Behind his mask of bored indifference, Vaughan, Marquis of Pennerley inwardly grimaced. Two minutes of screeching scales and he already felt as if someone had gone at his head with a saucepan and ladle, much more and he’d gladly perforate his own eardrums. The sound was reminiscent of a fox let loose in a chicken coop, not a form of entertainment he would normally seek out. ‘Can we not leave?’ he said to his companion, who stood a little to his right.

Despite his serene expression, enhanced by the golden hair that framed his face, Vaughan knew that Lucerne was finding the performance equally excruciating. ‘Only if you intend it as a deliberate snub.’ Lucerne’s blue eyes fixed upon the soprano, whose figure passed muster far more favourably than her singing voice. ‘The girl is our hostess’s niece.’

‘The woman deserves more than a snub for putting me through this torture. How much longer is the bloody piece?’ Vaughan flicked open his fob watch, as if staring at the ornate face would somehow speed up the performance.

‘She’ll be mortified if she hears you.’ Lucerne closed his hand over the top of Vaughan’s, flipping the watch lid down in the process. ‘She’s desperate to impress. So let’s just try to enjoy ourselves.’

Vaughan stared at their joined palms for a moment, then returned the watch to his waistcoat pocket. ‘Desperate to foist her niece on me more like.’

A smile spread slowly across Lucerne’s face, causing creases to appear around his eyes in a way that always caught Vaughan’s attention. They crinkled in the same way in the afterglow of sex. Captivated by that image of his lover, Vaughan felt a warm glow suffuse his loins. That’s what he wanted to be doing now. Making love. Not listening to this dreadful caterwauling.

Lucerne returned his scrutiny with a rather bemused grin. ‘I don’t need to ask what you’re thinking, but could you please stop it before everyone else in the room realises it too?’

Instead of tempering his thoughts, Vaughan allowed them to expand and solidify into a far filthier image of them top to tail in bed, sucking upon one another’s pricks. His lips parted as the image became more refined and he added details of texture and taste and of smell. He caught a hint of Lucerne’s musk in the sticky heat of the room. It was a scent he associated entirely with lazy mornings spent together sleepily cuddled in bed following a night of raw heat, and the sort of sex that left them both with stubble burns and muscle ache. He liked it hot and hard with Lucerne, and sometimes tender. What he still couldn’t get used to was the constant intrusion.

Bella was part of their life, he couldn’t deny that, but it didn’t mean he had to like it. Sharing did not come easy to him. She’d be there when they got home. She was here now, just engaged with some other friends.

The wickedness in his heart tugged his lips into a half-smile. He had an opportunity to get Lucerne alone. It was one he couldn’t neglect.

He felt Lucerne give a little jerk as he surreptitiously traced the outline of his arse through his breeches.

‘Vaughan!’ There was a tremulous hint to the way he said it. Fear brightened the blue of Lucerne’s eyes, as he warily cast his gaze about. ‘Not here, it’s too risky. There are too many people.’ A ruby blush crept across his high cheekbones. Self-consciously, Lucerne ran a finger around the inside of his collar.

Vaughan gave an acquiescent nod, and faked an interest in the performance again, closing his eyes and allowing his jaw to relax. The fact that what they were going to do was so risky was at least part of its appeal. It wasn’t just taboo, like stealing away with a maiden for a grope in a broom closet; what he shared with Lucerne was illegal, deplorable and debased in the eyes of society, quite possibly satanic too if you listened to the church, which he generally avoided.

‘Stop it!’ Lucerne hissed. ‘I know what you’re thinking.’

‘But nobody else can read my mind.’ Vaughan pursed his lips and allowed Lucerne’s imagination to fill in the blanks. The colour in his cheeks continued to rise, until he was blushing like a virgin. Actually, he blushed far more prettily than most virgins. Vaughan licked his lips. The one thing guaranteed to set Lucerne’s blood afire was the anticipation. Vaughan could stretch this tease out for five minutes or all evening, but the result would be the same. Lucerne pumped up and eager for everything he could dish out, despite his fear of reprisal.

‘Actually I was imagining things the other way round,’ Vaughan said a few moments later, causing Lucerne to stare at him.

‘What?’

‘You must contemplate it too sometimes, think about how it feels to give not receive.’

