by Lynn Stark
“So why is she here?”
“She closed her eyes and threw a dart at a map of the States. It hit closest to Silver, so here she is.”
“No one does that.”
“Well, most people wouldn’t. But I’ve gathered from talking to her that she’s something of a free spirit and wanted a fresh start.” His expression closed up a little. “That’s all I can share. Anything else you want to know, you will have to ask her about yourselves.”
Knowing Colt as well as they did, they knew there was no point in questioning him further. When they were about to thank him, the door burst open and two balls of femininity came rushing into the room. The dragon came in huffing and puffing, glaring at the two newest intruders with furious eyes. They hid behind the tall, black leather executive chair he was seated in.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Redford. I told them you had someone in here with you.”
“Calm yourself, Miss Jersey. Bliss and Clarissa are more than welcome in here no matter who is in here with me. You just need to remember that.”
The woman’s chest heaved beneath her gray suit jacket and prim white blouse. Color was spreading across her face at an alarming rate. “I don’t know why you bother to pay me to keep people from bothering you, Mr. Redford. I really don’t.”
“I pay you to know which people to keep out, Miss Jersey. My friends, and certain others,” he said as he drew the two small women around to him, “are welcome to come in at any time they wish. I’m never too busy for them. Learn the difference. You may go.”
The woman went, the door closing with a decisive snap.
Roarke stared at the two beautiful women now vying for Colt’s attention. They were so beautiful it almost hurt to look at them. Tiny, with light-auburn hair and gray eyes, they could have been sisters. They could have been twins. But there was no blood connection between them. In fact, they had been born and raised on opposite sides of the country, though both were from very wealthy families. One other thing they had in common was their great love for Colt. They were his subs, but there was no mistaking that they felt something more than the usual temporary relationship between a Dom and his subs would offer.
He and Gray had commented on it before, wondering if Colt was aware of the feelings the women had developed toward him.
“You two are rotten,” he was telling them. Bliss was seated across his lap while Clarissa leaned into his side. He had a hand on both of them, gently stroking. Did Colt realize he was in love with the pair? Roarke didn’t think so. “What am I to do with you?”
Slender fingers stroked over the powerful body beneath the charcoal gray suit. “Do you want the short list or the long list?” Bliss asked, her small hand sliding beneath the lapel of his jacket so she could caress the hard muscle beneath the crisp white shirt.
She looked up at him with all the adoration a lover could ever show another. The man couldn’t possibly be blind to it, Roarke thought. Then, again, maybe he was. He’d never known Colt to let his emotions become deeply entangled with another’s. Now he had two women who thought he was perfect.
Colt laughed, smiling down at her. “Incorrigible. You’re both brats. I believe I have a suitable punishment for the two of you.”
“On that note,” Roarke said, grinning. He tugged on Gray’s hand. The man was as fascinated by the two beauties as he was. “We better leave.”
As they walked toward the door, Colt advised, “If you are planning to take Marley as your third, I suggest you tread lightly. Marley isn’t going to be a pushover. She’s going through a lot right now.”
They left with the cryptic advice ringing in their ears. As Gray closed the heavy office door behind them they heard giggles. What he wouldn’t give to see what was going to take place in Colt’s office. Maybe the man would take his naughty subs to the club that night to play out a scene with them. The thought had him hard again. Damn!
The dragon killed it as soon as he turned to look at her. Now that he knew how effective it was, he would use her the next time he had an inconvenient erection.
“Have a good day, Ms. Jersey,” he told her politely as he all but ran out the door after Gray. Once they were back out on the sidewalk they stood looking at one another. “So, what should we do next?” When the other man gave him a blank look, he said, “You’re the trained investigator. Problem solving is your specialty. We’ll put you in charge.”
“You only want me in charge so if I screw it up I can’t blame it on you.”
Roarke grinned and shrugged. “It works for me. So, what do we do next?”
“I say we go for a walk this evening. Take a bottle of wine and visit Colt at the mansion.”
Oh, the man was cunning. But Roarke still had to point out the very obvious flaw in his lover’s plan. “We live here. We’d know Colt doesn’t live at the mansion. You really don’t believe we’ll get away with it, do you?”
Gray grinned in return. “No, but it’ll get us in the door.”
“You’re a genius.”
“I know.”
“But not modest.”
“Nope. Come on. Let’s go get that bottle of wine.”
Chapter Two
When Marley had gone to Colt to mildly complain that the house she had rented wasn’t suitable, she hadn’t expected to be given, rent-free, the use of the town’s largest house. Well, it was actually a mansion in every sense of the word.
Mrs. Reed, the housekeeper, had taken her on a tour which seemed to take up the better part of the afternoon as she was given a history of each room. She was very impressed that actual presidents had slept in three of the bedrooms and slept in the very beds she went over to touch. There was history in the whole house.
Overall it was a very interesting place and she would enjoy her stay there. Still, it was so very large, whereas the rental had been too small. She’d had to take all the extra furniture out of the living room so the dogs had enough room to stretch out.
Laughing, she looked over at the reason for the move. The pair of harlequin Great Danes were sprawled over an antique oriental rug. The thing was so big, covering much of the floor of a room measuring probably thirty by forty feet, that they appeared rather small in comparison.
