Lord Regret's Price: A Jane Austen Space Opera, Book 3 Read online

  “You’re not considering going back to Londonium.” Sig tipped her chin up, his fingers as harsh as hers had been moments before. “Because I’ll tie you up and dump you back in Xuanyuan with no ship and no wormhole at your disposal before I’ll let you go back to that serpent’s nest.”

  “Of course not,” she said tartly, reaching around to pinch his bum. Hard. “But I have the ability to help her, so I must. I can’t sit back and watch while her humanity is lost. Think of the millions who might suffer her wrath if she goes insane. The civilizations she might destroy.”

  “She’s already destroyed the Razari,” Gil said, his arms tightening with worry. “I don’t want you to be next, sweetheart.”

  “Hmm, we shall see about the Razari. I don’t think they’re as doomed as she—or they—believe. If I’m right, then I can certainly help Majel too. I must.”

  “But how?” Sig asked. “If you contact her, she’ll trace us. If she can even pinpoint the system we’re in, she’ll have a dozen warships after us before we can hop to the next system. Before too long, everyone will bar us from their ports to save themselves the aggravation of having Britannian ships sniffing around.”

  “I’m sure I’ll find a way.”

  Gil nuzzled her neck. “Yes, I’m sure you will, Lady Wyre.”

  “The legendary Lady Doctor Wyre.” Sig bit her ear hard enough that she squealed. “You did have time to pack those toys you picked up in Hoeng Gong, didn’t you?”

  Laughing, she sat up despite their protests and went in search of her trunks. “I’ve now added a new must-have requirement to my repertoire: silks, tea and sex toys. Although there are so many incredibly interesting things I saw in the shop that I have no idea how to use.”

  Gil groaned, but his voice quavered with laughter, “Uh oh, Sig. You’d better pilot us to the nearest marketplace. Lady Wyre needs to go shopping.”

  “I also need to do more research and experimentation.” She kept her voice even and strode casually back to the bed with their modest collection of toys, but they knew her too well to not sense even the most minute hesitation in her usually confident manner. They sat up, both men powerful and handsome and so utterly determined to protect her from anything that might threaten her.

  Especially herself.

  Gil and Sig looked at each other, some silent masculine query that made her lips quirk with amusement. Once upon a time, they’d looked at each other askance, as though one would steal his wallet—or knife—as soon as his attention waned. Now they depended on each other and even worked together in an effort to figure her out.

  She laughed softly to herself. As if that would ever help them.

  They’d certainly never sat easily so close together, both nude and aroused, without an ounce of embarrassment or doubt.

  “What?” Sig asked, his eyes narrowed.

  “Oh nothing,” she said lightly, twirling the ring she’d bought him on her index finger. “I’m just admiring the two handsome, strapping men in my bed. You make quite the picture side by side like that. Golden and dark, one lean and small yet oh-so lethal; the other big and powerful. Both of you bristling with aggression when the need arises. I can’t help my wayward imagination.”

  Gil flushed and carefully kept from looking at the other man. “We made it clear in the beginning that we…that he…and I…”

  He’d been adamant from the beginning that he had no interest in men. Perhaps too vocally and adamantly. As Sig had been initially horrified at the flail, perhaps Gil might have felt the beginnings of an unwanted attraction and had reacted with extreme prejudice.

  Eyes wide, Sig stared at the other man like an unexpected hypothesis had just occurred to him, and he couldn’t decide if it was brilliant or utterly ridiculous.

  To help smooth the potentially volatile discussion until a less heated moment, Charlotte voiced the secret wish that had made her hesitate on her way back to join them. “I want you both inside me again. Very much indeed. However…” as she intended, her words made both men’s attention snap to her face, “…not as before.” She spread her arms, allowing uncertainty to show on her face. “I’m not quite sure how to accomplish it.”

  An image flashed into her mind that wasn’t her own. She was lying on top of Gil, looking down into his dark eyes, with a heavy weight on her back.

  Sig blew out a low breath. “You gave him some of your nanobots.”

