Forrest, Dawn - Sweet Water Wedding: Sharing Shannon (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (21 page)

“We should make a move if we’re to get to Luke’s parents on time,” she said, turning her face to look up at him as he slowly and gently stroked her hair. She was looking a lot better.

“Worried about making a bad impression? That’s got to be a good sign.”

“I just don’t want to be rude and, well, I think it would mean a lot to Luke.”

“You’re right.” It pleased him that she was considerate; it was a good trait in a partner. “You first.” He snickered, and with three shoves pushed her off the mattress.

“You stinker,” she yelped as she scrambled to her knees. It provided him with a nice view of the back of her thighs before they disappeared into pink boxers stretched over a neat heart shaped bottom. Man he just wanted to rip off her clothes and get to know her inside and out.

She laughed, grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. “Bugger off and give me some privacy to get ready. I need a shower. My hair smells of cigarette smoke, Yuk. And I probably have morning breath.”

“You don’t actually, but your hair whiffs a bit. Don’t take more than half an hour.”

“I only need twenty minutes.” She snatched up her wash-bag and towel. “You wait outside.”

“Ah, really?”

“Out!” She stamped her foot and pointed to the door.

Exactly twenty minutes later she was ready, with washed hair hastily dried and tied back in a long braid and a light dusting of makeup on her face. She was wearing a flowing, long, cotton skirt and a pretty, patterned, short-sleeved blouse. James thought that she looked perfect, just right for a first casual “meeting the family” occasion.

“Let’s go,” she cheerily ordered as she stepped lightly outside.

“Feeling better I take it?”

“Much, thank you.”

“You look lovely, Shannon.”

“Maybe a bit better than an hour ago.” She flashed him a big, bright smile full of life and mischief. “I now feel alive.”

In his SUV, on their way to Luke’s parents’ house, he questioned her more about Rachael and in particular if she knew any stories that he could use at the wedding. There were quite a few funny vet stories. One in particular involved a parrot repeating a few choice words that Rachael had said about its neglectful owner.

“The funniest story I know is something that happened in winter on Dartmoor, in England.” Shannon grinned wickedly. “She was with a male vet colleague at the time. They had visited a remote farm and were on their way back to town. It was bitterly cold, around minus twenty centigrade, that’s about minus four Fahrenheit I think. It was probably even colder if the wind chill factor was taken into account because it was blowing a blizzard. The snow was deep on the ground and it was a long, slow journey back.” The way she told it, and her tone of voice, had him almost shivering at the imagined cold. “Anyway, Rachael needed to go for a pee, so she stopped the Land Rover, got out, went behind the vehicle, dropped her pants and did the business as fast as she could. But as she was rising and pulling up her pants she leaned against the metal bumper of the Landy and her bare butt got frozen to it.”

“Ouch. What did she do?” He couldn’t keep the chuckle down.

“She had to hammer on the vehicle to get her colleague’s attention and help. Rachael was at this point beyond being embarrassed and just wanted to get unstuck. She asked the guy to check if there was any warm coffee left in the flask that he could pour onto her butt and the bumper so that it would defrost enough to allow her to break free without damage to her skin. Unfortunately there was no coffee left. So what do you think they did?” Shannon paused, waiting to see if he got the solution quickly.

“No!” he exclaimed. “He didn’t!”

“Yep. Body temperature is about 98.5 Fahrenheit, so he peed on her and the bumper. I should imagine he took great care to avoid any contact between his pecker and the metal.” She laughed. “Anyway it worked.” Shannon shrugged.

“Oh, that is priceless, I’ll get some mileage out of that,” James sniggered.

“Well, they’re the only embarrassing stories I’m telling you, and only because I know she laughs about them now. If you want more you should speak to her brothers. I will tell you that she is a generous, kind, honorable, courageous, loyal friend and I love her dearly.”

James suspected the traits she had listed were also applicable to her.

“Can we stop off somewhere along the way so that I can get some flowers for Mrs. McKay?”

“Sure, sweetheart, that’s a nice idea. There’s a gas station on the edge of town that sells them.”

“You had better fill me on Luke’s family, anyone I should be wary of?”

She bit her bottom lip and James realized that she was a little nervous at the prospect of meeting the parents.

“No, although his younger brothers Sam and David are tormentors and wind-up merchants, so expect some teasing. Diana and her husband Guy are nice, easygoing folks. Molly, Luke’s mum, is great and has always treated me like one of the family. She loves her children and just wants them to be happy. She’ll love anyone who loves Luke.” James glanced at her and winked. “I don’t think you need to worry. His dads are brothers but they have very different characters. Will is a joker and Stuart is more serious, but they all get on well. They own a small spread that, as luck would have it, produces a few barrels of oil, and a vehicle repair garage in town. Luke used to tinker about there and help out in the school holidays. His younger brothers look set to take over the family garage business because Luke, as you know, has his own engineering company.”

“Ah yes, and you’re the ‘sleeping partner.’” She made quotation marks with her fingers in the air.

“That would be me, yes, we share a lot of things,” he flirted.

