RopeMeIn (3 page)

Sure, it had taken them nearly a year to plan the
remodeling, another to execute it. Then, though they had discovered a few
candidates to fill their particular role of sub and lover, they had not found
any one woman they agreed to for all of them. Only when they learned about
Cara’s return and remembered her as a kid who dogged their heels around town
did they decide that she was a good possibility. When they learned more about
her—and her marital disaster—they knew she was a prize worth cultivating.

Jed shook his head as he opened up the new French-style
stainless refrigerator and pulled out the salad fixings. He liked her, for
certain. What they had been told about her was right. She was sweet and smart.
Wary of men though. Her ex’s fault, the asshole. But Jed and his brothers hoped
they could win her over with a gentle hand and the lure of three lovers who’d
care for her as if she were spun sugar. God knew his cock twitched to savor her
every time he set eyes on her. He bet odds that lush little body would fit him
and his brothers to a T.

“Now to find out if you like sex as much as we do. And if
you like it often and varied, with a touch of leather on the side.”

Chapter Three

“Harry.” Cara grinned at him with her big baby browns alight
after tasting his stew. “You are one fine cook.”

“Thank you, Cara,” he told her, wondering how he could
distinguish himself from his brothers in this quest to seduce her. If food was
the way to a woman’s heart, Harry would don an apron and cook for her every
day.

“How did you learn this?”

Harry threw her a winsome look. Keeping his gaze from the
dangerous vee of her cleavage in the damn robe had been his challenge for the
past hour. Keeping his mind from what lay beneath the fabric had been a war
he’d lost. His poor cock, strangled in his skintight jeans, told him so.
“Cooking for these two cowhands is demanding.”

“Hard to please, are they? You could hire a woman, couldn’t
you?” she joked with him, her cheeks blushing with the words. “To cook, I
mean.”

Paris and New York had not taken the sweetness out of her
basic Texas nature. Neither had a verbally abusive husband.
Harry leaned
across the table and squeezed her hand, fast and friendly like, just to
heighten the effect of all this testosterone appreciating her fine bod and
conversation. “We thought about that but we didn’t want to hire a housekeeper
who might not like the changes we intend. And truth is, we prefer just us here.
I like to cook and these two cowboys demand the best. Our mama was a great
cook. So we were raised on fine vittles.”

“Took him about five years,” Will offered with pain in his
eyes, “to perfect Ma’s biscuits.”

Jed groaned. “They tasted like the Sonoran desert.”

Will put a hand to his stomach. “And felt like he’d snuck
buckshot in the batter.”

Laughing, she put her napkin to her mouth to keep from
sputtering all over the table. When she’d taken a sip of the wine and recovered
enough, she said, “You’ve certainly got a swell place to work in. I haven’t
seen a kitchen so well appointed since I last watched
HGTV
.”

Harry checked Will’s and Jed’s expression, then asked,
“Shall we tell her the truth?”

Will flinched.

Jed stared at him, horrified.

Hell, not that much truth!
“We saw a few episodes of
that and it’s how we decided to renovate.”

She snorted. “You are kidding me, right?”

“Not a chance,” Jed confirmed, clearly relieved that Harry’s
revelation was about the kitchen. “We go for pretty surroundings. Out on the
land, life is raw. A man needs a bit of beauty when he comes home.”

Jed’s words were not lost on her, because her face lit up
like a Christmas tree.

“Men who watch home remodeling on TV,” she mused. “I
am
in a new world.”

Got that right, honey.
Harry lifted his chin at her
half-finished bowl of his beef stew. “Eat up. You’re a growing gal. And we have
apple pie for dessert.”

“Apple,” she mouthed, her eyes twinkling with the very idea.

“Pie,” he finished.

“To eat with you boys, I’ll have to get on my treadmill for
twice as long.”

Harry met her soft brown gaze with his own and drowned there
a good long while. “Honey, stick with us and you won’t need that treadmill at
all.”

She stared at him, her mouth dropping open, getting his
implication.

His brothers scowled at him.

“Don’t mind him,” Jed told her. “He was dropped on his head
as a baby.”

“Harry works better with machines than humans,” Will added,
rounding his eyes at him in warning.

Harry harrumphed. “They’re jealous cuz the best they can
manage is to talk to the cattle. Women need more eloquence.”

Will objected. “Hold on there. I talk a good game. Besides,
simple is better.”

“Yeah,” Jed put in. “That’s why you haven’t been to a
library since you graduated Texas Tech.”

“I have an e-reader. You boys still use that paper stuff.”
Will sniffed. “Plus, you have no idea what I have on my bookshelf.”

