Jamie's Revenge

JAMIE’S REVENGE

The Jenny Penn Collection

Jenny Penn

MENAGE EVERLASTING

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

The Jenny Penn Collection

JENNY PENN

Copyright © 2010

Chapter 1

Head of Elm, 1866

“I asked you a question, boy.”
 
Brodie MacAuley stepped down into the road to confront Jamie and her soon-to-be hurt companion. “
What did you call her?
”

Jamie’s stomach lurched as Brodie made that sound. God, but she’d missed hearing the big cowboy snarl at everybody. Just as handsome as he’d been five years ago, age had been kind to Brodie MacAuley. The slight deepening of the lines on his face only accentuated the hard, rugged planes of his features as they pulled into their customary scowl. That threatening look had settled not on her, but on Danny.

Both nervous and thrilled, neither emotion showed as she continued to smile up at Danny, silently praying for the caravan to hurry up. All she’d really wanted was to ride the horse. It had been a long time, and if she had to flirt with a green cowpoke to get what she wanted, well, that hadn’t seemed like such a sacrifice.

Not until they’d galloped into town well ahead of the caravan and run right smack into Brodie. Having Danny at her side might have been to her advantage, but it certainly wouldn’t play out like that for the young cowpoke. Especially not the way he’d stiffened up.

Puffing his muscles out as if they were half of what Brodie MacAuley packed beneath his jeans and shirt, Danny did damn good at sounding like he could back up his end of a fight. “Excuse me, sir. I don’t believe you were a part of this conversation.”

No, he hadn’t been, but Brodie’s arrogance would shrug off that fact easy enough. Especially when he was mad like he was now. Taking his violently flashing navy gaze straight on, she smiled. Oh, but she had missed this.

Like sizing up a wild bull before she did something stupid, like try to ride it, Jamie had always enjoyed pushing Brodie. Suspended anticipation, that’s what dripped down like molten wax over her spine. Always waiting for the day she finally managed to snap his control. Maybe it would be today or maybe tomorrow, but before she left, Jamie would have accomplished that goal.

Brodie read her smile for what it was worth and met it with his traditional bluntness. “You really want this boy to get hurt, Jamie?”
 

“I really do agree with Danny that this conversation is none of your business.” Even as she said it, she placed a hand on Danny’s arm, holding him back even as she stepped to his side. No, she wouldn’t let the boy get hurt. She wanted all of Brodie’s aggression aimed solely at her.

That’s just where it landed when she dared to disagree with him. “I want to know why this
kid
called you Mrs. MacAuley.”

“Because that’s her husband’s name,” Danny answered before she could intercede. She thrilled under the bolt of pure heat that lit through Brodie’s eyes at that. The hound had just scented blood. The game had started. This time though, Brodie didn’t know what he was up against.
 

Danny showed more gumption than she’d have expected from such a skinny body when he got right into Brodie’s face and made his point clear. “And I don’t like the way you are talking to the lady.”

“That ain’t her husband’s name,” Brodie snarled back, filling the one-inch gap that separated the two men. “And you better get out of my face, boy.”

Things had just gone critical. While Brodie might not hit her, he’d sure as hell hit Danny. Raised with over a half dozen brothers, the one thing every MacAuley man knew how to do was throw a punch, but not a single one would have raised a hand to a lady.
 

“And just what is my husband’s name, Brodie?”
 

That had him stumped. His brow furled as his tone became petulant. “Well, it ain’t MacAuley.”

“Just ignore him, Danny.” Jamie latched back onto the young buck’s arm and pulled him slightly away from Brodie. “This is, after all, a small town, and there are always
some
up to no good.”

“Oh, you gotta be shitting me.”

Double the pleasure, double the fun.

“Caelen.” Jamie turned to greet Brodie’s twin with the same smile she tormented Brodie with. “I should have guessed. After all, the stench is quite strong in town today.”

Caelen grinned with predatory anticipation. “You’ve been in town less than ten minutes, and you’re already starting it up again. You just can’t help yourself, can you, girl?”

Now that’s what a man should look like…
Only two minutes might have separated Brodie and Caelen, but they couldn’t have been more different if two years had. The only things they shared were the same height and the same blue eyes, but even there, Caelen’s danced with the brightness of a clear sky over open plains while Brodie’s flashed and rolled like the
Atlantic
in late summer.

The differences went beyond Caelen’s wheat colored hair or Brodie’s
midnight
black locks. Not only did Caelen look more relaxed, he tended to act it too. Like now when he bowed his head slightly and laughed, playing off her insult as if he didn’t even care. Looks, though, could be very deceptive.
 

It might have been five years since she’d tested herself against the likes of Brodie and Caelen, but Jamie still knew just how to goad them good.
 

“Actually, I’m just passing through town, Caelen. Danny here has graciously offered to give me a ride to my home. He was just about to go into the saloon and ask Boggess if he’d mind holding my luggage when the caravan comes in, weren’t you, Danny?”

The boy hesitated for a moment, clearly divided. “Perhaps you should escort me in, Mrs. MacAuley,” he suggested with a pointed look in Brodie’s direction.

“I’ll be fine, Danny,” Jamie assured him, giving Brodie her own once over. Just as big, hard, and tempting as he’d ever been, but she made sure he didn’t catch that thought. “There isn’t any need to be concerned. Brodie and Caelen might be slightly sour when it comes to personality, but they ain’t dumb enough to touch what isn’t theirs.”
 

With a smile that came straight from the wickedness burning her heart, she gave that last line right to Brodie with the smug assurance he cared about that fact. Brodie didn’t take that bait. Neither did Danny appear willing to. With heels still dug in, he stalled.

“Mrs. MacAuley—”

“I swear to God, Jamie, if that boy calls you that one more
time—”

“Danny, why don’t you just call me Jamie.” She cut right through Brodie’s loud protestation. “After all, I think we’re close enough for that intimacy, don’t you?”

