by Ann Mayburn
She ended her pronouncement with a coughing fit that left her with both men patting her back. Garret handed a canteen to her and she took a big drink, then almost dropped the canteen as pure fire burned down her throat. Her lungs seemed to clear from the shock, and she took a gasping breath as that warmth flowed from her belly out into her limbs.
“What is this?” she asked in a ragged voice.
“The medicinal tonic the doctor left for you. Said you’re supposed to drink a small sip once every four hours.” Garret said in a dry voice as he took the canteen from her, “I’d guess you just took a double dose with that gulp.”
She blew out a breath, surprised flames didn’t come out of her mouth. “That tastes like the potato vodka a Russian family two floors up from our apartment used to make.”
The wagon shifted as Edward climbed into the front seat, pulling his dark brown cowboy back as he stared at the sky. “Hold on back there. I’m going to pick up the pace so we make to the shelter by nightfall.”
As Garret made a little nest of sheepskins among the boxes and cleaned up the remains of their lunch, Rowan relaxed and watched him, feeling happy and warm. It was probably a side effect from the tonic, but she found herself relaxing as Garret pulled her into his side, cuddling her close. His large arm felt good around her shoulders, and she found the beat of his heart beneath her ear soothing. Warmth of a different nature began to curl through her belly as he slowly ran his fingers through her hair and began humming.
“What song is that?” she mumbled, content to let her arm wrap around his waist.
“Old English Army marching song,” he said in a low voice.
“Nice,” she whispered, snuggling deeper into her blanket as a brisk wind penetrated the canvas sides of the wagon. “What was it like? Being in the Army.”
Drifting in and out of consciousness, she listened to the men talk about growing up on different farms in England in large families and joining the Army to escape their tiny hometowns. They talked about visiting exotic lands she’d never heard of, and by the time they were making camp for the night, she was once again wide awake and incredibly curious.
“Two husbands?” she said in a shocked gasp as she watched the men in the shifting light of the fire.
They’d stopped for the night at what was obviously a frequently used campsite, complete with a firepit and a large rock overhang that provided enough shelter for them and the horses.
Edward looked over from where he was putting a thick blanket on one of the piebald mares. “Sometimes more.” He winked at her undoubtably scandalized expression. “One of Lady Uriel’s governors had five husbands.”
“Good God,” Rowan placed her chilly fingers on her warm cheeks. “Five husbands? How…I mean I know how, but…just…and they find it tolerable to share her?”
The flickering golden light of the fire threw deep shadows on Garret’s face as he settled on the sheepskin bed roll he’d set up next to her own. “Completely. In their culture, love is not limited, it is infinite.”
Edward finally joined them, taking a deep drink from a flask that he then handed to Rowan. “Whisky. A few sips will warm you up.”
“Thanks,” she said as she took a nip, the welcome warmth racing down her throat and into her belly.
“And to answer your question,” Edward said as he took the flask back, “They have no problem with sharing, because everyone’s needs are taken care of.”
Feeling more than a little tipsy, she frowned at him as she started to battle with the laces of her boots, ready to get beneath the heavy covers they’d provided her. The fire kept the air warm, but the occasional chilled breeze would sweep into their alcove and instantly make her feel like she was coated in in ice. As she fumbled with the knot, her mind wandered to the more intimate aspects of having more than one husband.
“But don’t they get jealous when one husband is…enjoying his marital rights with his wife and the others are left out?” Edward and Garret chuckled, and she stopped battling with her boot to scowl at them. “What?”
“No one is left out,” Edward said with a wicked grin that had her gaping at him.
She tried to ignore the pulse of heat in her belly as she said, “You mean…all at once? That’s sinful.”
Garret shrugged, then set the flask back into his saddlebag before turning to her. “Not according to their beliefs. They don’t demonize sexual relations the way a lot of western countries do. It is a sacred part of their culture, and the women are extremely happy. Wouldn’t you enjoy having two men see to your every pleasure? Two men to protect you and keep you safe, to provide for you and love you?”
