Regency Rogues Omnibus Page 26

  “It is his leg. It is injured,” she answered as she reached for the glass of whiskey.

  “How?” Alexei demanded sharply, as he grabbed her wrist halting her movements as she held the glass.

  “I do not know. He has never told me. But it must be the war,” she answered, tense and glaring at him.

  Alexei held her wrist immobile as his light blue eyes sharpened. Then, he slowly reached into his jacket pocket and lifted out a small vial of clear liquid. He dared her to move with the pressure on her wrist and his gaze, as he lifted the lid on the vial with his thumb and poured a small amount into the whiskey.

  “I will not give him this!” she exclaimed, and then she yelped at the crushing pressure Alexei placed on her wrist.

  “You have no choice, puta! But it is only laudanum for his pain.”

  She did not have a choice really, but suddenly she knew that she would trust Alexei in this. Alexei loved Wyndham, she realized, as much as he hated her, and Alexei would not harm Wyndham because of it. “Let go of me!” she snapped anxiously. “I would do anything to take away his terrible pain.”

  Alexei’s caustic gaze held her prisoner for a long moment, and then he eased his grip, lifting his hand away. “By all means, puta, nurse your English master,” he responded with a barbed tone.

  Orelan waited no longer for more of their charged interplay. She turned and went quickly to Wyndham’s side. She saw immediately that his body was rigid with pain, perhaps worse than a few minutes before. Not wasting any time, she lifted his head and brought the glass to his lips. “Wyndham, here is the whiskey. Drink some, Wyndham, drink,” she murmured, encouraging him.

  Wyndham never opened his eyes and it seemed difficult for him to unclench his jaw long enough to take a drink. Yet, she managed, slowly to encourage him to drink the entire glass of whiskey. His normally tanned features were pale and there were white lines bracketing his firm mouth. She smoothed his blond hair back with gentle strokes. She spoke to him with small soft words in Spanish, “hush,” “love,” “relax,” and finally he sighed and she saw some of the tensions leave his rigid features. More moments passed and slowly, so slowly, he relaxed more, until his fists uncurled at his side.

  It was not until that moment, when the anxious tension relaxed somewhat inside her that she realized Alexei was there, standing beside her, looking down at Wyndham. She felt the intense urge to leap in front of Wyndham and shield him from Alexei’s penetrating gaze. But that was foolish.

  “Khrisinan,” Alexei whispered, and he reached a pale slender hand to Wyndham’s shoulder. Orelan winced with the effort she used not to brush Alexei’s hand away. “Wyndham, how were you injured?” Alexei coaxed.

  Wyndham’s eyelids opened slowly to reveal his dark purple unfocused irises. “W-Waterloo. Cann-non,” he slurred. When Wyndham spoke, he was looking at her, and Orelan realized that he must have thought she asked the question.

  “Does it still hurt, Khrisinan?”

  Wyndham’s irises sharpened for a mere moment, then dulled. “Are y-you worried, Alexei? About me?” he asked sluggishly.

  “Of course, my friend, always.”

  “Don’t b-be,” Wyndham said as his eyelids drooped.

  Abruptly, Orelan felt Alexei’s cold hand on her arm, which he used to pull her away from Wyndham’s side. “Undress him,” Alexei ordered tartly. “Make your English Lord more comfortable.”

  Orelan immediately and instinctively thought to protest, as she wondered why Alexei would not just order the guards to do it or why he would not do it himself. Valiantly, she held her tongue, instead gathering an uncomfortable look as she glanced at the three guards. Alexei’s ice blue eyes followed her gaze.

  “Guards, you are dismissed now. I want complete privacy. Go now!” Alexei ordered.

  Would it be easier to deal with Alexei alone, Orelan wondered, just as she wondered about Alexei’s curious emphasis on the words “complete privacy?”

  “His pants, puta, I want to see his injury,” Alexei snapped as soon as the guards had left. Orelan felt just mildly relieved that this would be Alexei’s only intention. But she was beginning to believe that Alexei himself would not take advantage of Wyndham. If she tried to think about it as men and women lovers would, it could make sense. A lover desired respect from their chosen.

