Their Lady Gloriana Read online

  Wanting to do it as much as Rowan wanted him to do it, Thomas guided his thick cockhead into Rowan’s anus. He inched forward, letting his friend adjust. When he heard the quiet moan, felt the release of tension, he thrust all the way inside.

  “God, yes!” Rowan squirmed and pushed back. “Do me. Do me now!” The commanding words served to make Thomas’s cock grow even more. He needed control and he took it, pulling his shaft almost out while Rowan growled in protest. Then he plunged hard, deep. Being surrounded by the tight space felt so good, so warm. He repeated the action and watched Rowan clutch the linens, heard him groaning, straining at the invasion of his ass.

  Thomas drove harder and faster. Sweat beaded his upper lip, his chest. His heart thudded as he burned for release. It had been too long, nearly a month, since they’d had the chance to be together like this. He groaned, fought for breath.

  “More. Fuck me harder!” Rowan’s body was shuddering, as Rowan moved back and forth, frantic in his desperation.

  Thomas’s eyes lost focus and his mind spun. Deeper. Deeper still. He held Rowan’s hips and pumped for several more agonizing minutes. Waves of pleasure pulsed through him. He shifted slightly and the new angle forced a rough, guttural cry from the man beneath him. It ignited the fire within him, building it higher and higher. He couldn’t last much longer. He panted. “Uh, oh God!”

  Rowan shoved his ass back at him. “Do it! Now.”

  Thomas’s energy was draining away. He couldn’t think about anything beyond finding release. He had to have relief! He tightened his hold on Rowan’s hips and rammed as deep as he could a final time. His breathing stopped as he froze in place with his cock buried to the hilt. Then with a shuddering sigh, he shot his hot seed in Rowan’s tight passage.

  They collapsed next to each other as they’d done many times before. Thomas turned to his side. He knew Rowan liked having him watch as he worked his own rod. Thomas watched as Rowan’s hand pulled steadily on his cock. His handsome face was covered in sweat, grimacing in tension. A vein pulsed in the side of his neck. Thomas knew that him watching excited his lover even more, made him stroke the swollen cock faster, made him breathe deeper. In truth, observing his lover do this excited Thomas as well. His limp rod showed signs of interest again, but not enough. The intense fucking had taken the strength out of him for now.

  His face pinched in strain, seeming to hold his breath, Rowan finally cried out almost as if in pain. Thick ropes of cum shot upward and then glazed over his hand. After a second he closed his eyes and drew in a long calming breath.

  When Rowan finally settled back to the moment, Thomas leaned over and kissed him tenderly. As their lips met, he thought again about Gloriana. Was he being fair to her by marrying her? Was he being fair to Rowan? What he and Rowan did was unnatural by society’s eyes, but necessary to both of them. As lord of a substantial holding, he was expected to have a wife. The people of Middlemound expected him to wed their lady. He would do so. But what about Rowan? Could they keep the relationship they had? What would Gloriana do if she ever learned of it?

  “I’m thinking you’re a lucky man to wed her,” Rowan said, interrupting Thomas’s troubled thoughts. “I saw the fire that burns within her, just as you did.”

  Thomas wondered about his friend’s comment, and he remembered the odd look he’d caught as Rowan watched Gloriana at sup. They’d have to talk about her later, but now he was tired. Tomorrow would be a long day, a trying one.

  “I do not want to hurt her.” Thomas climbed from the bed and pulled on his braies.

  “You won’t.” Rowan sat up and looked seriously at him. “She will be lucky to have you in her life.”

  “I can’t give you up.” Thomas noted how Rowan’s gaze had settled on his chest, shifted lower. If he didn’t leave the chamber now, he might end up staying here the night. Already his cock was showing more determined life again.

  “Nor I, you,” Rowan released a tense breath. “Tis best you leave while you can.”

  Thomas nodded and walked to the door. He glanced back at his lover, but Rowan’s eyes were closed. His brow furrowed in thought. “We’ll make this work. Somehow.”

