Theo was on his feet. “How does seeing that man involve my sister?”

  Gavin stood, as well, moving to stand beside Theo.

  “Did you know your father took a whip to her?” Jamie asked. “That he hit her, marked her skin with a knife.”

  “What?” Gavin yelled.

  “Josephine told me,” Theo admitted, realizing he hadn’t had a chance to share that information with his brother yet. “Of course, we didn’t know. He was busy beating us while we were there. We never thought he’d lay a finger on Rory, though.”

  Jamie nodded.

  “What did that bastard do to her? And where the hell is he?” Gavin demanded.

  “Dead. By my hand.”

  Jamie’s voice shook with rage as he fisted his hands at his sides, and Theo felt the other man’s rage echo in his blood.

  “The bastard’s finally dead,” Theo murmured, sharing a look with his brother.

  They’d always intended to go back, to confront the man who’d sired them then tossed them out like garbage. The man who’d thought he’d been sending them to their death.

  “He talked before he died,” Jamie continued. “Rory’s mom was pregnant with her when she was sent to marry Montrose. Phillip had sent her mother to him with orders to marry her and give Rory a name.”

  “The bastard was always pawing at Rory’s mom,” Theo told them. “After she had Rory, he was always on her. She cried a lot. Was always trying to hide from him. I helped her when I could.”

  “Me, too,” Gavin added. “The night she died…”

  He paused, swallowing.

  “I’m pretty sure she was running from Montrose. A couple of his men tried to stop her. That’s when she fell. Broke her neck.”

  Theo nodded, remembering that night well.

  “Montrose lost his mind. Raged like I’d never seen before,” Theo added.

  “I heard them arguing,” Gavin admitted. “I didn’t understand it all at the time. She was warning him that she was going to Phillip and letting him know what was happening. Montrose laughed. Said no one cared what he did to her as long as the brat carried his name. I thought she was pregnant again. I didn’t… God! I had no idea Rory wasn’t his.”

  “Neither did I.”

  They all turned as Rory and Josephine walked in. Rory immediately headed to Jamie, who pulled her onto his lap and held her close. Josephine walked toward Theo. He pulled her in, dropping his mouth to hers in too brief a kiss before wrapping his arms around her, holding her back against his chest.

  “Do you know who you’re father is?” Gavin asked Rory.

  “No.”

  Rory rested her head on Jamie’s shoulder as she spoke, and Theo could see how much they loved one another. He hugged Josephine a little tighter. She might not be ready to say the words, but he felt her love every time she walked into a room and immediately sought him out. It was in the way she touched him no matter who was around. The way she kissed him. The way she clung to him when they made love. He nuzzled her ear, nipping her earlobe softly and enjoying the way she shuddered against him, her round buttocks pressing back into him.

  “That’s part of why I invited him here,” Jamie said, pulling Theo away from his plans for his wife. “My wife wants to know who her father was and to see if he’ll share anything about her mother.”

  “She was his niece,” Rory added.

  “Your mother was the niece of King Phillip?” Gavin asked.

  “His favorite before she fell from grace,” Rory answered. “Jamie’s asked him here to see if he’ll give me any answers to my questions. And also to discuss the issue of our villages being besieged by thieves and murderers.”

  “I’d like all of you to be here,” Jamie stated. “To present that united front Geoffrey keeps harping on.”

  “Geoffrey’s correct.” Josephine gave Theo’s arms a squeeze as she spoke. “Let him see that you’ll work together to defend these lands. That the Dread Lands are not a place to be conquered but one that already has been. That this is our home, and we’ll do whatever it takes to protect it.”

  “Well said, wife,” Theo murmured, dropping a kiss on her forehead when she turned her head and glanced up at him.

  “When will he be here?” Marcus asked.

  “I haven’t heard back yet. We just sent the message a few days ago,” Jamie told them. “I’ll let you all know as soon as we receive word.”

