Longmead Woods Trilogy Read online

  “A very pretty picture.”

  His voice startled Nate, and the omega jerked backward, almost smudging his painting. “Freddie! The fragrance of my paints must be stronger than I imagined. I did not detect your scent.”

  The duke’s heart leaped hearing that intimate name on his mate’s lips. He sauntered toward him, admiring the long slender legs tucked under the chair. “Now I know how to creep up on you.”

  Nate waved the brush toward the easel. “It is a work in progress.”

  “I was not talking about the painting.” He is part of me and has my child growing inside him.

  His lordship flung out his hand, trying to grasp the duke’s trousers. Frederick’s face burned as he glanced over his shoulder. “Nate. The servants.”

  “What of them?”

  “To find me groveling around the floor with my mate would be unseemly.”

  Nate flung down his brush and heaved himself out of the chair. He groaned as he arched his back. “You are not a feudal lord with slaves. The servants know how babies are made. Trust me.”

  Frederick’s shoulders sagged. “You are right, but can we confine our most intimate moments to the bedchamber?”

  Nate raised a brow. “Or the lakeside?”

  “You are throwing my exploits in my face.”

  “Exactly.” Nate smirked and resumed his painting. “Your dirty deeds.”

  The duke wandered around the room recalling hours he had played there as a child. “You can continue to use the summer house for your pastime after the baby arrives.”

  The omega’s hand froze. “Pastime?”

  “Yes. Diversion, hobby, amusement. Call it what you will.”

  Nate glanced at his mate. “I intend to sell my work just as I have done since last summer.”

  Frederick frowned. “But you no longer need money. I am a wealthy man, and I can provide for you and the baby.”

  “As I am well aware, but that is not the point, Freddie. I have talent as an artist and I wish to hone my skill and earn commissions.”

  “I do not understand. Why do you insist on earning money when there is no need?” Why is having a mate so complicated? We solve one misunderstanding and another rears its head.

  “What is it, Frederick?”

  “You obviously had a different upbringing than I did.”

  Nate’s eyes flared. “I am a gentleman as you are. Do not elevate your family above mine.”

  “Yes, but money is so… grubby.”

  Nate scrambled to his feet, kicking the chair back as he did. It tumbled onto the floor and the crash mirrored the pain etched on his face. He grabbed the easel to steady himself.

  “Nate, I…” The duke hurried forward anxious to prevent a fall, but the omega waved him away. Barbs of pain stabbed at the duke’s chest. What have I done?

  “Those who have money pretend it is a filthy topic and yet they would not be where they are without it.”

  “That is an exaggeration.”

  “How did your ancestors make their fortune, Freddie?”

  The duke furrowed his brow. “They were shipping merchants. Their business was based dockside, and they dealt with goods coming into and out of the port.”

  “All perfectly legitimate business, of course?”

  Frederick squirmed. “That I cannot say, though I have heard rumors of a pirate or two.”

  Nate’s eyes glinted with amusement behind his long, dark eyelashes.

  He always gets the better of me when we disagree.

  “When my brother threw me out, I had nothing, Freddie. After growing up in luxury with servants to indulge my every notion, I had to beg for a crust of bread.”

  The duke threw up his hands. “But you have everything here. A home, staff, a loving mate and a baby on the way. What more can you need?

  “And I am deeply grateful for each of those things.” The omega patted his bump. “Especially this little bundle—and you.”

  The duke slumped into a chair and raked his fingers through his hair. “Go on.”

  “But I need to retain a part of me that is not someone’s mate or mother.”

  “And your artistry is part of that?”

  The omega nodded. “And perchance one of my paintings will adorn the walls of the king’s palace.”

  “I doubt that very much.”

  “It was a joke, Freddie.”

  “I see. I am not one for jokes.”

  “Is that so?”

  What?

  “Another joke.” Nate ruffled his mate’s hair. “There is one subject we have never discussed.”

  “And that is?”

  “My presence at Hammond Manor the night we met.”

