Sarah's Seduction (28 page)

Sarah’s Seduction

160

“Sarah. I know these men,” Marly whispered. “They’re good men. Strong, honorable men. What they need from the women they love isn’t natural. It’s not painful, it’s filled with love, and often a beauty you would never expect, but it leaves whatever is broken in them unmended. I want Cade whole. I need him healed.”

“I haven’t agreed to what they want.” She couldn’t look Marly in the eye. She hadn’t agreed, but she knew the pressure was on. She wasn’t certain how long she could resist, as long as she was in this house.

“You will.” Marly smiled, showing no jealousy, no remorse. “They’re exceptional men, Sarah. But I can’t accept it until I know why. “

And Cade obviously didn’t want her to know. This placed Sarah in a position of knowing, of seeing Marly’s pain, her inability to understand in the face of him touching another woman. It was a touch Sarah had been unable to deny. Why should she deny this woman understanding in return?

“Cade acts like a dangerous man, Marly.” Sarah breathed roughly. “I’m not certain if I want to be the one to tell you anything.”

“He won’t hurt you,” Marly promised. “I swear, Sarah. Please, just tell me.”

Sarah gazed into those wide, pleading eyes. Marly was younger than she by a few years. Two perhaps. Younger, but already accepting more than Sarah could have believed possible.

“Men are assholes,” she muttered.

Marly’s return smile was bitter, accepting.

“I know they were abused. Somehow. I know something terrible happened, Sarah. But none of them will tell me what. I need to know what happened.” Marly leaned close, staring at Sarah in determination.

Sarah took a long drink, tasting the liquor in her drink and praying for courage. Where was Brock and his sexual itch when she needed the distraction? Oh no, he had to go out and play cowboy.

She set her glass on the table, breathing deeply.

“I don’t know specifics,” she told Marly, remembering the pain, the haunting echo of agony reflecting from Brock that night. “I know it was a friend of their father. Mr. August sent them away when they were young, teenagers. The man chained them, abused them.” She swallowed tightly past her own pain. “He forced them to abuse each other. From what Brock said, Cade took the worst of it, to spare his brothers.”

Marly’s face was white. She stared at Sarah, unblinking, almost dazed.

“How long did it last?” It was the voice of horror, speaking in a whisper.

“Months, I know that.” Sarah breathed deeply. “The result was that it destroyed their ability to be brothers. To show affection to each other. Especially the twins. Brock called it isolation. They were mentally and emotionally isolated from one another after they escaped. The only thing that brought it back was when they were with a woman. Together.”

Lora Leigh

Sarah’s Seduction

161

Her hand trembling, Marly pushed back the stray strands of curls escaping from her braid. Tears filled her eyes, but she didn’t let them fall.

“When Brock told you about all this,” she whispered. “He told you about me?

About being with me?”

Sarah’s heart softened. She was well aware that the men had raised Marly, and each loved her in some sense. She could see Marly’s fear of censure, her fear of hurting any of those men.

“Brock told me it was an extension of his love for his brothers. That through you, through your bond with them, he can be close to them again,” she told the younger woman. “He cares for you, Marly.”

“But he loves you,” Marly replied, her voice just as soft. “In essence, Cade needs to be with you, to express his love for Brock. His bond with him. That’s why he wants you.”

It wasn’t a question. At least not the kind that required an aye or a nay.

“I don’t lust after Cade, Marly. I love Brock. I always have. “ Sarah fought to explain, even though she didn’t understand.

“Sarah.” Marly laid her hand on her arm, her eyes too understanding. Too sympathetic. “I know. I know, because I don’t lust after Brock either. But neither do I refuse him.”

Sarah took a deep, nervous breath.

“I’m scared, Marly,” she could admit this to the woman, but not to Brock. “I’m terrified of this.”

There was no anger now, no sadness in Marly’s expression.

“Because you know you’ll enjoy it. Because you know you want to take that sadness from his eyes, that pain, if only for a while. And the acceptance he has of it, makes you wonder at his love.” She knew.

Sarah bit her lip.

“I love Cade, Sarah, more than you know. But I had to know why, before I could bear the thought of him being with you.”

Sarah shook her head desperately. She wanted to deny it would happen, but couldn’t force the words past her lips.

