A Wicked Woman (Mail Order Bride of Slate Springs Book 3)

by Vanessa Vale

  I nodded, wiping my hands on my dress, then wrapping them about my waist. There was no doubt they were stunned I could marry someone as handsome as Jed.

  “I’m the lucky one,” Jed told her. “I believe my wife asked you a question.”

  “Oh?” Tara asked.

  “What are you doing in Slate Springs?” he repeated.

  “Perhaps this is a conversation in private,” Marina said, leaning in and lowering her voice.

  I shook my head. “No. We’ll have it here.”

  Both women looked down their noses at me. “Very well,” Tara said primly. “Mother left quite a few debts. The bank sold the house and everything to pay them off. We… we have nowhere else to go.”

  “The house is gone?”

  They nodded in unison, Tara’s delicate, pale curls that peeked out from beneath her hat bobbing. My father’s house and all the memories of him that went with it were now owned by the Bank of Clancy.

  “The carriage, the wagon, the furniture,” I mentioned.

  “Gone.”

  “You could have remained in Clancy, perhaps in the schoolteacher’s house you claimed?”

  “Oh, no. The scandal,” Marina said.

  I put my fingers over my mouth, afraid I would be sick. “It’s somewhat ironic, don’t you think, that you drove me from town because of a nonexistent scandal only to be forced out yourselves?”

  “I told you years ago using big words like… ironic makes you seem aloof and difficult,” Tara prompted. She narrowed her eyes at me. “You don’t look very good.”

  Jed and Knox both looked down at me, Jed turning me to face him. “Are you all right? You’re very pale.”

  “I feel sick.”

  Jed glanced at the women, the corner of his mouth turning down. “I don’t blame you.”

  “I assume your dead husband had a home you shared. We will live there so we don’t have to disturb your new marriage.”

  My mouth fell open at her boldness. No one would invite themselves to stay as they did.

  “Marina, Mr. Thomkins’ house was—”

  I was going to tell them it had been wiped out in the mudslide that also killed him, but Jed spoke over me.

  “The house is located on Union Street, two blocks that way.” Jed pointed over Tara’s shoulder.

  She glanced at Knox, clearly uninterested in Jed since he was my husband.

  “An escort would be greatly appreciated.”

  I narrowed my eyes at Tara, furious.

  She’d been in front of me for two minutes and set her sights on my men!

  Jed took my hand, gave it a squeeze. Glancing at me, he winked.

  I took a deep breath, let it out, trying to rid myself of the need to punch her in the nose and to not vomit.

  “I’m sure it would,” Knox replied, looking to the miners across the street. “Simms, Partridge, Abel!” he called. I’d only been in town a month and had yet to make everyone’s acquaintance, or learn their name, especially since my men had kept me so occupied, but I was sure everyone knew me. A new woman, married to the recently deceased Mr. Thomkins, quickly remarried to the Knox brothers. I was a novelty.

  The men all but ran across the street, quite eager for the introductions. They almost fell over themselves with their haste and removed their hats to nod and smile at the Jamison sisters.

  “Please escort the Jamisons to Melvin Thomkins’ house.”

  “You can’t escort us?” Tara asked, looking up at Knox and missing the confusion on the men’s faces at the request, knowing full well what happened to the house.

  “No.”

  “They wish to stay there while they are in town,” Knox explained to the men. “If it is not to their liking, I’m sure the three of you can help them find something more suitable.”

  The men grinned, understanding Knox’s meaning. Once they saw the destroyed house, the miners would be able to offer their assistance to the women. Whether it was to take them to the boarding house or marry them, I didn’t care. I didn’t think anyone was deserving of marrying either of the women, but if these three weren’t sharp enough to see their true personalities, then they deserved the union.

  Even though I knew the women would be going elsewhere, at least for the time being, I didn’t feel any better.

  “You were always kind to those of Clancy in their time of need. We are in need now, Eve, and you will see to us,” Marina said.

