The Lady and the Vixen Page 11

“Aidan loves Abbie very much. Without her in his life, he would be in a much worse place than he already is.” She dropped her hand on Lucy’s. “Da and I do the best we can with him and try to stop him from going too far.”

  “Going too far? In what way?” Lucy asked.

  “There’s a reason Aidan has taken a shine to Colby and has become his friend. He planned it that way. Originally, it was just chance your brothers visited here for some gaming and other enjoyments Pythos offered. But when Aidan found out who Colby and Chase were, he became obsessed with getting close to them. For some reason, Chase kept his distance and stopped coming to Pythos altogether, but Colby returned, and soon was a regular and grew attached to Aidan. Aidan accomplished one part of his plan concerning your family, in particular your father.”

  A slight buzzing in her ears grew. Whatever Tisha told her next would be disastrous. But she could no longer avoid it. She had to know.

  “Don’t keep me in suspense. Go on.” She waited in apprehension for what Tisha would reveal.

  Tisha linked their fingers together and looked Lucy straight in the eyes. “Aidan hates Geoff Daugherty with a deep passion. Over thirty years ago, Aidan’s mother, Maire, was a housemaid in your grandparents’ house. Geoff lived with them at the time. Maire Levett and Geoff Daugherty began an affair. Your grandmother found out and fired Maire. Geoff set her up in a house, and she became his mistress. Maire eventually became pregnant with Aidan.”

  Her jaw dropped. It was worse than she could have ever imagined. Her father had an illegitimate son with his former mistress?

  Tisha squeezed Lucy’s hands. “Maybe we should have more brandy so you can—”

  “No, don’t stop. Continue.” Her heart pounded, and the ringing in her ears amplified.

  “For the next eight years, everything was well between Maire and Geoff. But Geoff would never marry Maire because she was a servant and an Irish-Jew. He would be disowned and ostracized if he did. Then, one day, Geoff left her and Aidan. He ended up marrying a woman more suited for his circumstances—your mother. Instead of keeping Maire as his mistress, Geoff cut off all ties with her. Maire and Aidan would have been forced out onto the streets if not for my Da. Da always cared for Maire, and was lonely after my ma died from a sickness in her lungs. Da married Maire and claimed Aidan as his own.”

  “Oh, how nice of your father,” she said woodenly, in utter disbelief at what she’d heard.

  “But, a few years later, Maire died. Her heart just stopped one day. Some say she never recovered from your father’s rejection and died of a broken heart. Aidan blamed his biological father— your father, Geoff Daugherty—and wanted revenge.” She drew their combined hands up to her mouth and kissed Lucy’s knuckles. “I’m afraid to say it, but Aidan may have been responsible for your father’s attack. He sent him a letter stating he would finally go to the press about their relationship and ruin Geoff in the eyes of his peers and friends—”

  “Stop! Enough.” Lucy jumped up and hugged her waist. She stumbled to the door to leave.

  Tisha blocked Lucy’s way, holding up her palms. “You can’t leave without hearing the entire story, even though it’s distressing.”

  “You’re a spiteful liar! Let me go!” She darted around Tisha, but Tisha captured Lucy around the waist and dragged her to the bed. She struggled, but Tisha was too strong. She hung in Tisha’s arms, tears falling down her cheeks, utterly bereft.

  Tisha placed Lucy on the bed and lay back, gathering Lucy to her side. She sobbed, wiping her face to stop the flow of tears, but they wouldn’t cease. Tisha hushed her, rubbing Lucy’s head. She hid her face on Tisha’s chest and continued crying until she fell silent, only to shudder and twitch as she ended her outpouring of emotions.

  Tisha hummed softly in Lucy’s ear, calming her. She lay there, drifting away, wanting to go to sleep. She was ashamed by her reaction, but she had no place to hide. Tisha wouldn’t let her.

  She sniffed and wiped her eyes, blinking away the grittiness in them as she tried to focus. Everything blurred and her head pounded fiercely. She groaned and rubbed the sides of her head. Tisha lifted up and stroked Lucy’s forehead gently.

  “If you promise not to run away, I’ll wet a cloth for your forehead.” Tisha kissed Lucy and rose from the bed.