Colt had promised to look into the availability of a couple of properties. Marley had looked at a few, but none of them had interested her. She wanted something with personality, something which would appeal to her inner spirit. And it had to be inside Silver. Though she thought the mountains, forests, and wild meadows around the town to be incredibly beautiful, she had no desire to live on her own away from other people. Those places would be good to go for a day of adventure and fun. She was an experienced hiker and skier. She also enjoyed camping and horseback riding. But those were things she only enjoyed for a day or two at a time, maybe even three. But she always wanted to come back to people. She loved them. She was a people person and depended upon the contact, the social interaction, to keep her grounded.
When Barney sighed, Marley looked down at him. “What’s wrong, big guy? You want to go for a walk?”
They rose with the speed and agility of greyhounds, bounding around and woofing. She flinched as they came perilously close to a delicate little table with an even more delicate-looking vase perched on it. Her heart stopped as panic set in.
“Sit.” Both sat and she breathed a sigh of relief. “Heel.”
They moved to her left side and sat, waiting for her to lead off. Relieved she had saved what was a priceless piece of art, Marley took them to the door. She slipped on her shoes even as the housekeeper appeared to open the door for her.
“Going for a walk, Miss Jacobson?”
“Yes. They’re as bored as I am. I’ll have to get a book to read when I come back.”
“Mr. Redford’s personal library is upstairs beside his bedroom. Feel free to go in and look for a book. He has quite the selection.”
“I’ll do that. But what’s wrong with the books in the library?”
The housekeeper rolled her ey
es and grinned. “Those books were boring when they were printed. Many are on agriculture, mining, and shipping of the time. The rest, well, they cover politics, religion, and war.”
“Ah, the big three for as long as people have been around.” Marley smiled and shook her head. “I’ll be sure to look over Mr. Redford’s collection when I get back.”
“Have a good walk, Ms. Jacobson,” the older woman said, quietly closing the massive door behind her as she and the dogs walked down the wide sidewalk to the wrought iron gate.
Marley pushed the gate open, the dogs walking quietly at her side. They looked around with interest, but neither made any attempt to wander or stop to investigate anything. The old section of Silver wasn’t very far away. About ten blocks. The Redford mansion and grounds took up a lot of that space. They were halfway to the town’s square when they reached the end of the manicured lawn surrounded by the tall fence and neatly trimmed hedges.
As she looked back over the Queen Anne style, redbrick house with its ornate white trim, and the grounds now glowing softly in what was left of the evening’s light, she thought how glad she was that she wasn’t the one who had to take care of the lawn and gardens, and, especially, the house.
Turning back toward her destination, she watched as the streetlights came on along the sidewalks, illuminating while giving a whole new charm to the old section. Walking along, she thought about the crazy, impetuous way she had chosen her new home. One dart, one map, and one prayer were all it had taken to end up in Silver. She winced inwardly as she recalled her mother’s nearly hysterical screeching when she had told her she was leaving. The woman had been furious that she was leaving California and, more importantly, her behind. She hadn’t told her mother where she was going.
But once Marley’s sister Callie had died there was no reason to stay. When the cancer had finally taken her sister, after three years of remission, she knew there was nothing to keep her there any longer. She certainly had no feelings for her mother, nothing which could be called positive, anyway. She had tried. Really she had. For years she had tried to make a relationship between them work. Not so much for herself, but because it was so important to her little sister. She had even forgiven her mother for being such a terrible parent. Now she had moved on. Doreen would just have to learn how to take care of herself, which meant she was going to have to get a job. Marley had been supporting all three of them for years. And as long as her mother had control of Callie as a juvenile, there was nothing Marley could do to oppose her. How many times had Doreen threatened to keep her away from her sister if she didn’t behave as a good daughter should? Too many to count, she thought grimly, remembering the endless emotional blackmail her mother was so skilled at using.
Even though the dogs had only been to the park once, they knew what a large expanse of open area meant for them.
“Go play,” Marley told them, going to sit on one of the benches.
She should have brought one of their tug ropes. Even though the thing was as big as her arm, one of the dogs would have happily carried it. The pair ran off, romping around, acting like total goofs. She sighed. She just couldn’t get away from thinking about Callie. Not that she wanted to, but it seemed everything reminded her of her sister. She had given Barney to Callie for her sixteenth birthday because she had loved Martha, Marley’s own dog so much. Her sister and the puppy had bonded instantly. When she had gone into the hospital, Barney, having finished his training as a therapy dog and assistance dog, had been allowed to visit her and other patients. It had done everyone there a world of good. The children had especially loved the huge dog, marveling at how tall he stood when he was still considered a baby.
When Callie was home Barney would help her out with different tasks. He would turn the lights on and off, open and close the door, and a multitude of other tasks as time went on and he gained knowledge. But, most importantly, he gave Callie something to love and to hold on to when Marley couldn’t be there with her.
Looking out toward the snowcapped mountains in the distance Marley thought of how much her sister would have loved this place. They should have left California behind long ago. She should have fought for legal custody. Knowing she probably could have gotten it made her feel guilt, and not for the first time.
