Tessa's Redemption (5 page)

Chapter 5

Angel felt a rage he’d never before experienced. He stepped into the carriage and shut the door with a slam, his body shaking. “You gave me your word, you scoundrel.”

Alex shrugged, then looked to Tessa with obvious heat in his gaze. Angel followed his lead and drank in the remarkable picture she made. Obviously still recovering from her orgasm, she was a lovely heap of satiation on the seat.

When he’d heard that Alex’s carriage had been spotted in the village, that he and Tessa had been seen leisurely strolling about High Street, his senses had sharpened. Seeing the subtle rocking of Alex’s well-sprung carriage had told him what he might expect when he opened the door. However, instead of finding Alex rutting on her as he’d anticipated, he saw the man giving her another glorious climax as he had last night.

“You can see that I did not take her,” Alex pointed out.

Angel’s mouth gaped, and then his eyes fell on Tessa’s pussy. It was glistening wet, both from Alex’s mouth and her own juices. Her scent was heavy in the confines of the carriage, and his cock hardened.

Alex sat back on his heels, his shaft a blatant bulge in his trousers. Angel looked at Tessa again, at her languid pose and wanton display, and an unexpected notion came to him. In a flash, he made a decision.

“Take her,” he told Alex.

Alex gaped at him now. “What?”

Angel unbuttoned his trousers. “We are both present, are we not?”

Tessa stirred, letting out a purr of pleasure as she stretched. Her eyes fluttered open, and she smiled softly at Alex. When her gaze flicked to Angel she froze. “Angel?”

He bowed his head, unable to summon a more courtly gesture. He faced Alex once more.

“Take her, Alex,” he said again. “Fuck her.”

He settled on the seat opposite and rubbed his aching cock. Alex rose to sit beside Tessa, who wore confusion on her exquisite face.

“You…You wish to watch?” Alex asked, his brow furrowed.

Angel gave a short laugh. “Hardly. I want Tessa’s beautiful mouth on my cock while you take her from behind.”

Tessa’s eyes widened but Alex’s face broke into a wide grin, the rogue.

“My pleasure,” he said.

Angel freed his cock with a groan. “Mine as well, I imagine. If Tessa agrees.”

Tessa gave a small nod and that was all the encouragement he needed.

The configuration of the carriage interior proved ideal for his proposal. Alex placed Tessa on his lap, her smooth thighs straddling his legs as he began to thrust up into her pussy. When Tessa began to arch in pleasure, Angel took her hands and placed them on either side of his own thighs. Her mouth was a scant inch from the head of his cock, which began to weep with need.

“Suck me, Tessa,” he rasped.

She glanced up at him for a heart-stopping moment, astonishment and lust evident in her eyes. In the next moment she engulfed the head of his cock in her succulent mouth. It was heaven.

He could tell that Alex fucked her hard, his grunts mixing with Tessa’s muffled mews of pleasure as her mouth devoured Angel’s cock. He had to support his shaft himself as her hands held her braced above him, but that proved to be no hardship. He stroked himself, aiming for the back of her throat as she bobbed her head over him. Her lips, her tongue, her teeth, all combined to make a sublime suction that drove him closer to climax. His shaft lengthened as Alex’s cries increased. Tessa trembled between them, and Angel knew all three of them were very close to the end.

His balls tightened in anticipation of climax, and he threw his head back and let go. He came in great, heaving thrusts as she began to sob her own release. Alex let out a growl of completion as he joined them in orgasm.

After what seemed like more than several blissful minutes, Angel gathered her in his arms. He leaned forward to rest her on Alex’s chest. Alex held her close as Angel kissed her.

“That surpassed my fantasies, Tessa,” Angel said.

Alex laughed low in his throat as Tessa sighed in answer. He watched as she turned her head to kiss Alex. He had to look away. How strange that he could stand to watch Alex fuck her but not kiss her. It was almost as if that was far more intimate than their coupling.

Angel stuffed his cock back into his trousers and settled back against the seat. Alex helped Tessa rearrange her clothing, that simple, caring action rousing a jealousy that the man’s vigorous fucking had not. He stared at the ceiling of the carriage until they were once more dressed.

Angel faced them. Tessa’s hair was a bit mussed, but otherwise she looked presentable. Alex did as well.

“I’m still fucking her tonight, Angel,” Alex said.

Angel stroked Tessa’s soft cheek and stared into her eyes. “We shall see about that.”

