by Reece Butler
“Yesterday.” She flipped her hand in the direction of the door. “Didn’t you see him?”
“Thanks to two horny husbands I’ve been barely past the front steps since we got home from the wedding. When could I have seen him?”
“When I drove up.” Marci still looked blank. “Whose truck did you think I was driving?”
“I haven’t been here long enough to pay attention to trucks. All I saw was my virgin sister, finally coming to visit her well-married little sister to pick her brain about how to have fun with two men.”
“Actually,” said Nikki, tracing a pattern in the oilcloth with her finger, “that’s not what you saw.”
She knew her face was red because her ears were burning. Marci took a moment to put two and two together.
“Oh. My. God. You had sex?”
Nikki, flushing even deeper, nodded silently.
“You finally did it!” Marci jumped up, squealing, and hugged Nikki. “How was it? With who? Eric?”
“Yes, with Eric, and yes, it was great.” Nikki had to smile at Marci’s enthusiasm.
“That is so…Wow! My big sister’s no longer a virgin!”
Nikki laughed, relieved her secret was out and Marci approved.
“We have to celebrate with something stronger than chamomile tea,” said Marci. She was so short she had to get up on her toes to peek out the kitchen window. “Good, they’re still in the barn doing something manly.”
She hurried to the far corner of the kitchen and dropped to her knees. She began removing boxes of instant food. They looked like they’d been stored there for years.
“You know you can’t have alcohol,” she warned.
“Trust me, this is far better.” Marci grimaced as she reached far into the cupboard. She had to twist herself sideways to get her shoulders in.
“My God, Marci. What have you got stashed in there?”
Chapter Twenty
“Aha!”
Nikki watched as Marci pulled a silver cookie tin from the back of the bottom cupboard. She pried the lid off and reached in.
“Dark chocolate!”
Nikki’s taste buds erupted. She started salivating like one of Pavlov’s dogs. It had been far too long since she’d had any chocolate. She refused to eat candy bars and there was nothing else but baker’s chocolate in the mercantile. The Tanners said they’d bring in anything the doctor wanted, but it would be too much of a temptation.
Marci removed one bar and replaced the tin far in the back. She put the camouflage boxes back in place, shut the door and proudly carried over the precious bar.
“Aggie gave me a whole box of these when we were alone. She said I’d need it if I was marrying a couple of Valley men.” Marci reverently unwrapped the bar.
“Was she right?”
“What do you think?” Marci giggled. “It’s only been two days since the wedding and I’m already into my stash!”
They silently savored the perfect treat for a few minutes.
“Will you be able to deliver my baby?” asked Marci suddenly.
Nikki curled her hands around her mug. She wanted coffee, but Marci wasn’t allowed caffeine because of her pregnancy.
“Is that a yes or no?” prodded Marci.
Nikki turned the mug to give herself time to think. But there was no way out of it. “That will depend on how far I can bend over.”
“Bend over?” Her eyes widened in horror. “I like learning about history, but I am not going to give birth on the floor!”
“Of course not. This has to do with me, not you.”
Marci knocked on the table, the way their mother would to get their attention. “Nikki Meshevski, you will tell me what this is all about. Now!”
Nikki dropped her head in her hands with a groan. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m a doctor, for God’s sake!”
“You’ll have to tell me what this is about before I can help you.”
“You can’t help me,” she muttered. “Nobody can. It’s too late.”
“You arrived here with Eric, so you can’t be upset that you had great sex, and plan to have more.”
“That’s not it.”
Nikki stared into her cup as if it held the secrets of the universe. Anything to keep from seeing her sister’s reaction.
“I didn’t plan to have sex yesterday. But we were alone, and both wild for each other. I was more aroused that I thought possible. Eric was under the influence of alcohol and adrenaline from fighting and, well, we didn’t use a condom.” She dragged her eyes to Marci. “After all those lectures I gave, there’s no excuse for my risky behavior.”
