“We’re separated, and I’ve filed for divorce,” she said, her jaw jutting out in determination. “He hit me, and I discovered he’s been sleeping around. I caught him in bed with my stepsister. He doesn’t get a second chance.”
“He hit you?” Kirk demanded.
“Your sister?” Stig echoed.
“Only once,” Fiona said. “But I saw his eyes, and he wanted me dead. I’m not giving him a second chance. I fell down the stairs and spent time in hospital.”
“Did he push you?” Stig asked.
“I don’t think so. I’m not sure,” she amended. “It’s a blur.”
“He slept with your sister?” Stig hated the sound of this guy. In their world, they revered women and in turn, the women kept their clan together.
“She’s my stepsister. We’re not related.”
“That’s still low,” Kirk growled. “Family should have each other’s backs. There should be loyalty.”
Fiona shrugged and immediately winced.
Stig noticed her discomfort and the cautious shifting of her arm position. “Is your arm giving you trouble? You shouldn’t have lifted those cartons.”
“It’s all right. I’ll find my sling once we get to Churchill.”
“How did your husband take the divorce?” Kirk asked as he drove off the paved road at the end of the town and onto the start of their track. They lumbered up an icy rise and down the other side.
The wheels dug into the snow and held, despite the weight of the sleds trailing them. Stig let out his breath as the sleds traveled easily over the ice and snow. Now that the town filled the horizon behind them, a vast flatness spread before them. Snow covered the ground, a few hardy tuffs of grass peeking from the icy crystals. Over to the left, three spindly bushes thrust from the land, their skeleton branches pointing toward the prevailing wind.
“How did Robert take the divorce?” Fiona laughed and twisted her lips. “Not well. He threatened. He wheedled. He begged, and he threatened again. Then he set his friends and family on me. I had to get a restraining order to get them to stop harassing me.”
“Did the restraining order work?”
“Not really. After a week of being trapped in my home, I went to Boston to visit my mother’s old haunts. The places she told me about before she died. On the way there I met the woman who visited Churchill last year. After spending a week in Boston, I decided I’d come here since I had nothing better to do.”
“Our gain. His loss,” Kirk murmured in an undertone.
Fiona didn’t hear but Stig had no problem with his acute hearing.
“What do you intend to do after your visit to Churchill?” he asked.
Fiona wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. “I’m not sure yet. Did you say it will snow soon? It’s freezing.”
Stig grabbed the coat he’d tossed in the back. “Here, you can use this.”
“Don’t you feel the cold?”
Stig shrugged. “I guess we’re used to it.”
Kirk peered through the windshield. “That storm might hit sooner than they forecast. I don’t like the murky gray of the sky.”
Stig wound down the window and stuck his head out to drag in a huge lungful of air. He resettled on his seat and closed the window. “Two hours. We need to push as far as we can.”
“Shouldn’t we turn back?” Fiona asked.
“No, my brothers will drive from the other direction to give us a hand if we need it. We’re best to travel as far as we can and wait out the worst of the storm.” Stig settled his arm around Fiona’s shoulders and tugged her closer. He cast her an innocent smile. “I’ll share my body heat with you. Blue lips aren’t a good look even if they match your pretty eyes.”
Her eyes twinkled before she cuddled against him like a sleepy kitten. “I am cold. I slept poorly in Winnipeg.”
“Grab some sleep now. You might as well,” Stig said.
Quiet fell in the cabin, and Stig sensed the moment Fiona fell asleep.
“What are we going to do about Leif? If he decides he wants Fiona…” Kirk took his gaze off the track for an instant and let Bess lurch into a pothole. Icy water splashed before Kirk guided Bess to more stable ground.
“Watch it,” Stig warned. “We play it by ear. That’s all we can do.”
“She smells good.”
“She does. It’s subtle but enticing. Tell me when you want to trade places.”
Kirk glanced at the woman cuddled up to Stig. “Now?”
Stig barked out a laugh. “You’ve been driving for half an hour.”
“I want her,” Kirk said in a muffled voice.
