“How do you…oh,” Colton said. He sent an uncomfortable sheepish look Matt’s way. Female issues were not either of their favorite topic to discuss. Colton, having at least lived with other women, had a better understanding of such things.
He put his fingers gently beneath her chin and lifted until she stared at him. “Are you in pain? Do you have cramps?”
She shrugged and then shook her head.
“Then we’ll just postpone the wedding night, honey. Not to worry. It isn’t as if we didn’t spend all of yesterday into the night testing out if we fit together well enough. We fit together great.”
“I know,” she said with another sniff. “I was just sort of hoping that…well, you know.”
“We do,” Matt joined in, “but this isn’t our last chance. We can wait. It really isn’t a problem. Don’t worry about this, Ella. Let’s go have our ceremony.”
She paused and looked around the room at the others briefly before turning back. She looked like she was about to say something but simply smiled and nodded. “Okay.”
Ella’s father crossed his arms and pouted. He still eyed the keg as though it might grow legs and run away if he didn’t keep it in his view at all times. The preacher waited patiently by the fireplace. The Stevenson brothers stood by the front door looking surprisingly pleased given that the bride they’d selected was now lost to them. Why had they agreed to spend so much money if they didn’t care whether they married her or not?
Their reaction to the events made Matt nervous, as if he were missing something vital or out of the loop on an important matter. But he couldn’t conceive of what it could be. And it didn’t matter. For better or for worse Ella was their bride in the legal sense if not in the spiritual one.
But that was about to be remedied. The preacher approached the three of them, opened his bible to a marked place, and started the ceremony quickly as if he feared it wouldn’t get done at all if he didn’t hurry.
The service was surprisingly fast. The three said their vows, and the preacher pronounced them duly married. Matt kissed her lips briefly. Colton also kissed her mouth once very gently.
On the kitchen table where the contract tablet still rested, an angry-sounding beep emitted from the device. A robotic female voice from one of the applications therein that Matt had accessed earlier gave a canned message that he had an important communication waiting for his attention from the bank. More specifically, it was from the financial institution holding Colton’s trust fund and where Matt had just applied for what he considered a guaranteed loan.
A low, bad feeling slipped into Matt’s belly. The only reason a message of this nature would ever come back so quickly and to the originating tablet device was if there was a problem with the pre-loan application he’d sent them. The one he’d proudly attached Ella’s excellent bride certificate percentage information to in order to speed the process.
The news had to be about a discrepancy with the certificate. The only one Matt could think of had to do with the percentage being inaccurate. Or falsified. Fuck.
Was Ella infertile after all, but her father had somehow rigged the certificate to be favorable?
Chapter Ten
Colton still held Ella’s hand after they’d kissed. However, Matt went ashen and dropped his hands directly after their vows to love, honor, and cherish each other until death parted them. Once the tablet device had beeped, Matt was the very definition of distraught.
He raced away from them to the kitchen table. Picking the device up quickly, he started stabbing his finger on the surface. Under his breath he kept saying, “Fuck. No. Fuck. Can’t be.”
Ella’s father was preoccupied with cracking open the keg. He filled a glass he must have found in the kitchen from the spigot on the end of the large keg.
Just as Parker was about to take his first long drink of celebratory spirits, Matt straightened from the tablet, turned in his direction, and slapped the glass out of his hand. “You lying sack of shit! I’m going to kill you.”
Colton strode over to Matt, ready to subdue him before he murdered the bride’s father on her wedding day. Not that he necessarily disagreed with the act since her father had all but left her to die in the basement, but he wanted to know why Matt was in a palpable frenzy of anger. His brother rarely even raised his voice.
The Stevenson brothers smirked at him from the front door. He should have told them to wait outside, but it was too late for that now. And to be fair, this was Parker’s house, not theirs anyway.
“What is wrong with you?” Colton whispered furiously. Matt ignored him in favor of the tablet screen again. Colton couldn’t even focus in on the pages Matt was scanning through at such a rapid pace he couldn’t be reading them.
Matt suddenly found what he was looking for. He held the tablet up to Parker and in fact hit him with it in the face. “I will not allow this to stand.”
Ella’s father pushed the tablet away and said, “You married her fair and square. She ain’t my problem anymore.”
“It is your problem because I want my money back. Right now, you damn cheater.”
“Too late.”
“Matt! What is wrong with you?” Colton could only explain Matt’s behavior with possible demonic possession. Matt wanted the bride price funds back?
Over his shoulder Colton saw that Ella had obviously heard and understood what Matt was frothing at the mouth about. Her eyes widened in the wake of Matt’s behavior. She suddenly turned and ran into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
“Damn it, Matt. She just heard you.”
“We’re fucked, Colton.” Matt backed away from Ella’s father and slumped against the wall. “Totally and completely.” Obviously he hadn’t heard and hadn’t noticed that Ella was no longer in the room.
“What are you talking about?”
“The bride certificate is bogus. The doctor somehow faked the percentage for her conception probability. I just got a notification that no loan will be considered based on the dubious certificate we provided.”