  Softly she murmured her assurances to Wyndham, and he mumbled at the sound of her voice as she began to undress him, starting with his evening shoes, and then moving to his pants. She could sense that Wyndham was partially conscious and he moved with her motions sluggishly, not fighting what she was doing. He lifted his hips when she asked him, yet his eyes remained closed. When she pulled his pants away, she saw the wrap that he’d used earlier to bind his leg.

  “Take the binding off,” Alexei ordered sharply as he stood behind her.

  At the sound of Alexei’s voice, Wyndham’s broad hand clamped down over her hand, which rested on top of his bindings. Alexei glared cuttingly at her, ordering her with his gaze. “Wyndham, let me unwrap your leg,” she whispered and Wyndham’s hand relaxed as he mumbled her name, then further he murmured.

  “Do not l-leave me, sweetheart.”

  “I will not, Wyndham,” she responded, beneath Alexei’s icy glare. The endearment Wyndham used had sparked Alexei’s ire further. Slowly, she removed the binding, to reveal the jagged scarring on the outer side of Wyndham’s left leg. It marked him from the outside of his upper thigh, to a hand space below his knee. Tears stung her eyes as she heard Alexei’s hissed breath behind her. He was as affected as she was. Then, she heard his footsteps and she turned to see him standing at the side bar pouring himself a drink. The liquor was clear and she knew it was vodka. A healthy amount that he drank liberally.

  “Take his small cloth,” Alexei rasped suddenly, with his back still to her.

  Orelan winced, then exclaimed, “No!”

  Alexei turned abruptly to face her. “If you do not do it, then I will,” he hissed.

  Had she been wrong earlier, Orelan anxiously wondered? But, no-no, she did not think so. Alexei wanted to see Wyndham as a man would see a woman. She prayed for Wyndham and she prayed for herself that Alexei intended no more as she reached for Wyndham’s small cloth. She knew that her golden puma would tell her to be brave and unconcerned. With the cloth gone, Wyndham’s manhood lay relaxed, yet still, thick and long against his blond pubic hair. Alexei murmured an inarticulate sound behind her, but he did not approach any closer and for this she was grateful.

  “His shirt,” Alexei commanded. “Open it.”

  Orelan opened Wyndham’s shirt with nervous fingers, revealing his broad muscular chest. Her golden puma was strong and attractive with his body masculine, and her breath caught just gazing at him. Even in the lax state he laid in his chest was molded with hills of sinew and crisp curly blond hair covered the wide expanse. His arms were mounded and bulged with strength, while his lean belly was slightly concave with thickly stretched tendons.

  “Take his cock in your hand and stroke it, puta,” Alexei rasped.

  Orelan trembled with the urge to turn around and defy Alexei, but for once she held her foolishness at bay. Wyndham was unaware, and he might never realize what she was being forced to do to him. If Alexei just watched . . . if he only watched. She prayed that she could get through this, and that Wyndham would never know. What else could she do? If she refused Alexei would touch Wyndham. She was jealous of that. So possessive that anyone would touch her golden puma but herself. It was crazy frantic thinking and she forcefully calmed herself, gazing down at Wyndham. He was so beautiful and so strong, and she wanted to touch him.

  “One marker,” she said with a rasp catching her voice at her audacity.

  “Yes-Yes, of course,” Alexei hissed. “Now stroke him, puta. Stroke your English Master.”

  The way Alexei constantly called her slut in Spanish was beginning to affect her, she thought, as she reached for Wyndham’s manhood. The warm lax fullness of him filled her ha
nd. He was large, even relaxed, but soft, so soft was his flesh, where before when she had touched him, he had been unbendable and taut. Instantly her breasts tingled and her sex began to ache.

  Wyndham groaned, murmuring her name as she began to stroke him. She never looked up at Alexei, but kept her concentration on Wyndham. Holding him in her hand and stroking him to hardness was building the arousal inside her with a craving that was deep and wild. As his pene grew into a wonderful male club in her hand, she began to stroke his inner thighs and up to his male sacs with her free hand. Wyndham moved with her, subtle thrusts against her palm. Then Alexei’s harsh voice broke the spell.

  “Lick the head, puta.”