I have you, he thought. How could he not have? He was dangling a very tender morsel before his lover’s eyes. ‘I know you’ve enjoyed pushing your way inside of me in the past.’ It had only ever been a few times. Bella’s presence necessitated that. Bella and Lucerne took turns in the middle, and he never gave up his position of dominance. Anything else would upset the delicate balance of their relationship. That, and he struggled to control his emotions at the best of times, there was no way he could do it with Lucerne’s cock in his arse. The sensations involved were far too raw. Actually, he didn’t like to contemplate where such a scenario involving the three of them would lead. Individually, the pair stretched his limits. If they ever made a concerted attack on him, well…

But Lucerne alone was a different matter.

‘Vaughan!’

‘Would you like to fuck me, Lucerne?’

He actually heard Lucerne gulp.

‘Don’t do this now.’

He looked deep in to the other man’s eyes, binding their thoughts together. Vaughan wished he could reach up and touch Lucerne. A simple caress was all it would take to seal the pact.

‘Do it now,’ he hissed instead.

Lucerne stiffened. ‘As if you’re really going to allow it.’ He hesitated, then glanced warily at his toes. ‘Or was that an actual request?’

‘Well it hardly seems fair that you get to have all the fun, all of the time.’

Lucerne shook his head. ‘No. I don’t believe you. There’s no way you’re going to let me do that. Besides, what gives you the idea that being sandwiched between you and Bella is fun?’

‘Something to do with how hard you come, perhaps?’ But this time, there would be no Bella.

Lucerne’s mouth opened, but nothing came out, so he shut it again. ‘Listen to the recital,’ he rasped after another minute or so.

Vaughan allowed himself the indulgence of a full-blown smile. ‘How about I listen to it while you fuck me?’

Lucerne shot him a wary glance, but Vaughan merely cocked his eyebrows in the direction of a carved oaken screen, behind which lay the door to the conservatory.

‘No.’

‘Now. Right now. Go, or I’m going to kiss you in full view of the room.’ He wasn’t, leastways not in any way that could be interpreted as anything other than acceptable behaviour, but Lucerne didn’t need to know that.

He held back a moment as Lucerne sidled off, though he doubted anyone was paying them any attention. The audience’s focus was still firmly set upon the warbling girl. Her singing was some of the worst he’d heard in a long time, but she might just afford him some pleasure yet.

Someone had thoughtfully left the key in the lock. Vaughan locked and bolted the door to the conservatory behind him.

‘This is pure folly,’ Lucerne cursed as he turned towards him. ‘There are too many people about.’

‘Really?’ Vaughan waved the key in the air, then chucked it into an empty jardinière. ‘All I see are quarry tiles and pot plants.’

‘It’s too damn risky.’

They moved further into the foliage, to where a spindly metal bench lay shrouded by a circle of tall ferns.

‘It’s too good an opportunity to miss.’

Vaughan grabbed Lucerne’s lapels and tugged his frock-coat backwards off his shoulders, then forced their bodies into contact from hip to shin. Their mouths met as he girdled Lucerne’s hips with his hands, and despite his protests, Lucerne’s kiss was greedy and demanding. He sank into Vaughan’s embrace, and pushed his tongue into Vaughan’s mouth with an eager groan.

Vaughan kissed him back equally hard, not letting him go until they were both panting heavily and had erections fit to burst their breeches. Lucerne’s was particularly evident, encased beneath a tight layer of cream linen.

‘Are you really going to let me do this?’ Lucerne asked.

Vaughan kissed him again, slower this time, until he felt the tension melt out of Lucerne’s limbs and his breaths turned to moans. ‘You know I’d let you do whatever you want.’ Tears pricked in his eyes, as he felt his tightly bottled emotions come rippling to the surface.

Lucerne put a hand on his cock and gave a reassuring squeeze. ‘You like being in control, Vaughan.’

‘Yes,’ he agreed. But sometimes he had to let go and let things get raw and painful. Although, right now he wasn’t anticipating pain, just pleasure. Starting with the deft movements Lucerne was making with his hand as he stroked Vaughan’s cock.

Vaughan felt his balls hitch higher as Lucerne shifted his grip, so that his fingers curled over the head of Vaughan’s cock. It was just the extra bit of friction he needed to have him dancing up on his toes and seeking his lover’s lips again. ‘Do it,’ he hissed into Lucerne’s open mouth. ‘Before I change my mind.’