Danny’s ears couldn’t get any redder than if the sun reached out and scorched them itself, but he didn’t deny her. “I’d like that…Jamie.”

“Don’t you have an errand to run, boy?”

Brodie was really loving that term today and Jamie could see Danny bristling under it. Having been raised under a roof full of men, Jamie knew just how quickly violence could break out and just how important a woman could be to stopping it.

Taking her cue, Jamie blocked Danny’s path to Brodie by simply turning in front to face him. She kept her voice low and her gaze earnest as she tried to soothe over his ego. “Don’t let him taunt you into a fight, Danny. He’s just trying to get you to come to his level, and you’re too good a man for that.”

“Too much of a wimp, more like,” Brodie grunted.

Before Danny could take offence to that one, Jamie whirled around and cracked Brodie right across the cheek with the full force of her palm before following the motion through to give Brodie’s reaction the cold shoulder. Never once before had Jamie dared to hit him, but God did it feel good to finally give in to that urge.

“Listen, Danny, if you’re going to survive out here, you got to start thinking with your head and not your heart. Now these two asses know how to make trouble. I ain’t going to lie to you on that, but trust me. They ain’t going to do me no harm.”

As if to prove that point, Brodie remained a silent, heated force right behind her, a fact that had Danny casting a worried look over her shoulder. He might have remained unconvinced, but he didn’t have enough experience with women to know how to go against one. In a sign of his youth, he folded.

With a dour look at her, he nodded. “Fine. You do what you must, Jamie, but just so you know, I’m going to be keeping an eye on you.”

 
“Be quick, Danny. Very quick.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Danny nodded, tipping his hat before rushing up the steps of the walkway.

Caelen had to step aside to let the kid pass. He did so slowly, with that smirk that had even her wondering if he intended to cause more trouble. Not Caelen. Trouble had always been Brodie’s domain. Like a dark cloud, he stepped up to engulf her in his shadow.

“Next time you hit me, I will hit you back.”

That had her own smirk tipping at her lips as she turned to confront Brodie’s dark gaze. “What are you going to do, cowboy? Spank me?”

“Until your ass glows in the dark.”

Jamie laughed right in his face at that. “You always were all talk, Brodie.”

“I warned you five years ago not to come back here, Jamie. You just never listen.” Brodie shook his head slowly. “Well, you ain’t a little girl no more, darlin’, and that means the rules have changed.”

Arching a brow at that bit of obviousness, Jamie fluffed her curls. “They most certainly have, Brodie. You really are a great deal more boring than I remember…and is that gray I see in your hair? Hmm, I guess you were right. You really are just an old man, too tired for something as young and pretty as me.”

With a flash of movement, they responded at the same time to that taunt. Just as Brodie’s fingers bit into her arm, the knife slid down from her sleeve and nestled right into the most tender spot a man had. That had Brodie freezing.

“If you’re remembering so much Brodie, maybe you ought to remember just how well you taught me to protect myself.”
 

She could see him thinking, betting that she wouldn’t dare, but like every man before him, Brodie wasn’t willing to risk that part of his anatomy. Releasing her arm, he shifted far enough back to get away from the sharp edge of her blade.

“I guess I owe you thanks for that much at least.” Jamie tucked the knife back up into its hidden sheath.

“You owe me a lot more than that,” Brodie snapped. “Starting with an explanation on just why you’ve come back?”

“I don’t have to explain anything to you, Brodie.” Jamie had never been much of a liar, but this time she delivered her bullshit with the perfect dismissive tone. “After all, that’s my husband’s job.”

Caelen snorted at that, capable of a response that eluded his brother in the flash of Brodie’s anger. “Is that so,
Mrs. MacAuley
?”

 
“Oh, that.” Jamie rolled her eyes with a shake of her head. “The boy is simply confused. I mentioned Bridgette and he got to thinking I was her. It just seemed rude at the time to correct him. I certainly didn’t anticipate that it would cause you any concern, but needn’t worry, Caelen. I’ve learned to value quality over quantity.”

“You’re one smart comment away from being tied to my bed.” Now that sounded like an offer to her and not too much of a threat as Brodie no doubt intended it to be. “Now best you wipe that smile off your face and tell me just where this husband of yours is, ‘cause I’d like to have a few words with the so-called man.”

Jamie ruffled at that. Lying didn’t come naturally to her, but it had become a necessity in her life. When she’d planned this trip home, she’d known at some point she’d have to explain her absent husband, but she’d planned on giving that due to her father.

“I really don’t see how that is relevant or that my personal matters are any of your business. Unless you two have failed to take note, I’m all grown up now.” Jamie added a little twirl, making sure they understood just how much she’d grown up and filled out.

“You’re forgetting, darlin’,” Caelen drawled smugly. “We’re family. Without your husband, father, or brothers present, I feel obliged as your brother-in-law to step in and see to your safety.”

“My safety?” That gave her a laugh. “Are you honestly saying I’d be
safer
with you and Brodie than Danny?”

“I guess that depends on just how well you know this Danny.”

“Well enough.” Jamie shrugged, letting Caelen read as much as he wanted into that. “But I do know you quite well, Caelen MacAuley. I know enough to have noticed that your gaze has spent more time on my breasts than on my eyes and that the likelihood that you’ll get me home without trying to do more than get a peek is very slim.”

That brought a slow, sexy grin to Caelen’s face. “If you didn’t want a man to try to do more, then maybe you ought to button your blouse to a more appropriate height.”

Two could play that game. “Maybe that’s why I want to ride with Danny.”

“You ain’t going nowhere with that boy.” Brodie’s full glower warned of his roiling temper. “It ain’t safe. It ain’t right.”