by Abby Blake
Ty shook his head slowly, obviously as disgusted by the frivolous lawsuit as Ryan felt.
“I’m going to grab a shower and order some lunch.” Ty nodded and then closed his eyes again, but Ryan could see the tension in his brother’s jaw. They were all on edge over this damn lawsuit, but so far they’d managed to keep the news from Mikayla. They were trying to protect her from worry, but more than once Ryan wondered if they were doing the right thing.
As he stepped into the shower, he wondered how quickly his lovely wife would castrate them all if she found out they were keeping secrets.
Chapter Three
Tracey looked really well. Mikayla had talked to her at least once a week since the thwarted attempt to abduct her several months ago, but she’d worried that Tracey had been putting on a brave face. Considering how wonderful she looked, Mikayla’s concerns seemed unfounded.
“I’d like you to meet someone,” Tracey said nervously as she grabbed Mikayla’s hand and dragged her into the living area. “This is my,” she hesitated, glanced at the man, blushed, and then said, “my…um…friend, Rick. I live here with him and his brothers, Tony and Ashton.”
Rick looked amused at the introduction but smiled and waved hello. He greeted Ryan and Ty with a handshake, offered them a cold beer, and led them onto the back veranda.
Mikayla smiled. She’d never been slow on the uptake, and she raised an eyebrow in question. Tracey’s face colored even more, but she nodded slowly. “Does that shock you?”
Mikayla couldn’t hold back the laugh. “You’re talking to a woman who has eight husbands. I don’t think my best friend sleeping with three men is going to shock me.
Tracey looked very relieved, and Mikayla had to wonder how many people had reacted poorly to Tracey’s choice of partners. It still shocked Mikayla that people could be so narrow-minded. Despite the fact that polygamy for both men and women had been legal for generations, some people just had to victimize anyone who didn’t think the way they did.
“I’m sorry about your miscarriage,” Tracey said kindly. “Have you thought anymore about trying again?”
Mikayla smiled, knowing that Tracey only raised the issue because she was concerned for her. Mikayla hadn’t quite been able to hide her fear of becoming pregnant again from another woman. Tracey was also a nurse, so she probably had experience dealing with people who’d suffered unexpected loss.
In some ways Mikayla felt her grief was a little silly. She’d barely been pregnant and had only known for a few weeks. One of the doctors had even—rather tactlessly—explained that the ectopic pregnancy would never have grown into a fully developed baby, so she hadn’t really lost a child at all.
But it felt like she had. It felt like there was a hole in her heart where her love for her child would’ve been, and she couldn’t quite find the courage to risk going through all that again. Her husbands were very supportive of her decision to put things off for a while, but sooner or later she would have to face it or risk never having children. Her men would make wonderful fathers, and they deserved the chance to try again, so she knew she couldn’t be a coward forever.
“I’ll talk to them all when we get settled on the new planet,” she said, trying very hard not to shake. Tracey looked pleased. Even though most of their friendship had been over subspace communication, Mikayla was very glad for the woman’s understanding and quiet support.
Hopefully—Mikayla thought as she threaded her arm through Tracey’s and headed out to the veranda to join the men—Rick, Tony, and Ashton were worthy of Tracey’s love, and they would be able to build a happy life together. Tracey was a complete sweetheart, and she deserved to be loved properly.
Tracey took a seat next to her lover and snuggled into the man’s embrace. Rick smiled happily. “Does this mean the secret’s out?” Tracey smiled shyly, but Mikayla didn’t miss the adoration in her eyes. She seemed truly happy, and after everything that had happened, it was so lovely to see. Mikayla suddenly felt really glad they’d come to visit.
She snuggled between Ryan and Ty, feeling more relaxed than she had in weeks.
* * * *
“When did Peter say he was going to get here?” It had been three days, and she was sure he’d been intending to join them in two.
“Maybe tomorrow,” Ty said.
