by Vanessa Vale
“He likes you,” Piper murmured. She waggled her eyebrows and I frowned.
I stiffened my spine, took a sip of my coffee. “Likes me?” I looked down at the cup. It was very bitter.
“Yes. Likes you,” she countered, distracting me from my drink.
“I’m a widow of a man I never met. Jed can’t like me.” I kind of liked him, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. It was a foolish notion, anyway. I took another sip and oddly enough, the coffee was warming me all over.
Piper shrugged. “I’ve never seen Jed behave in such a way before.”
Knox came into the kitchen. No baby was on his shoulder, so I assumed she’d been claimed by another. “Lillian spit up a little and we need a dish towel.” He looked about, then grabbed one from the table. Instead of returning to the other room, he stopped and looked to me. “All right?”
I bit my lip to keep from smiling, gave a slight nod.
“Go… away,” Piper said, clearly enunciating both words.
Knox grunted, then disappeared.
Piper smiled broadly, leaned in, spoke in a low, conspiratorial voice. “He likes you, too.”
“What?” My cheeks burned hotly and I tried to hide it behind a gulp of coffee. “Both of them? Impossible.”
She nodded. “Not impossible. Not here.”
“I’ve never even had one man interested.”
“Why not?” Piper asked.
“Look at me,” I countered, knowing I was plain and homely and bookish. “It’s fine for you, of course,” I replied diplomatically. “I don’t even know what to do with one husband, let alone two.”
She smiled brilliantly, then it faltered. “I don’t really like to think of my brothers in this way, but I can assure you, they know what to do.”
I felt my blush as I pushed my glasses up, even though they didn’t need it.
“You do not seem too upset about your proxied husband dying.” She must have seen the worried look on my face because she continued. “It is a very impersonal way to wed. I know. I did it, remember? I do not judge you for not feeling keen for a man you never knew. I had five older brothers keeping suitors at bay. You know two of them. The other three are in Kansas. I ran away and became a mail order bride when the real bride died. I took her place. Those men in there?” She pointed toward the front of the house. “Spur and Lane were to marry someone else.”
“Oh, my.” That was quite a story and I didn’t know what else to say. It was quite warm in the kitchen and I stood, took off my coat and instead of folding it carefully, I tossed it over the back of the chair. I sat once again, this time in not quite so ladylike a fashion.
Piper leaned forward, looked me square in the eye and said, “What’s your story?”
I wasn’t one to tell tales, even true ones, but Piper seemed to be truly interested and I felt more relaxed than I ever had before. I took another sip of coffee. “The short story? My stepsisters spread slander by accusing me of seducing the gardener, signed me up to be a mail order bride and purchased me a train ticket to leave town, all for their amusement.”
Piper’s mouth fell open. She stared at me without making a peep for what felt like a minute. “And the long story?”
I had some more coffee, then shared every sordid—or not so sordid—detail.
CHAPTER FOUR
Jed
“What the hell can they be talking about in there?” Knox asked, his voice tipped low. We’d heard Piper laugh once, but nothing else.
We were in the parlor while the women chatted. While we should have been more proper, considering we were guests—Eve would sit on the very edge of the chair, ankles crossed, hands folded in her lap and her spine as straight as a fucking arrow most likely—I wasn’t a gentleman with my legs stretched out long and straight before me. Knox was slouched down enough where his head rested on the back of his chair. The baby had fallen asleep on Lane’s shoulder.
“Women’s conversations are a mystery and I have given up trying to understand them,” Lane offered, patting his daughter gently on the back, although she wasn’t waking up anytime soon.
“I’m a doctor and I still have no idea,” Spur added.
“That woman is wound up tighter than a child’s top,” Knox said.
All of us knew he spoke of Eve. There was no way in hell Piper—our sister and their wife—was high strung. I couldn’t agree with him more in his assessment. She needed someone to allow her to relax, to give her a safe place to share her burdens. To breathe.
“Not much longer,” I told him.
Knox frowned, then leaned forward so his forearms rested on his knees, eyeing me closely. Besides being brothers, we were best friends. He could read me like a book. “What did you do?”
