by Vanessa Vale
“And our protection,” I added.
She looked between us, her chin tilted back so she could see us fully. “I couldn’t do that. It would be unseemly.”
Probably taking off her gloves would be considered unseemly. Her coat was buttoned all the way to just beneath her chin. Not an inch of skin below the neck showed. Why then did I want to undo one button at a time and strip her bare, watch her face as every unseemly inch was exposed?
“I assure you, a journey to Slate Springs alone is not advisable,” I said. “The weather at the top of the pass could change at any moment. Snow falls even now, in July. Everyone in Jasper would agree not to make the trip alone, man or woman.”
“Do not fret. If your sensibilities are bothered, you will not stay with us in Slate Springs,” Jed added. “You will stay with our sister, Piper and her husb—”
Jed bit off the last word, for now was not the time to teach her about the special law of our town, that Piper had not one husband, but two. If either of us were going to court her, we needed her in Slate Springs to do it, not on the next stage back to Denver.
“You will stay with our sister,” I repeated, ending it there.
Jed held out his elbow in a very gentlemanly fashion and I picked up her bag. “We have completed our tasks here in Jasper,” he told her. “Shall we go?”
Miss Jamison eyed Jed’s arm, decided on what she should do. I eyed his arm, too, but for a completely different reason. We were trying for the same woman, a woman whose first name we didn’t even know. Just like we were nineteen again and eager for Samantha Perkins’ attentions. This woman wasn’t Samantha Perkins. Hell, no. This woman was so much more.
I was of the notion to toss her over my shoulder and take her to the nearest minister, but Jed was more patient. Prudent, too, for she took his elbow and they walked down the boardwalk toward our wagon. Damn him.
I didn’t like seeing her on Jed’s arm, but I did like watching the gentle sway of her hips and the ribbons I’d given her dangle from her gloved hand. This woman, she was going to be mine. She just didn’t know it yet.
CHAPTER THREE
Eve
I didn’t know what to think. I’d left the perfidy of my stepsisters behind. The further the train traveled from Clancy, the more I’d realized I could leave them behind as well. I didn’t have to live with them. I didn’t have to eat with them. I didn’t have to be taunted by them. I was free.
But, I was also alone. For a short time—the slip of paper in my pocket proved it—I’d been married to someone who’d actually wanted me. He hadn’t met me, but he’d sent for me, wed me. Then, he died. I’d never even laid eyes on the man and I was a widow. There had to be some kind of record for the shortest marriage in some book.
As I told the Dare brothers, I was ashamed of myself for not feeling something—anything—for Mr. Thomkins, but how could I? He was a stranger to me. And even more shameful were the thoughts I had for Mr. Dare. And Mr. Dare.
I was wedged between them on the wagon bench, their solid bodies keeping me from the rough ride up the mountain. I’d never been so close to a man before, let alone two. I had no idea their muscles could be so hard, so… corded.
We spoke of generalities on the journey; about the pass that closed in the winter, the rugged terrain, the way the trees stopped growing at a certain altitude, the silver found in the sides of the mountain. It was all fascinating to me, and they spoke of things my book did not mention. They’d shared that they’d only been come from Kansas a year ago and settled near their sister. They’d put in a mining claim and started their own venture. It seemed the two were full of aspirations and, based on the book I’d been reading, had strong backs. Well, I didn’t need the book to inform me of that last part. Just looking at them told me that.
I was glad they filled the three-hour journey with conversation, for my mind didn’t have time to linger on how warm they were, how I could feel every inch of their sides, how the scent of them made me almost woozy.
Why did I find these men appealing when no one had before? And why both of them? Something was definitely wrong with me. Perhaps shock over Mr. Thomkins’ untimely death. My heart beat frantically, then calmed, then skipped a beat when one of them glanced down at me. I was hot, then cold. My palms were sweating and I wasn’t going to think about how my nipples had turned hard and began to ache. That was something new.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Jed said to the redheaded woman who’d come out onto the porch of a two-story white house at our arrival.