“Why Luke? What made you decide that you wanted to partner up for life with Luke?” Shannon was clearly very curious about their friendship.

James didn’t hesitate. “He’s ‘The Thousandth Man.’”

She blinked in surprise. “You mean like in the poem by Kipling?”

“Yeah, you know it?”

“Not by heart, but I get the gist. That’s a special friendship, but then I guess that it would have to be.” She paused, biting her bottom lip and fiddling with her hands. “I would hate it if I caused any problems between you.”

Ah, so that was something she was worried about. He strove to set her mind at rest. “Darlin’, we’ve argued in the past and we will again, but that’s just part of living with others. We know how to give each other space and if you join us we’ll just do what normal families do, talk about it and work it out.”

James thought that she wouldn’t be the type of woman to try to play them off against each other and that was part of her appeal. She was straight talking, honest, and smart. Beguiling women with hidden agendas didn’t make good partners for the ménage lifestyle. Generally speaking it was easier if the husbands were related but Luke had become like a brother to him and they were equals with no childhood roles attached.

“That’s not actually been my experience of normal family life,” she said sadly.

“Is that so? Well you’ll know what not to do then, eh?” He tried to make light of her comment.

He knew that there was a lot to discover about Shannon O’Reilly, but didn’t think that there would be any major stumbling blocks, once they got past the whole ménage family and lifestyle issue...easy peasy...he hoped.

* * * *

Molly McKay was in the kitchen finishing a potato salad. She heard the dogs barking, obviously heralding the arrival of James and Shannon, right on time; she approved. Wiping her hands and removing her apron, she left the kitchen and poked her head outside to the back veranda, where the rest of the clan were sat.

“I think they’re here,” she sang.

Her two younger sons scrambled up and lunged forward only to be yanked back by their elder brother. “Stay,” he commanded. “I don’t want you crowding her.”

Molly glanced at her husbands, trying to tamper down the huge grin on her face. Will looked amused while Stuart scowled at his sons, David and Sam. She grabbed Luke’s elbow and steered him through the house.

“Let’s go meet your lady,” she said with unrestrained glee.

Since her son and James Ryden had started on the road to a ménage partnership Luke hadn’t brought anyone home to meet his family, so now it was a big event. She could tell that he was a little tense, and had never seen him so preoccupied by someone. Earlier he had filled them in on what he knew about Shannon, so she understood that the Irish woman would find their whole setup a bit strange. She also knew that Shannon would be observing her relationship with Stu and Will closely. Luke had said to just act normal because they all understood the importance of trust and honesty for lasting relationships. That being said, her brood, particularly David and Sam, were under orders to curtail some of their exuberance, at least this first time.

“Ma, just take it easy, it’s early days,” Luke sighed.

“Don’t worry, son. Now where did I put that red carpet?” she joked.

“Ma.” Luke groaned, rolling his eyes. He still gave her a loving squeeze though.

* * * *

Shannon stiffened momentarily as two huge mongrels loped toward the car.

“Don’t worry, they’re soft. Their bark is definitely worse than their bite,” James reassured her.

“They bite?” yelped Shannon.

“Only strangers, and you’re with me.”

Shannon tried to remember what Rachael had said about strange dogs. Stay calm, show no fear, and ignore them at first until they settle down. Okay, she could do that. She let James get out of the car first and this time actually waited for him to open the door without any irritation at all. Immediately a big snout pushed inside and landed in her lap, almost squashing the bouquet of flowers that she was holding. She locked down a squeak and the urge to scramble into the backseat. Big doleful eyes looked up from a goofy face and a large tail vigorously thumped loudly on the side of the open door. Shannon couldn’t help but giggle, all fear vanished, and she carefully stroked the top of the hairy head.

“Hey there,” she cooed. “You look like you’ve a touch of the Irish Wolfhound in you.”

Relieved, she slid down from the SUV and continued to stroke the hound while the other dog ran around them in circles. A loud whistle pierced the air and both dogs stopped dead, and then they turned and ran back toward the house. Shannon looked in the direction they went and her eyes met their master, Luke. It was like being punched in the solar plexus. He was a mighty handsome man, all kinds of fine, fine hair, body, face, and oh that sexy smile that started on his mouth and was echoed in his eyes. From the brief time she had known him, from what others had to say and from what she herself instinctively knew, she realized that here was a man of worth, a man she could even love.

* * * *

Molly McKay closely watched the young woman getting out of the vehicle. She looked lovely that was for sure and old Ben seemed to have taken to her straight away. She noticed that Shannon’s pretty face smiled warmly at the dog vying for her attention but when she saw Luke her face flushed and became a thing of true beauty.

“That girl is certainly smitten with our Luke,” whispered Stuart from behind.

“How d’ya know?” Molly asked out of curiosity.

“She has the same look on her face that you had when you first met us,” he explained matter-of-factly.

“Really? Don’t I still look at you like that?” She was suddenly worried that her husband thought that she didn’t feel the same anymore.

“No. Now you look like the cat that got the cream but is still hungry for more,” he murmured close to her ear.

“Good,” she breathed deeply. “I think I’ll have a good lick later.”