by Vanessa Vale
I looked down at my fearful bride, tried to soften my voice. “There is much to tell you, and now’s not the time with such an audience. But those four men, they were hurting, killing innocent people. I stopped them. As for you, you never have to fear me. Never. Isn’t that right, Miss Rose?”
I kept my eyes on Mary, not wanting her to think I was hiding anything. I held my breath, for I knew how my past continued to return to the fore and be a nuisance. To tear Mary away from me because of it was something else entirely.
Miss Rose nodded. “That’s right, doll. If Sullivan’s your husband, you’ll never have to worry about your father again. About anyone. You’re safe with him. Right, Judge?”
Mary wouldn’t have to worry about her father any longer because the man would be too afraid of me to do her harm. If someone dared hurt her, it was our job, our privilege, to make her happy.
The judge shut his mouth, which had been hanging open, and nodded. “That’s right. Mr. Sullivan knows how to protect you.”
Mary bit her lip, debated. Her face was so expressive. While I could see no fear in her pale gaze, she was confused and nervous. Both of those things could be resolved soon enough. She just had to accept my word. To accept me, just as I was. I was a patient man, but it was hard to wait for Mary’s decision. Only when the ceremony was complete and we had her alone would she discover how devoted we were.
Taking a deep breath, Mary nodded. “All right.”
Fuck, I was relieved. To have been rejected by the woman whom I’d promised to protect would have been crushing. She believed in me, enough to marry me. I couldn’t help but grin. I released her arm and stroked my knuckles down her cheek once again.
“Good girl,” I murmured, and she smiled, her cheeks turning pink at the praise.
The judge began the ceremony, spoke the words quickly he knew by rote. This would be a very short ceremony. The judge wanted it done. I wanted it done. I was sure Parker had been nervous there for a bit as well. Surely he wanted Mary as ours as soon as possible, too.
She was so beautiful, so self-assured, standing beside me. She accepted her fate, accepted that this was what was best for her, that we were the best for her. I was so proud of her, so in awe of her strength.
When the vows were said, I leaned in and kissed her, chastely and quickly, but not before feeling the softness of her lips or hearing the little gasp that escaped. Mary had closed her eyes and when she opened them, they were blurred with newfound passion. It was a heady moment, knowing I’d made her look that way. I could only imagine how she’d look when I really kissed her.
“Thank you, Judge.” Miss Rose patted the man on the arm in a placating gesture. He seemed relieved it was over and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his sweaty brow. “Please tell Elise that your drinks tonight are my treat.”
The man didn’t linger, but fled the kitchen at a pace that belied his size.
Miss Rose smiled. “Congratulations, Mary. You may not believe me, but you have a fine husband. Two fine husbands. All men from Bridgewater are honorable. Loyal. Loving.”
Mary nodded, but had no basis to offer a response. Besides, she looked a little overwhelmed. The deal was done. It was legal. She belonged now to me. And Parker.
“Go up those stairs, the second room on the left.” Miss Rose pointed upward. “I think, gentlemen, that you will find it suitable for tonight.”
Miss Rose took Mary’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze of reassurance, before following in the judge’s wake, dragging Chloe along with her, who winked just before the door shut behind her.
“Alone with our bride in a Butte brothel,” I said, the corner of my mouth tipping up.
Parker laughed, took Mary’s hand. I was sure he felt as relieved as I, knowing she was ours. Officially, legally, permanently. “Whatever shall we do?”
CHAPTER FOUR
MARY
Every visit to The Briar Rose I’d been stunned, amused, even awed by what I’d witnessed, but now, I was a little afraid. I’d felt separate from it all, in a separate room, hiding and watching. A voyeur. From what Chloe said, I was someone who liked to observe others in very compromising situations. It was arousing. Sometimes not. But when a couple did things together that were intriguing, I found my skin heating, my nipples tightening and my pussy getting wet. I dreamed about it. Longed for it for myself. But that had all been fantasy.
