by Becca Van
Lacy had a pretty good idea what he was about to do, too, and although she wanted to feel his mouth on her, down there, she was worried he wouldn’t like the way she tasted. But she pushed that thought aside since he seemed to like the way she smelled.
Her eyes slid closed when one of Chet’s fingers brushed over the hair on her mound and then she moaned when he opened her up further with his thumbs. She clenched and felt cream weep out and hoped he couldn’t see it. Lacy wasn’t sure if that was supposed to happen, but when Chet groaned and stroked a finger up through her folds she didn’t care.
And then Chet’s tongue pressed against a spot at the top of her slit, causing her to buck and moan.
“So passionate,” she heard Kent growl, but then she was blind and deaf to everything around her as Chet started licking her in earnest.
Lacy had never imagined such pleasure. The ache inside was so intense and yet it wasn’t painful. Fire was coursing through her veins and with each lick and lap from Chet’s tongue her muscles tautened.
She mewled when Walker began massaging her breasts again and groaned when he released them. But then she cried out as her nipples were enveloped in warm, wet heat. Her eyes snapped open and she felt them widen for an instant when she saw that Will and Kent were suckling on the tips as if they were babes seeking nourishment.
When she felt something pushing into her hole she shook as paradise beckoned. Her blood heated until she was sure she was burning from the inside out and she realised that Chet was penetrating her sex with a finger. It felt so good but nowhere near enough. When he slid the tip of it nearly all the way back out, she moaned her protestations, but then she groaned as he inched that finger back in.
Each advance and retreat of his finger got faster and deeper and each swipe of his tongue got firmer and quicker. She writhed and wriggled in their hold, seeking more but not sure what she was going to find.
Kent and Will spread her legs as wide as they could go and then they suckled so hard on her nipples it was almost painful, but that bit of pain sent her higher still. She felt like she was shooting up toward the stars and would explode apart once she got there.
Her pussy felt tighter, the walls growing closer together as if trying to keep Chet’s finger out but also trying to hold it in. She moaned when she felt him add another finger and gasped when he twisted them around inside of her.
She cried out and bucked when the tips of those fingers rubbed over a spot so sensitive inside of her she swore she saw stars.
And then she was screaming.
Rapture rained down on her in great undulating waves as her body shook and shuddered. Her pussy clamped down around those thick pleasure-giving fingers before releasing only to contract around them again and again. Euphoria was too weak a word to describe the rhapsody washing over her entire body.
Fluid spurted from her pussy as her small frame quaked and quivered, her belly jumping and her muscles trembling.
She gasped for breath but couldn’t fill her lungs. She blinked her eyes but couldn’t see anything but black pinpricks, and then the joy began to fade, her muscles still twitching and jerking, as the tension waned.
When she became aware of her surroundings once more she realised that Chet’s fingers were no longer moving inside of her and were in fact withdrawn. He was currently kissing the inside of her thighs while Kent and Will were caressing her legs, and Walker was rubbing her arms.
Her breathing slowed and she slightly opened her eyelids to peek at the men through her lashes. Chet must have been watching her because he met her gaze, smiled, and winked.
“That was just a taste of the pleasure we can give you, love. If you marry me, we will do anything and everything to protect and provide for you.”
Lacy was tempted to say yes then and there. She knew if anyone found out what she’d just let them do to her, she would be comprised, her reputation ruined, but she couldn’t seem to give a damn.
No one had seen them and even though she wanted to have a relationship with these four men, she couldn’t understand why they didn’t want a woman of their own. It wasn’t the done thing to share a wife, and she would be shunned by society if anyone ever found out. That was as if she agreed to what they wanted. But what bothered her the most was whether they had any feelings for her other than desire. If she did marry Chet and one of the others found a woman of their own to love, she would be devastated.
The pain piercing her chest nearly caused her to gasp at the thought of Kent, Will, or Walker with a woman of their own and that was the moment she realised the feelings she had for them was love. Of course she had come to care for them.
They had rescued her and were very protective of her, but that wasn’t the reason she loved all four of them. They were so different. Chet with his commanding, authoritative confidence. Will was almost as dominant as Chet, but seemed to have a bit more compassion. Kent was the caretaker of them, using his healing skills to make sure they were cared for. Will was the most light-hearted of the bunch, but he was also impatient, and he seemed to be more in tune to her feelings. How could she not have grown to love them so quickly?
* * * *
Chet kept glancing at Lacy as they rode back toward the house. She’d hardly said a word after he and his mates had made her come. He could tell by the frowns that crossed over her face that she was deep in thought, and though he wanted to ask her what she was thinking about, he let her have her privacy. For now.
As they came into the yard he looked about to make sure all the stockmen were working like they were supposed to be. His lead stockman Gary “Blue” Shay looked up from the sheep he was shearing and nodded his head before continuing. Chet looked at each man, making sure none of them were ogling Lacy and narrowed his gaze when he saw Carl “Curly” Brandon walking around the side of the horse stables.