  She curled into a ball and closed her eyes. She didn’t have the strength to move. The bed dipped, and she shifted onto her back. Tisha rested the damp cloth on Lucy’s eyes. She didn’t fight when Tisha pulled her into her embrace.

  No words were spoken. Her headache soon vanished. Tisha traced her fingers up and down Lucy’s shoulder and arm, finally stopping to take her hand.

  She drew the cloth down, but kept her eyes closed. She inhaled a jagged breath and squeezed Tisha’s hand hard.

  “Were you and Aidan ever lovers?”

  “No-no,” Tisha stammered. “I love him, but only as a sister. He’s as much of a brother to me as if we shared the same parents by blood.”

  “But you’ve supported him in this vendetta against my family.” She fisted the sheet.

  “I tried talking him out of it many times, as has Da, but he won’t listen. I have a bad feeling it won’t end well for him. And now he plans to marry the Marchioness de Macey—”

  “What?” She sat up, stunned to her core.

  Tisha sat up also. She lifted her hand toward Lucy’s face but then dropped her arm when Lucy gave her an angry look. “You’re not pleased about this either. It must be hard knowing the woman you love—”

  She laughed and shook her head. “Love? I don’t love Irena. What I feel for her is more like disgust. Your brother is welcome to have her. They deserve one another.”

  “You don’t have feelings for the marchioness? But I thought the night you saw her and were out of sorts, you—”

  She clutched Tisha’s hand. “I acted that way because it was like seeing a ghost. We didn’t end things on the best of terms when I last saw her over four years ago. She came to Dorset six months after her husband died under the ruse she needed to get away from London where there were too many memories of him. I thought she was mourning and loved her husband, but it was all a lie. I-I fell for her charms again, and we had a…fling over the summer. It ended when my husband accused me of being unfaithful, but with a man, when he found a love letter from Irena, signed with the first initial of her name. I ended things with her, telling her never to see me again, but by then it was too late. My marriage was ruined.” She blinked away the tears threatening to escape her eyes. “Giles, my husband, didn’t divorce me because he didn’t want the scandal. We lived in the same house, but no longer as man and wife. One night last year, he was found on the side of the road, thrown from his horse. He had been at the village pub and drank too much, which led to his death.”

  “Oh, Lucy, I’m so sorry.” Tisha hugged Lucy to her, rubbing her back in gentle strokes.

  She relaxed, overcome with such sadness at all that had been lost because of her selfishness. “The day after seeing her at Pythos, she found me while I shopped. I didn’t want to make a scene, so I went back with her to her house. She told me how she gave Colby a loan and now wants to call it in. If he doesn’t pay off the loan by the end of the month, she’ll have him arrested. But she’ll let the loan go if I live with her in the guise of being her companion. She wants us to be lovers again.”

  Tisha’s hold tightened, and she grinded her teeth. “That bitch,” she said, among a few other choice words Lucy had never heard before but assumed were all impolite ones a woman dared not say in public.

  “I also found out my father and Irena were courting. I don’t know why she would do such a thing.” She settled her head farther into the crook of Tisha’s shoulder. “Maybe it’s her way of trying to get back at me. But now she wants to marry your—my brother?”

  Tisha nodded. “Maybe with your father’s illness, she changed her plans? In the past few weeks, they’ve become very chummy. Also, if Aidan marries Irena, he’ll gain the resp
ect he’s been wanting, and their marriage can help him in his cause against your father and family.”

  “This is sickening. I feel like I’m in some melodrama found in those silly Gothic novels.” She lifted her head.

  “I enjoy reading those silly Gothic novels.” Tisha tugged on a piece of hair that had loosened from Lucy’s bun.

  “We have to stop Aidan and Irena before they move forward with this union of theirs.” She rubbed her forehead. “I just don’t know how.”

  “We’ll figure out a way. Da is staying overnight in Kent to investigate a property he wants to purchase there. Tomorrow, when he returns, we can talk to him.” Tisha stroked the side of Lucy’s face.

  She breathed much easier. When Tisha touched her in such a way, she felt calmer and not as overwrought as she had been over the last few days. She couldn’t believe it had been less than a week since she first met Tisha. It felt much longer.

  “What is it, darlin’?” Her palm rested on the side of Lucy’s throat.

  Darlin’. She loved the way Tisha said the endearment with a slight Irish brogue. Not even Irena had called her something so sweet.

