by Leah Brooke
Jeremiah nodded. “It’s like we missed something. We weren’t around when she became a woman. She’s so familiar and so different at the same time. I want our Maggie back.”
Eb kept his voice low so as not to be overheard in case his father came back. “She’s skittish—understandable after us leaving for so long and her father’s death. She’ll eventually see that what we’re doing is best for her and calm down. Tomorrow we’ll take her to town with us when we go to the general store. Afterward, we’ll stop at the preacher’s and get him to marry us and check on Savannah at the same time. That’ll cheer her up.”
Still staring out the window, Jeremiah nodded. “I want to know who those two men were.” Turning his head, he met Eb’s gaze. “Did you happen to notice how both of them seemed to be interested in Savannah? You don’t suppose they want to marry her the way we want to marry Maggie, do you?”
Leaning forward, Eb cradled the glass he held, staring into it. “They’ll never be able to live that way with her here, and they both appear to be smart enough to know it. One of them is gonna get hurt.”
Jeremiah grunted and looked away, staring toward Maggie’s dark house again.
Even in the low light, Eb could see the muscle working in his brother’s jaw.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?”
Jeremiah shifted in his seat. “All your plans for tomorrow. Seems you’ve got it all worked out when it comes to Maggie.”
Something in his tone had Eb sitting up. “You weren’t jealous tonight, were you? How the hell do you plan to share her without seeing me touch her?”
Shooting to his feet, Jeremiah moved to the window, pushing the curtain aside. “I didn’t expect it. I didn’t expect…her.” Dropping the curtain, he turned away. “Fuck it. Just leave it alone, Eb. You’re the one who’s marrying her anyway.”
Eb’s stomach knotted. None of this was working out the way he’d planned. They’d expected to come home, have Maggie fall into their arms with gratitude for taking her away from here, and each show her the affection they’d always felt for her. They’d have children with her, heirs who would one day take over the ranch.
A comfortable life with a woman they’d practically raised and who knew all about the hardships of living on a ranch.
They’d be content, which was all he ever wanted.
He had it all worked out, damn it! It was supposed to have been so easy.
He sure as hell hadn’t expected to have his legs knocked out from under him by a woman he thought he knew, or to argue with his brother over a woman they’d decided years ago to take care of together.
Surging to his feet, he joined his brother at the window, his gut burning. He and Jeremiah would have to settle things between them before they could ever hope to become a united front for Maggie, both to lean on and to look to for guidance. Staring out, he took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, considering his words before speaking.
“When we were at the train station and I held her—hell.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face in frustration. He’d never even considered having this kind of conversation with his brother. The whores they’d shared required no conversation on his part, other than what they did in bed.
He hadn’t foreseen any of this at all. How could he have been so stupid?
Staring at her dark house, he tried not to think about his cock that even now demanded attention. “My cock was hard as a rock and stayed that way on the ride here.” Allowing a small smile, he glanced at Jeremiah. “Damned uncomfortable. When I kissed her, I didn’t expect the damned punch to the gut. It was the same tonight. I sure as hell didn’t expect to go so far with her, but the way she responded—hell. She was drenched and tasted delicious.”
With a look of disgust, Jeremiah started to turn away. “Go to hell, Eb.”
Eb grabbed his brother’s arm to stop him. “Don’t go off half-cocked. I’m not trying to make you jealous.”
Jeremiah jerked his arm away. “Then what the hell are you trying to do?”
With a sigh, Eb shook his head. “I’m trying to tell you she’s got me turned inside out, too. When we decided to marry Maggie together, we agreed to share everything, remember? Yeah, so I’ve already had a taste of her, and I damned well can’t wait for another. If you don’t like it, that’s too bad. I’m not walking away, so you’re gonna have to get over it.”
Disgusted with himself and his brother, he turned away. “We’ve stuck together on just about everything since we left here. It’s the only way we managed to get where we are. This is Maggie, Jeremiah. Marrying her and taking her back to Oklahoma is too important for us to fight about. How the hell are we going to give her the security she needs if we’re always fighting? She’s got to be able to count on both of us. She’s got to know we’re united on everything that has to do with her.”