Lucerne didn’t wait for a second invitation; he tore open the front placket of his breeches, releasing his cock, which seemed to swell further just from the freedom. Vaughan feasted his gaze on the length of him. His lover was nicely proportioned, the foreskin peeled back to reveal the plum tip. Part of him wanted to sink onto his knees in that moment and wrap his lips around that delicate head, suck and lick it until it released its blessing. However, he’d made a promise, and he didn’t need to look into Lucerne’s eyes to know that his friend was fired up because of it.

‘How do you want me?’

‘The bench,’ Lucerne gasped, as his fist opened and closed around his shaft, keeping himself ready. ‘If you grasp it’s back.’

Vaughan shimmied round to the other side of the metal bench and braced himself with his elbows locked. He still had his breeches on and fastened, but Lucerne had the joy of peeling them from his loins. He did this with considerable relish, his big hands working in circles, over and over the firm muscles of his bottom and thighs until the whole area was sensitised, and the brush of cloth where his breeches hung coiled around his knees was just part of the same teasing stroke.

He wished there was time to get properly naked, or at least to lose some of the cloth separating them. He wanted the feel of Lucerne’s lean, muscled chest against his back, the intimacy of that skin on skin contact, but Lucerne’s clothing wasn’t the sort you threw on or off in a hurry. It was sculpted onto him.

He felt Lucerne searching among his coat pockets and felt his cock jolt higher in anticipation. Just a few heartbeats later, he felt the throb of Lucerne’s cock between his buttocks; it’s rigid heat slicked up with oil and insistent against his opening.

‘What is it you always say? Breathe out.’ Lucerne’s hand fisted in Vaughan’s long hair, pulling his head over to one side so he could reach Vaughan’s neck. His shirt precluded him reaching the tender skin of his throat, but Lucerne bit him through the cambric. At the same time he thrust himself against the ring of muscle, forcing his way inside.

Vaughan groaned, the sound half ecstasy and half shock. Oh, God, but that was good, Lucerne’s cock sheer heaven against all the tender nerve endings just inside his anus. ‘More,’ he gasped.

‘Yeah, you feel good to me too,’ Lucerne reassured, ‘but I’m barely inside you yet. You’re hot and so goddamn tight.’

Vaughan pressed back against him, and Lucerne inched his way in, nice and slow, until they were wholly joined together and he could feel the tickle of Lucerne’s pubic fur, but he couldn’t tolerate such a slow thrust. He moved himself away from Lucerne then pushed back hard, causing their skin to slap against one another. Lucerne understood. He took control of the rhythm, shoving his cock into Vaughan’s arse in a nice steady glide.

Vaughan gripped the chair back so hard he thought the metal would bend. His backside was singing; his cock fit to burst. The roll of Lucerne’s hips was so bloody perfect, it made him want to squirm just so he didn’t bring him off too quickly. Only, instead of slowing the pace, his movement lined Lucerne up perfectly with his prostate.

Explosions went off all down his back and his seed shot out so hard, it left streaks over the plants three feet away. He kept crying out, the waves of bliss tumbling over one another, almost causing his knees to buckle. Without the metalwork to cling to, he didn’t think he’d have stayed upright.

‘Ah, that’s good. God, you’re squeezing me.’ Lucerne’s orgasm was swift and sticky. It pounded in Vaughan’s arse, leaving him even dizzier. Lucerne sagged against Vaughan’s back when it was over. ‘Later you’re going to let me do that again,’ he said.

Vaughan laughed. ‘Not unless you say please very nicely.’

‘I’m all ready to say please very nicely now.’ Lucerne rolled him over, so they were facing. His kiss was a delicate sloppy brushing of lips. ‘She’s still singing.’ He looked down at Vaughan’s erection. It had been subsiding, but the scrutiny was enough to send a surge of life back into the shaft. ‘This time I’m going to suck you.’

‘Oh!’ Vaughan sighed as he eased himself back and forth in the soft, warm comfort of his lover’s mouth. Lucerne’s raw talent for this had only improved with practice. He had a way of using his tongue that exerted just the right amount of pressure in all the right spots. Hence he was as stiff again now as if he’d never come.

Vaughan watched Lucerne’s blond head bob. His eyes were closed, so that his long eyelashes shadowed his cheeks. My Lucifer, he thought, smiling at the sight of his fallen angel poised for sin. He was making contented little mewls around Vaughan’s cock as he sucked.

