Smokin' Cowboys: A Contemporary, Reverse Harem Western (Loved By Three Book 1)

by Poppy Flynn

  “So, the current balance of funds stands at one million, three hundred and thirty-nine thousand dollars.”

  She couldn’t have heard him right. That was Ellie’s first thought. She repeated the figure back to him, just to be sure. She couldn’t even imagine that amount of money.

  She sat at Tono’s little breakfast bar in shock once she’d put down the phone after hastily looking up the name and address of a nearby law firm and firing off a quick email asking them to act on her behalf.

  Then she plonked herself on a stool and simply stared at nothing for long minutes, trying to get her head around what had just happened.

  Whoever would have guessed that Gran’s lawyer would turn out to be her fairy godmother.

  She almost burned the last batch of muffins she was so lost in stunned bemusement. It was only hearing Tono’s vehicle pull up the driveway that brought her back to her senses. She gave herself a shake and jumped up to save the baking from incineration.

  Perfect timing, she could feed him some lunch, give him some quick re-heat instructions and say her goodbyes before it got too late in the day to be on her way. She could even splurge on a hotel for a night or two while she waited for the lawyers to get everything sorted. Maybe Tono could recommend somewhere, she wondered absently. That would give her more time to decide where she wanted to go, although all she really needed to do was get into the car and drive and let the road take her wherever whimsy took her. One place was just as good as another.

  Sadly, the fact that she had suddenly come into a vast amount of money didn’t change the fact that she was alone with nowhere to call home.

  “You can buy yourself a home wherever you choose, now,” she said out loud to see if it made it any more real. But there was a little pang inside her at the thought of moving on. Buying a house didn’t automatically make it a home.

  ‘Jeez girl, what is wrong with you. Stop being so damn ungrateful and be thankful you’ll never have to go another day without a roof over your head and food in your stomach,’ she told herself sternly as she walked over to the oven.

  She had just bent over to take the final batch of muffins out of the oven when there was a whistle and a familiar voice behind her, which had her heart beating just a little faster, even though it made her cringe at the same time. What was Ezra doing here?

  “Now there’s a sight for sore eyes,” he quipped, and Ellie rose stiffly, purposely keeping her eyes on the tray of baked goods and her back towards him.

  “We’d like to talk to you Ellie,” Syrus requested quietly, and the melty feeling she always felt when he spoke trickled through her veins.

  She stilled and just looked down at the baking sheet in her hands. What did they want with her now? Surely there wasn’t anything else they needed to pick at her for. She’d gone; that had to be enough to keep the trifecta happy. It was what they’d wanted, after all.

  “Turn around, Ellie.” Her stomach flipped, then bottomed out at the demand in Cody’s voice. Great, they were all here.

  With measured movements, which she did her very best to control against the tremble of base apprehension that tickled her awareness, she leaned over and placed the muffins precisely on the cooling rack and switched off the oven.

  She still wasn’t ready or willing to face them, but she couldn’t stall any longer.

  Turning slowly, she tried her best to straighten the slump in her shoulders and as much as she wanted to keep her head down, she chose a spot on the wall behind them and focused on that instead. She didn’t bother saying anything, she figured she’d find out soon enough what they wanted.

  Instead, she concentrated on hardening her heart against whatever life wanted to throw at her this time. She’d just take it on the chin and be on her way and then it would all be behind her, just a tiny, minute blip on the landscape of her life. Even if it seemed like so very much more at this particular moment.

  Her heart might cry at the idea of leaving this place and these three men specifically, but her head knew better.

  “Mmm, something smells delicious,” Syrus said appreciatively. Ellie just flicked a fleeting look at him and then concentrated on the wall again. She needed to harden her heart, not get lost in those mesmerizing, whisky colored eyes.

  The silence stretched, and they seemed almost as uncomfortable as she was. In the end, it was Cody who broke the tension.

  “Perhaps we could all just sit down a minute,” he suggested.

  Ellie just shrugged. If anything, them settling in made her feel worse. She couldn’t even hide behind the role of hostess, since it wasn’t her place to be offering them somebody else’s hospitality.

  Syrus got around that one too, moving around her as the others sat down and filling four mugs from the pot on the counter. He brought them over to the table with sugar and creamer. Clearly he was familiar enough with Tono’s home to know his way around.

  “I’m glad we caught you,” Cody started when everyone was settled. He sounded uncharacteristically uncertain, and Ellie found she didn’t care for his sudden apprehension. She liked that forceful, dominant side of him, just as much as she appreciated Syrus’ charm and Ezra’s playfulness. It prompted her into speaking.

  “So, what is it you want now?” Okay, so it didn’t come out as strong as she might have liked, but at least her voice didn’t waver.

  “Well, it’s like this, you see…” he began.

  “We’ve come to apologize,” Syrus finished for him.

  “That’s right,” agreed Ezra. “We realized we made a huge mistake.”

  “Several mistakes, in fact,” Cody corrected.

  “So, we’ve come to say sorry.” Syrus flashed that captivating smile at her; the one she could never resist.