Jeremiah sighed, bracing his fists on either side of the window. “I know that, Eb. Even when we disagree about her, we can’t let her see it. She needs to know she can count on both of us to be strong for her. We can’t do it by squabbling. I know it, but when she called out your name when she came…Hell, I don’t know. Of course I can’t expect her to yell both names. But I was watching her face and—damn it!”
Rubbing his stomach where a knot tightened, Eb sighed. “Yeah, I guess I would have been jealous, too.” He paused, throwing back the rest of his whiskey. “It is a little different with Maggie, isn’t it?”
Jeremiah shrugged. “Yeah. Fuck this. I’m going to bed.”
Eb watched him leave, suddenly realizing that sharing a woman, even one they both knew as well as they knew Maggie, wouldn’t be as easy as they’d first thought. Standing, he moved to pour himself another whiskey, but changed his mind and set the glass on the table.
Whiskey wasn’t the answer. He needed a clear head to think this through.
He was still staring out the window when his father walked in about an hour later.
“Son, what are you doing in here? I thought you’d gone to bed.”
Eb looked over his shoulder. “I had some thinking to do, Pa.”
“I wondered when you’d get to it.”
Surprised, he turned to face his father fully. “Excuse me?”
His father smiled, apparently not the least bit intimidated by his tone, a tone that back home would have had outlaws scurrying. “Thinking about how you and Jeremiah are gonna share a wife. Did you disagree on something?”
“Not exactly.”
“You will. Better figure out how you’re gonna handle it.”
“Already have.”
Eb stood and headed for the door. “We can’t let our jealousies affect Maggie. She needs to feel safe, no matter what. It looks like we’re going to have to talk about some rules.”
* * * *
Jeremiah came downstairs before dawn the next morning after a nearly sleepless night, only to find Eb already sitting at the breakfast table drinking coffee. “You’re up early.”
“Never went to bed.”
Pouring himself a cup of the dark brew, Jeremiah looked over his shoulder at his brother, something in Eb’s tone troubling him. “Oh?”
Eb sighed. “Sit down. We need to talk.”
An hour later, both men sat laughing, looking up as Esmeralda hurried into the kitchen, tying her apron around her.
Smiling, she went to the back porch and came back with a basket of eggs. “You two seem to be in a good mood. It’s nice being back home again, isn’t it?”
Thinking of the sounds Maggie made as she fell apart in his arms and the conversation he’d just had with his brother, Jeremiah sat back, happier than he’d ever been in his life. “Yeah, it’s good to see the ranch again, but I can’t wait to get home.”
Eb held up his cup when Esmeralda brought the pot over to refill it. “I love that place. Hope Maggie likes it.”
Their father walked into the kitchen, greeting everyone, and took a seat, smiling his thanks to Esmeralda when she filled his cup. �
�I’m sure she’ll love it. Have you talked to the preacher yet?”
Jeremiah stood and went to the window, trying to peer around far enough to see Maggie’s house. “We’re going to town right after breakfast. We’ve got to load up on all the supplies we can, and then we’ll stop at the preacher’s. Where’s Maggie?”
Their father looked up from his coffee, raising a brow, a faint smile playing at his lips. “She’s your responsibility now. Did you make sure she had supper last night? After you two tore outta here, Esmeralda and I ended up eating alone.”
Jeremiah gritted his teeth, not liking the reminder. “She said she ate already and the only reason she ate here was because Buck was foreman. Said she figured the new foreman would be joining you, and she didn’t want to be in the way.” He looked toward the door again, wondering where the hell she could be.
Their father set down his cup so hard it should have broken. “And you let her get away with that? Maggie knows better and so should you.”
Esmeralda smiled at their father, patting his shoulder. “She’s just trying to avoid them, and she keeps moving to avoid Fred.”
“Who the hell’s Fred?” Eb and Jeremiah both barked simultaneously.
