A Wild Woman: Mail Order Bride of Slate Springs Page 6

  Spur came over to me, kissed my forehead. “Yes, that pussy’s just for us. No one gets to see it. Hell, no one gets to see any of you dressed like this. Go on. It’s probably the Tates. They’re here to meet you, so come down when you’re ready.”

  I could hear voices at the front door, looked up at Spur. I went up on my tiptoes and kissed him quickly. While Lane and Spur were protective of me, and quite possessive, I didn’t feel stifled as I had with my brothers. It felt… good.

  When the voices became louder, I dashed up the back stairs. With the Tates eager to meet me, I was very curious to meet Celia Tate, for she, too, was a mail order bride and married to two men.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Spur

  “We are looking forward to meeting your new wife,” Luke Tate said.

  After we’d said hello to Celia, we pointed her upstairs to meet and chat with Piper. Their wife was several months pregnant with their first baby. As her doctor, I asked her a few brief questions to her well-being, but did not linger. She was young and healthy and had two husbands to keep a close eye on her. If there was something wrong, even indigestion, I was sure they would tell me about it.

  We led the men into the parlor and while the furniture was stiff and formal, we stretched our legs out in front of us and relaxed with a familiarity of long friendship—and the lack of a female presence. If it wasn’t just after breakfast, I’d have poured each of us a glass of whiskey.

  “How is it that a woman we’ve never met before, from a different state even, is perfect for us?” I asked, starting right in on the topic of our new bride. My cock, thankfully, had gone down by our friends’ untimely arrival, but thinking of Piper made me shift in my seat.

  I had no doubt Piper was the one for us and I knew Lane felt the same. It just amazed me that Walker and Luke had the same positive outcome with Celia.

  Walker grinned, shrugged his broad shoulders. He, too, had dark hair and a beard, but that was the end of our similarities. While he was lean, I was built like a barrel through the chest. Lane always said if being a doctor wasn’t for me, I could always earn my keep as a fighter. I’d done my fair share of that without any kind of payment.

  “It’s remarkable. We knew Celia was ours the minute she stepped off the train.”

  “It was cold as fuck that night,” Luke added. “It was no hardship to warm her.”

  When neither Lane nor I commented, the two looked to us.

  “You are not satisfied with her?” Walker tipped his voice low. “Celia was a widow, so there was no fear of the unknown the first night, especially taking two men.”

  Lane laughed then. “I don’t think Piper is afraid of anything.”

  He proceeded to tell them about her gun-slinging ways and had the others amused and shaking their heads.

  “If Celia did that,” Luke paused, thinking about the possibility of his wife putting herself in harm’s way, “she’d not be able to sit for a week.”

  “While I doubt we’ll curb her fire, we will certainly lay down the law when it comes to visiting saloons. All in due time, however. We want her to like being on her hands and knees before we give her a punishment spanking,” I said, crossing my ankles.

  “Yes, she need not gamble for money any longer,” Lane added.

  “And Lil?” Luke asked, his voice turning serious. “Will you stop seeing her now that you have a willing and warm woman in your bed?”

  Lane glanced at me, remained silent.

  I sighed. He refused to tell the men, to tell anyone, the truth about Lil, about his past. Our pasts. While I’d come to terms with my heritage, Lane had not. Neither Walker nor Luke would care that I had a whore for a mother, that I grew up in a brothel, then slowly watched my mother die from liquor and a hard life. Nor would they care that Lane’s mother hadn’t just been a whore, but a mean one at that. She’d beat him when he was small, let her customers near him before I’d come into his life. While he’d never mentioned being touched by any of them, I had a strong suspicion they had. Beatings would have been the least of what had happened to him. His scars ran deeper and the past held not just misery, but evil. His secrets were heavy on his soul. By the time Lil found Lane, he’d been almost destroyed. Almost. Perhaps that’s why she put us together, turned us into brothers, so we’d have each other. Our own little family. She’d saved us both, but most especially Lane. That was why he protected her so vehemently and why I would not give up his confidence.