  Orelan flinched, she had nearly forgotten Alexei was there, watching them. Wyndham’s male club was hard and strong in her hand. The ridged cap and the slit beckoned her. She craved to lick Wyndham with her tongue, to take his long thick shaft into her mouth. But with Alexei watching? It felt dirty and crass. Alexei must have thought she was refusing him with her hesitancy, because suddenly, he stalked toward her. Then he had a hold of her hair at the back of her head, before she could pull away from him.

  “Take your Master’s cock into your mouth, slut!” he hissed. “I pray it gags you.”

  She whimpered as Alexei pushed harshly on the back of her head, forcing her body to bend, until her mouth was forcefully filled with Wyndham’s invading thickness. She gagged with tears burning in her eyes as the bulky head filled the back of her throat. She would desire to make love to Wyndham’s powerful manhood. But not like this.

  Alexei lifted her head and made her suck Wyndham’s organ back into her mouth again as he forced her head downward anew. This happened over and over as Alexei cruelly held her by the hair and she had no choice but to try and fit Wyndham’s large shaft into her gagging mouth. Tears spilled from her eyes and her fingernails scratched into Wyndham’s thighs. Yet even this did not wake him fully in his drugged, but fully aroused state. Beneath her sharp whimpers, she could hear Wyndham groaning harshly and beyond that she could hear Alexei’s excited breathing.

  “This is the way you take a man, slut! You fuck his cock with your mouth,” Alexei rasped.

  Just then, Wyndham’s shaft expanded inside her mouth, filling her throat with scalding heat and Alexei jerked her head upward and away from Wyndham’s pene as he shoved her to the side. Through her tears, she saw Wyndham spilling his seed with Alexei standing over him. It was then, she realized that Alexei held his own long thin shaft in his hand, pumping it furiously, until he too ejaculated, with the seed landing on Wyndham’s belly.

  She sobbed then, crumbling to the floor beside the bed as she clutched the edges of the bed quilt in her fingers. Her body shook and her mind went horribly blank. Then, as though from a long distance away, she heard Alexei’s horrible voice.

  “Clean him up, and then undress and get into bed with him. If you ever speak of this to him, I will slit your throat!”

  Chapter Nine

  Wyndham woke in one sudden moment with his eyes wide open and staring into Orelan’s eyes. They lay side by side facing each other and he immediately saw the haunted exhaustion in Orelan’s gold irises. Then he became aware of a presence behind his back, lying on the bed also. The light snoring behind his head intensified his knowledge.

  “Alexei,” Orelan whispered. “H-He was very drunk and only fell asleep there beside you an hour ago.”

  Wyndham tried to digest this, even as his mind repelled it. He knew that he was naked and he could see Orelan clutched part of the bed quilt over her body. He guessed that she was naked also. He thanked God that Alexei’s body was not touching his as he eased closer to Orelan. His mind was refusing to take on any of the implications. But he did not like the ravaged appearance of Orelan’s face or the bruised redness of her mouth. Still, his mind forcefully shied away from any answers as he whispered in a low hiss. “Let’s get out of here.”

  She nodded, immediately rising slowly with him. They were both naked and Orelan’s auburn hair was in wild disarray. They quickly, yet quietly, found and put on enough clothes for decency. His pants, her gown and then, she braced her shoulders beneath his arm and they hobbled quietly to the door. There were no guards posted outside Alexei’s door and within ten minutes they were entering their suite without encountering anyone in the halls. It was still very early.

  Neither of them had spoken, using the effort to return to their suite to fill up the silence. But he was not a coward, as much as he longed to be in some moments of his life. So when Orelan helped him to sit on the edge of the bed, and then she turned to leave, he grasped her wrist, holding her beside him.

  “What happened?” he asked, looking up at her as she dipped her head, avoiding his gaze. He wondered why he could remember only bits and pieces, he had assumed it was the pain, but now he challenged that avoidance.

  “You were in great pain, Wyndham. Alexei had laudanum and I gave it to you,” she said with her head rising and her eyes sparking a challenge. He held his features impassive as he inwardly cringed at how helpless that had made him. Of course he had been useless and defenseless with the pain as it was. He’d left Orelan alone to face the snake. “Alexei has feelings for you! You must know this?” Orelan exclaimed continuing, making him visibly wince this time. Her full lips, bruised red, pursed defiantly, before she exclaimed, “I won another marker! And Alexei never touched you,” she added quickly. “But he demanded to see your scar . . . and he wanted to see you naked.”

