Mary's Men (3 page)

I hope you’re doing well. I read your last letter a dozen times. You have pretty handwriting, and I like the scent you sprayed on the paper. It made me think of you. I wish we’d had more time when we visited, but I understand things were intense.

I bought a few cows last week. If I can scrape up the money, I could have the best bloodlines in Montana, but that’s another letter. I also had an offer on a few acres I own closer to town…let’s just say I have a lot of business on my mind.

But even with the business, you’re always there. I’ve been thinking about what you asked Thomas while we were at the farm. You asked how he’d handle you going to bed with his twin. I wanted to tell you my thoughts on it.

I picture the three of us, and when Duane gets back, the four of us having individual relationships, but there’s more than that. I trust Duane and Thomas with my life, so I’ll trust them with you. When you’re not with me, you’ll be happy because Duane and Thomas will make it happen. We want you happy.

I don’t think we always need to be apart. Some nights, maybe you’ll come to bed with me (though I do go to bed early). Maybe we’ll talk about our days and then Thomas and Duane might join us. I think the three of us could find a way to make you really happy.

The thought of crossing swords with Duane or Thomas has given me more bad moments than when I consider my feelings on you being alone with either of them. I have this reoccurring dream where Duane cuddles up to me on accident. It’s more of a nightmare. But I’m willing to take that chance for you.

I’m excited. I know I should be more practical. You have some serious decisions to make and we’re asking a lot of you, but I’d be holding a lot back if I didn’t share how much I look forward to the day we’re all together.

Take care, Mary Dawson. You’re always on my mind.

Paul Paraby

Mary set the letter down for the fifth time. Paul had a way with words. Thomas’s prose was more refined, but Paul hit right to the heart of things. He tempted her, but as she put pen to paper she knew she’d made the right decision. The whole situation was too complicated.

One woman couldn’t love two men the same, let alone three. There was bound to be jealousy and she didn’t want to be in the middle. Having lost her family, she understood more than most how much it hurt to be parted. If she honestly believed it would work like the men said, that she’d be loved by three and they’d live happily ever after, maybe she’d take them up on the offer. Losing another family…it hurt too much to even consider.

Maybe she’d find a nice local boy. Just one. The neighbor had three sons around her age. She could choose one. She felt ready for a serious, committed relationship. Her body hummed for touch and love. She’d let Paul and Thomas loose so they could find someone who could do what they needed and she’d find a way to satisfy her own desires.

Her hand trembled as she wrote out the words she’d thought about for the last three days. Since Paul’s letter arrived, she’d understood the time had come for a major decision. Short and sweet, she told herself as she wrote the last line, assuring both men they were special and she wished them the best. She wanted them to find love. They would one day, but not with her. Mary folded the letter and stuck it in an envelope. She added a piece of tape after licking the tab.

The walk to the mailbox had never been so long. As she put it in the case and lifted the flag she kissed her fingertips and closed the box.

“Goodbye, boys.”

* * * *

“This is stupid,” Thomas hissed as they rounded the corner of Mary’s house. “We’re going to get shot.”

“Shhh.” Paul leaned to his left to see through the darkened window. “We’re not going to get shot. Aunt Marcy left for the weekend and Mary is here alone.”

“How do you know that?”

“Mary mentioned it in one of her letters. Marcy takes the trip every year.”

“You’re nuts. If I have to pick buckshot out of my ass, I’m going to kick yours.”

Paul elbowed him. “Shut up. She’s not going to shoot us.”

“Shows what you know,” he muttered. “Mary’s sweet, but she’s got a badass side.”

Paul figured his brother was right. He wouldn’t be attracted to some wilting flower, but he still didn’t think she would pull a gun on them. After the last letter, he’d known it was do-or-die time. Mary was the right woman for them. No one else would fit the bill and she loved them. Her letter said she did, but the consequences were more than she could face. Nuts to consequences. He was going to sit her down and make her realize how much she couldn’t live without them.