Vaughan closed his eyes, what he wouldn’t give right now to just click his fingers and have them appear at home. He wanted time to savour this experience, but his brain was telling him to hurry it up because the music performance was coming to an end. He let fantasies the evening to come fuel his ascent, Bella’s presence notwithstanding. She’d want to be part of anything they did.

He thought he might let Lucerne swive her tonight. He pictured her beneath them both, her curves still tightly confined by her rigid corset, the dark triangle of her quim enticing beneath the bottom edge of the virginal white brocade. Her breath would be rapid and loose as she accepted his dominance through Lucerne.

His cock in Lucerne’s arse, Lucerne’s cock in her – perfect!

He came with a low hungry growl, pumping his seed into Lucerne’s open mouth. Bemused, he watched the other man swallow down the gift, then wipe the shiny evidence of their lust from his very pink lips. There was applause coming from the other side of the glass door.

Their clothing straightened, Vaughan and Lucerne slid neatly back into the music room to find the other guests in the process of leaving their seats. No one paid them much attention, until their hostess spotted them and arrived before them leading her niece.

‘Milords, may I present to you my niece, Miss St John.’

Mrs Wincombe ushered the songbird forward, and the girl dipped gracefully. Vaughan managed a very thin smile, though he barely looked at her; he’d already sensed what was coming next, and wasn’t interested.

‘Would you mind awfully?’ Mrs Wincombe pressed.

Vaughan scowled. He refused to be used in such an artless fashion. If he went into dinner with the girl it would be all over town by morning and the society matrons would be expecting a proposal within a week. Better that he went into dinner alone, or found Bella to drape off his arm.

Luckily, Lucerne saved him the embarrassment of making a flat refusal by extending his own hand to the girl. While similar rumours might circulate about him, Lucerne would shrug them off and gaze adoringly at Bella. Everyone knew there was an understanding between them, even if they seemed in no hurry to make it official. As if he’d ever allow them to marry. No, that arrangement smacked of too much exclusivity. He wouldn’t have it.

He watched Lucerne and Miss St John lead the dinner procession, trying not to let himself become riled by thoughts of Bella stealing what was rightfully his, but he couldn’t prevent his scowl when she entwined his arm around his.

‘Hungry?’ she asked, and her eyes twinkled with mischief as she looked up at him. ‘Music always gives me an appetite.’

Vaughan cautiously petted her arm. ‘Though not for food, as I recall.’

*****
Bella left the dining room and moved back into the Salon. Vaughan had been right. She was hungry and the food, though delicious, hadn’t sated her appetite. What she craved was something more physical; the sensuous trail of Lucerne’s tongue upon her back, making her shiver, or the feel of his hands upon her bottom tugging her closer as he slipped into her welcoming heat. Unfortunately, he’d already taken to the dance floor with Mrs Wincombe’s niece. Jealously, Bella watched them perform one of the country dances, her irritation growing every time the girl leaned into the hard planes of Lucerne’s body, or glanced up at him to flutter her eyelashes and offer a simpering comment. But what really hurt was when Lucerne returned those glances with his little half-smile, lips just tightening at the corners. It was the smile he used to humour Vaughan when they’d reached a stalemate and neither was prepared to back down. It was a pre-sex thing, intense, deliberate, all about physicality. She’d never seen Lucerne give that smile to anybody else besides Vaughan.

Bella turned her head away from the source of heartache and found Vaughan surrounded by his circle of cronies, but even if a crowd of men hadn’t surrounded him, she didn’t think she’d have sought him out. She wanted to press herself against Lucerne’s lean limbs and feel his taut muscles moving beneath his clothing as he guided her with precise and certain steps. She wanted to feel the ache in her womb grow, and know that his need for her was equally pressing. She didn’t want to snarl her way around the dance floor. Dancing with Vaughan would simply leave her burning and frustrated. It was only with Lucerne that she found relief.

Bella had to endure Lucerne staying with the girl for three dances before she managed to obtain him as a partner, and then she was so full of tension it took a few minutes just to work all the knots out of her limbs. ‘Do you like her?’ she asked.

‘Who?’

‘Mrs Wincombe’s niece.’

Lucerne shrugged. ‘Just humouring our hostess, as Vaughan is not about to.’

‘What, so you danced extra with her so he doesn’t have to? I’m not sure it really works like that Lucerne.’

He smiled down at her. ‘What matters is that he’s not wound up too much, particularly, if you and I want to spend the night together. I do want to spend the night with you, Bella.’

