Desire Oklahoma The Founding Fathers Trilogy

by Leah Brooke

  Embarrassed at the level of intimacy they forced on her and furious that he and Jeremiah appeared to know of her feeling of helplessness, she pushed at him, inwardly cursing her weakness. “No. I don’t want you to hold me. I want you to go back to Oklahoma, to the ranch you love so damned much, and leave me the hell alone.” Trying to pull away from him, she fell again.

  She wanted to cry at their coldness but held her tears at bay, not wanting them to see any further signs of weakness.

  Not willing to risk falling on either one of them again, this time Maggie decided to take the time to fasten her pants before she tried to get up.

  But it appeared Eb and Jeremiah weren’t through.

  Eb toppled her onto her back and leaned over her.

  “We’re never leaving you alone, Maggie. You’re ours, and you’re coming with us.”

  She had a hard time keeping her mind on fastening her pants with Eb nuzzling her jaw and Jeremiah raining kisses over her naked breasts. Without meaning to, she arched, offering her breasts and tilting her head to give Eb better access. “Damn it. Stop!”

  She pushed away from them and finally managed to get to her feet, her chest heaving.

  Eb stood when she did. “You sure do smell good, Maggie. We’ll have to buy a barrel of whatever’s making you smell like that and take it with us.”

  Her hands shook so badly she couldn’t fasten her shirt. “I already told you I’m not going with you.” Frustrated, she tied the ends of the shirt together and started for her horse.

  Jeremiah stood and came after her. “We’ll talk about it over dinner. I’m sure Esmeralda kept it hot for us.”

  “No.”

  Eb folded the blanket and stowed it, his movements practiced. “Why weren’t you there for dinner?”

  Maggie mounted her horse, anxious to get away from them as soon as possible. She still felt shaky and vulnerable, as though she’d lost something to them and didn’t know how to get it back.

  It appeared to have had no effect on them at all.

  Sucking in a breath, she turned her horse, not wanting them to see the unshed tears in her eyes.

  “I ate dinner at the big house because my father was foreman. He and Mr. Tyler used to talk about the ranch while they ate. My father’s gone now. I figured the new foreman would be there.”

  Eb stilled. “My father hasn’t appointed a new foreman yet, and even if he had, you know better than that. We’re getting married tomorrow, and you’ll be moving into the big house until we leave. You’ll eat at the house from now on.”

  Jeremiah came to stand beside her horse, laying a hand on her thigh. “You know damned well we all expected you to be there. You only did it to piss us off. You succeeded. Now come up to the house and eat your supper.”

  The heat from Jeremiah’s hand spread, sending a shock of renewed awareness to her clit, making it tingle with renewed vigor. Unsettled that she’d almost leaned into him, she bit back a groan and straightened.

  “I’m not hungry. I’m tired, and I just want to go to bed.”

  She started off, but Jeremiah grabbed the reins, effectively stopping her. “We don’t want you going to town tomorrow without us. We’re going to do some things around here in the morning with Dad. That’ll give you time to put on a pretty dress.”

  She remained silent, not agreeing to anything, knowing they were both so arrogant they’d see her silence as acquiescence.

  They apparently did.

  Eb had already mounted his horse and rode close to her other side. “Dad and Buck spoiled you rotten. Don’t fight us on this, Maggie. We haven’t even discussed the fact that you disobeyed Dad and went to the Perrys’ home—something we’re going to deal with.”

  Maggie struggled to appear unaffected by their authoritative tone, which in the past had always been reassuring to her because it had always been directed at others. Directed at her, it sent a chill down her spine and made her uneasy, and it took a tremendous amount of effort to keep her voice steady.

  “I didn’t disobey Mr. Tyler. He told me to stay away from Reverend Perry, and I did. He never even knew I was there.”

  Eb and Jeremiah rode silently beside her, their stares burning into her as they edged her toward her house instead of the stable.

  Jeremiah gestured toward her front door. “Just go in, Maggie. We’ll take care of your horse.”

  Desperate to be alone, she picked up the pace, glad they didn’t insist that she move into the big house tonight. She slid from the horse, not even glancing at Eb or Jeremiah, her emotions too raw to face either one of them.

  She started for her front porch, pausing as Eb called out to her.

  “Stay here until we come get you tomorrow, Maggie. Do you hear me?”

  Maggie nodded once. “I hear you.” She hurried inside before either one of them could say anything else. Once there, she locked her door, something she’d never done before, and sank to the floor, leaning back against the door as tears welled in her eyes, blurring her vision.

  The moonlight from the small window provided the only light, but she didn’t even bother getting up for a lantern. Sitting there on the floor of her kitchen in the semi-darkness, she pulled her knees close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, waiting for her trembling to stop.

  How could they make her so weak, and with so little effort?

  When Eb and Jeremiah left five years ago, she’d been little more than a girl. The feeling of friendship she’d always felt toward them had just begun to ripen into something more when they disappeared from her life.

  She’d never dreamed she could have these sexual yearnings for both of them and didn’t know what to do about it. Although their solution sounded perfect on the surface, she couldn’t see how she could live the rest of her life with two men as her husbands.