“You’re right,” agreed Marci, still grinning. “You should have known better. But when the right man comes along and sweeps you under him, sometimes you can’t think.”
“There’s more,” warned Nikki.
“Oooh, Matt as well? I thought he wasn’t back until the end of the week?”
“No!” blurted Nikki. “You think I’d jump into bed with two strangers?”
“I did.” She pushed out her bottom lip. “Because you pushed me into it.”
“From what I remember, you jumped Simon.”
“Yeah, I did.” Marci sat in her chair. A sappy smile erupted. “But he sure wasn’t protesting. Mind you, he had a cast from his toes all the way up. When I sat on him he couldn’t get away.” She toasted Nikki with her tea. “So, what’s the problem?” She took a sip.
“Eric doesn’t remember it.”
Pale liquid spurted across the table. Marci wiped her mouth, staring at Nikki. “He doesn’t remember taking your virginity?”
“Shh!” Nikki half lifted herself from her chair and peeked out the open door. The three men were standing by the barn, Eric with his back to her. I swear, what that man does to a pair of Wranglers… Relieved he hadn’t glanced over, and aroused from the thought of the coming night, she sat down again. “He didn’t take it. I shoved it at him.” She shifted on the chair. “But he doesn’t remember a thing.”
“What?” Marci narrowed her eyes. “Why not?”
“He got drunk for the first time in twenty years. He couldn’t remember anything that happened when he woke up the next day. Max said it’s the same this time.”
“Eric doesn’t know you had sex? Are you going to tell him?”
“Well, that’s where it gets complicated.” Nikki turned her mug around so the tractor faced her. “He found my thong in his pocket and demanded to know why.”
“So you told him the two of you had wild screaming monkey sex and you wanted more of the same?”
Nikki dropped her head in her hands rather than letting it thump on the table. What was this thing about screaming? How could someone just let loose like that and make so much noise. The neighbors would hear it, for goodness’s sake!
Marci sat back. She rested her hands on her belly. Nothing could be seen of the baby growing inside her, but that changed nothing. Nikki resisted doing the same. She was not going to be pregnant.
“Or was the sex just so-so, and you have to tell him he needs to try harder?”
“Oh, it was good,” admitted Nikki. “Better than good.”
“Way better than what I told you about Ted?”
“Oh, God, Nikki, of course!” She peeked between her fingers at her sister. “Ted was a narcissistic, controlling abuser who treated you like you were a blowup doll that did housework and took care of all those petty annoyances that keep a person’s life going.”
“Don’t hold yourself back to save my feelings about my dead husband.”
Nikki had been horrified when Marci told her about her first wedding night, back when Marci was eighteen. Ted had walked into the bedroom of her innocent sister, flipped up her nightgown, pressed her knees apart and, with no preparation, did his business. A few minutes later he walked away, leaving her silently sobbing. Marci had put up with him for too many years, keeping to a vow that had quickly become hollow.
But she’d come alive w
hen he died. Simon, and then Lance, had a lot to do with her new attitude. So had being cleared of Ted’s death when their house burned down, and receiving a hefty insurance payment for it, which she insisted go into the ranch. She refused to touch Ted’s life insurance. It had gone into a secret trust fund to help the town, administered by Sandra Gibson, Max’s mother.
One of the first things they’d done was hire old Doctor Dick Hudson part-time to give her some time off. If she really was pregnant, it would allow her time with her baby. Her baby! She groaned. If her hair was longer she would have pulled at it.
“Does anyone know about what you and Eric did?”
“Max and Brenda know Eric and I had sex. Brenda walked in right after, while Eric snored. She knows we didn’t use a condom. I’m not sure about Max, who came in later. But they won’t say anything unless I’m, well…”
“Pregnant. With Eric’s child.”
Nikki exhaled. “Yeah.”
“Didn’t Eric ask about protection?”
“After, when he realized what we’d done. I told him I was on the Pill.”
“But you’re not?”
“There was no need. And I thought I’d be sane and use protection.”