‘You know he won’t allow it, not just the two of us together. He’ll want to be part of it, watching, conducting. It’s only you and me when we slip away.’ She moistened her lips. ‘We should do that now.’

She didn’t hear Lucerne’s response because as they turned and swirled to face one another again, a black-clad figure swooped between them and claimed Lucerne’s hand. Bella came to an abrupt halt, suddenly un-partnered in the centre of the dance floor. It took a moment of bewildered blinking for her brain to catch up with what her body already knew. Vaughan had just cut in on her, and was now dancing her part, much to the shock and amusement of the rest of the room. Around her, snorts of mirth accompanied the flapping of fans and embarrassed blushes. Within moments, several of the other rakehells had taken to the floor similarly paired. Of course, they split moments later to claim all the prettiest and most eligible ladies from under the noses of their current partners.

Bella blinked again and realised that Vaughan and Lucerne had left the dance floor. She found them outside on a lantern-lit terrace, stars glinting overhead and the scents of lavender and chamomile on the breeze. Spoiling for a fight, she marched right between them and growled up at Vaughan: ‘How could you embarrass me like that?’

His gaze left Lucerne’s face and swooped slowly down to meet her upturned glower. Sometimes she hated that he was so much taller, that she couldn’t meet him eye-to-eye.

‘It was remarkably easy,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry, I didn’t have to exert myself.’

She could sense Lucerne biting his lips, stifling the urge to smile. ‘You’re no better,’ she snarled, poking him in the ribs. ‘You let him insult me. You always let him get away with this sort of thing.’

‘Bella.’ Lucerne’s plea was a soft lulling burr. She shook it off, not ready to let it go just yet. Not until she’d won some form of advantage or an apology.

Her attention back on Vaughan, she said: ‘You’re supposed to wait your turn for a dance, not just cut in, it’s rude.’

‘Why the devil would I want to stand round waiting, when I had the perfect means of getting what I wanted immediately?’ Vaughan gave a sharp sigh, and flicked his gaze skyward. ‘You’ll never understand it, will you? Opportunities should be seized when they’re presented, not passed over.’

‘Is that what this is about, seizing an opportunity to sneak off and leave me behind again? He’s not yours, Vaughan.’

‘He’s not yours either.’

‘Ours,’ she blurted. ‘It’s about sharing. Remember what that is.’

Vaughan got right up close to her, tucking his hand behind her neck and moving so that their noses almost touched. It looked as if he was going to kiss her, or bite her. She was never sure which, he’d done both on numerous occasions, and his mood was no predictor. Strangely the thought of both excited her, Vaughan’s kisses burned, they consumed her senses, but when he bit, well, that was about pure dominance, possession. It was sometimes how he was with Lucerne too, when he got really riled.

‘Get off me, Vaughan,’ she growled into his face. She wasn’t frightened of him. Not here and now. There were too many people around for him to do anything truly terrifying. Besides, he’d never yet done anything to her than caused her any real harm. Mostly he just frustrated her beyond reason.

‘He’s coming home with me,’ he said; low enough so that only she could hear it. ‘And you are not invited.’

That was it. She’d known what this was about from the moment he’d cut in on them. Vaughan staking his claim again. Vaughan proving that his will took precedent, and that she was nothing. But Bella knew Lucerne loved her. Once or twice she’d doubted that fact, but never for long. If Lucerne really hadn’t cared for her, her presence wouldn’t have rattled Vaughan so much. He was jealous and cruel, but he could pretend all he liked; she was just as much Lucerne’s lover as he was. Neither of them had any more right to him than the other. Perhaps Vaughan would realise that too one day and actually learn to share, rather than subjecting them to his constant tantrums.

‘And what does Lucerne say to that?’ she asked.

They turned their heads as one to where Lucerne had been just a moment earlier, only to find him gone.

*****
They were driving him insane. Lucerne left them bickering and made his way back into the house. He was so close to cracking that he could feel the pressure beating inside his skull, a dull explosive thump that caused dots of colour to writhe in his field of vision. Thankfully, the number of guests in the Salon had thinned. Lucerne grabbed a glass off a footman and swallowed a mouthful of brandy. Sometimes it felt as if he was in a tug-o war contest, where he was the rope. They both wanted him and they both constantly pulled in different directions, and then there were times like the present, when they were so busy fighting, they didn’t even notice him.

