Their Lady Gloriana Read online

  Instead Thomas gently held her breasts as if they were rare treasures. He met her uncertain gaze. His look told her she’d given him a special gift.

  “They’re very nice, my wife. Precious.” He lowered his head and swirled his tongue around one nipple, before grinning up at her. She’d gone stiff, surprised by the incredible sensation of his raspy tongue circling her sensitized skin. There was no pain, only pleasure. “You may do that again,” she said on a purr. She desperately needed him to do it again.

  “I may?” he questioned, his lips tipping up in amusement. His hands tenderly massaged her breasts.

  Her face had heated at her boldness, but his amusement made her bolder. “Aye, you may do that again and again. Although I believe you should not neglect one breast for the other.” Now his eyes mirrored his enjoyment at her daring. He flicked his thumbs over the nubs, which immediately hardened. “You are right. I should show no partiality to one delightful breast over another.”

  This man who seldom smiled, who rarely even appeared happy, was teasing her. She liked it. He was far too serious. Such a softening in behavior was good for him. “So what do you plan to do about the matter?” “Give adequate attention to each sweet breast, of course.”

  He lowered his head and she grew tense again in anticipation. His warm, wet mouth drew a nipple into it. He didn’t bite down cruelly as Geoffrey had done. No, that wondrous tongue circled it again and again, danced across the very tip, and then his teeth lightly held it for but a second. Still there was no pain, only pleasure.

  She arched upward, sighing with exquisite enjoyment. “Tis magic, this thing you do.”

  He chuckled and moved to give equal attention to her other breast. This time he drew the nipple more firmly between his lips, suckling as she’d seen babes do at their mother’s breasts. It was such a strange feeling, a very enjoyable one.

  Gloriana clasped his head, wove her fingers through his long dark hair, and held him to her. “Tis so very nice, this suckling.” She arched her back and wanted more. “Do not neglect the other nipple, my lord,” she said on a sigh. She heard what sounded like a grunt of approval, and he slid his tongue around the nipple a final time before lifting his head, causing her to release him. Glancing at her for but an instant, he shifted to the other breast. She held him to her with more force this time, not wishing the amazing sensations to end. Tears misted her eyes even as anger curled inside her. Geoffrey had robbed her of these pleasures. Just when she wasn’t sure she could take any more of these unfamiliar yet beautiful sensations, Thomas moved back. His eyes held such a satisfied look.

  “Thank you, my lady, for allowing me such an honor.”

  Her breasts were still swollen, the nipples still hard. “I could ‘honor’ you more, my lord.” That wasn’t exactly begging, was it? Although she was tempted to beg for the experience again.

  He shook his head and his hair brushed his shoulders, making her want to reach out and feather her fingers through it. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes darkened even more and he shifted and placed a hand over her hairy mound. His fingers dangled between her legs. She sucked in a shuddery breath as those fingers lightly tapped where they lay, her lower lips seemed to pulse more and more. Wetness trickled from between those lips, something she’d never before experienced. Is it wrong? Would he not like it? She could do nothing about the reaction, but wait and worry.

  “Tis all right, Glori. Relax,” his voice was husky. He moved his hand again, reached between her legs and found those beads of moisture that concerned her. He stroked his fingers there, coated them with the wetness.

  She barely breathed, anxious for his reaction.

  Then he looked up at her, his expression pleased as he continued to play with her lips. He did not disapprove. Relief washed over her and she allowed herself to enjoy what he was doing. “You do not mind that my body…”

  “Tis a natural reaction.” He furrowed his brow. “Have you not experienced it before?”

  Gloriana couldn’t meet his eyes, could only shake her head. Nay, she had not.

  He grumbled a curse, angry once again with Geoffrey. Yet his anger was only in what he said, not in what he did. Ever so gently he slid a long finger inside her, and then added a second one. “My lord, what are you doing?” she asked on a gasp. His fingers moved inside her. His thumb found her pulsing bud and played with it. She couldn’t keep from rocking upward. Muscles inside her woman’s place squeezed around his invading fingers and claimed them. She didn’t want them to ever stop what they were doing. “I wished to make sure you were ready for me. This is the preparation I spoke of before.” His look of male pride grew. “Your body responds well to me. I do not think either of us can wait any longer. Another time I will give you even more pleasure.”