  Frederick had blocked out memories of the salon and grimaced at Nate mentioning it. “We were both there. And I was the one paying the fee. Something I am not proud of, but there you have it.”

  “It was not my first visit to Mr. Harvey’s salon.”

  “Nor mine, Nate.”

  The omega exhaled.

  “Did you think I would blame you for being poor?”

  Nate shrugged. “I was offering my body for money.”

  “We both have a past, but now you and the baby are my future.”

  The omega rubbed his belly against his mate’s groin as Frederick glanced at the door. “Very well. Now get out and let me finish my work.”

  Frederick’s eyes widened as he gazed at his mate’s saucy grin. “And here I thought I was the alpha.”

  “Go!”

  Nathaniel

  Sun peeped between a gap in the curtains hinting at the mild spring day ahead as Frederick and Nate lay curled in one another’s arms with their legs entwined. The duke buried his face in his mate’s unkempt hair and sniffed.

  “I adore the caramel aroma but how can you waste good rum on washing your hair, Nate?”

  The omega snuggled closer to his lover and nuzzled his throat. “I may be a rake, Freddie, and gouge a few farthings here and there from unsuspecting strangers, but I do not find spirits agreeable. I become faint and they loosen my tongue. Neither of which endear me to others. Better it is on my head rather than in my belly.”

  The duke tapped his fingers over the swell of his mate’s stomach. But as he rubbed his bristly chin on Nate’s shoulder, the omega’s stomach grumbled. Frederick laughed. “How can you be hungry? You had a huge meal last night and in the wee hours, you munched on shortbread that cook had sent up earlier.”

  His lordship’s mouth twitched with the hint of a smile “I did not. I slept… well… like a baby.” The omega smirked and ran his fingers over his mate’s prickly jaw. “You need a shave.”

  “Stop changing the subject.”

  Nate raised a brow and harrumphed. “Oh, very well. But Freddie, there’s a baby growing inside me.” He lifted the quilt and pointed at his rounded belly. “Now that my nausea has passed, I am always ravenous.”

  A baby! I still cannot believe not only do I have a mate, but also we are going to be parents. And I will give birth. Horrified at the thought of pushing a child out of his body, Nate buried his face in Fredrick’s chest and savored his aroma.

  “Mmm.” The duke peppered kisses over Nate’s cheek. “You are forgiven for emptying the larder and the pantry. If it were me demanding food in the middle of the night, cook would be stomping around the kitchen muttering about my airs and graces.” Frederick cupped his palm over Nate’s midriff and rubbed the smooth taut flesh below his belly button. He slid his fingers lower and raked them through coarse, curly hair, but the omega twisted out of his grasp.

  Frederick leaned on his elbow and grinned. “You are tired of me already.”

  Never.

  The omega ignored the duke’s teasing. “And how do you know I ate the shortbread?” He crossed his arms. “It could have been mice. I heard one scuttling around the dressing room as I was…. eating.”

  “There is a trail from the dresser to the bed and under the covers, and my backside is covered in crumbs. I
f a mouse did that, I wish to meet him and shake his hand.”

  The omega giggled and snuggled into the crook of Frederick’s arm. “Oops.”

  “Tell me what you want for breakfast and I shall have cook make it for you.”

  “Anything?”

  The duke nodded. “Whatever you wish. Besides, cook has become fond of you and she would be vexed if I did not give in to your every whim.”

  “Eggs, cold meat, bread with lashings of butter—and jam. Strawberry if you have it.” Nate licked his lips as he envisioned the sideboard in the dining room groaning with food.

  “Is that all?”

  “And hot chocolate. Thick, sweet, steaming hot chocolate.”

  The duke placed a light kiss on the tip of Nate’s nose and his mate whimpered. The omega pushed him away and gazed into his gray eyes.

  “You have a question?”

  “Not a question, but I have been thinking. You are not the man—the alpha—who almost fucked me on the back of a horse and in the lake and finally took me on the forest floor.”