Stig’s gut jolted because he understood the urges that drove his brother. An indefinable something about Fiona made him want to claim her, to make her his. A quality in this woman pushed him to try to take care of her. Judging by Kirk’s expression, the same emotions drove him.
“Do you want to risk driving over the lake or should we take the longer route around?” Kirk asked, peering through the windshield.
Flakes of snow struck the vehicle, swirling on the track in front of them and reducing visibility. The wiper blades battled the flakes.
“Take the longer way,” Stig said without hesitation. “It might be a greater distance, but we’d waste time drilling a hole in the ice to make sure it’s deep enough to take Bess’s weight.”
“Good point, Runt.”
“Once we get an hour out, the track is more sheltered this way,” Stig added. “We’ll make better time without the wind shoving us around.”
“And that is why you’re the brains of the outfit.”
Kirk’s compliment sent warmth surging through Stig. His brothers rarely acknowledged his contribution, but he’d thought up this enterprise to help the town, to line their pockets and to give them options above what their mother wanted for them.
“Will the fruit and vegetables handle the drop in temperature?”
“Should be okay. I packed the sleds carefully and the more fragile stuff is in the middle. This trip will be a good test and help us decide what to invest our money in if we have room to haul our own freight.”
Kirk nodded and drove Bess through one of the shallow lakes that covered this part of the tundra. “I wonder what trouble Ma is stirring now.”
Stig sighed, a harsh ejection of air, before checking to make sure Fiona still slept. “Probably the same old song. Why aren’t we doing what all good polar bears should be?”
“Or she has arranged a date for one of us. Why does she think Birgit Larsen is a good match for any of us? She tried to fix Leif up with her last time. Must be Arve’s turn now.”
“And Arve told her where to go,” Stig concluded. His second oldest brother was a gentle giant and patient with it, but even he hit his limit. When his grip on his temper snapped, he exploded with the force of a volcanic eruption.
Bess chugged past a lone tree, twisted and grotesque from the constant barrage of snow and wind. Fiona stirred, the crinkle of his parka making him suspect she’d wake, but she slumbered on. At least she felt warmer now. They’d have to take care of their Southern beauty or else she’d freeze in this frigid tundra land.
For the next hour, Bess plowed through the ice and snow. Darkness fell quickly, and Bess’s lights pierced the gloom. Kirk squinted through the shadows. The snow fell steadily now. They’d have to stop soon.
“From memory, there is a stack of rocks about a kilometer away. The formations should offer shelter from the worse of the snow,” Stig suggested.
“Done deal,” Kirk said. “We might as well take the opportunity to grab some shuteye. Can we all fit in the back?”
Stig grinned as he reached for the phone. “I’ll tell Leif where we are and that we’re stopping for the night.”
“If you can get through.”
Kirk proved right, and Stig got nothing but static. Unconcerned, he set down the phone and turned his attention to the landscape. If it wasn’t for Fiona in his arms, he’d have op
ened the window and enjoyed the lash of wind and snow against his cheeks, the scent of fresh snow and the wail of the gusts zipping over the tundra.
A day out on the tundra left him happy and refreshed, time in his natural habitat destressing him. The harsh weather never bothered him because it made him enjoy the brief summer when the land greened up and the tourists came to see the beluga whales that massed in Hudson Bay.
“You were right, Runt. We can shelter from the worst of the storm behind that rise there. The area is long enough to protect the sleds too.”
Kirk positioned Bess, and the rocks and the rise cut the blast of wind and sleet straight away. It roared over their heads as if angry at losing Bess as a source of fun.
Stig shook his head at his fanciful thoughts. Lucky Ma wasn’t here. She’d slap that sort of romantic, fool idea out of him in short order.
Fiona stirred, her blue eyes sleepy. She smiled, and he would’ve sworn his heart flip-flopped. Those fanciful ideas again.
“We’re stopping because of the storm,” he murmured. “It has hit earlier than we expected. We’re going to wait it out here.”
Fiona sat up and rubbed her eyes. His coat fell away from her shoulders, and she shivered. “I can’t believe you’re not cold.”
“We’re used to it.” Kirk reached out, brushed a lock of hair off her cheek and tucked it behind her ear.