His father took another sip of coffee, looking entirely too amused. “One of the hands. You really don’t know what’s going on with Maggie at all, do you? Buck told him to stay away from Maggie, but ever since he died, young Fred’s been pantin’ after her.”
Jeremiah could actually feel his temper soar. “It sounds like we have a lot to talk to Maggie about.”
Eb’s eyes narrowed as his eyes shifted from the door to his father. “Maggie tell you that?”
Their father took a sip from his cup. “No, but I know everything that happens on the Shenandoah, and Esmeralda keeps a sharp eye on Maggie. Always has. Did you forget that, too?”
Grimacing, Eb didn’t meet his father’s eyes, instead looking back at the door to the kitchen, making Jeremiah wonder if he was thinking the same thing he was.
Did they know what he and Eb did to Maggie last night?
Why did he care? She belonged to them, damn it, and they could do whatever the hell they wanted to with her, and it was nobody’s fucking business. His gaze shifted to the door again.
He respected his father and Esmeralda, but needed to make that clear. “I appreciate what you’ve done for Maggie, and I know how much you both love her, but, like you said, she’s our responsibility now. We’ll handle her.”
Esmeralda plopped the basket of biscuits on the table with more force than necessary. “I thought when you came it would help her deal with her father’s death. But now she seems even worse. You’ve got to get her mind off of it and get her excited about moving to your ranch.”
Eb reached for a biscuit. “Once she’s there, she’ll be fine. She’s been worried about Savannah, but that’s being taken care of.”
Jeremiah helped himself to one of Esmeralda’s biscuits, hoping the biscuits Maggie made tasted just as good. “You’ve all spoiled her. She doesn’t like to be told what to do and goes out of her way to defy us. That could be dangerous on the Circle T, and we won’t allow it.”
It had been a long time since he’d found the need to explain himself to anyone, and it didn’t sit well.
Eb came to his feet, looking anything but happy. “She should have been here by now.”
Jeremiah joined him, eager to see what the hell was keeping Maggie, and tossed over his shoulder. “Dad, you and Esmeralda meet us at the church.”
“Reverend Perry ain’t gonna like it.”
“I don’t give a damn what Reverend Perry likes or not. Meet us in town in a couple of hours.”
Ten minutes later, he fought to rein in his temper.
Eb’s expression appeared to be carved from stone as they faced the ranch hand who worked in the stable. “How long ago did she leave, Jasper?”
* * * *
Still fuming, Jeremiah saddled his own horse, cursing under his breath the entire time. “She’s spoiled rotten, damn it. I’ll bet she thinks if she makes us mad enough, we’ll leave her here. What the hell’s gotten into her? Why isn’t she happy to be going with us? She’s always been crazy about both of us.”
Eb finished with his own saddle. “I don’t know what the hell’s going on with her, but I’m going to find out.”
Jeremiah hadn’t slept worth a damn all night, unable to get the passionate sounds she made or the feel of her soft skin out of his mind. His cock had stayed hard enough to drive nails for hours after he went to bed, and he’d finally had to take himself in hand to get some relief.
It hadn’t helped.
“Where the hell do you think she is?”
Eb led his horse out of the stable, anger making his movements stiffer than normal. “If I know our Maggie, she went exactly where we told her not to go. She’s in town.”
Jeremiah grimaced. “She doesn’t listen worth a damn.”
Smiling coldly, Eb mounted. “Then I guess it’s up to us to teach our little bride to behave herself.”
Jeremiah’s cock stirred with anticipation. The only spankings he’d ever given in his life had been the playful ones to the whores that frequented the ranch. It didn’t take long for him to discover how arousing it could be to have a firm ass to enjoy at his leisure, especially when a spanking done properly could make a woman wet and needy. He didn’t know how he’d be able to administer one to Maggie as punishment without thinking about how the smooth cheeks of her bottom would look beneath her pants.
But then again, he didn’t have to.