  Gloriana was nearly lost in a haze of feeling. “Even more pleasure? How can there be more?” She sighed and concentrated on those wonderful, magical fingers moving inside her. “I like this thing you call ‘preparation.’”

  “There can be much more pleasure, my sweet innocent,” he said on a shaky groan and then pulled his fingers from her body. He sat back on his bent legs.

  Annoyance made her scowl at him. “What are you doing? I need—”

  “This is what you truly need, wife.” He took hold of his long, firm rod, and she could only stare at it. Then he stroked his hand up and down the length, his expression appearing strained.

  She remembered how hard his shaft had felt in her hand, how silky soft as well. Still, she worried about such a large cock being forced into her body. She nibbled anxiously at her lower lip.

  “Do not be afraid.” He bent over and carefully put the head to her slit, and then inched it barely inside her. “Twill be all right.” He braced his powerful arms at her sides and slowly eased farther into her body.

  She remembered only horrible pain when Geoffrey entered her body. He’d taken no care with her. He’d held her firmly in place and bruised her thighs with his roughness. Then he’d rammed as deep as he could go in one long painful thrust. Yet she felt none of that this time, not even a twinge of pain.

  Surprised and curious, she leaned up until she could see Thomas’s thick shaft disappearing into her body a bit at a time. He was so gentle, yet persistent. Although she’d feared it would never fit, her body was adjusting with only minimal discomfort. Truly amazing. She found herself smiling at him. “You were right. It does fit.”

  His handsome face appeared taut with strain now from the obvious effort of moving slowly. She didn’t like that she was causing him pain of any kind. She would not allow it. Determined to stop his suffering, she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him down, forcing his rod deeper. She gave a small gasp.

  “I would have all of you. Now,” she demanded, giving him a determined smile when he glanced in concern at her. “I am not as delicate as you seem to think. I can take your great length. I want it!”

  “Then you shall have me.” He filled her to the hilt, his pelvis grinding against hers. He grew still and searched her face, his eyes worried. “Are you all right?” Was she? She’d never felt such fullness, but she definitely liked it. “Is this where you show your passion, my lord? When your rod drives into who you are loving at the moment?”

  He had started moving, but stopped and studied her. “I cannot believe Rowan talked to you about passion, about my passion. That troubles me. I will have a stern talk with him.”

  Gloriana worried her lip for a second, squeezed her inner muscles around his girth, and admitted quietly, “He did not talk to me about it.” At Thomas’s raised eyebrows, she felt her face heat and she looked away. “I was in the paddock earlier, before you and Rowan went there. I didn’t mean to intrude on your privacy, truly I didn’t. But I was already there. I…I heard you two talking.” Irritation flashed over his face and she tensed. Would he be angry enough now to beat her? She waited anxiously.

  His shoulders sagged, and he blew out a breath. “I do not like eavesdropping, Gloriana, know
that. But, in this instance, I understand. You are forgiven.”

  As if he couldn’t remain still another second, he began pumping his hips in slow, deep strokes. She trembled as each one sent shivers throughout her. She started to writhe beneath him.

  “He loves you, Rowan does.” She felt compelled to remind Thomas of that. “He doesn’t want me to hurt you, believes I can help you.”

  Thomas shuddered above her, his face tense with strain as he continued to thrust inside her. He pulled nearly out and then thrust deep again, over and over. Yet he studied her and finally said, “I love him, too. I pray that won’t be a problem between us. But I cannot give him up.”

  He pulled nearly out again, held there a second. “I wish to have you both in my life, take you both to my bed.” With that said, he drove deep once more.