  Chapter Two

  The sun had barely risen by the time Rowan dressed in his tunic and braies. He jammed his low boots on and glanced back at the rumpled bed. It reeked of sex from his time spent with Marie, a maid who had worked her wiles on him. She hadn’t had to do much. He’d been ready for driving his cock into a willing woman. He’d been sure to give her great pleasure, but his needs had surpassed what she could give him, at least that time. He wasn’t complaining and would probably seek her out again. Yet he’d needed Thomas. Thank God his friend had come to him late in the night.

  He left the chamber and headed downstairs. Thomas’s door was closed, and he heard the muffled sound of snoring. At least his friend was getting some rest. This would be a big day for them all. He knew Thomas had mixed feelings about marrying Gloriana. He was concerned as well. The marriage would only add to the complicated life he and Thomas led. He didn’t want to give up their relations. He’d been with only a couple of other men before Thomas, but none had compared to Thomas. He’d been Thomas’s first male lover and he hoped to be his last.

  Lost in his thoughts, he nearly plowed right over Gloriana as she stepped out of her bedchamber. She gave a gasp, and he caught her to keep her from falling. The instant his arms went around her, he felt a jolt of awareness. His heart raced. His cock swelled. Blinking in shock, he all but thrust her from his embrace.

  She, too, looked surprised. Her pretty face blushed in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, Sir Rowan,” she gushed, stepping farther away. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

  “I’m sorry as well.” He tried to calm his body, tried to see if she’d been struck by the same startling sensations as he. “I was thinking about something else.”

  “I trust you slept well.” She smoothed down the sides of her gown. It was another green one, which emphasized her emerald green eyes that could both hint at past pain and warm with concern. Now they watched him in confusion.

  Without thinking, he said, “I hardly closed my eyes.”

  She cocked her head and the waist-length blonde hair moved just enough to make his fingers ache to weave their way through it. “Are you feeling poorly? Was there something wrong with the mattress?”

  He couldn’t tell her that thoughts of Thomas had kept him awake. That he’d wanted to find Thomas’s room and pin his lover to the mattress and ram deep into his upturned ass. He couldn’t tell her that he’d also spent a fair amount of time puzzling over the attraction he’d felt for her yesterday. An attraction that had grown even more alarming when he’d held her only seconds ago.

  Instead, he gave her a weak smile. “There is just much on my mind, Lady Gloriana.” He wondered if adding her title would help him put distance between them. She returned his smile and the gentleness of it stabbed at his heart. Like Thomas, he wasn’t a soft man. There’d been very little kindness or gentleness in his life. But her softness made him want to pull her to him once more. Thomas’s bride. Remember that.

  Biting back disappointment, he nodded toward the stairs. “Shall we go break our fast?”

  “Tis still early, but I’m sure we can find some bread and cheese in the kitchen.” She hurried away as if relieved.

  They didn’t speak again until she reached the bottom of the stairs. The great hall was filled with people, some still sleeping on mats on the rushes, some just waking and starting to move around. Snores and quiet whispers met his ears.

  “Thomas will make you a good husband,” Rowan said, determined to think of her only as his friend’s future wife. He didn’t want to keep noticing the gentle sway of her bottom, or how her plump breasts filled out her bodice. He didn’t want to inhale the scent of her, the hint of a flowery soap she must have used. “I’ll admit I’m more than a little worried.” She looked up. Her gaze searched his for something, but he didn’t know what.
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  “I’ve known Thomas for almost a year now.” He remembered the day they’d first met on the battlefield. Thomas had ridden his huge black destrier straight into the middle of a group of men who had him pinned. Thomas had already suffered wounds himself, but he had raised his sword and had quickly saved Rowan’s life. “There’s not a man I respect more. I would give my life for him without a thought.”

  She didn’t look reassured. Her gaze moved about the large hall, moving over the many soldiers. “I know of his reputation as a warrior. All here at Middlemound do. But Geoffrey was a warrior, too. A hard one.”

  “Stewart was a sadistic, brutal warrior with no sense of honor. He took what he wanted by any means. He would cut a woman down as easily as he did a man.” At her gasp, he slammed his mouth shut. Good God, what had he been thinking to say such a thing to her? “I apologize, my lady. I should not have—”

  “No. I’m sure what you said was only the truth.” She stiffened her slight shoulders. “I suffered at his hands many times and am not at all saddened by his death.”