I offered him a small smile. “Put some whiskey in her coffee.” When the three of them just stared at me, wide-eyed, I added, “What? She needs a bout of wild, steamy fucking.” I shrugged. “A few orgasms would certainly loosen up that spine. Liquor should help nicely.”
I shifted in my seat, my cock getting hard at the idea of letting all that wild hair free, getting her naked and pressed up against a wall. Hell, on my lap would work, too. Then I could watch her breasts bounce as she rode my cock. She’d be wild then, her mind focused on her pussy being crammed full and nothing else.
“Fuck.” My cock was not letting me think clearly. “Since that’s not going to happen until I get a ring on her finger, then I want her to be relaxed.”
Knox pointed toward the kitchen. “That woman? She’s mine.”
I shook my head slowly and narrowed my eyes at Knox. “No, she’s not.”
“She—”
“She’s not either of yours,” Spur said, cutting off Knox’s retort and stating the obvious. “What do you know about her?”
“She’s whip smart, reads books,” Knox told Spur, but kept his eyes pinned on me. Was he worried I’d run into the kitchen, toss Eve over my shoulder and carry her away? Probably.
“Tell us things we don’t already know,” Lane countered.
“She mentioned she was a schoolteacher,” Knox added.
I nodded, remembering her mentioning that in passing. “Yes. And when she thought we were teasing her about you both being married to Piper, she mentioned she was pestered at home. I don’t know if she has brothers like Piper who meddled with her, but she was very riled. Angry, even.” I shrugged. “I’m hoping a little whiskey will go a long way to have her share.”
“You are trying to get her drunk? That’s a little low, even for you,” Knox countered. “And you want her for your wife? I don’t need to get a woman drunk for her to become my wife.”
“Stupid fucker,” I replied, my voice growing louder. “I’m not trying to coerce her into marrying me. She doesn’t know anyone. Trust anyone. She’s in a strange town. Alone. Maybe if the hard edges of her life were softened a bit it might be easier for her.”
The baby stirred, made a fretful sound.
“You wake the baby and Piper will kill you, no gun needed,” Spur vowed.
I shook my head, but heeded the man’s words. My sister would do it, too. “Not drunk,” I continued, my voice just above a whisper. “More comfortable.” I sliced my hand through the air. “You have to admit, she’s had a terrible blow. Getting enough courage to be a mail order bride, coming all the way to Slate Springs to find out her husband is dead. That only makes her even more prickly.”
“Yes, that would be hard enough, then she meets a woman who has two husbands, not something done anywhere else. Of course she’ll be struggling. Soon enough, Thomkins will be here to make things worse,” Spur said, then shrugged. “Perhaps a little liquid courage couldn’t hurt.”
“You use liquor for medicinal purposes on occasion,” I offered.
Spur nodded. “I do.”
“This is one of those occasions,” I replied. “As you said, Thomkins is coming. But he won’t get anywhere near her.” No fucking way.
“Damn straight,” Knox vowed.
“I give him an hour,” Lane added.
“Fifteen minutes,” Knox countered.
“She’s a rich woman. He’ll want that money and the only way to keep it in the family is for her to marry Curtis,” I said. The idea didn’t sit well. No, the only man she was going to wed and bed was me.
“Where’s the whiskey?” Knox grumbled, probably wanting a shot of his own.
There was a knock at the front door and I looked to Spur and Lane. It was their house.
“Looks like I won the bet,” Knox told Lane.
Spur stood and went to the door, opened it. “Thomkins. Curtis. Good to see you.”
He didn’t step back to let the men enter and I was sure they noticed.
“I was told that Mrs. Thomkins is here.”
I recognized Thomkins’ annoying voice.
“Your wife, I assume, is at your house,” Spur replied.
I couldn’t help but grin, knowing he was riling the man intentionally.
“Not Agnes,” Thomkins replied, his tone a sharp bite. Clearly, he didn’t like Spur’s humor. “Melvin’s wife.”
“Yes, she’s here.”