  Catching him by surprise, Orelan jerked her wrist from his grasped, turning then she fled into the bathing chamber in a swirl of lavender. The slamming of the door snapped loudly in the room as a tense tick in his jaw quivered. Had Alexei touched Orelan? There was much more to this, and it was obvious that Orelan was not going to willingly tell him.

  Wyndham looked for his cane and saw it across the room propped against the armoire. He limped to it. His leg was immeasurably better. If he soaked it in hot water, used a salve that he had, and wrapped the knee again, he would be able to manage with the use of his cane. But now, he had another use for the cane as he went to the door and jammed the cane beneath the doorknob. Anyone trying to enter the suite would have to break the door down.

  A moment later, he entered the bathing chamber and immediately halted his forward motion halfway through the doorway, with his gaze resting on Orelan. She was completely nude, sitting before the dressing mirror, brushing her long dark brown hair with angry strokes. The sight was riveting and also instantly arousing. Her light caramel-colored skin was smooth and unblemished. Every sleek curving inch of it radiated feminine beauty and his eyelids flared with a hunter’s gaze, as his irises came to rest on her puckered and jutting nipple tips.

  Orelan . . . Orelan, his mind growled possessively as their gazes collided in the mirror. He saw her instant awareness of his arousal as her sun-gold irises skittered away from his, then returned to look again at him more boldly. His belly bottomed out with a warm hollow feeling that tensed suddenly as though he had been slammed in the gut. It was a bewitching tease. She was beckoning him, and it was working its purely feminine magic.

  With only the smaller portion of his mind that could still reason clearly beneath that look, he realized that Orelan was perpetrating a sexual ploy upon him. Turning his attention away from the questions. Then, he did not give a damn as he continued into the room and he shut the door behind him. His gaze never left Orelan’s sensual performance as her arms raised to comb strands of her long hair, elevating the firm swell of her breasts to his gaze. He stopped by the bathing tub and turned the water knob. Water spilled out of the spout, not much pressure, but the splashing sounded loudly as it hit the bottom of the tub. The sound of the water would be loud enough to obscure their words, and the rising steam would help obscure any voyeurs prying vision.

  Orelan flipped her hair to one side, combing the long strands over her left breast with the rosy-peach colored spike of her nipple poking through the rich
brown tresses. Her gaze lifted to his in the mirror with a vixen’s spirited promise. The ride would not be easy or tame. Her gaze promised him an exciting challenge that his masculinity could not ignore as he walked toward her.

  Orelan watched Wyndham in the mirror as he walked slowly toward her with a stiff-legged gait. She was relieved to see that her ploy had worked, and she would not have to answer his questions yet. Perhaps, never as the events around them continued to spin out of control. But this moment she would take for herself and for Wyndham. She needed his strength, his power, and his love. Desperately, she needed to reaffirm herself in his arms.

  The message she read in Wyndham’s black-sapphire gaze was primeval. He was readying to take his woman thoroughly. It excited her, yet at the same time it made her skittish and anxious. She wanted to fall on him, writhing the full length of her body all over him, yet at the same instant, she wanted to run from his potent male power. Fear and excitement combined lifted her breasts, as shivers raced across her skin and her breathing increased to breathlessness. Then, Wyndham stopped, standing behind her so closely that her hands still in her hair, brushed the hot skin of his lean belly.

  The shock of that touch unnerved her, and the comb she had been using fell from her fingers to clatter onto the floor. Her gaze jerked upward to Wyndham’s in the mirror, but he was looking downward, lower between her thighs. As the steam swirled around them in white misty tendrils, she felt Wyndham rubbing the outline of his long rigid shaft beneath his trousers over her knuckles. Her breath caught and he did it again, slowly, with a circling of his hips. She had flirted with power and now he teased her with that power. But suddenly, the image of Alexei forcing her mouth down over Wyndham’s impossibly thick male organ flashed before her mind’s eye, making her gasp. She must have jerked her hands upward away from Wyndham’s pene, momentarily urged to flee. But the next second, she realized that he had caught her wrists into his big hands and he was stretching them over her head, further pressuring her to rise from the chair. Suddenly, the chair was toppling sideways from where he must have kicked it aside, and then he stepped forward pressing his tall muscular body against her naked back.