Monroe, Marla - Love Between the Hired Hands [The Men of Space Station One #4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

The Men of Space Station One #4

MARLA MONROE

Copyright © 2012

Chapter One

Elissa laid the book she’d been studying down and stood up. She paced back and forth in her quarters trying to ease the restlessness that had plagued her ever since she’d boarded the space shuttle headed for Alpha planet and Space Station One. She still couldn’t believe she had let them coerce her into becoming one of the women being sent to help settle one of the planets. She kept telling herself it would be better than living underground in the bunkers for the rest of her life.

The sun’s solar flares had become so frequent and intense that it grew impossible for women to live above ground due to the low-grade radiation slowly gave them Shear’s disease, making them barren. The first two sets of families had successfully settled one area and formed a colony that was fast becoming self-sufficient.

The shuttle she was on would be the third set of families to arrive. Each family was made up of two men and one woman. It made sure that there would be children to populate the planet, and with the primitive terrain, it assured that there would be plenty of manpower to take care of a family. When added to the fact that there were so few fertile women left, it gave the men a chance of becoming fathers once again.

Elissa had met her new husbands, and the ceremony had already been performed. Since Earth was deteriorating faster every day, they had decided to match up the ménage relationships ahead of time using computers to choose them. Before, the women had chosen their husbands once they arrived on planet Alpha. Now, however, they weren’t willing to spare the time it took for them to choose.

She had been matched up with two men who were experienced farmers. She had seen little of them during the six months it took to reach Alpha. They had each been busy with classes to teach them about the planet and what to expect. She would be responsible for taking care of the garden and putting up food, as well as the house and, eventually, their children. She knew plenty about gardens and putting up vegetables, but very little about children. She’d not been around them much in her life. At least until she’d been confined below ground. There were plenty of children and women down there to talk to.

How had she ever let them talk her into this? She had never planned to have children. It was a quirk of fate that not only left her fertile but highly fertile according to the tests they frequently performed on all the women.

At least she wouldn’t be poked and prodded as much on the planet. As she understood it, her new home was on a farm that grew wheat and hay. Her new husbands would help the first set of farmers, and she was to help their wife who’d already become pregnant. She could do that, as long as she didn’t have to actually birth the baby. She didn’t think she was up to that.

Finally, the day came for them to strap in and get ready for landing. She couldn’t wait to set foot on solid ground again. She hoped it would be a smooth landing and the land they were coming to wouldn’t be so different from Earth. She was already homesick.

Their departure from the shuttle was delayed by a rainstorm that sounded fierce. Once it was over, they began to leave the shuttle to enter the decontamination chutes and then the luggage terminal. She sorted out hers and placed it all in a neat stack. When the men showed up, they helped her carry it without a word to the buggy transports that were waiting for them.

Gray and Clint appeared to be very muscular men. Each stood about six feet four inches and had shaggy brown hair with rugged good looks. Gray had gray eyes. They were warm and mesmerizing. Clint had hazel eyes that sparkled when he smiled. She’d liked them well enough, but knew next to nothing about them.

They helped her up in the transport buggy then got in on either side of her. She learned that Phillip had come to pick them up while Cam was with their wife back to the farm.

“Lacy is in her last trimester and is due sometime in the next two or three weeks. She’s going to really enjoy having another woman around to help her cope,” Phillip told them.

“I’ll help her all I can. I don’t know much about babies, but I’ve been reading up, so I should be able to help.” Elissa tried to sound more confident than she felt.

“Well, Lacy is in the same boat, so we’ll all be pitching in.” Phillip steered them around another transport.

A little over two hours later, they reached the farm and their new home. They were dropped off at a rather large house. Phillip was anxious to get back to Lacy, but helped them get their luggage inside the house.

“Take a few days to get settled, then come on over to the house, and I’ll introduce everyone.”

They waved him off and then entered the house in silence. She didn’t know what to say and figured they didn’t, either. She drew in a deep breath and decided to take charge of the house.

“Why don’t you move all the luggage upstairs to the bedroom, and I’ll start us something to eat. I’m sure you’re hungry?”

“That would be real fine, Elissa,” Clint said.

Gray picked up two suitcases and started up the stairs. He stopped and looked over the banister at her.

“We putting everything in one room?” he asked.

Elissa licked her lips and nodded. “I suppose we might as well get used to one another. We’re going to be living together for the rest of our lives.”

He grinned and continued up the stairs with Clint right behind him. It sent a slight chill down her spine. She knew there would be sex. Probably lots of it with two men, but she wasn’t looking forward to it. The few instances she’d had sex hadn’t been very successful or enjoyable. She would do her duty and be available to them, and eventually she would get pregnant.