  “In the meantime, I need to get back to the coast,” Gavin said.

  “I’ll send some men with you,” Theo offered his brother.

  “You’re having issues?” Jamie asked.

  “There are a few groups that seem to think coasts were made for raiding. I keep showing them the error of their ways.”

  “Smart idea,” Marcus said as he stood. “Want company?”

  Gavin lifted a brow.

  “If we’re going to present a united front, then we’d best get to know each other better. No better place to forge bonds than preparing for battle.” Marcus rubbed his hands together. “How soon do we leave?”

  “Not until morning,” Rory ordered, pushing off Jamie’s lap and dashing toward her brother. “Please, Gavin. Give me one more night before you leave.”

  Theo watched his brother cave. He was a hard man, but he had a soft spot when it came to women.

  “I’ll let my men know we’ll leave at first light,” Gavin said, giving Rory a hug.

  She clung to his hand. “I’ll go with you.”

  “I’ll let my men know the same,” Marcus added, following after them.

  Theo almost laughed when Jamie trailed after his wife without a word. The man definitely had it bad.

  “You two planning to stay for a visit?”

  Theo glanced at Geoffrey, but Josephine answered first.

  “I hope so. I need a few more days at least to sort through all my belongings and make arrangements to get the things I want to keep to Theo’s castle.”

  She turned in Theo’s arms, rising onto her toes as she cupped his face.

  “We can stay, can’t we?”

  “For a few days,” Theo agreed.

  With her already facing him and on her toes, it was easy for him to reach down and cup her buttocks, lifting her into him while he took her mouth with the intensity he’d wanted to earlier. She moaned into his kiss, and he became so lost in her that he forgot for a moment they weren’t alone. When he finally lifted his head, Geoffrey was gone.

  “Why don’t we go to your room, so you can show me what you want to take with you?”

  Josephine laughed.

  “Why don’t we go up to my room so I can show you something else,” she suggested.

  “Such as?”

  She tugged him down until she could whisper at his ear.

  “I’ve a need to feel you, Theo. Inside me. I need to feel your hands on—”

  He scooped her up into his arms, and she broke off with a cry of surprise. He didn’t need to hear anything else.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Theo carried Josephine into the bedroom and set her on her feet while he turned, shutting and barring the door. She stood there, watching until he once more faced her. How had she fallen for him so quickly? It wasn’t as if theirs had been an arranged marriage, and even those didn’t always turn into a loving relationship. Theirs had begun with Theo taking her captive. Yet, he’d wooed her with his touch and kisses. She just hadn’t realized it at first.

  “Now then.”

  Theo crossed his arms over his broad chest and leaned back against the door.

  “Tell me more about this need you have.”

  She crossed toward him then dropped to her knees before him.

  “Josephine.”

  “I need this,” she whispered, reaching for the laces on his leathers and freeing them one by one.

  He groaned but widened his stance, dropping his arms so his hands dangled below his hips. She spread the material then tugged it lower until his manhood jutted forward. Theo’s chest rumbled as she took hold of him, swiping her thumb over the bulbous tip.

  With a moan, Jo replaced her thumb with her tongue, and Theo responded by jerking his hips forward with a growl.

  “Do you like that?”

  He groaned again, tunneling the fingers of one hand through her hair and gripping it softly.

  She licked over the crown, moaning as the taste of him washed over her tongue. So sweet, like a decadent treat she was sure to crave. Wanting more, she wrapped her lips around him and sucked greedily.

  “God, Josephine.”

  He rocked into her mouth, and she rubbed her tongue over as much as she could, using her hand to stroke the inches she couldn’t take into her mouth. She moved counter to the thrust of his hips, sucking and licking as he moved between her lips. Each taste of him made her want more.

  “No!” she cried when he tugged free and jerked her up into his arms.

  He tore her clothes as he hurried to take them off her, and she wasn’t much better as she fought to shove his leathers farther down his legs. Then they were both on the bed, blissfully naked, and his shoulders spread her thighs wide as his head dipped between her legs.