  “I like how you call me darling.” She circled the inside of Tisha’s wrist.

  Tisha’s palm flattened on Lucy’s chest. With a small push, she landed on the bed with Tisha leaning over her. Tisha plucked away the pins from Lucy’s hair.

  “You’re so tense. I want to relieve your stress.” Tisha kissed the tip of Lucy’s nose. “Stay the night with me.”

  She held her breath as Tisha kissed her. She sighed; her body relaxed. No other person had made her feel as at peace like Tisha had. It felt right to be with her this way. She wanted to forget everything for a while and just be with Tisha and experience pleasure in her arms.

  “I would like to, but what happens tomorrow?” She unraveled Tisha’s hair. Each strand came apart and settled on Tisha’s shoulders and chest. She wanted to wrap herself up in Tisha’s hair and bathe in her scent.

  “We’ll take each day as it comes and see what happens.” Tisha shook her head and her hair flared out. With a hard kiss to Lucy’s mouth, she sat up and undid the buttons in front of her dress. The top of her dress slipped to her hips. She then opened the clips to her corset and lowered her chemise until she was naked from the waist down.

  She didn’t know how to proceed. It had been so long since she had been naked with another person. She wanted to undress like Tisha, who was in the process of disrobing completely. She lay there until Tisha stood at the side of the bed, nude.

  “You’re beautiful,” she whispered, and moved to the edge. Tisha placed Lucy’s hands on her breasts. She sighed from the tightening of Tisha’s nipples under her palms. She curled her fingers around the delicate globes of flesh, fascinated by Tisha’s reaction to her touch.

  Tisha cupped Lucy’s face and kissed her lips slowly, her mouth moving on Lucy’s lips and sucking down. She whimpered when Tisha’s tongue slipped inside. With darting licks, Tisha increased the pressure of the kiss. She responded by stroking Tisha’s breasts and tugging on her nipples.

  Tisha broke the kiss and smiled. She moved forward and dropped her knee on the mattress. She lay back with her hands still on Tisha’s breasts. She lifted her face and stuck her tongue in between her fingers to taste the hard nubs.

  Tisha moaned and pushed aside Lucy’s hands. She pressed her palms on the bed, but kept her mouth around a breast, sucking and laving the skin. She nibbled on the pointed nipple, and Tisha laughed, lifting Lucy’s skirt up and pushing apart her legs.

  She gasped as Tisha’s fingers traveled up the inside of her thighs. She wrapped her arms around Tisha’s hips as Tisha untied her drawers and pulled them away. She released Tisha’s nipple with a wet pop, and Tisha’s mouth came over hers. She welcomed the hungry kiss from Tisha, arching up as her cunny dampened from each pull of Tisha’s mouth.

  Tisha circled Lucy’s thighs and across her feminine bush, but didn’t rub her cunny or play with her slick folds or her swollen fleshy button that made her wet. She teased by grinding her palm on Lucy’s center. She cried out, begging to climax.

  “Do you like my hands on your pretty cunny?” Tisha nipped Lucy’s lips then moved down to suck the tops of her breasts.

  “Yes. I want more of it. Please.” She lifted her legs, and Tisha snagged her by the ankles. Tisha rid Lucy of her boots and drew off her stockings. She positioned Lucy’s feet flat on the bed and raised her skirt until Lucy was bared to her gaze.

  “Always so polite. But soon you’ll be screaming my name for all of St. James to hear.” Tisha nudged her head between Lucy’s legs. She blew on Lucy’s mons. She jerked up, and, grabbing the covers, moaned loudly when Tisha licked a line from her inner thigh to the edge of her cunny.

  Bright lights exploded in front of her eyes, and she dug her feet in the bedding as Tisha spread her folds and stuck her tongue in deep, circling around and jabbing her sensitive flesh. She cried out Tisha’s name, sobbing and squirming from the ache and the building pressure as Tisha’s tongue tortured her.

  Tisha feasted on her center, running her palms up and down Lucy’s legs and sliding under to cup her bottom. She lifted Lucy up and sucked harder, her tongue flicking the hood of Lucy’s clitoris, which made her release a tide of her juices. She grew feverish, taken aback by having such a reaction, but all was forgotten when one of Tisha’s fingers inserted itself between her buttocks.

