Although it wasn’t easy to keep her eyes open, she studied them in the dim light emanating from the crackling fire. They both were very large men with broad shoulders and huge biceps. They wore their black hair long, but one of them had a single skinny braid on either side of his face. The shape of their faces were so similar she knew they had to be related—brothers or cousins.
The one with his hand on her stomach had a slightly crooked nose and, when he smiled at her, recognition hit like a sledgehammer in the gut. He was the man from her dream. They both were from her dream.
“Heroc,” she whispered. That was the name the other man had called him by last night in her dream. They were brothers. She remembered that as well.
Audrey turned her head to find the other male, the one with the two skinny braids, watching her. She licked her dry lips. “You’re Abrah.”
He inclined his head. “And you are?”
“Audrey. Audrey Brennan.” She didn’t understand what was going on. Why was she dreaming about these men again? Maybe it was a dream, but everything about the moment seemed so real.
“Audrey Brennan.” The male satisfaction in his voice frightened her. She remembered all too well what happened at the end of her last dream. He’d gotten angry with her.
She scooted closer to Heroc and Abrah frowned. Heroc lowered his head and murmured against her hair. “You are safe. No one will harm you here.”
“Where am I? How did I get here?”
She shivered again and Abrah’s scowl deepened. “Enough talk. We need to get you warm.”
He shifted until he was pressing up against her side. With Heroc on her other side there was nowhere for her to go. Where moments ago she’d been chilled to her core, now her body was generating vast amounts of heat. Or maybe she was simply drawing their warmth into her.
“I don’t understand.” And she didn’t. She had to be dreaming, except this didn’t feel like a dream. She pressed her hand against Abrah’s chest and his heart thudded against her palm. His chest was slick with perspiration and she could see the beginnings of bristles on his jaw. She touched it and felt the prickles against her fingers. “I don’t understand,” she repeated. She wanted to say something else, something intelligent, to ask one of the million questions forming in her mind, but her brain simply refused to work.
“All you need to know is that you are safe.” Heroc circled his hand over her abdomen, generating heat in her chest and pelvic region that had nothing to do with mere warmth and everything to do with sexual arousal.
Audrey shifted her legs restlessly against the soft sheet beneath her. This wasn’t right. She shouldn’t be in bed with two men she barely knew. But she’d been in bed with them in her dream last night. And if this was another dream, was there really anything wrong with her being aroused by the two virile men?
Her mind whirled, trying to sort out reality from fiction. She rubbed her forehead. She’d been on the phone with Gwen. She remembered that. Then she’d gone to her bedroom. The tapestry was on the end of the bed and she’d picked it up. Hadn’t she?
“The tapestry,” she began.
Abrah leaned close and pressed his lips against hers, effectively silencing her. The soft caress echoed throughout her body. “Don’t worry about the tapestry. Don’t worry about anything. Let us pleasure you.” He kissed her cheeks, her nose and down the length of her jaw.
“Let us touch you.” Heroc shifted his hand so he was cupping one of her breasts. The nipple puckered as he circled the nub with his thumb. His lips were soft against her shoulder. “Let us please you.”
There was something wrong with that, something she remembered from her last dream. She had a very strong memory of two hard cocks pressed against her sides, but neither of them had come. She glanced from one to the other and, while Heroc gave her a reassuring smile, Abrah stared at her, no smile, no expression at all showing in his green eyes.
Abrah cupped her jaw in his hand and rubbed his thumb over her lower lip. “Decide.”
Her tongue flicked out to touch the end of his finger as it grazed her mouth. His pupils contracted and his heart sped up. He wasn’t as unaffected as he’d like her to believe.
This was a dream, she reminded herself. It wasn’t as though she was committing to a long-term relationship with one of them.
If this was real she certainly wouldn’t be in bed with both of them, although she had to admit, as fantasies went, this was an excellent one. What woman didn’t fantasize about having two handsome hunks in bed, attending to her every need?
She was free to indulge her every whim. And why wouldn’t she. The first part of this dream had been a complete nightmare. The memory of the storm sent a shiver down her spine. That experience had been terrifying. She was due for something good.
She looked at Heroc and then back to Abrah. They both waited, but she could feel the tension vibrating from both of them.
Audrey took a deep breath and took the plunge. “Yes.”
Chapter Five
Abrah didn’t want to think about Audrey mentioning the tapestry and the implications surrounding it, but he was not one to back away from the truth, no matter how distasteful it was. His dream last night had been real, a precursor to her arrival.
If the legend of the tapestry stayed true, and there was no reason to believe otherwise, they had only three days to convince Audrey to stay with them. Then the tapestry would appear and she could go back home if she chose.
She would go back home. Abrah didn’t delude himself to think otherwise. Why would she want to stay in their world? The cold season did not exactly show Javara at its best. The frigid, rainy weather would most likely prevent them from taking her outside the keep. They weren’t rich men by any means. Oh, they kept themselves and their people fed and warm, but there weren’t funds for anything frivolous. Other tapestry brides had gone to much larger castles and keeps, ones with more wealth.
All they could offer Audrey was themselves, a roof over her head and a full belly. Not much for such a prize. She was so beautiful she could have any man she wanted. Why would she stay here?
But he would try. For Heroc’s sake.
And he was lying to himself. He desperately wanted her to stay. If he closed his eyes he could still picture her lying in the dirt, wet and cold and exhausted, struggling to crawl one more step. Such courage, such bravery was to be admired.
From his dream, he knew she was a beautiful woman, generous with her passion, holding nothing back. He wanted to know everything there was to know about her.
Deep in his soul, Audrey was quickly becoming an overwhelming need. A piece of him would leave with her when she returned to her home and he wasn’t sure he’d ever recover from the loss. He’d found her. They’d found her in the storm and brought her home and she belonged to them.
Time was already slipping away and the tapestry would soon be returning for her. Abrah knew she did not believe this was real, not yet at any rate, knew he should not take advantage of her confused state. But he knew he would. There simply was not enough time to waste.
He gave in to his growing frustration and sexual hunger and kissed her. Not the gentle touch he’d given her earlier. No, this was a kiss of claiming. He was the conqueror and she was his prize.
He tasted her sweet lips before slipping his tongue inside the warm cavern of her mouth. He groaned when her tongue touched his, tentatively at first and then bolder. Her hand slipped up his chest, then his neck, chaining him to her. He could have told her there was nothing that could make him leave her, but that would have meant breaking the kiss, which he wasn’t ready to do. Not yet.