Warren smirked, not tearing his eyes from Charles. His cock was hard as iron. Watching Charles kiss Madeline again, knowing she was asking for it, knowing they both knew he was there, it unlocked something in his mind, something wild and hungry.
Her words hammered through his head. Could this be real? Could this lady truly be considering an arrangement with them both? It was unthinkable. And yet, Burke’s words last night still spun through his mind. There was a way to have Charles. There was a way to have more than Charles if Warren wanted it. If he could accept the sacrifices that might come…
In this moment, it didn’t feel like he was being asked to sacrifice a damn thing.
“Are you asking me to kiss your wife, Charles?” he teased, still not quite ready to believe Charles was so perfectly at ease with this situation either.
“She’s not my wife,” Charles replied, and Warren saw the way Madeline tensed. “You’ve made me no promises yet,” he added more gently. “Madeline, you said in the woods there is no agreement between us. You can kiss any man in England. Those were your words.”
Warren stiffened, fighting his rising sense of rejection. “Any man, you say? Shall I go fetch Porter the pigman? Or perhaps you’d like to feel the brush of Harry’s thick mustache against your lips.”
“No—” She turned in Charles’s arms. “I only want you. I want both of you,” she added, her fingers brushing down the lapel of Charles’s coat. “If you will teach me…if you will show me what this can be, I’m willing to learn. I am not so willing to give up on Charles as a suitable husband just because of the minor impediment of his already having a lover. Not when the man in question is, well…you,” she finished awkwardly, her cheeks flaming red at her admittance.
Christ, this girl was in for it.
Warren stepped forward, wrapping an arm around her narrow shoulders, ready to silence whatever ridiculous and poignant thing was about to slip from her lips next. He claimed her mouth, pressing himself between her and Charles, not caring how close Charles chose to stay. With one hand in her curls, he dropped the other to the buttons of her pelisse.
She gasped, tearing her lips away. “Warren—what—”
“Easy, lovely,” he soothed. “Nothing else needs to come off. But it’s still soaking wet up to your knees. Give it to Charles to dry by the fire. Besides, then we can more easily kiss this pretty neck,” he added, trailing a calloused finger from her jaw, down the line of her neck, ending at her sternal notch.
She shivered and he already wanted to break his promise. This girl was so sensitive, so easy to please. It was going to be fun to tease her, to hold her at the edge of release until she was squirming on his tongue.
She stood before him now wearing only her pretty little walking dress. It was one he’d seen the duchess wear before, styled in a pattern of stripes and pink flowers. The bodice was a bit loose and cut too wide for her slender frame. It let him see the sweet rise of her breasts with each breath.
“Lesson number one in kissing a man,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to take what you want. Let your hands move as they see fit. Your lips too—”
“I want to touch your hair,” she blurted, covering her mouth with a small hand.
Next to her, Charles huffed a soft laugh.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I—it’s just that I’ve already felt his hair, and it’s lovely, and I’ve never felt yours and—”
“Stop apologizing. That’s going to drive me crazy. In this place, between the three of us, there’s no need for it. Understood? Take what you want. Hold nothing back.”
She nodded, biting that bottom lip as she reached out with both hands, her thin fingers dragging through his hair. He had it tied back at his nape, the end’s falling between his shoulders. She surprised him when her deft fingers worked the leather tie. She tossed it aside, her fingers going back to his hair.
He glanced at Charles, who just shrugged, a smirk playing at his lips.
She flipped his hair in two pieces over either shoulder. “You know, long hair isn’t very fashionable.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” he muttered.
“I’m not disappointed,” she replied, studying it with a gentle touch. “I like it on you. Not all men could look so handsome with such long hair. Perhaps your scars add to the effect or your general size or—”
“Madeline?” He raised both his hands, gently cuffing her wrists, holding her still.
She glanced up at him, those blue eyes like deep pools of spring water.
“You don’t have to say every single thing you’re thinking out loud,” he soothed. “You’re nervous, and that’s fine. Be nervous. But you said you wanted a lesson in kissing, and yet here we are, three people not kissing.”
She perked up. “Can three people do that?” Immediately she bit that damn lip again, trying to tug her wrists away. “I’m sorry. You just said not to say everything I’m thinking and I—oh, no—and I just apologized again too. I’m not good at this. I just—”
“No,” he laughed. “That was a good one, because it was actually about kissing.” He glanced over at Charles, surprised he could go so long with his cock so hard without a single thing being done about it. “What do you think, Charles? You’re the Cambridge educated one amongst us. Can three people kiss?”
His eyes went wide. “I…”
Warren laughed. Christ, he loved this nonsensical man. “Get in here and kiss us, Charles. The lady has a theory to test.” He wrapped a firm arm around Charles, pulling him closer.
Charles came willingly, his own hand snaking around Madeline’s back to rest atop the one Warren already had there. “I’ve never…”
“Neither have I,” Madeline admitted, her eyes brightening, as if relieved to know she wasn’t alone.
It gave Warren an idea. “Well, if we’re all making confessions, then I suppose I should say I’ve never kissed two people at once either. But you two seem nice—even if you did shove your way in, interrupting my dinner. Now, start kissing, or it’s back in the snow you go.”
Madeline let out a soft laugh that set Charles at ease and Warren knew they were ready, they just needed someone to lead them. Warren was more than ready to be their guide down the path towards depravity. If it meant more kissing, he’d lead them with bells on his shoes.
He tipped Madeline’s face back and kissed her soundly, teasing her with his tongue. She tasted faintly of his peppermint and mallow root tea. The moment she let her own tongue flick against his lips, he pulled back. He raised his hand from Charles’s back to his nape. “Kiss her, Charles. Taste how sweet.”
