by Becca Van
Coming Home
Bella McPherson is on her first vacation in Big Lake, Texas. She sees a sapphire necklace in a shop window and finds herself purchasing it. Bella puts the necklace on and begins to feel strange. She slips into unconsciousness, only to wake up in a bedroom of strangers: in the year 1865.
Clint, Adam, and Marcus Aldridge are over the moon when they find the unconscious woman and take her back to their home on the Triple A Ranch. Bella has captured their hearts with her beauty and feisty personality from the first day, and they will do anything to seduce her into their beds and keep her there.
Will the danger stalking their woman win out? Or will their woman be taken from them to be whisked back to her own time?
Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Time Travel, Western/Cowboys
Length: 35,032 words
COMING HOME
Becca Van
MENAGE EVERLASTING
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
COMING HOME
Copyright © 2011 by Becca Van
E-book ISBN: 1-61926-082-4
First E-book Publication: December 2011
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter to Readers
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DEDICATION
I would like to dedicate this book to my son, Chris. You are an awesome person and even though recent times have been hard, they can only get better. Congratulations for passing year twelve. I am so proud of you.
COMING HOME
BECCA VAN
Copyright © 2011
Prologue
Present day
Bella McPherson hopped off the bus in the small town of Big Lake, Texas. She breathed in the warm spring air as she looked around, took her bag from the kind, elderly bus driver, and thanked him. It was sunset, and the sky was a beautiful range of oranges, pinks, and reds, fluffy white clouds streaked throughout as the sun began to sink.
Twenty-two-year-old Bella had always pictured herself as an average-looking female, with long light-brown hair cascading about her shoulders in a riot of waves, her hazel eyes sparkling with life and mischief. She was an average height of five feet four inches, slim of body but with curves in all the right places. Bella had always pictured herself as a plain Jane—nothing exceptional about her looks—but she was happy with who she was. She had never bothered with makeup. She didn’t really need to, and she hated the way it felt on her skin.
Bella turned away from the bus terminal and headed toward the small motel she had booked into for the next two weeks. She was on her first vacation, and she had every intention of enjoying it in its entirety. It had taken Bella over two years to save enough money for this vacation, as she worked as a waitress in a diner and only earned minimum wage. She had scrimped and scraped tips she had earned until she was finally able to afford the trip.
Bella had no family to speak of. Her parents had been killed when they had been caught in a bank robbery that had gone bad. She had been in day care at the time, and when no one came to pick her up, she’d been handed off to the child welfare department to be taken care of. She had been moved from pillar to post, going from foster home to foster home, never staying long enough to fit in. She was lucky to be an optimist rather than a pessimist, which suited her bubbly personality.
Once Bella had checked into her motel room, she unpacked and headed straight for the shower.
Bella rose with the sun, eager to get out and explore. She showered and dressed in her light-fawn-colored, three-quarter-length cargo pants, a sleeveless white cotton shirt, and sneakers. She grabbed her wallet, keys, and cell phone then headed out to find breakfast. She found a diner this time and ordered a ham-and-cheese toasted sandwich with a coffee to go. She sipped at her coffee as she wandered the length of the main street of Big Lake, heading toward the trees she could see, intending to eat her breakfast there in the morning spring sunshine.
Bella glanced in a tourist shop window she was about to pass and stopped in her tracks when she saw a small sapphire pendant displayed in the shop window on a bed of black velvet. It was so pretty it took her breath away. It was surrounded in either white gold or silver, but she couldn’t tell which, as she’d never had the opportunity to buy any jewelry. For some unfathomable reason, Bella felt as if that pendant was supposed to be hers. She found herself opening the shop door and walking in and felt as if she were standing outside her own body, watching herself do something totally out of the norm.
“Hi, may I help you?” asked the woman behind the counter.
“The sapphire pendant in the window. How much is it?” Bella asked.
“It’s one hundred dollars. It’s a pretty piece, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Yes, it is. I’ll take it,” Bella heard herself say.
She watched as the woman got the pendant and placed it in a small jewelry box. She paid the woman and clutched the box in her hand.
“Thank you,” Bella said then exited the shop.