  I swallowed, wiped a hand over my damp brow. Jed’s hand settled on my hip and I felt reassured, but not better.

  “We heard from our escort up from Jasper that you are a wealthy woman now. Plenty to share with your needy family.”

  No more. I couldn’t listen to them any longer. I felt horrible and I just wanted to lie down with a cool compress. “Marina,” I said, wanting to tell her to go away, but the contents of my stomach started to move up into my throat.

  “What?” She stepped forward so she stood before me, looking down her nose at me with her wicked superiority. “Well?”

  I didn’t answer. Instead, I vomited all over the front of her dress.

  ***

  Knox

  “Feeling better?” I asked, my hand on the bed so I could lean over Eve.

  She looked better. I swear she’d turned as white as a ghost right before she emptied the contents of her stomach onto that bitch’s dress. It wasn’t like Piper who’d have punched the woman or pulled a gun on her, but Eve’s action was quite effective.

  She nodded.

  “That stepsister of yours, when she screeches, she sounds just like a scalded cat.”

  Eve’s lips turned up, just as I’d hoped. “You’ve heard lots of scalded cats?”

  “No, and I’ve never heard a woman make that sound before.”

  After she’d ruined Marina Jamison’s dress, I scooped Eve up and carried her home, not stopping until we were in my bedroom. The miners could tend to the affected women.

  “Neither have I,” Jed said, coming into the room carrying a mug of steaming tea. He put it on the table beside the bed, then sat down, his hip pressing against my thigh.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t just run away from home like Piper did,” Knox commented. “You had more reason than she ever did.”

  Eve offered a small shrug of her bare shoulder. I’d stripped off her dress before tucking her into bed, a porcelain basin beside her just in case. “I’m not as adventurous as she is.”

  Jed humphed at that and I couldn’t have agreed more. “You stood up to those women’s lies, took a train to meet a man you were married to, found out he died, then were quickly married to us. I’d say you’re very adventurous.”

  “Do you feel sick?” I put my hand to her forehead, but it was cool.

  She shook her head. “I feel much better now. Fine, actually.”

  “That was odd then. Do you usually vomit on your family?” Jed asked.

  “This is the first time for that, however… I did vomit yesterday as well.”

  I pushed off the bed and stalked toward the door. “I’ll get Spur.”

  “No, don’t,” she called. “I don’t need a doctor. I’m not sick.”

  I spun about. I wasn’t going to hear reasons why she shouldn’t see the doctor. I knew people who refused to go and then were dead a week later. She knew Spur and shouldn’t be afraid of him.

  “Then what else could it be?” I asked. When I shifted my gaze to Jed, I saw he was grinning widely. In fact, he looked slightly ridiculous. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

  “Looks like I’m the Dare brother with the brains,” he said.

  Eve looked to Jed and smiled, too. Tears slid down her cheeks. I clenched my hands into fists, steam ready to come out my ears like a hissing train. “What is going on?” I shouted.

  “I’m pregnant.”

  “She’s pregnant.”

  Both Eve and Jed spoke at the same time.

  All blood must have drained from my head because I thought I was going to keel over
. I’d been shocked when our parents died. I’d been shocked when we discovered Piper had run away, not gone to a friend’s house as we’d thought. I’d been shocked when I saw Eve for the first time sitting on that bench in Jasper with her nose in a book. But this…

  “A baby?”

  Eve nodded.

  “You’re sure?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You two have been at me enough. I don’t need to read in a book to know how a baby is made—at least not any longer—or the symptoms associated with having one.”

  A baby? I’d been punched before. A few times. Hard enough to loosen a tooth or wake up on the floor. But that had been nothing compared to what I felt now. Eve had hit me on the head with a railroad tie, spike and all. A fucking baby!

  “That was fast,” I replied. Walking around the bed, I dropped down on the other side from Jed, landing hard on the mattress as if my feet couldn’t hold me any longer.

  Eve laughed. “Fast? You two don’t like to do that fast.”