  It simply wasn’t done.

  Was it?

  Could she do it?

  Rubbing her arms, she pushed herself to her feet and looked out the window in time to see Eb and Jeremiah leave the stable and make their way to their father’s house.

  From this distance, she couldn’t see their faces, but she’d know their smooth, arrogant strides anywhere.

  A surge of pride welled within her as she watched them. Eb and Jeremiah had made something of themselves, fighting the odds to build something bigger than she could imagine. It didn’t surprise her.

  She’d always known them to go for what they wanted and get it.

  But this time, she couldn’t let them win. The tenderness for them growing inside her frightened her on so many levels. If she gave in to them, they’d run roughshod over her. They knew she’d grown up physically, but other than when they touched her, they treated her as the child they’d left behind.

  She knew men and women got married all the time with much less than friendship between them, but with the way she felt about them, marriage to both of them would bring her a life full of heartache.

  But how would that be different from what she had now?

  If she stayed here, she might actually one day love a man who could love her in return. She could forget about Eb and Jeremiah and have a happy life.

  Who was she trying to fool?

  Eb and Jeremiah had been out of her life for the past five years, and not a day had gone by that she didn’t miss them.

  She would marry them, of course.

  She’d never be able to survive watching them ride away again.

  As much as she’d like to dig her heels in until she knew if they’d ever see her as a woman, she couldn’t resist being with them. It was as if she’d been asleep all these years, just waiting for them to return to come alive again.

  She turned away from the window and wiped her eyes, vowing to herself that somehow she’d get Eb and Jeremiah to one day look at her the way Hayes and Wyatt looked at Savannah.

  Chapter Three

  Sitting in his father’s study, Eb stared out the window that faced the small house where Maggie slept, fighting the urge
to go over there and crawl into bed with her. It filled him with a deep satisfaction to know that by this time next week she’d be settling into the house they’d built for her, sleeping in the bed he and Jeremiah had built for her.

  She might complain now, but he knew he and Jeremiah could make her happy, provide for her, and satisfy her sexually. Confident that he and his brother could make everything right just as soon as they got her to Oklahoma, Eb sighed and sat back, wishing they were already back home.

  But he knew she needed a little time to get used to it, pack her things, and say her good-byes to the people she loved.

  She needed some time alone to think about her future, which was the only thing that kept him from crossing the yard right then.

  Her reluctance to go with them didn’t anger him as much as his own failure to anticipate it. Their little Maggie had grown up, and although her stubbornness and defiance had gotten worse, she displayed a vulnerability he hadn’t ever seen in her before.

  Perhaps if he and Jeremiah talked to her a little more about the Circle T, she would feel more comfortable in going with them.

  It would also give him something to think about besides the way her ass twitched when she walked in those pants she insisted on wearing. He didn’t mind them and had already decided to let her keep them, both because he considered them more practical for living on the Circle T and because he thought that indulging her might soften her up enough to stop arguing with him so much.

  Every time she opened that sassy mouth, he could think of nothing but shoving his cock inside.

  He tossed back two fingers of whiskey, hoping the burn would relieve the ache in his groin. He loved sex in its many varieties, and it had been too long since the whore wagon had stopped at the Circle T.

  Hell, who was he trying to fool?

  He’d gone months at a time without a woman, but having Maggie in his arms had turned him inside out. Knowing that she was a virgin and belonged to him had his lust for her still raging even an hour after he walked away from her.

  She was too innocent to fake such passion the way the whores could when it suited them. Her virginity excited him in a way he’d never imagined before. Everything they did to her was new, and the knowledge that she’d never before been touched by another man filled him with a possessive hunger that wouldn’t be denied.

  The knowledge that every reaction was genuine and surprising to her just made him want to give her more. The fire inside her increased his own need and he couldn’t help fanning the flames, amazed that his own passion for her burned even hotter.

  Her moans and whimpers would no longer be enough. He wouldn’t be satisfied until she screamed.

  Fuck. Thinking about Maggie screaming as he fucked her only made his cock harder.

  He got up to pour himself another drink, hoping his father’s strong whiskey would enable him to calm down enough to sleep. After taking another sip, he sat back down and stared at Maggie’s dark house, unable to stop thinking about the way she felt writhing in his arms.

  Hell, he could still taste her, and the taste of her fired his loins like nothing ever had. His cock pressed painfully against his rough pants, throbbing and even leaking moisture.

  If he’d only fucked her, he could have gotten this hunger out of his system and would already be asleep.

  Once he married her, he’d fuck her long and hard as often as possible and gradually build the intimacy that women always craved. When they gained her trust and got rid of some of her nervousness and the sexual tension she didn’t yet know how to handle, she’d become comfortable in her role as their wife. Things would settle down then and he and Jeremiah would have a woman who would warm their bed, satisfy their lust, and make their house a home. He wanted a good, solid woman who knew ranch life and understood the hardships—someone who’d give him children. Someone…comfortable.

  He shifted again, grimacing as his cock protested. He sure as hell wasn’t comfortable right now.

