by Leah Brooke
She fought as Jeremiah attached the leather to her again, kicking and screaming, calling them every name she could think of, but nothing seemed to affect them.
When Jeremiah finished, they both released her, standing back and eyeing her naked form smugly.
Hurriedly straightening, she twisted away from both of them, pushing her hair back from her face. “I hate you. I hate both of you. I hope you fall off your horses. I hope you get kicked by a bull. I hope—”
Eb shot to his feet. “We get the picture.” Yanking her to him, he ran a hand over the bare cheeks of her bottom and pushed at the leather between her legs, forcing the ball inside her deeper.
“But you’ll think of your husbands for the rest of the day, which is what a nice little obedient wife should do. Now go get dressed.”
Furious, aroused, confused, Maggie stomped her bare foot. “I’m not going to be waiting here naked for you to get back.”
Jeremiah picked her up and set her on the table, shifting the small ball inside her bottom and making it feel huge. “Of course not. We’re eating in the chow shack tonight. Can’t have all those other men eyeing my property.”
Maggie gasped in outrage, which Jeremiah took advantage of, dropping a quick kiss on her parted lips before grinning and walking away.
With her hands fisted at her sides, Maggie listened to them go out the back door, the door slamming shut on their laughter.
One day soon, she’d get the better of them. Both of them.
Going to the pump, she filled a bowl with cool water and splashed her face with it, hoping to quell the heat raging inside her. It helped temporarily, until she started to walk again and the ball shifted inside her and the leather moved over her clit.
Pausing on the stairs, she lifted her hands to her breasts, tugging at her nipples, but it only made things worse. By the time she got to the bedroom and donned her dress, her anger had grown and she’d started muttering to herself.
“I’ll show them desire. Trying to control me by using my body against me. When they take me tonight, they’re not going to know what hit them. Bastards.”
She ran down the stairs to burn off some of the restless energy flowing through her veins, cursing Eb and Jeremiah as much as she longed for them.
After cleaning up the dishes from their mid-day meal, she stared out the window, easily picking them out of the men surrounding them.
She didn’t quite know how she did it, but she could always pick both of them out of a dozen ranch hands at a distance, something that had always amused both her father and theirs.
Smiling, she shook her head, wondering what the mail-order brides would think of the men here.
She just hoped the women here would find the love that she had.
That led her to thinking about Savannah. She couldn’t wait until her friend got here and wondered what she’d think of Desire, Oklahoma.
Narrowing her eyes toward the stable Eb, Jeremiah, and several other men just entered, Maggie touched her waist where the leather shifted beneath her dress.
She couldn’t let her friend, Savannah, see her so easily controlled, especially after all the times she’d lectured her about standing up to her uncle. The more she thought about it, the more determined she became.
How dare Eb and Jeremiah use her weakness for them against her?
She couldn’t prevent a smile as she ran her hands over her breasts and shifted slightly, moaning at the feel of the leather moving against her. Of course she wouldn’t want them to stop doing things like this to her, but she didn’t have to give in quite so easily.
God, she burned.
She couldn’t let them just blithely walk away from her when she needed their attention so desperately.
Filled with determination and frustration, she headed toward the back door to slip on her boots. Slamming the door behind her the way they had, she started across the yard, wondering what she’d have to do in order to get them to come back to the house and give her some more of their erotic attention.
Each step took her closer to her destination, and each shifted the leather she wore, stoking her lust.
And her temper.
* * * *
It took Eb far too long to calm down after walking out on Maggie, every instinct screaming at him to go back to the house and finish what he and Jeremiah started.
Leading one of the horses into the stable, Jeremiah tossed the reins aside to a waiting ranch hand. “You don’t think it’s too much? I mean, for her to be aroused like that all day?”
Eb scrubbed a hand over his face. “Hell, I don’t know. I never teased anyone like this before. I played. I fucked them, and that was the end of it. How the hell are we supposed to teach her a lesson if we don’t get her damned attention?”
Jeremiah sighed, leaning over one of the rails. “I don’t know, but the poor thing’s got to be in agony. I know I am.”
Eb’s temper snapped. “What the hell are we supposed to do? Give in? Go back to find her sewing or something and tell her we think she’s had enough?”
“When she’s had enough, you’ll know it.”
Turning his head at the softly spoken words, Eb met Blade’s eyes. “Is that a fact?”
Blade shrugged, not looking the least bit repentant at butting into their conversation. “Don’t mean to meddle in something that’s none of my business, but I couldn’t help overhearing. Sometimes I wonder if women are more trouble than they’re worth.”
He grinned, a flash of white against his dark skin. “Then I get between a set of creamy thighs and remember why I put up with them.”
Hawke came up behind him, his tread silent as he crossed the stable, but Blade looked over his shoulder at his approach. “No decent woman is ever gonna let a bastard half-breed in her bed, so don’t start on the bosses about the mail-order brides. Just be happy Trixie and her girls let you touch them. Now stop thinking about your cock, and get back to work.”
Eb grunted. “I can’t wait to see some woman get under Hawke’s skin.”
Blade shrugged and started to walk away, but Eb stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
“What did you mean, ‘when she’s had enough, you’ll know it’?”
