“Or terrified of a pattern repeating itself,” James suggested then. “She put her life on hold for her parents. When they died, she wasn’t a teenager any longer. Loneliness can do strange things to a woman, Sax. She married the first man who offered and learned within weeks the mistake she made. I have a feeling you’re something Marey couldn’t bear losing. So she’s going to fight you harder.”
Which was no more than he expected. But damn if it wasn’t grating on his nerves.
“Tell you what.” James leaned forward in his chair, watching Sax with a knowing glint in his eyes. “Let’s head to the house for dinner. We’ll have a drink and see if Ella has any ideas how to break her friend’s control. She knows Marey better than anyone. If anyone knows how to find her weakness, it’s my wife.”
Sax tapped his fingers against the leather arm of his chair. He was right. And Ella would help too. She was worried as hell over Marey. She would make a great conspirator.
He moved quickly to his feet, ignoring James’ amused laughter as they pulled on their suit jackets and headed for the door.
“So, who’s your third lately?” Sax finally thought to ask his friend as they neared the door.
James snorted. “Ian came out of hiding. I think he’s running though. Damn if he’s not desperate to get as far away from his own house as possible since Dane’s daughter moved in with him. Have you seen her?”
Dane Mattlaw had been Ian’s best friend while he lived abroad in his younger days. The older man had been a steadying influence, while also helping to develop some of Ian’s sexual tastes in the high-class brothels they frequented before Dane’s marriage.
The daughter was a vixen. Not that Ian had introduced any of The Club’s members to her.
“Mattlaw will kill him.” Sax grinned when James’ comment finally registered. “If he’s running from her, then he’s a little too interested.”
“Too interested and denying it too hard,” James laughed as they left the office. “Watching him fall is going to be fun, Sax. He’s a little too superior in his attitude toward the rest of us after our marriages. We’re all cheering for her. She’s going to put a hurting on that boy that will bring him to his knees and make him cry for mercy.”
That reminded Sax much too much of what Marey was doing to him. Damned woman.
“He’s driving me crazy.” Marey stomped into Ella’s house hours after the kitchen interlude, ignoring her grinning friend as she made her way to the kitchen and the wine Ella kept in steady supply.
Hell, she was married to a Trojan, a dominant, woman-sharing, sex-perverted male that likely made Ella as insane as Sax was making her at the moment.
“He’s a sweetheart, Marey,” she laughed as she came behind her, moving to slide two wineglasses from their position under the cabinet and set them on the work island.
A sweetheart. Yeah, he was a sweetheart all right, and he was making her fucking crazy proving it. Keeping an eye on her, checking the house all the time, calling to make certain she was okay. The sound of his voice, that deep baritone, rasping over her senses, had nearly been her undoing several nights in a row.
“You should know,” Marey finally snorted mockingly. “Wasn’t he James’ little buddy that first time?”
Ella cleared her throat, a light flush working over her cheeks at Marey’s reply.
“If I had known you—”
“Oh, shut up.” Marey waved the small guilt-ridden sentence away. “I don’t have a problem with it. I just need solutions here. How do I get rid of him?”
She poured a half glass of wine, considered the amount then filled the glass. She needed definite liquid courage here. She smacked the bottle to the counter, lifted the glass and took a healthy swallow. She needed the strength right now, not to mention the balm to her nerves. The balm to her nerves was a definite must-have.
“Wine is for sipping, whisky is for swilling,” Ella said mildly, watching her warily. “So why don’t you care if I fucked Sax?”
Marey was in the process of sitting her glass back down. She paused, glanced at her friend and lifted it for another healthy swallow. Ella’s timing sucked.
“Just don’t let it happen again,” she muttered as she refilled the glass moments later. “I might not be so forgiving now.”
That was an understatement. She would be damned pissed, but she knew that Ella would never consider it after suspecting the feelings Marey had for him. Marey could confidently pat herself on the back that she had hidden her feelings for the man from even her closest friends. Ella had no idea until several weeks after she returned from her honeymoon. During one of Marey’s late-night let’s-consume-a-bottle-of-wine visits, Ella had revealed that Sax had been the third in the Trojan ménage James had set up.
Marey flushed uncomfortably at the memory of what she said in reply.
Touch him again and I’ll rip your tonsils out! she had informed her friend haughtily. James wouldn’t find you near as attractive then.
She sighed wearily. She had fucked herself there. Ella had tried to throw her in Sax’s company ever since.
“But you don’t want him?” Ella lifted a perfectly shaped brow with mocking inquiry.
“Don’t start lecturing me, Ella,” she snapped, pushing her fingers restlessly through her hair and wishing she had taken the time to confine the long, blonde strands to a braid or something. Anything to keep it out of her face. It was aggravating her, and she didn’t need the additional frustration.
“Who’s lecturing you?” Ella shrugged as she poured a half glass of wine, refilled Marey’s then picked up her glass and gestured to the living room. “Let’s at least argue in comfort. Why do you always have to come here looking for a fight? I have better things to do than fight with my friends.”
Yeah. Like fuck James Wyman with Saxon Brogan as a third in a ménage that made Marey crazy to think about. Not that the past exploits bothered her. Ella was her friend—more like a sister—and really, if she had to share a man in such a situation, then it would be Ella she would choose, she thought whimsically.
Damn, that wine must strong.
Sighing, she plopped down in her favorite leather chair, wiggled a bit and then cast Ella an accusing stare.
“James has been sitting in my chair,” she sniped. “He’s messing it up.”
She watched Ella smother her chuckle. No one was taking her seriously anymore.
“Well, sometimes, we share it.” Ella wiggled her eyebrows suggestively as Marey gaped back at her.
“Eww.” She jumped from the chair. “You fucked in my chair?”
“Well, I cleaned it later.” Ella was definitely laughing now. “Don’t worry, there’s no evidence left of the event.”
Marey shuddered and moved to the less comfortable recliner. “Have you fucked here too?”
“Honey, every square inch of this house has seen action this year.” Ella leaned back in her chair, her eyes sparkling with laughter as Marey grimaced in distaste.
“I guess even the floor is grotty,” she sighed as she collapsed back in her favorite chair. Dammit, she didn’t want to think about sex right now. Didn’t want to hear about it or know about it.
“Yup, even the floor is grotty,” Ella laughed at the description. “Now tell me, why would it bother you if I fucked Sax now, if it didn’t bother you before?”
Marey shot her an evil look. She deserved it. She was so damned confident and sexually wicked now that she should be burned at the stake.
“Women like you were stoned a hundred years ago, Ella,” she reminded her with aloof distain.
“That was two hundred years ago, dear,” Ella pointed out, toasting her with her glass. “Aren’t you glad we were born during a much more sexually aware time?”