  “Piper is indeed warm and very willing,” Lane agreed. “But we will continue to see Lil.”

  It was the truth. We would see her. I would treat her as best I could, supply her the morphine she needed to tolerate the growing pain.

  Walker looked to me in surprise. “I knew Lane had a long-standing relationship with her, but you, too?”

  I flicked a glance at Lane, who had a blank face. He knew how to hide his emotions. “My… interest in her is more recent.”

  Unlike Lane, I’d gone off to school and never returned, away for years. My visits to Lil were new, and unfortunately, short term.

  Luke and Walker looked at each other and I knew they what they were thinking. We had a beautiful, willing wife and we’d still go and fuck a whore. But I couldn’t betray Lane. Having the others know the truth wasn’t worth the price.

  “Tell us about the mine,” Walker said, clearly interested in changing the topic. He wasn’t going to try to sway us away from Lil. Married men had mistresses. It was a common occurrence. Accepted, even. It wasn’t his place to argue and I appreciated that.

  Lane roused to the topic, leaned forward and placed his hands on his knees.

  “The other day, one of the shirring beams was bad. One of the more experienced men noticed it. I went in and inspected it, the others nearby. I’m not sure if they were put in wrong or if the wood was just bad, but it was weak. There could have been a collapse.”

  Luke owned the Trusty mine in Slate Springs and knew exactly to what I was referring.

  “Do you have too many new men?” he asked. It was a valid question. Without experienced miners on shift, things could easily go wrong, and it seemed they were.

  “There’s always new miners, but I’m always careful to keep a balance with those who’ve been in my employ for some time. I will need to be at the mine more until the sale goes through. I don’t want the deal, or the mine itself, to collapse.”

  “Right, the sale. How is it going?” Walker asked.

  “I have a fair price for it, just waiting for the papers to be drawn up.”

  “But the sale could fall through if shoddy work has been discovered,” Luke added.

  Lane shrugged. “It’s possible. I just don’t want anyone hurt.”

  I laughed, albeit dryly. “Yes, I have enough business as it is.”

  “Perhaps I’m more eager than I thought to have that mine sold and move on with my life,” Lane said, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. “My wife.”

  Yes, perhaps Piper was good for Lane. Maybe he’d finally let go of the past and start living for the future. We had the start of a family. The way we’d filled Piper with our seed in just a day, a child would surely come soon, just like it had for the Tates. The idea had me eager to push our friends out the door and get on with making that baby. It wouldn’t be a hardship. Not one bit.

  ***

  Piper

  I’d donned my drawers and shift and was fastening the last of the stays on my corset when there was a soft knock on the door.

  “Mrs. Drews, it’s Celia.”

  Mrs. Drews. God, I was a married woman. I hadn’t forgotten anything we’d done, how wildly I’d behaved, but I had completely forgotten I had a new name. No, no, I didn’t. I wasn’t actually married to Spur. The marriage license I’d found in Patricia’s bag had her name on it in clear print. Not mine.

  “Come in,” I said, grabbing my shift from my small bag. The clothes I’d worn the day before were probably still out on the back porch by a tub filled with cold water.

  Celia was a pretty woman, fair-haired and blue-eyed. She could have been Lane’s sister with the similar coloring. She appeared to be several years older than I and with a noticeable swell to her belly. She was expecting a child.

  “Your hair is gorgeous,” she blurted, then covered her mouth with her fingers and laughed. “Sorry, but the color.” She sighed. “So… bold.”

  I lifted a long tendril. I had yet to pin it up and I imagined it was a wild cloud about my head. It had been wet when the men had taken me to bed and I had not been given the opportunity to braid it before sleep.

  “Yes, I’ve been told my personality matches.”

  She dropped her hands to her belly and clasped them together. “Then we’ll get on just fine then. Tell me about yourself while you finish dressing.”

  Pulling a neatly folded dress from my bag, I shook it out and stepped into it, worked it up over my hips before slipping my arms in.

  “I’m from Wichita. I live… lived with my five brothers. There isn’t much to say.”

