My Lady Series Bundle (33 page)

He could only be thankful that he had managed to keep Alexei from taking Orelan away from him. He'd known that if he let Alexei see his disability, it would distract Alexei. Deep inside himself, where he had no wish to admit it, he knew Alexei's feelings for him. Now, he'd used those feelings to his advantage again. Did that make him any worse than Alexei?

He was nearly incoherent with the pain, but he knew as Alexei's guards carried him between them that another guard was guiding Orelan forward. Toward Alexei's suite. The portent of that did not escape him, he only wished that the pain would let go long enough so that he could think clearly. When the guards set him down on the opulently displayed bed in Alexei's master suite, he could do no more than let his head fall back. He had wrenched his bad leg, twisting it when he had fallen making the desperate play to distract Alexei and keep Orelan by his side. That coupled with the strain he'd already placed on the injured limb, left it feeling as bad as when the injury had first felled him at Waterloo. He'd not been this debilitated because of it since those first few months of recuperation two years ago.

"Orelan," he rasped hoarsely.
Christ, he had failed.

"Wyndham my love, I am here," Orelan whispered.

He winced at Orelan's words of love, if he could have, he would have shouted the denial of his worthiness. He felt her grasping his hand, bringing it to her soft lips, as he rasped. "Do
not
let him take you away from me."

"Never!" she exclaimed as he felt her tears on his knuckles. "Wyndham, you never told me you were this hurt," she whispered, as he felt her lips kissing his hand again. "You make me very angry for not telling me this. I had plans to punish you and now I cannot." Christ, if he could have laughed, he would have roared. "But I will never leave you, my golden puma. Never-never." Wyndham tightened his grip on Orelan's hand. "Wyndham, please tell me what to do to help you with this terrible pain," she asked tearfully.

"Nothing," he hissed as a particularly sharp jolt of pain lanced through his leg, making his body arch with tension. "
Whiskey,
" he groaned. "Christ! The bottle!"

"Si, si, Wyndham!" Orelan exclaimed as she pried Wyndham's fingers from around her hand. Once loose, he clenched his fingers into a fist by his side as she hurriedly turned to find some whiskey. She had put her gown back on beneath all three of the guards stares, before she'd come to Wyndham's side. Now she was glad for the small comfort as her gaze landed on Alexei standing by a side bar with his hand on a bottle of dark liquor.

She knew that it was the whiskey as she lifted her chin and walked toward Alexei. No one could have missed Wyndham's anguished pleas for whiskey. She also understood there was now no one standing between Alexei and Wyndham but herself. Her strong golden puma needed her strength now as never before. She needed it also to stand against Alexei for her own sake. This time she could not be foolish because of her fears. She must never be that foolish again. It was because of her that Wyndham lay helpless in Alexei's bedchamber. Now, she must defend them both in any way that she could.

The shade of concern that she could see in Alexei's eyes, and then his first words to her, showed her a possible way to begin her defense. "What is wrong with him?" Alexei asked tersely, as she stopped beside him to watch him pour some of the whiskey into a crystal glass.

"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 hand. 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.