  The duke frowned as he sat back against the pillows. “What does that mean? Are you saying I have lost my passion for you?”

  Nate gave his mate a smoldering glance and shook his head. “You denied who you were. You fought your urges and thought giving in to them made you the same as everyone else.”

  “Are you saying I held myself above everybody?”

  “Not at all. You saw yourself as a savior. You had to look after your widowed brother and your married sister whose husband may not treat her well.”

  “As the heir to the Longmead fortune and name, I have a duty.”

  “And while that is true, your obligation is akin to a hair shirt. You never think of yourself. It is a punishment—or even a curse.”

  “That may be. But now I have a different focus.”

  Frederick’s face softened. He tapped a finger on Nate’s mouth and the omega parted his plump lips and bit the duke’s finger. Frederick’s eyes simmered with lust as his lover’s teeth tore into his flesh.

  Lust and hunger mingled and consumed the omega as thoughts of food were banished. I need him. Now.

  “I have changed my mind. I do crave something, but not food.” Nate glided his hand over the dark hair on the duke’s chest, and Frederick gasped. “Perhaps we can dine later, Freddie. I wish to remove those biscuit crumbs from your behind.”

  The duke seized Nate’s wrist. His eyes glowed, and the gray became darker. Nate shivered at the tight grip on his arm and the intense, unrestrained passion. Heat rose in his throat and his breathing became shallow.

  But as the duke’s other hand pressed into Nate’s hips, footsteps outside the duke’s chamber had the omega glance toward the door as Frederick ran his tongue over his lips. The duke bared his teeth and yelled, “Not now”, but instead of a gentle knock, the steward burst into the room unannounced. Nate shrieked and pulled the sheet to his chin while the duke flung a dressing gown over his shoulders and leaped out of bed.

  “How dare you barge in without knocking, Winters? Get out.”

  “Your Grace. The king is…”

  Freddie staggered back against the bed and grabbed Nate’s fingers in one hand and fisted the sheets with the other. Blood drained from the omega’s face.

  “Dead?”

  “… here!”

  The duke’s voice was little more than a whisper. “Here?” He shook his head and clenched Nate’s quivering hand.

  “In the drawing room and he is demanding to see you. Princess Matilda has accompanied him.”

  “Matilda.”

  An image was embedded in Nate’s head of the king’s sister as she swept from the throne room with her guards kicking the petitioners, who reached out begging for help while they attempted to grab her skirts. Her face frozen in a sneer haunted his dreams in the days before he met Frederick at Hammond Manor.

  She has the power to make our lives intolerable. To send us back to the woods never to return.

  Nate’s lips trembled. The days at Longmead Hall had been blissfully happy—apart from a few minor arguments—as he and the duke learned more about one another and planned the days and months ahead. The clouds had scattered, and the sun blessed them. But now the darkness had returned. With one word, the future went from bright and hopeful to gray.

  “In my house, defiling my most intimate sanctum with her presence. It cannot be. It is a mistake.”

  “She is inspecting the books in your study, Your Grace.”

  Frederick rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his face.

  “Did they say why they have come?

  “They did not, but the princess appears agitated and the king is… unwell. Her highness asked how long you would be.”

  “And their retinue?”

  “The usual, Your Grace. The king’s guard and some equerries, pages and a physician.”

  Frederick fiddled with the edge of the quilt, worrying it with his fingers. Nate grabbed the duke’s face. “You must attend to them. They will not leave until they meet you.”

  “I understand that, Nate.” The duke snapped at his mate and the omega recoiled. His lover’s words were like a horsewhip to the face.

  Stop lashing out at me, Freddie.

  The duke slapped his brow. “Please forgive my harsh tone. The king’s unexpected arrival is troubling.”

  His lordship stroked Frederick’s cheek and nuzzled his jaw, ignoring the valet’s presence.

  “I could understand the king barging in unannounced as he used to hunt in Longmead Woods when he had the chance. But not his sister.”

