Legal Action - Box Set (18 page)

              In her dreams she heard him whispering and felt his soft, hot lips on hers, “My love, my love!”

              She opened her eyes as he leaned over the bed in the early morning light, kissing her eyes and her lips and removing his clothes at the same time. She reached for him and pulled him down beside her and he smiled then held her close.

              “So you missed me, my love?” he teased, but his eyes were full of love and lust.

              “Yes, I did, a ridiculous amount and I’m not going to cry even though I really want to and, oh damn, maybe I have to cry a little!” she said, and in a moment he was naked and under the covers pulling her firmly against his burning body.

              She turned her face up to him and he covered her mouth with a long, hot kiss that left no need for foreplay. He moved above her, his mouth still on hers. Their tongues reveled in the familiar, yet exotic taste of their shared passion. His cock was pulsing against her belly and as he lifted up and tested her pussy with his fingers, she was so wet and ready that a pure rush of adrenaline shot through him. He looked deep into her sapphire eyes, eyes he dreamed about day and night and as she had done on their first night together, with her own trembling hand she guided him inside her.

              Sometime after noon Charlotte woke and her heart clinched as she touched the empty pillow beside her.
Had she dreamed him
, she wondered? She climbed out of bed and walked toward the window and stumbled over his boot… and her heart unclenched and soared.

              She pulled on jeans and a sweater and walked down the crooked, old stairway to a riot of laughter and sound. JP stood in the kitchen acting out some sort of battle scene with sound effects and waving arms, while Finn and Jude sat at the small pedestal table spellbound as they laughed.

              As soon as Finn heard the creak of the bottom stair tread he rose and went to her. The others smiled and tried to look away as the lovers held each other quietly for the longest time.

              “Cut that shit out before I start to think the two of you are in love or something!” JP said, breaking the silence so that everyone grinned.

              Jude handed Charlotte a cup of tea as she came into the kitchen, and she stood watching the happy scene, blowing into the hot cup. Finn moved behind her and rested his chin on her shoulder as his arms held her, “
mine!
” he whispered in her ear and she felt a volcano erupt deep in her belly. She smiled and raised a hand to run through his unruly waves, she was so used to his hair cut short, now the silky feel of it thrilled her, just one more part of him to adore.

              “Oh, for the love of God, I’m gonna have to go to the village and find some farm girl to fuck in a hay stack if you two keep this up,” JP said. “I’ll be taking a cold shower, call me when the fireworks are over.”

              “Maybe I’d better move my things to the Inn or go back to London,” Jude joked, “these old stone walls are thick but I wouldn’t want to chance overhearing any unseemly noises in the night.”

              “Oh hush, the both of you,” Charlotte said, extracting herself from Finn’s embrace. She rummaged in the fridge and sat at the table with a cup of yogurt and a spoon. “Sit down, all of you, this is good, we’re sharing quality time as a family unit, sort of an unorthodox family, but still.”

              JP sat beside her and said, “I hardly think this is a scene from a G rated movie, Char, you two have a distinctly ‘
up to no good
’ look going on.”

              “Well don’t leave on my account,” Finn said, “I assure you I make no sound what so ever and although Charlotte often cries out in ecstasy
many times
each night, I cover her mouth with my hand, so as not to disturb the neighbors.”

              “He’s lying through his teeth,” she said, “I’m very quiet and ladylike and he has the bite and scratch marks to prove it!”

              They were all laughing and Charlotte sat back and looked from Finn to JP, “this feels like old times doesn’t it? I love this more than anything, the ‘threesome’ back together, at least for a while and now Jude can be one of us, if he likes.”

              “I like,” Jude said, and it was settled.

*

              Henrietta came by in the afternoon with a basket of jams and goodies and she was invited immediately to join Jude and JP for dinner and drinks at the local pub.