  She could barely think straight from the feelings assailing her. She’d never thought to experience such pleasure, never wanted to do without it again. She had great desire for this powerfully built husband of hers. If Rowan felt anything close to the wonders she now experienced, he would not want to give Thomas up either. And she respected Thomas for admitting the depth of his feelings for his friend. He was indeed a loyal and passionate man. A truly wonderful lover.

  She remained silent, losing herself to his lovemaking, climbing higher and higher with him. Her thoughts were scattering. She began moaning, began moving in tandem with him. “Oh…oh, Thomas. I…I…”

  He pounded relentlessly into her, and she eagerly welcomed it. She bucked beneath him and pulled him ever closer with her legs wrapped around him. How much longer could she take this? She couldn’t breathe a full breath. She needed… What? She had no idea what she needed.

  On yet another fierce drive inside her, she cried out, “Thomas! Oh, husband!” Then the most surprising thing happened to her. She stiffened, held her breath. More moisture exploded from her body, more even than when Thomas had teased and tortured her with his fingers. “Ohhh, oh Thomas!”

  Her heart pounded. She felt so amazingly content. It was hard to take in, having never felt anything like this before. It almost frightened her, the power of this feeling. As she lay there panting, her leg muscles quivered, and she dropped her legs from around him.

  But Thomas didn’t stop moving. His face contorted with pain while he pounded into her several more times, frantically, deeper and deeper. At last he threw his head back and growled her name as his hot cream shot inside her. She felt so full with it. Again, this was a new experience. Geoffrey hadn’t… No! You must stop comparing Thomas to Geoffrey!

  Gloriana forced her dead husband from her thoughts. Only Thomas mattered now. She tenderly cupped his face, thumbed away the beads of sweat on his cheeks. Even though he did not want to get her with child, she hoped he’d done so. She very much would like to bear this big, complicated man a babe. With that notion in her mind, she hardly noticed him leaving her body, moving to stretch out beside her.

  She closed her eyes in utter happiness, dreaming of a little girl with her blonde hair and with Thomas’s deep blue eyes.

  ***

  Rowan tossed and turned during the long night. He knew what his lover had done, knew that at last Thomas had bedded his new bride. He could almost smell the aftereffects of their lovemaking clear at his end of the hallway. He did not resent their finally coming together, nor did he feel jealous. No, it was more a feeling of being left out.

  Finally he tossed the linen covering aside and climbed from his bed to pace naked around his darkened bedchamber. Thomas had been his lover for six months, and he was afraid to lose him now that his friend’s life had taken this turn. Rowan knew he could find another man to sake his lust with, but no other man appealed to him anymore. He enjoyed just looking at Thomas’s body, all iron-muscled and sinewy. He liked caressing those hard chest muscles, feeling Thomas’s corded arms moving around him in a hug. He liked seeing Thomas bend over and offer his taut butt to him to fuck. And he desperately enjoyed bending over for Thomas to drive his large, thick cock into his ass. No, there was no other man who could ever satisfy him the way Thomas did.

  He’d had sex with many women over the years, but he wasn’t driven by a fierce need to bed a woman like some men were. Even Thomas was sometimes driven to take a woman to his bed. It had happened in some of the small towns they’d been in during their travels. Thomas was passionate, his needs for sex strong. Rowan hadn’t minded when Thomas went off with a woman, because his lover had always still come back to him. Rowan had never wanted to have the intense kind of sex with a woman that Thomas shared with him. That Thomas now shared with Gloriana.

  Gloriana. She was such a small woman to be married to such a large man. And she’d been abused, verbally as much as physically, or so he’d gathered from pieces of talk he’d overheard. The people of Middlemound were watching Thomas, hoping he would be a far better husband to their lady than Stewart had been. So far they seemed to accept him, especially after his concern for her when she’d fainted. All knew he hadn’t forced an immediate marriage, and he hadn’t forced bedding her after her fainting spell.

