A Contract Bride's Triple Surprise (24 page)

She placed a hand on his bony shoulder. “Daniel, many women die in childbirth.”

“Not birthin’ someone with the Devil’s mark.”

“I’ve seen other people with a lip like yours. They weren’t from the devil, and neither are you. Sometimes babies are born with a club foot, or they’re blind, or something else. I don’t know why God makes people like that, but it happens.”

“I never heered of anyone like me,” he said to the floor.

“How many people have you seen, Daniel? There are more people in a square mile in New York City than in all Montana Territory. You’re a young man. Someday, you’ll travel and see all types of people. Trust me, you’re not the only one.”

“I don’t wanna go nowhere.”

She gently lifted his chin. He stared at her with a mix of hope and fear. “As long as I live on the MD Ranch, you can live here, too. That’s a promise.”

“Yer a girl. They don’t have a say.”

“You’re right. In law, they don’t have a say. But I’m the only wife on this ranch, and I will make sure all three MacDougal brothers tell you the same thing.”

“Why d’you wanna help me?”

She couldn’t tell him about all the children she’d desperately wanted to help but couldn’t. The babies who died in her arms, the beaten and abused ones with nothing to look forward to than more of the same. The beatings her father gave her were nothing in comparison. At least she had a warm house to live in, clothes, and food.

“It’s not so much me helping you as all of us helping each other. Mr. Ross said you’re going to help with all sorts of chores. Hope is just a baby. Someday, there’ll be more babies. They’ll need a strong older brother to guide them.” She patted his shoulder. “And I like your company. Tillie’s husband will be coming soon to take her home, and Auntie doesn’t say very much. It will be good to know you’re nearby to protect me and Hope.”

He sat up straight, swallowed, and stared her full in the face.

“I’ll protect you and your babies forever, Mrs. MacDougal.”

“Thank you, Daniel. I’ll clean up here. You go help Mr. Ross.”

After Daniel left, quietly shutting the door before jumping in the air and racing away, Amelia dropped her face in her hands. She’d come out here to marry Nevin and care for Hope. Now, she had a baby and a boy, as well as an elderly aunt, a husband, and two brothers-in-law, at least one of whom wanted to share her bed.

And a dirty kitchen. She rose to her feet. Having Daniel around was a blessing. He’d be the one collecting eggs from nasty chickens, milking the goats, and chopping kindling after Tilly left. He’d be company, as well. Knowing a boy was around, perhaps the MacDougal men wouldn’t be after her day and night. And now, she’d have a reason to tell herself “no” when her body wanted the same thing they did.

* * * *

“We can’t—Daniel might hear us!”

Ross looked down at his wife with the look that had stopped many two-legged varmints in their tracks. Amelia poked him in the stomach to emphasize her point. He caught her hand and shook his head. No boy of ten, asleep or not, was going to keep him from bedding his wife.

Gillis had told him to expect this reaction. When Prudence first arrived, he and Nevin had disappeared between supper and breakfast for most of the summer. At first, it was to let the newlyweds be together. All that billing and cooing had both him and Nev gagging. But Prue’s cries of release accompanied by Gillis’s bellows kept them away.

They lived in the bunkhouse that first winter. By the second year, they’d all grown used to each other well enough for Ross to share the upstairs with Nevin. It was far warmer than the bunkhouse since the kitchen heat rose up the stairs.

“We can, wife, and we will. Tonight and every night.”

He turned her around and began unbuttoning her dress, starting at the neck. The first inch looked so tasty that he nibbled it. She shivered.

“But you said I make noise. It might frighten him.”

Ross sighed. He turned her to face him. “First, the boy’s so tired from trying to prove his worth that he’ll sleep through anything. Second, he ate enough to knock out a family of coyotes for a week. Third,”—he caught her nipples with his knuckles—“I want my wife, and she wants me.”

“That’s three and four.”

“And fifth,” he continued past her frown, “we had a man-to-man talk.”