Charles pressed in, moving his mouth against hers in a way that had Warren’s cock twitching with need. He may be a novice at kissing women, but he certainly wasn’t a novice at kissing. He’d had more than enough practice with Warren over the years. He led boldly, taking what he wanted from her lips, dominating her in the way Warren liked to dominate him.
Madeline was less tentative now too. She had her hands raised, clutching to Warren’s shirt and Charles’s coat lapel. As she kissed Charles, Warren took her hand, loosening her hold on his shirt. He helped her flatten her hand against his chest. Taking her wrist, he dragged her hand across his chest, and she shivered, her fingers clenching.
He smiled, letting her go, and her hand moved on its own, tracing over his chest, up his neck, back into his hair. Christ, she was a quick study. He wanted to teach her more. Hell, he’d teach her everything.
When she gave a little tug, he groaned, dropping his face until he was pressing in around them both. He gave Charles’s nape a soft tug, just enough to pull him away from Madeline’s mouth, enough to let Warren flick with his tongue. Charles groaned, quickly learning the game. It was messy and strange, but Warren fucking loved it. They kissed as one, their mouths moving without pattern, their tongues teasing. Madeline whimpered and they fought each other to be the one to taste it first.
He tightened his hold on both their napes, loving the near-immediate surrender they offered him, bending to his will, to the firmness of his hands. He could get drunk off this feeling of power. Charles had always been his to use and cherish. Would Madeline be so willing to play the same games?
He pulled out of the kiss first, dropping his mouth to taste that same spot on her neck that Charles had teased minutes before. She broke the kiss with a gasp. “Oh my—oh—it feels so good. I don’t— I don’t know what’s happening to me,” she whimpered.
“Are you soaking wet, lovely?” he teased. “Are you aching for us?”
Charles dropped his mouth to kiss the other side of her neck and she shivered.
“I don’t—wet?” She sounded confused.
“Between your legs, pretty girl,” he murmured. “It’s okay to admit that you’re wet for us. One touch and you’d know the way Charles and I are aching for you too. No shame, remember?”
“I-I don’t know.”
Warren stilled, pulling away. He looked down into her half-closed eyes. Christ, he had to know what they were dealing with here. “Madeline, tell me what you feel right now. As Charles kisses you, what do you feel? Charles, don’t stop,” he directed at him.
Charles teased with his lips and tongue, slowly moving his hands, and she squirmed.
“Talk to me, lovely,” he said again. “You usually like talking. Explain it to me.”
She licked her lips. “I…I feel hot all over.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere,” she whimpered.
“What else do you feel?”
She slid her hands through Charles’s caramel curls, bending to the press of his hands. “I—god—I feel a-a fluttering.”
“Where?” he pressed.
“In my stomach,” she replied. “I—I’ve never felt it like this before.”
Charles let her go, panting for breath. He looked dazed, starved.
Warren put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from diving back in. He had eyes only for the sweet girl in their arms. He had to know. “Madeline, have you ever touched yourself?”
She blinked up at him, breathing hard. “Touch myself? I-I don’t understand.”
“Which is answer enough,” he muttered. He looked pleadingly at Charles.
“What?” Charles murmured. “What’s wrong?”
He stepped back, shaking his head and taking a deep breath. Not now. Not like this. They had to slow down. He didn’t want any regrets. He needed to think, needed to plan this out.
“Right, here’s what we’re going to do.” He slowly pulled Charles away from her. “Madeline, get dressed. Charles is going to take you back to Alcott.”
Her expression fell. “But—”
“Before the duchess sends out a search party and raids my house,” he added. “The last thing we need is an angry duchess finding you here without your stockings on.”
Charles checked the time on Warren’s wall clock. “Christ, it’s already after five.”
“Oh no,” Madeline gasped, spinning around to reach for her things.
“Not so fast,” Warren said with a laugh, grabbing her wrist. “We’re letting you go for now, but you have a job to do for us.”
She stilled. “A job?”
Charles crossed his arms. “Warren, what are you—”
“Aye, a job,” he repeated, giving Charles a knowing look. He turned his attention back to Madeline, placing his hands on her shoulders. “You want us to teach you? Here is your second lesson: self-pleasure. You will go home. And when you’re alone tonight, lying in your bed, I want you to touch yourself.”
She huffed. “You keep saying that. I touch myself all the time, Warren. Look—touch, touch.” She touched her arms, her cheeks.
It was so endearing he wanted to stroke her cheek…or fuck her ‘til she screamed. God, how he wanted to be the first to touch that sweet cunt. But she had to take this first step alone. He shook his head. “Stop arguing and listen. Tonight, while you’re lying warm and snug in your bed, you’re going to lift your chemise, and you’re going to touch yourself between your legs.”
Her eyes went wide. “Between my legs?”
“Aye, between your legs…and perhaps give those pretty pink nipples a tweak too.”
She gasped, her arm going up reflexively to cover her chest, as if she’d forgotten she was fully clothed. “Mr. Warren!”
“Yes, that’s perfect. Think of me as you do it. Think of Charles kissing your neck. Say our names and then just…see what happens, alright?”
She just blinked, biting that bottom lip. Warren would have to deal with breaking her of that habit later. If he didn’t let them go now, he was going to have them both naked and moaning beneath him.
“Good. Get yourselves ready then. I’m going to fetch more wood.” Not waiting for either of them to speak, he grabbed his coat and scarf off the hook and left, closing the door with a sharp rattle.