  “What are you—oh lord!” She bit her lip, the pleasure too much as Tisha sucked and licked, using her finger to coast inside her rear. She clenched down on the digit and trembled. Her legs stiffened, and she shrieked, falling apart as she climaxed. She rocked on Tisha’s tongue and sucking mouth as she floated on a sea of numbness until she landed back on the bed, out of breath.

  Tisha continued lapping and stroking with her tongue. Lucy grabbed her head, wanting Tisha’s body against her, to taste her mouth and touch her as Tisha was doing to her. Tisha ignored Lucy’s tugging and continued devouring, slipping her tongue in and out of Lucy’s core.

  She panted, turning to the side, twitching. Tisha positioned Lucy on her stomach and left wet kisses on Lucy’s buttocks. Tisha’s finger darted in between the cheeks, pumping steadily until Lucy begged for mercy. She relented and, pushing Lucy on her back, climbed up and gifted her with an eager kiss.

  She clasped Tisha’s buttocks, lurching against her. Tisha tore open the front of Lucy’s bodice. Buttons flew across the bed, and, with deft hands, she unlatched Lucy’s corset and thrust apart her chemise to latch onto a breast.

  She whipped her head to side, another orgasm building. But this time she wanted to experience it with Tisha. She moved her hands between Tisha’s legs and curved her two fingers inside Tisha’s cunny, pumping fast. She found Tisha’s pleasure knot and stroked it until it swelled under her ministrations.

  Tisha pitched into Lucy’s caress, biting down hard on Lucy’s breast. She cried out Tisha’s name and jerked her hands faster. Tisha reached between Lucy’s legs and rooted around until she found her sopping folds and caressed them.

  “Come with me.” She lifted her leg to wrap around Tisha’s hip. If she had her say, the earth would move for both of them at the same time.

  “God, yes,” Tisha sighed and dropped her mouth onto Lucy’s welcoming one.

  Lucy ground on Tisha’s hand, and whimpered when one of Tisha’s fingers found that special spot that made her head spin and her body shake. Another surge of her juices trickled down the inside of her legs. She bit Tisha’s bottom lip and exhaled loudly at the same time Tisha’s inner muscles fastened around her fingers. They rocked slowly together, sighing in each other’s mouth as their orgasms came upon them.

  Eventually, they both stilled, their breathing deepening and their kisses slowing. She opened her eyes to a flushed Tisha, who smiled on Lucy’s mouth, licking her lip where it had bruised in the midst of their passion.

  “That was amazing.” Tisha caressed Lucy’s damp ch
eek.

  “It was unlike anything I’ve ever shared with anyone.” She kissed Tisha in a thank you.

  After another round of passionate kissing that almost led to more pleasures shared between the two women, Tisha undressed Lucy until she was naked. She could barely keep her eyes open, and yawned. With nary a complaint from her lover, she secured Tisha in her arms and shut her eyes, fully rested and at peace.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Aidan opened the door and entered his room. He didn’t notice Abbie sitting in the chair by the window. She didn’t greet him when he took off his hat and coat, hanging them on the stand near the door. Finally, when he turned around, his face brightened.

  “Abbie, sweetheart!” He held his arms out in welcome.

  She stood but didn’t go to him. She might slap his face if she did. “Don’t call me that.”

  “Call you what…have you been crying? Is it your mother?” He approached her, worry etched on his features.

  She moved away from his reaching hands. “It’s not Mama. I shed tears because of you. I took Benji to the Crystal Palace today, and I saw you and the Marchioness de Macey kissing!”

  She backed away as he came closer. “Honey, I don’t know what you think you saw, but it’s not what—”

  “Not what I think, Aidan McGrath?” She shoved aside his hands. She shook with rage and disbelief that the man she loved would lie to her.

  He stepped in front of her, blocking her escape. “You’re not thinking correctly. Why don’t we sit and—”

  “I don’t feel like sitting! I’ve been sitting for hours, going over in my head what I saw.” When he opened his mouth, she held up her hand. “Don’t lie to me!”

  “Abigail, I’m friends with the marchioness and nothing more. She was saddened over her husband—”

  “Lies! I know as well as you do the marchioness had no love for her husband.” She hugged her waist, revulsion swirling in her stomach and rising in her throat. “Were you planning to get rid of someone else for her, like you did her husband?”