  “Why did you choose to be a mail order bride?”

  I glanced away and stuck as close to the truth as I could. “I left home because my family was quite overbearing. No man could get near me, and those who were interested in courting, were scared away. I wanted my own life, house, husband before I became too old to have it.”

  “Your family just let you leave? If they didn’t like men sniffing around, surely they wouldn’t let you travel unescorted to a different state to marry a man you didn’t even know. Then you discovered you got two in the bargain.”

  “Two was a surprise,” I replied. “And no, they didn’t let me leave. Technically, I ran away.”

  “Mmm, I ran away, too, but for different reasons.” She went to the chair beneath the window and sat down. “I hope you don’t mind,” she replied, indicating with her hand to the chair. “My husbands would spank my bottom red if they found out I was standing too long.”

  My mouth fell open at her words.

  “Then you wouldn’t be able to sit,” I said, before thinking.

  She laughed. “Yes, that’s true. So I will sit before they spank me, which makes me want to stand. That hardly makes sense, doesn’t it? I will have to tell them this and perhaps they will abstain from spanking me until the baby is born. Although… I do like a good spanking.”

  I just stared at her. I knew my eyes were wide, especially when she laughed at seeing my face.

  “I’m sorry. I forget myself. I was a widow when I married Luke and Walker. You, I assume, just discovered what it is like with a man, or men, last night.”

  I nodded, remembering myself and buttoning my dress. I also felt how I was still damp between my legs, lingering evidence of what we’d done.

  “You… um, you like to be spanked?” I asked.

  She glanced at the door, then back at me.

  “By Luke and Walker, yes. It’s… good.”

  It was my turn to laugh. “Good?”

  She smiled wickedly. “Very good.”

  “You seem very happy with your husbands,” I observed.

  She glanced down at her belly, stroked a hand over it. “My first marriage was an unhappy one with infidelity. I knew Walker and Luke weren’t inexperienced when we wed, but after my first husband, I needed to know they would be faithful. They are quite possessive.”

  I looked longingly at her happy face, the roundness of her belly. I wanted that. A look only her husbands could give her, a child growing within that would be the start of their own family.

  “Yes, I can see that. Based on what we did last night—” I flushed hotly, but I needed some guidance and perhaps Celia was the only woman who would understand the… intensity of being with two men, “—they came to the marriage very well versed. I am not naive to that. Five older brothers certainly taught me about the ways of men.”

  “All older?” she asked, clearly amazed. “Oh, my. I’m sure Lane and Spur will stop seeing their mistress now that they have you.”

  A mistress.

  “They shared a mistress?” I asked, my words tight. Lane had said he was serious about our marriage, even forbid me to do things like gamble and visit saloons. But when I’d told them that I wanted fidelity, neither had responded. They’d mentioned attraction, which was rampant, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t also have a mistress. And Spur was just as virile. If they shared me, then did they share her?

  “All I know is that her name is Lil. Your men don’t speak of her. When Walker, Luke and I first married, we stayed in this house. It was winter and snowing and we’d ridden up from Denver. We spent the night here before continuing up the mountain to Slate Springs. It was our wedding night, so Lane went and stayed with Lil to give us privacy.” She stood, came over to me and patted my arm. “Don’t worry. If your men are as honorable as mine, she is a thing of the past.”

  Jealousy pulsed through my veins and I was angry by it. Where was my gun? No, I couldn’t think of what came before yesterday. Holding my hand up, I told her, “Yes, that’s true. But… never mind. I don’t want to know.”

  “Yes, I understand,” she replied, then looked up at my hair. “I shouldn’t have mentioned her. I’m sure it’s nothing, and for that, I apologize. Would you like me to put this up for you?”

  I could easily put my hair up into a bun on my own, but I recognized the offer for what it was: a change of topic. But as she tugged and twisted my hair into some semblance of a neat style, I thought of the men having a mistress. She was their secret. I had one, too. Perhaps if I told them the truth, that I wasn’t really Patricia Strong, told them what happened to her, then perhaps they’d understand. A woman didn’t have the options of men. I didn’t have independent means to live on. Hell, my brothers were most likely on the hunt for me. I wanted a life of my own and I’d taken the option that presented itself. Hadn’t Lane and Spur done that at some point?

