Monroe, Marla - Their Bartered Bride [Men of the Border Lands 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (21 page)

He had held back for so many weeks in telling her that he loved her. With her not remembering anything about their relationship, he hadn’t wanted to push her. He felt guilty about bartering for her, but realized it had been the right thing to do. Did she remember that he’d been distant toward her those last few days before the wolf attack? If she did, maybe she had forgiven him since she had said she loved him.

The crackling of the fire drew his gaze and he thought about how much he wanted to be holding her right then. Jonathan would be snuggling up to her, keeping her warm. He wanted to be in that bed with them, but there was no way he would be able to make it up the stairs without a lot of pain and Jonathan’s help.

He sighed. The wolves had gotten the drop on them. He figured there had been close to twenty-five of them. They had managed to kill at least seven and wound another three or four. It thinned their ranks, but not nearly enough, as far as he was concerned. They would need another hunt, and soon, to keep them down.

Maybe they would back off for now. He needed time to heal, and so would Brandon. He had a feeling Brandon was feeling a bit more pain than Joel was. He’d gotten a nasty tear on his chest.

Meeting the other men seemed to be a good idea. They could help each other in tough times if they all became friends. Brice had already asked him if they would let Leigh visit Ronnie some when she got too far along to get out. They were worried about her getting depressed holed up in the house.

Another thought struck him. What were they going to do when Leigh ended up pregnant? She would eventually, and there were no doctors around. They would need the women to help her then.

Joel lay there worrying over every little thing for what seemed like hours when Jonathan slipped down the stairs to check on him.

“What are you still doing awake?” he asked.

“Thinking too damn much, that’s for sure.” Joel sighed.

“You need to rest so you can heal. What are you thinking about?” Jonathan asked.

“Have you thought about what we would do when Leigh gets pregnant?”

“Not really. I figured when she gets pregnant, then we would worry.”

“We’ll end up delivering the baby. I don’t know the first thing about delivering babies, Jonathan.” Joel wiped his hand over his face.

“Neither do I, but it can’t be much different than delivering calves. We can find out who’s got a book, or get one from Sky Line when we go this spring.”

“I expect you’re right. I can’t sleep because I’m not comfortable, so all I can do is lie here and think of things to worry about.” Joel tried moving to another position again.

“So what’s the scoop on the wolf situation?” Jonathan asked.

“Not as good as I’d have liked.” He filled Jonathan in on the hunt and the numbers of wolves.

“That thinned them down some. Maybe they will stay away for a little while until we can hunt them again,” Jonathan said.

“That’s what I’m hoping. I’d feel better if we could thin them down to about five or six. We need them to keep the vermin down, but not go after our claves.”

“And women,” Jonathan added.

“How’s Leigh?” Joel asked.

Jonathan sighed. “She cried herself to sleep. She was really upset that you were hurt. You’re going to catch hell going on the next hunt. She’s not going to want you to step foot in those woods again.”

“I figured that. But neither one of us wants to have to worry about her working in the garden alone this spring and summer. We’ve got to take care of them now while we have the snow to track them.”

“I agree. We’ll worry about convincing Leigh when you get ready to hunt again.”

Joel knew Jonathan hated not getting to go, but one of them had to watch out for Leigh, and Joel was the better shot. It was only smart for him to be the one hunting. Besides, if something happened to him, Jonathan was the best at taking care of Leigh.

“Okay. You need to get some rest now. I don’t want to have to deal with you raving with a fever. I might have to knock you out.”

“Like hell, little brother.”

Jonathan laughed and walked back toward the stairs. He turned and looked at Joel one last time as if he wanted to say something. Then, he climbed the stairs and vanished from sight.

Joel settled down once more and stared into the flickering fire, thinking about Leigh and what she meant to him. The one single word he could come up with that summed it all up was
home
. She meant home to him.

Chapter Seventeen

After several weeks, Joel was just about back to normal. Jonathan kept the herd close to the house, but there had been no further problems with the wolves. Leigh was still holding her breath, though. She was so afraid they would start up again and the men would want to go back out hunting.

She had overheard Joel and Jonathan talking about it on several occasions, but they always hushed when she walked in the room. She was fairly certain they planned to set up another hunting party soon. She wouldn’t allow it if it were in her power. She was so afraid of losing one of her men.

Another thing she wanted was for both men to make love to her. After everything Ronnie had told her about it, she could hardly wait. They had prepared her for several weeks before all the excitement, and now they were just beginning to have sex again after Joel’s injuries had healed.

Leigh didn’t want to wait anymore. To her way of thinking, it was the last step to becoming one between the three of them. She saw it almost like a wedding ceremony, and she hadn’t had hers yet.

She planned to broach the subject that night. She would take a nice, long bath and bathe in her best soap so she would smell nice. Then she would pounce on them. Leigh laughed to herself at the thought of pouncing on either of the men. She was so much smaller than they were.

“What are you laughing at?” Joel surprised her. She hadn’t realized anyone was in the house. The men had been outside in the barn.