  “That vile woman…”

  The duke placed a finger on his lover’s lips. “Hush. She never leaves the palace unless it is to inspect a newly acquired or seized property. I fear her presence more than the King’s.”

  Fear clutched at his lordship’s insides. “What of the baby?” My baby. Our baby.

  Frederick

  “Where are my brother and sister?” Frederick paced the room. “Wait, Cuddy told me he would attend an auction in town and Eleanor is at home entertaining her husband’s cousin. Thank God neither of them is here.” He stumbled around the room. What do I do? How do I protect Nate and the baby? I must not let him see how terrified I am.

  Frederick glanced at Nate, who was shivering and had his knees tucked under his chin. “Stay here. I shall have cook send up food as soon as I find out why His Majesty has come.” He wrapped his fingers around his mate’s. Their eyes locked on one another with words unspoken, but Nate’s green eyes flickered and he refused to let go of Frederick.

  “Winters, have a servant take a horse into town and find Cuddy. Tell him to stay away until he hears from me. And I want someone else to run through the woods to my sister’s. I shall write a message. Bring my writing tools.”

  The steward bustled out and Frederick sat beside Nate.

  “What does this mean, Freddie?”

  “I am sure they were hunting close by and decided to pay their respects.”

  “You are such a bad liar, but I am your mate. Your partner. You owe me the truth.”

  The duke caressed the omega’s cheek and his glance dropped to Nate’s belly. “I do not know.”

  “But you suspect?”

  “I am being completely honest, Nate.”

  “But?”

  “The king would never call upon me unannounced. And bring his sister. She loathes our… us.”

  “Our kind. You can say it, Freddie.”

  Hurried footsteps in the hall had both alpha and omega tense until the steward rushed in. The duke dipped his quill in the inkwell and wrote a hurried note to Eleanor. In his haste, the ink splattered across both the quilt and his hands, and Nate dipped his finger in the viscous liquid and rubbed it between his fingers. It was the consistency of blood, and the duke shivered.

  Clutching his hands around his mate’s, he longed to remain and lock the door but he could not. “Stay here.” And he rushed to his dr
essing room.

  Flinging on clothes after a quick sponge bath, the duke ran his fingers through his hair damp at the ends and shrugged on a jacket. The valet, George, adjusted his necktie, and after a brief glance in the mirror, the duke strode toward the door. But as his fingers clasped the brass handle, he swirled around and his voice was tight. “Make sure Lord Elgin does not leave the room and do not announce his presence to the king or his entourage.

  “I suspect word has traveled, Your Grace.”

  Damn. What is he doing here and what does he want? With me? With… us?

  As Winters opened the drawing room doors, Frederick thought back to his last visit with the king when the chancellor taunted him. But Sir James was not present as the duke kissed the king’s ruby ring and bowed before the princess. Various members of the king’s retinue hovered near the window and at the king’s elbow.

  “Such a pity Sir James is indisposed.” Matilda’s voice had the hairs on Frederick’s arms standing to attention.

  A small blessing, I suppose.

  The princess’ eyes flicked over the room like a falcon as it circled its prey. She turned up her nose as the physician offered her brother foul-smelling broth and covered her mouth with a scented kerchief.

  When the king finally spoke, his voice was faint. “Freddie. I heard the news and had to offer my congratulations in person.”

  Frederick inclined his head, waiting for the king to disclose his true purpose. Edmund staggered to his feet with help from his courtiers and they assisted him to the window. Where is the young boy with whom I shared my childhood? This man could be my father based on his appearance. The king’s uneven gait was muffled by the thick embroidered floor covering as he gazed out the window and eyed the woods in the distance.

  “Oh, for God’s sake, Edmund. Get to the point.” Matilda tore over to her brother and twisted him around to face the duke. “It is about the baby.”

  Panic tugged at the duke’s heart at the mention of his unborn son or daughter. My baby. A creak and a thump from the room above had three pairs of eyes glance upward.

  “I must say I am surprised at you becoming a father. You always swore you would never… mate.”