“Oh Sarah, you don’t know the August men very well.” Marly smiled sadly. “They are seductive, dominating. When you least expect it, when you are at your weakest, they’ll be there for you. Once they touch you and you look into Brock’s eyes and see his pleasure, his joy, you won’t be able to resist. Just as you couldn’t resist last night.”

“How do you stand it?” Sarah whispered.

“You’ve accepted that Brock has sex with me, haven’t you Sarah? You saw his need when he told you, and you let it go. That’s all I can do. I can’t let Cade be destroyed by this.”

Lora Leigh

Sarah’s Seduction

162

“And I’m supposed to just give in?” Sarah asked her incredulously.

“When the time is right, and it happens, you won’t want to stop it.” Marly shook her head, her expression resigned. “I know where Cade’s heart is. I know who fills his soul. I can handle this, if you can.”

“And if I can’t?” she asked Marly with exaggerated patience. “Marly, they want to share their women. That isn’t natural.”

Marly shook her head.

“It’s not natural for normal men. But they aren’t normal, Sarah. They are strong and brave and they’ve survived where others would not have been able. If this is what it takes for them to survive, then I won’t deny them.”

“You talk as though you want me to do this,” Sarah burst out, incredulous. “He’s your lover, Marly.”

“And I’ll have to leave the room and let my lover be a brother, through your body,”

Marly bit out. “Do you think that’s easy for me, Sarah? It’s not. But it won’t be for you either. Because you’ll have to do the same. You’ll have to leave, or watch it happen. Which will be easier for you, loving Brock as you do?”

Sarah stood to her feet, trembling, hating the curiosity in herself, the knowledge in Marly’s eyes. Hating the acceptance slowly building within her. None of it was natural. None of it should be acceptable. And yet, in some small way, she was beginning to understand, and that terrified her.

“Sarah.” Marly stopped her as she turned away. “Loving Brock won’t be easy. But I do know he’s loved you, ached for you for years. Can you just walk away from him?

And if you stay, can you bear to see this need eating at him, day after day? Can you do that, knowing you can wipe it away? Knowing that in one act, one that will bring you no pain, only pleasure, you can take his pain away? Don’t you understand why I can allow this? That I would love Cade enough to give him this?”

She walked away from the other woman. Walked away from the questions, and the knowledge. But her fears pounded inside her head. Not fear of the brothers, but her fear that she couldn’t resist, and soon, too soon, she would give in.

Lora Leigh

Sarah’s Seduction

163

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“You told Marly about the abuse.” Cade stood in the doorway of Sarah and Brock’s bedroom, his expression furious, the color in his eyes shifting like thunderclouds. Tense, vibrating with his anger, he watched Sarah and Brock with an intensity that should have flayed the skin from their bones. Brock glanced at Sarah with a frown of disapproval.

“You didn’t,” he said with a heavy sigh. “Did you make her cry, Sarah?”

Sarah’s watched them, mingled anger and confusion filling her. She had known Cade would be furious. Had known it would hurt him for Marly to know the truth, but she was sick of these men expecting her and Marly to carry the brunt of their pain.

“What difference would that make? She’s a grown woman, not a child, and she deserved to know why her lover was on the porch last night with his head buried between my legs.”

Her statement had Cade’s eyes narrowing on her.

“That’s not a good enough reason,” he bit out.

“Oh, it isn’t.” She crossed her arms over her chest, watching him with mock incredulity. “Excuse me, Mr. August, but most women would have done more than cried a little bit. They would have killed you anyway, and me with you. They would have cut your damned tongue out so you couldn’t use it on another woman.”

Cade raked his fingers through his hair, frustration and fury evident in his expression and the tense set of his shoulders. He was enraged with no way to expend the fury.

“She wasn’t supposed to know,” he growled, still furious, unrepentant at the secret he had been holding.

Sarah saw more than that in his eyes though. She saw shame. Cade had not accepted the past as Brock had. The helplessness of whatever actions he had been forced to take still haunted him.

“No one told me one way or the other,” she told him, refusing to back down. “She asked, I told her what I knew. Period.”