  Ellie was quiet for a long time, getting over her surprise and realigning her thoughts into something more favorable.

  “The thing is, we were…” Cody paused as if he were contemplating the right word to use. “… misled,” he finally finished.

  “And manipulated,” Ezra said darkly.

  “And downright lied to.” Syrus slammed his fist onto the table and made her jump. She might have expected such a thing from Cody, but not him.

  She looked between the three of them. They all looked genuinely contrite, and it wasn’t as if she didn’t know how the sisters had manipulated everything.

  She sighed. “Look, it’s fine. I accept your apologies.”

  “So, you’ll come back then? Ezra asked hopefully.

  Ellie reared back and held her palms up in front of her in surprise.

  “Whoa! Now I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” The words that came out of her mouth did not match the happy dance that was going on inside her heart, but she ruthlessly tamped that down and led with her more logical mind. No way she was lining herself up for a second round with the trifecta. No way, no how!

  “Please,” Syrus cajoled. “We really want you too.”

  She decided it was time to speak plainly.

  “Look, I appreciate you came over and set the record straight. It makes me feel a lot better. But, I’m sorry, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m not prepared to pit myself against three other women in vying for your attentions. You’ve got what you need. I’m just going to bow out gracefully.”

  “Actually, Syrus sent them packing,” Ezra revealed. “Not that either Cody or I wanted them there after we found out what was going on.”

  Unfortunately, that little slice of information didn’t make her feel any better. “Oh, I see. So, you’ve lost your first round of contenders, so you’re going for second best,” she said indignantly. She got up from the table. “Look, I think you better leave.”

  All three of them jumped up.

  “That’s not what we meant. Not how it is,” Syrus implored as both he and Ezra pushed their way over to her. He took one of her hands and his brother the other. The pair of them stood there looking at her in mute appeal.

  “We just want you to give us a second
chance,” Ezra said pleadingly, squeezing her fingers.

  Like she could think properly with the two of them crowding her like this, all warm and close and smelling delicious and sending double the amount of tingles down her spine.

  “Please say you will.”

  Ellie closed her eyes against the easy lure in Ezra’s decadent milk chocolate eyes and Syrus’ intriguingly changeable ones and tried to get her head together.

  She made the mistake of opening them and finding herself staring straight between the two of them at Cody. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. That striking blue gaze of his did all the talking for him, and she felt powerless to resist.

  If they had worded it any other way, maybe she would have been able to stick to her resolve. If they had said they were willing to give her a second chance, she would have told them where to go in no uncertain terms.

  But the fact that they asked her to give them the second chance had her melting inside.

  Was it really such a bad idea? She loved the area and the ranch, and it wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go or anything better to do. Plus, she had a very healthy attraction to all three of the brothers.

  She wasn’t beholden to them anymore. She had options. She was no longer the homeless waif desperately looking for a roof over her head and willing to do what few sane people would do in order to stay off the streets.

  If she returned with them now, it would be purely because she wanted to and there could be absolutely no blaming it on her circumstance.

  The the way she felt towards them really might be her biggest issue right now. Truth was, she wasn’t sure she could choose between them.

  Chapter Twelve

  As soon as they got back to the ranch, Ellie unpacked her cookbooks and started to plan dinner. She shooed the men off to get on with the chores, since they’d missed a morning of work, assuring them she didn’t mind.

  If she was honest, she needed a little time alone to get her head around this new turn of events and exactly what it meant for her.

  There was no sign of Cora, Carly, and Sheri; the trifecta were most definitely gone, but that didn’t mean she’d found her own happy ending. She still had the very real issue that each of the brothers was looking for a wife. And while they each appealed to her in a wildly different way and all of them lit her fuse, she honestly didn’t know which one she preferred, since they were all completely different.

  She didn’t even know exactly what they had in mind. Maybe they would make things easier for her. After all, she needed to take their feelings into consideration too. Maybe the way they felt about her would decide the situation.

  She also couldn’t help wondering if they were planning to do any more advertising. After her recent experience, she wasn’t sure she wanted a repeat with another couple of women. Was that selfish of her?

  As she cooked and baked, she turned all those different thoughts over in her mind. Oddly, the one thing she didn’t dwell on was her recent change in fortune. There were some things money just couldn’t buy. Sure, it gave her a safety net if things didn’t work out and she was enormously thankful for that, but beyond providing the basics, there were more important things in life.

  There was still a lot to talk about. Dinner tonight was going to be an interesting experience.

  It came around before she was ready, but not soon enough; such was her ambivalence.

  They ate the steak pie she served them with gusto and talked in generalities. She wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse.

  When they were done, she surprised them with the jam tarts and custard she had made with the left-over pastry. It was basic fare, but they were genuinely appreciative and that was all that mattered.

  At the end of the meal, she got up to fetch the coffee, but Syrus stopped her and went to get it himself. When they were all finally settled, Cody started talking and she knew the time of reckoning had come.