“Do you want children?” asked Marci calmly.
Nikki paused. She’d had to take a very good look at her life. Having experienced sex, and wanting more, she’d realized she could have a child. She finally let her jealousy about Marci out.
“I always said I didn’t. But when you said you were having a baby, I realized I wanted one just as much. The question is, do I want a child now, with Eric? Like me, he doesn’t want to marry, ever.”
“But Matt does. He loves children, and is determined to give his parents grandchildren. If you’re carrying a Frost baby, he’ll want regular access, and so will his parents. I haven’t met them, since they spent the winter down South in an RV. But everyone says they’re wonderful.”
“They have three parents?”
She groaned when Marci nodded. With Eric and Matt, that would be five against her. It could be six, or even eight against one if Marci and her husbands also pushed for marriage for the baby’s sake. Matt was busy on the ranch all day, and Eric was rarely there. Surely she could have her baby at home with her, with a full-time housekeeper nanny, of course.
“Do you love him?” asked Marci gently.
“What?” Nikki gaped. “I just met the man yesterday! He’s arrogant, demanding, commanding—”
“Like Lance and Keith?”
Nikki knew she was in for it when Marci got that certain look of superiority.
“Let me see if I can remember your words.” Marci tilted her head, tapping her lip as if she had to think hard. “You want to be man-handled, to fight and be shown who’s boss. You’re eager to get a red bottom and then a well-filled pussy. You’re going to talk back to Eric on purpose, forcing him to spank you. And when he does, you’ll fight and scream, loving every minute. And then he’ll—”
“Enough!”
“What? You don’t want me to remind you what you said about wanting to be spread-eagled, and then flipped over and taken doggie style, sister dear?”
“No, I don’t!”
“By the way,” said Marci with a smirk. “Lance insists that it’s called stallion-style, not doggie. So much more manly, don’t you think?”
Nikki growled at Marci for enjoying throwing her words back in her face. They’d been having a pillow fight at the time. She gave a quick glance around. There was a pillow on the seat beside her. Simon’s leg hadn’t fully healed yet, and he had to put it up as often as possible, so Marci kept a few here and there to encourage him.
Nikki grabbed it and leaped to her feet. Marci squealed, knowing what she was after, and jumped up a second later. Nikki got the big bed pillow, but Marci grabbed two from the chairs. Nikki hit her first, careful to aim at her back end for the baby’s sake.
“Take that!”
Marci attacked in a one-two motion. Nikki twisted, and the pillows brushed past.
“Ha!” she gloated. “Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me!” She wound up for another blow.
“That’s my job.”
Strong arms captured Nikki from behind, anchoring her arms against her front. She struggled, knowing it was Eric holding her. She stomped, but as he wore boots it did nothing but get him peeved. He wrapped one leg around hers to stop her kicking.
“Marci MacDougal!” Lance advanced on his new wife. “Put those pillows down.”
“No!” She wound up and walloped him. Lance grabbed the pillows, tossed them aside, then hauled her back tight against his front.
“If we didn’t have guests I’d take you upstairs and spank you right now,” he threatened.
“You’ve known me all your life and Nikki’s your sister-in-law,” replied Eric calmly. “That means we’re family. So don’t let us hold you back. This spitfire was already up to fifteen spanks before we got here. She’s earned a few more now.”
Simon’s laugh filled the old kitchen. “Dang, Eric,” he said with admiration. “You haven’t even been home twenty-four hours and you’ve been beat up, spent the night in jail, and already found yourself a woman?”
“I’m not his woman!” roared Nikki, struggling to escape.
“He said you slept in his bed last night and I saw you drive his truck today,” said Simon cheerfully. “Sounds like it to me.”
“I slept alone in his bed while he slept in jail!” The hot iron band of Eric’s left arm held her snug against his chest. His heart hammered behind her left shoulder. Hers replied with equal intensity. “And I only drove his truck because Sheriff Gibson won’t let him.”