“I…I…I can’t even imagine what that would be like. No decent woman would want such a thing.” She swallowed hard as Edward reached out and took one of her booted feet in his hand, then Garret the other. “What are you doing?”
“Showing you what it is like to have two men take care of you,” Edward rumbled, his big fingers making deft work of the laces on her boots.
When she tried to lunge forward to smack their hands away, her ribs gave an ache of protest that had her quickly jerking back. “I can manage on my own.”
“Of course you can,” Garrett said in a soothing voice that seemed to stroke over her skin like a purr. “But it is our privilege to help you. To pamper and indulge you.”
She let out a bitter laugh, surprised by the tears burning her nose. “I have never, not one day in my life, had anyone pamper or indulge me.”
“Then let us care for you,” Edward urged, now close enough that she could see the fire reflecting in his dark eyes. “For once, let someone else be in charge. Since you were but a wee lass, you have had to take care of yourself and your family. You deserve to be worshiped. You deserve to be cherished. Trust us to treat you as you deserve to be treated.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she nodded, leaning back onto her elbows as she watched each of them carefully unlace her boots, then pull them off. But they didn’t stop there. Once her boots were off, and her stockings still on, they began to rub her feet in a way that had her eyes rolling back into her head.
“Ohhhh,” she moaned as Edward dug his thumb into the arch of her foot. “Oh God, that feels so good.”
Both men laughed, that low, dark laugh that let a woman know what kind of carnal thoughts were on their mind.
“Shhhh,” Garrett swept his fingers over her ankle and began to rub, “let us care for you.”
The feeling of their hands on her had that fluttering in her belly going crazy. No man had ever touched her like this. Sure, she’d had her share of experimental stolen kisses and groping, but from a young age she knew the consequences of sex. Innocence was a luxury only the rich could afford. She’d seen the single mothers scraping out an existence with their bastard children in the slums. Besides, she’d always dreamed of finding herself a real cowboy for a husband, the kind her father read to her about before bed at night. Strong, brave men who carved their own path in the world.
Men a lot like the ones currently rubbing her calves while they watched her closely.
They had magical hands, that was the only excuse she could make as she allowed their fingers to stroke higher and higher along her legs, the dual sensations making her sex ache and clench. Closing her eyes, she gave herself over to the wonderful sensations they created in her all too willing body. They were massaging the hint of skin between her stockings and her bloomers, their fingers brushing again and again over her inner thighs. The closer they got to the apex, the wider she found her legs spreading.
Dimly, her rational mind scolded her for being such a hussy, but she found it hard to care about what was considered proper and not.
“There you go,” Garrett murmured as she spread her legs further, rewarding her with a gentle stroke on the extremely sensitive skin of her inner thigh. “Let us give you pleasure.”
Talking was beyond her, so she nodded, then her whole body arched up as one of the men ran his finger down the s
lit of her bloomers, finding her wet, bare flesh beneath.
“Ohhh,” Edward groaned, “she’s so wet for us.”
Startled by his voice, she started to protest when Garret suddenly leaned down and took her mouth in a kiss filled with such passion and need that all she could do was cling to him. His tongue, faintly tasting of whisky, stroked along her own, coaxing her into kissing him back. When he nipped her lower lip, she moaned in response, then jerked as Edward brushed the bud of her pleasure with his thumb.
“Sweet little pot of honey,” Edward said in a low, almost menacing voice. “I wonder if you will taste as good as you look.”
Garret held her in his arms as he made love to her mouth. That was the only way she could describe it. He kissed her like she was the air he needed to breathe, and it was intoxicating. Her body roared with desire and when something warm and wet rubbed against her sex she gave a loud gasp. Pulling back from Garret, she looked down to find Edward’ broad shoulders spreading her legs wide as he gave her pussy another lick through the slit in her bloomers.
“What are you doing!” she screeched, trying to scramble away but pinned in place like both Garrett and Edward.