  “Okay, I know we talked a bit this morning and I don’t really want to rehash any of the unfortunate stuff. If we can all agree, let’s cross that out and move forward.

  There was general consent all round, and Ellie was more than okay with what he was saying. Constant blame and recriminations wouldn’t do any of them any good. It had happened; they had apologized, and it was time to leave it in the past.

  “One thing I have to say, is that there was another, minor reason, regardless of all the deceit and manipulation, why we came to the decision we did.” He took a deep breath and looked her straight in the eye. It took everything she had not to look away from his dominant gaze.

  “And that was, unlike the others, you, Ellie, never really favored any of us, so it was hard for us to know where your interest lay.”

  And there it was; her guilty secret had now become the elephant in the room. Well, she couldn’t tell them what she didn’t know herself, so she’d have to go with the truth and see what reaction she got.

  “Well… the thing is,” she hedged. “I felt a little awkward pursuing anything with any of you, since the others had kind of already staked their claims and it seemed a lot like poaching.”

  The three of them looked at her seriously and nodded their heads in understanding, but said nothing. It looked like she was most definitely in the hot seat.

  She took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “The other problem was that I don’t really have a clear favorite.” She cringed and ducked her head. It sounded even worse out loud.

  “Was or is?” Cody asked astutely.

  Ellie closed her eyes and refused to look up.

  “Is,” she confirmed in a near whisper. Thankfully, none of them asked her to repeat herself, but the next minute, Syrus had scooted right up next to her and tucked his crooked finger under her chin to raise it.

  “Sweetheart, please, that’s not the end of the world,” he said coaxingly. “In fact, I’m pretty sure each of us is flattered and pleased to know that we’re all still in the running.”

  She met his eyes then; saw the genuineness in them.

  “What does that mean?” she murmured, trying not to be distracted by the feel of his fingers on her face.

  “It means that the three of us talked it over on the drive to town to find you earlier, and we all admitted what seems like an equal amount of interest in pursuing a relationship with you.”

  “It certainly doesn’t hurt to know that we’re all still in with a chance.” Ezra added his own thoughts with a cheeky grin that brought a smile to her face and lightened the tension that had built.

  “Then it’s settled,” Cody announced decisively. “We will each try our best to win your affections.”

  “Are you sure? It seems… immoral somehow, like I’d be leading you all on, or something.”

  “You can’t lead us on when you’ve laid your cards on the table so plainly,” Syrus reassured her.

  “I don’t know. I don’t want to make it into a competition and pit one of you against the other,” she argued. “That makes it seem so sordid.”

  “On the contrary, we’re each going to woo you. You can take all the time you need to get to know us and decide which of us is the best match.”

  “And that won’t cause friction between you?”

  “Scouts honor,” Ezra promised with a mock salute.

  Ellie frowned and thought about it. She wasn’t convinced it could be that easy, but she supposed they knew each other better than she did. If the three of them were okay with this unusual arrangement, was it really up to her to argue any more than she already had?

  “Aren’t you planning to, you know, maybe advertise again?” she asked hesitantly, not liking the possessiveness she felt towards every one of them at the mere thought of having to share. Which really, seriously, wasn’t fair in any shape or form. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!

  “Absolutely not!” Cody said in a tone that brooked no argument. “I’m pretty sure we, all four of us, agree that we’ve had enough of having too many women in
the house. We’ll see how this goes and take it from there.”

  And that seemed fine in theory, but what if she hooked up with one of the guys and then they found they preferred one of the new girls that came out to the ranch? Where would that leave her then?

  Ellie shook her head. There was no point in trying to second guess herself, or them. They’d just have to follow the agreement and keep their fingers crossed everything would work out for the best.

  She got up and started clearing up the kitchen, surprised when all three of them came to help her. Things were done remarkably quickly, but instead of disappearing up to her room, like she normally did, Cody requested she join him in the office.

  He set off ahead of her and she followed hesitantly when she’d finished the last of the chores, wondering, with a fair amount of trepidation, what it was he wanted to say in private that couldn’t be said in front of his brothers.

  When she joined him, she found him sitting in the chair behind his desk, with a book open in his hand. The cover was facing her, and she felt the blood drain from her face as she recognized it as her own racy paperback.

  Oh god! How had he got his hands on that? Was he going to berate her and tell her he didn’t think the type of books she read were appropriate? It was obvious he’d been reading it himself. What was he thinking… did she even want to know?

  “I believe this is yours?” He held it up properly for her to see the sexiness staring back at her from the cover. For a moment she wondered if she could deny it but, although she didn’t realize that it hadn’t been packed, she knew the last time she’d had it was when she’d fallen asleep reading. It must have fallen under the bed in her room. Denying it was hers would just prove her a liar, and that would be even worse.

  “Umm…. yes,” she replied faintly, wishing the ground would just open up and swallow her.

  “Interesting reading,” he said with deceptive mildness. She had absolutely no idea how to respond to that, so she just waited. That seemed to be a recurring theme with her lately.

  “Seems like the page it fell open on might have been a favorite.”