Now… now I had two husbands who were eyeing me with an eagerness I recognized. For the first time, that desire was directed squarely at me. Watching was one thing, but doing… I was afraid of what they thought of my curiosity and would find me either lacking or a slattern.
Perhaps both, for I’d brought these men to a brothel! It had been my first thought, the first place that I knew neither my father nor Mr. Benson would consider looking for us. My father never knew I had been to the establishment for the auxiliary and would never imagine me going voluntarily. I had not considered the ramifications of my quick decision—obviously, since I was now married and had two eager husbands wanting to consummate the marriage.
I refused to look them in the eye, afraid I would see shame on their faces.
“Mr. Sullivan—”
With a finger, he tilted my chin up so I was forced to meet his dark eyes, the heat I saw in them a surprise. He was so handsome. So tall, his hair dark and unruly and I was eager to run my fingers through it.
“Since I’m your husband, I think you can call me Sully.”
“Sully,” I repeated.
“No more Mr. Corbin either. I’m Parker, to you.” His voice was gentle, tender even.
“What you two must think of me.” I felt my cheeks heat.
Parker frowned. “Think of you?”
I wrung my hands and tried to look away, but Sully would have none of it. I was forced to keep his gaze as I admitted my failings.
My heart pounded, my original brashness having fled. “We’re going to spend our wedding night in a brothel!”
“You just discovered I killed four people. I have to wonder what you think of me,” Sully admitted, letting me go.
I looked at him. Really looked. While he was stunningly handsome, he was also very big and physically strong. I had no defense if he wished me harm. On the train—had that only been a few hours earlier?—he’d been quiet, yet solicitous. He’d been gentle as he’d guided me to the dining car, attentive in conversation and watchful for any harm that might befall me. I’d felt safe with him. Discovering he’d killed men while defending the weak hadn’t been as surprising as I’d expected. If someone had intended harm upon my person while we were traveling, I had no doubt Sully would have defended me at whatever measure necessary. For him to mete final justice to those deserving was part of his character.
“Miss Rose thinks highly of you. I trust her judgement,” I replied.
His dark brow lifted. “Her judgement is enough?”
“We barely know each other and I have to rely on friends to help guide me. You have Parker. I’m sure that you have bigger faults than protecting those in danger.”
His dark eyebrows rose even further in surprise.
I clasped my hands together, wrung them. “My father. He’s a churchgoer, a millionaire, business owner. A pillar of the community. He was going to marry me to Mr. Benson in exchange for some arrangement with their mines. Then there’s Mr. Benson. He came here.” I pointed at the floor to indicate the brothel. “He… hurt a girl using a whip. A whip! And did other things. Things I knew he would want with me. Or, or he’d do nothing with me. Just get me with child—a boy, of course—then ignore me. If I didn’t give him a boy, I would always worry I’d die like his former wives. So being with someone who’s killed isn’t the problem, but the motivation behind it.”
“So you chose the only alternative available?” Parker asked.
I narrowed my eyes. “I only asked for temporary assistance from you. You two were the ones who disagreed with that. Sully’s the one who said he’d marry me. An
d now, now you say I’m married to you as well.”
Parker grinned. “That’s right. The judge may have legally bound you to Sully, but my vow from before stands. I’m yours as much as you’re mine.”
Sully nodded. “You are the one for us.”
I frowned. “I don’t know how you can be so adamant.”
Parker put his hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him. “Sometimes you just know.” He put his hand to his chest. “Here.”
I understood what he meant, for my heart had leapt at my first sight of Parker when he’d stood to relieve the porter of my bag. He’d made my palms damp and I’d been instantly nervous. Then I saw Sully and I’d practically swallowed my tongue. That both men would have so much interest in me for the entire journey into Butte had been surprising and confusing, but I’d reveled in it. Once I’d calmed myself. What woman wouldn’t swoon at the idea of two men’s focused attentions?