A slobber-covered pinecone being dropped in her lap brought Marley out of her troubled thoughts. She smiled as Barney looked at her, then down at the pinecone, then back up at her. He was so pleased with his find. He woofed once, which was more like a muted roar, then pushed at the pinecone with his nose. Picking it up, she admired it, praised him, and then threw it as far as she could. The dog bounded off after it, pleased she had gotten the message. Martha was stretched out on the cool grass, barking and poking at Barney as he ran around her, teasing her with the pinecone by setting it down then picking it back up.
“Nice dogs,” a deep, rich masculine voice told her.
Marley turned her head, then looked up, then up some more. There were two men standing there. She recognized both from earlier in the day, before she went to see Colt about a change in residences.
“Thanks.”
The taller of the two men had silvery blond hair, likely due to a little premature graying, though he couldn’t have been more than thirty-two. It was still a full head of hair, which he kept neatly trimmed. He was probably around six foot four or five, with broad shoulders stretching out a dark T-shirt. The shirt showcased the hard, sculptured muscles beneath. Her gaze dropped over the flat stomach to the narrow hips and powerful thighs lovingly encased in worn denim. She tried not to stare at the impressive size of the package he had tucked away in there. Yeah, he was hot.
His friend, the dark-haired, scrumptiously delicious fallen angel, was equally hot. Her gaze flickered over him, wishing her pussy would calm itself down. His hidden male flesh was also doing its part to tempt her.
She wasn’t ready to jump into a relationship. Even if these two men weren’t gay she wasn’t looking for a man just then. She needed to get a lot of things straightened out first. She had a lot of baggage and didn’t need to share it with anyone.
Her gaze went to the bottle the taller man was holding in his hand. “Going to share?”
“Sure.” The dark-haired man produced a package of plastic cups. She smiled. “I’m Roarke O’Malley and this is my partner Grayson Evans.” She reached out to shake hands with each man, pointedly ignoring the heat running up her arm, down her right side, across her pelvis, to strike like lightning between her legs. Damn! That had been unexpected. “And you are?”
She smiled, hoping neither noticed how she trembled for a brief instant. “Marley Jacobson. You guys aren’t stalking me, are you? I saw you earlier as I was window shopping.”
Both men smiled and shook their heads, but couldn’t quite meet her eyes. Okaaay. That was a little weird. They were gay, weren’t they? Marley was puzzled, but decided to ignore it. She had good instincts about people and wasn’t getting any weird feelings where the two men were concerned. At least they weren’t the bad kind of feelings, as if she were in danger. She was a little puzzled by how she was reacting to them, but put it down to the fact that she hadn’t had sex in more than a year.
Barney and Martha had come over to see the newcomers. They were close, curious, but not encroaching or making a nuisance of themselves. She took the plastic cup with the wine in it. It had a fruity scent but wasn’t overly sweet as she tasted it.
“May we?” Marley nodded and both men reached out to pet a dog. The two goobers soaked it up like sponges, long tails wagging. She smiled as Barney leaned against Grayson as he scratched over the dog’s shoulder and ribs. Even as large as the man was he took a step back before recovering and bracing his powerful legs against Barney’s weight. Martha, being a lady, merely sat down in front of Roarke and allowed him to stroke her heavy ears. Neither dog had their ears cropped and enjoyed having the velvety flaps rubbed by gentle hands. “You’re great with them. Do you have a dog?”
&
nbsp; Grayson nodded. “Two. One’s a black Lab and the other is an English bulldog. I’m afraid we won’t be very popular when we get home.”
Marley laughed. “These two always go nuts when they smell a new dog on me. Are you guys gay?” she asked before she could stop herself. Hell, it came out before she could even think it. Her cheeks burned as the two men looked at her for a moment. “I’m sorry,” she said in a rush, her voice thin. “That is absolutely none of my business.”
She was grateful the nearest lamp light probably didn’t throw enough light on her so they could see the depth of her embarrassment. Geez, when had she lost the safety on her mouth? She took another sip of wine, but a longer one this time.
Roarke laughed. “No problem. Not many hide themselves in Silver. There’s no reason to. Actually, we’re both bisexual.” His hand went up to settle on Grayson’s shoulder. “We’ve known each other forever.” As he tipped his face up to look at the other man Grayson smiled and leaned down to kiss him. Marley thought it wonderful. When she had seen them earlier she had thought they made a great couple. Even from a distance she could see the love between the two men. “We’re looking for a third.”
“A third what? A man?” Why was she disappointed instead of shocked? She only knew couples, whether straight or gay. Two. A pair. She had seen the different kinds of family groups in Silver since her arrival, but she hadn’t been able to question anyone about them.
“If that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but actually the only men we’ve been with is each other. We’re looking for a female partner to marry. We both love women. We want a wife and children.”
Okay, so since the topic was hanging out there in the open, Marley would ask. “I’ve seen a lot of different things since I got here. Is it normal for children to call more than one man daddy? Or for them to have one mother and four fathers? I see people running around in clusters. Those big vans pull into a parking lot and you have a dozen or more people getting out, half of them adults.”
