Destiny for Three Read online

  Moaning--a low masculine moan--coming from her room!

  His gut clenching, he stepped close to the door and listened. The hoarse groans were clear and punctuated by soft feminine murmurs. No, it couldn't be what it sounded like! In the next instant the memory filled his vision.

  He was in the McBride’s stable, looking for Edward. They were supposed to meet then make a trip together into Savannah to pick up some odds and ends for their parents. Trey planned to stop at Madame Fornier’s ladies’ shop to purchase a gift for Elizabeth: the expensive French perfume that she’d been hinting at whenever they’d been together the past two weeks. She was shameless in her tactics to get what she wanted, but he was powerless to resist her sweet kisses and promises of more. As he walked down the row of stalls to where Edward kept his mount, a feminine giggle caught his attention, followed by a familiar masculine murmur. Rad. He hoped to God his randy brother wasn’t fucking one of the McBrides’ house girls; there would be hell to pay if he was caught at it! He peered around the opening of the stall and what he saw nearly floored him: Rad, on his back in a pile of clean straw, with a woman sprawled on top of him, his woman! Elizabeth was straddling Rad, his hands were gripping her hips, urging on her little grinding motions while she kissed him with an open eager mouth.

  “Come on, ‘Lizbeth,” Rad coaxed. “I’ll buy you that mare you wanted, the one that matches your hair. And I already promised I’d marry you. Please, sugar…”

  Trey winced, remembering the aftermath of the encounter. He loved his brother, but he’d wanted Elizabeth for his own with such a fierce intensity, he’d lost control and attacked him. While he and Rad wrestled on the floor, fists flying, blood spattering their clothes, Elizabeth stood watching, breathless and smiling. Rad managed to land a punch to Trey’s gut that left him gasping and took that chance to scramble to his feet.

  “What the hell, Trey! Mind your own fuckin’ business!” One of Rad’s eyes was already swelling shut, but the other sparkled with fury.

  Struggling to his feet, Trey finally caught his breath. “She is my business, you little bastard! Elizabeth’s mine, damnit, so you keep your fucking hands off her!”

  “Yours? Since when?”

  “Since she agreed to marry me!”

  “You? You’re crazy! She agreed to marry me!”

  Trey’s eyes swung to Elizabeth. Her cheeks were pink with excitement, her breath coming in little pants. “Oh, dear. Trey, darlin’, I’ve never said I was going to marry you, precisely. I said perhaps…someday I may consider it.”

  Rad spat a mouthful of blood to the floor, wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “See? I told you! She’s mine, Trey. Get used to it!”

  Elizabeth cleared her throat delicately. “But Rad, honey, I didn’t precisely say that I was ready to marry you either. Not precisely…” Both men glared at her in disbelief. “Oh, dear. This is such an unpleasant turn of events,” she went on, “and I find it disturbin’ that the two of you are displayin’ such ungentlemanly behavior in my presence. Such a violent display of your tempers prompts me to reconsider my association with either of you.”

  Trey wiped a trickle of blood from under his nose. “Elizabeth, you’re right. I acted like an animal and I’m sorry. Please don’t make a hasty decision.”

  Elizabeth coyly bit at her lower lip. “Well, I don’t know… I just don’t know how I’m ever goin’ to make up my mind between the two of you.” Her eyes gleamed with raw excitement once again. “I guess you’ll just have to try harder to convince me which one of you is the better man.”

  It was to be a competition. Elizabeth wanted them to compete for her affections. And compete they did. Elizabeth was giddy with the attention and gifts they showered upon her, but Trey and Rad were miserable. They fought frequently and viciously until one day their father pulled them apart during a brawl. He listened to the bitter accusations from both sons then proposed the solution that had shocked them to their core, and yet gave them some hope that they could solve their dilemma without having to kill each other.

  That solution ended up costing them their reputations and forced them to leave their home.

  “Goddamnit to hell,” Trey growled, and braced himself for what he was about to face. He thrust the door open and froze at the sight that met his eyes.