I’d never been so attracted to a man, to two men, ever. Seeing men and the whores come together at the brothel had aroused me, but none had made me jealous of one of my friends. I knew I wanted to do those things with someone… I just didn’t know who. Until now.
“But… but both of you? How does a marriage with two men work?”
Parker came forward and pulled me into his arms. His body was hard with muscle and I could feel the beating of his heart beneath my palm. Steady and consistent, perhaps quite a bit like the man himself.
“It’s the Bridgewater way. We met a few of the men from there in the army and they all followed the custom of sharing a bride. If something befalls one of us, sweetheart, you’ll still be safe, protected by the other. You’re the center of our world now.”
Parker relinquished his hold to Sully and he hugged me next. The feel of him was different. They were both tall, both well-built and solid with muscle, but Parker’s hold was gentler, while in Sully’s arms I felt sheltered. They smelled differently and distinctly. I liked the way both of them held me. I was glad I didn’t have to choose one, didn’t have to live my life without knowing both of them.
I could only nod in agreement, for I didn’t completely grasp this arrangement and my feelings on it. It was so overwhelming, so confusing. So… insane!
“As for the rest, while you are a virgin, you are not completely innocent,” Sully said.
I stiffened in his hold.
“You wondered what we thought of you for bringing us to a brothel?” Parker asked.
“The things I said to my father—”
“Like being on top while fucking or being taken from behind?” Sully added. “We haven’t forgotten.”
I bit my lip and rubbed my cheek against Sully’s chest as Parker grinned. Grinned!
“I had to say something.”
“It was a wise choice. Coming here was a wise choice. We’re safe and we can spend our wedding night taking care of you, not worrying about your father or Benson. I’d prefer not to sleep with my gun tonight. It’s the perfect place to make you ours.”
I stiffened in Sully’s hold. “Now?” I squeaked.
Parker stepped behind me, moved in close so that I felt his body heat, but not close enough to touch. His hands hovered over my arms and I anticipated his hold, held my breath for it. I was eager to feel Sully on one side of me and Parker on the other.
“Tonight, yes,” Parker replied, murmuring in my ear. A chill ran down my spine at the hot feel of it on my neck. “But we aren’t brutes. We’ll take you only when you are ready.”
“But… but what if I’m not ready?” I whispered, gripping onto the fabric of Sully’s shirt.
Sully tilted my chin back and leaned down for a kiss.
“It’s our job to make you that way,” he murmured, an inch from my mouth.
My eyes fell closed at the second kiss of my life. It was as gentle as the one sealing our marriage ceremony, but this was… more. His lips brushed over mine, nibbling and tasting from corner to corner, then his tongue flicked over my bottom lip. I gasped and he took advantage and dipped his tongue inside.
Sully’s hands cupped my jaw and he angled my head so he could kiss me as he wanted. Slow didn’t mean any less pleasurable, for I felt as if he were learning me, discovering what I liked, what made me make small sounds in the back of my throat.
Parker’s hands finally touched me, sliding up and down my arms, then to my waist. With him pressed against me, I felt every hard inch of his broad chest, felt the press of his cock against my back.
I was glad for his hold about my waist for surely I would have melted to the floor.
“My turn.” Parker’s words broke through my foggy brain and before I could do more than gasp, I was spun about and Parker’s mouth was on mine. Oh, he was a good kisser. Completely different than Sully, but just as arousing. When his tongue plundered my mouth, I tasted peppermint.
Parker growled; I felt the rumbling of it against my palms. When did I put my hands on his chest?
With one last nibble on my bottom lip, Parker lifted his head and stepped back. My eyes fluttered open and I swayed, missing their touch, the feel of them. Their scents swirled together and teased me. They teased me and now I wanted more, just as they said I would. If they kissed like that, I wasn’t quite as skeptical about the idea of having two husbands. If this was how they could make me feel by just simple kisses… I could only imagine what they could do with our clothes off.