Generally he stuck it out, but this evening… He didn’t know what it was about this evening, but he just wanted to keep walking and forget about the pair of them for a while. He took another sip of brandy. That’s what he was going to do. Leave them to it for the evening, come back later and hope they’d worked some of the tension out of their systems. Near the door he caught sight of Lord Darleston. Lucerne followed, and fell into step with him and his brother in the hallway. ‘Going on?’ he asked.

‘In a fashion,’ Darleston replied, as he accepted his cane and box coat from a footman. ‘Why, are you up for some fun?’

‘I think perhaps I am.’ Lucerne gave him a broad smile. Yes, some simple entertainment might be just the thing. He wondered how long it would take Vaughan and Bella to notice he’d left. He doubted they’d noticed yet. Generally they were so caught up in each other lightning could strike a foot away and they wouldn’t notice.

Neddy, Darleston’s twin brother, clapped Lucerne on the back. ‘Excellent fellow. You can choose the game, although I’m all for easy mort myself.’

‘Actually, you’re just easy,’ remarked his brother. He turned his gaze to Lucerne, and smiled down his rather pointed nose. ‘You’re more than welcome to join us, Marlinscar. Can we expect Pennerley too?’

Lucerne shook his head. ‘He’s otherwise engaged at the moment. Shall we gentlemen?’ he pointed towards the door.

They headed down the front steps and strolled into the night, their canes tapping in time with their steps. Part of Lucerne wanted Vaughan to drive past and snatch him off the street, but another part felt weirdly free. It was all so claustrophobic, their ménage a trois. He never had any space or peace. His every move was scrutinised for signs of favouritism. He wasn’t sure when in the last few minutes he’d made the decision, but he intended to stay out all night.

*****
‘You shouldn’t have done it.’

Startled, Lucerne looked up from his writing bureau next morning to find Vaughan, poised against the study door with his arms folded. He lowered his gaze back to the page. He’d been expecting a visit. The only surprise was that it had taken this long. It was virtually noon, and he was still in his dressing gown. He blotted a drop of ink, which had fallen onto the letter he was writing to his estate manager. ‘What is it?’

Vaughan’s footfalls barely sounded upon the deep pile rug. ‘Another late breakfast?’

Lucerne sniffed but didn’t reply. He determinedly pressed on with his instructions. Vaughan touched the back of his neck. The contact was hardly there to begin with, just a delicate fleeting brush that might have been mistaken for a draft, if Lucerne hadn’t been so acutely aware of his lover’s presence. He felt his muscles tense in anticipation, his body’s responses finely attuned to Vaughan’s whims. His senses weren’t wrong. Vaughan ran his hand up into Lucerne’s hair and forced his head back, drawing a groan of protest from his lips, before Vaughan’s tongue pressed deep into his mouth, claiming him and his attention utterly.

Vaughan twisted and straddled Lucerne’s lap. He forced the dressing gown down Lucerne’s arms so that the silky fabric clung to his pale skin, restricting his movement. ‘I don’t take kindly to being walked out on. Where were you last night?’

‘I expect you know where I was, I dare say you could even describe what I was doing and with whom if you chose.’

‘Perhaps,’ Vaughan agreed. Now that he was closer, his barely restrained anger showed clearly in the glitter of his violet eyes. ‘But what I want is to hear it from your lips.’

Lucerne’s breath hitched in his throat, as Vaughan’s fingers closed around his nipples and cruelly squeezed. ‘And don’t skimp on the details. I want to hear it all, Lucerne. Every breath, every caress of your little infidelity, and you’d best amuse me, or I think I might be very cruel.’ He leaned in closer so that his words brushed Lucerne’s skin, and his voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. ‘You do know how cruel I can be,’ he quirked an eyebrow, ‘don’t you?’ A sharp fingernail scored down the side of Lucerne’s neck, causing him to jerk upward with the pain, but Vaughan’s weight across his lap kept him pinned, and his dressing gown restricted the movement of his arms.

Vaughan gripped him tightly around the back of his neck and forced their mouths together again until Lucerne stopped struggling. ‘Now,’ he whispered, ‘tell me all.’

Lucerne opened his mouth, but Vaughan pressed a silencing finger to his lips.

‘You can omit the names. Those I don’t need to know.’ His lips stretched into a thin seductive smile. ‘And the foreplay. Spare me the tedious banter.’ He removed the finger.

