Butterfly Madness [Loving in Silver 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (3 page)

“Sit.” Both sat and she breathed a sigh of relief. “Heel.”

They moved to her left side and sat, waiting for her to lead off. Relieved she had saved what was a priceless piece of art, Marley took them to the door. She slipped on her shoes even as the housekeeper appeared to open the door for her.

“Going for a walk, Miss Jacobson?”

“Yes. They’re as bored as I am. I’ll have to get a book to read when I come back.”

“Mr. Redford’s personal library is upstairs beside his bedroom. Feel free to go in and look for a book. He has quite the selection.”

“I’ll do that. But what’s wrong with the books in the library?”

The housekeeper rolled her eyes and grinned. “Those books were boring when they were printed. Many are on agriculture, mining, and shipping of the time. The rest, well, they cover politics, religion, and war.”

“Ah, the big three for as long as people have been around.” Marley smiled and shook her head. “I’ll be sure to look over Mr. Redford’s collection when I get back.”

“Have a good walk, Ms. Jacobson,” the older woman said, quietly closing the massive door behind her as she and the dogs walked down the wide sidewalk to the wrought iron gate.

Marley pushed the gate open, the dogs walking quietly at her side. They looked around with interest, but neither made any attempt to wander or stop to investigate anything. The old section of Silver wasn’t very far away. About ten blocks. The Redford mansion and grounds took up a lot of that space. They were halfway to the town’s square when they reached the end of the manicured lawn surrounded by the tall fence and neatly trimmed hedges.

As she looked back over the Queen Anne style, redbrick house with its ornate white trim, and the grounds now glowing softly in what was left of the evening’s light, she thought how glad she was that she wasn’t the one who had to take care of the lawn and gardens, and, especially, the house.

Turning back toward her destination, she watched as the streetlights came on along the sidewalks, illuminating while giving a whole new charm to the old section. Walking along, she thought about the crazy, impetuous way she had chosen her new home. One dart, one map, and one prayer were all it had taken to end up in Silver. She winced inwardly as she recalled her mother’s nearly hysterical screeching when she had told her she was leaving. The woman had been furious that she was leaving California and, more importantly, her behind. She hadn’t told her mother where she was going.

But once Marley’s sister Callie had died there was no reason to stay. When the cancer had finally taken her sister, after three years of remission, she knew there was nothing to keep her there any longer. She certainly had no feelings for her mother, nothing which could be called positive, anyway. She had tried. Really she had. For years she had tried to make a relationship between them work. Not so much for herself, but because it was so important to her little sister. She had even forgiven her mother for being such a terrible parent. Now she had moved on. Doreen would just have to learn how to take care of herself, which meant she was going to have to get a job. Marley had been supporting all three of them for years. And as long as her mother had control of Callie as a juvenile, there was nothing Marley could do to oppose her. How many times had Doreen threatened to keep her away from her sister if she didn’t behave as a good daughter should? Too many to count, she thought grimly, remembering the endless emotional blackmail her mother was so skilled at using.

Even though the dogs had only been to the park once, they knew what a large expanse of open area meant for them.

“Go play,” Marley told them, going to sit on one of the benches.

She should have brought one of their tug ropes. Even though the thing was as big as her arm, one of the dogs would have happily carried it. The pair ran off, romping around, acting like total goofs. She sighed. She just couldn’t get away from thinking about Callie. Not that she wanted to, but it seemed everything reminded her of her sister. She had given Barney to Callie for her sixteenth birthday because she had loved Martha, Marley’s own dog so much. Her sister and the puppy had bonded instantly. When she had gone into the hospital, Barney, having finished his training as a therapy dog and assistance dog, had been allowed to visit her and other patients. It had done everyone there a world of good. The children had especially loved the huge dog, marveling at how tall he stood when he was still considered a baby.