Blade shrugged, looking uncomfortable for the first time since Eb met him. “I didn’t mean to intrude on your business with your wife, but I saw your face when we had the tornado. I know if it was my woman that was hurt—hell, I would have gone crazy.”
Eb nodded, shooting a glance at Jeremiah. “Yeah, well, we might have gone too far.”
Blade shook his head. “Nothing’s too far if it’ll make her think twice about putting herself in harm’s way again.” He shrugged, looking away. “It’s hard not to know what’s going on at a ranch like this when we’re all watching out for each other. And we all watch out for Mrs. Tyler. Women will always let you know when they’ve had enough of something—or when they need more. Fascinating creatures, aren’t they?”
Eb watched him walk away before turning his head to meet his brother’s gaze.
Jeremiah’s brows went up. “You ever hear him talk so much?”
Phoenix came up beside them without making a sound. “When it comes to women, Blade is very opinionated. Speaking of women, it looks like yours is headed this way, and she doesn’t look too happy.”
Eb looked up in time to see Maggie crossing the yard to the stable, her skirts flying and looking mad as hell. Aware that the other men watched in amusement, apparently prepared to sit back and enjoy a show, Eb crossed his arms over his chest and waited.
Jeremiah’s amused tone came from beside him. “Maggie sure looks like she’s wound up some, doesn’t she?”
A grin spread on Eb’s face, one of anticipation and of love for the tiny bit of dynamite coming toward them with fire in her eyes and fury in every stride.
“Looks mad as a rattler, doesn’t she? You looking forward to this as much as I am?”
Jeremiah laughed softly and straightened. “More. Maggie in a te
mper was always a sight, but now…”
Distracted by the sight of his wife striding toward him, Eb almost missed a move that could have ended in tragedy.
As Maggie passed, Stockney stepped out from where he’d obviously been hiding in the supply shed, gun in hand, and ran toward her.
Stockney grabbed Maggie’s arm and yanked her around to face him, stepping squarely into the fist she swung at him. He went down like a sack of flour without a sound.
Maggie didn’t even pause to look at him, but kept coming toward the stable, anger coming off of her in waves.
It all happened so fast Eb hadn’t been able to react, something that might have cost Maggie her life.
Men paused in their tracks, turning to look at each other, before racing toward Stockney, Hawke out in front.
Phoenix turned from where he’d paused in the doorway, his eyes wide. “Did you see that?” He started laughing and didn’t seem able to stop. “You’ve got yourself a hell of a woman there. Hell, I’m getting out of the way.”
Eb strode past him on his way to confront his wife, his heart pounding furiously. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hawke and Duke each holding Stockney up by an arm, the other man’s gun tucked safely into Hawke’s belt.
But Eb had eyes for no one but his wife.
With her hair flying out behind her, she approached him, raising her fist. “Listen, you sidewinder, I’ve got a few things to say to you.”
Eb stopped, nodding soberly, aware of the audience they’d attracted. “Looks like you’re a little upset.”
Standing next to him, Jeremiah coughed. “Uh, honey, did you see Stockney, or did you just run him over?”
Chuckles of relief and amusement came from all around them, stopping abruptly and turning to coughs when Maggie spun.
Several of the men held their hands up in surrender, a few even taking a step back.
Maggie snorted once and turned back to face him and his brother, her hands on her hips and glaring at them. “He got in my way. I have a few things to say to both of you.”
She looked so damned adorable with her hands on her hips, her hair loose and her lips pursed in a pout he could spend the rest of the day kissing.
Eb strode toward her, not about to be chewed out in front of his men and desperate to take his hot little wife. Not pausing when he reached her, he bent and lifted her over his shoulder in one movement and kept going.
Turning his head, he raised his voice. “Jeremiah and I are unavailable for the rest of the day.”
He caught Blade’s gaze on him, the grinning Indian raising his hand in salute as he passed.
“Yes, Boss. Good luck with that one.”
“Hell of a woman.”
Eb smiled at Phoenix’s words, which could barely be heard over the temper tantrum his wife threw while beating his back. A sharp slap on her ass shut her up long enough for him to be heard.
“They’re right, you know. You are a hell of a woman.” And he couldn’t wait to get inside her.
Maggie hit him again. “Then why do you keep stirring me up and walking out on me, you bastard?”
Walking beside them, Jeremiah ran a hand over her the backs of her thighs. “You’ve certainly got our attention now, darlin’. Why don’t we see what we can do about getting rid of some of this energy you got stored up?”
Maggie beat Eb’s back again. “I don’t want either one of you. I hate you.”
Eb’s cock was so hard, walking became almost painful. “We’ve got all day and all night to change your mind about that.”
Chapter Fourteen
Maggie bounced once on the bed and hurried to scramble off the other side. “You can’t just pick me up when you want to play with me and ignore me the rest of the time.”
Jeremiah turned from hanging his holster, pausing to scowl at her. “We never ignore you, darlin’. We love you.”
Not about to be appeased, Maggie paced restlessly, her gaze sliding with annoying regularity to where both men undressed. “You made me sit at the table naked. I can’t believe I did that. Why the hell did I do that?”
