Monroe, Marla - Their Bartered Bride [Men of the Border Lands 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (12 page)

Finally, a noise at the door had her standing up in front of the couch waiting to see who it was. No one came through the door, though. She edged toward the door, but stopped short of leaving the living room. She had promised not to leave the living room. She backed toward the couch again and held the gun in her hand.

The noise disappeared and there was silence again. Then she heard the unmistakable sound of horses. She couldn’t help it. Leigh ran to the kitchen window and peered out into the early-morning gloom to see two horses with riders outside the barn. She sighed. They were here, if nothing else. She returned to the living room and added a log to the blaze to be sure it would be warm for them when they came inside.

They would take care of the horses first, but they would be inside soon. She waited impatiently, standing in front of the fire, then sitting on the couch, then pacing in front of the fireplace.

After what seemed like hours, they unlocked the front door and came in. She frowned. Why hadn’t they come in the back door? They both walked over to her and pulled her between them.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” She tried to pull back and check Joel over, but both men had her tight between them, running their hands over her.

“Baby, did you go outside at all?”

“No. You told me not to. I didn’t go out. I didn’t even leave the living room.” She searched his eyes then looked over at Joel. “What’s wrong?”

“Come here, Leigh. You need to see this.” Joel pulled her behind him as he walked into the kitchen and across to the door.

He unlocked the door and pulled it open after looking out the window. The light of dawn snaked across the yard to the door. There at the foot of the door was evidence of digging, along with paw prints that had to have belonged to wolves.

“Did you hear anything?” Jonathan asked.

“I heard something at the door, but I didn’t know what it was so I didn’t go in there. You told me not to.”

“I’m so proud of you, baby. If you had opened that door, those wolves would have come inside and gotten you. You wouldn’t have had a chance with more than one, even with the gun I gave you.” Jonathan hugged her to him.

“What happened out there?” she asked once they had let her go so she could breathe.

“Let’s go sit down at the table.” Joel turned toward the kitchen table.

“I’ll fix coffee,” Leigh said as the men sat at the table.

“I was watching and several wolves came charging out of the woods toward one of the outside cows. I started shooting at them, trying to scare them off more than anything, because I didn’t have a clear shot. Then another one came out on my side of the woods and jumped at me. I managed to get out of the way in time, but he knocked the gun out of my hand.” Joel showed his hand where he had an ugly scratch from a wolf claw.

“I’ll have to clean that up, Joel.” Leigh finished setting up the coffee and grabbed the hydrogen peroxide and a cloth to clean his wound.

She poured the peroxide over his scratch then cleaned it with the cloth and put everything up again.

“What happened after that?” she asked when she was pouring up the coffee.

“I charged the wolves with the horse and scattered them. They weren’t expecting that, I guess, ’cause they ran back into the woods. Then, a few minutes later, Jonathan showed up.”

“What about the cow they attacked?” Leigh asked.

“She’s got some scratches, but she’s okay, and she’s in the center of the herd now.”

“Won’t they come back after her?”

Joel sipped his coffee and nodded. “Yeah, but I think they are gone for the day. I’m thinking they’re going to be attacking at night. We’ll both stake them out at night as long as we can trust you to stay inside no matter what. You saw where they were trying to get in. They can’t as long as you don’t let them in.”

“Why were they even trying in the first place?” she asked with a shiver.

“I don’t know, baby. But you have to promise us you won’t go outside without us with you.” Jonathan squeezed her hand.

“I promise. I don’t want to end up wolf food.” She shivered again.

“Let me fix breakfast for you two.” Leigh stood up and started toward the stove.

“Right now, all I want to do is hold you close, Leigh,” Joel said.

He picked her up and carried her to the living room. There he sat on the couch and held her in his arms. Jonathan sat next to him and cuddled her feet in his lap. Neither brother let her go for a long time. They acted as if they had almost lost her. She had been the one safe and sound inside the house. They had been outside with the wolves. But she didn’t complain. She loved having them hold her close.

Chapter Ten

Jonathan, Leigh, and Joel all climbed into bed just after noon. The men planned to ride out to check on the herd around six that night. She was nervous about being alone at night without them, but knew they had to tend to the cows so they would have meat to eat and trade with. It didn’t stop her from worrying.

Joel seemed to know she was worried and began licking and kissing her face and neck. He was trying to distract her. As methods went, it was a good one. She soon succumbed to their dual assault on her senses when Jonathan sucked in a nipple and began to nibble at it.

Leigh found herself stretched out between them. Joel teased and tended to her pussy with his fingers and mouth while Jonathan sucked and licked her breasts, molding them with his hands and nipping at them with his teeth. Between the two of them she climaxed twice before Joel entered her with his rock-hard cock. He pummeled her until she screamed out her third climax. Then Jonathan pulled her on top of him. She rode him until he came. He reached between them to stimulate her clit, but she put a hand on his.