“Where else would I be?” she asked, hands on hips, eyebrow raised.
Knox climbed down from the wagon. “Saloon, perhaps?”
Saloon? Gracious.
The woman pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “I haven’t stepped foot in a saloon in a year.”
Knox turned to me, held up his hands to help me down.
“That’s because you’re not allowed.”
Jed spoke to her from behind my back. I was too focused on Knox’s big, warm hands on my waist than the banter between siblings. There was no question this woman was their sister.
“Enough about me. Aren’t you going to introduce us?” she asked, although I was staring at Knox, not at her.
I held his pale blue gaze a little longer, then he released me and turned away.
“Miss Jamison… I mean, Mrs. Thomkins, may I introduce you to our sister, Piper?”
She was a little taller than I and a little slimmer; however, she had a full bosom. Her hair was as red as her brothers, her skin fair. She was strikingly pretty. I just had to wonder why she needed to be forbidden from going to a saloon.
“Mrs. Thomkins?” she asked.
“This is Melvin’s mail order bride.”
“Eve, please,” I said. “I do not feel like a Mrs. Thomkins and I am no longer Miss Jamison.”
Piper’s smile slipped and she came down the steps. “I’m sorry to hear of his untimely death.”
“She’s going to stay with you, if that’s all right,” Jed said. “The other Mr. Thomkins will want to make her acquaintance, but we thought it best if she was among friends.”
“My… Melvin had a brother?” I wondered, based on Jed’s comment.
“Two,” Knox said.
I hadn’t considered my husband to have family. I hadn’t thought past the man himself. “Shouldn’t I perhaps stay with them?”
“No.” All three of them spoke at once.
I was about to ask as to why they were so adamantly against meeting and staying with Melvin’s family, but was diverted by two men approaching, one holding a small baby in his arms. One man was fair-haired, the other dark with a beard. That one held the baby, a little girl based on the pale pink dress. There was no question to the child’s heritage, for she had her mother’s fiery red hair. The same as my escorts.
Piper greeted the two men, stroked the baby’s head. Leaning down, the dark one kissed Piper on the lips. It was chaste, but not something I was used to seeing in public. Well, that meant I wasn’t used to seeing it at all because I’d never seen a couple kiss in private either.
Neither Jed nor Knox seemed bothered by the action.
“Did you rest at all?” he asked.
Piper rolled her eyes at him and the other man reached out his hand and swatted her on the bottom. My mouth fell open.
“You were to nap while we kept Lillian entertained,” the fair one said, then pulled Piper in for a kiss of his own.
Surreptitiously, I glanced up at Jed and Knox. Neither man looked thrilled with the public display, but they also weren’t clobbering them either.
“Stop pawing our sister,” Knox growled.
“You Dare boys need a wife of your own, then perhaps you’ll leave us alone,” the fair-haired one countered.
Piper rolled her eyes again. Clearly, she didn’t follow the stricter dictates of society. I felt like I was staring at a unicorn for the way the trio was behaving. “Mrs. Thomkins, Eve, may I introduce Spur an
d Lane? Spur’s holding baby Lillian and Lane’s the brute who likes to spank.”
I stood there, hands folded in front of me, all wide-eyed and prim. I straightened my back even further and offered them a neutral smile. “How do you do?”
“You left out something important,” Jed said to his sister.
“Oh?” she replied. Spur patted the baby’s back and Lane was making funny faces at her.
“Eve is wondering why those two are taking such liberties with our baby sister.”
How did he know such a thing? I blushed, for while I did want to know the answer, I’d never say so.
Piper looked to me, nonplussed. “My brothers didn’t tell you of the new law in Slate Springs,” she said.
I slowly shook my head, trying to keep up with the sibling banter that indicated a closeness I’d never had with Marina and Tara.
Shifting to stand directly in front of the two men, she continued, “Spur and Lane are my husbands.”
My mouth fell open again. I couldn’t help it. Husbands? I glanced at Spur, then Lane, then Piper, then back to Jed and Knox.