              “Well I don’t know,’ she said, her hands flying to smooth her wild, red hair and straighten her blouse and skirt, “an old lady like me, being seen in the pub with two young, handsome men? There could be a real scandal in the village, absolute, nonstop, gossip and speculation… just let me get my coat and bag and I’ll be right with you!”

              Charlotte gave JP a kiss on the cheek and a secret smile, and she and Finn watched as the trio drove away. She closed the door and leaned back against it, “hmm, what will we do with the entire house to ourselves?” she asked.

              “Open the door,” he said, and she gave him a quizzical look but did as he said. He led her into the frosty night then scooped her up and carried her over the threshold and into their home. “For good luck,” he said, as he bent to kiss her, “and to start things off just right.”

              “I always knew you were a hopeless romantic,” she said, kissing his neck and fighting to keep her hands away from the rest of his body until she could tell him she was pregnant. “Things
have
started off just right, one thing especially comes to mind,” she whispered.

              “What is it, my love; I want to know, is it something wonderful?” he asked, setting her down.

              Her hands began to shake and she was nervous suddenly; he took her hands in his and kissed them. “Come sit by the fire, Charlotte, are you cold? You’re trembling; I’ll pour us a shot of vodka…”

              “No,” she said, “none for me, I’m not drinking anymore,” and as he poured himself a glass he turned to ask her why, and he saw her face glowing in the firelight and her hands resting on her flat stomach.

              “My love, really? Charlotte, when did you know?” He was bursting happiness, his baby growing in her, their baby! He shuddered to think how close he’d come to death just days before, but that was all done with and behind them and she didn’t need to know.

              “A few days ago, I started feeling strange and then I knew I was late, you know. I hadn’t had my period since the tent camping week, I got so caught up in you and me that I never took my birth control pills after we left California. Is it too soon, are you okay with this, what are you thinking?”

              “I’m thinking I’m the luckiest man alive, my wife is going to have our baby and… I love you more than is humanly possible, that’s what I’m thinking. Now I want to lie with my cheek against your bare belly and commit this night to memory.” He kissed her and led her up stairs and slowly undressed her. He loved the sight of her and as her bra fell away and her pink nipples puckered in the chilly air his hands went to them and held them in his palms. She winced slightly as he kneaded them and he said, “Your beautiful breasts are swollen already, are they tender, my love?”

              “Very,” she said, her breathing was erratic. The exquisite pain that shot through her as he touched her breasts made her vibrate with need. He lifted her onto the bed, she had only her tiny panties on and he ran his tongue over the wet silk just once as she arched and groaned. He peeled his shirt off and unzipped his jeans as she watched, then he lay on the bed with her, his cheek on her belly as she panted. Her hands moved eagerly inside his jeans but he stopped her and held her hands above her head, “now we’re going to see just how sensitive my beautiful, pregnant wife is.” She gasped as he took a nipple in his mouth and sucked gently at first then harder as she writhed beneath him. He let go of her hands and told her to hold on to the lovely iron curves of the bed she’d found for them. She did as he said and she both feared and craved his big hands on her already aching breasts. He must have seen the apprehension in her eyes, so he slipped a finger inside her panties and circled her pulsing clit for a moment. She arched her hips and cried, “Please, Finn,” but he just slipped the salty finger in his mouth so he could taste her. She was breathing hard, her chest rising and falling as he kneaded her breasts roughly. They were hot and flushed under his hands and as he pinched one nipple with his thumb and index finger, he licked and sucked the other then nipped it with his teeth. She came, crying out louder than she ever had, releasing the headboard she pushed his jeans down and his cock plunged into her tightly clinched pussy. He thrust into her, lost in the hot, wet envelope of her sex, her legs encircling him, moving as one until they both shouted in release.

*

              Henrietta had them all to her house for lunch the next day, it was Sunday and she’d been to church services in the village. She said she didn’t attend very often but she felt the need to pray forgiveness for her drunken flirting with Jude and JP who were practically adolescents compared to her sixty four years. She chattered endlessly and her mind was a whirling dervish, she’d get into one subject only to switch to another and another, returning to pick up where she’d left off in the first place. Charlotte really liked her, she was open and down to earth, but as they said in Charlotte’s home state of Mississippi, she wouldn’t let anyone get a word in edgewise!