  So that image had been Gil’s. Perhaps that thought had been inspired the first time they’d passed through the wormhole and Sig had fallen upon him. “He wanted to share what we have despite the risks.”

  “How could you know that?” Gil asked suspiciously.

  “I told you there were some unexpected side effects.” Dropping the toys on the bedside table so they’d be close if the need arose, she returned to the bed and gently pushed him to lie on his back. Gil, being the man he was, went without question. Straddling him, she leaned down to kiss him leisurely. “We’re still in the experimental stage, but the nanobots have developed a rough method of communication between their hosts that doesn’t require words.”

  “So you can read our thoughts.”

  Thankfully he didn’t sound accusatory. That might change later, once he suspected that he couldn’t keep anything from her, from Sig. Not even his most secret and private thoughts, no matter the embarrassment. “And you can read mine, or you shall, if we work on building the rapport. I didn’t give you very many nanobots yet, and we may find that you need a few more assemblers or whatever has improved communication between Sig and me. But yes, the short answer is that I can read your thoughts to an extent, and so can Sig. We just saw an image of me between you both, with you on your back like this.”

  She nipped his neck and took his erection into her, slowly, keeping his attention locked fully on her. “Luckily it was exactly the same thing I was thinking.”

  Sig left the bed momentarily but she wasn’t concerned. She could hear him rummaging around in the bath. “I hope you don’t mind Sig on top of me. We might prove to be very heavy.” She didn’t voice the concern that she’d once had, that one of them might be offended by the other touching him, no matter how accidentally.

  “I won’t mind.” Gil’s voice rumbled lower, his big hands kneading her backside, keeping her close. “Not at all.”

  “And I hope you don’t mind that I didn’t suggest you on top. Your size makes you too formidable, especially this first time.”

  “Hey,” Sig protested plaintively, but that didn’t stop him from joining them.

  She flashed a sultry, appreciative smile over her shoulder at him, watching as he dumped some massage oil into his hands. “You’re only marginally less formidable, dearest. And, well, your tastes may be more suited for this task.”

  His brilliant eyes were as dark as the midnight sky. “This first time, it’s going to hurt, no matter how careful I am.”

  “I trust you,” she whispered, her own voice raw as she watched his hand casually running up and down his cock to prepare the way. “I trust you to make it good despite the pain.”

  Kneeling on the mattress at Gil’s feet, Sig looked up at the other man, slowly pumping himself. “Bring her right to the edge. Then I’ll push us all over the top.”

  She didn’t miss the way Gil’s heavy-lidded gaze watched that hand as she’d done. Or how silky Sig’s voice had gone as he gave out his orders to the other man. There were so many untried depths to plumb between them all. So many different ways they could learn to pleasure each other. She might need a thousand years to ensure she discovered the countless ways they could come. If they sounded differently when they came alone or together, with her between them or apart.

  Or just the two of them together.

  The thought made her push Gil deeper inside her, tipping her hips forward so she could grind herself against him. She cried out softly, already nearly at the peak. Too much emotion had wrecked her control these past hours. They’d almost died, all three of them, clutching e
ach other and braced for detonation. She might have died locked between them, never to know this pleasure. Never to feel their arms around her again.

  Another cry escaped her lips, more like the beginning of a soft sob. She bit it back, fighting to control the tears. Her tears would only alarm them, potentially spoiling this precious moment.

  Gil drew her down so she lay against his chest, lifting up his head so he could kiss her. “It’s all right now, Charlie. We’ve got you and we’re never letting you go again.”

  It always tore her up—in a good way—when he used Sig’s nickname for her. It was rare and special, a sign of his willingness to let go of his own preconceived notions of how he ought to treat a lady and simply accept her as she was.

  Only Charlie. Not Her Grace, the Duchess of Wyre, Queen’s Physician, hated across the galaxy.

  Gil worked his hand between them, unerringly locating the swollen knot of nerves aching for release. He whispered her name again and she swallowed his words, his breath, gripping his head so she could inhale him while trying to hold back the tide rising in her.