Tessa stiffened then settled on the seat next to her lover. Her brow furrowed as she lifted the shade obscuring the window beside her. She turned her face toward the window. “May we go home, please?”

Angel looked at Alex, who wore concern on his face. Angel longed to soothe her himself but suspected she wouldn’t accept that from him. Not with Alex’s hands stroking hers. Did she regret what they just shared?

She’d found her pleasure, that was certain. Did she regret agreeing to their arrangement on the whole? He didn’t quite know how he felt about that. While he wanted her for his own, he doubted she would ever give her tender heart to him again. Hadn’t he crushed it a mere six months ago?

Not long after that awkward exchange, Alex’s driver returned to the carriage.

“Let us go home, love,” Alex said.

Tessa nodded, still staring out the window.

“I shall see you back at the house,” Angel said, leaving the two of them in the carriage.

He walked back toward his office, his mind working. Tessa had been almost unbearably passionate, yet afterward she’d withdrawn from the both of them. There was something amiss, and Angel was damned if he knew what it was or how to fix it.

* * * *

Tessa sat at the fine dining table, quiet as the circumspect staff served the three of them and left them in peace. Angel and Alex had dressed for dinner, as she had. Fine clothing, careful coiffure, exquisite manners. There was no sign that the three of them had recently engaged in an unusual sexual encounter. And in Alex’s carriage, of all places!

She’d never imagined that the two of them would ever want her at the same time, nor that she would crave that as well. When Alex proposed this arrangement, she’d envisioned a kind of turn-taking with regards to having her. Yet she had never felt more pleasure than having Alex take her while she sucked Angel’s amazing cock deep in her mouth. She was already wondering what would happen if her two gentlemen reversed positions.

What she hadn’t counted on was the manner in which they behaved afterward. She’d felt rather like a fleck of meat left on a bone being fought over by two hungry hounds.

She moved a slice of roast beef about on her plate, absently noting its fineness. It was accompanied by potatoes and vegetables, and it was very pretty indeed. Another sumptuous meal in Alex’s house. She had little appetite for it tonight, however.

“How do you find your dinner, Tessa?” Alex asked.

She started then looked across the table at him. She managed a smile. “It is done quite well.”

“A fine repast,” Angel put in.

Alex spared him a glance before facing Tessa again. “I say, you are a bit pale. Are you well?”

Tessa nodded. “Quite well, Alex.”

“Are you cold?” Angel asked.

“No, I—”

“I keep my house comfortable, Angel,” Alex cut in. “Are
you
cold?”

“No. Obviously Tessa—”

“Pray, tell me,” Alex spat. “You have known Tessa for but a few days now, in spite of almost marrying her.”

Angel surged to his feet. “Now, see here!”

“I have been the one to see to her comforts once you threw her out,” Alex went on.

“I know that full well!” Angel countered. “Although I daresay you did so for your own selfish reasons.”

“The hell you say!” Alex said, standing. “She is my concern, and I happily bear the responsibility.”

“I am quite fine!” Tessa cried.

The two of them gaped at her, their faces wearing matching expressions of surprise.

“Tessa, I was merely pointing out to your Angel that he is in no position to question the way in which I keep you.”

“Keep her?” Angel growled.

She stood, tossing her napkin down on her plate. “Enough!”

“Tessa,” Angel gasped.

Trembling, she looked from one man to the other. Angel appeared quite worried. For Alex’s part, his brows were raised, but a smile teased one corner of his well-formed mouth.

“Is something troubling you, Tessa mine?” he asked.

All the temper seemed to flee from her at his teasing question. In any event, how on earth would she ever articulate what she was feeling?

“No, Alex,” she answered. She sat and placed her napkin back on her lap. “Shall we eat?”

She picked at her vegetables and focused on eating. She could sense their eyes on her but would not give them more reason to argue. She would simply set their animosity aside as they concluded the meal and the inevitable glasses of sherry in the parlor. Then they would take her to bed. Both of them.

Let them attempt to continue their argument in the bedchamber. She suspected that even she could summon the courage to tell them both where they could take their fine selves should that happen.

By the time they’d finished the meal, Tessa felt once more like herself. She’d never been one to raise an objection, not to Alex or to her family before him. Hadn’t she meekly followed her father’s edict to go to Alex’s mother to seek a change in her circumstances two years ago? Those circumstances had been changed, that was certain.

