Is Three A Crowd? (17 page)

Sliding from under the blanket, she pulled open the nightstand drawer and reached for her glass dildo. She tugged off her sleep shirt and lay on the center of the bed, trying to recapture the feeling of pleasure she’d felt that day in Blake’s studio.

She sucked the phallus as if it were a cock and lowered it between her thighs. It slid between her lower lips easily, and she began to push it in and pull it out. Grasping her breast helped. She had a small orgasm, but nowhere near as intense as that time with Blake. Tossing the toy aside, she drifted off to sleep, naked with her juices drying on her thighs.

* * * *

Maris woke the next morning and was instantly embarrassed. What if the maid or Aminta had come to the door? She rose quickly, washed the toy and herself before dressing, and headed downstairs to make coffee. She was alone in the house with Shin. Nobody had invaded her privacy, and technically, her subconscious mind had conjured the sex memories.

She found it hard to wipe the smile from her lips, feeling satisfied in a way she’d not known in…in years apparently.

Skipping breakfast, she sipped coffee until Shin came back from her walk and ate her dry kibble. With a resigned breath, she grabbed her jacket and wandered to the greenhouse. Arriving, she saw both her men were waiting. Both held coffee mugs, but neither had moved the portfolios.

“Good morning, men,” she said, and realized her cheeks and neck were heated with embarrassment.

“You look rested,” Nathan said, brushing a light kiss to her lips as she paused in front of him.

“I feel rested,” she answered, pausing to pour coffee for herself. Then she moved beside Blake and kissed his cheek. “Did you both sleep?”

Nathan grunted, and Blake just shook his head no.

“Then we should probably get through these papers and see where the day takes us.”

It was easy to move around them while they settled on the stools with the second portfolio in front of them.

“Any reason not to continue?” She glanced to each man, and neither gave her a negative response. “Well, let’s find my history.” As Maris pulled the first pages from the file, the smell of perfume hung heavy in the air around them.

Halfway through the file, they stopped for lunch, all three of them disappointed by what they found or didn’t find. Maris knew both her men were frustrated, Nathan scowling at each paper passed to him, Blake fidgeting. Of course they knew what to look for, what they were waiting for. That single piece of paper that would jog her memory.

“If I thought it would help I’d suck you both off.” She knew it was a blatant ploy and waited for their reactions.

Nathan seemed startled and confused. Blake leaned back with a sly grin on his lips.

“Well, at least I have your attention,” she teased. Maris rose and opened the skylight directly above them and one at the far end. The draft seemed to pull the perfume smell away from them. She had an instant visual of all three of them, Blake lying on the worktable while she straddled his thighs, his cock in her pussy. Nathan was behind her, fucking her ass. She knew she’d never felt so full and wondered how she’d make this fantasy come true. She roused herself from the fantasy, not knowing where the idea had come from, but now that it was formed, she couldn’t get rid of the visual.

“Maris, what’s wrong?” Blake asked, but she just shook her head, hoping to clear the idea.

“Maris, do you want to take a break, go for a walk or something? Just get away from this?”

She heard true concern in Nathan’s tone and smiled.

“Let’s just get through this file, and then we’ll take a break. I will say this, I’m extremely disappointed.”

She watched each man glance toward the other. No, she wouldn’t tell them she was disappointed because neither had made a sexual advance. Instead, she defaulted back to the lack of important information they were finding.

Chapter Fourteen

The next item she pulled from the stack was an old envelope, faded yellow with defined creases. While the flap was tucked in, it hadn’t been sealed. She pulled the contents from it and ceased breathing.

“Oh, my God,” she managed. Nathan was beside her, his arm protectively around her shoulder. Blake stood on her other side, a look of concern on his face.

“Breathe, Maris, just breathe. Come on, baby, take a deep breath.” His fingers stroked her cheek, and she finally found a pattern to her breath.

“What’s wrong, what did you find?” Nathan leaned forward and took the photo from her hand. He glanced at it first, then handed it to Blake. He held it in front so they could all see. “Maris, who is the baby in this photo?”

“It’s you, isn’t it? That’s your mother. My God, look how young she was. Look how little you were.” Blake turned it over in his hand, but there was no writing on the back. “Who’s the man, is that Frederick Dusan?”

“No,” she managed, the word almost a hissing noise.

“Put it away, Blake,” Nathan suggested.

“No, let me see it.”

Blake glanced to Nathan, but she reached for the old photo, the colors muted and faded.

“We said I’d find my history here, and we just did.” Maris studied the photo, too many emotions swamping her to define any of them. She stood and started pacing the aisles between the bedding tables.

“Maris, do you know who the man is?”

“I don’t think that’s Fred Dusan,” Blake said to Nathan, his tone low but audible.

“No, it’s not.” Something clicked inside Maris’s brain and suddenly so many things became clear. Too many to process at that second, but she had no fear she’d forget. Now she wondered if she was sorry that she’d pushed to find her history. “Just give me a minute,” she told her men. Nathan walked to the far end of the table and poured them each a glass of the bourbon they’d left there the night before. He handed one to Blake and met her halfway down one of the aisles, handing her a glass.

“Sip this,” he told her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, directing her back to the table. Maris took a sip, then a second, and promptly choked on the strong liquid.

“Come and sit down, darling, whatever it is, we’ll work it through.” Blake reached his hand toward her.