“Maybe?” she asked as suspicion niggled into her brain. Both Ryan and Ty had been quick to trivialize Peter’s need to be in New York, but the fact that he hadn’t joined them when he was supposed to certainly suggested he was dealing with something that wasn’t as unimportant as her husbands had led her to believe.
“He just has one more meeting, and then he’ll be here,” Ryan said, looking just a little bit uncomfortable.
“What about?” Every impulse was telling her she was missing something. She asked the question in a casual voice, yet her need to know was anything but.
“Oh, you know,” Ty said, looking very uncomfortable. “Business and contract stuff.”
“Doesn’t John handle all that?” She was definitely smelling deception now. When they both looked unable to answer, she knew her instincts were spot on. “Okay, Mr. Davidson, spill. Why is Peter really in New York?”
“Maybe Peter should tell you himself,” Ryan said, looking more uncomfortable than she’d ever seen him.
“Maybe you should tell me, and I can decide for myself if Peter should’ve told me.” She crossed her arms and waited. Damn it all to hell. She knew they probably believed they were protecting her, but not knowing what was going on with one of her husbands was far worse.
“Sweetheart,” Ryan said in an attempt to placate her.
“Don’t you sweetheart me! Explain it to me, Ryan. I am your wife, and I demand to know what the hell is going on.”
Ty stepped forward. He looked like he was about to embrace her but changed his mind when he saw her fierce expression. “Mikayla, it’s nothing serious. Peter is just having some trouble with his ex-fiancée.” He must’ve realized by the steam ready to come out of her ears that he’d phrased that very, very badly. “I mean,” he said, quickly correcting himself, “the woman is trying to sue him for breach of promise for calling off the engagement. If he’s seen her at all, it will have been on the opposite side of the negotiation table while their lawyers argue.”
Finally, she let Ty pull her into his arms, but so many questions buzzed through her head that she didn’t quite know where to start. “Breach of promise? I thought she was the one to call off the engagement? How could she be suing him?”
“We’re not sure, darlin’,” Ty said as he ran his hand up and down her spine in a soothing motion. “But it would seem that none of us got the full story of what happened between them.”
“I want to talk to him.” They both looked wary but eventually nodded, and Ty headed toward the communicator.
“No,” she said quickly, “face-to-face. How long will it take to get to New York?”
Ty quickly called up the local transport schedule. “Looks like the new sky-pods run every two hours. The trip takes less than an hour. If we catch the next one, we can be there before his next meeting starts.”
She nodded decisively. They were going to New York.
* * * *
Peter sat in the coffee shop downstairs from his hotel room. He scrubbed a hand over his face as he mentally went over everything his lawyer had told him in the past three days. When he’d broken his engagement to Jessie, Peter had no idea this type of civil suit was even possible. The woman was going after everything he owned and then some. She’d even managed to make his suggestion that he share her with his brothers somehow seem like she’d been engaged to all of them. Peter’s lawyer was actually quite concerned because if she somehow proved that, she could basically go after all of their assets.
Damn. He’d called off the engagement because Jessie had demanded he hand over the family business in exchange for sleeping with his brothers. It had felt so cold, so calculating, and certainly not the lo
ving relationship he’d envisioned for him or his brothers. Peter couldn’t imagine the gall it took to go after the family business when she’d never actually been part of the family.
He closed his eyes as images of the woman who did love him filled his mind. Mikayla was everything he’d ever hoped for. She loved him and his brothers equally, had never asked for anything more than their love in return, and had actively assisted in their family business wherever she’d been able to help.
Mikayla was the woman who completed him. Not just him, but all of his brothers. She’d even seen into Bryce’s soul and managed to bring him home where he belonged. Yet if Peter’s ex-fiancée had her way, she’d make sure Mikayla was homeless with the rest of them.
Damn. He missed his wife more each minute. The reminder of the woman who’d claimed to love him but had only been interested in money made Mikayla seem even more precious. He’d nearly decided to skip the afternoon’s negotiations just so he could go to California and visit his wife when an angel’s voice called his name.