“It was none of your damned business.” His fists were clenched at his side now, watching her stand up to him, making her nervous, more than aware of the strength of the man facing her so furiously.

“I beg to differ,” she argued. “You forget Cade, the men of this house are doing everything they can to drag me into the little love nest they’ve created. That makes it my business.”

Lora Leigh

Sarah’s Seduction

164

Sarah could feel her own anger edging into her voice. The dominant streak in these men was becoming more than aggravating. Irritation was setting in on her fast.

“Sarah.” Brock’s voice held a warning edge.

She turned to her lover, frowning. His carefully controlled expression sent a frisson of unease down her spine, but not enough to make her back down. She wasn’t about to back down. She hadn’t asked to be drawn into this, she would be damned if she would allow them to run over her.

“Don’t ‘Sarah’ me,” she bit out. “What’s the big deal anyway? Didn’t Mr. HighAnd-Mighty August over there expect that his lover would want to know why he wanted to fuck another woman? I sure as hell would.”

Was it just her, or had the sexual tension in the room risen dramatically?

“You don’t know what you’re doing, Sarah,” Brock told her, his voice low. “Let it go for now.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. She cast both men a disgusted look, impatience filling her.

“Fine. Let it go, Sarah,” she mocked. “I’ll be more than happy to let it go. Now excuse me while I go find lunch.”

She stalked across the room, more than expecting Cade August to step aside when she reach the doorway. Instead, he stood still, watching her from eyes building with anger, emotion.

“Brock?” Cade’s voice pulsed with arousal.

Sarah heard a heavy sigh behind her. She looked over her shoulder at her lover, sitting in the chair to the side of them. His eyes were heavy lidded, aroused, his body tight with sexual tension. Sarah felt a small tingle of apprehension work its way through her body.

“How?” Brock asked Cade, his voice throbbing now with intensity.

“How what?” Sarah stepped back from Cade, her eyes widening as he stepped completely into the room, closing the door behind him.

“What about Sam?” Brock ignored her question as they both watched her.

“He’s gone again.” Cade’s voice was brooding, still angry, but darker, more sexual now.

“Brock?” Sarah wondered why she wasn’t completely terrified. Cade August looked like a man intent on fucking, and Brock appeared more than willing to let him have at her.

“Come here, Sarah,” he said, his voice gentle though filled with the hot throb of lust.

“Why?” she questioned him, almost frantic now.

Cade watched her, his expression filled with anticipation, sexuality. Dark determination defined his body, and his erection bulged the loose jeans he was wearing. Lora Leigh

Sarah’s Seduction

165

Brock wasn’t in any better shape. As a matter of fact, he had risen from his chair and was unbuttoning his jeans as her eyes widened.

“Come here, Sarah.” He held his hand out to her.

“Why?” she whispered, trying to find her voice. Oh God, what had she gotten herself into this time?

She could feel her heart speeding up, sexual tingles of awareness raced over her skin, making her too aware of the intent in their expressions. She could feel her nipples hardening and that sent a flare of exasperated self-disgust through her. She had no selfcontrol. It was pathetic. She wasn’t frightened, but she admitted to being more than wary at the moment.

“Because I told you to, Sarah.” His jeans were pulled off, his shirt falling to the floor, his swollen cock rose from between his thighs, thick and hard. In an almost absent gesture, she watched as his hand circled his erection, his fingers stroking beneath the bulging head as he watched her. Pleasuring himself, totally comfortable with the act.

“What are you going to do?” She stepped back again, watching as Cade began to undress as well. “ Brock. Tell me what you’re going to do first.”

He moved to the table by the bed. Pulling out the drawer, he lifted the erotic toys he had replaced for her, checking them carefully, laying them on the table, his eyes never leaving hers.

“I don’t want to be punished like this, Brock,” she whispered, her body trembling, preparing itself. She was already wet, aching.

“This isn’t your punishment, Sarah,” he told her, a small grin tilting his lips. “The spanking will be your punishment. The fucking will be your pleasure.”

He walked to her then, his cheekbones flushed, his eyes holding hers. Moving with relaxed confidence, he went behind her, stopping at her back. His hands lifted to the zipper on her dress.

“Make him leave then.” She was breathing hard, too fast. Fighting to draw air into her lungs.