“You talked to a ten-year-old boy about our relations?”

Ross shook his head at her squawk. “He may be ten, but he’s not a child. His pa had women. They’d drink, not caring a small child lay a few feet away.” He rubbed his knuckles over his bristly chin. “I had to straighten the lad out on a few things.”

“What things?”

“I explained that a real man cared for his woman. He never hurt a woman or child. Anyone who did otherwise was lower than a snake’s belly.”

Her mouth dropped as realization hit. “Did the boy see them—”

“Yep. Both the beating and the other. A couple years ago, he started hiding in the bush when his pa brought a woman to whatever shack they lived in.”

“Some people are not fit to have a dog, much less a child,” she said with a sigh.

Ross tugged Amelia hands. She followed him over to the bed. The mattress dipped when he sat down. The ropes complained when he pulled her across his lap, reminding him it was time to tighten them. She leaned her head against his chest. Her hair pressed under his chin. He inhaled her fragrance. When he exhaled, most of the day’s tension flowed away with his breath. He wrapped his arm around her.

“I told the boy we do things different at this end of the valley. There’s not many good women to go around, so we have to share. He said he’s never seen a woman laugh as much as Beth. I told him she’s happy because she has three Elliott men to take care of her.”

“Did he think you meant more than protection?”

“He asked if all of us kiss you like they do Mrs. Elliott.”

She lifted her head to see his face. “And you said?”

He couldn’t help the smile. “We’re working on it.”

He returned to the buttons running down her back. He was getting better at undoing small dress buttons. When he threatened to yank them all off, she replied that she’d double the number of them if he did. He told himself it added to the anticipation. Now that he knew he could have her anytime she was willing, he wasn’t in as much of a rush.

“I told Daniel when you or Mrs. Elliott screams in the night, it’s because she’s really, really happy.”

With the buttons undone to her waist, he slid his hand against her flesh and around to her breast. He kneaded it, feeling it harden at his touch. Wanting more, he peeled off her bodice, pulling it down her arms until both breasts quivered in front of his nose. He sat back and looked at them. Full and rosy white, centered by big nipples. This time next year, would he watch his son sucking hard on them while his wife smiled down at their child?

He curled his tongue and drew her nipple into his mouth. She arched her back, pressing her breast into his face.

“Happy?” She panted the word. “Is that what you say when I explode?”

Ross swept her off her feet. He looked down at his woman. Her nostrils were wide, her pupils large. Her naked breasts rose and fell with each breath. He shook his head.

“No,” he whispered. “I say, ‘Mine!’”

Chapter Twenty-Two

A few days later, Amelia finished tidying up the kitchen for the night. Gillis and Daniel went to the bunkhouse. Everyone said they enjoyed her reading
Ivanhoe
, supposedly to Daniel, before bed. Everyone except Ross, who’d gone up to bed early again.

When she closed the book after “‘just one more,” Tillie and Auntie went to their room, talking softly in their own language. Nevin headed out somewhere to do something. Lately, he’d been looking at her in a way that made her tingle. It didn’t help that Ross had slept through the last few nights, not even giving her a fall-asleep cuddle.

She checked the water reservoir and kettle. Daniel had filled both, ready for the morning. She’d already sent a letter to a doctor in Virginia City. Doc Henley knew him well and thought he could help Daniel. The town doctor even added a note to Amelia’s letter explaining the problem in medical terms. Doc Henley said it should be a fairly simple procedure because there were no cleft palate issues. Daniel knew nothing about it. Luckily, the doctor had examined the boy some time ago when his father had hit him badly enough to require stitches.

She didn’t check the stove as she’d watched Auntie bank the fire. She’d have to force herself to do it as well as start the stove in the morning. Auntie and Tillie were going to dig sweet roots for a week or so, and she’d be the only woman at the ranch.

That meant she’d make all the meals. Over hot, crackling flames.