His eyes flew open to see the most amazing mirage, and then she was in his arms, kissing him, holding him, reminding him of everything that was good in his world.
“Mikayla,” he breathed on a sigh. He glanced up to see Ryan and Ty behind her, but he couldn’t even be mad that they’d brought her to him. No matter how complicated the lawsuit was becoming, he was very glad to see his wife. She snuggled into his arms, and he held her tight.
“You should’ve told me,” she said quietly. He couldn’t deny that. He should’ve told her. He’d wanted to protect her from the ugliness of his ex-fiancée’s ambitions, but selfishly he needed her close.
“I’m sorry, Mikayla. I should’ve told you.”
“You should’ve,” she agreed, “but the three of us will be beside you for this afternoon’s meeting.” He opened his mouth to protest her involvement, but she put a hand over his lips to stop the words. “And we’ll talk about honesty later. Right now I need my wayward husband to make love to me.”
Ryan and Ty’s faces lit up with excitement, but Peter was quick to douse that idea. He might share his wife with his brothers, but he wasn’t about to share her in his bed. They both gave him rueful looks, indicating that they knew full well his thoughts on that matter, but they smiled and indicated for him to lead the way.
Peter sent his brothers a nod of gratitude and then lifted his beautiful wife to her feet. They held each other close as they headed to his hotel room. It still didn’t feel quite real as he left his brothers in the living area and took his wife into his hotel bedroom. She kissed him all over as he tried to strip her of clothes. He carefully levered her shoes off and kissed the red marks where they’d rubbed her skin raw.
Mikayla was so beautiful in such a natural way that he couldn’t imagine anything more perfect than his wife pregnant and barefoot. It was such a sexist attitude that he didn’t voice it out loud, but he hoped that one day soon he could convince her to try again. He could understand her reluctance after the miscarriage and was more than willing to give her time, but he loved the idea of her as the mother of his children.
She sighed as he lifted her onto the bed and began worshipping every part of her he could reach. He dipped his head to taste her honeyed warmth and massaged her thighs as they began to quiver. She tilted her hips higher, demanding more, and he gave it to her, unable to deny her anything. She rode his tongue, her hands fisted in his hair, her pussy slick and swollen. She moaned when her orgasm hit and he gentled her with soothing, long strokes of his tongue.
She tugged his hair, and he moved up her body, fitting his cock against her entrance, pressing in slowly as he watched her face. She held him with her body, trapped his heart with her love and ensnared his soul for all time.
When his orgasm came, he sighed at the perfection of the moment and caressed his wife’s lovely face. She smiled sleepily and he rolled onto his back, pulling her over him, staying inside her where he belonged.
It wasn’t long before Ryan and Ty woke him, so he could attend the negotiation, but this time he wasn’t going alone. This time he had his family to support him.
* * * *
Mikayla’s first glimpse of the woman who would sue her husband was disconcerting. Dressed in a formal power suit with high heels and perfectly styled hair, Jessie Evans made Mikayla feel more than a little underdressed. Mikayla glanced down at her simple cotton sundress and smoothed a wrinkle from the front with her slightly shaking hand.
Maybe this was a really bad idea. Peter had spent the last hour arguing that she should stay at the hotel with Ryan and Ty. When she’d explained that her place was at her husband’s side, he’d tried to order her to stay behind. That hadn’t gone down very well. She might enjoy being submissive in bed, but that didn’t mean she would let her men dictate her life outside of the bedroom.
She swallowed nervously, tried to find the courage she thought she possessed, and quietly listened to the conversations going on around her. The woman smiled at her, the expression far from friendly, and Mikayla tried not to feel even more intimidated.
Even though Peter held her hand in a comforting grip, and Ryan and Ty stood off to her left, Mikayla couldn’t quite shake the cold contempt she sensed from Peter’s ex. The woman’s smirk certainly seemed derogatory. She looked Mikayla over for another moment, apparently assessing her potential as a rival, and then dismissed her just as quickly. To say the woman was extremely intimidating was probably an understatement.
