Denys, Jennifer - Wife for Three [Duoterra] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (14 page)

Jennifer Denys

and seated on a chair to the right of the judge, not far from him. He smiled at her, and his heart lurched when she gave him an answering smile. It wasn’t much of a smile. He could tell how anxious she was.

A hand caught his attention from the back of the room. It was Curt. Eric was glad he had made it but couldn’t see any sign of Adam and guessed Curt had given up his search. The look on Curt’s face as he made his way over to where Eric was sitting confirmed his suspicions. It was not good. His brother looked pained and haggard.

Eric suspected he looked the same.

Judge Wright started speaking, and it took a few moments for everyone to be quiet. “People. We have before us a most intriguing case. I have been given these two documents that I have in front of me. Both are marriage contracts taken out by the lady in question with different parties.” He stopped for a moment to check his notes, peering through his glasses—an implement that was fairly rare those days having no trained opticians on their planet. “Brianna Thorpe—

yes, that’s your name, isn’t it, young lady?”

“Yes, sir, but I didn’t take out two contracts.”

“Uh-uh. Your turn will come, my dear.”

He turned back to the courtroom. “Now I know that multiple partners are allowed in a marriage these days. The authorities back in Eden have brought in this law for a good reason, although it isn’t one I am particularly partial to, but as judge, I have to abide by it. But multiple
contracts
, to my knowledge, have
not
become law. Therefore this appears to be bigamy. Ha-ha.”

The sound of the judge’s mocking laughter echoed across the room, and Eric winced.

No one else laughed, but you could hear a pin drop as the judge stopped, and everyone held a collective bated breath.

“So by the lady’s own admission, she didn’t take out two contracts, so one of them is false, and one of these parties is trying to pull a fast one.” He stopped and peered firstly at Brianna as if his piercing stare could drag the truth out of her. She looked panicked,
Wife for Three

111

but didn’t say anything. He then quickly swiveled his head in the direction of Marcus, who held the judge’s stare with a belligerent one of his own.

The judge
humphed
. “Okay. I’ve studied both contracts, and the signatures on each appear to have been made by the lady, although one looks slightly different to the other, I’ll admit.”

“That’s because I didn’t write it.”

“I need the accused to remain
quiet
while I am talking.” Judge Wright continued peevishly, “Before I was interrupted, I was about to say that on the one hand, we have the uncle
and guardian
of the accused stating that the original contract with, what was his name?

Mr. Quinn Ford—was taken out in all honesty. Is Mr. Ford in the room?”

Quinn stood quickly, his hands on his hips arrogantly. “Yes, sir.

That’s me.”

“Can you confirm that you are—or think you are—the right and proper husband to the accused?”

Eric clenched his hands as Quinn’s lips quirked before answering,

“Yes, sir, I most certainly am.”

Hell would freeze over before Eric would allow him anywhere near Brianna ever again, even if he had to commit murder to do it.

“I also need you to confirm that the marriage has been consummated.”

Holding his breath, Eric awaited the answer urgently, a surge of hope rushing through him. This might be the way out. He knew for sure that she was a virgin when Adam had taken her that first night.

Quinn glanced briefly at Marcus. Eric saw him shrug his shoulders before Quinn answered the judge, “Unfortunately not. My bride ran away before our wedding night. Surely that doesn’t make the contract invalid. It’s not my fault she ran off.”

“Hmm. That depends. A contract can only be annulled after consummation if one party is abusing the other. I suppose the same could be said if one party chooses to run away before consummation
112

Jennifer Denys

and abuse is the reason for absconding. So I will ask the accused if Mr. Ford has harmed her in any way.”

Brianna looked at the judge worried. “No, but…”

“Well, unless Mr. Ford is mistreating the accused, I see no reason for this contract to be annulled just because the bride got cold feet.” Eric’s agonized heart nearly burst through his chest.

Brianna cried, “No!”

Judge Wright gave her a piercing stare, but she refused to back down. “Please, sir.
Please
believe me. I did not marry Quinn. Nor did I agree to a marriage with him at any time. My uncle made an agreement with Quinn to give me to him in return for a sum of money.”