“Shall we retire to the parlor, love?” Alex asked her, drawing her from her dismal musings.

She nodded and rose, then froze as she caught the expression on Angel’s face. If she squinted a bit, she could almost see hurt there. Oh, he was jealous. Of that she had no doubt. Did he perhaps envy more than her physical attachment to Alex? She swallowed. Would he challenge the safety she’d found here?

Her stomach suddenly in turmoil, she preceded them into the parlor. They settled at the table set in one corner. Alex withdrew the playing cards and attempted to teach her whist, but with three players he had a dismal result.

“Hearts, Angel,” Alex said. “I daresay you know something of them?”

Angel glared in Alex’s direction, setting his cards on the table. “Quite. I am in no state of mind to play this evening.” He stood. “I believe you mentioned something about sherry, Alex?”

Alex nodded, coming to his feet. Tessa watched him pour the liquor, unable to decipher the expression on his face. Was he thinking about her outburst at the dining table? Would he judge her harshly? In a moment she dismissed that thought. Alex was never one to judge. That was Angel’s position.

“I concede the game to you, Tessa,” Angel said with a bow, turning to Alex to take the offered glass. “Thank you.”

“Here, Tessa,” Alex said as he set her glass before her. “Do you fancy a game with me alone?”

She knew what he asked in truth. As she sipped her drink she thought to give him a dose of his own medicine. “I believe I shall play a game of patience, Alex. There are times when a person can derive more enjoyment in solitary occupation.”

He gaped at her then hooted his laughter, elbowing Angel in the ribs. “Well said, love! Though I think I would derive as much enjoyment watching you.”

“However could that be?” Angel asked. Comprehension dawned on his face and his eyes grew wide. “Oh! I had never thought of… Well, I daresay that would be…”

“Easy, Angel,” Alex said with a grin. “Tessa is merely teasing. No need to get yourself in knots.”

Angel frowned, then managed a small smile. “There is much I can learn from both of you, it seems.”

Tessa smiled in his direction, feeling as if she’d won this particular hand despite the stacked cards on the table. Taking up the cards, she arranged them for her solitary game as the three of them spoke of happenings in the village.

“How are you enjoying your work in the village, Angel?” she asked. “I take it your new enterprise is proving advantageous?”

“Yes indeed, Tessa. I admit the diversity of the work appeals to me in a manner I wager making sermons never would have.”

He spoke of his previous ambition, then.

“I admit I blamed myself for your change in circumstance when Alex told me you’d sold your living,” she said softly.

Angel flicked his eyes toward Alex, who gave a graceful shrug.

“You must know that news travels quickly in Oake,” Alex said.

Angel nodded. “I can honestly say I do not miss it, Tessa. It seems I have a knack for this particular work.”

She smiled. “I’m glad.”

The men pursued a conversation about horses or some other such business, the pleasant timbre of their conversation punctuated now and again as Tessa turned over a card on the table with a snap. She relished the feeling of sharing a space with the two of them and not only sitting there like an ornament. She began to feel like an able companion to them. Even if it was her own delusion, she would embrace it. It was far preferable to the animosity she’d had to deflect in the dining room.

A little more than one hour after the awkward conclusion of their meal and her cheeky comment on playing alone, it was apparently time to retire. Alex placed his empty glass on the table beside him with a finality that showed his eagerness. An answering flutter in her belly heralded her own body’s reaction. It wouldn’t be long before her pussy joined in the cacophony, clamoring for the ultimate possession. She bit her lip to refrain from letting out a moan.

His strong hands brushed over his well-fitting trousers as he stood. He was so tall, her Alex. So commanding. Was it any wonder that she still melted in his arms?

Angel seemed to be vibrating, with anger or with anticipation she couldn’t guess. She briefly wondered what effect Alex’s glib statement in the carriage would have once they were ensconced in the bedchamber. He’d said that he would have her again tonight despite Angel’s objections. She wanted Alex as well. Deep inside her in any fashion he wished. Oh, would Angel insist on taking her too? It was her turn to quake in anticipation.

She rose on shaking legs and placed her hand in Alex’s outstretched one. “Are we to retire?” she asked, knowing the answer.

“Yes, love.”

As she’d expected, Angel stood and crossed to them.

“Then let us,” he said.

She cringed inwardly as she waited for another argument, but instead a silent communication seemed to flow between them. Angel gave a curt nod and stalked past them to the doorway.