Love Under Two Benedicts(9)

It didn’t take long to leave the few lights of Lusty behind. Minutes later, Steven slowed the Jeep and turned onto a lane.

No clouds marred the sky, allowing the full moon to bathe the landscape in a silvery luminescence. The lane proved long and gently curving. They drove up a slight rise.

When they crested the small hill, Sarah gasped. Before her, nestled in a small dale, stood an enormous home, two-story and sprawling, white with a wrap-around porch. Behind the house and to the left, she could see a barn. Corrals formed a patchwork pattern around that building. Even in the moonlight she could see horses grazing.

“It’s beautiful. And so big!”

“We tend to have large families,” Steven said. “My grandparents had five children, which made for eight people living in the house at one time. Plus, there had to be a couple of guest rooms ready for whatever family wanted to visit.”

“And now you live here alone?” Kelsey couldn’t imagine having such a large, magnificent house to herself. Here was a reminder of one very important fact about the brothers Benedict, something she tended to forget. The family was as rich as Midas.

“It’s just a house, sweetheart,” Matthew said. His words, accompanied by a slight hug, told her he could read her moods, could almost read her thoughts. That couldn’t be good for her continued emotional equilibrium.

“Sometimes, I have so many family members staying over, I wish I did have the place to myself,” Steven said. His light tone pushed back the uneasiness that had begun to creep up on her.

A porch light burned, a single silent greeting that took the edge of furtiveness away and made the mansion seem more home-like. It left her feeling—well, if not relaxed—at least a little less tense.

“Come on.” Steven had gotten out and come around to the passenger side of the Jeep. Kelsey blinked because she’d been so tied up in her thoughts she’d not even noticed him moving.

Matthew unbuckled the seatbelt, and Steven easily lifted her out of the vehicle and into his arms.

“You’re both so very strong.” She knew it an inane thing to say, but she felt so surrounded by their strength, their maleness, that her usual defenses had been short-circuited.

He set her on her feet but held her close. “We would never hurt you, not either of us, sweetheart.” Steven’s softly spoken assurance came swiftly, and Kelsey worried that she might have hurt his feelings.

“I know you won’t.” She wouldn’t have come with them if she’d had any doubts about her personal safety.

Matthew placed his hand on her back, stroking it up and down, the action both soothing and arousing.

“I liked the taste of you, Kelsey, and the way you melted in my arms. Are you going to let us have you?”

She could have protested that just because she’d kissed them didn’t mean she was going to let them into her body. She could have but didn’t. She was no hypocrite. If she was to be perfectly honest with herself, she had to admit the truth. She wanted these two men and the temptation they offered. A part of her had hoped they would simply sweep her up to their bedroom, but she would own her decisions and her actions.

“Yes. Yes, I want you both.”

“Then come inside with us, sweetheart,” Matthew said.

The interior of the house spoke of a life lived in quiet elegance. The entry hall featured a large chandelier, a sparkling fixture that softly illuminated the round room, devoid of furnishings save a polished wooden table, a mirror on the wall above it, and a coat tree. Marble underfoot, rich oak framing the doorways, the room smelled and felt like exactly what it was, the entrance into a world far different from the one Kelsey was used to.

“I’ve some champagne chilling,” Steven said. “This way.”

As they had just that afternoon, the brothers each took one of her hands. Their heat sank into her and the scent of them surrounded her, and in the space of time it took them to ascend the stairs to the second level, her thoughts quieted and her hormones began to riot.

They led her down a corridor toward the back of the house. Steven opened the last door on the right and stepped aside, allowing her to enter first.

She didn’t know what impressed her more, the luxurious space, the wide open balcony doors, or the bed.

“That is the largest bed I have ever seen in my life.” She’d not meant to say that aloud, but the sheer size of the thing robbed her of decorum.

“Another family tradition.” Matthew stepped up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, his touch both warming and grounding her. How had he known the immensity of the bed would unnerve her?

“Whose bedroom is this?” A silly question, she’d bet, since it clearly had to be the largest in the house. The furnishings seemed decidedly feminine, though. Actually, the dusty rose carpet, grey walls, and white, gold and turquoise accents appealed to her completely. The dresser appeared to be cherry wood, her very favorite.