by Becca Van
“Yes. Harder. Fuck my pussy.”
Lacy had been shocked, but after she thought about it those words seemed to fit. The woman was almost purring like a cat and she had hair like a female feline, at least down there.
“Do you like my cock sliding in and out of your hot, wet, little pussy?” the man had gasped out as he continued to slide his member in and out of the maid.
“I love your cock.” She’d moaned and then arched up as the man had bent down and started sucking on her hard nipples.
Lacy wanted to stay and watch but since she hadn’t wanted to get caught she quietly backed out of the stables and ran back home. That was her first and only experience with a man and woman joining. She’d accidentally seen a stallion cover a mare but she’d quickly hurried away when she caught that stable hand watching her. There was no way she was hanging around and giving him the wrong idea.
“Are you all right, honey?”
Lacy came back to the present and looked up to find Will watching her. She hoped her face wasn’t as flushed as it felt but she suspected it was. She glanced away and nodded.
It was hard to keep the carnal thoughts out of her brain, especially since she was surrounded by four big, good-looking men.
She listened as they explained about the sheep and how it was time for the shearing to happen.
“What happens to the sheep once the wool is off?”
“We sell them for the meat,” Kent explained.
“All of them?”
“No, love,” Chet said. “We’ll keep some of the ewes to breed and some for the wool, but about half will be sold.”
“How many do you have?”
“Last count was five thousand,” Will replied.
“Wow. That’s a lot of sheep.” Lacy shifted in the saddle again. Her pussy was throbbing as if it had a heartbeat of its own and no matter how much she moved to relieve the ache, it wouldn’t stop. “So, how come you were chasing bushrangers?”
“We signed up years ago. The government sent us here when the goldfields became overcrowded and the violence started,” Walker explained.
“So you guys are the law?”
“Well, not exactly.” Kent nudged his horse closer to hers. “We help the law.”
“How do you find the time with the farm and all those sheep?”
“We have a lot of hands,” Will started to explain. “Most of them tried their hand at mining, but for some reason or another it didn’t work out, or they got sick of it. Anyway, we hired on ten men to keep the farm chores up while we’re out chasing the rangers.”
“How long have you been tracking criminals?”
“A long time,” Chet answered. “In fact, I’ve been thinking that since our contract runs out in a couple of months that we shouldn’t sign up again.”
“I agree,” Will said straight away.
Lacy caught him looking at her but then he shifted his gaze to Chet’s and he nodded.
“What about you, Kent?” Chet asked.
“Hell yes.”
“Walker?”
“Can’t happen to soon enough. I’m sick of chasing crooks. I want to spend all of my time here, as much as possible.”
Lacy was glad that the men wanted to concentrate on their farming. She hated the thought of them getting shot at or maybe even killed. The thought of one of them dying made her chest ache.
“Walker, Kent, tomorrow I want you both to start asking around about Lacy’s brother.” Chet glanced at her. “Do you have a photograph of him, love?”
“No, but I can draw a picture if you have the tools I need.”
“We do. We have paper and ink.”
“Okay.”
They stopped by a small stream, and when Will helped her off her horse she was sure he held her waist longer than necessary. Since it had been quite a while since she’d ridden, her legs felt weak and rubbery, and after Will let her go, and she took a step and stumbled.
“Whoa there, honey.” He moved fast and swept her up off of her feet.
Lacy inhaled his clean masculine scent, and the added aromas of leather and horse just seemed to make her want to smell him more. But it was the way he held her that went straight to her heart. She felt so small and womanly as he held her against his chest, but she also felt safe and secure, and wished she could stay in his or his friend’s arms for the rest of her life.
When that thought crossed her mind, she realised that she was beginning to care for all of them deeply and wondered how that was possible in so short a time.
“You okay, darlin’?” Walker asked as he came to stand beside them.
Lacy nodded. “Yes. It’s been a while since I’ve been on the back of a horse.”
“Why is that?” Chet asked as he stood in front of her and Will.
“My papa was sick and I needed to take care of him. Plus, they weren’t our horses and I couldn’t ride all the time.”
“Where are you from, sweetheart?” Kent asked.
“Arthurs Seat.”
“That’s to the southeast of the city, isn’t it?” Chet asked.
“Yes.”
“The McCrae Homestead?” Will questioned.
“Yes.” Lacy smiled at Will. “My papa worked for Mr. McCrae. Have you met him?”
“No.” Will eased her feet to the ground but held onto her arms until she nodded, letting him know she was steady on her feet. She missed the heat of his body and manly scent but she took a step away from temptation. “We’ve heard about him, though. I think he just sold his property.”
“Oh.” Lacy had thought she couldn’t stay in the cottage because of the new gardener the McCrae’s were going to hire. She hadn’t been told that the owners were going to sell up. She hadn’t expected them to sell, but she was only the daughter of the deceased gardener and suspected she was too low in the ranks to be told such things. She hadn’t even heard any rumours regarding the estate being up for sale and wondered why everything had been so hush-hush. But maybe since she’d spent so much time nursing her father and hadn’t had much time to venture out, she’d missed all the gossip.