  I couldn’t help the grin, starting to come to terms with the notion that we’d filled our wife with so much seed that it took. “Very true.” I leaned in and stroked her cheek. “When we fuck you, we like to take our time, make sure you come hard and often.”

  She flushed at my words, but appeared content. “You both seem very proud of yourselves.”

  I looked to Jed who had the stunned, wondrous look on his face as I probably did. “Absolutely,” Jed said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Your stomach has settled now?”

  She nodded. “Like yesterday—”

  “Yesterday?” Jed asked, sitting upright and a frown puckering his brow.

  Eve offered him a frown in return. “Yes, I told you I was sick yesterday as well. I fear I may be sick like this for some time. But yes, yesterday, I was immediately better. I think the baby is just letting me know of her existence.”

  “Her?” I stood and started pacing. “A girl? Do you know what men are like? We’ll shoot them all if one even glances at her.”

  Eve laughed and I felt her hand grab mine, stilling me. She looked up at me with her green eyes. “She will have two fathers to watch out for her, plus a gun-toting aunt.”

  Yes, she would be well protected. “It could be a boy,” I added.

  She didn’t respond to the statement, for while she was having a baby, she didn’t know any more than we did the gender. “Are you sure you are well again?” I asked, crawling up the bed toward her, tugging her down the bed beneath me, careful to make sure I put no weight on her.

  Lifting her hand, she stroked over my beard. “Until this time tomorrow, it seems.”

  I reached beneath the covers and worked up the hem of her shift.

  “Knox, what are you doing?”

  “Filling your pussy up some more.”

  The thought of her belly going round with our child had me hot and eager for her. It was a Neanderthal notion, but I didn’t care. I’d claimed my woman—with Jed—and our seed took. It was the most elemental aspects of life and it made me want her all the more. I couldn’t keep my hands off her before, but now?

  “More? You two just had me not two hours ago,” she countered, but shifted her body to help me get her slip over her head and onto the floor. She was not the shy and wary miss of a month ago.

  I looked down at her breasts. Full and lush, the nipples were a pretty pink and furling tightly before my eyes.

  “Jed, I think they’re bigger.” I cupped one lush mound in my palm, very familiar with her body.

  Jed moved up to sit close on her other side. He took her other breast in his hand. “Mmm,” he replied. “We should see what other changes there are.”

  We looked down at Eve. She stared at us as if we’d gone insane, then a grin spread across her face. She pushed her glasses up just before I tossed the blankets off of her, exposing her entirely.

  “We’re going to fill you again, just to make sure.”

  Those were the last words any of us said besides, “More” or “Please” or “God, yes” for quite some time.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Eve

  Even after only living in Slate Springs for a few weeks, I knew word of Marina and Tara’s arrival would spread like a grassfire across Kansas. They were beautiful and unmarried. Certainly eligible. The town’s men had been concerned enough about the woefully small population of marriageable women to pass a law allowing two men to marry one bride, therefore they would certainly stir up interest, and quickly. If neither woman opened her mouth, they could be married within the hour. I was homely in comparison and had been wed, twice, within two. I had to assume it was possible the next time I saw them they would have husbands. The question was if each of them would have one, or two.

  I also knew that Piper would knock on the door before anyone else wanting all the details of their presence and the confrontation. I was amazed it took her until Knox and Jed had made me come three times before she showed up. I was even dressed and twisting my hair back up into a bun when she not only pounded on the door, but shouted as well. I smiled to myself as I made my way down the stairs. My closest friend was a wild woman, my complete antithesis. She spoke out of turn and often without thinking first. She was bold and brash and didn’t hesitate to threaten people with her gun. Fortunately, Spur and Lane had taken it from her, but just the mention of her using it—not actually waving it about—gave the general population of Slate Springs pause.

  As I came down the stairs I heard her swearing at her brothers. “Her stepsisters are in town and no one came to tell me? I had to learn from Rob at the bank. I ran out of there as if I’d robbed the place.”

