The sun had dipped low on the horizon, even though it wasn’t quite seven in the evening. This time of year—the first week of September—the sun would set just before eight. He’d grown up, a son of ranchers and farmers, and he knew the calendar well.
Patrick loved the clear Texas nights. The month of September brought the end of summer, and occasionally cooler evenings, but relative dryness tended to blanket both the moderate and the extreme in his home state, and he gave thanks for that.
England had been hellishly damp and chilly, it had seemed, all the damn time.
“I used to dream of this place when we were over there,” Gerald said. “Of the campouts we went on with our dads and the uncles and the grandfathers.”
“I was just thinking the same thing. When it was both cold and wet I would close my eyes and think about the campfires out on the trail, and the stories they would tell.” Unexpectedly, Patrick’s throat felt tight. “Christ, I miss them. All of them. Caleb and Joshua, Adam and Warren.”
“So do I.” Gerald seemed to sense his emotions—or, more like, he shared in them completely. After a few minutes, he chuckled. “I keep imagining that moment when they were escorting Grandmother Sarah to her new home outside Waco. That moment in Indian Territory when the grandfathers looked up, and there before them was a line of Cherokee as far as the eye could see. I almost can’t envision Grandmother Sarah clinging to Grandpa Caleb’s back.”
“Or her keeping silent and letting the men do all the talking.” Patrick grinned. Then he looked over at Gerald. “Can you ever evenconceiveof a Benedict, Jessop, or Kendall doing to a daughter what her father did to her?”
“No, not in these enlightened times,” Gerald agreed. “But in those days—in the 1890s—women had few rights, and practically no voice at all.”
“I suppose I should just be grateful, because without grandmother’s father having struck that deal with Tyrone Maddox, we wouldn’t even be here.” To this day, none of the Benedicts claimed that long-dead man as either a grandfather or a great-grandfather.
Mr. Carmichael had never accepted his daughter’s marriage to the brothers Benedict, and the rest of the family, in turn, had never accepted him.
“True.” Gerald fell silent for a long moment. “Kate isn’t much older than Grandmother Sarah was when she had to leave all she knew behind and trek into the unknown wilderness with two gunslingers as escort. Maybe we should keep that in mind as we court her.”
“That’s a fine and noble idea, brother. But we both know that once we’re alone with her, once the scent of her and the sight of her fills us both up, we’re only going to want to do one thing.”
Gerald nodded. “Claim her as our own. I know. But in my heart, we already did that back in Washington.”
“With just a kiss? I had a more…earthy sort of claiming in mind.”
“You don’t have to use euphemisms, brother. Not between the two of us.”
Patrick nodded. “I know, but I’m trying very hard not to talk myself into a permanent state of hard-on.”
Gerald chuckled, but there certainly wasn’t much humor in the sound. “How is that working out for you?”
“Fuck, Ger, you have to know, not well. I can still taste her on my lips, and I canstillsmell her heat.”
“Yeah, me too, all of that,andI can feel her tight little nipples poking at me through both our layers of clothing.”
Patrick groaned and then adjusted his position on the seat. Thank God his uniform trousers were loose enough to leave a little room for his erection. “I have a feeling the lady won’t just fall into bed with us, either.”
“You might be right about that. We may have quite a time getting her where we want her…naked and between us. Except…”
“Except what?”
“There’s passion in her, hot and fiery. I tasted it and so did you. And, there’s an intrinsic honesty in her. Our Kate won’t play games.Ifshe decides to take us on, she’ll open to us. We won’t have to coax her into it.”
“Yes.” He took a moment to relive that incredible kiss. Then he looked over at Gerald. “We haven’t discussed this, and since we’re only a few minutes away from home, I suppose we really should. Just how are we going to get the deliciousMajorWesley right where we want her so she can make that decision?”
“Now, that is a question, isn’t it? I came up with the last plan—the one that brought her to Lusty. I think it’s your turn, brother, to come up with this one.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that. Well, if all else fails, we can always use the tried and true.”