  Then she realized what she’d said and paled. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  “Again, it was only the truth spoken.”

  “My lady, I will get you some bread and cheese. Mead, too.” A reed thin young woman walked closer and blushed as she looked at Rowan. “For you, Sir Montgomery, as well?” “Aye. I would appreciate it.” He gave her a smile and her blush turned up a notch before she scurried toward the kitchen. Gloriana studied him and then said, “You’ve got a very nice smile, Sir Rowan.” Her demeanor softened and she laughed. “I fear you’ll soon have all of my young maids trailing after you.”

  He was long used to gaining the attention of most any woman he encountered. It both pleased him and annoyed him. He enjoyed the softness and passion of a woman. But he enjoyed the hardness of a man, too and the intensity of a man in the throes of wild passion. Like Thomas.

  Just the thought of Thomas naked and pleasuring him made his cock begin to harden. The thought of Thomas bent over so he could drive into his ass made it swell even more. Yet when he glanced down at Gloriana, he longed to see her spread out before him on his bed. He wanted to suckle her breasts and slide into the warmth of her body.

  As if she saw the heat in his eyes and understood the reason, she stepped back and tried to change the subject. “I heard someone say King Edward offered you a castle to hold, but you turned it down.” She headed toward the dais and the long table there for the lord, his lady, and the first knight.

  Rowan followed her, nodding in acknowledgment at a few of the men now rising and moving to tables to break their own fasts. He sat in the chair next to her. “Tis true. Even Thomas offered me to hold Montrose Castle for him. But I’m not interested in a holding of my own. Not now, anyway.” The maid rushed back with two mugs of mead. Another carried trenchers of bread and cheese. Neither young woman seemed in a hurry to leave them. He didn’t encourage either to stay. His interest lay only with Gloriana.

  After they reluctantly moved away, Gloriana broke off a piece of bread and asked, “Why not?” “Thomas needs me.” Rowan sipped at the mead, watched her nibble on the bread. “He has warred for nearly a dozen years, travelled constantly. He wants to settle down, but he’s unsure if he can really do it.” She eyed him curiously. “What about you?”

  He wasn’t sure what he wanted, other than to stay here for a while. He’d been on his own longer than Thomas. As the bastard son of the Duke of Remington, he’d been a thorn in the powerful duke’s side. He’d been acknowledged but never accepted by the duke’s wife or his family with her, so he’d left where he’d been fostered at eight by his father and found another castle and lord to take him on. The lord had been hard on him, but he’d learned much and had become the seasoned warrior he was because of him. He’d drifted around from battle to battle, from castle to castle. He’d been a favored warrior by Edward for several years and more so after he and Thomas had joined together, fighting side by side. Being with Thomas was as close to settling down as he’d ever come. He wasn’t ready to give up their friendship.

  “Rowan?” she questioned when he took too long to answer. “I don’t mean to pry, if it makes you uncomfortable. I was only curious.”

  As he stepped off the stairway not far away, Thomas caught his attention. At the sight of his lover, Rowan felt a similar jolt of awareness as he’d experienced holding Gloriana. He shared a look with Thomas and relaxed.

  “As I said, Thomas needs me for now. And I’m content to be his first knight. I would give my life for either him or you.”

  ***

  Thomas had awakened with a sense of unease. His first thought had been to go find Rowan. He yearned to have the man’s mouth wrap around his cock and work it well. But he hadn’t dared go down the hall again now that the day had broken, so he’d dressed with the knowledge that later this day he would wed Gloriana. He would take her to their marital bed. He would not ask her to suck his cock, at least not yet. He would find satisfaction by thrusting into her soft woman’s body, though. He’d be gentle at first, not frighten her or abuse her. But, hopefully, they would find mutual pleasure. He would at least give it to her. If he still needed more, he would go to Rowan once she slept. He’d been thinking about both of them as he walked down the stairs. Then he’d picked out the low rumble of Rowan’s voice amidst the other voices in the great hall. His nerves had calmed. Until he stepped onto the hall’s floor, looked toward the dais, and found Rowan sitting there with Gloriana. Instantly he’d stiffened. He recognized the knotting of tension in his body as jealousy. It had been a long time since he’d felt the emotion. What he didn’t know, though, was whether he was jealous of the calmness in Rowan’s expression as he sat close to Gloriana, talking quietly, or if he was jealous of the gentleness in her eyes as she studied his friend.