“Because we made you.”
“Because you wanted to.”
Eb and Jeremiah both answered at the same time, looking at each other with a shrug, and resumed undressing, tossing their clothes into the corner.
Tossing his shirt aside, Eb watched thoughtfully as she paced. “You’re going to tire yourself out before we even start. You stripped earlier because if you hadn’t, we would have stripped you and you knew it. We also would have paddled your ass again for disobeying us. You knew that, too. Didn’t you?”
Jeremiah stripped off his shirt, revealing a chest that never failed to make her hands itch to touch it.
“You also did it because you wanted to. You were soaking wet when we got here. Admit it, darlin’. You like it when we tease you.”
Furious that he was right, Maggie stomped her foot, turning away to hide her expression at the way the leather moved against her clit, the ball attached to it shifting in her bottom.
She stilled as a commotion in the yard below caught her attention.
She watched as several of the hands surrounded Stockney, who looked as though he could barely stand, and even from this distance she could see that his face was swollen, his shirt blood-stained.
“What are they doing to him?”
Eb joined her at the window, pulling her back against his now naked body, his arms going around her as he looked at the scene below over her shoulder.
“They’ll beat the hell out of him and send him on his way. It’s one of our laws around here now, honey. Thanks to you. Any man who hurts a woman will have the shit beaten out of him and run out of town.”
She tried not to react to his cock pressing against her back but couldn’t stop the flow of heat from coating the leather between her thighs.
Jeremiah came up beside her and lifted her chin, his eyes twinkling in amusement. “And if he comes back, he’ll be beaten and run out of town again.” Running a finger down her cheek, over her jaw, and down to her neck, he smiled. “Our women are our most precious possessions and must be protected at all costs. All the men feel the same. That’s how Desire will be run.”
Maggie knocked his hand away, gasping as he stepped closer and his cock touched her belly. “He didn’t hurt me, and I’m not a possession.”
Eb pressed his cock into the small of her back. “He wanted to hurt you, but you knocked him out. Mad at us, were you?”
Maggie swallowed heavily as Eb’s hand slid to her mound. “Still am. And I’m still not your possession.”
Jeremiah’s hand went back to her neck and down, teasing the curve of her breast, making her already pebbled nipples ache with the need to be touched.
“You’re about to see how wrong you are about that, darlin’. You’re about to be possessed in a way that’ll leave you in no doubt that you’re our most prized possession.”
Maggie opened her mouth to say something but forgot it when he placed a hand over her breast and bent to take her mouth with his. She could practically feel herself melting as Jeremiah deepened his kiss, the heat from his naked body warming her from the front and Eb’s warming her from behind.
Warm hands touched her everywhere, slow, long caresses that calmed her temper and excited her at the same time. Jeremiah’s lips brushed over hers and nipped gently between long, drugging kisses that sent her senses soaring.
Eb’s lips at the back of her neck set off a riot of tingles racing through her and moved on to her bare shoulders as her shirt somehow came loose. Over her shirt, his hands on her breasts cupped and caressed, his thumbs teasing her nipples.
She ached to feel the rough texture of his hands over her naked breasts and held her breath when his hands slid down her arms, taking her shirt with them. Naked from the waist up, she raised her hands to Jeremiah’s shoulders, moaning into his mouth when Eb’s hands covered her breasts from behind.
Jeremiah’s hands went to her wa
ist and within seconds, her skirt puddled at her feet, leaving her naked except for the leather strap between her legs. His lips left hers, trailing over her jaw.
“You’re a hell of a woman all right, and you’re all ours.”
Hands continued to move over her, and she reveled in the fact that she could tell them apart. Eb and Jeremiah each had their own rhythm, their own way of touching her, and somehow the combination of both of them doing it at the same time sent her soaring like nothing else.
Being the center of attention of two men would be incredible enough, but to have two men such as Eb and Jeremiah using their hands and lips on her as though not being able to get enough of her made her inhibitions fall away with a speed that should have alarmed her.
When Eb’s hands went to the fastening of the strap at her waist, she shuddered against Jeremiah, gripping his shoulders like a lifeline. The ball shifted inside her as Eb worked to undo the strap, sending chills chasing one after the other through her.
The fingers that moved lightly over her folds belonged to Jeremiah, his caress slightly different, more devious than Eb’s and no less thrilling.
Eb’s deliberate and firmer strokes to her nipples drove her insane as he finished loosening the strap. His hand dropped to her waist, holding her steady as he used the same deliberation to work the small metal ball from her bottom.
She shivered as he drew it out, her bottom hole forced to stretch as the ball widened before narrowing again. A whimper escaped as she came to her toes, her inner muscles still clenching as the feeling of possession lingered.
“Shh, that’s my girl.”
Jeremiah’s soft whisper warmed her neck as he bent over her, gathering her against him. Lifting his head, he stared down at her, reaching up to take her face in his hands. “Trust us, darlin’.”
Hearing the leather strap hitting the floor, Maggie trembled, a moan escaping when Eb ran his hands up and down her back and bottom.
“You’re going to do it now, aren’t you?”