“I want to see her. She’s family.”
There were four of us to protect Eve, so I wasn’t concerned Thomkins was going to drag her away. Curtis was like a lap dog, weak willed and did whatever his brother wanted. I just had to wonder if he’d actually marry a woman because his brother told him to.
Eve, though, wasn’t weak willed. No, she was too damn polite for her own good and I had to hope she wouldn’t succumb to any verbal pressure the man would put on her. I didn’t doubt he’d stoop to using guilt to get her to leave with him.
Lane had gone to the kitchen to fetch the ladies and they came down the hall behind him. At some point, Eve had removed her little hat and her hair, while still in the bun at her nape, had tendrils that stroked her cheek, the long line of her nape. I knew with one tug of my fingers in the pins, the entire wild mass would fall down over her back.
Shit. Now was not the time to think about her naked.
Introductions were made.
“It has been courteous of Dr. Drews and Mr. Haskins to entertain you on your arrival, but you should come with me,” Thomkins said, his eyes raking over Eve. Not in a sexual way, but straight perusal. That saved the man from being punched in the face. “Agnes, my wife, is looking forward to meeting you.”
While the man was well pulled together, his pale hair and pasty complexion made him look waxy. Somehow, even in the cooler weather, he would sweat, just as he did now. His forehead was shiny with it and I itched to toss a handkerchief at him.
“I’m fine here, thank you.” Eve had a flush to her cheeks and while she stood ramrod straight, she looked… softer.
“I wish to get to know you better,” Curtis said. He was the youngest and the most attractive of the three brothers. He had dark hair, slicked back, with a mustache and goatee. He was a foot taller than his eldest brother. In comparison, he made Thomkins look like an albino toad. If I were a woman, Curtis would be the one who would catch my eye first, although his weak personality left quite a bit to be desired. I had to hope Eve didn’t see just the man’s attractive facade.
“Why?” she asked, her head tilting slightly to the side and she pushed her glasses up. A long curl brushed over her shoulder.
“Well,” Curtis cleared his throat, looked down at the floor, too weak willed to look her in the eye. “With Melvin gone, I thought perhaps you might set your sights on me.”
At least the man was honest. Honest in his reason for showing up, honest in his lack of grief at his brother’s demise. I had to give him credit for at least that. The Thomkins brothers weren’t close. Not like Knox and me, our three other brothers who still lived in Kansas, along with Piper. But beneath Curtis’ interest all was greed, especially when he made the meager earnings of the town’s schoolteacher. He’d always wanted what Melvin had worked hard to achieve and now he could get it with just a simple, “I do.”
“That’s quite… direct and I appreciate that,” Eve replied.
Oh, shit. Did the bluestocking in her seek out the academic in him? Was that a draw for her? While I wasn’t a dolt, I wasn’t book smart either.
“While I should feel some sadness over my late husband’s death, I did not know him,” she continued.
I grunted out a laugh at the finely honed barb at both men in the doorway. Thomkins flushed and Curtis was embarrassed enough to look away.
“As a widow in a town with a large population of men, I assume I am somewhat of a commodity. My theory has been proven by your prompt appearance. Two men seeking marriage within an hour of my arrival in Slate Springs. I feel very… humbled, but I must be cautious and wary and watch for those who only want something from me instead of me myself.”
Another direct hit and I glanced at Knox, who was grinning widely.
“I appreciate your interest, but I have my sights set somewhere else.”
Every eye turned to her.
“You do?” Curtis asked.
“You do?” I asked at the same time as Knox.
Eve glanced at Piper, who gave her a smile and a nod.
Shit, what had our sister said to Eve? Who the hell had she met in the past twenty minutes sitting in the kitchen that gained her interest? We never should have let her out of our sights because—
“Yes. I am going to marry Mr. Dare.”
I stilled and I swear my heart skipped a beat. Knox grinned wider. My fists clenched.
Piper covered her mouth with her hand. The minx.
Lillian chose that moment to wake up and let out a loud cry.
Both Thomkins men looked from me to my brother, ignoring the distraction.