She sat heavily, finished her drink in two gulps, and handed it to Nathan, nodding to the decanter for a refill. He didn’t question her. Handing her the glass, she forced herself to sip it. The warmth from the first drink was circulating through her bloodstream, suppressing the angst and the scream she so wanted to release. Nodding towards the photo, she finally managed to say the words aloud.

“That is Margo and me. Even though I was still an infant, I know it’s me.”

“And the man beside Margo?” Blake promoted.

“It’s my stepfather, Walter Garnett!” Neither man seemed surprised, and she realized they knew. “But you knew that already, didn’t you?”

Her men glanced at each other, but neither answered.

“Did I know? Did I ever tell you my stepfather was really my father? That he must have been married and…”

“All right, enough for now.” Nathan stepped forward and took her hand. “Let’s get some air.”

Blake stood quickly. “That’s a good idea. The perfume is getting heavy in here.”

“Thank you both, you’re being very diplomatic. But you knew, and didn’t tell me.”

Maris decided fresh air was a good idea and paused only to refill her glass before pushing open the side door. She wandered down the path towards the fountain, mumbling aloud.

“My God, he was my father, and then they made me believe he was just my stepfather. Why weren’t they together?” Maris sipped her drink and heard her men approaching. “They weren’t together because he was married.” She was debating the situation aloud for her clarification, not expecting answers from either man. “Whoever Fred Dusan was, he was just a cover. All these years I hated the man for leaving us. Now I understand he was just a name for social reasons, probably a well-paid man. When did you find out?”

“After the accident,” Nathan said.

“We all found out in court. Needless to say, your mother wasn’t very happy.” Blake held up his hand to ward off her questions. “You weren’t allowed in the courtroom for that testimony. They said you couldn’t hear some parts until you testified.”

“But I never testified, I couldn’t remember anything.”

“We knew that, but Margo didn’t want you to find out. Even at that time, she still wouldn’t tell you the truth.”

“What if I’d remembered on my own?”

“It was a calculated risk on her part. She figured if she moved you far away and didn’t let you have contact with anyone from your past, you might not remember.” Nathan shook his head. “Believe me… us, Maris, if it was up to us, we would have told you immediately. That and who we were, and how we loved each other.”

“And we didn’t because Margo’s lawyer slapped injunctions on us. She was very careful to let us know that if we approached you at any time in the future, she’d figure out how to have us put away.” Blake shook his head. “I should have just taken the contempt of court charge at the time and told you. All our lives would have been drastically different.”

“You know who hurt me.” She didn’t ask it as a question, but as a flat statement. “That’s why you both had your men in town to keep an eye on me when I first arrived. You know someone is out there, after me. For what reason after all this time?” She glanced over her shoulder, her men looking wounded and put out. “I get it, you were just trying to protect me, but didn’t you think letting me know who was after me would have worked, too?” She threw her head back and laughed. “You’re both afraid I can’t take the strain. Are you afraid I’ll have some kind of breakdown and neither of you will get me?”

Finally, the enormity of it all started to weigh heavily on her mind. She put her glass down and drew a deep breath, letting it out in the longest, loudest scream she could muster. The second one made her felt better as she listened to the slight echo off the mountains. The third was an almost strangled growl at the way she’d been manipulated by Margo. The way she was still being manipulated, only now it was by her men, the men she trusted without thought.

She picked up her glass and took a few sips, wetting her lips. “Well, I feel better, though I’m not sure why.”

“What do you want to know first?” Nathan had sat on the bench beside Blake, looking very forlorn. Blake sat forward with his elbows on his knees, holding his head. It made her realize that even though they knew all this time, telling her was affecting them more than they’d realized. She could only assume it was because their lives would change, too. For now she wanted information, and later she would decide who to be mad at.
 

“What did my stepbrother and sister do when they found out?” She sat heavily, realizing she knew the answer. “They found out when they started calling Margo a witch and a whore. That’s why they despised me so. I wasn’t just their father’s second wife’s child, I was his blood, too.” She laughed aloud and added, “No wonder they hated me. In addition, that’s why they didn’t fight his will and let Margo and me have our shares. It’s all so clear, it’s all so…sorted.”

Shin wandered beside her and dropped her head on Maris’s knee. She patted her absently, too many thoughts and memories going through her mind. All the fights that stopped when she walked in a room, all the glaring looks from the rest of his family. How had she been the only one who didn’t know?

“If I was such a smart woman back then, why didn’t I realize this? It seems so clear now. It all falls into place, the animosity, the anger.”

“Margo went to great lengths to keep that secret, so far as to move you away and threaten us. She hoped by putting you in unfamiliar surroundings you’d be wrapped up in a new life and not remember.” Blake sounded wistful.

“Well she surely recognized her desires. I was clueless for five years. Damn, she didn’t have the balls to tell me when she was alive so I couldn’t confront her. She was a whore, having a child with a married man, using another as cover.”

“Maris, our assumption is that your stepfather was supporting you all along, that’s why there’s no financial records. He must have been taking care of you and your mother.”

“And in the process it was incentive to keep Margo quiet. As long as she didn’t tell her secret, he continued to pay. But why?” She left her glass on the bench and wandered to the fountain, dipping her hand in the cold water. “He would never leave his wife for her, and they only got together after his wife died.”