“Just thinking that I’m happy. Everything is going so well. How are the horses?”

“Doing fine. We’re probably going to get more snow tonight, though. The wind has whipped up some major clouds.”

“Mmm, snuggling weather.” Leigh wrapped her arms around Joel and squeezed.

“You’re feisty today. What’s gotten into you?” Joel held her out in front of him and tilted his head to the side. “You’ve got something planned. I can see it in your eyes. What is it, Leigh?”

“Nothing. I’m going to have a nice, long bath now while you two are outside.”

“Don’t catch cold, baby. Keep the water hot and wait for one of us to come dry you off quick. How long do you want to soak?” Joel played with her hair, holding it up on top of her head.

“About forty-five minutes.” She swatted at his hand when he tickled the nape of her neck.

“That’s an awful long time in the cold.” He frowned.

“I’ll be fine.” Leigh stood on tiptoe and kissed him, then bounded up the stairs.

She ran the water as hot as she could stand and pulled out the smell-good soap she had found in the back of the cabinet. Then she slipped into the water, hissing at the heat. It would cool off quickly, so she would need to let some out and turn the hot water back on again.

She quickly bathed, then leaned back and let the water soothe her. She was nervous about tonight and wanted to be relaxed, or the men wouldn’t take her together. She was sure they were reluctant to for fear of hurting her. Well, she was going to put an end to that thinking.

Twice she had to add hot water before Joel came in to pull her out of the tub and dry her off. He kissed her as he wrapped her in the towel and briskly rubbed her skin. He was careful of her arms and her belly. Truly, she was healed now, but they were still so careful with her.

“Where is Jonathan?”

“Downstairs, locking up. He figured you would be asleep in a tub full of cold water.” Joel picked her up and carried her to the bed.

“Climb in and snuggle. We’re going to take showers and be right with you.”

Joel stripped and hurried to the bathroom to the shower. She heard Jonathan’s heavy tread on the stairs. When he walked in, he headed straight for her.

“So, are you a prune under there?”

Leigh laughed. “No. I’m not a prune. I really enjoyed my bath, though. Hurry up with your shower. I need my men to keep me warm.”

“I’ll hurry, baby. You stay warm. Joel will be out in a minute.” Jonathan hurried out the door to use the bathroom down the hall.

Leigh could feel the nervous flutters in her belly once again. She tried to will herself to calm down, to no avail. Finally, she managed to calm down enough so that her teeth were no longer chattering.

When Joel emerged from the bathroom, she grinned and held out her hand.

“Hurry up. I’m cold over here.” She snuggled up to him as soon as he climbed beneath the covers.

“Mmm, you smell good, baby. I like that scent. What is it?” Joel buried his nose in her neck.

“Honeysuckle.” She giggled when he began licking her neck.

He moved his mouth around her neck to her jawline and nibbled his way around to her chin. Then he kissed the corners of her mouth before sucking in her lower lip to tease with the tip of his tongue. Leigh moaned. Joel took advantage of her open mouth and plunged his tongue inside to slide sensually along hers.

He sucked her tongue inside his mouth, where he pulled on it in time to his thrusting hips against her side. Then he pushed his back into hers to explore the roof of her mouth, as well as teasing her with his thrusting in and out.

Leigh reached down and found his rock-hard cock. Just touching it had her pussy juices flowing. She ached inside for him to fill her up. She squeezed the base of his dick, enjoying the groan that slipped from his mouth.

Joel broke the kiss to breathe as she ran her hand up and down the thick stalk of his cock. Then he was thrusting into her hand. He sucked on her neck, tickling it with his tongue before moving lower to her cleavage. He licked there before moving up to lick around her nipple.

She tried moving to get him to touch her beaded nipple, but he avoided it, spreading open-mouth kisses all around her breast except where she wanted it. She grabbed his head and held him still while she brushed her nipple over his mouth.

“Is this a private party, or can anyone join?” Jonathan dropped a knee on the bed, then climbed in to help Joel torment her breasts.

Both men teased her until she was whimpering with need. Then Joel sucked in her nipple at the same time that Jonathan twisted her other one. She came up off the bed with a miniorgasm. Now her pussy juices were coating her inner legs. She was so turned on that even anal sex might not hurt. It was now or never. She pushed against the men until they moved back with strange expressions on their faces. She pushed Joel down and climbed on top of him. He grinned.

“You want to ride, baby?”

“I want you in my pussy and Jonathan in my ass.” She held herself up with her hands on his chest.

“Baby, I don’t think you’re ready yet,” Joel said.

“Let’s prepare you some tonight, and maybe in day or two,” Jonathan began.

“No! I want you now. I need both of you now. I want to feel whole, and I don’t feel that way right now.” Leigh rose up from Joel and aligned his straining cock with her cunt and slowly lowered herself on him. She moaned at the fullness that gripped her.

Jonathan ran his hands up her back over and over again. His work-roughened hands felt good stimulating her skin. She wanted to feel them on her ass.