“Delicious,” Edward all but purred as he looked up at her from between her legs.
“Stop that!” A zing of indescribable pleasure had her choking on her words as his mouth found her pleasure bud and sucked. “Oh, oh God!”
“So beautiful,” Garrett murmured against the side of her neck.
She clutched at his shoulders while Edward did unspeakable things with his mouth that were surely a sin. Nothing that felt this good couldn’t be. He’d lick up one side of the nub, then down the other, before rubbing his tongue in a circle that had her going out of her mind. Tension tightened her legs, and she found herself trying to close them even as she shoved her sex up into Edwards eager mouth.
Garrett continued his assault on her neck and ears, making her tingle with pleasure as he whispered about how much he wanted her, how good she looked with Edward between her legs, how much she was turning them on. When she went to reach between his legs, wanting to give him a taste of the heaven she was experiencing, he pulled away.
“No, not tonight. You can touch me later, but right now, this is all about your pleasure.”
Her back bowed as Edward rimmed her entrance with one finger, setting off new sensations that exploded in her blood like fireworks. It was one of the best feeling she’d ever experienced, and she wondered if maybe she’d been wrong about putting off sex for so long. She had no idea it would feel anything like this. The pleasure, the raw and primitive sensations roaring through her were completely addictive.
“Tight,” Edward said as he kissed her thigh, probing a little more with his finger. “A virgin, to be sure.”
The words managed to penetrate beyond her pleasure, and she started to protest again. “No, we shouldn’t be doing this. Stop.”
Instead of doing as she asked, Edward made a soothing sound before placing a gentle kiss on her mound. “Worry not. I’ll do nothing to take your maidenhead tonight. I swear it. Please, let me taste your sweet honey.”
Garret stroked her unbruised cheek with a gentle touch, his voice like velvet against her senses as he whispered in her ear, “Trust us, sweet Rowan. We will never hurt you.”
“I,” she nearly choked on her words as Edward took his finger, still slick with her juices, and rubbed it against her rear entrance. “What are you doing!”
He didn’t bother to reply, instead sucking her swollen clit into his mouth, then flicking his tongue rapidly over the sensitive tip. Sounds she didn’t know she could make poured out of her as wonderful sensations washed over her like a giant wave. His finger against her bottom no longer bothered her. Instead, as caught up in ecstasy as she was, the feeling of being played with back there was decadently naughty. She squirmed against him, panting and crying out before Garret took her mouth again.
“That’s it,” he urged between kisses. “Give us your climax.”
A burning started in the pit of her belly, then exploded out into every inch of her body as she screamed her pleasure into the night. Waves of tingling bliss blacked out her thoughts, taking her to a place where nothing hurt, nothing bothered her, and everything was perfect. Big male hands smoothed her dress back into place, while another set of hands helped get her tucked into her bedroll. By the time she was able to open her eyes, she found herself on her side, facing a smiling Edward who was laying in front of her.
Her arousal shone on his lips as he smiled, “Feeling better?”
Amazed that she was still able to blush after her wanton actions, she nodded. “Very much so.”
A warm, hard male body slid up behind her and Garret wrapped his arm around her waist, as Edward scooted closer to her front. She soon found herself comfortably sandwiched between the two men, who were grinning over her head like fools. They were careful to keep their pelvises away from her, but during their maneuvering, she had felt their erections. Very large ones at that. She didn’t have a lot of experience with men, but she’d caught glimpses through windows of her male neighbors in the building across the street walking naked past their windows. None of them had been nearly as good looking as Edward and Garret, and none of them had the men’s length and girth.
It made a little shiver go through her that was pure desire, but the men mistook for her being cold.
“Here,” Edward said as he pulled another sheepskin over them, “this should help.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, suddenly unable to meet his gaze.
Edwards’s gentle, thick fingers tilted her chin up as he stared down at her, his face mostly in the shadows of the firelight, “Your feminine juices are sweeter than anything I’ve ever tasted. Here, let me show you.”