  Then Rowan gave him a slight nod and heat flared in his eyes. It was the same heat that had flared when Rowan had demanded Thomas pound into him last night. He relaxed then and moved in their direction. He headed for the hard-muscled warrior who was his lover and for the soft, petite woman who would be his wife. And with each step closer, he felt a more over-powering need. For Rowan? For Gloriana?

  “Good morn, my lady.” He walked in front of the dais and tried another smile for her. It came easier this time, and she didn’t seem as unsure of it as yesterday.

  She held tightly to the mug in her hands. “Good morn, my lord.”

  “Have you instructed the cooks about the wedding feast?” Thomas looked toward the doorway to the kitchens, frowning when he didn’t hear much noise coming from there. For a large feast as was normal for a wedding celebration he would have expected many people to be bustling about by now.

  “I wasn’t sure… Nay, I have not, but I will.” Gloriana shoved back her chair and started to get up, blushing at apparently having failed at her duty.

  Thomas shook his head, still frowning. “Though this be a second marriage for each of us, I would still have there be a celebration. The people need it. They need to see this as a joining of not only you and me, Lady Middlemound, but also of your people and mine.”

  She blushed even more. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. I’ll speak to the cooks immediately.” She stood, and then faced him. “But there will be much to do.”

  He sighed, understanding her concern. Although it annoyed him to put it off, he said, “We will wed on the morrow. That will give everyone enough time to make preparations.”

  Relief spread over her face, as if she’d just escaped the hangman’s noose. The notion only served to irritate him. “But we will wed, Gloriana. Do not think otherwise.”

  Now her small chin lifted and a spark flashed in her eyes. “As you order, my lord.” With that, she turned and strode briskly toward the kitchens.

  Rowan stood to face him, his jaw clenched. “It seems you rub each other wrong. I wonder how that will bode for your marriage.”

  “She expects to be the chatelaine, wh
ich means she needs to handle the duties. Arranging for the feast should have been one of them.” Thomas had been hungry when he came downstairs, now he was only irritated. “Mayhap this is all wrong. Mayhap I should refuse being lord of Middlemound and be content with only holding Montrose.”

  “And mayhap you’re being a fool.”

  Thomas heard people moving and talking all around the hall, felt the eyes of many resting upon him and Rowan. He didn’t wish to argue with his first knight here in front of everyone. In truth, he didn’t wish to argue with his friend at all. He was just having trouble adjusting to all the changes in his life, changes he had no choice but to go along with. He wanted control of Middlemound, the powerful and important castle. He wanted to stop spending his days riding from battle to battle, sleeping nights on the hard ground. He wanted a home to bring his son to at some point. And he wasn’t really opposed to marrying Gloriana. It was just that he hadn’t had a woman in his day-to-day life in a very long time. When he pulled out of his musings, he found Rowan watching him. The flash of anger in his expression had disappeared. He nodded toward the stairs and raised his voice enough to be overheard, “Should we go

  to the solar, my lord? Discuss the strategy of uniting the Middlemound men and the Montrose men?”

  They’d already thoroughly discussed the matter, of course. Thomas knew what Rowan was really talking about. His friend knew that he was frustrated, that he needed a release from the tension threatening to turn him into a crazy man. Anticipation crawled through him. “Aye. There is much we need to discuss.”

  ***

  Gloriana gave the orders to prepare a great feast for the next day’s wedding celebration. The cook and maids had taken the orders with mixed feelings, which she had understood. Her people were nervous about the change in their world. No one quite knew what to expect of the unsmiling, hard-edged warrior to be their new lord.

  They seemed to like Rowan who had already become friendly, to a certain degree, with Middlemound’s people, in particular a young maid or two, but all were worried about her. She’d tried to reassure her staff that all would be fine, that she did not fear Lord Montrose.