‘We kissed,’ Lucerne gasped.

Vaughan shook his head, and Lucerne began again.

‘She sucked me.’

‘Better,’ the soft word was accompanied by a nod. ‘How were you? Standing, sitting, on the bed?’

‘Sitting.’

‘Like this, then? On a chair with your legs spread.’

‘Close enough.’ Lucerne’s breath seemed to take on extra weight in his lungs. He watched in terrible anticipation as Vaughan slid backwards off the chair and onto his knees. Warm fingers played upon the muscles of Lucerne’s inner thighs. He felt his cock responding to the touch, rising to attention as Vaughan’s dark head bowed to meet it.

‘Continue.’ Vaughan’s hands were inside his dressing gown now, raising the layer of linen to expose him to his tease. It was a cruel tease too, his tongue delicate dabbing the head of his cock, his lips almost making contact then being withdrawn as Lucerne’s body bucked in greeting. Vaughan was good with his mouth, and it was a treat he gave sparingly. ‘I’m waiting, Lucerne.’

With a gulp, he began. ‘She sucked me, using her tongue on the underside and on the eye, until I was…’ Lucerne’s breaths shortened into faltering gasps as Vaughan sucked him deep. His mouth was soft and warm, the trace of his tongue like a taste of heaven. The woman last night hadn’t been half so skilful. Lucerne didn’t want to finish the sentence anymore. He just wanted to lie back and savour the exquisite caresses being played upon his shaft. He let his head fall against the chair back. The strong, determined touches would bring him to ecstasy far quicker and with more force than he’d experience the night before, but he knew Vaughan wouldn’t let him climax so easily, and he also found he couldn’t form the words of the lie that would allow him the pleasure of coming in his lover’s mouth, much as the idea appealed.

‘I couldn’t come like that,’ he was forced to admit. ‘I might have, but her jaw ached…’

‘And she no doubt wanted her own pleasure from such a well-proportioned gent. Vaughan raised his head to look him in the face, though his hand remained curled possessively around Lucerne’s shaft. It was impossible to hold his gaze. Lucerne turned away, his cheeks burning with shame. They both knew what came next. Describing it seemed like overkill, but Vaughan was insistent about hearing every word.

Lucerne closed his eyes and sunk into himself, recalled the sensation of her plump curves beneath his palms, of feeling himself sucked deep, and of drowning in her comforts. She’d been hot and easy, wet, willing and lascivious, letting out mewls of joy as he’d sunk himself into her core. Somehow, he didn’t think that’s what Vaughan had planned for this moment. He braced himself for a sudden role reversal, before spitting out the rest of his confession: ‘I took her in the quaint.’

Vaughan edged back a little, his thumb still working over the sensitive eye of Lucerne’s cock. ‘Ah, in that we have a slight problem don’t we?’ The sweet sensation ceased, and he wriggled a hand under Lucerne’s bottom instead. ‘Or perhaps not.’ One finger traced the whorl of Lucerne’s anus, causing the muscles in his stomach to cramp up in expectation. He knew they’d relax again soon enough, when Vaughan pressed into him, as he’d likely always intended.

As much a captive as if he’d been pinned there, Lucerne groaned and writhed upon the chair as Vaughan’s wetted fingers rubbed and teased the sensitive opening. One digit slipped inside, then two. Lucerne’s jaw went slack as the tight muscles in his rear passage also relaxed. God it felt good, far too good if truth be told. And better for knowing it was deeply wrong on so many levels.

Vaughan dragged him off the chair and onto the rug. For the space of several thundering heartbeats their gazes locked.

Facing! Oh lord, he’s going to do it looking me in the eye. Normally, he was at least allowed to hide his expression. It always made it more personal, all about the here and now, when they fucked like this. There was no escaping that they were two men loving each other. No hiding from the intense thrill and utter carnality of their passion. He’d lost count of the nights they’d spent together now, and of the times Vaughan had claimed him, but he could count on his fingers the number of times they’d done it facing one another

Lucerne wasn’t ashamed of what they shared. He was frightened by the intensity of it. There was a powerful physical bond between them, but emotionally they were all over the place, something Bella’s presence in their lives only exacerbated. Loving Vaughan, being loved by Vaughan, was not for the faint-hearted.

‘You’re so pretty when you blush.’ Vaughan ran his fingertips over the scarlet heat in Lucerne’s cheeks. ‘Details, Lucerne, how did you enter her? All at once, or one blessed inch at a time? Were you a gentleman, or a beast?’