  She almost came as soon as Sig lowered himself against her. Hot, hard muscle, front to back, head to toe. Groaning, Gil arched up beneath her, pushing deeper, welcoming the additional weight that held her still for his thrusts. He bent his left knee, giving himself additional leverage to push against the mattress.

  “Charlie,” Sig whispered against her ear, rough and dangerous. It made her shiver deliciously, remembering the way the assassin could appear from nothing but shadows, blade ready to slip between her ribs and find her heart. His fingers probed, spreading oil between her cheeks. It felt strange and hot at the same time, making her tremble and tighten instinctively.

  Gil groaned with appreciation. Evidently it made everything in her tighten.

  A finger probed deeper, making her back arch and her breath whoosh out with surprise. Alone, it might have been too uncomfortable and strange, but with Gil already stretching her, the pressure made her feel reckless. Sig pushed deeper, stretching her with a sweet burn that drew a sound perilously close to a whimper from her throat.

  “There’s the sound I like to hear.”

  Gil pushed up again, rocking deeply. Her muscles coiled with an unbearable tension that made her twist and shake, helplessly pinned between them. Each movement sent shards of sensation cutting through her, driving her higher, demanding release. Sig didn’t even move. He didn’t have to, not with Gil thrusting up from beneath.

  Sig withdrew just a moment, but it was enough to make her throat tighten with panic. She couldn’t make her mouth work. Couldn’t think of the words. Closing her eyes, she tried to send him her demand. I want you inside me. Don’t leave. Never leave me. Please.

  He breathed heavily in her ear and pushed his cock inside, inch by inch, merciless in his attack. She cried out, shifting desperately, writhing, clawing at Gil’s chest to try and find some relief, no matter how small, from the pressure filling her. The burning sensation caught like wildfire, spreading across her skin in a tingling wave. Gil pushed up, driving Sig deeper into her, his big hand at her breast another glorious sensation that made the blood roar in her head.

  No, that was her voice, rising in intensity. She screamed, shaking as the flood swept her up and out to the darkest, deepest pit of space. Even here, they rocked her tightly between them, braced for destruction.

  If you go, we all go.

  Gil’s words he’d said in the face of Queen Majel’s threat. Only locked together now it meant his hips bucked beneath her, his grip on her breast an exquisite punishment, another surge of pleasure to send her higher. Sig groaned and rammed deeper, driving her voice to a decibel that hurt her own ears.

  Shaking, they came tumbling down, lying on top of each other in a tangle of limbs. She couldn’t muster enough strength to lift her head, let alone worry that they were too much for Gil to breathe. Or that Sig might not care to have the other man’s thigh against his. Not when his hand cupped Gil’s palm firmer to her breast.

  Finally Sig mustered enough strength to slide both of them off the other man, despite her protests. Yet he kept his head close to hers on the pillow. So close, in fact, that she could easily kiss him and then turn her head slightly and kiss Gil, too. “I love you both more than I can ever say. If I’d lost either of you today…”

  Gil rolled closer on his side so he could wrap his arm around her. He didn’t try to draw her away from the other man, but in fact nudged her closer, feeding the tender moment. “You will never lose us.”

  Sig traced his fingers over her lips, his eyes somber. “I was afraid love wouldn’t be enough to keep us all together, but the legendary Lady Wyre taught me otherwise.”

  “Our love will always be enough,” she promised, cupping his face. “So the Scorpion taught me when he refused the Queen’s bidding despite the bomb ticking away in his abdomen.”

  He blanched, his hand automatically slipping down to touch his stomach. “That’s where it was? I was afraid she might have planted it in my skull or something equally dramatic. I could just see my head exploding like a melon when she pressed that button.”

  Gil nuzzled her neck, pushing her hair away with his nose. “And what did I teach you?”

  Laughing softly, she wrapped her arm around his neck. “You taught me that you’re not the open book you profess to be.”

  “What?” He tried to lift his head in protest, but she kept her arm tight. “I am an open book. Boring and plain as ever. Why you keep me around continues to astound me.”

  “Hmm,” she hummed out, pressing a kiss to his ear. “You’re astounding, Special Agent Masters. I do believe I’ve barely scratched your intriguing iron hull.”