  “Where’s my niece? Did you leave her on the counter at the bank?”

  She stood, hands on hips, facing down Knox.

  “Of course not. She’s napping.”

  “You can’t come here unless you bring her.” I knew how much my men loved their little niece and it thrilled me to know I’d be able to give them a baby of their own to love.

  “Stop changing the topic.”

  “She would have come and found you,” he advised. “However, she wasn’t feeling well.”

  “Yes, I heard about how she welcomed them to town,” she said rather gleefully. “I knew she didn’t like them very much, but the sight of them made her sick?”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out,” Jed said, pointing up the stairs.

  I came down the rest of the way and watched my friend’s face switch from a scowl to deep study. “You look very satisfied.” She held up her hand, then glanced between her brothers, her scowl back in place. “I told you I don’t want to hear the intimate details of your marriage.”

  It seemed I hadn’t tidied my hair enough to make it look as if I hadn’t just been well fucked. Maybe it was the flush to my cheeks I’d seen in the mirror. Or the smile I just couldn’t wipe away.

  Knox crossed his arms over his chest. “Just as we don’t want to hear anything about yours. Remember, we can still kill your husbands.” He cracked his knuckles. “Anytime.”

  The three of them could argue for hours, so I decided to end it. “What they are trying to say is that I’m pregnant.”

  Piper’s mouth fell open and she stared at me as if I’d grown a second head.

  “If we’d known getting you pregnant would make Piper speechless, we would have done it sooner. Does this mean you’ll be mute for the next nine months or so?” Jed asked his sister.

  Piper shook her head, gave her brother a dark look, then smiled at me. “This is going to be great.”

  She gave me a quick, and surprising, hug.

  “You don’t need a gun when you can vomit all over the people you dislike.”

  I laughed then as she grabbed my wrist and tugged me out onto the small front porch. I glanced over my shoulder at my men.

  “Don’t jostle her,” Jed warned.

  “She’s having a baby, not carrying a crate of TNT,” Piper countered. “Sit. Tell me everything.”<
br />
  She sat on the rocking chair beside mine and leaned in, eager to hear every detail.

  “Well, I was sick yesterday and then again today. I’m—”

  Piper waved her hand through the air. “Not about the baby. While that’s big news, we have to wait nine months. There’s plenty of time to discuss morning sickness and swollen ankles. I want to hear about your evil stepsisters.”

  At least she wasn’t coddling me. She had Lillian only a few months ago so she knew quite recently what it was like to be pregnant. I knew how Spur and Lane doted on her and could only imagine how they’d behaved.

  I told her of their arrival in town, leaving out what I’d been doing with Knox and Jed in the mine office when we heard. I told her of Victoria’s death and their reason for coming to town. All of it.

  “And they want you to support them?” She shook her head. “The gall. I say we threaten to shoot them if they don’t leave town.”

  “Piper,” Knox warned. They might be giving us time alone on the porch, but they weren’t going far and heard it all.

  “I’m scared of them,” I admitted.

  Piper frowned. “Why?”

  I sighed. “Have you seen them?”

  Piper shook her head. “No, but they sound like cruel shrews.”

  One of the men laughed. Knox, I thought.

  “Look at me. I’m… plain. I wear glasses. I’m short and frumpy and I… I—”

  “Make your husbands so hot for you that we can’t wait to take you,” Jed said, joining us. “I won’t look at my desk at the mine the same way again.”

  Piper groaned. “I don’t want to hear this.”

  “Then cover your ears,” Knox countered, giving his sister a narrowed gaze as he leaned against the porch rail. He leaned back so his legs stretched long and almost brushed the hem of my dress. “I thought we went over this, sweets. We spank your ass a pretty shade of red every single time. We can go over it, again and again, until you believe it. We want you. Glasses and all.”

  “Your stepsisters did this, made you feel… less,” Jed said.

  I nodded, then looked down at my clasped hands, remembered how I felt every time Marina and Tara had taunted, teased. Tattled.