He stroked her clit and felt her spasm. Oliver groaned and thrust hard into her mouth.
Rory felt her quake and gave in. The orgasm made him shudder, but he kept thrusting, stroking her to greater heights. She sucked furiously and finally let go, having taken everything Oliver gave her. She thrust back and cried out his name as she came all over his cock.
He forced his way inside her one last time before sheer exhaustion felled him. He cradled her as he moved to her side. It didn't matter that they were in the parlor where his mother used to have teas. This was their home now, and they would love their wife how they saw fit. He kissed her ear. "I don't want to hear anything further about leaving. You belong here with us."
She reached out for Oliver, taking his hand as she rested her head back against Rory's chest. "Do I have a say?"
"Not in this." Oliver tenderly kissed her palm. "Not when your safety and happiness are at risk. You can't live away from us forever. We have to figure this out."
"Together," Rory said with finality.
"It's a mistake." But she brought Oliver's hand to her breast.
"Then it's our mistake." Rory thought the only real mistake was being apart. Everything else would fall in place. Once they'd taken care of Thea, the press would die down a bit and they could focus on finding the man trying to kill Tori.
A shadow darkened the door. "I go to sleep for twenty minutes and this is what I find you doing?"
Rory looked up and Callum was standing in the doorway, a glower on his face.
"You snooze you lose, as the Americans say," Oliver taunted.
Tori sat up, scrambling to get to her clothes. "You're supposed to be in bed."
"He barely needed stitches. He's played with a concussion," Rory grumbled as he got to his feet. It looked like his playtime was at an end.
"My arm hurts something fierce, and I think the drugs the doctor gave me are affecting me." Callum looked at Tori like a sad little boy. "I woke up without you."
Tori picked up Rory's shirt, abandoning her own clothes. She hurried to reach Callum. "I won't leave you alone again." She took his good hand and started leading him out to the hallway. "I'll take care of you."
Just before he disappeared, Cal looked back, giving his brothers a triumphant grin.
"Bastard," Oliver whispered with a shake of his head.
"Well, that's Cal for you. Leaving us with the rough work." He started for the bathroom and heard a scream.
"Did I forget to tell you the maid's already here?" Oliver asked. "We're going to have to warn the staff."
Rory grabbed his slacks. This definitely wasn't his father's staid home anymore.
And hallelujah for that.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Two weeks later, Tori sat in front of the fire, staring down at the pages of her father's journal and wondering if she'd ever known the man at all.
Her father had been a calm, sweet man. He'd been a great dad. And he'd been so passionate about their mother.
He'd written page after page about how much he'd loved her, wanted her, needed her. He'd met her when they were seniors in high school and he'd scrapped his idea of going into the Army and followed her to college just to be with her. It had taken him three years to convince her to go out with him, but they had almost twenty years together.
She hesitated to turn the page because she knew what came next. Her sister had given her three journals filled with their father's words. She'd made it through the first two. Now she was halfway through the last one, but she knew the remaining pages were deceiving. Journal three had a lot of blank space, the symbol of a life cut short.
She closed the book and stared at the fire. Did she even want to know? Did she really want to know how her father felt when her mother died? Did she want to know how that love and passion had turned to ashes?
When Tori closed her eyes, she could see that man pointing the gun and firing at her. She'd felt time slow and watched as blood bloomed on Callum's arm. In her nightmares, his arm hadn't taken a bullet but his heart. In those terrible visions, she'd held him while the light in his eyes dimmed … then extinguished. She'd known beyond a shadow of a doubt that his death was on her conscience.
The past two weeks had been a revelation. Not since childhood had she felt so secure and loved, but she knew that didn't always last. Sometimes love could be torn asunder by something like a tiny tumor.
"I wondered where you were." Her sister-in-law stepped into the room.
No, her name was Claire, damn it. Tori had to stop thinking of the woman as family. This was the insidious part of the Thurston-Hughes brothers' plan. They'd tucked her away in the isolation of the gorgeous English countryside and insisted they play house. It was far too easy to forget she wasn't actually married. Her concubine period still had another two weeks. Then she had to decide if she was going to move forward … or move on.