When Callie was home Barney would help her out with different tasks. He would turn the lights on and off, open and close the door, and a multitude of other tasks as time went on and he gained knowledge. But, most importantly, he gave Callie something to love and to hold on to when Marley couldn’t be there with her.

Looking out toward the snowcapped mountains in the distance Marley thought of how much her sister would have loved this place. They should have left California behind long ago. She should have fought for legal custody. Knowing she probably could have gotten it made her feel guilt, and not for the first time.

A slobber-covered pinecone being dropped in her lap brought Marley out of her troubled thoughts. She smiled as Barney looked at her, then down at the pinecone, then back up at her. He was so pleased with his find. He woofed once, which was more like a muted roar, then pushed at the pinecone with his nose. Picking it up, she admired it, praised him, and then threw it as far as she could. The dog bounded off after it, pleased she had gotten the message. Martha was stretched out on the cool grass, barking and poking at Barney as he ran around her, teasing her with the pinecone by setting it down then picking it back up.

“Nice dogs,” a deep, rich masculine voice told her.

Marley turned her head, then looked up, then up some more. There were two men standing there. She recognized both from earlier in the day, before she went to see Colt about a change in residences.

“Thanks.”

The taller of the two men had silvery blond hair, likely due to a little premature graying, though he couldn’t have been more than thirty-two. It was still a full head of hair, which he kept neatly trimmed. He was probably around six foot four or five, with broad shoulders stretching out a dark T-shirt. The shirt showcased the hard, sculptured muscles beneath. Her gaze dropped over the flat stomach to the narrow hips and powerful thighs lovingly encased in worn denim. She tried not to stare at the impressive size of the package he had tucked away in there. Yeah, he was hot.

His friend, the dark-haired, scrumptiously delicious fallen angel, was equally hot. Her gaze flickered over him, wishing her pussy would calm itself down. His hidden male flesh was also doing its part to tempt her.

She wasn’t ready to jump into a relationship. Even if these two men weren’t gay she wasn’t looking for a man just then. She needed to get a lot of things straightened out first. She had a lot of baggage and didn’t need to share it with anyone.

Her gaze went to the bottle the taller man was holding in his hand. “Going to share?”

“Sure.” The dark-haired man produced a package of plastic cups. She smiled. “I’m Roarke O’Malley and this is my partner Grayson Evans.” She reached out to shake hands with each man, pointedly ignoring the heat running up her arm, down her right side, across her pelvis, to strike like lightning between her legs. Damn! That had been unexpected. “And you are?”

She smiled, hoping neither noticed how she trembled for a brief instant. “Marley Jacobson. You guys aren’t stalking me, are you? I saw you earlier as I was window shopping.”

Both men smiled and shook their heads, but couldn’t quite meet her eyes. Okaaay. That was a little weird. They were gay, weren’t they? Marley was puzzled, but decided to ignore it. She had good instincts about people and wasn’t getting any weird feelings where the two men were concerned. At least they weren’t the bad kind of feelings, as if she were in danger. She was a little puzzled by how she was reacting to them, but put it down to the fact that she hadn’t had sex in more than a year.

Barney and Martha had come over to see the newcomers. They were close, curious, but not encroaching or making a nuisance of themselves. She took the plastic cup with the wine in it. It had a fruity scent but wasn’t overly sweet as she tasted it.

“May we?” Marley nodded and both men reached out to pet a dog. The two goobers soaked it up like sponges, long tails wagging. She smiled as Barney leaned against Grayson as he scratched over the dog’s shoulder and ribs. Even as large as the man was he took a step back before recovering and bracing his powerful legs against Barney’s weight. Martha, being a lady, merely sat down in front of Roarke and allowed him to stroke her heavy ears. Neither dog had their ears cropped and enjoyed having the velvety flaps rubbed by gentle hands. “You’re great with them. Do you have a dog?”

Grayson nodded. “Two. One’s a black Lab and the other is an English bulldog. I’m afraid we won’t be very popular when we get home.”