I spun on my heel and began to walk quickly down the street, chin up. I tried not to clench my hands into fists, to hide my anger, but it was impossible.
“Wait!” Jed shouted. Or was it Knox? I didn’t know, I didn’t care. I just kept moving. My dress and coat tangled about my legs and for some reason, I was out of breath.
Jed jogged past me, stopped in front of me to block my path.
“Leave me alone,” I said, glancing past him to the houses further down the block. My breath came quickly and I wanted to bend at the waist, put my hands on my thighs and take a moment, but I couldn’t. Not now. Not with Jed before me.
“You are upset.”
Upset? They were poking fun of me. Of course, I was upset. But instead of telling him that, I pursed my lips, pushed my glasses up and then lifted my head to meet his pale eyes. “Thank you, Mr. Dare, for your kind escort to Slate Springs, but I do not like being made a fool.”
He put his hands on his hips. I heard footsteps behind me, felt Knox join us.
“Made a fool? What have we done?” He looked truly perplexed.
“I was ridiculed and taunted at home in Clancy. My sisters enjoyed poking fun at my expense. I don’t need that here, too. While it came from your sister, clearly you were all in on it.”
Knox came around from behind me, stood next to his brother.
“You think Piper is joking about Spur and Lane.”
I wanted to roll my eyes, but refused to lower myself to a tantrum. Instead, I straightened my spine and pushed my glasses up again.
“While I may have had the shortest marriage possible, I am well aware of the custom. While I might just be a plain, plump schoolteacher, I am not an idiot.”
The look on Jed’s face shifted from confusion to anger. “I do not like to hear you speak of yourself in such a way.”
“You are neither plain nor plump,” Knox added.
I narrowed my eyes. “Out of everything I said, that is what you comment about?”
“I will not have you disparaging yourself.”
“I find you quite pretty and delightfully curvy,” Knox added.
I didn’t know how to respond to that. I’d never been complimented in such a fashion before. So I scoffed. “Please, I’m a bluestocking and I wear glasses. I know the truth.”
“The truth is you’ll be over my knee soon if you keep it up.”
Jed’s words were low and full of promise. A promise to spank me. I remembered the way Lane had spanked Piper’s bottom in broad daylight, which brought my thoughts back to the real reason I was angry.
“Let me pass.”
“No.”
“No.”
“Then you will not poke fun and tell me the truth.”
“Slate Springs’ town council passed a law over a year ago making it legal for two men to marry one woman,” Jed said. “That is why Piper is married to both Spur and Lane.”
“Town law?” I asked.
Both men nodded. “The mayor, Luke Tate, shares a bride with his brother, Walker. You can meet them and Celia soon enough, but for now, talk with Piper.”
They seemed so earnest in their words. Were they true? Was there really a town law that allowed a wife to have two husbands? Based on the hair on the baby’s head, the child was Piper’s, but which husband? Oh, god, did she… did she bed two men? Two men! How did that work? Did they take turns with their attentions? Did she like one over the other? Monday for Spur, Tuesday for Lane and so on?
“From an intellectual standpoint,” Knox commented. “You should speak with Piper to ease your curiosity. If, after doing so, you wish to leave, we will take you to the boarding house.”
I eyed him carefully. “That last bit is a lie.”
His lip turned up. “You’re right. I did lie about the last. You will talk with Piper and stay with her and her family. I want you safe.”
“Why wouldn’t I be safe at the boarding house? Is it dangerous here?”
The town was quaint and in the prettiest of settings. Jagged peaks covered in snow surrounded the valley where the town was nestled. The grass was so green, wildflowers dotted the landscape. I couldn’t imagine the people living here being ruthless killers.
“No, but we will ensure you are protected,” Jed added. “May we escort you back to Piper now?”
I looked between the two. Were Piper, Lane, Spur, Jed and Knox all working together to ridicule me? It seemed unrealistic to have them band together and make up such a ruse for the next new person who came to town. It seemed unlikely, but then again Tara and Marina had signed me up to be a mail order bride, spread slander and purchased me a train ticket, all for their amusement.