“Which Mr. Dare?” Curtis asked, ignoring Lillian’s fretting.
Yes, which Mr. Dare? I held my breath waiting for the answer.
“Both of them.”
“Both?” Knox and I shouted. Our little niece let out a scream at our loud outburst. Damn, she had lungs for being so tiny. Just like her mother.
Eve wanted both of us? I stared at Knox and I knew I had the same stunned expression as he did.
Both? I hadn’t considered the idea. Stupid for me not to since we lived in a town that made having two husbands legal. But Eve wasn’t a whore to share and bed with my brother. She was so much more and so was marriage to two men.
The baby continued to scream. Piper went over to Lane and took Lillian in her arms. She walked down the hallway to the kitchen and over the hungry cries I heard her mutter something about missing all the fun. Within seconds, the baby quieted and I had to assume Piper was feeding her.
“You’ve only known them five hours,” Curtis supplied, sputtering. He waved his arm about, pointing at me and Knox a little wildly.
“I’ve only known you five minutes,” Eve countered, looking down her nose at the man even though she was over a foot shorter.
Curtis gasped and Thomkins looked as if he was about to have apoplexy.
“They’ve talked you into marriage so they can get their hands on your money,” Thomkins said, eyeing me, then Knox with something akin to hatred. It didn’t bother me at all; I didn’t know of anyone whom he actually liked. “A woman like you marrying them?”
I wasn’t sure if he was scoffing Eve, or us.
Eve walked over to me, went up on her tiptoes, wrapped her hand about my neck and tugged. I could have resisted her actions, for I was far stronger, but I was too surprised to do anything but lean down. Then I was too pleased when she kissed me. It was a chaste peck, but her lips were soft and urgent, her hand on my neck soft, yet insistent. She tasted of coffee and I could smell a hint of whiskey. The liquor had worked in ways I had not imagined. Holy fuck, she was kissing me.
I heard Knox grumble.
Releasing me, she met my eyes. She was a little wide-eyed with surprise and a hint of arousal. Her lips were red and slick. Had that been her first kiss? After a moment, she remembe
red herself, spun on her heel and tugged Knox down for a kiss of his own. I should have smashed his face in for getting a kiss from her, but I didn’t. Surprisingly, I liked seeing her get pleasure from Knox as well. She wanted both of us, or at least she told that to Curtis. Words were one thing, kissing both of us was something else entirely.
When she finished with both of us, she turned to Lane and Spur. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes a touch glassy. For a moment, I thought she would kiss them as well, the spirits a little too strong, but she put her hands on her hips. “You were witnesses, gentlemen, to my wicked behavior. I assume you will spread tales of my actions all over town.”
What?
Lane and Spur stared at her as if she’d grown a second head, then both slowly smiled.
Spur glanced at Lane. “I love to share good gossip.” That was a blatant lie. A doctor spreading idle rumors and prattle? He’d lose his career. “In less than an hour, everyone will know of your actions. That you flung yourself at both the Dares.”
Knox stared at Eve, open-mouthed. I ran my hand over the back of my neck. Flung? Hell, she could do that anytime she wished. A bold little vixen was hiding behind a prim dress and glasses. God, I loved a smart woman and wanted to see what else she liked to do besides kiss.
“Absolutely,” Lane added.
“What the hell is going on here?” Thomkins yelled.
Eve turned to the brothers in the doorway and shrugged. “I’ve corrupted them and the entire town will know it. Trust me, in Clancy I’m known for the same behavior. I’ll have to marry the Dares now.”
I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. She’d flung herself at men where she was from? I’d learn the truth, but not right now, not in front of an audience. There was no question she was an innocent. That kiss, while eager, was far from carnal.
Spur took over then, shooing both men off his porch, although there was plenty of anger and foul language drifting on the summer breeze as they were forced to walk away.
I just stared at Eve, stunned by her ability to handle not only the Thomkins brothers, but obviously the Dare boys as well. We were completely at her mercy. Knox and I had both wanted her, but we’d never expected like this.