“What’s wrong, love?” Chet cupped her face in his hands and tilted her head up so she met his eyes.
“I don’t know…What am I going to do?”
“About what, Lacy?” Will asked as he moved in behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“Everything,” she whispered and couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. She tried to blink them away as one fell from each eye and trickled down her cheeks, but the more she blinked the faster they fell.
And then Chet pulled her into him and she leaned against his masculine body. She cried for her papa, she cried for her missing brother, but in the end she realised most of all that she was crying for herself. She’d always been so optimistic, but this time everything just seemed to be crashing down on top of her and the weight was just too much to bear.
When her tears finally slowed and she became aware of the silence, she also became aware of how good it felt to be sandwiched between two big, handsome men. After taking a deep, steadying breath, she stood up straight and wiped the moisture from her face. She hoped her eyes weren’t too red from her crying, but since there was nothing she could do about it, she gave a mental shrug.
Chet leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead, eyes, and cheeks, and then lightly on the lips as if he was trying to offer her comfort. She sighed and her heavy lids fluttered open when he held onto her upper arms.
“There’s only one solution that I can think of.”
“What’s that?” Lacy asked and looked expectantly at Chet, hoping he would have the answer to all her problems. At this moment she would jump at any lifeline he gave her. She was willing to do practically anything to survive.
“We get married.”
Lacy opened her mouth to say what she didn’t know. She closed it again and stared at him in shock. Even though her heart was screaming at her to say yes, her head was telling her to be cautious. She’
d only known these men for twenty-four hours, if that, and if she accepted Chet’s marriage proposal, she would have to hide her attraction to his three friends. She didn’t think she could go through life watching Will, Kent, and Walker and never be able to hug them. She didn’t want to be the cause of interfering with their friendship if Chet ever found out she had feelings for them, too.
No! I can’t do that to them or myself. She shook her head.
“Lacy, what have you got to lose?” Will asked as he stepped away from her and started pacing. She didn’t understand why he seemed to be trying to advocate Chet’s suggestion since she wouldn’t be marrying him. That was if she agreed to his crazy notion.
He spun on his heels and strode back over to her, staring intently into her eyes. “We may never find your brother, sweetheart. For all we know he could be in another state or even…If the men in town or the goldfields find out that you are staying in our home and aren’t wed, your reputation will be shot. And that’s nothing to what the married women would say and do to you.”
“If you go into town for supplies, you would be shunned,” Kent said. “Do you want to be thought of as a loose woman?”
“You’d have all of our protection, darlin’,” Walker said as he moved to her side and clasped her hand in his. “You’d be safe with us.”
“But…” Lacy tugged her hand from Walker’s and began moving toward the horses. “I can’t. It wouldn’t be right.”
She didn’t hear Chet move, but as she grabbed her horse’s reins in preparation to mounting up, he snatched them from her, threw them to Will, grabbed her shoulders, and turned her to face him. “Why the hell not?”
Lacy nervously licked her lips and glanced over at Will, before shifting her gaze to Kent and Walker’s, before looking away. The tears welled again but this time she didn’t let them fall.
“What are you going to do, Lacy?” Will raised his eyebrow at her. “There is no work for women in these parts unless she ends up flat on her back. Is that what you want?”
“No. Craig might—”
“Be dead,” Kent said calmly.
“You don’t know that. How could you say that, let alone think it?” Lacy yelled, pulled out of his hold, and stumbled away. She glanced back over her shoulder and was relieved to see that none of them had followed her. She needed a few minutes to herself to try and get her confused thoughts into some semblance of order. But all she kept hearing was Kent’s statement regarding her brother and as much as she hated to admit it, he could be right.
She sank down to her knees, tilted her head, and looked up at the sky, before whispering, “Oh papa. What am I going to do?” In her mind’s eye, she could see him smiling at her as if he was standing right in front of her. She actually thought she felt the brush of his fingers against her face and then words he’d spoken often drifted through her mind. Always go with you heart and gut feelings, Lacy girl. More often than not those feelings are right, so promise me you won’t ever ignore them.
I promise, Papa.
Lacy wondered if somehow her papa was trying to talk to her from heaven and felt warm and loved, but she would never hear his quiet, deep voice, or feel his arms around her as he hugged her. She was alone with hardly any money and she had no idea whether her brother was even still alive.
Kent was right. The goldfields were a dangerous, wild place and although she felt in her heart that Craig was still alive, it could take months if not years to find him.
“How can I marry Chet if I’m attracted to all of them, Papa? It wouldn’t be right. I just don’t want to cause any dissension between them.”
“That will never happen, love.”
Chapter Five
Kent was glad he and his friends had followed Lacy to talk to her. When he heard her talking to her father and what she’d said, he wanted to shout with joy. He glanced at each of his mates and saw slow smiles forming on their mouths and felt his own response. He probably looked like a love-struck sap, but he didn’t give a shit.
