She continued to look at Oliver, not Ezra. “So you two just decided, after all you’ve seen me go through, to make this decision and plan out the steps.”
“You’re angry?” Oliver said, and had the gall to sound confused.
“Yes!” she cried out, moving toward them. “How could I not be?”
“The new duke is dangerous,” Oliver said, slowly getting to his feet. She heard the soothing tone to his voice, the one that had comforted her so many times. The one that called her to him, made her want to curl into his arms and just let him fix everything.
“He is,” she agreed. “I’m no fool. I know he has stripped away all hope I have for independence so that he may hold my life over my head. I assume he would demand I become his mistress in exchange for my financial security. He is disgusting and the idea of his touch makes my stomach turn.”
Ezra’s cheek twitched with anger, but his voice was still calm when he said, “And I could protect you from that future. If you were my wife.”
She let herself look at him. This man had been a stranger less than a week ago, and yet now she could easily picture a life with him. One of creativity and laughter, passion and respect.
But that wasn’t enough for her. Not now that she’d felt the pleasure of these two men. Not now that she could admit how much she loved Oliver.
“I don’t want to be without…without either of you,” she admitted. “So that is why I’m angry. You would make your plans without even taking into account that I…” She faced Oliver slowly and cupped his chin, making him look at her,seeher. “I love you, Oliver. I love you with all my heart and any arrangement that left me without you would be untenable.”
She glanced at Ezra, hoping that this admission didn’t hurt him. But he was smiling just a little, like the thought brought him joy. So she refocused on Oliver and found his expression more muted. Pained.
“I couldn’t give you what he could, Anna,” he whispered. “Don’t you think that I’d want to? That I would give you the world if I had it in the palm of my hands.”
“You silly man,” she murmured, stepping closer, putting her arms around him and not giving a damn that her sheet fell and she was doing this as physically naked as she was emotionally. “Youarethe world.”
She lifted her mouth to his and he didn’t resist her. He let her kiss him. He made a soft sound in the back of his throat and he kissed her back. Passionately, powerfully, without holding back even a little. She felt him pour his love into her, his heart, his soul and tears streamed down her face as she accepted it all with all she ever had been and ever could be.
“She loves you, Oliver,” Ezra said, settling his hand on her lower back. Oliver seemed stunned, as if hearing it once, twice, was finally breaking through his shell. But Ezra spoke again, so he didn’t have to. He pivoted Anna gently, so he could look at her. “And I know that you and I both feel that same spark between us. The beginnings of something beautiful. And I feel the same with Oliver. This is not one love, one choice. It is a love that is between us all. As a threesome, as each individual couple. Or am I wrong?”
“No,” Oliver answered, his voice trembling. “I…I do feel something powerful for you, Ezra. Deeper than desire.”
“Much deeper,” Anna added.
There was relief on Ezra’s face as he leaned in, and suddenly all of them were kissing. Mouths and lips and tongues colliding together as they held each other.
Anna didn’t know how long it lasted. A moment, an hour, it didn’t matter. When they all touched, she lost herself. She never wanted to be found again. But at last Oliver was the one to step away. He sighed.
“So what do we do?” he asked.
Ezra smiled. “You two liked the painting I did of you together?”
Anna blinked and glanced toward Oliver, who seemed as confused by this change of subject as she did. “Y-Yes,” she said.
“Good, because I would like to paint a series of you two. Of we three,” he said. “I want to paint a dozen portraits that capture the power of what you two do to me. And when it is done, I want to exhibit it. In very special places. If you would agree.”
Anna was still confused, but she could only imagine how wonderful the posing sessions would be for such a thing. “I-I would like it.”
“I would, too,” Oliver said slowly. “But how would that solve our problem.”
“Well, my manager of affairs and his wife”—Ezra looked back and forth between them as he spoke—“would need to stay with me. Under my protection. I would need to paint you two, after all, and train Oliver in how to manage an artist’s schedule and…appetites. Though Oliver is already very good at the second.” He leaned forward and kissed Oliver.
Oliver returned the kiss and then pulled away, blinking. “Manager of affairs,” he repeated blankly. “And his wife.”
“Marry Anna, if she would agree. If she would have you.” Ezra took her hand and set it in Oliver’s. And you would still have my protection. And my passion. And my love as it grows and multiplies and makes everything between us richer and better.”
Tears stung Anna’s eyes at that utterly perfect resolution. She squeezed Oliver’s hand lightly. “Don’t be my servant anymore, Oliver. Be my equal. My husband. My sun and moon. My world.”
He was staring at her, his expression unreadable. But then the corner of his lips twitched in a rare smile. One that grew and broadened and seemed to brighten everything around them.
“You are my world,” he whispered. “But are you certain you’d want this? It would change everything.”