“I can’t come again. I’m too sore. Please?”

Jonathan smiled and pulled her down to sleep on his chest. After a while, Leigh climbed off of him and picked her way to the bathroom to clean up. When she started to climb back in the bed, she hesitated. She wasn’t sleepy now. The sex had woken her up. Instead of getting back in bed with them, Leigh decided to go downstairs and sit by the fire for a while. If she tossed and turned in bed, she would keep them awake. They needed their sleep to be ready for staying out that night.

She curled up on the couch after adding a log to the fire and thought about what all she wanted to do around the house that spring. One thing she wanted to do was wash the curtains, or better yet, replace them. They were dirty and dingy. Another thing she wanted to do was clean the stove from top to bottom and inside out. It was dirty, but she needed a sunny day to do it. It would be too hard to see inside without the sunshine in the kitchen.

Then there was the garden. She wanted to plant much more than they had planted this last year. She also needed to remind them to get canning supplies for her. She needed to be able to put up as much as possible so they wouldn’t have to rely on canned goods. She could easily take care of a large garden. She had handled them at home when she was growing up.

Would the wolves be a problem in the spring and summer? She hoped not. She would need to be able to come and go out in the garden like she wanted, to keep it in decent shape. There was a lot to do in a garden all during the spring and summer. There was usually about a week or two of rest after the initial phase of plowing and planting before the plants started coming up and needing tending.

Her mind kept returning to the wolves, though. She worried about the men being outside with them at night. There was so little light to see by, and the wolves could see better in the dark than the men would be able to.

“What are you doing down here?” Jonathan’s voice cut into her worries.

“I wasn’t sleepy. I was afraid I would keep you two awake. You need to sleep.”

“Joel is still asleep. It’s only another hour before I would have to get up anyway. I’m fine. What about you, though?”

“I’m fine. Just worried about the two of you.” She sighed and scooted over so Jonathan could squeeze on the couch between her and the end.

“We’ll be fine, baby. You just remember what you promised, and we won’t worry about you and concentrate on the wolves.”

“I promise. I won’t go outside. Are they going to be a problem in the spring? ’Cause I’ll need to be outside in the garden then.” She watched Jonathan’s face in the firelight.

“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about them then. There will be plenty of game to eat out and about then. Plus, I’m hoping we’re going to be able to thin them out some. There are too many of them in one place.”

“Aren’t there other people living around here? Maybe you could get together with some of them to do a hunt or something. That would make them more afraid of men again as well.” Leigh liked the idea of more than just her two men hunting them at one time.

“That’s a good idea, baby. I’ll talk to Joel about it when he wakes up.”

“Talk to Joel about it now. He’s awake.” Joel walked down the stairs and stood in front of the fire.

“We should get together with some of the other men around here and form a hunt. It would serve to thin out the wolves and put the fear of man in them again,” Jonathan said.

“That is a good idea. When we get back in the morning, let’s make a quick ride over to the neighbor’s house and see if they are having trouble like we are,” Joel agreed.

Leigh sighed. She would like to meet some of the other women as well. Surely the men would let her go with them.

“What are you frowning about over there?” Joel asked.

Jonathan looked down at her.

“I was just wondering if you would take me with you so maybe I could meet some of the other women.”

“Feeling lonely for some female company?” Jonathan asked, looking worried.

“Just thought it would be nice to know that there are other women around. How far are we from the closest neighbor?” she asked.

“By truck, it’s about two, maybe three miles. By horse, it’s about one and a half going through the woods. They aren’t that far.” Joel stretched.

“Joel?” Jonathan asked.

“I don’t see why she couldn’t go with us. She should be safe.”

“Yipee!” Leigh bounced on the couch.

“Whoa, you stay in the truck until I know if there is a female for you to meet,” Joel said.

“Okay. I’ll stay in the truck until you tell me I can get out.”

“Something about her being so cooperative worries me,” Joel said with a grin.

“She’ll get us later with something.” Jonathan pulled her hair.

“I’ll go start the coffee and a meal for you.” Leigh got up and headed to the kitchen.

Joel stopped her with an arm around her waist. “Come here, you.” He leaned down and kissed her. Then he released her.

* * * *

By nine the next morning, the three of them were loaded in the truck and driving toward their closest neighbor’s house. When they pulled in, Joel once again reminded Leigh to stay in the truck until they told her she could get out. She promised, but had her eyes open for any sign there was a woman to talk to in the area.

By the time the men had made it to the front door, it had been thrown open by a man that was even larger than Jonathan. Leigh shrank down in the front seat of the truck. What if he wasn’t friendly? Would he hurt her guys? She eyed them over the dashboard of the truck, trying to see what was going on. From where she sat, it looked like everything was going okay, but she couldn’t be sure. She didn’t see anything that looked threatening, though.

About that time, Jonathan walked over to the truck and knocked on the window.