Three faces stared at her with far too much humor. She expected Lance and Simon to gang up on her. But Marci should have supported her.
“Did you two have sex?” asked Lance.
“That’s none of your business!”
Eric rubbed his groin against her bottom. She gasped at the slam of arousal, then jammed her lips tight.
“What’s in the right pocket of my jeans, Nikki?” he demanded. He shifted her to the left. She braced to pull away.
“Don’t.”
The harsh order in her ear made her freeze. She felt his right hand by her hip. A moment later she was plastered in the center of him again.
“Recognize this, pet?”
A long-fingered hand dangled a scrap of red lace in front of her face. She refused to speak.
“Looks like the thong you wore yesterday. The one I pulled off before making you scream in that narrow bed at the Clinic.”
“I didn’t scream,” she informed him icily.
He bit her earlobe. “You will tonight.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Eric was in the driver’s seat, in more ways than one. He rested his left wrist on the steering wheel in his favorite position. The night was young, he was full of good food, and he had a sexy woman to bed. And to spank. He glanced sideways. Nikki stared out the passenger window.
Aggie, Keith, and Donny Adams and their four children had arrived right after the pillow fight. Eric would have spanked Nikki in front of the adults, just as Lance would Marci, but not with children around. That meant both women were off the hook, but just temporarily.
Marci had bolted, released by an indulgent Lance. He’d shrugged and said it was her honeymoon, after all. Eric had walked Nikki outside. He kept an arm over her shoulder, his hand loose around her neck.
Aggie had rushed to hug Marci while Donny hauled the children out of the truck. Keith had flicked his eyes over the two of them. The corners crinkled the merest fraction. When Eric gave a small nod of agreement, Keith’s mouth had turned up in a ghost of a smile.
Eric hadn’t been in the military, but he’d been responsible for a couple of villages full of people. Meeting the needs of those under your command was part of being in control. Eric had been Keith’s best man when Aggie vowed to obey him. The word had shocked her relatives, ma
king her mother and a couple of aunts sputter. They damn near fainted when she then turned to Donny and vowed to love, honor, and cherish him.
Later, he’d overheard Aggie telling them that she knew what she wanted. She thanked them for fighting to allow her the right to choose her own destiny. She then added they should be ashamed for putting her down because she wanted something different.
Keith and Donny had come up behind her, each wrapping an arm around her back. The aunts had shrunk back, but Keith calmly told them he and Donny would protect Aggie and any children they shared, unto death. Donny then asked if vowing to obey one person in return for knowing you and your family were safe was a problem.
Aggie’s Aunt Cordelia had looked Keith in the eye and said that she would have done the same thing as Aggie, if she’d been able to find a man she respected and trusted. But all she’d found were trumped-up boys demanding what they didn’t deserve. Then she’d informed Keith not to hold back in disciplining his new wife, as she was always a willful child. She’d patted Keith on the arm and strode away like a queen.
Aggie’s first child, a daughter, had Cordelia as a second name.
They’d had a good roughhouse with the boys, Travis and Riley, while the ravens looked on. It was like when they were kids. The women and girls congregated in the kitchen while the men and boys headed to the barn. Eric found out that Sam and Trey Elliott were close in age with Aggie’s sons, so were often over visiting. If Matt had his way, there’d be a half-dozen Frost children added to the mix in the next ten years.
That made Eric think of Nikki’s belly swelling with his child. His, not Matt’s. A part of him wished that their slipup resulted in a baby. Seeing how both Simon and Lance had changed with Marci in their lives, and a little one on the way, made him feel…empty. He pushed away the feeling. What he was feeling had more to do with losing everything he’d done in those villages than wanting a family of his own. That was for Matt.
After Donny and Simon had taken the boys riding, Keith had joined Lance in expressing approval of Eric hooking up with Nikki. Both men adored their wives and would move heaven and earth to make their women happy. The corollary to that was if Eric screwed things up with the doc, and their women became unhappy, they would take it out on his hide.