“Ask her?” Gerald asked.
Patrick grinned. Coming right out and asking her hadn’t even occurred to him. “No, I was thinking we could just seduce her. Since she did seem to be attracted to us both even, I think, against her better judgment.”
Gerald was silent for a long moment. Patrick didn’t think, even for a minute, that his brother was mentally weighing the pros and cons of that approach. No, like him, Ger was imagining all the delightful ways the two of them could seduce their woman.
“Yes,” he said at last. “I imagine we could, if we worked at it. And provided, of course, that the lady still is as attracted to us as we are to her.”
Patrick let go of his insouciance, and met his brother’s gaze. “I haven’t allowed myself to even consider the possibility that she isn’t—or that she wouldn’t be receptive to us.”
“I don’t think we have anything to worry about. The woman is incredibly hot-blooded—I could tell that by the way she trembled in my arms.” Gerald grinned, then, the kind of full-of-fun grin Patrick hadn’t seen on him in a long time. “And I’ll tell you the truth, it was a combination of arousal and indignation that made her tremble.”
Patrick laughed. “Well then, I would say that we can look forward to at least a few fireworks with our woman.”
Chapter 5
Kate never would have believed that her entire life could be turned upside down in just two weeks.
She’d never considered herself to be the shy or retiring type. Certainly, over the years her mother had let her know that the habits she had somehow formed of speaking her mind, and refusing to always present a “genteel” face to the world, were enormous flaws.
“No one likes a woman withopinions, Katherine Marie.” How many times had her mother saidthat?
And yet the last two weeks had pretty much put paid to that false maxim for good. The women of Lusty—and the men, too—not onlylikedher to have an opinion and share it, theyexpectedit of her. She’d spent time over the last fourteen days with not only Sarah and Madeline Benedict, but Amanda Jessop-Kendall and her daughter-in-law Chelsea—who was actually Sarah’s daughter.
She’d looked at photographs and listened as Sarah and Amanda had recounted their first meetings with the men they’d fallen in love with.
She’d read their journals.
Kate stood by the large window in what the Benedicts called the great room, in the “Big House.” She even knew the story of the names bestowed to this home, and the one just a quarter mile away, the “New House.”
This was the house Tyrone Maddox had built as a tribute to his ego and his dynastic aspirations. It was the house Sarah moved into, after that odious man’s death, with her lovers, Caleb and Joshua Benedict.
Months later, after Amanda had captured the hearts of her two lawmen, they’d built a new house, just as large, for their bride.
What an amazing story each of those women could tell!
The sun sat just on the edge of the horizon. Twilight would soon move in, bringing the darkness of night. No clouds marred the sky, so she imagined she’d be treated to another spectacular view of the heavens again tonight.
Rather than facing the front of the house, and the street, this window allowed a view of the open fields, the trees and the grasses, and the gentle undulations of the land—Benedict land, she’d been told—that appeared to stretch out forever.
After two weeks of getting to
know several members of this community, she wondered if it wasn’t the land itself that had shaped the people into the strong, independent thinkers and doers they were.
“This particular view has changed so little since I first came here. But the rest—the town itself—has grown somuch.”
Kate had been lost in her thoughts and hadn’t heard the elderly woman approach. She turned and offered Sarah Benedict a smile. “I can only imagine the sense of satisfaction both you and Amanda must feel to watch as your dream came true before your very eyes.”
“It didn’t feel like that at the time, of course. In the beginning, it was just living—and loving.”
Today the lady was dressed in a gown that touched the floor. Though she had seen the woman wearing what her mother would have called “the best of modern fashion,” clearly Sarah Carmichael Benedict had an affinity for the style of a bygone era.
Kate enjoyed an ease of conversation with all of the women of Lusty. After only two weeks, this small town, sitting on private land, was beginning to feel like home—and these women, like family.