  Changing his position yet again, he thought back to the day all those years ago that he’d decided that she would belong to him. At the time, he’d been seeing a woman in town and had just about decided to marry her. When he’d accidentally overheard her talking about how rich she would be once she married him and that she’d be even richer when his father died, he’d gotten rid of her in a hurry and turned a deaf ear to her pleading for another chance.

  He came home with a sourness in his stomach, only to find Maggie waiting for him with news that one of the newborn kittens had died.

  All thoughts of the other woman fled.

  A fourteen year old Maggie had tears swimming in her eyes as she held the kitten for him to see, but shrugged matter-of-factly when he tried to console her.

  “These things happen, Eb. You know that as well as I do.” Despite her words, her voice broke, and she hurriedly looked away.

  Staring down at her, Eb watched her cradle the lifeless kitten in her arms, her eyes huge in her face when she looked up at Jeremiah’s approach.

  Jeremiah met his gaze over Maggie’s head as he bent to kiss her hair. “Come on, honey. We’ll go help you bury him.”

  Eb walked with them to the edge of the woods that bordered the property, standing aside with Jeremiah as Maggie picked the perfect spot. He stood next to her, his arm around her shoulder for support as Jeremiah made short work of digging a hole. Afterward, she nodded and thanked them and went back to work as though nothing had happened.

  It broke his heart.

  Death was a common occurrence on a ranch the size of their father’s, but the death of Maggie’s kitten had everyone walking around on eggshells and doing their best to cheer her up.

  She tried to play it off as though it didn’t bother her, but several of the men caught her wiping her eyes throughout the day.

  Over supper that night, he looked into her sad eyes and knew she would one day be his wife.

  It happened just that fast, a decision that he knew in his heart was right as soon as he made it.

  She understood ranch life and was strong enough to work through bad days and sweet and innocent enough to cry over a kitten—nothing like the cold woman he’d left in town only hours earlier.

  The problems arose when he told Jeremiah, only to learn his brother felt the same way. Jeremiah adored Maggie and always had, and Eb knew he should have stepped aside and let his brother have her.

  But he couldn’t.

  Something inside him demanded that she belong to him, and he’d told his brother so.

  When they’d heard from several new hands his father had hired that some men who lived out west shared their women, the idea had taken root that they could have Maggie in the same way. Nothing in the years since then had ever changed their minds. In fact, the more he and Jeremiah had talked about it, the more it had made perfect sense.

  They’d both known her since she was an infant and had helped take care of her since she’d gotten big enough to follow them around. She’d been a huge part of their lives, and leaving her had been one of the hardest things they’d ever done.

  Her safety and security was at stake, and he knew he and Jeremiah could take care of her better than anyone.

  They’d carved out a world where they could live with her the way they wanted to—in a way they no longer even questioned.

  He’d missed her more than he would ever have imagined. He and Jeremiah had found themselves talking about her at odd moments, imagining what the ranch would be like once she came to live there.

  She’d been little more than a child when they left Kansas City, but even then he could tell she would be a beauty. She’d drawn people to her like a moth to a flame, something that had always been a source of pride to them, especially since they’d both had a hand in helping to raise her.

  When he received the telegram from his father, he’d been anxious to get to her, worried that she’d be scared and unsure of her future. The picture of the way she’d looked with the dead kitten in her arms had him racin
g to get to her. He’d arrived, anxious to see her again, and assumed she’d be anxious for their comfort and grateful to have her future assured.

  Instead, she’d stared at him as though he were a stranger.

  Hurt and angry, he’d yanked her against him, both to punish, but also because he’d been unable to resist it.

  He knew he’d have a difficult time explaining the life he and Jeremiah wanted to have with her, but he hadn’t expected to have her thwart his plans to marry and move to Oklahoma. It pricked his pride that she hadn’t asked one question about her new home. He and Jeremiah had worked their asses off to build a place they could live with her, and it infuriated him that she’d showed no interest at all in it.

  He closed his eyes, remembering her soft little cries of pleasure. Smiling reluctantly, he shook his head. Beautiful, soft, and curvy in a way that felt perfect against him, she had to be the most responsive woman he’d ever touched.

  But she was also as hard-headed as a mule.

  He was just contrary enough that the combination excited the hell out of him.

  At the flare of a match, he turned his head to see Jeremiah lighting the lamp on the table closest to him. Taking another sip of whiskey, Eb leaned back, propping his feet on a footstool, wincing when his cock protested the movement.

  “Where’s Dad?”

  “He went to talk to Larry, the new foreman. He’ll be here in a few minutes.” Jeremiah blew out the match and took a seat in the chair next to Eb, a chair which also afforded a view of the small house across the yard. Taking a deep breath, he bent forward, staring out the window. “She’s always been stubborn, but not so hard-headed that she wouldn’t listen to us, especially after what just happened out there. After she came I thought she’d be more agreeable. Hell, she just got more prickly.”

  The cold fist around Eb’s heart tightened as he stared down into his glass. “We shouldn’t have stayed away so long. I swear, I thought I knew Maggie inside and out, but she’s not the same, and it pisses me off. Did you see the way she looked at us at the train station?”