Their Reluctant Bride (Bridgewater Menage Series Book 6) (12 page)

She’d killed her husband. He hadn’t died falling down the steps, drunk. What had he done to her to warrant her to do such a thing? There was no way in hell Emily would do something like that without being provoked. She wasn’t a murderer. She’d gone to Olivia’s rescue with a rifle, facing off against three big men. Simon, Cross and Rhys wouldn’t have hurt her, but she’d taken that risk to protect her friend.

When her tears had subsided somewhat, Xander asked, “How?”

“I… I hit him with a frying pan.”

Xander’s hand fell to his side and for a moment, we just stared at her, bent over with her ass upturned.

A frying pan?

Xander scooped her up and sat on the bed, her head tucked beneath his chin. When she hissed as her ass came in contact with his thighs, Xander shifted her so she sat more comfortably.

I knelt down before her, stroked my hand over her cheek, my thumb wiping away the remainder of her tears. Seeing her like this was heart-wrenching.

“What did he do to you?”

“He was drunk.” She hiccupped, then sniffed. “He wanted money that I’d hid from him. He needed to give it to Ralph, but I refused. It was the money for food, for the house.” She took a deep breath, then continued. “He came after me as I knew he would. I used the only weapon I had at hand.”

“You hit him with a frying pan?”

She nodded against Xander’s chest. “He said he was going to… to whip me, then take his husband’s rights.”

Jesus. I glanced up at Xander. He’d just spanked her and I hadn’t stopped him.

As if Xander could read my thoughts, he murmured, “Not the same thing.”

I wasn’t so sure about that.

“So you were in the kitchen and he came after you?”

She shook her head again. “I was upstairs in the bedroom. He woke me up. I’d taken the frying pan with me because he’d become angrier the more he gambled. I was afraid of him.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Xander asked.

Emily pulled back, looked between us. With her blotchy face and messy hair, she looked so lost, vulnerable.

“I thought you wouldn’t want me,” she admitted. “Why would you want a murderer for a wife? But I had to find some way to save myself from Ralph’s plan to have me work in the saloon. I would have told you when you learned about Ralph, but Xander had said he hated liars and that’s what I am.”

She sniffed again.

I frowned. “Did you kill him on purpose?”

Her eyes widened. “No!” she cried, then hopped up from Xander’s lap. She began pacing once again and I doubted she even remembered she was naked. “He was going to hurt me.” She spun to face us, her eyes wild. “He was, truly. You have to believe me. He’d hit me before and this time he was so mad.”

“I believe you,” Xander said plainly.

“I believe you, too. It was self-defense, plain and simple,” I added.

“But I pushed him down the stairs, made it look like he fell.”

Xander stood and walked over to her, pulled her back into his arms, his hand stroking up and down her spine. “That was smart. Most men, sheriffs, judges even, don’t see the gray area in the law. What you did was wrong, but you saved yourself.”

Xander knew from experience that some lawmen did not work for justice.

“We’d have killed him if we’d known how he’d hurt you. The Bridgewater men would have, too.”

She looked surprised, hopeful even. “You don’t hate me?” she asked, her voice querulous.

I stood, too. “Hate you?” I tugged her from Xander’s arms, pulled her into mine. “We admire you. You’re so strong. So brave. You shouldn’t have had to carry that alone, baby.”

“There should be no secrets between us,” Xander said.

Emily reached out her arm and Xander grasped her hand. “Ralph. He knows. I don’t know how, but he knows what I did. He threatened to tell you. To ruin us.”

I ground my back teeth together. How I wished Quinn hadn’t dragged him away. I’d have hit him with more than a frying pan.

She’d said “to ruin
us
.” The sound of it soothed something inside me, the place where I worried that she wouldn’t want us, that Xander was too rough, that I was too mild, that we weren’t what she needed. But the use of the word “us” indicated that she considered us to be a family, a unit. She felt she was already ours.

Looking to Xander over Emily’s head, I could read his thoughts. He’d caught that, too. But that wasn’t all. There was Ralph and he could affect
us.
The bastard would be back. He wouldn’t stop with just fifty dollars if he could have more. Bribery, extortion. It wasn’t beneath the likes of him.