Harry winced. “The dictionary would be a good start.”

“Library is too far away,” Will went on, zeroing in on Cara
and giving a fake cold shoulder to Jed and him. “They’re in need of money for
repairs and a new librarian. The last one left when she got married to a
visiting Fuller Brush salesman.”

Cara chuckled. “Fuller Brush salesmen are still around? Who
knew?”

“Will is pulling your leg,” Jed told her. “Maria Werner who
was our head librarian married a man who came from Austin to investigate the
water shortages.”

Cara tipped her head. “You don’t have water?”

“The rains have been poor,” Will told her.

“Half normal deposits,” Jed added. “Creates problems. A lot
of them. Some in the county have dry wells. They have to buy their drinking
water, rent a motel room so they can take a shower and even take their wash to
the town laundromat.”

“That’s terrible,” Cara said. “I had no idea. Aunt Bree
hasn’t uttered a word.”

Will huffed. “In town, you folks are on the city system and
your rationing is not as strict. Out here on the range, ‘water rights’ are
fightin’ words. Jed knows firsthand because he’s on the County Water Board.”

“Jed here is becoming our family legal eagle in action.”
Harry decided it was time to take them to the other shortage they had. “We also
have a woeful lack of females in this county.”

“With so many good-looking men?” Cara asked with a winsome
look. “How did that happen?”

“Attrition,” Harry responded with a shrug. “The girls who
don’t marry their high school sweethearts run off to college, meet a beau, get
a job, have babies and never return.”

“The Hill Country is rugged land,” Jed explained. “Too much
rock, caliche, too little soil and, without water, too little grass. Tough to
work the land or raise cattle in the droughts we’ve had off and on the last ten
years.”

Harry frowned that he’d taken them from the subject of
female-to-male ratios. “That kind of life, miles away from your nearest
neighbor or even the grocery store, is hard to accept for a woman in this day
and age.”

“Unless she really likes staying home,” Cara pointed out.
“And in that case, the internet keeps us connected. I’m going to do my part and
put my goods up for sale on a website.
Knickers!
” She put her hands up
as if she were erecting a sign. “Bringing French and Italian lingerie to
American women.”

“And men,” Harry joked as he rose and collected empty
plates. “You’re doing us all a service. You’ll make a mint. If I had a woman,
I’d come buy goodies from you.”

“Would you?” She sounded so pleased she almost cooed. “Most
men would not set their little toe in a store like that. But I’m going to make
it appealing to them.”

Will raised a hand. “Well now. Sign. Me. Up.”

Harry snickered. “Are you going to have modeling shows?”

Cara blinked. “Not a bad idea.”

Harry nodded. “I can be your show manager.”

Jed snorted. “Oh look out.”

“Actually,” Cara teased, pointing a finger at Harry, “that’s
not a bad idea either.”

Will rubbed his hands together. “Harry’ll need help.”

Jed feigned dismay. “
You
need help.”

“Now, now,” Cara admonished, “I could find roles for all
three of you. How do you feel about getting up on the runway with the women?”

Will shook his head. “Count me out.”

“But you’d be perfect. Tall, dark and hunky.” She waggled
her brows at him.

“You’d have to teach him how to walk right.” Jed laughed.
“He’s been on horses since he was four and his knees are bows.”

“He’s pretty though,” Harry said and got a napkin thrown at
him by Will. “But you know, I might give that modeling gig a go. Do I wear
boxers?”

Cara winked at him. “I’d find you something more…brief.”

Jed choked. “Have to have some manscaping first, there,
bro.”

Harry gave the evil eye to his older sibling. “Fine. I could
do that. In fact, I’d like that. The modeling, I mean. I’d be sort of the Texas
version of that soccer guy, whatshisname? Married to that skinny little chick?
Man, she’s thinner than the shadow of a barbed wire fence.”

Jed folded his arms. “We like our women with a bit more meat
on them.”

“Be still my heart.” Cara clamped a hand to her heart.
“Women with…‘meat’ on them look terrific in fine silk and satin.”

“I want to agree,” Will offered with a shake of his head.
“Haven’t seen too much of any women lately. In fine lingerie or without. Fine
by me though. I’ve been waiting for the right woman. Lately, I’ve raised my
standards.” He glanced around. “Like two other men I know.”

Jed got serious. “So what’s your plan for men to shop at
Knickers
?”

“I’d have a part of the store just for men. With a female
clerk who knows how to translate measurements like these,” in mid-air, she made
an hourglass figure, then cupped her hands as if a man knew his woman’s breast
size, “into bras and panties that will fit the first time he takes his gifts
home.”