But these men weren’t Tara or Marina and I was no longer in Clancy.
“Very well.”
Jed placed his fingers on my elbow and guided me back up the street where Piper and her two husbands—really?—were waiting.
The fair-haired man, Lane, said, “Piper told me you were Melvin Thomkins’ mail order bride. I’m sorry for your loss.”
I glanced away and murmured my thanks.
“I am sorry if I said something that bothered you. I have been told many times that I should be more ladylike, but I fear that is impossible.” Piper stepped forward and patted my arm. “You must be hungry after your journey. Tired, too.” She studied me as closely as I studied her. “And you have questions, too. I should shoot my brothers for not preparing you.”
She narrowed her eyes and gave her brothers a look I recognized as one I was trained to give unruly students.
In my periphery, I saw Jed hold his hands up in front of her. “It’s better to hear it from you than us. I wanted her safe. In Slate Springs. If either of us told her, she’d have run back to Denver.”
“It looked like she was on her way there just a minute ago,” Piper argued.
The baby made a fussy sound and Spur patted her back.
“Give me my niece,” Knox said, stepping up to Spur and deftly taking the infant from him. Spur didn’t seem to mind and smiled at his little daughter. Wait. Was the baby his? Or Lane’s?
Knox put her up on his shoulder and she stared at me with wide blue eyes. She was tiny in his hold. My heart gave a little lurch seeing his big hand pat her back, listen to him croon to her, see the smile spread on his face. I wanted a baby. I wanted a man who would hold my baby with such tenderness, even with big, hard hands.
That was not going to happen with Melvin dead, so I shook my head, cleared my mind of the possibility.
“Let’s go to the kitchen,” Piper said, grabbing my arm and tugging me up the steps. I almost tripped on one in her haste. “The four of them will fight over who gets to hold Lillian until she’s hungry, and don’t worry, she’s got powerful lungs and we’ll know. The whole town does.” She pulled me into the house and through to the kitchen.
The house wasn’t overly large, but well appointe
d. With the kitchen set at the back, the window over the pump sink looked out at the base of the mountain, thick green grass and scrubby bushes blended with boulders and craggy rocks.
“Sit. Ask.” Piper was forthright and I liked that.
I smoothed my dress where she’d grabbed, fixed my glasses, then did as she bid, my hands folded in my lap. She sat across from me and waited.
“Two husbands?” I wondered. It wasn’t the most polite of questions to start with. I should have asked after the baby or the weather or even about the town.
She smiled. “I think I’m going to like you.”
I wasn’t sure what I’d said that made her say so, but I was pleased nonetheless.
She sighed when she heard one of the men make silly talk to the baby. “Reduced to blathering idiots. They’re going to lose their minds when she’s old enough to court.”
I could only imagine.
“Two husbands. Yes. Since the town is small, cut off in the winter, full of miners and not so full of women, the town council passed a law allowing two men to marry the same woman.”
“Everything all right in here?” Jed stuck his head through the doorway, looked to me. It had been all of two minutes since I left him on the porch.
“I have not escaped out the back door.”
“Go away,” Piper told him, shooing him with motions of her hand.
He frowned, then came into the room. “Your husbands asked me to bring coffee. They are besotted and too distracted by Lillian to play host.” Going to the stove, he grabbed the coffeepot. I stared idly at his back, the broad shoulders.
“Sorry. I should have offered,” she replied, not seeming guilty in the slightest for not offering her brother refreshment.
He offered a small shrug, but continued to work on the task, although I couldn’t see what he was doing. “You are occupied with Eve. Continue.”
“You want to eavesdrop,” Piper countered.
He turned and brought me a cup of steaming coffee, put it on the table before me. I offered my thanks as he turned back to get another for Piper. When he held it out, she declined. Grabbing one more cup, he nodded to me, then left, headed back toward the other men.