“Is that true, sir?” The judge turned his beady eye toward Brianna’s uncle, glaring over the top of his glasses at him.

Marcus huffed. “She is a stupid girl. She always has been somewhat…dim. I have to do everything for her. Quinn here will be able to keep her under control. That’s why I approved the marriage—

so that she had a strong man to keep an eye on her.”

“Well, he hasn’t done a good job so far.” A laugh was generated from the crowd.

The judge continued glowering at everyone. “That is
quite
enough. This is a grave matter, everyone. One I am taking very seriously, as it has major implications. We don’t want every girl to think she can get out of a marriage contract that easily.” Quiet descended very quickly. The judge was known for his quick temper and long memory, and no one else in the room wanted to get on his bad side.

“So that’s the party on one side of this issue. A party that might be involved in illegal wife-selling, and I emphasize the word
illegal
, but unless there is anybody here to back up the accused’s statement of her uncle’s agreement with Mr. Ford, I have to reject that as a legal argument for voiding that contract as it is two against one and the girl is said to not have her full faculties.”

Wife for Three

113

Eric felt bile rise up in his throat.

“Now on the other hand, we have a second party claiming a marriage contract, the Hollis brothers, who were clearly in desperate straits to take on such a dimwit of a girl…” That got Adam’s ire, and Eric whirled around in shock when his brother shouted from the back of the room, pushing aside the people who stood in front of him to march into the middle of the room.

“That’s enough. Judge Wright, you know me and my family. My father was well regarded in this town. In fact, he was a friend of yours, as I recall.”

Eric saw the judge look startled at Adam’s sudden dominance of the proceedings and his pointed comment. After a moment, the judge nodded his head slightly. Starting to feel some hope, Eric sat up in his seat, clutching the arm of the chair.

Adam continued, “I say Brianna is not stupid, and nor is she a liar.

If she says she is not already contracted to this man”—he gestured toward Quinn, Adam’s face clearly showing his disgust—“then I, for one, believe her. That means that she is legally married to myself and my brothers.” Pandemonium erupted in the room, and Adam had to raise his voice considerably to finish his statement. “And we want our wife back.”

Curt leaped in the air crying “Yes,” and Eric nearly shouted his delight, too, but was overcome with relief.

However, Adam’s next words cut him to the quick. “That is—if she wants to come back.”

What! What is Adam playing at?

His eldest brother swiveled his head to look at Eric and Curt for a moment, his expression inscrutable, before turning to look at Brianna and quietly stating in the silence that followed, “If she wants out, then she need only say she is married to Quinn, and Curt, Eric, and I will leave now.”

No!
Eric had to hold Curt back as he nearly jumped at their brother. Eric, too, wanted Adam to take back the words he had just
114

Jennifer Denys

spoken, but it was too late. The whole room gasped, and a riot nearly broke out. Looking around, Eric saw women as well as men clearly wondering what Brianna’s answer would be.

Curt shrugged Eric off and twirled around to exchange an anxious look with him. He looked as shocked and horrified as Eric felt, and they both glanced at Brianna to ascertain her feelings. Her jaw had dropped, and she was staring straight at Adam.

Eric wanted to plead with her not to accept the way out his brother had just offered, to tell her that he would take her away from all of this and away from Adam, too. But she wouldn’t look at him, and he couldn’t say anything out loud.

Please, Bree. Please. Please stay. I love you.

Instead his heart pounded violently in his chest as he waited impatiently. Curt’s body was rigid with tension beside him. Eric could feel him echoing the same silent words.

The judge finally regained equilibrium in the room to conclude the trial. “Well, young lady. It seems to me that there is nothing we can do to prove which of these contracts is valid. We have two against one stating your marriage with Mr. Ford is valid, but your accusation of wife-selling is a serious one. As to your marriage with the Hollis brothers, that is void if the original one is, in truth, the correct one. I am going to drop the charge of bigamy against you, if you choose to return to Mr. Ford, and also ignore the charge of wife-selling as a silly story. The Hollis brothers will have to go back to their farm wifeless.