CHAPTER NINE

EMILY

 “Morning, sweetheart,” Xander murmured from between my spread thighs.

I looked down my body at him, his eyes hooded perhaps from sleep, but more likely with arousal. Just the sight of him there, his hands on my inner thighs, was so decadent. Frank had never put his mouth on my pussy, ever. If Tyler liked my breasts, then Xander definitely liked to lick my pussy.

His finger was curled deep inside of me, pressing against that special spot, rubbing it so that my hips arched—directly into his mouth. How had I slept through him settling between my thighs? How had I been unaware of his blunt finger sliding into me? I could feel their slick seed still deep within. His beard rasped against my newly bare pussy and when he flicked my clit with his tongue, then sucked on it, I came.

My eyes fell closed and I cried out. He could work my body so easily; I was so responsive to him. I wilted against the bed, ready to fall back asleep.

As Xander kissed his way up my body, he murmured, “So sensitive after last night. I love the way your body responds.”

Sitting back on his heels, he grabbed my hips and flipped me over onto my belly. I gasped at the surprise, but I was getting used to his more aggressive touch. Smoothing a hand over my bottom, he commented, “Not even red this morning. Is it sore?”

Coming up onto my elbows, I looked at him over my shoulder. I was too sated and sleepy to feel embarrassed. “Are you referring to the plug stretching me or the spanking last night?”

Xander had spanked me. I’d… I’d loved it. At first, it had surprised me, but his commands, his deep voice was like a rope keeping me tethered to safety. I’d been lost, overwhelmed, completely blanketed by guilt at what I’d done, what I’d subjected the men to. But Xander’s commands had altered my focus. The first spank had been like a bucket of cold water, jolting me from my thoughts and forcing me to focus solely on him. The sting of his palm, the tingling heat of my skin.

I’d been able to think only of that instead, to give in to it. Xander hadn’t stopped. I couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but accept he had taken over. The truth had slipped from me easily then. Like my body, I’d handed the problem over to them. I’d thought they would hate me, but they hadn’t. In fact, from the looks on their faces, they’d have killed Frank themselves, and not by accident.

He gave me a light, playful swat and grinned.

Tyler came into the room then with a tray, closing the door behind him. “Leaving me out?” he asked.

“After last night, you feel left out?” Xander asked.

They’d both taken me, one after the other, again and again. While they’d each been given time to recover, long enough for the other to fuck me, I’d had none. They’d given me orgasm after orgasm and even now, I could feel their seed seeping from me. To say they’d filled me was a gross understatement.

“We can’t leave the room before noon,” Tyler said. “My mother will think we aren’t attentive enough toward our new bride otherwise.”

Xander laughed softly and shook his head. It was clear to me he wasn’t used to a mother any more than me.

“Emily was just speaking about the plug in her ass,” Xander replied.

Tyler’s brow went up as he placed the tray on a table beneath a large window. I could smell coffee and cinnamon rolls. My stomach rumbled and Xander offered another light swat to my bottom.

“Think your ass is ready for our cocks, baby?” Tyler asked as he came over to sit beside me on the bed. He reached down and took hold of the hard base that was keeping my cheeks parted. Tugging on it, I groaned, then clenched.

“I… I don’t know,” I replied as I took deep breaths.

He was pulling it out carefully. Once he dropped it onto the bed, he slipped his hand down my back, following the length of my spine until his thumb brushed over my stretched rosette, sliding in easily. He held it still.

Xander rose from the bed and went over to our bags, retrieved the small sack that held the various plugs.

After pulling one out, he dropped the sack onto the bed. He held it up. “This one is next, sweetheart. The biggest one. Then you’ll be ready. You’ll be taken by the two of us, together.”

I couldn’t miss their eager looks as Tyler slid his thumb in and out a few times, then pulled out. He stood and went to the basin to wash.

“We’ll play with this one after breakfast,” Xander commented.

XANDER

“It’s the only way to lure Ralph out into the open,” Emily said. She placed a tureen of soup in the middle of the table. While the cook made the meal, Emily couldn’t sit idly by and let the woman serve us.

Since Tyler couldn’t sit idly by and let Emily serve
us
,
he brought a loaf of bread on a cutting board to the table along with a bowl of fresh butter.

