by Azod, Shara
Would they follow her? Although the thought sent a thrill racing down her spine, her logical side doubted it. It was stupid to even contemplate it really. They were two virile, scrumptious, and sinfully rich men. The thing with her had probably been a lark; something to amuse them. Why the hell would either of them want their overweight secretary beyond anything more than an amusing conquest?
Sue Ellen had seen the looks not only from women in the office, but clients and wives of clients. Most of the women she had seen come on to her bosses -- former bosses -- were simply stunning, with tall willowy bodies and innate confidence, not to mention large bank accounts that allowed them to move in the same circles. Sue Ellen had nothing to offer them.
She had no idea why they had chosen to play with her like they had. It was cruel, and she had never before seen cruelty in their actions. Maybe they had been hiding it from her all this time. Maybe they were dark, evil men who got off on other peoples pain. Besides seducing her to stay on at the firm; that was the only thing she could think of to explain the past weekend.
Or maybe they had wanted to build her confidence enough to get her to want to stick it out in New York. That would make more sense in a way, right?
Or maybe you are a silly, scared fool.
Tears she had been holding back traced down her cheeks as she stared out at the bleak winter scenery. Luckily, there weren’t many passengers on the bus she had finally talked herself into getting on. She had the back seat all to herself, a perfect time and place to let the pain she had been ruthlessly suppressing spill out and wash through her.
Why? Why had they done this to her? She just didn’t understand it. There had never been any indication either Royce or Blaine was into her before now.
Yes, there had. The time you were sick and Blaine called four times a day demanding to know what you were taking and if you had anyone to care for you. She had lied then, deeply ashamed she didn’t have so much of a close girlfriend to come over to ask how she was. She had thought it nice her boss had taken an interest in her welfare, but at the same time, convinced he was more concerned about when she would be back to work.
And the time Royce stared down Lianna when she tried to push of others’ work on you? At the time, she had thought Royce was merely being selfish, unwilling to share his dedicated little busy bee worker. He hadn’t said much, but then Royce never did, but he had stared the old bat down, refusing to allow her to place more of the workload on Sue Ellen.
Now that she thought about it, there had been countless little things they had done, things she had brushed off or explained away. Like the way they held out her chair for her, or the way they took her coat when she first got to the office, or the time they had presented her with a brand new state of the art Blackberry but had never once called her after hours with demands or instructions. She had received a massive bouquet of flowers on her birthday, her only present. They always sent a car for her so she wouldn’t have to take the subway. Thoughts ran through her mind in a jumble, increasing her confusion. Did they really like her? Desire her? Was it a game? And if they did really want her, why? What did she have to offer either of them? And what was it with the women in her family and the two guy thing anyway? Did her family suffer from some weird psychological disorder that made them crave two men at the same time? And what the hell was up with the men? Was there something in the water in Europe?
By the time the bus pulled into the Tallahassee station, Sue Ellen was left with more questions than answers. She had either left a really bad situation before it became disastrous, or she had made the worse mistake of her life. Her body ached with longing. It seemed her newly awakened libido decided she was making a mistake, but what about her heart? It had taken a Herculean feat not to let Royce and Blaine’s smooth words convince her to let down her guard. So why did she feel as though her heart had been pierced whenever she told herself she had done the right thing to run? They couldn’t care for her; it was just too outlandish to be true. She had to crush the urge to run back to New York, back to her too-sexy-for-their-own-good bosses. Thoroughly confused and feeling defeated, Sue Ellen called her cousin to pick her up.
Chapter 8
A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous. ~ Ingrid Bergman
“Royce Hamilton is what?!” Charity cast surreptitious glances into the family den where her cousin stared listless out of the window.
The closer it got to Christmas, the more despondent Sue Ellen became, sometimes spending all day in bed without eating or drinking a thing. It had taken Charity no less than an hour to coax her cousin out of bed today, claiming she needed her help for last minute Christmas preparations. On the Christmas Eve, there wasn’t a hell of a lot to be done; Cassian and Ashton had hired a cook when she announced her pregnancy. All the presents where wrapped and under the tree. Other than Sue Ellen, there wouldn’t be anyone else over. Yet, Sue Ellen had fallen for it, crawling out of her bed and showering for Charity’s sake.
The truth was, Royce and Blaine Hamilton would be here at some point today to collect their woman. Apparently, Royce knew Cassian and Ashton from Eton and had vouched for him. Still, Charity had demanded to talk to them herself as to their intentions toward her cousin. While what they had told her boiled her blood, it didn’t really surprise her.
Sue Ellen really did had a hard time believing in herself, so it would only make sense she had an equally hard time believing someone would be into her just for her. Sue Ellen had been a chubby child, and all too often their aunts and uncles would make derogatory comments about her weight or her looks in general. Sue Ellen didn’t realize all the baby fat that had been the bane of her existence as a child had developed into the kind of voluptuousness women paid good money to achieve. While she was sweet and kind, Sue Ellen was no push over. She was smart a whip and was quick to stand up for anyone. Anyone except herself, that was.
By the end of the conversation, Charity had become a more than willing accomplice to help the Hamilton men win her cousin’s heart. It was more than apparent Sue Ellen had fallen for them; she just needed a little push in the right direction.