What Mikayla couldn’t quite understand was how Peter would’ve ever considered himself in love with her. The woman gave off a vibe that surely every other person in the room could sense. Or maybe not. Mikayla was the only other woman in the room. The men seemed oblivious to Jessie’s malice. Mikayla glanced away, trying not to look in the woman’s direction. A moment later she realized her mistake.
“Ryan, Ty, how lovely to see you again.”
“Again?” Ryan said, sounding startled. “I’ve never even met you.”
“Oh, darling, how you wound me. Peter is being positively arctic, but I never expected you two to reject me as well.” The woman did a good job of looking stricken, but Mikayla could see through the ruse even if the lawyers couldn’t. Everyone in the room watched the exchange closely. The woman’s lawyer even smiled slightly as Jessie Evans played the jilted lover to a waiting crowd. “Peter even brought a date to our reconciliation talks. I’ve tried so hard to have him love me, but he couldn’t be more callous if he’d taken a knife to my breast.”
Mikayla rolled her eyes. She may have felt intimidated by the well-groomed bitch, but the woman was laying it on a bit thick. Reconciliation talks?
“Is that what you’re calling it now?” Peter asked disdainfully. “Reconciliation? It sure feels like you’re trying to sue me for everything I have. That’s not reconciliation in my book.”
“Well, I can see by the little homewrecker attached to your arm that you have no intentions of trying to settle our differences, so I have no choice but to protect myself and ensure my financial future.” The sweet smile the woman managed chilled Mikayla to the bone. It was the sort of smile a predator wore when the prey had nowhere else to go.
Peter’s lawyer stepped up to him, urging him not to engage in any more conversation, but Peter seemed unable to walk away from such obvious lies. “Mikayla is not a home wrecker, she’s my wife. I met her nearly two years after you and I broke up.” The look of interest in the woman’s eyes was quite chilling. Obviously she’d heard something she liked. “And as to your financial future, I suggest you go find some rich fool to hand over his money and leave me and my family alone.”
The woman did it perfectly. Her bottom lip quivered, her shoulders shook, a strangled gasp escaped her perfectly made up lips, and then she managed to rush from the room while looking both heartbroken and distressed without getting a hair out of place. Displaying concern Mikayla doubted they actually felt, her lawyer and several others followed.
&n
bsp; Peter’s lawyer shook his head. “I really wish you hadn’t said that.”
Peter shrugged, clearly not concerned by his lawyer’s wish. The man turned his attention to Mikayla. “Are you married only to Peter?” She shook her head as Peter became very still. “How many brothers are you married to?”
“All of them,” she answered in a small voice. What the hell was going on? Polygamy was legal. Granted, eight husbands was unusual, but it was certainly no crime.
“Damn, Peter, I really wish you hadn’t said that.”
“Why?” Ryan asked as he stepped forward to take Mikayla’s other hand in his own.
“Because now Ms. Evans has reasonable proof that your engagement was a promise to marry all of you. I can practically guarantee that her lawyer is tracking down your marriage certificates as we speak. This could get really ugly.”
Peter nodded his head, his hand squeezing Mikayla’s tighter, as the gravity of what he’d done seemed to sink in. Mikayla wanted to reassure him that Jessie probably would’ve found out about their marriage anyway, but it was probably best for her to remain silent now and listen to what their lawyer was saying.
“Contact your brothers. We need to consider offering some sort of settlement. If this gets to court, she could very well win half of all of yours and your brother’s assets and maybe even a yearly alimony payment.”
“But she’s never even met us,” Ryan said through his tightly clenched teeth. The lawyer just shook his head.
“It will come down to your word against hers. Even if you can prove that you’ve never met her, she’ll just claim that Peter was speaking for all of you.” The lawyer grabbed his notepad and started packing his briefcase. “I’ll speak to her counsel on the way out, but I’m sure they won’t be back at the negotiating table today. They’ll want to gather every bit of information they can, so they can claim a huge payout. You should expect a particularly unpleasant day tomorrow.”