  “Theo! Please!”

  She dug her fingers into the furs as he immediately took her bud between his lips and rubbed his tongue over it.

  “Oh, god!”

  She was already lifting her hips to meet him when the first finger thrust deep. Nothing felt so good as when he touched her. Especially the way he kissed her sex, tasting her until she screamed her pleasure then licking up every drop before he did it to her all over again. The things he made her feel. He was right. She did love him.

  “It’s the way I search for you when I enter a room.”

  “What?” he asked, lifting his head briefly to glance up at her while still working his fingers inside her.

  “The way I miss you when I wake and you’re gone. The way I can’t be near you without touching you. You took me from my home. Seduced me with your touch. Now, I can’t imagine life without you.”

  Theo moved up her body until his breath mingled with hers.

  “I don’t like be apart from you, either. You bewitched me from the moment I saw you with your bow and arrow. The quiet way you moved. Your lack of fear when faced with a brute of a giant who took you captive. I knew then that I had to have you. I know now that I don’t want to live without you.”

  “No,” she agreed, wrapping her arms around his neck and tugging his mouth to hers.

  His kiss was everything, and when he reached down and pressed his crown inside her opening, she reveled in the feel of him. Then he slid deep, filling her completely as she clung to him, wrapping her legs around his waist.

  “I want to feel you come undone around me,” he whispered, dropping his head beside her ear as he pumped his hips.

  He braced the bulk of his weight on one arm and slipped his other hand down to toy with her pearl until she was freefalling into pleasure, flying so high she wasn’t sure she’d ever come back to her body. Then Theo pulled out, grasping her body and flipping her over onto her stomach.

  “Hands and knees,” he ordered, helping her lift her hips then holding her up as he slammed his manhood deep again.

  “Theo!”

  “I love the way you call my name,” he said with a groan.

  He pumped his hips fast, moving in a frantic rhythm that had her mewling as she buried her face in the furs.

  “Don’t dampen your cries,” he ordered, tugging at her hair. “Let me hear you scream my name. Let the whole castle hear the pleasure your husband gives you. That only your husband will ever give you.”

  “Gods, yes,” she pleaded. “Only pleasure at your touch. Just as you promised.”

  “Always pleasure,” he agreed.

  There were no more words. Just the sounds of two bodies coming together. The grunts and groans, moans and raspy cries as they took one another. Theo brought her to new heights then flung her into the void where she continued to climb as he rode her through one wave of pleasure and into another. A third followed close behind until she was drowning in it, gasping for air while her muscles and bones melted beneath her.

  Her husband left her body, rolling her under him until she lay on her back once more. Lifting her legs high toward his shoulders, he entered her sex, pressing every inch of his hard staff deep within her.

  “In all my life, I’ve craved one thing above all else,” Theo murmured as he held still inside her. “Not to be a king or warrior renowned. Not vengeance, though the need for that was there.”

  “What was it you wanted?” she whispered, squeezing her walls around him and drawing a groan from his lips. “A soft, willing woman?”

  He brushed a finger along her cheek then groaned again when she turned her face, so she could place a kiss against his palm, her tongue flicking around the finger he’d trailed along her skin.

  “Love,” he whispered, and she caught her breath at the look of wonder on his face. “Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to feel loved.”

  Her heart broke for him and the boy he’d been, for what he must have lived through. That he wasn’t a beast to all around him was testament to his character. The way he had her falling a little more in love with him every day spoke more than anything else ever could.

  “Then let me love you,” she encouraged as she nudged at him. “Let me show you.”

  He gave in to her, moving off her and reclining onto the furs beside her. Jo rose over him, straddling his thighs but not taking him back into her body yet. Instead, she leaned over him, trailing soft kisses over his face before stopping at his mouth and claiming him the way he did her. She nipped at his bottom lip then licked inside, finding his tongue and rubbing along it. When he reached for her, she paused, grasping his hands in hers and taking them back to the bedding.