When Chet said, “That will never happen, love” and Lacy fell to her side as she startled, he wanted to scoop her up in his arms and run to the nearest preacher with her.
Her mouth gaped open but then snapped closed again. Kent held his hand out to her, intending to help her up, but she ignored it and scrambled to her feet by herself. She frowned at him, then Walker and Will before glaring at Chet with her hands on her hips and her chin in the air, since she had to look up to meet Chet’s eyes.
“What are you talking about?”
Kent nearly groaned. Because of the way she was standing, her breasts were thrust out and he could see her nipples poking against the material. That had to mean she wasn’t wearing a corset and that made him wonder if she had anything on under those tight pants.
“You wouldn’t cause any dissension between us if you married me,” Chet explained.
“I wouldn’t?” Lacy asked, frowning with confusion.
Kent couldn’t resist being closer to her. He loved the light lilac scent that always seemed to permeate from her warm skin. He wished he could cuddle up with her and spend hour upon hour breathing her in, but first they had to explain what they wanted with her. She was an innocent and had no idea about the opposite sex.
What irked him the most, though, was if she did agree to be with all of them, they were going to have to hide their relationship from others. Lacy would be shunned and vilified if any of the local people found out about it. And that thought made him think of the farm hands. Would they need to be asked to leave?
They had picked good, loyal men, but there were a couple he didn’t know well enough to trust their private business with. But he was getting ahead of things.
“No, you wouldn’t,” Will said quietly.
“Why?”
Kent glanced at Chet and even though his friend’s expression was stoic, he wasn’t as calm as he tried to portray. His teeth were clenched, and when he looked down he saw that both of his hands were in tight fists. He wanted to tell Lacy what they wanted but Chet was the eldest and the one who would marry her if she agreed to be what they wanted.
“If you decided to agree to a marriage with me.” Chet paused and drew in a deep breath, then reached out and cupped her face in his hands.
Kent wondered if Chet was holding her so she couldn’t look away when he delivered his next words. He was glad of that because he wasn’t sure how she was going to react. For all he knew she could laugh in their faces, or decide to pack up and get the hell away from them. His chest ached over his heart and even though he was drawing air into his lungs it didn’t feel like he was breathing much at all. It took him a second to realise he was unsure and anxious about the outcome. From the look of his friends they weren’t too certain either.
“Well?” Lacy tried to move back but Walker moved in behind her so that she bumped into him. Her head turned slightly as if she was about to try to see who was behind her but Chet kept her from doing so.
“You would be a wife to all of us.”
Kent did hold his breath then and when he started seeing black spots in front of his eyes, he exhaled and gasped in another breath.
“What?” Lacy whispered and licked her lips before glancing at him and Will before he gaze settled back on Chet.
“Lacy, we are all very attracted to you,” Kent managed to get out in a raspy voice. “We all want a relationship with you.”
“You do?” This time her question was so quiet he had to strain to hear her.
“We do,” Chet replied.
“But…”
“But what?” Will moved closer until his arm was touching her shoulder.
Kent watched as Lacy licked her lips again and this time he couldn’t contain a groan of lust from escaping. He had imagined having those full lips wrapped around his cock as she sucked him off and each time she moistened them, his mind went right back into the gutter.
“How—” Lacy paused and frowned as if trying to gather her thoughts. “How is
that even possible?”
“You can’t marry all of us on paper, darlin’,” Walker said. “But what we do inside the walls of our own house is private and stays inside those walls.”
“I…don’t…I–I…”
“Take a deep breath, sweetheart.” Will took one of her hands in his and rubbed the back of it with his thumb.
Kent clasped her other hand and before he even thought about what he was going to say, or do, for that matter, he lifted her hand to his mouth and began to nibble on the tip of her fingers.
“Oh,” Lacy moaned as her eyes slid closed.
When she swayed forward, Kent nodded to Chet, hoping he would understand, but he should have known he would. They’d been friends for a lot of years.
Chet leaned down and forward and kissed Lacy on the lips. She mewled and tugged on her hand, so Kent let her go, wanting to see what she was going to do. When she stood up on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around Chet’s neck, and pressed her mouth harder against his, he wanted to shout with joy, but he refrained. He didn’t want to startle her and although she was willing to kiss Chet, she hadn’t said anything about wanting to be with the rest of them.
The kiss turned hot and wild and Kent felt a little envious of his friend. He, Walker, and Will hadn’t had the opportunity to taste her yet and although he wanted to shove Chet out of the way and kiss her more than anything, they needed to get her permission.
Chet released her lips before moving back, and Kent waited for Lacy to open her eyes. Her lids lifted and he saw the haze of passion over those beautiful orbs. She was panting and looked a little dazed.
“Do you want all of us to kiss you, Lacy?” Will asked as he cupped her face.
Lacy gulped and then she nodded. Will smiled at her and then he lifted her up into his arms. She clutched at Will’s shoulders but when her legs remained dangling down as if she didn’t know what to do with them, Will said, “Wrap your legs around me, honey.”