  What could they do to me, besides toss me out? They could spank me, as they’d done briefly and completely as play, the night before. They could drag me to church and marry me. But, they could toss me out. Then where would I be? Alone, destitute and even worse off than the woman, Lil. At least Lil got money from men she fucked.

  No, Lane and Spur were reasonable men. I’d tell them the truth as soon as the Tates left, then—if they kept me—I’d tell them I needed their faithfulness. I wanted, no, needed to be enough for them. If I told them while I was armed, perhaps that would help.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Lane

  I rubbed the back of my neck, hoping to ease the tense muscles and the ache that accompanied them. The sun was long behind the mountains, another indication besides my rumbling stomach that I’d been gone far too long. One of the boys from the mine had come to fetch me, stating that there had been a small cave-in. The boy had assured me that no one had been hurt, but I’d left Piper and Spur to visit with the Tates while I dealt with another crisis. I just wanted the mine sold and off my hands. I didn’t need it for the money any longer; I had plenty. Too much.

  When I climbed the steps and entered through the kitchen, I could hear everyone in the dining room. The scent of roasted meat filled the air and my stomach rumbled again. Spur must have heard me since he came into the room.

  “Well?” he asked.

  “Same as before. Either the support beams on the new section were put up wrong or they were just weak. Tomorrow I’ll go through and inspect all of them.”

  “I assume no one was hurt since I wasn’t called.”

  I shook my head, leaned against the pump sink.

  “That’s good, at least.”

  I lifted my chin toward the dining room. “Going well?”

  “Piper has made fast friends. We saved you a plate.”

  Turning to the sink, I pumped in some water and scrubbed my hands. “Good, I’m starving.”

  “You weren’t just at the mine.”

  Fuck Spur and his perceptiveness. “I stopped in to see Lil.” Shaking off my hands, I continued, “Told her about Piper.”

  “Oh? What did she say about that?”

  “Said Piper would take up most of my time. Wondered if I’d still be able to come to her.”

  “And?”

  I sighed, angry. As if I’d just abandon Lil now when she needed me most. I owed her everything. My life. As if I’d stop visiting because of my marriage.

  “And I said of course I’d keep seeing her. Said you’d continue as well. Together, if Piper can be occupied with Celia.”

  Grabbing a cloth, I dried my hands and turned to face him. It wasn’t him I looked at though, but Piper, who stood in the doorway. She paused for just a second before coming in, offering me a thin smile.

  “Everything all right at the mine?” she asked.

  Fuck, had she heard me mention Lil? I didn’t want to explain myself to her now. Not while things had been going well. Going well? Hell, that was a gross understatement. Things were fucking fantastic with Piper. I never imagined we’d get a woman who was so perfect for us. It seemed we’d fucked the feistiness right out of her. I knew it wasn’t permanent. Hell, when she learned I was keeping a secret from her, she’d probably shoot me. While Lil wanted to meet her, I couldn’t do it. Not yet. I didn’t want her involved in my past. My childhood was bad enough. I’d risen above it all, pushed it away since it hurt too much to think about. The nightmares came often unbidden though. I could remember their voices, their grunts, the bad breath, the pain, the way my mother closed the door… knowing.

  I was tainted and refused to let that touch Piper. That was why I was content to marry and share her with Spur. He was whole. He hadn’t been sold by his mother, used by men for sick pleasure. I couldn’t tell her what had happened to me. I didn’t speak of it. To anyone, ever. And if I explained who Lil was, the rest would be revealed and I couldn’t go back. Never again.

  I strode across the room, took her in my arms. She was so warm, so soft, I sighed, reveling in the feel of her. Then I noticed she wasn’t hugging me back, her arms at her sides, her body almost rigid. “No. I have to go back and inspect every damn shirring.”

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