“He’s an Earl,” Cassian whispered back. “You know, like Ashton?”
“I know what an Earl is nerd,” Charity punched her husband playfully. “I just don’t understand how he could be and his brother is an American.”
“They’re not brothers, not even related. They simply share the same last name. It amuses them to let people think they’re brothers, and Blaine’s father, more or less, follows his son’s lead.”
“Incompetent old fool,” Charity muttered. From what Sue Ellen had told her, the elder Hamilton had run his company in the ground. If it hadn’t been for his inherited billions, he would have lost his shirt long ago. It was a damn good thing Blaine had gotten his business acumen from his grandfather. His father was an idiot.
“Precisely,” Cassian agreed. “Can you imagine what it must have been like for Blaine to have been raised by a man with the intelligence of a five year old? He and Royce have been inseparable since college, having come from similar backgrounds. Royce’s father was equally, er, challenged in the mental department.”
“Is that why they share, like you and Ashton?” her husbands had explained their need to share, but Charity hadn’t really understood. It didn’t really matter much, as long as their love flourished.
“I haven’t the foggiest,” Cassian responded drily. “I wouldn’t dream to ask. What matters is that your cousin is happy and well loved, right? It will be up to her to understand what drives them.” Cassian know his and Ashton’s own wife didn’t really understand the bond between her two heterosexual husbands, but accepted it full heartedly. “Or not,” he added with a smile.
“Well, they better take care of her,” Charity declared firmly. “Or they will have me to deal with!”
*****
Blaine felt as if his stomach was tied in knots. He had wanted to come down here as soon
as Sue Ellen had disappeared, but Royce’s argument that she needed this had swayed him. They had come on rather strong, but damn it, he had been desperate! For Sue Ellen to leave never know how they felt about her was unacceptable. Maybe now that she had time to run things over in her mind she would give them a chance.
“Do you think she will give us a chance this time?” he asked Royce for what had to be the hundredth time since they left New York.
“All we can do is try,” Royce’s reply didn’t sound encouraging.
“Maybe we should have called.”
Why the hell was the drive from the airport to wherever the heck this Miccosukee place was taking so long? Maybe they should have rented a car and asked for directions. Surely they could have gotten there faster.
“Fretting won’t get us there any sooner,” Royce commented drily, raising an aristocratic brow at Blaine’s obvious agitation. “Nor will it persuade Ellie to marry us.”
“Marry you,” Blaine muttered.
Royce sighed heavily. Blaine knew he was being an ass, but he couldn’t help himself. It had been his idea after all to have Sue Ellen official marry Royce. Originally, the plan had been for Blaine to marry her, but if the vicious gossip surrounding her disappearance from the office was any indication, the she would need the power Royce’s title afforded her. Becoming a Countess would give her cache in New York society circles. Blaine was the first to admit, his fellow countrymen were funny like that. Give a person a title and suddenly they could do no wrong, perhaps because it was such a foreign concept.
It didn’t stop him from being a little bitter. He didn’t begrudge Sue Ellen the extra security, nor his friend the joy of being legally married to her, but he had always thought he would be the one to slip the ring on her finger. It didn’t matter as much as having her love, of course, but he would be lying to himself if he didn’t admit he was sad that it wouldn’t be his name beside hers on the marriage certificate.
“I know how you feel,” Royce’s deep voice broke through Blaine’s meandering thoughts. “I felt the same way once upon a time.”
“Yeah, I guess you did,” Blaine had never considered how their original plans might have made Royce feel.
They both loved Sue Ellen, of course Royce had felt just a little jealous that it had been Blaine who they had originally believed would marry her.
Of course, all of their planning would come to naught if she wouldn’t have them. Thank the Fates Sue Ellen’s cousin just happened to be married to not one but two men they knew well. It was nothing short of miraculous that Sue Ellen had already been exposed to a successful ménage relationship. It wouldn’t seem so incredibly unbelievable to her now. Hopefully anyway.
“I just hope we don’t fuck this up,” Blaine relaxed as best he could against the leather seats of the limousine.
Royce couldn’t agree more. “We just have to make sure we don’t.
*****
What was she going to do with the rest of her life? Sue Ellen knew she couldn’t stay here at Charity’s very long. Not that Cassian and Ashton weren’t nice enough guys. The problem was they were just too perfect. Watching the way they acted with her very pregnant cousin made Sue Ellen’s heart yearn for things that could never be hers. They reminded her way too much of Blaine and Royce.
Not that Blaine and Royce was anything like Charity’s husbands. Where Cassian and Ashton were sweet and deferential to their wife, Royce and Blaine had been far more forceful. Kind of raw alpha types. Sue Ellen might have envied Charity’s happiness, but she preferred to be excited by the Dynamic Disastrous Duo’s dominant sensuality than completely pampered and romanced. Not that her one passion filled weekend hadn’t had a little pampering and romancing. It had, but it had only enhanced the raw, feverish passion that was Royce and Blaine Hamilton.
You have completely lost your mind, Sue Ellen Coleman.