              “So Finn, you and Jude are obviously brothers, but different last names? May I ask why?” she asked as they ate.

              “Different dads,” Finn said, smiling, “same mum, though I don’t think Jude’s seen her in a while.”

              “Well, I don’t think she’s keen to see me again,” Jude said, and neither one said anything more.

              JP changed the subject, proposing a toast to the soon to be parents and a healthy baby.

              “Here, here!” they all said, clinking their glasses together.

              Jude said he’d heard good things about an obstetrician with a practice nearby, Charlotte should have blood work and start pre-natal vitamins right away. Jude and JP left as the day turned to evening, and Finn and Charlotte sat quietly in front of the fire, snuggled together on the sofa.

              “This is nice,” Charlotte said, “I like not having a TV, just the fire and the two of us, it’s peaceful.”

              “Right,” Finn added, “who needs TV with all those violent news channels and deadly dull reality shows? It’s better this way, out here in the middle of nowhere with winter and tons of snow on the way.”

              “Hmm, and we’ve always got Henrietta to entertain us, maybe she’ll get snowed in with us and we’ll all be together in this little cottage for a week.”

              “Electronics store tomorrow?” Finn asked.

              “Bright and early,” she said and they laughed, and then he let his hand rest on her belly.

*

              In the weeks that followed, Charlotte and Finn filled in the details of their newly minted lives. They were Phineas and Charlotte Hunter, and they were licensed to practice law in the courts of the United Kingdom. The British legal system was a little different than what Charlotte was used to, it was divided in two separate specializations unlike the ‘one lawyer does it all’ system in America. There were ‘solicitors’ and ‘barristers.’ Finn signed on with the Surrey office of a London law firm, he would act as a solicitor and handle cases with clients in the office. Charlotte set up an office in the first floor bedroom of the cottage and became an independent barrister called in to argue cases before a judge or jury in court. They bought a Range Rover so Finn could make the drive to his office in Guildford and a Mini Cooper for Charlotte to get to and from the many scattered courts in the county. They didn’t have to work really, Finn explained, he’d been paid extremely well in his former line of work, mainly by foreign governments, and he’d saved a great deal of money. Also they had the income from renting out their former lofts and building in San Diego, JP offered to buy them out, but it was a sound investment so they left it as it was. Sheppard and Sheridan wanted to give Charlotte a severance package after she faxed her resignation but she declined, guilty over jilting their biggest client and running off with her lover.

              Life for them revolved around each other and the small world of the village. They often ate meals at the Mad Hatter pub, purchased whatever they needed in the local shops, made friends with village residents and were made to feel at home. Henrietta became a staple at Dovecote Cottage, she’d been widowed three times and claimed the greatest sorrow of her life was that she was childless. Of course she made up for that by mothering both Charlotte and Finn and she looked forward to the birth of the baby with grandmotherly excitement.

              Jude came to visit every other weekend, and Charlotte could see that he was winning Finn over. They talked late into the nights most of the time, and as Jude stayed with them more and more often, he began sleeping in Henrietta’s guestroom since Charlotte was furnishing the second bedroom as a nursery.

              Charlotte decorated the cottage in a ‘cozy but cool’ style, slip-covered sofas and chairs, quirky antiques picked up at country markets and oversized paintings bought from sales at huge, crumbling manor houses. She searched the internet and ordered throw pillows, or cushions as they were called in her new country, and curtain panels from Joss and Main, and the cottage began to resemble a home.

              She ordered a turkey from an organic butcher and found most everything she needed to prepare Thanksgiving dinner on a shopping trip to London. Finn went with her to shop and as they sat having High Tea at The Winter Garden, she said they should invite his mother and sisters for a visit and have Thanksgiving with them.