“You’ll be ready,” Sully said, his voice deeper than normal. He was not unaffected either, for he adjusted himself and I couldn’t miss the thick outline of his cock against his trousers.
“Um… I see.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say, for I believed him to be right. My thoughts were muddled, my body warm and loose, my nipples hard and aching. I wanted them already, my fingers itching to touch them, to learn every hard inch of them.
Parker came around in front of me so they stood side by side. Of similar size, one was fair while the other dark. They were both thickly built, with muscles that couldn’t be missed beneath their clothing. So appealing, so handsome and so mine.
“Chloe seems an amiable friend,” Parker commented. “What did she teach you?”
I frowned. “Teach me?”
“You visited here several times?” Sully asked.
I nodded.
“Did she take you upstairs?” Parker added.
I licked my lips. “Yes.”
“Did she kiss you like Sully did? Undress you? Touch you?”
I gasped at the appalling question. “What?” I shook my head. “No, of course not. That’s—”
“Not for you?” Sully replied.
“I… I didn’t know. I mean, I never thought…”
“You’re not interested in making love to another woman then.”
My eyes widened at Parker’s words. “I’m a virgin,” I said, tilting my chin up. I didn’t want them to question that.
Sully smiled. “That’s good, sweetheart, but you can find pleasure without losing your maidenhead. And with a woman.”
I thought of everything I witnessed through the secret peepholes and it had never been two women together. The thought had never occurred to me.
“Oh,” I replied, gnawing on my lip. “You’re wondering what I learned from watching, besides my crude vocabulary.”
Parker reached out and pulled the pin from my hat, removed it from my head. Reaching behind him, he absently placed it on the table beside a bowl of cabbage.
“You watched people fuck?” he asked.
My cheeks flamed and I lifted my hands to them. That word… fuck, was used by Chloe and everyone at The Briar Rose in such a nonchalant way that I’d become immune. But when Parker used it in a question directed at me, I was instantly embarrassed.
My lack of response was answer enough. Both men glanced about.
“You couldn’t have gone out into the main rooms,” Parker said.
“Of course not,” I sputtered. Besides being unseemly, my virtue would have been in tat
ters and news of my presence spread through town like wildfire. It was acceptable for a man—even a married one—to seek out a woman for a night of passion, but the same could not be said for a woman interested in the attentions of a man. Especially the Millard heiress.
“Where did you watch?” Sully asked, his voice deeper than I’d heard before. Commanding.
Compelled to respond, I pointed to the wall where a hideous painting of a bowl of fruit hung off kilter.
Sully skirted the table and lifted the artwork from the wall to reveal a small hole. Bending down—it was created for much shorter interlopers—he put his eye up to it. I could only imagine what he was seeing in the parlor. After a minute, he stood and moved out of the way, letting Parker take a peek. He groaned at whatever was happening.
He turned from the hole and looked down at me, grinning wickedly. “You were curious about what you saw? Enough to come back more than once. Admit it, sweetheart. There is no shame.”
“Yes.” I could lie, but it would be pointless.
“Are you curious enough to try the things you saw, now that you’re married?”
I turned away, paced across the room, saw that the cabbage was boiling too heavily and adjusted the flame beneath.
“Mary,” Parker prompted, my delay obvious.
I stood and spun to them, my nerves getting the best of me. “I don’t know how to answer. Either way and you’ll think less of me.”
Sully came around the table, pushing one of the chairs in as he went. “How so?”
I lifted my hands, let them fall. “If I tell you I’m curious, that I liked what I saw, then you’ll think me a loose woman. If I tell you I don’t like any of it, you’ll think me frigid.”
Sully closed the remaining distance between us and pulled me in for another hug. I felt his chin rest on top of my head, felt his deep breath. I had no idea such an intense man would be one to coddle. It felt good to be held, to be offered reassurance and comfort from the simple gesture.
“You are not frigid,” he replied. “You’re spirited and fiery and that kiss… it didn’t feel cold to me.”