  They were on the floor near the fireplace. Rad braced on his hands and knees over the ash bin, bidding a hoarse goodbye to the contents of his stomach while Elise knelt beside him, patting his back and mopping his pale forehead with a washcloth between heaves.

  Elise looked up and saw him in the doorway. "Thank goodness. Would you mind giving me a hand with your brother?"

  "What the blazes is going on here?" Even as relief flooded through him, Trey was still disturbed by the sight of them together.

  "What does it look like?"

  "It looks like my brother is puking his guts out. The question is why is he doing it here in your room?"

  Rad moaned as a final heave wracked his body then flopped over to his back on the carpet. "Holy Mother of God," he rasped. "I'm dyin' this time, I know it."

  Elise ignored Trey for the time being and pressed the damp cloth to Rad's clammy forehead. "You're not dying, you big baby." Her gentle voice belied the sharpness of her words. "Just lie still. Do you feel like you're going to be sick again?"

  Rad shook his head gingerly. "I wouldn't have been sick at all if you hadn't punched me in the stomach like that." He managed a weak smile. "For a figment of my imagination, you pack a helluva wallop."

  Elise laughed softly. "I'm sorry, but you can't say I didn't warn you. Or that you didn't deserve it."

  "I s’pose you're right," Rad conceded, "and I apologize, in spades." He took the cloth from her, slowly raised himself up on one elbow and squinted at her. "Elizabeth. It’s really you? You’re really here?”

  Scowling, Trey walked over and glared down at his brother in disgust. "Who in Sam Hill did you think it was, you sot? I wired ahead and told you she'd be coming back with me from Savannah. If you'd endeavor to keep your mind on something other than a liquor bottle once in a while, maybe you wouldn't have made such a damned fool of yourself."

  Rad ignored his biting comment and focused on Elise. Trey bristled at his brother’s expression. He looked at her like a fat man ogling a cream puff. "I didn't think it possible,” Rad told her, “but you're even prettier than the last time I saw you."

  Trey nailed him with a glare. "You still haven't answered my question. What are you doing in here in the first place?"

  "No need to get yourself riled," Rad declared with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Nothin' happened."

  "Nothing? Then why did she have to hit you?"

  Elise blushed and seemed hesitant to answer. "He-um, well, he really didn't mean any harm. He just got in the wrong room by mistake and I thought he was an intruder."

  Trey rolled his eyes and moved over to help Rad up. "So help me, Rad, if you-"

  "Yeah, I know. You'd thrash me within' an inch of my life," Rad interrupted, steadying himself. "I’m wounded to the core that you’d believe me capa-capable of such a dastardly deed, brother. Now, it's been one devil of an evenin', so if you two'll excuse me, I believe I'll retire." He grinned once more at Elise and winked. "Sure you wouldn't like to join me, sugar?"

  Elise rolled her eyes at his audacity. "Go away, Rad."

  Trey escorted Rad to the door. “You’re sure you can make it to your room?”

  “Abso-absolutely sure.” Rad brushed Trey’s hand off his sleeve and trudged out the door mumbling, “I am a grown man. I don’t need you to nursemaid me, you know.”

  Trey turned back to Elise. “I’ll go check on him in a few minutes, just to make sure.”

  "Well, that was certainly interesting," Elise commented.

  “Rad can be a handful when he’s drunk.” Trey walked to Elise and reached for her hand, his eyes searching her face for any sign of upset. “Tell me the truth, Elise. He didn’t try anything-"

  S
he smiled and reached out to caress his cheek. “Trey, really. It was nothing I couldn’t handle, honestly.” The warmth in her expression smoldered quickly into desire and her fingers slid up into his hair. “But I did like how you came bursting in here to save me. My knight in shining armor. Mmm…” She pressed up against him, pulled his head down and whispered against his lips. “You make me so hot for you.”

  “Elise…” His cock was already rock hard, making a mockery of his half-hearted protest. Trey almost groaned at the ungodly softness of her lips, the forbidden sweetness of her mouth. It set his senses reeling, like the most powerful drug, and it took all his willpower to keep from devouring her completely. He shouldn’t be doing this. He needed to stay strong, set her aside. But he knew he wouldn’t.