The tender expression digging into his brother’s features shocked the hell out of Stig. He’d never seen Kirk gone on a woman like this, and so quickly. The truth—he craved and desired Fiona as well. He had no idea what they’d do, especially if Leif decided he wanted her too.
For once, he didn’t want to accede to his older brother.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Fiona asked, and she cupped his jaw turning his head a fraction to see his expression.
“Thinking about Leif.”
“That’s enough to make me grumpy too,” Kirk said.
“Why? Don’t you get along?” Fiona asked, cocking her head like an inquisitive bird. Her gaze darted from him to Kirk and back.
He answered for Kirk, going with tact because it was too soon to talk to her about polar bear shifter dynamics. “We’re a typical family. We get on together, but sometimes we argue.”
“It must be nice having brothers. I’m an only child. My parents never married.” She glanced away. “I was the product of a one-night stand during my mother’s wild days. Once I came along, she settled down, but her family disowned her. They made sure of her financial security, but no one in my grandparents’ circle of friends approved of children out of wedlock.”
“No aunts or uncles or cousins?” Kirk asked.
“No, my mother was an only child too. She married when I was ten, and I had my stepsister, but we’ve never been close. I doubt I’ll ever speak to Janet again after she slept with Robert. I envy you both.”
Stig laughed. “Coming from a big family has its pressures too. You’ll understand once you meet Ma.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re going to introduce me to your mother?”
“It’s not as if we’ll have a choice. We have a tundra telegraph that sends gossip flying all over the town. She is intent on finding us partners. She says we’re bringing shame to our family and that her friends’ sons are snatching up the available women. We get lectured a lot,” Stig said.
Kirk rolled his eyes. “That’s true. I’ll get out and organize the back.”
Frigid air and a swirl of snowflakes zapped inside the cab when Kirk opened the door and climbed out. Seconds later, the door behind Stig opened. Kirk jerked the control to flatten the drivers’ seat.
“What are we doing?” Fiona asked.
“We’ll sleep until the worst of the storm passes. You can sleep in the middle to keep warm.”
“I can use the seat.”
“It will get colder,” Stig said. “Don’t worry. We won’t try anything funny.”
“Darlin’, we want to make sure you’re warm and safe and we can keep our promise to get you to Churchill.”
“But we expect a kiss each,” Stig said with a wink. “Payment for keeping you alive.”
Fiona laughed, thinking he was joking, and the musical sound warmed him through. This trip home to Churchill had shifted from hard work and challenge into exhilarating, and he hoped it didn’t turn to shit on their arrival with him and two of his brothers vying for Fiona’s attention.
Attraction Strikes Big Time
Oh! He wasn’t joking about stealing a kiss.
Fiona suspected she was gaping when Stig tapped her bottom lip with his forefinger. His toothy grin confirmed her suspicions, and she pressed her lips together, hoping to appear less awkward and uncouth in front of these handsome hotties. Not a shred of fear or alarm jumped through her, the two brothers charming rather than sleazy.
“Can you crawl into the back?” he asked. “That will save having to get out in the cold.”
The dimness in the cab interior made it seem smaller, especially with the two men taking up more than their fair share of space. It was bad enough being in this proximity but kissing them…
She puffed out a breath, the visible mist indicating the cool temperature. The wind no longer buffeted the vehicle, but the mournful wail of it and the hiss of the snow hitting the windows and bodywork showed the ferocity of the storm.
“I can crawl into the back. Close your eyes, Stig.”
“Why?”
“Because my backside is big,” she retorted.
“Now I’ll have to watch,” he teased as he helped her maneuver past him.
“It’s too dark to see much.” At least she hoped they possessed poor night-vision.
“You’d be surprised,” Kirk said. “Move it, darlin’. I figure we have at least two hours to rest before we can get moving again.”
“Do you have contact with a weatherman?” She shot him a glance, attempting to pierce the gloom, but try as she might, she couldn’t see much. She had no idea if he wore a teasing grin or a serious expression.
