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rsadellePossibly in the Regency AU, Maripier is a French courtesan. She's pregnant, and Brandon is passing her off as a widowed, distant cousin. Mostly she keeps to herself in isolation.
"Is the child yours?" Alex dares to ask once.
"Does it matter?" Brandon asks back. The idea that it might not matter is shocking to Alex.
Later, Maripier goes into labor while the Galchenyuks and Brendan are visiting the Prust estate. (Their estates are all near enough to each other to visit for a morning.) Brendan goes riding for the doctor, Alex stays with Brandon to keep him company, and Anna and Mrs. Galchenyuk go to Maripier's room to help.
They invite Brandon and Alex up after the baby's been born, a girl, and Maripier smiles at them both when they come in.
The Galchenyuks and Brendan leave after that, and Brandon walks them out.
"You could marry her," Alex says before he climbs into the carriage, the last one to do so.
"She wouldn't have me," Brandon says, because he promised her she would never have to suffer the touch of a man again if she didn't wish to. He leans in and speaks so quietly that only Alex can hear him. "And if I took her to wife, I could never wed you," and then he hands Alex up into the carriage.
They get married, of course, and Alex moves into Brandon's estate with Brandon, Maripier, and the baby.
Time passes, and one day Maripier is lightly teasing Alex about his marital bliss, and she tells him, "I find I miss the touch of a man these days myself."
Brandon and Alex go riding a few days later, out to a pond on the estate where they go swimming, have sex, and eat a picnic lunch Brandon brought with him.
"Are you going to tell me what has you so lost in thought these past few days?" Brandon asks when they're lazing around in the sun, bare and warm, fingers lightly trailing across each other's skin.
Alex tells Brandon what Maripier said, and Brandon raises his eyebrows. "She told you that, hmm?"
"Yes." Alex presses his fingers against Brandon's skin. "You could be a solution to that. I know you were with her before."
Brandon changes the subject then, but brings it up with Maripier over breakfast a few days later.
"Where's your husband?" Maripier asks.
"Sleeping," Brandon says. "I know how to tire out even my husband."
"Oh, I'm sure you do," Maripier says. "He seems an eager and responsive young man."
"He is," Brandon says, and then, "I believe that he suggested I take you as my lover." He raises his eyebrows at her. "Something about you missing the touch of a man."
"Oh, he told you that, did he?" Maripier says. "Well, having you take me as a lover was not what I was suggesting." She raises her eyebrows right back at him. "Unless that is what you are suggesting."
"I'm not sure I have more to give," Brandon says. "It takes all I have to tire out my eager and responsive young husband."
"Hmm," Maripier says, and she eyes him shrewdly. "There is another solution."
"Oh?" Brandon eyes her right back.
"Bring your eager and responsive young husband with you to my bed. I know it concerns you that he's never known a woman."
"And you would accept us both into your bed?" Brandon asks.
"I would welcome you," Maripier says.
And then sometimes it's just Brandon and Alex and sometimes it's the three of them and they maintain the polite fiction of respectability to the outside world.
(Alternately Maripier and Anna become close as Anna keeps Maripier company during her confinement, and they eventually get married and all four of them live on the Prust estate.)
"Is the child yours?" Alex dares to ask once.
"Does it matter?" Brandon asks back. The idea that it might not matter is shocking to Alex.
Later, Maripier goes into labor while the Galchenyuks and Brendan are visiting the Prust estate. (Their estates are all near enough to each other to visit for a morning.) Brendan goes riding for the doctor, Alex stays with Brandon to keep him company, and Anna and Mrs. Galchenyuk go to Maripier's room to help.
They invite Brandon and Alex up after the baby's been born, a girl, and Maripier smiles at them both when they come in.
The Galchenyuks and Brendan leave after that, and Brandon walks them out.
"You could marry her," Alex says before he climbs into the carriage, the last one to do so.
"She wouldn't have me," Brandon says, because he promised her she would never have to suffer the touch of a man again if she didn't wish to. He leans in and speaks so quietly that only Alex can hear him. "And if I took her to wife, I could never wed you," and then he hands Alex up into the carriage.
They get married, of course, and Alex moves into Brandon's estate with Brandon, Maripier, and the baby.
Time passes, and one day Maripier is lightly teasing Alex about his marital bliss, and she tells him, "I find I miss the touch of a man these days myself."
Brandon and Alex go riding a few days later, out to a pond on the estate where they go swimming, have sex, and eat a picnic lunch Brandon brought with him.
"Are you going to tell me what has you so lost in thought these past few days?" Brandon asks when they're lazing around in the sun, bare and warm, fingers lightly trailing across each other's skin.
Alex tells Brandon what Maripier said, and Brandon raises his eyebrows. "She told you that, hmm?"
"Yes." Alex presses his fingers against Brandon's skin. "You could be a solution to that. I know you were with her before."
Brandon changes the subject then, but brings it up with Maripier over breakfast a few days later.
"Where's your husband?" Maripier asks.
"Sleeping," Brandon says. "I know how to tire out even my husband."
"Oh, I'm sure you do," Maripier says. "He seems an eager and responsive young man."
"He is," Brandon says, and then, "I believe that he suggested I take you as my lover." He raises his eyebrows at her. "Something about you missing the touch of a man."
"Oh, he told you that, did he?" Maripier says. "Well, having you take me as a lover was not what I was suggesting." She raises her eyebrows right back at him. "Unless that is what you are suggesting."
"I'm not sure I have more to give," Brandon says. "It takes all I have to tire out my eager and responsive young husband."
"Hmm," Maripier says, and she eyes him shrewdly. "There is another solution."
"Oh?" Brandon eyes her right back.
"Bring your eager and responsive young husband with you to my bed. I know it concerns you that he's never known a woman."
"And you would accept us both into your bed?" Brandon asks.
"I would welcome you," Maripier says.
And then sometimes it's just Brandon and Alex and sometimes it's the three of them and they maintain the polite fiction of respectability to the outside world.
(Alternately Maripier and Anna become close as Anna keeps Maripier company during her confinement, and they eventually get married and all four of them live on the Prust estate.)