Bella couldn’t remember walking the rest of the way to the park at the end of the
main street, but there she found herself, staring off into space and clutching the small box in her hand. She placed the box on her lap, opened her now-cold toasted sandwich, and ate her breakfast. Once done, she disposed of her trash in the bin provided next to the bench seat and opened the box.
What on earth had possessed her to buy such an expensive trinket? She really didn’t have the extra money to spend on such a luxury. She was going to have to watch what she spent, or maybe she should just take it back and get a refund. Yes, that’s what she’d do, but first she just had to try the pendant on. Bella pulled the necklace out of the box, clasped it around her neck, and gently pulled her hair from beneath the chain. She found her fingers moving up to touch the pendant, running the pad of her thumb over the delicate gem and setting. The warmth of the stone surprised her, but she couldn’t seem to draw her fingers away. She felt so warm and safe, but she knew that feeling was false, as the world around her began to spin. She felt so dizzy. A cold sweat broke out over her skin, and her stomach began to feel queasy. Everything felt so surreal. She had no idea what was happening to her. She should have been frightened, but she wasn’t. The world before her was spinning so fast now that she had to close her eyes to prevent herself from being ill. Her body felt so heavy, her arms and legs not obeying any command from her brain. She felt as if she was being sucked up into a black hole. The edges of unconsciousness began to move over her, tentacles of darkness reaching out to drag her in. She felt herself falling but couldn’t even reach out a hand to stop her body’s momentum. Her last thought before she succumbed to the darkness was that she was dying from food poisoning.
Chapter One
Big Lake, Texas, 1865
Clinton Aldridge was riding his mount toward Big Lake, Texas, eager for a night at the Lake Saloon and a warm, willing woman, his brothers, Adam and Marcus, at his side. They’d spent the better part of the last month rounding up and branding their herd of cattle and were ready for a bit of relaxation and carousing. The three brothers had taken over running the Triple A Ranch when they were young men. Clinton, the eldest at thirty, had been a young man of eighteen when their folks had been killed in a coach accident. It had been his responsibility as the eldest to take over the running of the ranch and see that his younger brothers were cared for. He was lucky in the fact he and his brothers were only born a year apart, so there were only two years between him and Marcus, the youngest of the three.
The brothers rode in companionable silence, each in their own thoughts, no doubt thinking of which whore they would spend a couple of hours with, relieving the itch that seemed to be on them more and more often of late. Women were so scarce in such an out-of-way wilderness, so they only really had the whores of Lake Saloon to play with once in a while. It had been over two months since their last visit to Big Lake, and being such virile, healthy men, they were chomping at the bit for a little loving, even if it was bought and paid for.
Clint took the lead as the trail narrowed, nudging his horse with a squeeze of his thighs. He emerged from the line of trees, his brothers and their mounts close behind. He was about to nudge his stallion forward, urge him into a canter, when he caught a lump on the ground from his peripheral vision, not far off to his right. He held up his hand, giving his brothers a silent command to stop and keep quiet. Clint dismounted, ground tied his stallion by dropping the reins, and quietly crept forward to the lump in the shadows of the trees. He squatted down next to the person lying on the ground, sucked in an audible breath, and felt his heart thump hard in his chest. He was looking at a slim woman lying out in the crisp autumn air. She was dressed in what appeared to be unfinished men’s clothing. Her shoes were odd and white, and he could see the smooth skin of her lower calves and shins. Clint didn’t have to look up to know his brothers had joined him. He felt them beside him, standing over the woman, no doubt staring at the female just as he was.
“Have you ever seen her before, Clint?” Marcus asked.
“Nope.”
“She’s dressed strange,” Adam stated.
“Yep.”
“Is she hurt? Is she still alive?” Marcus asked as he squatted next to Clint.
“She’s alive. I can see her breathing. Don’t seem to be hurt none, but I won’t be able to tell unless I strip her clothes off and I don’t want to do that here out in the open. We should wait and ask her if she’s all right when she wakes up, but if she doesn’t wake up soon, we’ll have to take her clothes off just in case she is injured,” Clint responded.
“Maybe we could take her back home and make sure she’s all right,” Adam suggested.
“Saloon’s closer,” Clint said then bent down and scooped her up into his arms.
“Want me to take her, Clint?” Marcus asked eagerly.