Colton narrowed his eyes. “What does that mean?”
“It means that we just gave over a small fortune for a bride who probably has no percentage at all to conceive. Which we need her to do in order to keep the ranch property you want. We won’t have time to search or pay for another bride, even if I was willing to do that, which I’m not. Plus, we won’t be able to get a loan against your trust fund to start up the ranch at all if she is unable to conceive.”
“She heard what you said, Matt. About wanting your money back. I know it looks dark and stormy right now, but she doesn’t deserve your wrath.”
Matt pushed out a regretful-sounding sigh, looking over in the direction of where she had been standing but now wasn’t. “I’m sorry. I’m not mad at her. I know she didn’t know what her true conception percentage was before.”
“Yes. And I believe her, as well.” Colton surprised even himself. He didn’t trust women. Never had. But he trusted Ella. “Now go apologize to her. She’s not your enemy. She’s your wife. Go make up. We’ll figure something out.”
“You’re right. I’m a complete ass. I didn’t think past my anger. Ella doesn’t deserve my poor attitude.” Matt turned to Ella’s father, pointing a finger in his face. “We aren’t finished yet, old man.” He then hurried over toward the bedroom door.
Colton meanwhile, strode over to Ella’s father. He’d found another glass and refilled it. Colton knocked it out of his hand before he could take a sip.
“You are the worst sort of prick imaginable. If the Stevenson brothers had just married your daughter and found out her certificate was falsified and that she might not be able to conceive, they would probably have taken it out on her. But you don’t give a shit about that, do you?”
Parker shrugged but had an angry set to his shoulders. He eyed the glass on the floor and the spilled liquor. “I hope you rot in hell. Your daughter deserves better.”
Colton turned to follow Matt into
the bedroom, but Matt spilled out into the main room with a devastated expression on his face.
“Colton, she’s gone.” Matt headed straight to the front door. Before he opened the entrance, they heard the gallop of horse hooves once more right outside the cabin.
Otis—still sporting the bloody nose Colton had given him earlier—pulled his sonic gun off his belt. With a sardonic grin firmly in place, he asked, “Want me to slow her down for you?”
“You even point that gun in her direction and I will take you out permanently this time.” Colton glared at the stupid oaf to ensure he understood.
Matt opened the door and they watched her head to their cousins’ land.
Colton stepped close to him. “She still has the fence remote, doesn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“Can we follow her?”
“Yes. I have the code to open it manually. Should we follow her?”
“She’s our wife. Of course we follow her.”
“Think she’ll ever forgive me for what I said?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Just tell her you’re an ass.” Colton chuckled. “I’m sure that will at least make her smile. Every time I say that, it makes me laugh.”
* * * *
Ella cried all the way to Drakestone land. Hunched over the mane of the horse, saltwater streaming out of her eyes, she didn’t think she’d ever run out of tears.
Her father had done something deplorable. She knew it. And now the men she loved would hate her forever because of it. Well, Colton didn’t seem angry. But Matt was livid. And she couldn’t blame him. She should have told them her father was up to no good before allowing the ceremony to take place.
Even though the contract was signed. Even though she was legally theirs, she hadn’t warned them. She should have told them he was up to something. When her voice came back, she should have told them to be wary.
She should have been forthcoming about her gut feelings. But she’d chickened out. The chance to marry Colton and Matt instead of the Stevenson brothers even though she wasn’t pregnant and knew it, was too enticing to pass up. But she really should have cautioned them not to trust her father.
The horrified look on Matt’s face when he discovered her father’s duplicity was more than she could take. Having him demand his money back wasn’t nearly as painful as suffering through her own cowardice that may have prevented it.
She didn’t know where she was running to. Drakestone land was her only option at this point, but having to admit what she’d failed to say in order to get what she wanted—namely Colton and Matt as her husbands—kept her racing past the fence line. They likely wouldn’t take her in since she was running
Ella half expected to be blasted off her horse again. But somewhere deep inside, she didn’t think either Colton or Matt would do that to her. And they didn’t.
She rode through the fence line and closed it upon reaching the other side. It was the first time she’d felt safe since learning Matt and Colton planned to take her with them.
Her father showing up earlier than expected shouldn’t have surprised her, but she’d been deeply shocked. The largest revelation though was learning that her high percentage was simply a fabrication of the sleazy doctor her father hired and paid off for a favorable result.
The one thing she’d been very happy to discover was that she’d be able to have children. The one secret joy she’d allowed herself to nurture all these past months. Even if she ended up married to deplorable men, her reward was the chance to have a child of her own. A sweet baby to love, hold, and care for. She wasn’t asking for the moon. But so many women had given up on this one dream, now Ella was reluctant to give up on hers.
What she didn’t know was if she had a chance at all. Obviously, the doctor hadn’t done a “true” conception test on her. Or he had and the results had been what they usually were for the female population. Usually there were three choices, but she knew she must not fall into the first category of “excellent percentage and a fairly good chance for pregnancy.” No, she now fell into one of the other two categories. “There’s a small chance, but don’t count on it.” Or worse, “sorry, no chance in hell.”
