Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
The morning light poured through the curtains like it had no mercy. I squinted, groaned, and buried my face deeper in the pillow. Of course, the day I was meant to face the town, was the day my eyes felt like sandpaper after I was up fretting all night.
Chloe clucked her tongue as she fastened my gown. "Hold still, Miss, you'll look a fright if these buttons aren't done up right."
I wrinkled my nose. "Perhaps I should look a fright. Then the captain might change his mind about marrying me and I'll be sent home."
"You obviously haven't gotten to know Captain Smythe very well, miss," Chloe teased.
And Lieutenant Trent, my treacherous thoughts added.
By the time I entered the drawing room, both men were waiting. They were far too handsome for my good.
Leighton rose immediately, that bright scarred face smiling and softening me in places I didn't want to be softened. Unsurprisingly, Magnus made no move other than an arched brow at my entrance.
So I made them wait.
Only a smidge.
"You look lovely, Lisa. You'll have the entire town buzzing about the beauty I had shipped in from the Transvaal. I'm sure some of the older matrons were starting to think I was fibbing when I spoke of my intended. It's about high time everyone gets to meet my bride-to-be properly."
I blinked at him, then deadpanned, "Will these older matrons know about our arrangement?"
Leighton chuckled, squeezing my hand. "Love, it's good to see you have some of your spark back. I was getting rather worried that the fiery woman in your letters had disappeared over the last few days."
Magnus brushed past me on his way to the door, close enough to ruffle my skirts and send my heart skittering.
"Not our filly, Leigh. Nothing will keep her down long," he murmured.
His eyes lingered just long enough to make my knees wobble.
"But before we go, there is a small matter of proving to you, whom you belong to. "
Heat pooled in my belly, traitorous and infuriating. So I tossed up my chin and said sweetly. "I think, Magnus, it's about time you realize I don't belong to anyone. As much as you might dream of it, I'm not a horse from your stables."
He smiled that devil's smile, sharp as a blade. "That's what you think."
Leighton crossed to the small drawer near the sideboard, withdrawing something dark and silken from within. When he returned, the object unfurled in his hand. A narrow ribbon of midnight satin with a small golden charm at its center.
My breath caught at the simplistic beauty of it.
"A gift," he said, voice low, warm. "For my bride."
"I'm not your bride," I whispered, though my cheeks heated as he stepped behind me.
"Not yet," he murmured by my ear, brushing my hair aside. "You'll be my wife soon, love. And this will be the first sign of that ownership. Soon you'll have my ring on your finger. Showing the world who you belong to."
The cool silk kissed the column of my throat as his fingers fastened it, lingering deliberately. I felt caged and claimed all at once. His lips grazed the shell of my ear. "Every breath you take in town, Lisa, you'll feel it. It will be a reminder for you."
I meant to retort, some sharp quip ready on my tongue, but my words died as Mangus knelt suddenly before me. The sheer boldness of it stole my air.
"What... what are you doing?" My voice pitched high, uncertain, my hands clutching at my skirts.
He only smirked, one hand closing firmly around my ankle.
"You wear Leigh's collar, and soon will have his wedding band on your finger.
I'm okay with that, but you'll have my mark on you, something that is just for us.
One day soon I'll mark your delicious milky skin permanently.
But today... today I'll just make sure to give you the reminder so you'll feel me with every move you make.”
Before I could protest further, he was beneath my skirts, hidden from view, the scandal of it making me dizzy. Leighton steadied me, his palm warm on my waist. "Breathe, love," he coaxed softly. "If you say no, he'll step away. Nothing between us will ever happen without your consent."
"This doesn't feel very consensual," I whispered, still breathless.
"Oh no, love. There's nothing wrong with a bit of pushing, especially when it's needed. But you say the word and Magnus will get up and leave you be."
What did I want? Truly?
The answer was shockingly easy to come to.
I rested my head back against Leighton's shoulder and surrendered.
And then I felt the tug. The shock of cool air against heated skin. Magnus peeled my drawers down my legs, but he didn't stop there. His mouth pressed against the soft flesh of my thigh, hot and claiming, teeth grazing just enough to make me jolt.
"Magnus!" I hissed, writhing in his hold.
"Hush, little filly." His voice was muffled against my skin, wicked and assured.
"You don't want the staff to come running and find us in this delicious clinch, do you?
" Then... another kiss, another sharp nip, and then he sucked at my skin, his teeth grazing and I knew a bruise would be forming beneath his mouth, hidden to everyone.
"Do you like that, sweet girl?" Leighton whispered against my ear, the heat of his breath and his words only serving to increase the hunger building inside me. "You'll be walking through town, bare beneath that gown, marked by Magnus while you wear my collar."
Heat spiraled low in my belly, my earlier indignation fraying with each deliberate press of his lips. I knew I should resist, that I ought to push him away, but instead a soft, needy sigh slipped free. I wanted more.
No. I needed more.
His mouth, teeth, tongue remained on my thighs, never moving any closer to that forbidden aching part of me.
"Please," I whispered, the word wrenched from me.
"Please what, love?" Leighton asked as his hands held me firm against his chest.
"Please... I need," I gasped as Magnus's mouth nudged against me for the briefest of moments. "More! I need more."
Leighton chuckled, and Magnus growled.
I mewled.
Like a darn kitten begging for milk.
My thighs were raw, and blissfully sensitive.
My core ached for even the barest of touch.
My heart cried for something I never knew I wanted.
"Sweet girls who beg so beautifully will get rewards," Leighton told me, the words deceptively calm and quiet. "But first, there's something you're missing, baby."
My mind raced. What was I missing? I agreed, I let them touch me, and begged him to give me more of what I'd experienced the previous night. What else could there possibly be?
And then I remembered.
Dear lord.
Could I?
"You want your reward, love, you know what to do," Leighton ordered.
"Please..." I breathed out. "Please, Daddy."
And Magnus's mouth latched onto me, his tongue delving into depths I'd only barely started to explore the night before.
I shattered.
There was no other word for it. My body arched against Leighton's chest, his steady arms keeping me from flying apart as Magnus consumed me, every wicked flick of his tongue unraveling me further.
I clutched at Leighton's shirtfront, muffling my cries against him, the silk ribbon at my throat tightening with every frantic swallow of breath.
"Good girl," Leighton praised, his lips brushing the crown of my head. "That's it, love. Let go for us."
Mangus growled low, the sound vibrating through me as though he were pulling my release from my very bones. His grip on my thighs was punishing, keeping me spread and helpless. His mouth was merciless until my world dissolved into nothing but blinding heat and shuddering spasms.
"Daddy!" The word tore from me a second time, desperate and broken.
At once Magnus stilled, sealing the moment with a possessive kiss against my trembling flesh before pulling back. When he rose, his lips glistened, his expression smug as sin. "There. That should do it."
And then he rocked the foundations of my world even further when he leaned closer and gently kissed Leighton's smiling lips.
I was still recovering from this shock when Leighton tipped my chin, forcing me to meet his steady gaze. There was pride there, and something far deeper. Worry? Apprehension?
I guessed I wasn't wrong about my suspicions... but how did that make me feel?
I couldn't speak. My body was too wrung out, my mind too dazed.
"Come, little filly. Time to brave the town."