If that didn’t work, they’d move to the bedroom.

“I still say this is a bad idea,” Thomas muttered. “We should have come during the day. Called first.”

Had they done that, she would have had time to prepare. She’d had that last time and she’d sent them away. This would be better. He tried the doorknob, coaxing it until it opened. He grinned at Thomas before pushing it in. The sound of a cocking gun stopped him cold.

“See, I told you.” Thomas lifted his hands up as a flashlight blinded them both. “Mary, it’s Thomas and his idiot brother, Paul. Don’t shoot us, baby.”

The overhead light turned on and Paul blinked against the brightness. As soon as he could see, he tried to find Mary. She stood on the left side of the room by the light switch. She set the shotgun behind the sofa and stepped away from it, folding her arms over her chest.

“What in the name of God’s green earth are you two doing here? In the middle of the night? Are you trying to get shot?”

He grinned. “Aw, you wouldn’t have done that, would you, Mary?”

“You’re lucky I saw you coming and recognized Thomas,” she snapped. “Why are you here?”

“We came to talk,” Thomas said. “Just talk. I wanted to call—”

“Then you should have,” she said. “I don’t entertain men in the middle of the night. You can call tomorrow.”

She looked pointedly at the door. Thomas grabbed Paul’s arm and tugged him toward it, but he was all in. They weren’t leaving without her.

“We drove all this way. Give us a chance. You said you cared about us and I think it’s more,” he said.

She rolled her eyes. “So because you got in your rickety truck and drove down here and I think you two are cute, I should let you in? I don’t think so. Call at a reasonable hour and we might talk.”

Thomas tugged his sleeve again but Paul broke his hold. He looked back at his twin who scowled for a moment before Thomas shook his head. Paul smiled. They didn’t have twin talk like some claimed, but he’d told Thomas he wasn’t leaving without her.

“Let’s talk,” Paul said, walking further into the room.

Mary didn’t smile, but she didn’t reach for the gun either.

“I’m not putting on coffee or getting out wine. If you don’t have anywhere to stay you can sleep on the porch,” she said tightly, but her eyes took him in like a thirsty man to water.

Her desire and happiness showed in the way she watched them—he’d seen it in her letter too. A time came in every life when it was put up or shut up and Paul figured maybe he needed to read her body language over her words.

He strode across the room. She stood her ground, glaring up at him when he stopped in front of her.

“You missed us,” he said.

“I’ll be fine without you, and you’ll be better off without me. If this scheme of yours fails, I refuse to be the woman who comes between you two.”

She glanced away after her statement and confirmed his suspicions. She was scared, but not against the notion of a relationship. They could convince her to change her mind.

“Thomas and I are fine—always have been, always will be. Let’s go for a drive. We’ll discuss whatever misgivings you’re having. You’ll see that we’re not flying by the seats of our pants here—we have a plan.”

She shook her head and turned around, showing him her back. Her shoulders drooped. “I appreciate the thought, but no. This won’t work. You should go.”

“If we go, you’re coming with us,” Paul said and checked over his shoulder where Thomas looked a little pale, but firm.

She spun around, fire in her eyes. “How do you suppose that would work?”

Paul closed the short distance between them, then picked Mary up and tossed her over his shoulder.

“No, Paul Paraby. I said no. You heard me,” she squealed, slamming her fists against his back.

“I also heard you loud and clear in your letter when you said you loved us and wanted to be with us. Thomas, get the door.”

“I said those things with a ‘but’ after them,” Mary shouted. “A giant but.”

“Aw, now, honey. I’d say your butt is perfect.” Paul headed out the door. “Lock up, will ya, Thomas?”

“You two cannot do this,” Mary insisted. “I am a grown woman and I’m telling you to put me down.”

Paul strode across the porch toward the truck. She no longer fought him but instead calmly made her case.

“You’re abducting me, Paul Paraby. I told you no.”