  “You can scratch me anytime you want,” Sig purred in his most dangerous voice, betrayed by the sparkle in his eye. “So what are we doing in Morocco?”

  “Healing the Razari virus. Uniting more rebels against Britannia. Developing more toys to counteract MIGS’s new weapons, along with a few of my own unique surprises. Of course I also need a way to help Majel without letting her discover our whereabouts or plans.”

  “That’s all?” Gil let out a rumbling laugh. “I’d like to stop by Americus eventually and check on my family.”

  She nodded her agreement. “And you, Sig, what’s on your agenda?”

  He flung himself over on his back with a huff. “I suppose I’m forced to ruin my gorgeous catamaran with a big ugly gun.”

  “Try three or four,” Gil said. “Remember, we have a legendary personage on board. We need to be able to drive off all her…suitors.”

  Sig snorted. “Indeed. But the greatest challenge of them all will be…”

  Neither of them was surprised when she solemnly declared, “Finding a nice place to shop on the Great Desert planet.”

  About the Author

  Joely Sue Burkhart has always loved heroes who hide behind a mask, the darker and more dangerous the better. Whether cool, sophisticated billionaire, brutal, bloodthirsty assassin, or simply a man tortured by his own needs, they all wear masks to protect themselves. Once they finally give you a peek into the passionate, twisted secrets they’re hiding, they always fall hard and fast. Dare to look beneath the mask with delicious BDSM in a wide variety of genres with Joely on her website, www.joelysueburkhart.com.

  Look for these titles by Joely Sue Burkhart

  Now Available:

  A Jane Austen Space Opera

  Lady Doctor Wyre

  Her Grace’s Stable

  The Connaghers

  Dear Sir, I’m Yours

  Hurt Me So Good

  Yours to Take

  All fire and gunpowder need is a stray spark…

  Yours to Take

  © 2012 Joely Sue Burkhart

  The Connaghers, Book 3

  The day one of her old clients gunned down a cop, former defense attorney Vicki Connagher lost everything—her passion for justice, and her lover, Detective Elias Reyes. The dead cop’s part
ner.

  Even though she’s following her dream to start her own fashion line, it’s tough with heartache as her only companion. Until she brings Jesse, a wandering street artist, in from a freak Texas snowstorm. His submissive flirting brings out dominant tendencies she never knew she possessed, yet she hesitates to let him take her as far and as hard as she wants to go.

  Some homeless junkie in Vicki’s house? Not on Elias’s watch. Pride kept him away, but as long as Jesse is staying in Vicki’s downstairs shop, he’s staying with Vicki. On the couch, but it’s a start.

  As the days go by, the three work out an uneasy alliance. But Vicki’s joy at having Elias back in her life is tempered with a growing desire to have it all. Elias in her bed, and Jesse under her command. The only question remaining is if her tough alpha cop is willing to embrace all that she is…

  Warning: Explicit sex, BDSM, a tough alpha cop, a reluctant Domme, and a smoldering submissive street artist willing to do anything to belong to her.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Yours to Take:

  “You make me quiver every time I see you. You’re one hell of a woman, Vicki Connagher. I’m glad you and your brother beat that punk up. I’m glad you’re a strong, powerful woman who’s willing to go up against anyone and anything to make sure the law is followed. You were one hell of an attorney, and if I were ever on the wrong side of the law, there’s no one else in the world I’d want defending me.”

  Cupping her cheek, Elias kissed her so tenderly her eyes burned again. Tenderness from him—or her—was as rare as her phone calls to Mama in the last few years.

  Jesse sat up, a sheepish look on his face. He scooted away and began to stand up, but she turned and reached for his hand. “Where are you going?”

  “It’s late. I ought to leave you two alone.”

  “Not without a kiss goodnight.” Elias’s voice sounded normal, but when she searched his face, she noted that his jaw was tight. “I might be a mean son of a bitch, but I’m not cruel. We did a lot of tormenting and play today. He’s going to need a little more from you than a peck on the cheek.”