“I’ve often thought how unfair it is that the important moments in life often come upon us, unawares.” She’d learned she could say anything here, and her words, and the thoughts behind them, were treated with respect. “They happen, those moments, and we make choices, and it isn’t until much later we realize that at that point, right there, we changed the course of our lives, forever.”
Sarah ran a hand down her back. Already a familiar caress, Sarah’s touch, as well as Madeline’s gentle grasp of her shoulder let her know she wasn’t alone.
“It has to be that way, Kate,” the older woman said. “Think about it. Things happen and we respond, based only upon what we have knownso far. We may know the moment is an important one, but to know when we hit those invisible turning points, we would nearly have to know the future.”
“I don’t see what’s so wrong with that.” In fact, knowing the future would suit her just fine right now. Then she would be certain how she should respond to a couple of aviators who were, according to Madeline, due to arrive at any moment, now.
“Oh, Katie! To know the future is to surrender the possibility of surprise, and…and magic. Yes, that is the right word. If you knew your future, there would be no magic for you to discover.”
“I don’t believe in magic.”
“Ah, but you should, because magic is all around us. It’s in a child’s smile, and a loved one’s hug. It’s in the striving, and succeeding, that sense of accomplishment that makes us feel powerful and righteous.” Sarah sighed. “And it’s in a risk taken, on a moonlit night, by a quiet, lovely stream.”
Kate tried not to blush over that last bit. Shehadread the woman’s journal, after all. Despite feeling just a bit uncomfortable thinking of that intimate incident from Sarah’s younger years, she thought she understood what the family matriarch was saying.
Something about the women she’d met in this town—Sarah and Amanda, Madeline and Chelsea and Rose and so many more whose names she couldn’t remember—these women touched her in a way she’d never experienced before.
“Mother, Kate. Dinner’s ready.” The masculine voice sounded…indulgent.
Kate offered her arm to Sarah. Oh, she knew the elderly woman didn’t need help to get anywhere she wanted to be. It just felt good to be connected.
She had trouble telling Sarah’s two sons apart. Both men were tall, white-haired, and ruggedly good looking. Identical twins, they’d spent their lives loving the same woman, raising children together, and ranching and farming the land that had been their birthright.
This Mr. Benedict grinned at her as if he understood she was trying to figure out which one he was. Sarah sighed and shook her head at him—a maternal message he apparently had no trouble interpreting.
“Samuel, you’re as full of teasing as your father ever was.”
“Sorry, Mother. I’ll try to be more serious in my demeanor.”
Kate grinned. “Golly, not on my account. I enjoy your sense of humor, sir.”
Samuel Benedict raised his right eyebrow. Kate could see he was fighting his smile. “Well now, that’s nice to know. I would, however, make one small request of you, Kate.”
“Yes, sir?” Kate found herself in the position of trying to keep her own smile from blossoming.
“Don’t call me sir. Makes me feel old.”
Sarah chuckled. When she reached her son, she patted his arm. “We’re all getting old, my darling. That’s the way of things, isn’t it?”
“I suppose it is—but I don’t have to like it.”
“No, of course you don’t.”
Kate stepped back as Samuel offered his mother his arm, and then followed them into the dining room. This would be the fifth time she’d been the Benedicts’ dinner guest. Her eyes widened when she saw the table and the number of people waiting to take their seats.
Amanda had already been seated at one end of the table. Sarah was seated at the other, and then everyone else settled in.
Kate’s spot was between Sarah and Madeline. She placed her napkin on her lap as her mind scrambled to place names with the animated faces gathered together for the Friday evening meal. Next to Madeline was her husband Charles. Samuel was seated at the other side of Sarah. Kate reckoned that if she wasn’t dining with them tonight, Madeline would be sitting between her husbands—she doubted they were very often separated. On the other side of Charles sat their sister Chelsea, who’d married two of Amanda’s sons, Jeremy, who sat next to his wife, Chelsea, and was the town’s sheriff, and Dalton, who split his time between his law practice and the family farm, and who sat on Amanda’s other side. Next to Dalton was Jacob Benedict, one of Charles and Samuel’s brothers, then his wife, Rose, and her other husband, James—another brother.