She had been here for a week and half and heard nothing from her weekend lovers. She guessed they weren’t that interested after all. A little piece of her died every day that she heard nothing. Not that she had made it easy. Her Blackberry had remained off since leaving the city. She would have to ship it back, but just having it made her feel a little bit closer to both men. Stupid as it may be, she had lost a little of herself to each man.
Sometimes at night she could swear she heard the deep burr of Royce’s accent when he was all hot and bothered; either from passion or from anger, his burr was sonorous and alluring, sluicing over her body with its deep, dark heat. It would be followed by Blaine’s sardonic wit, only his intonation was always irreverent, a perfect complement to Royce’s seriousness. When she opened her eyes and realized she was alone, she cried.
When it came right down to the bones of the matter, Sue Ellen still had no idea why Blaine and Royce seduced her. It confused her as much as it scared her. Now she was lonely and throbbing, needing what she had too brief a taste of, terrified she would never feel so fulfilled again. How could she?
No, being here with the happy threesome was not helping. It reminded her of what she lost, if she ever really had it.
She should have stayed in New York. She should have given it time to see if they had been serious or not, to see if it would have lead to anything. Instead she ran like a frightened child. Now she would never know.
“Ellie!” Charity bellowed from somewhere in the mausoleum she called a house. “You have visitors!”
Oh, that was just great. At her lowest point, the last thing she needed where nosy family members demanding to know why she had come home from New York. They would never let her live it down that she couldn’t cut it in the big city.
“I, uh, I am not feeling well!” she shouted back, jumping up from the sofa she was comfortably pouting on and looking for an escape route.
The back door! She could go around to the side of the house and sneak through Cassian’s study, tip toe up the stairs and hide out in her room for a year or so.
As soon as her hand touched the doorknob a familiar voice stopped her cold.
“Yer nae gonnae try tae sneak it oan us ur ye, Ellie?”
Don’t turn around! her heart screamed. Royce is not really there.
“And after we came all this way to find you.”
Oh, Lord, that couldn’t be Blaine!
Tears welled, burning her vision as she tried to suck in air. Her hand trembled on the knob. She should turn it and run before she made a complete fool out of herself. She had wished herself into hallucinating!
But what if she wasn’t? What if this time, when she turned around Royce and Blaine would really be here? Did she want to piss that chance away?
No, no she didn’t. She wanted to be with them, she wanted to see them. Turning slowly, she nearly choked on her tears to see both men standing by the doorway. They had come for her! They wouldn’t have tracked her down just to bring her back to her job. They must care somewhat or they wouldn’t be here on Christmas Eve instead of with their family.
Unless they felt guilty or where scared you file sexual harassment charges and sue them.
Oh, fuck that! She was through with doubt.
“Come haur loove an' gie us a kiss awrite.”
She had no idea what Royce just said, but when she flew into his arms, he held her tight, kissing her all over her face.
“Hey, don’t forget about me!” Blaine pouted, pulling her from Royce into his arms.
“You came,” the tears just wouldn’t stop flowing. They were really here! “You came for me!”
“Of course we did, baby,” Blaine murmured against her hair as he held her tight. “What would Christmas be without our woman with us?
Chapter 9
Life contains but two tragedies.
One is not to get your heart's desire; the other is to get it. ~ Socrates
When love is not madness, it is not love. ~ Pedro Calderon de la Barca
Sue Ellen couldn’t quite believe it. She had to pinch herself a couple of times this morning, and the visi
on before her had yet to clear or fade. That was her in the full length mirror wearing a fantasy of a pure white wedding gown with a sash of Royce’s family tartan across her chest.
“You look gorgeous, Ellie,” Charity whispered in awe.
“How did y’all manage to get all this done without me knowing?” Sue Ellen asked her cousin.
It was still so hard to believe, but tonight on Christmas night she was going to become Mrs. Sue Ellen Hamilton. There would be two ceremonies; one with the preacher between Royce and herself, and as soon as they got rid of the preacher another with her, Royce and Blaine. Charity had planned it all with detailed instructions from Royce and Blaine.
When they had asked her last night to marry them like this, she had thought she was dreaming, or this was a really bad joke. But then, where had doubt gotten her so far? The only time she really found happiness was when she took a giant leap, and she was going to take that leap right now.
“It wasn’t like you were paying attention,” Charity scoffed. “The easy part was getting your sizes and measurements, the hard part was getting a seamstress to make all the alterations to this damn dress in three days!”
Blaine and Royce had sent the dress to Charity telling her to make sure it was perfect. Sue Ellen had been leery of the way the silk and satin material hugged her every curve, but she had to admit she looked damned good.
“Now,” Charity lectured turning Sue Ellen to face her. “I don’t want you to worry about whether or not you are doing the right thing. I made sure I interrogated your young men, and they are very much in love with you.”
“You did what?”
“Don’t cut me off. It’s rude,” Charity waved away her cousin’s shocked objection. “I want you to know if either of them every hurt, you can depend on me to kick their collective asses, you hear me? And make sure no matter where you are, you let me know you’re okay and happy. Oh! And don’t let them boss you around. Men have a terrible habit of doing that, Can’t let them get away with it.”