A hand landed on the curvy backside she loathed, and a yelp escaped her. She squeezed through the gap like a cork from a Champagne bottle and landed flush against Kirk. Hard pecs and a broad chest. She closed her eyes and took a second to savor his firm muscles and his enticing scent of crisp lemon, bergamot and orange blossom before she inched away. She’d always had a nose for a clean, fresh cologne and Kirk’s hit all the high points.
Kirk tugged on a lock of her hair, the small pain slotting her brain back into gear. She had no business letting her romantic daydreams loose.
“I have an instinct for weather. A gift.” As he spoke Kirk shifted position to fiddle with the other seats. Their torsos slid together with decadent friction, and a moan escaped her. Instantly, her cheeks heated. Silly! She bit her lip to contain another embarrassing groan and attempted to wriggle away. All she succeeded in doing was to scrape her sensitive nipples across Kirk’s muscular chest.
Kirk lifted the lever and the seat reclined. “Normally, we don’t bother flattening all the seats because there is just the two of us.”
He hadn’t noticed her mortifying arousal.
Fabric rustled as he shrugged out of his coat.
“Are you undressing?” She snapped her mouth shut, aghast at the high pitch squeak that had emerged.
“He’s taking off his jacket. We can pull our coats over us to keep warm,” Stig explained.
“Oh.” For a second, she’d forgotten about Stig. Her pulse raced a little faster at the idea of cuddling up to both men.
Strangely enough, given her problems with Robert, these men attracted her big time. Even more, they pushed thoughts of sex into her mind. Hot, lusty sex. Fulfilling sex. They made her feel safe and treasured, and they listened to her. It had been months before she’d trusted Robert enough to tell him about the circumstances of her birth. Something about these men made her trust them despite their short acquaintance.
“I’m going to squeeze past you,�
�� Kirk rumbled.
Their bodies bumped together. Again. More decadent friction, which had a decided effect on her libido. Her nipples tingled forcibly with the contact. She gulped, dragging in more citrus and a hint of patchouli. A fresh, crisp aroma that she preferred more than Robert’s heavy musk. The prickle in her breasts worked down her body, frisking every nerve ending on the way.
Kirk settled and reached for her. With easy strength, he lifted and rearranged her body until she reclined beside him. Her heart kicked into a crazy galloping beat, craving striking her like an inferno. Confusion and shame ran on the heels of her lust.
“I-I…this isn’t a good idea.”
“Shush,” Kirk whispered. “You’re safe with us. I promise.”
Too late for her to worry about her safety right now. The instant she relaxed and curled into him, he drew her into an embrace.
“Time for my kiss,” he announced. “I’ve been craving a taste of your sexy lips from the moment I saw you.”
A faint growl filled the cabin, but before she could wonder at its source or investigate, Kirk rolled a fraction, pressing her in to the makeshift bed. A second later, his lips claimed hers. She froze at first, the heat of his mouth taking her by surprise. His lips explored hers without haste, then he deepened the contact, his tongue smoothing and teasing hers.
If thoughts of his kiss had rocketed her heart rate, the actual kiss detonated her pulse. She moaned against his lips, parted their mouths for a quick breath, before allowing herself to be drawn back into the sensual exchange. He flexed his hips once and she realized the close physical proximity had affected him too.
Stig settled beside her, his body heat sinking into her side. A grumble vibrated through him, and Kirk lifted his head, slowly licking his lips.
“Runt is impatient for his turn to kiss you.” Laughter shaded his voice as he peeled away from her. He shunted her toward his brother.
“About time.” Stig covered her mouth with his, letting her get used to his caress for a few seconds before he got serious with seductive licks and nibbles.
A pulse stirred at her throat as he nipped her lower lip and tasted her. Her fingers crept upward to his spiky buzz cut hair as she sank into the sensations. The tastes. The scents. His soft groan of enjoyment. The brothers kissed differently. Kirk had been tentative but Stig dived right in until every muscle in her body softened and her toes curled. When Stig parted their lips and lifted his head, his blue eyes glowed in an unearthly manner. Weird. It was as if another being lurked inside him. She blinked twice and when he smiled at her, she saw the face she was becoming fond of in a big way.
Fiona's Mates_A Paranormal Reverse Harem Romance Page 4