I would also suggest that they avoid putting adverts in papers from now on.” He turned to glare at Eric.
That’s not fair. It wasn’t me who
put the advert in.
The judge turned back to Brianna.

“So it is entirely up to you. If, instead, you stand by your statement that you have only taken out one contract and that is with the Hollis brothers, then I will tear this one up,” he stated, holding up the uncle’s contract.

“Don’t you dare!” shouted Marcus, lurching to his feet, looking as if he was about to go over to Brianna and grab hold of her.

Wife for Three

115

“
Or
,” the judge continued loudly as he glared at Marcus. “If you are unhappy with them, you can go with Mr. Ford, and I will regard the Hollis contract as void. But know this, my dear, you have to choose one or the other. I am not letting you out on the streets unmarried, you are too much trouble.”

Brianna still had her eyes on Adam, almost ignoring the judge’s words. Eric willed her to look at him instead. He wanted her to know that he would love her forever. That he would take her away from this area and go someplace where Marcus and Quinn would never find her, a place where she need never have to deal with Adam’s moody silences ever again—nor his brooding intensity, or his rough ways.

When she did glance at him and then Curt before turning back to Adam, he saw the glint of tears in her eyes.

His stomach churned and he felt sick. He was sure she was going to reject him—them. He swore afterward that days must have passed before she finally answered.

He could hear the clock ticking loudly in the corner of the room.

He could hear a multitude of people breathing heavily as they eagerly awaited her answer.

He could hear the sound of his own heart pounding.

“I choose the Hollis brothers.”

116

Jennifer Denys

Brianna closed her eyes and took a deep sigh as she sat on the wagon as it pulled up at the house.

She was home again. And it really did feel like home, unlike the place she had grown up, despite only having been at the farm for a short while.

Some might say she had taken the lesser of two evils, but when she had looked at Adam, she had seen something she hadn’t been expecting—want, need, desire. Of course, the avowals of love that both Eric and Curt had showered on her after her declaration made her pleased that she had made the right decision, because she felt exactly the same way about them.

Opening her eyes, she saw Curt staring up at her with a frown on his face, clearly worried about her reaction, but his face lit up when she smiled. She glanced over at Eric next to him. Now
he
was just grinning broadly from ear to ear. Looking around, she tried to find Adam, but all she saw was his back as he strode into the house.

She sighed again. A huge part of feeling this was home was down to the two men in front of her, but she didn’t feel entirely whole.

There was a third man in this marriage, and she didn’t feel married to him. She had hoped his turning up at the courthouse and what he said was the start to completing the relationship, but she guessed not. He had yet to tell her that he cared about her. Her own feelings were mixed. He hadn’t given her the chance to let her get close to him, though she really wanted to.

Reaching out, she allowed Curt to help her down and lead her toward the house.
My house! But is it? What happens if Adam can’t
Wife for Three

117

join in the marriage?
As the eldest, surely he had more right to the farm than the younger two brothers, so would this mean they had to leave?

“Hey, what’s the matter, princess? You’re not regretting this, are you?” asked a concerned Curt.

Shaking her head, she answered, “No, not at all. But…”

“But what?” Eric now sounded anxious.

Curt clearly guessed the line of her thoughts as he quietly stated, nodding toward the door his big brother had entered, “It’s Adam, isn’t it?”

She simply nodded, biting her lip.

He sighed, looking like he was struggling with a decision, and rubbed her back soothingly. Finally he shrugged and leaned down to whisper, “Good thing I have a plan then.” With that, he pushed her firmly to move forward, clasping the shoulder of the other brother.

“Move yourself. We have a woman who needs some major loving.” Eric simply chortled and eagerly moved indoors ahead of the other two.

Adam was in the kitchen washing his hands. He turned as they came in.

Brianna wasn’t sure what to say to him, but Curt got in first.

“Come on, big bro, we’ve got a marriage to consummate.” Wrenching her head around, she tried to ascertain what Adam thought of his brother’s statement. He had his usual forbidding glare.