He wondered what he was up to and hoped it wasn’t no good, but although he’d hired him and his mate Paul “Hitch” Goldstein, he didn’t trust either of them. He’d told Blue to keep an eye on the pair of them, but since they had so many sheep to shear and they were supposed to be gunner shearers, he’d hired them on.
Hitch came around from the other side of the stables and hitched his pants up. That was how he gotten his nickname according to Curly. He was skinny for a man and because he couldn’t find pants to fit him properly he was always hitching his pants up. A moment later Curly followed him, and when they looked over to him, his mates, and Lacy, they both froze in their tracks.
Chet narrowed his eyes and glared at them but since they weren’t even looking at him, because they were staring at Lacy, they didn’t notice his ire. He halted his horse and eased from the saddle and still they didn’t look at him.
“What are you looking at?” Will barked out his question and Chet was pleased to see they both started as if they weren’t aware he and his brothers were even there.
“Noffin’,” Curly said before spitting in the dirt to the side, but Chet could see he was still taking glances at Lacy.
“Get back to work. I’m not paying you to stand around staring at the scenery,” Chet said in a hard voice. Chet never took his eyes off of the two men as they walked back toward where the other men were shearing. Hitch never once looked back and had already downed a ewe in preparation of removing its fleece, but Curly kept looking back and perusing Lacy’s body as Kent lifted her from the horse. When he met Chet’s gaze he smiled, but that smile was more of a sneer. “Take her inside, Kent. Will, Walker, tend to the horses. I need a word with Blue.”
Kent clasped Lacy’s hand and guided her toward the house. When Chet gauged that they were far enough away so that he wouldn’t be heard, he spoke to his mates in a low voice so it wouldn’t carry to the working men. “Keep an eye on Curly. I don’t like the way he was looking at Lacy.”
“I saw,” Will snapped. “If he so much as puts a foot out of place I’ll beat the tar out of him and throw him off our land.”
“I’ll help you,” Walker said
in a hard voice.
“I’m going to make sure Blue keeps a watch on him and Hitch. I don’t trust either of them.”
“You could just fire them now,” Walker suggested.
“Not yet,” Will said. “We need them to help get the wool shorn. We could have more reprobates to track, too, and if that’s the case we’re going to have to leave again. I’ll go and report to the police after I take care of the horses and saddle a new mount.”
“Walker, you can go with him. While Will’s checking in you can start asking about for Lacy’s brother.”
Walker nodded and then glanced toward the house before meeting his eyes again. “You’re not going to explain things to Lacy until we get back, are you?”
Chet sighed. “I don’t want to scare her off.”
“You think it’s better to show her how we can love her more than one at a time?” Will asked.
“Yes, I do. Knowing how something is done rather than experiencing it could feed fear. However, none of us will be doing anything else to her until she agrees to marry me. I want to be her husband before any of us spill our seed inside of her. She could get pregnant the first time and if we can’t talk her into marriage and she does conceive I don’t want anyone speculating about her morals.”
“Damn! I didn’t even think about that.” Walker kicked a small stone with the toe of his boot. “Why can’t people mind their own damned business?”
“Most do,” Chet said. “But there are a few that take great delight in making other people as miserable as they are.”
“Ain’t that the truth?” Will sighed. “Do you think she’ll agree?”
Chet scrubbed a hand over his face and wished he could answer that question, but he really had no idea what Lacy had decided, if anything.
He just hoped he and his friends could convince her to say yes. She brought out feelings in him he’d never felt before and after seeing her passion earlier in the day all he wanted to do was bury himself in her silky hot depths. He had a feeling that if she rejected him and left, he would never want to touch or kiss another woman.
If she decided not to marry him he knew it would take a long time before he even wanted to be near the opposite sex. Hopefully she would come around and agree to marriage, but he wasn’t about to hold his breath.
He rubbed a hand over his chest and looked down when he saw Will and Walker watching him. He quickly lowered his hand and hoped they hadn’t figured out why he’d been doing that, but since they had been friends for so long and knew each other nearly as well as they knew themselves, he should have known better.
Will squeezed his shoulder. “She gets you right in the heart, don’t she?”
“She sure does,” Walker said before Chet figured out how he was going to answer. “We all have strong feelings for her already, and that’s because she’s as sweet as can be, and brings out the men in us.”
“Don’t let her fool you. She’s not as fragile as she looks,” Chet said in warning. He didn’t want his friends to get their hopes up too high only to have them crushed under her tiny boot.
“‘Course she’s not.” Will snorted. “She shot Tom Crow after all.”
Walker chuckled and turned to the horses. “See you when we get back. Maybe you can talk Lacy into cooking supper. I’m sure she doesn’t want to eat our burnt offerings.”
Will followed Walker, laughing along with him. Chet knew they were trying to blow off some of their tension. None of them had gotten any relief, after all.
Chet nodded to Blue when he released the sheep he’d been shearing, and when he came alongside they walked away so the men wouldn’t hear them talking.
“What’s up, boss?”
“I don’t like the way Curly was looking at Lacy. I want you and men you trust to watch them closely.”
“You planning to marry the little lady?” Blue asked.