“There’s no way in hell I’ll allow it,” I countered, drying my hands on a dishtowel. The very idea of my wife using herself as bait to pull that asshole out of whatever woodwork he lived in was
not
going to happen. “I’ll agree to staying here in Helena to do so, but you’re not going to just wander the streets hoping he’ll confront you.”

We were at the kitchen table once again, this time for lunch. As Tyler had said, we’d kept Emily happy—and very busy—in our bedroom until after noon by teaching her to suck our cocks and to accept the largest plug. She was an avid pupil and we rewarded her skill and good behavior. Twice.

“Why ever not? He can’t do anything if I am in public.”

She was naive as to the way of desperate, corrupt people. I was glad for it, otherwise she would be like me, bitter and jaded. In the past few days though, I’d felt… better. It was amazing when I had to focus on someone else instead of myself. I had someone to live for, to cherish and protect, just as Tyler had said. That meant I would be extra vigilant with Emily, for I wanted no harm to come to her. Was this love? I had no fucking idea, but it was… good.

“She can be with me.” Belinda came into the kitchen. She seemed to know what was going on without having been in the room. Having known her for several years, I’d dismissed the notion that she had special abilities, instead placing her skill at knowing everything that happened under her roof to being a mother.

Tyler and I stood, then returned to our seats when she sat and reached for the ladle.

“We will go shopping. It has been a long time since I’ve enjoyed that with Olivia.” She looked to Emily. “It will be a treat for me.”

“So I’m to have my mother and my wife at the mercy of an extortionist?” I was glad to have Tyler agree with me.

Belinda waved away her son’s gruff concern.

“Before the two of you start blustering nonsense about danger, your fathers will be home tonight and can help. If they return early enough, perhaps you can go to the saloons with them, see if you can find him.”

“I thought you said you wanted us to take Emily to bed,” Tyler countered.

“You have the rest of the day.” His mother arched a brow at his contrary tone. “Then, later, have Xander stay here with her. Go to the saloon with your fathers. A celebration of marriage. Talk up your bride. This man, Ralph, might know that she married, but it’s doubtful he knows she married both of you.”

That was true. A good perk of having two husbands. One to go out and find Ralph, the other to stay and protect their woman.

“What am I supposed to say, I wore her out?” Tyler asked. “To my fathers? That seems unlikely.”

I saw Emily flush.

“A late bachelor party. It’s common knowledge that your fathers have been away. It’s only right that you three celebrate.” Belinda waved her hand through the air. “Pretend you’re drunk, let your fathers watch and see if he follows. Surely he’ll want to know where you live. Make it easy for him.”

The idea was sound. I liked the part best where I would stay with Emily. It was the only time I knew she’d be safe.

“Tomorrow then, for shopping,” Emily added, wiping her mouth with her napkin. “I’ve only shopped at the mercantile. This will be… fun.”

Fun was not the word I would have picked, but if Emily wasn’t afraid or worried, then that was what was important. If Tyler and his fathers were able to catch a glimpse of Ralph then we’d know his intent to confront Emily again. We’d be ready this time.

***

I was buttoning my shirt when I met the men as they came in the front door. I’d heard them approach the house, their voices loud like those who’d had too much to drink. Tyler had his arm over one of his father’s shoulders, laughing at something he said.

Once the door was closed behind them, the pretense slipped.

I shook both of Tyler’s fathers’ hands. They were both in their late fifties. While their hair was more gray than dark, they would not be men I wished to bother. They were powerful in town and had built the large ranch that Tyler and I now ran. I’d known them for years and they were the fathers I never had.

“Well?”

“First, congratulations on your marriage, son,” Roger Tannenbaum said, slapping me on the shoulder. He didn’t do it lightly. “It is good to see you smiling.”

I couldn’t help the grin, for I’d just left a sleeping and well pleasured bride. While Tyler was out with his fathers, I’d spent the time tending to Emily. While I itched to get Ralph behind bars, I’d enjoyed my evening’s activities probably more than Tyler had his. “Thank you,” I replied.

While they smelled of cheap whiskey, none appeared drunk. “Let’s go into the office and have a drink. And not rotgut.”