  “Let me,” she urged again and felt him relax as he nodded.

  She moved over his chest, licking across his sweat-slicked skin with a moan. God, he tasted of heaven. Jo moved to his nipple and, wanting to see if he enjoyed it as much as she did, she laved over it with her tongue then nipped with her teeth, bringing the flat disc to a hard point as he groaned and shifted his legs beneath her. She felt the hard ridge of his manhood where it rose between her thighs, tapping against her bottom almost as if knocking for admittance.

  Moving across to his other nipple, she gave it similar treatment before gliding over the hard plain of his belly until she felt the nudge of his crown slip between her breasts to dampen under her chin. Tilting her head down, she licked over him several times before opening her lips and sucking him in.

  “Josephine.”

  Her name was a harsh whisper as his fingers swept into her hair, his palms cupping along her scalp as he held her to him. She sucked and bobbed her head, wrapping one palm around his shaft while using her other hand to cup and knead the taut sac that lay beneath. Theo growled, his hips rising into her touch, pressing more of his length into her mouth until she gagged as she tried to accept what he gave.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled, and she felt him struggle to stop the movement of his hips.

  She wanted to give him what he wanted, what he craved. Not just love but the ultimate act of love between a man and a woman. Pleasure. Complete pleasure that only she would ever give him. She sucked him deep again, pushing through the instinctive need to gag and swallowing instead.

  Theo’s shout was reward enough. Then his manhood jerked in her mouth, and a drop of nectar touched her tongue, spreading across her taste buds and setting her desire afire. She was akin to a starving creature as she nursed from him, sucking and swallowing with such intensity that she felt her cheeks pull in. She couldn’t stop. She wanted more. Another taste of his seed.

  Her husband tugged at her hair, trying to make her release him. When she finally did, it was all she could do not to nip him with her teeth to show her displeasure.

  “Nay!” she cried, shaking her head.

  “Josephine, I want to spill inside you. To fill you with my seed.”

  “Yes,” she agreed and bent to lick over him again. “I want to taste you. To swallow every drop of what you give me. Let me have this. Let me enjoy you the way you do me. Please, Theo.”

  “Holy gods,” Theo growled as he cupped her head and guided her back to his straining shaft. “Take me, wife. Anything you want.”

  She latched on again, sucking and swallowing and rubbing her tongue as she let her frenzy spill over to him. He bucked beneath her, driving into her mouth as if it were the place between her thighs. Harsh bellows of breath rose from his chest as he howled and shouted, urging her on as she moved faster and faster.

  “That’s it,” he rasped. “Suck my cock. Take me in your throat. Mmm. Swallow me whole. Show me how much you want my seed. How badly you want to taste me on your tongue. Is that what you want, love? For my seed to spill in your mouth? To drink every drop of me down your tight throat?”

  She mewled, unwilling to release him to give answer. Instead, she let her actions speak for her, sucking harder as she took him into her throat with every bob of her head. His hands tightened in her hair, and her scalp prickled with the start of pain as he took over, pumping up into her mouth while he held her head captive in his grasp, making it so all she could do was suck and swallow.

  Then he shouted, his loud yell ringing in her ears as he spurted down her throat. He eased back, and she gasped around his girth before he pushed back inside, another wash of seed coating the back of her tongue as she swallowed him down. He shuddered beneath her, his manroot softening as he began pulling from her. She suckled as he did, wanting to ensure she had every drop of seed he had to give. She moaned as he finally released from her lips with a pop. Then she was grasped and hauled up his chest.

  Theo turned, staring into her eyes before he kissed her. His hands stroked over her skin, soothing as his lips moved over hers again and again. He held her for a long time, his touch soft and gentle while they both worked on calming the galloping beat of their hearts. When she could speak again, she lifted her head from where it had settled over his heart and propped her chin on her fist.

 

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