The concept of having two husbands is becoming more and more normal to me with each passing day.
She’d dined with just Mattie, Sam, and Charles one night, and she could attest that the love and affection between husbands and wife was a beautiful sight to behold.
The truth was that somehow, these fascinating people made their family structure work. She’d witnessed more affection and respect between husbands and wives this past week than she’d ever believed existed.
Kate wasn’t stupid, neither did she shy away from the hard realities of life. Over the last fourteen days it had been brought home to her the reason she’d been so resistant to her mother’s matchmaking attempts.
She didn’t want to end up in a stilted, uncomfortable marriage like the one that existed between her parents.
But this—this always noisy, often rowdy kind of loving family…nowthisshe could get used to.
Katherine Marie, admit the truth, if only to yourself. You want what they have.
She did. Each of these women was a busy, capable woman who held the respect not only of their husbands, but of all the men in the family. Madeline often rode the range with her husbands, and Chelsea helped Dalton in his law practice. Jacob and James ran a textile mill in Waco and with Thomas Kendall and Andrew Jessop, their cousins and Amanda’s other two sons, had a hand in overseeing the families’ oil and mineral interests. Rose worked right alongside them.
These women were wives, and mothers, and had careers, too. They livedherideal life.
Food was passed around, and Kate put some on her plate, but her mind was on those two Benedicts not yet here—the ones who had kissed her on a balmy Washington night and made her body come alive with carnal desire.
For the past two weeks she’d tried to decide how she would deal with the two of them when she saw them again.
They’d set her up. They had shamelessly appealed to their grandmothers to arrange for her to be brought here, as if to be made a sacrificial offering for their prurient appetites. Except…
Kate had spent a great deal of time with Sarah, Madeline, and Amanda after she’d learned of the families’ machinations. The women of Lusty had insisted
on a few points of their own—it wastheywho had insisted she be given a rank that, on the face of things, equaled that of the men’s. And they had been very clear that whether or not she allowed Gerald and Patrick to court her was entirely up to her.
They’d assured her that they would think no less of her nor treat her with anything but affectionate respect if she turned her back on those two young men.
Katherine Wesley knew to the very core of her soul that she could trust the word of these women. That wasn’t nearly so shocking to her inner self as the realization that, not only did she really want to see Gerald and Patrick again, she really hoped they’d kiss her again, too.
At the base of everything, she supposed she trusted them as well.
The family chattered away as she’d sat in silence, and she had the sense that they’d understood her need to work things out in her mind, and left her alone with her thoughts.
“I hear a car on the gravel out front.” Sarah lifted her napkin and blotted her lips.
“Their timing, when it comes to food, has always been impeccable,” Charles said.
Kate’s heart tripped as panic filled her. She wasn’t ready to face these two men! She knew she should have been mortified, since their family surrounded her. Yet over such a short period of time she felt as if she fit right in here—not only in Lusty, Texas, but at the Benedict family dining table, too.
Maybe I can just excuse myself and escape out the back door.
Kate felt a surprisingly strong feminine hand grasp hers. “Smile and tough it out, sweetheart. Not only will it knock those two young men off their pins, it’s the Benedict way.”
She looked at Sarah whose light blue eyes reflected not only a fierce determination, but mirth. And looking into that woman’s gaze seemed to ground her. It felt as if the sense of sisterhood she’d somehow never enjoyed before coming here, to this town and this family, filled her now.
This woman might betheirgrandmother, and Kate had no doubt whatsoever that Sarah loved her grandsons without reservation or limits.
But here and now, Sarah Benedict washerbulwark and her champion.
A Very Lusty Christmas [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 5