  Stopping to look out the arrow-slit window toward the moonlit night, he wrapped his hand around his aching shaft. Thomas would not be coming to him this night. He’d heard his lover’s bellow when he’d found relief within Gloriana. Rowan didn’t mind that; was, in fact, pleased it had happened. Yet it did nothing to slake the lust he felt, the need tearing at him. If he wanted to, he could seek out Marie. She wouldn’t turn him away, but he didn’t want that tonight. Instead he worked his rod here in the near-darkness. He pulled steadily on it, missing the way Thomas did it, missing having Thomas’s warm mouth move over it. His friend was a masterful lover, and a good man at heart. He was fiercely loyal to the men who pledged under him. There were few warriors better than he. And, once he managed to settle into the role, Thomas would make a good lord here and a great husband for Gloriana. He would never hurt her, at least not physically. His hand moved faster. His breaths came harder. Heat spiraled through him, aching desperation, too. He pulled and smoothed his fingers again and again tight around the pulsing shaft. Soon. It had to come soon.

  He rocked his body into the frantic movements. Gloriana. Even though he shouldn’t be thinking of her, she popped into his fevered thoughts. She was the first woman he could ever recall that drew him. He ached to lay a claim to her body. But he couldn’t.

  Pumping harder still, he gritted his teeth in the agony of almost reaching the point of release. He had much experience with using his hand, but he would have preferred being buried deep within a warm body. His pulse raced and he began shuddering.

  He thought of heat surrounding his cock, tightness pulling at it. He could only imagine the pleasure of being held inside Gloriana’s moist depths. And he knew the intense pleasure he would have found inside Thomas’s ass. Oh God! So close now. He jerked on his rod, frantically. His mind’s eye saw Gloriana before him on all fours, with that mass of soft, blonde hair draped around her. He would cover her from behind like a stallion covering his mare. She would whimper a bit, hold herself still and wait for him to drive his cock into her. Her sweet body would tremble, but she would push back against him in her desperate demand for more.

  He stiffened, sweating, holding his rod for a second as it throbbed within his hand hold. His eyes closed and he saw himself giving her begging body what she wanted. He rode her until they both went crazy. She screamed out his name and he roared out hers.

  His hand squeezed and pulled a final time. Warm cum flowed over his hand. Twas a shame he could not pour his life force into Gloriana’s body. He would have no problem getting her with child. He did not have the same fears Thomas did. He would enjoy seeing her swell with a babe in her belly.

  Once he had the strength to move again, he reached for a rag on the nearby chest and wiped the stickiness from his body. He would never see her growing with babe. She would never have the experience she longed for because Thomas couldn’t bring himse
lf to endanger her life that way. And he would never touch her. That didn’t stop him from fantasizing about her, though. Or fantasizing about the three of them together.

  ***

  A week had passed since Thomas had sent his men to Abernon. The waiting for news was wearing on him; wearing on his people in Middlemound as well. He couldn’t tell them what was bothering him. He couldn’t tell them that, if necessary, he would be taking men to his sister’s home and possibly battling there. It shamed him to know he had a son and had abandoned him for nearly all of his life. Yes, he’d left James with his sister because he’d known she would love the boy as if he were one of her own children, yet he felt weak because he hadn’t been able to face raising a child on his own, or up to finding another wife to raise his son while he went off to war as he had long done. But ashamed of his past behavior or not, he wanted his son. He needed a chance to make things right between them.

  He looked toward the gardens where Gloriana pulled vegetables for the day’s sup. He had another wife now. Every day he learned more about this tiny woman he’d married. Like she’d told him, she might be small in stature, but she was not a weak woman. She worked as hard about the keep as any of the staff, though he still watched in secret to make sure she didn’t overdo. She did well in the role of chatelaine. Stewart had been a fool in so very many ways. His hands still longed to curl around the man’s neck and twist the life from it for what he’d done to Gloriana.

  One of the cook’s grandchildren skipped by close to the garden and called out to his wife. She glanced up and gave the little girl one of her gentle smiles. The castle’s many children all loved her. She teased and chased the little ones around the bailey from time to time. She laughed so easily. She’d even made him laugh a time or two.