  His walking stick made a muffled thud as he let it fall to the carpet, then wrapped his arm around her waist and crushed her against him. He took possession of her mouth, thrusting his tongue inside, drinking in the taste of her, swallowing her moans like a starving man. Her head fell back and he couldn’t resist burying his face in the heaven-scented curve of her neck, kissing and licking her satiny skin.

  “I know we shouldn’t do this.” Her tortured whisper rose above the sound of their ragged breathing. "But I want you so badly, Trey."

  He didn't want to listen. Squeezing his eyes shut, he concentrated on the taste and creamy smoothness of her neck, the fresh smell of her hair. "God, I can't stop. Don’t ask me to." It was too late now. He needed her, craved the feel of her sweet, wet pussy, tight as a glove around his cock. His body screamed for release.

  Again he covered her mouth, effectively silencing any further discussion. Finding the curve of her bottom with both hands, he pulled her up against the part of him that ached the most. The beckoning heat of her naked body radiated from beneath her nightgown. Quickly lifting the flimsy fabric out of the way, Trey opened his robe so that his rigid erection was free to move between the silken heat of her thighs. He thrust against her, his cock sliding forward and back through the wet folds of her sex, lubricating his hard length with the mix of her slick juices and his own precum.

  Elise lifted one leg to his hip and he held it there, while with his other hand he reached between them and found her swollen clitoris. Gasping, she broke away from his mouth and held on to him for support. He kept moving, pleasuring both her and himself, massaging her rigid bud and thrusting through her folds until she begged for release with short, desperate cries.

  He gave it to her. He slipped two fingers between his cock and her entrance, pressed them inside her and stroked firmly and deeply until she was shivering and writhing against him, crying out his name. Holding her tightly as her climax passed, he fought the urge to plunge his cock up inside her, take his pleasure. It was risky. Each time he fucked her could result in a child, a child that would forever tie him to Elizabeth if she ever returned.

  As if sensing his hesitation, Elise reached between them and took his length in her hand, making him grunt. “It’s all right. We don’t have to do that, but let me pleasure you. I want to make you come.” She urged him to sit down on the edge of the bed then spread his thighs and sank to her knees between them. She gazed at his shaft as it strained within the grip of her fingers, then licked her lips. Her intentions became clear and he just about came in her hand.

  “Jesus, Elise--What are you-”

  “I’m going to suck your cock,” she answered, her voice husky with desire. “And I want you to come down my throat.”

  Shock and raw animal lust rendered him speechless as he watched her open that perfect mouth and slip it around the engorged head of his shaft. Those soft pink lips stretched around the width of his cock as she lowered her head, taking him slowly inside, then out until the head popped free. She smiled and licked the drops of precum leaking from the tip. “Mmm,” she murmured, “you taste so fucking good,” then took him deep again, until her lips met with her hand fisted at the base of his cock.

  “Oh, God…Elise-” He nearly choked on the hot surge of lust that speared through him at her dirty words. Jesus, where had she learned to talk like that, to suck a man’s cock like that? Her head moved steadily, her hand stroking in tandem with her tight, suctioning mouth. She hummed her pleasure as she sucked him. The noise vibrated through his cock and traveled up his spine, then back down to settle in his balls, building and tightening there until he hovered on the edge of explosion.

  She lifted her head, stroking him fast with her wet hand and hissed against the head of his shaft, “Yess, baby, that’s it. Give it to me. Come in my mouth.” Then she rolled his balls in her other hand and took him deep, nearly bumping the back of her throat.

  Trey lost it. His hands tangled in her hair and he gripped her head as he plunged in and out of her eager mouth. He felt the cum boiling in his balls as his whole body tensed like a bow string, tighter and tighter, until it finally snapped, and he cried out her name, his hot seed gushing down her throat. She swallowed it all then licked him clean as she softly massaged his drained testicles.

  Trey collapsed back on the bed, gasping for breath. “Where…” he panted, “where the hell did you learn that?”

  Elise shimmied up to lay on top of him and grinned like the cat that got the cream. “I told you. I’m not the same woman I was before. “

  “Indeed you are not. But how-” She kissed him, cutting off his question. He could taste himself on her tongue.