“I heard you.”

“I didn’t give you enough of a chance. I admit it. Let’s go back to the house. I’ll make coffee.”

“The time for talk is done. We’re going to drive and figure things out.”

She slammed her arms against his shoulders again. “No, you big brute. Put me down. Thomas, tell him to put me down. You two are going to be in so much trouble. I suppose you think this is sexy and manly, but it’s not. It’s stupid and immature and—”

Paul smacked her butt. Not hard, but enough to get her attention. “Give us a chance. If after an hour driving you aren’t convinced, we’ll bring you back. You have my word.”

“The word of a man willing to kidnap a woman?” She hit his back again. “You have one hour.”

Paul grinned at Thomas whose face was pinched up, but he didn’t argue. He set Mary in the backseat of the truck and closed the door, jumping in the driver’s seat as Thomas got in the other side.

Now that he had her in the truck, driving away from her house, Paul’s mind jumped in too many directions to know where to start. He turned down the driveway to the winding road that led to the highway.

“Why did you tell us no?” Thomas asked.

“Why? I already told you why. I’m not ready to come between two brothers. I’m not willing to live whatever cockamamie lifestyle you two think you’re equipped to handle. I’m not that kind of girl.”

“Bullshit,” Paul muttered.

Mary whacked him on the back of the head.

“I’m a lady. I am. Do you think I’ve dreamed my entire life of being secluded on some damn Montana mountain to be the plaything for two men? No. I have dreams of my own, and you know what? They don’t include you.”

“Could they?” Thomas asked, a safe distance away from Mary’s smacking hand.

The girl had a heck of a hit and Paul admitted he was being jackass enough to deserve every whack she took at him.

“Could they what?” Mary asked, her snippy words less angry when she spoke to Thomas.

“Could your plans be changed a little to include us? We have no intention of chaining you to the stove once we get you home. You’d be able to do whatever you wanted.”

“Really? I suppose the small town you two are from is waiting with open arms to accept the floozy girl willing to screw two brothers, aren’t they?”

“It’s nobody’s business what we do,” Paul said, though the real reasons behind her protests became more clear as she explained.

“It’s everybody’s business. Think about it, Paul. If a rancher came home with a young woman and they were living together, how would that woman be treated? Multiply that by two—by ten.”

“So marry us,” Thomas said.

The off-the-cuff solution sounded fair enough to Paul, but sweat popped up on the back of his neck. He didn’t know if he was ready for that step, and honestly didn’t know how he wanted Mary to respond.

“Don’t say stuff like that, Thomas,” Mary said, though she sounded more sad than angry. “You don’t mean it. Besides, look at Paul. The second you said marriage he turned pale.”

“That’s because he’s a wimp.” Thomas shifted and leaned over the front bench seat to look her in the eyes. “You’re not. So marry us.”

Paul wished he could pull over and add his two cents, but he was grateful for Thomas. His brother took the lead, something he did well, when push came to shove.

“Marry us?” Mary demanded. “Do you hear yourself? That’s illegal.”

“I’m a lawyer, I know,” Thomas snapped, finally showing a little irritation. “I mean marry one of us legally and the other symbolically. You’d have the legal and emotional assurance you need. I can’t guarantee people will accept you if they find out how close the three of us are. But I can promise you Paul and I will love you and be your best friends for the rest of your life. Duane too.”

“Big promises,” she said, the edge of disbelief sharp and pointed.

“Yeah, well, we aren’t doing this for shits and giggles. You said the permanency is holding you back. We’re willing to make it permanent,” Thomas said.

Mary poked Paul on the shoulder. “And you? Do you agree with all of this?”

“You can bet your sweet ass I do, darlin’.”

“Then take a right at the end of the driveway. We’re going to Vegas.”

* * * *

Vegas never slept. Mary had heard someone say it before, but didn’t understand it until they pulled into the Nevada sin city a few minutes before three AM.