Indiscretions by Madelynne Ellis Read Free Book Online Page A

letters. The house had been silent on his return and rather than go searching for Vaughan and Bella, he’d simply slipped into the study and taken up some correspondence.
    “You shouldn’t have done it.”
    Startled, by the sound of his lover’s voice, Lucerne looked up to find Vaughan poised against the study door with his arms folded. The man was stealthier than a cat; he really ought to have heard him coming, given the noise that everyone else made walking across the entrance hall.
    Lucerne blotted a drop of ink, which had fallen onto the letter, and tried not to think about how exciting he found the sight of Vaughan’s pursed lips and tensed jaw. He’d been expecting him, after all. Anticipating this moment since he’d walked away last night, the only surprise here was that it had taken Vaughan this long to confront him. He’d been home over an hour.
    Vaughan’s footfalls barely sounded upon the deep pile rug. He didn’t speak, but stopped just shy of Lucerne’s elbow.
    Determinedly, Lucerne pressed on with the instructions to his estate manager. What had they to say, really, when it came down to it? There’d never been any real promises made between them. He’d left him with Bella. It wasn’t as if he’d left him with no entertainment, and it wasn’t as if he’d promised to remain faithfully by his side.
    Vaughan touched the back of his neck, the contact a fleeting brush that might have been mistaken for a draft if Lucerne hadn’t been so acutely aware of Vaughan’s presence and attuned to his whims. A tingle ran up his spine, causing his muscles to tense. Vaughan’s hand closed around the back of his hair, forcing him to tilt his head back and look up from his work. He groaned in protest, only for Vaughan’s tongue to press deep into his mouth, silencing him.
    This was going to be far worse than he’d thought. It always was when it started with a kiss.
    Vaughan pushed his way between Lucerne and the desk, and tugged Lucerne’s coat off his shoulders and down around the top of his arms so that it restricted his movement. “I don’t take kindly be being walked out on. Where were you? Where did you go?”
    “I expect you know already. I dare say you could even describe what I was doing and with whom.”
    Word travelled fast among the ton.
    “Perhaps,” Vaughan agreed. “It’s possible that I’ve heard a whisper or two, but I want to hear it from your lips.”
    To anyone else, Vaughan’s words would have sounded even. Lucerne knew him better than that. The slight tick in his jaw and the cold glitter in his violet eyes gave him away. He was genuinely hurt beneath this show of restrained anger.
    It’s your own fault , Lucerne wanted to say, even as another part of him shrank at the thought of causing his lover pain. Why did it always have to be so difficult to get across the truth of things to one another? Why couldn’t they admit that it wasn’t sharing their love with Bella that made this difficult, but the inability of the three of them to properly communicate?
    Vaughan couldn’t relinquish control. He refused to see her as an equal or admit that he loved her every bit as much as he loved Lucerne.
    Bella was Vaughan’s opposite in more ways than she’d ever care to admit.
    And him—he was stuck in the middle playing mediator, when all he really wanted to do was love them both without being accused of favouritism.
    Vaughan’s fingers closed tight around his nipple and squeezed, causing Lucerne’s breath to hitch. “I want to hear it all, Lucerne. Every breath, every caress of your little infidelity, and you’d best amuse me, or I think I might be very cruel.” He leaned close so that his words brushed Lucerne’s skin raising the tiny hairs. “You know how cruel I can be, now, don’t you?” A sharp fingernail scored down the side of Lucerne’s neck. He jerked upwards in pain, but Vaughan’s weight across his lap kept him pinned within the seat.
    “Now,” Vaughan whispered as