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she murmured.

  Chapter Eight

  Trey looked up from his newspaper when the library door opened, more than mildly surprised to see his brother slip inside. “What are you doing up this early? I thought you’d be in bed ‘til noon, nursing a hangover.” He should be angry with Rad over his drunken stunt from the night before, but it was hard to maintain a bad mood after Elise gave him the best oral sex of his life. He smiled to himself, remembering.

  “I wanted to talk to you alone before breakfast.” Rad helped himself to a cup of coffee from the side table. He grimaced as he swallowed the strong brew, then sat down in the wingback chair across from Trey and rubbed his brow. “My memory of last night’s a bit cloudy, but am I right in remembering that I was talking to Elizabeth McBride? In this house?”

  Trey shook his head. “Rad, how is it that this is a surprise to you? I wired you before I left Savannah. Rachael knew about it.”

  “I didn’t read the wire. Haven’t been home much, I guess.”

  Trey didn’t have to ask why. Since they moved to New York, Rad had developed a taste for the city’s varied and decadent night life. Trey had looked the other way at first, knowing that Rad was not unaffected by Elizabeth’s rejection and their expulsion from Savannah’s polite society. Rad would never admit it, but Trey knew he was hurting, and he chose to find his solace in liquor, women and any number of unmentionable pastimes.

  Trey put on his best stern, older brother face. “You saw to your responsibilities at the office, I hope. I was counting on you. I don’t want to walk in today to find three weeks worth of work piled up and waiting for me.”

  “Don’t worry, brother. I kept my nose to the grindstone, during the day.”

  “And caroused every night. Damnit, Rad. You need to lay off the bottle a bit. It’ll age you before your time, you know.” Trey snapped his newspaper back up, turning his attention back to the article he’d been reading then added, “You look like shit this morning.”

  “And you look disgustingly chipper.”

  “Adequate sleep and healthy living, Rad.” And a gorgeous woman sucking you dry doesn’t hurt. Trey hid his satisfied smile behind his paper. “You should try it sometime.”

  Rad sighed impatiently. “Well, thank you, but I didn’t come for a lecture on the benefits of clean living. I came to talk about Elizabeth. What the hell is she doing here and how long is she staying?”

  Now it was Trey’s turn to sigh. He didn’t enjoy rehashing the events of the past weeks, but Rad did need
to know, so he set aside his paper and told him about the buggy accident that left Edward dead and Elizabeth drastically changed, Elizabeth’s refusal to marry Jeff Turner, and his deathbed promise to Edward. Trey’s good mood faded as the discussion brought the tragedy and his dilemma into crystal clear focus once again.

  He was playing with fire having Elise here in his home. As evidenced by what happened between them last night, he couldn’t trust himself to keep away from her. His cock pulsed at the mere thought of her, reminding him just how very weak he was.

  “You’re sure she isn’t faking?” Rad set down his cup, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “You know how Elizabeth was fond of games, and very good at them, too.”

  “She’s not acting. She’s very different, Rad. Her entire personality has changed. She says and does things that would have been completely out of character for the old Elizabeth. She sold her wardrobe and gave the money to Cottonwood’s freed slaves, for Christ’s sake. The old Elizabeth would have made me pry those dresses from her cold, dead hands.” Trey thought back on their time together after Edward’s funeral, getting plans settled for their journey. She didn’t know he was observing her as she interacted with the slaves, with the McBride’s friends and neighbors as they said their goodbyes, but he was. He remembered their time on the ship. All the hours they spent talking, laughing, and the other more intimate moments. “She treats people with respect now, with kindness. She’s funny and warm and-”

  “Jesus, Trey. You sound like you’re half in love with her again.”

  “What I felt for her before wasn’t love. I know that now.”

  “Because now you really are in love with her,” Rad concluded in amazement. He paused, then his expression grew dark and he fixed Trey with a suspicious stare. “Have you fucked her?”

  Trey looked away and took a gulp of his coffee. “No.”

  “Liar! I can see it on your face.”