Moving slowly, he lowered his head until their lips brushed. She gave a soft moan as new sparks of pleasure detonated inside of her. He was so big, but the way he cradled her head as his soft mouth seduced hers was highly erotic. Yes, she could taste herself on his mouth. Tart and sweet—she was relieved to know that she didn’t taste bad. Or maybe it was just the fact that she was enjoying the longest, slowest, most drugging kiss she’d ever experienced. While Garret kissed her with fire and passion, fierce and devouring, Edward kissed her like he wanted to savor her. Both different, but equally phenomenal.
So phenomenal, that when he stopped kissing her, she made a little mew of disappointment and tried to pull him back. “More.”
“Lass, you tempt me like no other, but this isn’t the time or the place.” Garret helped her sit up a little bit and handed her a canteen. “Take another dose of the tonic the doctor made. It will help you sleep. I can tell you from experience, sometimes it’s a few days after a beating that the real pain kicks in.”
She did as he said but grumbled afterwards, “I didn’t even like kissing you anyways.”
Both men laughed, and she had to duck her head to hide her own smile. The whole situation was just so out of her realm of experience that she had the odd urge to both giggle and cry at the same time. Garret leaned over and wrapped her up in his arms as Edward leaned forward and brushed his lips softly over hers.
“Are you really saying my kisses were unbearable? Were those sweet, erotic moans you made ones of protest, not of pleasure?”
One of those moans wanted to escape right then as her desire instantly flared to life. “Maybe they weren’t terrible.”
Another of those teasing, soft kisses before Edward pulled back and studied her. “I would love nothing more than to kiss you until you don’t know your own name, but I will not be celebrating our wedding night on the road. I want you spread out for us on our big, soft bed at home, wearing nothing but all that golden hair.”
“Wedding night?” She tried to elbow Garret to get him to stop kissing on her increasingly sensitive skin to let her think. “What wedding night?”
“We have decided,” Edward said with a huge smile, “that you will be our
wife.”
For a long moment, she stared at him, then she started to laugh. “Your wife? As in married to both of you, like they do in Lady Uriel’s court? That’s preposterous! Two men can’t marry one woman in the United States. It simply isn’t done!”
“Yes, it is,” Edward said with a small smile. He didn’t seem in the least perturbed by her rejection. “Maybe not everywhere, but more than you think. In Bridgewater and some of the surrounding areas, it is our way of life.”
“You’ll see,” Garret said as he helped her lay back onto her sleeping pad. “Perhaps, once you’ve meet some of the other wives, you’ll understand that what we are offering you is very real.”
“I can’t marry you,” she whispered as tears filled her eyes. “Ted is coming back for me, and we’re going to California together. I promised my father I would.”
The tonic was starting to slow her system, spreading a warmth that wasn’t carnal through her limbs. Even her thoughts began to slow, and her eyelids started to feel so heavy.
“We’re hoping we can convince you otherwise,” Edward’s voice rumbled from next to her ear, but she was already drifting off to sleep.
4
ROWAN
* * *
The wind was really picking up and the late morning sunshine dimmed as thick, dark clouds raced over the western sky. As they drew closer to Bridgewater, she had to admit the land itself was beautiful in a rough, powerful way she’d never experienced in the city. They crested one of the endless hills leading to the mountains, and the view was striking. Sitting next to Garret on the jockey’s box, she looked to where he pointed. In a gap between two large hills, a small town nestled in the valley between. Smoke rose from various chimneys, and she could see little moving dots that had to be cattle in one of the fields.
“Bridgewater is another three hours north of here on the other side of the hills,” Garret said, raising his voice as the wind gusted and roared through the leafless trees in a rush. “I don’t want to risk getting caught in this storm, so we’re going to stay in Dove Springs at a friend’s inn. Thought you might enjoy sleeping in an actual bed tonight. The gentleman that owns is the Inn is an old acquaintance of ours from our Army days named Dr. Tibbs. He’ll take a look at your injuries and make sure you’re healing all right.”