As she rode relentlessly hard and fast across the Drakestone land, in the distance she saw the homestead and barn. Would they take her in? Would they just confine her until her new husbands came for her? And once they came for her, would they refuse to acknowledge her as their bride?
Ella decided that would hurt most of all. If she was cast aside for a bride who could actually get pregnant and produce an heir for them. She certainly couldn’t expect that they’d remain married to her given the depravity of her father’s deception. A faked conception certificate never even occurred to her. Would they believe that she hadn’t known?
Once she calmed down enough and stopped crying at the thought of her miserable existence and how she’d been foolish to believe that things couldn’t possibly be worse, she tried to figure out what to do next.
Maybe it would have been better if she’d died in the basement. Falling in love with two men who now likely hated her for her part in the ruse to take their bride price money was as bad as learning she’d likely never have children.
Slowing the horse to a trot, Ella couldn’t come up with a single way out of her unforgivable situation. Either she ruined Colton’s and Matt’s lives or she found a way out of the marriage.
Maybe she needed a lawyer. Being married to one in this instance wouldn’t help her. She’d have to find another one.
A pretty redheaded woman stood just outside the barn as Ella made her final few yards into the homestead area of the Drakestone property.
“Hi,” she said with a smile and then waved like she was glad to see her. “I’m Brianna. Are you Ella?”
Ella tilted her head to one side. “How did you know that?”
Brianna approached her horse. “Well, first off, this is one of the horses we loaned to Matt and Colton.”
“We?” Ella asked.
“Oh, ‘we’ as in me and my husbands, Alex and Rafe.” She then pointed to the brand on the horse’s rear end. “And second, Matt and Colton sent a message ahead to be on the lookout for you.”
Ella pushed out a long sigh of defeat. “I guess they want you to hold me until they arrive.” She slipped off the bare back of the horse and handed the reins to a ranch hand who’d come out of the barn. She pulled the fence remote out of her jacket pocket and handed it over to Brianna. She’d traded her blue wedding dress for more appropriate riding gear but now wished she’d brought it along as a memorable tribute to her soon-to-be short-lived union. They were probably only a few minutes behind her.
Brianna narrowed her eyes as if puzzled. “Not exactly. They wanted us to give you a place to stay until they catch up with you again. They were on the way to see some property. I guess something sidetracked them.” She grinned and gave Ella another quick look head to toes. “Or someone.”
Ella nodded. They hadn’t even been to see their property. A property they weren’t going to be able to keep. Because of her. Because of what her father had done to them.
“So I’m not a prisoner here?” She glanced over Brianna’s shoulder at the ranch house.
Brianna laughed. “Of course not. Why would you think that? You’re our special guest. More than that, you’re family. Anything you need, just ask.”
Ella ignored the question. Before she lost the courage to speak her mind, she asked, “Would you be willing to help me get a lawyer? I need to find a way to annul my recent marriage.”
Chapter Eleven
Matt reined his horse to a stop just before the rise revealing his cousins’ homestead property. It had taken forever to get here, and he’d been cursing himself for being so stupid the entire way. He was prepared to fall to his knees and beg Ella’s forgiveness. His fury at her father had nothing to do with her.
Colton pulled up alongside with an unspoken question as to why they were stopping evident in his expr
ession. He was riding the preacher’s horse and looked too big on it. Matt had to subdue his urge to laugh at the ridiculously small mount his huge brother rode.
Whereas Ella had been dwarfed on his brother’s huge borrowed horse as she rode away. And since Ella had taken Colton’s ride and none of the other men at the cabin were willing to part with theirs, he rode an old, swaybacked mare that couldn’t go very fast.
Well, to be fair, Ella’s father had offered to sell them his horse, for an exorbitant price. Colton had to keep Matt from strangling the man with his bare hands. His new father-in-law really put him over the edge of sanity. If they never met again, it would be too soon.
Matt stared in the direction of Alex and Rafe’s homestead just over the next hill. The sun had risen, and there was not a cloud in the vast blue sky. It was still well before noon, and beyond a few puddles of water here and there, it didn’t even look like there’d been a storm in the recent past.
“Do you think she’ll forgive me for being such a callous ass?”
“I don’t know. You keep asking that same question. I still don’t have an answer for you.” Colton’s face then brightened unnaturally. “I know. Maybe we should keep riding, and in less than ten minutes your question could be answered, when we actually talk to Ella.” He gestured for Matt to keep going.
Matt turned his head away. “There is something you should know. I don’t care if she can have children or not. I plan to stay with her. Contrary to my earlier rash statements, I’m in love with her. I don’t want any other woman.”
“And you’re telling me this, why?”
He swung his gaze to his brother. “Because if you want to dissolve our partnership and find another suitable arrangement to better your chances with your father’s property, I won’t be upset.”
“Are you touched in the head? I love her, too. I’m not dissolving anything. Not with you. Not with her. Not ever. I’ll take my chances.”
Shotgun Bride [Tasty Treats 12] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Polyromance) Page 10