Clint didn’t bother to answer, just glared at his brother then turned away and headed back to his horse. He handed the woman over to Adam, mounted up, and then reached for her again when Adam handed her back. He had her draped over his lap, one of his arms supporting her back, her head resting on his chest. He breathed in her scent and felt his cock go hard as her freshness enveloped him. He looked down into her face and groaned silently. She was absolutely perfect. He’d never seen such beautiful skin and her lips… Man, they were so full and naturally red. He couldn’t help but think of how they’d look wrapped around his cock. He shifted slightly in his saddle, trying to relieve the ache in his hard dick. He was about to nudge his horse forward and head on up to the saloon, but he had second thoughts. She looked so innocent and fresh. There was no way in hell he could take her to the saloon. He took the reins in one hand, turned his horse around, and headed back to home. He didn’t have to look at his younger brothers to know they would be following along behind him. His brothers pulled their horses up beside him. Clint knew they were as concerned as he was. Finding a woman alone and unconscious was not a good thing. He hated it when women were hurt. He loved women of all shapes and sizes. They were such soft, delicate creatures and should be taken care of at all times. The thought that someone had hurt this woman made him angry to the bone. Clint only hoped the woman in his arms didn’t wake up and give him hell for trying to help her.
* * * *
Bella was so warm and comfortable she didn’t want to open her eyes to face the day yet. She snuggled down under the covers, keeping her eyes closed as she enjoyed the peace and quiet. The only sounds she could hear were birds twittering and cattle lowing. The slam of a door didn’t even bring her out of her half-awake, half-asleep cocoon. She just didn’t seem to have as much energy today. She must have been really tired. The sound of footsteps approaching didn’t register until they stopped right next to her bed. She pulled the covers down, stretched her arms up over her head, and yawned. Her eyes popped open to see a strange, ruggedly handsome man standing over her, smiling as his eyes wandered over her body. She looked down and screamed. She jerked the covers up over her naked chest, her cheeks becoming hot as she stared at the stranger.
He was so tall, well over six feet. His hair was black, his eyes were a dark chocolate brown, and his jaw had stubble on it, which only added to his rugged appeal. He had wide, muscular shoulders, which tapered down to a lean torso and slim hips, large, muscular thighs, and long, lean legs. He wore a gun belt buckled to his hips. Bella had never seen anything so sexy in her life. She let her eyes wander back up his length until she met his soulful brown eyes again.
“Who are you? Where the fuck am I?”
“Whoa, you’ve got quite the mouth on you, don’t ya, darlin’?”
“Don’t you darlin’ me. Where the hell am I? Where are my clothes?” Bella asked, fear beginning to creep into her heart.
“You’re just outside of Big Lake, Texas. We found you passed out on the ground and didn’t think it would be right to take you to the saloon, so we brought you back here.”
“We? We who?”
“I’m Clinton Aldridge, owner of the Triple A Ranch. Me and my brothers, Adam and Marcus, found you.”
“Well, thank you, Mr. Aldridge. I appreciate the help. I’m Bella McPherson. Now, could you please tell me where my clothes are and answer why the hell I’m naked?” Bella asked in a near yell.
“I undressed you,” Clint said in gentle voice. “My brothers helped me. We had to make sure you weren’t injured, and the best way to find out was to strip you naked. I’m sorry if I’ve embarrassed you. But we wanted to make sure you weren’t hurt.”
“Oh my God,” Bella muttered under her breath. “Well, thanks for taking care of me, anyway.”
“Here you go, darlin’,” Clint said, placing her clothes on the end of the bed. “I’ll leave you to get dressed. Come on out to the kitchen when you’re done.”
Bella watched as the tall man sauntered out the door, closing it behind him. She sighed with relief, allowing her tight muscles to relax for the first time since she had found the strange man in her room. She quickly got out of bed, pulled her clothes on, and went in search of the bathroom. She couldn’t find it, and she was desperate.
Bella walked into the kitchen and saw the old-fashioned wood-burning stove with a cast-iron top. She could see steam rising from a heavy metal pot sitting on the side of the stove, so she knew it must have been lit. She wondered why they hadn’t updated the kitchen then gave a negligent shrug. It didn’t matter to her what they did. She turned and found three sets of male eyes staring at her. She felt like a bug under a microscope. She took a deep breath to calm her ragged nerves and looked at Clint, the only familiar face in a sea of uncertainty.