Nearly an hour later, she had spaghetti made using a different-looking noodle that had probably come from something grown on the planet. She hoped it would taste okay. It would take some getting used to cooking with some of the strange vegetables being introduced to them since the scientists were learning what was edible and what wasn’t. There had been several pamphlets on these new fruits and vegetables, as well as plants and flowers to steer clear of.

There hadn’t been much on the animals found there, but there were rumors on the shuttle that there were some dangerous ones to be careful of. She hoped someone would tell her what they were, so she could avoid them.

“Something smells mighty good.” Clint walked into the kitchen.

“It’s spaghetti. I hope it is good. I used something from the planet to make it.”

“I guess we have to get used to things anyway. Might as well start now.”

“Start what now?” Clay walked in.

“New foods,” Clint told him.

“Sit down, I’ll serve you from the stove,” Elissa said.

They waited to eat until after she had served them and gotten her own plate. They all dug in. Evidently it wasn’t half-bad since they both got seconds. Elissa managed to get half of hers down. She was nervous around them and couldn’t eat much. What she was most nervous about was the coming night. She had no idea what to expect from them. All she knew about them so far was that they appeared to be well mannered and that they had worked on farms in the past. Other than that, she was in the dark about them.

* * * *

Clay wasn’t sure what to expect from their new bride. They’d been told that she had been coerced into coming in the first place. That didn’t bode well for them. He and Clint were rough men. They had been given the choice of going to the planet and helping to settle it, or possibly ending up left behind totally because they had proven to be a lot of trouble.

They were known for carousing and generally ending up in fights wherever they went. Out on the farm, they wouldn’t have a chance at becoming a problem. It would be a lot of hard work and not much else. He and Clint had discussed it. Both of them had been talking about settling down with a barren woman back on Earth, since they hadn’t particularly planned on having children.

When they’d been told they would share a woman, they had balked at first. Although they had shared one on occasion in the past, it had been for fun and not a permanent situation. Still, if they were going to be stuck on a planet for the rest of their lives, sharing a woman wouldn’t be all that bad. They were both very sexual men.

They had already figured out that Elissa was shy and knew it would be up to them to initiate sex as well as teach her what they liked. They would make sure she was taken care of, though. They liked seeing their women satisfied.
Woman
. There would only be one for the rest of their lives. Well, they would adjust.

“Thanks for the meal. It was real good. I think we’re going to go through the office and see what we’re responsible for. Everyone has to keep diaries and keep up with the wildlife,” Clay said.

“When you have time, could you tell me about the wildlife? I would like to know what to stay away from. They didn’t tell us much about it, and we heard rumors of some dangerous animals that would venture close to the house.”

“Of course. I didn’t realize they didn’t warn you about the animals. That’s not good.” Clint frowned.

“Thanks, I’ve been anxious about it.” She turned to clean up the kitchen then stopped and turned back around. “I’m going to unpack my things. Do you want me to put away yours, or would you rather handle your own suitcases?”

“You can do it if you don’t mind,” Clint told her.

She looked over at Gray.

“Mine, too. I would appreciate it.”

Nodding, she disappeared in the kitchen. They continued around to the office where they settled down to read over the information that Cam and Phillip had provided them. Some of it was worrisome. Especially about the animals that had proved to be dangerous. Several families had had run-ins with them.

“I’m beginning to think they threw us out here not really knowing what to expect as a desperate attempt to settle the planet. It had all the necessary elements needed to sustain life, so they took the chance and started up the colony,” Clint mused.

“Yeah, I think you’re right about that.”

“What do you think of our new wife?” Clint asked.

Gray sighed. “I think she’s going to be a challenge. She’s nervous around us. I wonder how much she knows about us—about our past.”

“That could pose to be a problem,” Clint acknowledged.

“I think we’re going to have to introduce her to sex. I know they said none of the women were virgins, but there are different degrees of virginity. I think she’s still a virgin as far as the pleasure of sex.”

Clint grinned. “It’ll be fun to teach her all the fun she can have.”

“We’re going to have to be careful of her at first. She’s skittish.”

“We’ll settle her down. You okay about sharing?” Clint asked.

“Yeah. Don’t have much of a choice, really. We’ve always had fun in the past when we shared a woman. I just have to remember that this is for keeps, and that’s that.”

“We’ll make sure we each get plenty of alone time with her.” Clint flipped through another journal and paused at a particularly ugly creature.

He shuddered. He sure didn’t want to meet up with it. It looked like a cross between a praying mantis and a bear. They’d named it Mantis.
How appropriate
. He passed the book over to Gray.

“Looks like we need to be especially careful with the wildlife.” Clint shook his head.

“Fuck, that thing looks nasty. I wonder about leaving Elissa alone out here every day.”

“Lacy has been making it all right. We’ll talk to Cam and Phillip more about it when we go over there in a couple of days.”

There was a knock on the office door.