If anyone other than Blue had asked him that question he would have decked him, but Blue was older than him by at least ten years and although his lead stockman stayed in the bunkhouse with the other hands, he was still a good friend. Plus, he been married before. The man had lost his wife and baby in childbirth and figured he knew more about women than he and his mates did.
“Yes, but convincing her to say yes isn’t going to be easy.”
“Oh, I don’t think it’ll be as hard as you imagine.” Blue nudged his hat up higher from his brow. “She looks at all of you the same way you all look at her.”
Chet swallowed nervously. He hadn’t known they’d been so obvious with their attraction, but maybe Blue was more observant because he’d been working for, and alongside, them for over five years.
“You all planning on…marrying her?”
Chet looked away and stared at the horizon. He wasn’t sure how to answer that without Blue thinking less of him and his mates as well as Lacy.
“I’m not judging you, the others, or the lady,” Blue said. “I don’t give no never mind on how others live as long as everyone is agreeable and no one gets hurt.”
Chet nodded, sighing with relief that his stockman and friend wasn’t going to adjudicate in regards to what they wanted.
“You ever shared a woman before?”
Chet shook his head and then changed it to a nod. He and Will had shared a whore between them and so had Kent and Walker.
“Good,” Blue said, surprising him. “At least you know what to do without hurting her. Before my brother was gunned down by a robber holding up a bank years ago, and before I met my wife, he and I often shared a woman between us. That little widow was one passionate woman. We even asked her to marry us but after having a husband that beat on her, she just wasn’t interested in tying herself to another man, or men. Her words, not mine. Probably a good thing she refused because we were a lot younger than she was and were infatuated with her because of the lust. Didn’t know what love was until I met my Betsy.”
“You ever think about finding love again?”
“Nope. No one can ever replace my wife. She was the light in my life.” Blue shifted on his feet. “Most of the women in these parts are simpering fools. But not your little filly. She has passion and gumption, that one. You’d be fools to let her go.”
“We don’t intend for that to happen.” Chet rubbed his chin. “You ever hear about a Craig Tanner around here?”
“Tanner. Now, why is that name familiar? Why are you looking?”
“Lacy is. He’s her brother.”
“I’ll try to remember where I’ve heard that name before. If it comes to me, I’ll let you know.”
“Appreciate it.”
Blue waved as he turned back to the sheep. He was halfway across the yard before he stopped and spun back around. “I know you didn’t have much choice in hiring Curly and Hitch, but I don’t trust either of them as far as I could kick ‘em. Don’t you worry none, though. Me and the boys will keep a watch over them.”
“Thanks, Blue.”
Blue nodded and headed back to work. Chet strode quickly toward the house. He couldn’t wait to see Lacy again. She made him want everything. Marriage, kids, and love. He’d never had the love of a woman, not even from the one that brought him into the world. He just wished that she felt as half as much as he did for her, but he wasn’t about to tell her how he felt until he was sure she would reciprocate those feelings.
That last thing a man wanted to do was to set himself up to look the fool. And he’d never been a foolish man. He wasn’t about to start acting like one either.
Chapter Seven
Lacy let Kent lead her into the kitchen. As he pumped water into the pot to boil water, she rummaged around in the pantry-type cupboard so she could start the dinner preparations.
“What ya doing, honey?”
“I thought I should start on supper.”
“Good idea. Let me show you the cellar.”
“You have a cellar?”
“Course we do, and we also have a smokehouse out behind the stables.”
&
nbsp; “Oh, wow.”
“Remind me to show you.”
“Okay. I would love to see that. I’ve never seen one before.”
Kent smiled and winked at her. “Not much to see, but I guess you’d be curious if you haven’t seen one.” He shifted her aside, and to her surprise there was a small door just behind the door to the pantry on the inside. “You need to be careful coming down here. The steps are really narrow and there’s no light.”
Just before she could ask him how they were supposed to see, she saw sparks and heard a scrape. Light illuminated the air around them and he picked up the kerosene lantern he’d lit, picked it up off of the hook on the wall, and reached back for her hand.
When they got to the bottom, Lacy was amazed at the size of their underground cellar and even more surprised by the full jars of food. She wondered if they’d canned all this themselves, but suspected they had either hired someone to do it for them or bought it all.
“What do you want to eat?” Lacy asked as she looked about.
“Whatever you want is fine with us, honey.”
“You don’t have any preferences?”
“As long as it’s not burnt, no.”
Lacy giggled and then set about gathering ingredients for a shepherd’s pie with vegetables on the side. Kent helped her bring everything back to the kitchen and she started preparing the food.
* * * *
Will and Walker tethered their mounts to the hitching post outside the police office. Will hoped they would be able to get some news on Lacy’s brother, but he had a feeling things weren’t going to work out the way they wanted them to. There was a huge knot of dread sitting in his gut and no matter how hard he tried to get rid of it, it wouldn’t budge. He glanced over at Walker and saw he was just as tense as he felt.
“I really don’t want to go in there,” Walker said as he stopped on the top step.
“Me either.”
“Do you think he’s still alive?”
