, arms along the top of the wall.”

  Her gaze met mine as she did as I instructed. Raw, primitive heat coiled inside of me. I wanted to leap on her and might have, but beyond her I saw Mildred open the door of the stables. Damn!

  “Mildred is coming,” I said as I allowed the tingling power of vampire move through my body. I heard Elizabeth gasp as I disappeared from her view. She blinked then turned as Mildred raced toward her.

  “That didn’t take long.” Elizabeth smoothed her hands over her skirt in an effort to calm herself. “You should make him take more time with you.” She started slightly when I touched her hips.

  “I made him wait days before I came to him again. He was wild. He wanted me to stay so he could have me again.” Mildred grinned wickedly. I slipped my hand down over Elizabeth’s ass and then farther to begin inching her dress up. I felt her stiffen when she realized what I was doing. I stepped closer so that she was backed against me and could feel my erection against her. Slipping my hand around her thigh, I sought what I wanted and found it. Mildred could see nothing. I was invisible to her and the rest was happening behind the wall away from her view.

  “Why didn’t you?” Elizabeth asked, but her voice lacked its normal assurance. I smiled.

  “I didn’t think you’d want to be left out here for so long alone.” Mildred’s eyes rounded. “You don’t mind?”

  “No.”

  I pushed into her and her heat clenched around my finger. Lowering my head so that I knew she could feel my breath against her ear, I exhaled slowly, quietly.

  “You’ll keep watch? You’ll stay here?”

  I sank deeper.

  “Yes,” she squeaked then cleared her throat and forced her voice to steady. “Of course I will.” Mildred sent a wide smile and whirled, bounding back toward the stables.

  “Of course you will,” I echoed against her ear.

  “You are no better than Marcus Highcrest!” she hissed under her breath.

  “If I let Marcus have his way, he would have convinced both of you to stay here with him and leave Delaney on his own,” I corrected as I moved my finger in and out of her, joining a second when she leaned her head back against me. She moaned softly.

  “If you want me to stop, I will. When you encourage me to give in to impulse, this is what you get.” I whispered.

  “Don’t stop.” She rolled her hips, encouraging me to continue. “I like your impulses.”

  Her words drove heat from my abdomen into my groin. I pulled my fingers away and spun her to face me as I allowed myself to reappear. She nodded, and I pushed the skirts of her dress up with one hand, freeing myself from my trousers with the other. She lifted her leg to my hip and I grasped it, nudging against that silky heat waiting for me.

  “You shouldn’t say things like that to me. I’ll come into your room and climb on top of you as I want.” I plunged deep, and she sucked in her breath. “I’ll take and take and take as I please.” With each word, I pulled back and thrust again.

  “Yes, please.” She put her hands atop the wall behind her to take her weight so she could move with me. Sliding my hand beneath her, I lifted, and she instinctively wrapped her legs around me. Damn, but I wanted her naked. This wouldn’t be enough.

  “More,” she whispered on quickened breath. Yes, more.

  With one hand cupping her ass, I lifted the other hand to her back and brought her forward, away from the wall. Her lips met mine instantly, and I turned, lowering us both to the ground. I settled atop her and rocked my hips, pumping into her.

  When I released her mouth and rose above her, I gazed down and my chest constricted at the sight. Her dark hair snaked through the grass beneath her and her ivory skin was a contrast to the night around us. Her lips were parted, and she curled her fingers into the ground beneath her as she bucked up to meet my thrusts. I’d never felt such intense lust for a woman before, not like this. It was—Marcus’ voice came back to my memory—possessive.

  My sac tightened, and I lost myself in her sweet heat. As I drew closer to release, my senses became more acute. The wind whispered in the trees above us and across the grassland of Blakewood like ghostly voices tempting me to let go completely. Somewhere distantly, a bird took flight. Below me, the heat of her quick breaths swirled up through the chilled air to caress my throat. The scent of her filled my nose so strongly that I felt I could taste her on my lips.

  “Leander,” she whispered on a whimper that pushed me to pleasure’s edge. No! I wanted to last, to hold those moments before they were gone, and I was made to wait again to be with her, to be inside of her. But when she said my name again, this time her voice lifting from whimper to cry, I rocked into her full force. She threw one arm over her mouth to quiet the screams she obviously couldn’t help and the nails of her other hand bit into my shoulder like tiny bites of desperate need. Her head thrashed back and forth and the world slowed for one maddening second before plunging me into overwhelming ecstasy.

  Fire tore through me, spiraling me into a storm of pleasure. I buried deeply, emptying myself into her clinging wet walls, riding her one spasm after another. As I drifted back from heated bliss, I felt dizzy from the force of our joining. I became aware, but for our breaths, of the silence of the night around us, of the warmth of her breasts pressed up against my chest, and of the sobs that bubbled from her tempting lips.

  I fell forward, resting my weight on my shaking hands on either side of her head. The cool ground provided stark reality to what had just taken place beneath us. I couldn’t help the chuckle that crept up from my chest. We’d been like wild beasts, primal and basic. I might have apologized for my roughness, but she’d been no gentler than I, just as eager and fevered.

  “That was quite an impulse, sir.” Her voice shook slightly.

  I laughed. “It was indeed.”

  “Your teeth…” She reached up and touched my mouth. Yes, I’d not even felt the pain when they’d elongated. I parted my lips so she could touch them. She jerked back, surprised at how sharp they were and brought her finger to her own lips. The coppery scent that pushed up from the small puncture filled my nose, but at that moment, the only thing I could concentrate on was her mouth suckling the small injury. With every pull of her lips, I could feel it down in my groin, and I hardened inside of her again.

  Her eyes widened. “Certainly you don’t mean to…”

  “It’s insane for me to be this hungry for you," I growled.

  “Mrs. Loman told me you’d been feeding regularly,” she argued.

  I laughed again. “I don’t mean that kind of hunger.”

  She thought about that a moment. “But you said you fornicated when you fed.”

  “It’s different with you, Elizabeth. The way we are together, like this, is different than the way it is with Claudia. I burn for you when I look at you.” I groaned and reluctantly pulled from her body when I heard the stable door opening. “Mildred’s coming back.”

  I rolled to the side so sh
e could scramble to her feet, and I watched while she fussed with her dress, shaking it free of evidence of the earth. She lifted her slender fingers and smoothed back her hair. She took a step away then looked back.

  “I burn for you, too.” Then she was racing down the wall to meet Mildred.

  Chapter Fourteen

  My brother, Richard arrived in an entourage of carriages and companions, all of whom were female. Of course, we had enough rooms to accommodate them all, but Beatrice continued to grumble about his lack of information in his letters of bringing the ‘whole of London’. As his guests settled themselves at Blakewood, I was encouraged to see that Richard did spend several hours with Ritchie by watching over his lessons and then participating in the outdoor play that Elizabeth had worked into the boy’s daily schedule.