Eb started out, looking over at Jeremiah. “Let’s find her and give her the paddlin’ she deserves.”
Jeremiah chuckled and looked around to make sure no one would overhear him. “It’s a shame we can’t give her the kind of spanking Trixie and Lacy like. One of those bare ass spankings with wandering fingers.”
Eb shot him a look, his eyes alight with devilish anticipation. “Why do you say that? She’s ours, and we can spank her any damned way we want to.”
Lust and a sense of power and possessiveness swelled inside Jeremiah, making his heart beat faster and his cock ache all over again. “Ours. Hell, that’s going to take some time to get used to. All ours. Let’s go get her. I’m dying to know how Maggie’ll react to a spanking like that.”
They rode toward town in silence for several minutes, giving Jeremiah a chance to think. Having Maggie in his arms last night had been nothing like fucking the whores he was used to. “Do you think we’ll ever be able to take Maggie together, the way we used to with Lacy and Trixie?”
Nodding once, Eb adjusted his pants over his cock. “We’ll teach her. You heard her last night. She came, didn’t she? Maggie’s gonna love sex. We’re just gonna have to go slow.”
Jeremiah didn’t want to mention the fact that Eb had been mostly responsible for Maggie’s orgasm. He wanted to be the one to give her the next one. He wanted, needed, to hear his name on her lips when she screamed her release.
Although he’d known her as long as his brother had, he knew she looked to Eb first and considered Eb’s word law, sometimes even taking it over her daddy’s.
The jealousy he’d experienced rose up again and knotted his stomach. He vowed to himself that he would do whatever he could to get her to see him in the same way and realize he could take care of her just as well as his brother.
He’d changed quite a bit in the years they’d been away, and it was high time to show her that.
Years ago, he’d been a man who couldn’t commit to one woman and spent as much time as he could fucking as many as he could. He liked his fun, and he sure as hell liked to gamble.
That’s how he’d won the damned land they lived on.
Hell, it had been a long time since he had the kind of fun he looked forward to right now.
They’d show Maggie a different side of them, one that he hoped like hell would throw her off balance enough for them to get the upper hand, and gi
ve her the kind of pleasure that would make her putty in their hands.
* * * *
Irritated to find no one home at the Perry spread, Jeremiah rode beside his brother to town, his anger and impatience growing. He didn’t know what the hell had put a burr under Maggie’s saddle, but he couldn’t deny that the way she kept trying to avoid them hurt.
A lot.
The noise and the dust in the street from passing carriages annoyed the hell out of him, making him even more impatient. Looking up and down every street they passed, Jeremiah grimaced, wondering if he’d ever find Maggie in this crowd. “Were there this many people here when we left?”
Eb scowled, his expression growing darker by the minute.
“Didn’t seem like it.”
“It’s too damned noisy.”
Eb turned to him, his eyes narrowed. “You used to love to come to town. Couldn’t wait to get your chores done so you could play poker with one of Starr’s girls on your lap. As I remember, Candy was your favorite.”
Shaking his head, Jeremiah’s eyes went to the saloon across the street. “It seems like a long time ago. Hell, I can’t even remember any of the other girls’ names.”
“There she is.”
Jeremiah turned to follow Eb’s gaze, searching the area beside the general store. “Where?” He turned his horse to follow his brother, deftly cutting through the crowd.
Eb nodded. “She ducked behind the general store. I’d know that walk anywhere. She’s wearing pants again.”
“She’s never been allowed to wear pants to town. Seems she’s doing everything she can to defy us.” Jeremiah hated the fact that he didn’t know what was going on in Maggie’s hard head. The feeling that he’d missed a part of Maggie’s growing up saddened him more than he’d like to admit.
Eb tethered his horse and started for the small alleyway beside the general store, anticipation lighting his eyes. “She’s testing us. She’s about to see what happens when she crosses the line.” He turned the corner and came to a dead stop.
Jeremiah stopped short of running into him, his hand already on his gun. He’d only heard that growl once before from his brother—when another man had drawn a gun on him during a poker game.