Aiden watched Wren go into the house, enjoying the view of his toned shoulders as they strained against the weight of the full bucket. But his pleasure was tinged with worry. Here they were in a fantasy land, and he would revel in it as long as it lasted. But the real world still existed and its real threats. None of them could forget that if they wanted to get out of this alive.
CHAPTER5
Emilia
Emilia was having the most wonderful dream. She was in a big bed with warm, soft bedding and she was being touched. Gently and with only her pleasure as a goal. And it wasn’t just anyone touching her, but it was Wren and Aiden, their big hands crossing and interlocking as they made her arch. She felt so safe, so happy that she knew it must be a dream.
Only as they continued to stroke her skin, something changed. She felt a tension enter the room. Their smiles began to shift to frowns and then fear. Fear that pierced her, as well. She wanted to sit up on the bed and look for the threat that had entered this safe realm, but she was suddenly trapped, held down, helpless to do anything but watch as Wren and Aiden both gasped and then dissolved into smoke.
And out of that smoke walked Wilburn. Her husband smiled as he reached for her.
“My faithless whore of a wife,” he said, his eyes bright with rage and cruelty and a promise of pain and death.
She did sit up then, shoving at the bedclothes, kicking at nothingness as she shrieked. The door to the small adjoining dressing room flew open and Aiden rushed through. He caught her in his arms, pulling her flush against his naked chest as he smoothed her hair.
“You’re safe,” he whispered as he rocked her, just as he had through every nightmare since he had removed her from Wilburn’s home. “We’re here, Emilia. You’re safe.”
Her heart was still pounding but she stopped flailing and gripped her hands against his skin, trying to draw in breath as she fully exited the dream state and came back to reality. When she no longer felt like she had been racing at full speed, she drew back a little.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You have been so kind about these nightmares, but it must be trying.”
He smoothed the tangles of her hair away from her forehead and kissed her gently. “Nothing about you has ever been trying, love. The only difficulty about the nightmares is that I hate to see you in such a state.”
She swallowed hard and rested her head back in the crook of his shoulder. “You saidwe’rehere,” she whispered. “But where is Wren?” She glanced at the windows and realized it was no longer light outside. “And why is it so dark?”
He smiled. “We came in to fetch you to bathe and found you fast asleep. So instead of waking you, Wren cleaned himself up and wrote the letters he talked about earlier.”
“The ones to put Wilburn off our trail?” she asked, sitting up a little straighter. Now that she was coming out of the terror of her nightmares and the confusion of sleep, she was beginning to attend better.
Aiden nodded. “Then he went into the village to have them posted to the friends who will help with the subterfuge. He’ll be back shortly.”
“And did you bathe?” she asked.
“I did,” he said softly, then lifted his gaze to hers almost conspiratorially. “In his bathwater.”
She shivered at how erotic he made that sound. “Mmm, I wish I could have watched you both.”
“We’ll have plenty of time for that,” Aiden assured her.
She smiled but she wasn’t so certain of that. Her nightmare was closer to reality than she wanted to discuss at present. “And did you two…do anything together while I slept so innocently just a room away?” she asked, tracing his chest with her nails now.
He laughed, a low chuckle that was filled with heat. “There was a great deal of longing, but you know that if it’s not all of us, it’s none of us, Emilia.” He blushed a little. “Except for kissing. We did do some kissing.”
She smiled along with him. “To be fair, so did you and I. Oh, and I kissed him, too. I suppose we don’t count kissing in that promise.”
“Fair enough. But if the two of us are going to indulge in each other, it will be with you tangled with us. Or watching us. Or directing us.”
She bit her lip. “Oh, directing you. That sounds wonderful.”
Wren’s voice interrupted them. “Then I’d suggest you take your own bath, my lady, which has been refreshed, it seems, while I was taking care of my business. Then we can grant your wish.”
Both of them turned and found him leaning on the door frame of the bedroom. Wren had shed his jacket when he entered the cottage and was now rolling up his sleeves to the elbow as he watched them together. Both she and Aiden gave a shiver at the sight of those forearms that were deliciously corded with muscle, those hands that were so strong and firm when they touched and stroked.
She forced herself to focus and pushed the coverlet away. Of course she was naked after all their earlier passion and she still felt a need to cover herself, despite the utter trust she had in these men. She fought it, working to recall that she had nothing to fear from their heated gazes. Neither of them had ever thought worse of her somehow. She doubted they ever could. It was part of why it had been so easy to keep the love she’d always felt for them alive, despite their separation. They were the loves of her life. And that fact was so easy and lovely that she nearly cried with it.
Especially since she so pointedly knew that it might not matter in the end.
But she pushed that away and motioned her head to the adjoining chamber where Aiden had come from earlier. “I assume my tub awaits me through there.”