Marley laughed. “These two always go nuts when they smell a new dog on me. Are you guys gay?” she asked before she could stop herself. Hell, it came out before she could even think it. Her cheeks burned as the two men looked at her for a moment. “I’m sorry,” she said in a rush, her voice thin. “That is absolutely none of my business.”

She was grateful the nearest lamp light probably didn’t throw enough light on her so they could see the depth of her embarrassment. Geez, when had she lost the safety on her mouth? She took another sip of wine, but a longer one this time.

Roarke laughed. “No problem. Not many hide themselves in Silver. There’s no reason to. Actually, we’re both bisexual.” His hand went up to settle on Grayson’s shoulder. “We’ve known each other forever.” As he tipped his face up to look at the other man Grayson smiled and leaned down to kiss him. Marley thought it wonderful. When she had seen them earlier she had thought they made a great couple. Even from a distance she could see the love between the two men. “We’re looking for a third.”

“A third what? A man?” Why was she disappointed instead of shocked? She only knew couples, whether straight or gay. Two. A pair. She had seen the different kinds of family groups in Silver since her arrival, but she hadn’t been able to question anyone about them.

“If that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but actually the only men we’ve been with is each other. We’re looking for a female partner to marry. We both love women. We want a wife and children.”

Okay, so since the topic was hanging out there in the open, Marley would ask. “I’ve seen a lot of different things since I got here. Is it normal for children to call more than one man daddy? Or for them to have one mother and four fathers? I see people running around in clusters. Those big vans pull into a parking lot and you have a dozen or more people getting out, half of them adults.”

The men were sitting beside her on the bench by now, one on either side of her. Grayson poured more wine in her cup. She didn’t want to get drunk, but felt like she really needed to bolster her courage at that moment. She wasn’t normally a snoop, but had to satisfy her curiosity. She would examine later the sensation of feeling a moment of happiness when she had learned the two handsome, sexy men were bisexual.

“Silver’s never been a conventional kind of town. It was founded more than a hundred years ago by a group of gay men. They came out here from the east, hoping to make a place where they could live and work without being persecuted for who they were. It wasn’t easy, even in the middle of the wilderness. They established themselves here, many quite successful in their business ventures. Many of them married in order to be able to pass on their wealth to their children. It developed from there. It’s not unusual here for a woman to be married to two or more men. There are even two and three women married to several men.”

Roarke nodded. “There are a lot of gay and lesbian couples here. Some have moved here, others were born and raised here, making their own families now that they’re adults. Some people describe them as alternative lifestyles. Around here we just call it normal.”

“And straight couples?”

“There’re still plenty of those around.” Grayson grinned. “They’re not on the endangered species list.”

It was a little hard to comprehend. Her mind was spinning. One woman could be with several men? Wow. Hell, her own parents hadn’t managed to stick together for more than five years. Marriage had been a big mistake on their part. They divorced and her father took off. She hadn’t seen him since he had returned long enough to get her mother pregnant and clean out his ex-wife’s bank account. She had been ten at the time. As she grew older the memories just made her cynical to ideas of love and marriage. If a regular, normal relationship couldn’t always work, how did these complex relationships manage to work do it?

“Are these people nuts? Two people have a hard enough time together. How do so many live together and get along?”

“They don’t always get along,” Grayson said with more than a hint of sadness in his voice. “They have problems just like everyone else. But you have to remember that many of these people have grown up with multiple parents. They’ve witnessed their parents developing relationships through the years. Then you have other children who have grown up to enter into monogamous relationships.” Broad shoulders shrugged. “It’s whatever works for the individuals involved.”

“And we could talk about this all night. There’s a lot to talk about.”

Marley nodded, sipping at the wine before answering. She didn’t know what she thought about all this. It didn’t change how she felt about the town. It was a beautiful place. It was also peaceful, something she wanted in the worst kind of way. She needed time to think, to heal, and to figure out what she wanted for her future.