Harry lounged against the counter, listening to her. His
fingers itched to cup Cara’s breasts, which edged out of the robe as she spoke.
He could see the shadow of one nipple. One large pink nipple. Pebbled too. His
gaze fastened to her mouth.
So you get off talking about lingerie? I’ll
remember that.
“What do you say, folks? You do want pie, right?”

“Bring it on.” She cocked an ear to the drumming of the rain
on the roof. “I’ve worn off loads of calories just worrying about this storm.”

As all the men rose to clear the table and Will started to
make coffee, Harry told her Jed had briefed him on her experience with a
tornado. “You’re safe here. I’ll get your truck when this clears. Fix it
pronto.”

She went on about the vehicle’s condition. “It’s old,
Harry—1981. If it’s damaged badly, the manufacturer might not stock parts for
it any longer.”

“No worries. I’ll make it all better.”

“He’s not foolin’ either,” Jed put in. “If the vet can’t get
here and one of our cows has a breech birth coming on, Harry is our man to turn
the calf.”

“Patient, are you?” Cara asked him, her dark eyes searching
his.

“With cows,” Will clarified.

“With us?” Jed added, joshing him with bright eyes. “He’s a
cat sitting under a bird bath.”

“These two give me hives. Ignore them. Meanwhile,” he did a
ta-dah and presented her with a honker of a piece of his pie, “try this on for
size.”

“Mmm, mmm, mmm.” She dug into his dessert. “I won’t fit back
into my jeans.”

What a good idea.
Veering away from the temptation to
hover over her, Harry walked away. From across the room, he watched her,
spellbound by her enjoyment.

Her lush lips closed around the fork. Harry could just about
taste her goodness. Her eyes drifted closed in ecstasy. Her chin lifted and Harry
vowed to make her look like that in bed when he slid his cock high inside her.

She made little delicious sounds as she dug in for another
bite. “But oh, it will be worth it.”

You. Are. Telling. Me.
He cleared his throat and
pushed away from the counter. “Milk? Sugar with your coffee?”

“No thanks. No coffee. I’d be up all night.”

Another fine idea.

Distracting himself from jumping her bones, Harry got the
kitchen cleaned up and dishes in the dishwasher while Jed swept the floor and
Will took out the trash.

“What can I do?” Cara asked.

“Sit there and look pretty,” Harry urged.

“Can I check on my clothes in the dryer?” Cara asked, her
fingers securing the thick black terry around her chest and taking away that
tempting view of the valley between her breasts.

“Sure. Laundry room is that way.” He pointed and watched her
pad barefoot in that direction, her trim ass in the robe as much a turn-on as
the other views of her.

“You’re just a horn toad,” he chided himself. “Get a grip.”

“What’s your problem?” Will came in the back door.

“Beating myself up for chomping at the bit.”

“’Bout time you called a spade a spade.”

“You cannot tell me you sat there and did not feel—”

Jed coughed.

Harry and Will turned as Cara entered the room. “My jeans
aren’t done yet. But these are.”

Her hands were filled with lacey stuff and her white shirt.

Harry wanted to howl that she was about to put layers of
fabric between her and his ambitions. “Well, why not go put on what you can and
come back. What do you say to a movie?”

“No,” Jed refused. “Takes an hour to agree what to watch.
Zombies? Spies? Mel Gibson? Then we have this debate. Did we like it? Was the
acting good enough?”

“Yeah,” Will chuckled. “You’d think we were Cecile B.
DeMille instead of ranchers.”

“Okay.” Cara hooked one hand on her hip. “No flicks. No
critiques. How about cards?”

“Cards?” Harry grew suspicious of the eagerness on her face.

Cara beamed. “Sure.”

“Oh no.” Harry checked his brothers’ expressions. “With that
smile, we can’t play her. Can’t you see?”

Will snorted. “I’ll take a chance.”

Harry made a desperate sound. “She’s a shark.”

She bared her teeth. “I’m harmless.”

Harry cursed beneath his breath. “Dunno. I have a bad
feeling here, boys.”

Jed fished a deck from a kitchen drawer and strolled to the
table. “Harry has had bad luck betting against ladies.”

“Really? Why is that, do you suppose?” She led them on with
a devilish grin.

“No common sense,” Will offered.

“I’m not wily,” he clarified as he hung his dishcloth over
the faucet, then dried his hands. “Just one hundred percent me.”

“A big ham,” Jed told her as he opened the box of cards and
set them on the table.

“And honest,” Will offered. “Why, you could shoot dice with
him over the phone and he’d lose.”

Harry narrowed his eyes at his brothers. “Do not listen to
these dudes.”