She leaned her forehead against the cool doorjamb.
You can do it
.
You
have
to do it
. It wasn’t as if the fire could escape the stove box. It wasn’t a fireplace, like at the house she’d rushed into. She looked at her hand, but the sun had finally faded into dusk, and her scars weren’t visible. The scars that no one saw, the ones inside, still hurt.

Stop complaining and go to bed!

A bed she’d lie in, frustrated with longing, while Ross snored beside her.

With the June sun hanging in the sky for so long, he tired himself out working. He went to sleep before her and was gone before she woke. Last night, Ross moved the beds apart so he wouldn’t disturb her. Was he ignoring her? The look in his eye when he saw her during the day showed he wanted her, but by night, he was too exhausted.

She desperately wanted some loving. She’d even bathed in the cold creek during the hot afternoon to be fresh. Was it fair for a woman to seduce her tired husband? Would he even wake enough to meet her needs?

Before she blew out the lamp in the kitchen, she crept upstairs to check. Halfway up, she heard snores. Deep ones. She dropped on the stair with a thump.

Her pussy tingled with need. Her breasts, already swollen in anticipation, throbbed. And her husband, dead to the world, snored away the night. The one to solve her problems was oblivious to her needs.

She heard the kitchen door open and quietly shut. Footsteps crossed to the far shelf. The coffee pot scraped on the stove. Her heart pounded. Her pussy swelled. She pressed her thighs together and bent forward, hugging her knees.

Ross wasn’t the only man who could help. He said he wanted her to bring Nevin to their bed. She was too shy to do it with Ross watching, but he was asleep. She knew Nevin wanted her. The looks he gave her, both hot and longing, made her eager for Ross’s touch.

No, she must be honest with herself. Nevin’s looks promised something different from what Ross gave her. And she wanted it. She wanted him. Not as a temporary replacement for Ross, but for himself.

She, Amelia Smathers MacDougal, wanted a second man in her bed. She wanted to wake in the morning sandwiched between them. To have them both turn to her in need. To meet her needs in return.

She wanted everything she saw in that book and more. More because there was no love shown with the people in the drawings, only bodily contact. She loved Ross as a husband and was learning to love Nevin. As his brother and as her lover.

Could she ask Nevin to join her tonight? Her pussy throbbed the answer. She pressed her hand against the wall and stood up. Five steps down to the kitchen, each one slow and steady. Another ten across the hall to the kitchen door.

Nevin, head bent over with the mug halfway to his lips, stared at her. Only his eyes moved. After flicking over her once, they zeroed in on her breasts. She pushed her shoulders back. Her breasts thrust out, her protruding nipples hard.

“Amelia,” he warned, his voice deep and hoarse. “Unless you’re here to ask me upstairs, you’d better get out of my sight.”

She stared at the bulge below his belt. He wanted her. And she wanted him.

She slowly lifted her hand, palm open toward him.

“Come to bed, Nevin.”

He put his mug on the table. It rattled, his fingers shaking as much as hers.

“I can hear Ross snoring like a pig again. Are you asking me because he’s not capable?” He crossed his arms and glared at her. She let her hand drop at the rejection.

“I am not going to rut with you then get thrown out of bed right after. I want you. God knows how much I want you.” He bit his lip. “But not like that. I’m not your man-whore.”

A hot flush rushed up from the burning place between her legs. Her pussy throbbed harder, masking her shame. Was the fact that Ross slept just an excuse? Could she admit she wanted what was so wrong, yet so right? She clasped her hands together and dropped her eyes.

“I was told that a proper woman tolerates relations with her husband in order to have children.” She waited, but he said nothing. “I…”

She raised her eyes to Nevin. She owed him this truth. A truth that she had to speak aloud.

“I very much enjoy my marriage bed. What we did in the meadow excited me. I liked it when you ordered me to undress and when I sucked your cock.”

Nevin’s inhale sounded like a hiss. His fingers bit into his arm muscles.