The feel of Vaughan poised ready to enter him, of his hand again curled around his shaft sent shivers of anticipatory pleasure rolling through Lucerne’s body. ‘A beast,’ he sobbed, watching lilac sparks flick across Vaughan’s irises. He’d been intoxicated by the prospect of deceit last night, high on the illicit thrill of her body. She’d been all soft contours: her skin and scent so very different from Vaughan’s, and even from Bella’s. It had been a complete escape from the crushing obsession that he experienced in this house. He’d needed to escape, and had cared for nothing else besides finding some relief. ‘I ground myself into her, filled her, until she left scratches on my back and we both came.’

Vaughan’s lips curled into a snarl. His anger, barely contained, caused his grip to tightened. He wouldn’t be gentle. He’d be hard. He wouldn’t demand an apology; he’d simply take it. Last night had been about escapism and simple pleasures; this would be another bout in the constant battle that was his life. The relationship he shared with Vaughan and Bella allowed for nothing else. Moments of peace were just that, moments, whereas a simple fuck was never that. There was a separate agenda behind every move.

Vaughan jammed their bodies together. The sudden feeling of fullness made Lucerne buck off the floor. He cried out, but his body soared under the rough caress, quickly welcoming Vaughan’s rough possession. He felt Vaughan’s hand about his cock and curled his own hand on top. Now they’d reached this point, he didn’t want to come too quickly. Instead, he willed the feeling of being locked together to last. While they were bound, everything was clear-cut. It was the only time he truly felt at peace, aside from when he was similarly entwined with Bella. But there was only so much pleasure his body could take before his climax ripped through his knotted muscles and wrung his cock dry onto his stomach.

He grunted, trying to catch his breath as Vaughan continued to use him, until he too came with a shuddering jerk.

Only once they both lay sated, with their skin soiled and their clothes tangled about them, did Vaughan look up and demand another kiss. ‘I’m not done making my point yet,’ he warned. ‘You deserve another punishment.’

Lucerne closed his eyes and held on to his lover. He was entirely certain of Vaughan’s point in the first place.

‘You’re right,’ he admitted. ‘I do know where you were and who you were with, and I suggest you make it a unique occurrence or I won’t be keeping that information to myself. How do you think Bella will react if I divulge your little tryst? She worships you as a saint. I’m the villain, remember.’

‘You won’t tell her?’

Vaughan grasped him by the chin and forced him to look him in the eye again. ‘Oh, won’t I? What exactly am I going to lose if she leaves you? I never really wanted her here, and I’m not the one in love with her, you are.’ He released Lucerne’s chin with a shove, then hitching his pantaloons back up, swept towards the door. ‘Don’t test me, Lucerne. You won’t like the outcome.’

Lucerne gave a weary sigh and propped himself up on his elbows. He shrugged off his dressing gown and nightshirt and used the latter to clean his skin. ‘You forgot to ask why I did it, Vaughan,’ he murmured, but his words went unheard over the sound of the door slamming. He got up and rang for his valet. Best he got dressed before Bella was along to demand an explanation too, though he expected she’d thoroughly enjoyed her night with Vaughan. She liked him best of all when he was thoroughly wound up and she could provoke a reaction from him with the merest whisper. Indeed when she arrived, she was smiling.

‘Did he torture you?’ she asked. ‘He did me. He thought we were in collusion.’ She sat on his knee, and pecked his cheek. ‘Where did you go?’

‘Nowhere special, he replied. ‘Just off with the Darleston twins.’

She laughed. ‘Then Vaughan will be snubbing them too. Good. We’re expected there tonight, and I thought it would be fun to stay home for a change.’

‘Staying home, eh? Is that allowed?’

‘Say it is.’ She wiggled upon his lap.

‘Anything you want.’ He stood, lifting her into his arms as he rose. ‘But if we’re going to be indisposed this evening, let’s work on making that exhaustion real.’ And he carried her to the bed.

This story takes place between the events in A Gentleman's Wager and Phantasmagoria, and as such contains some spoilers pertaining to the first book in the series.

Indiscretions is intended as a teaser, and is not required reading for the series. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy learning a little more about what Bella, Vaughan and Lucerne have been upto.

Enjoyed the teaser? Would you like to know more? Follow the saga of Bella, Vaughan and Lucerne in