by Vanessa Vale
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
VANESSA VALE BOOKS
Their Reluctant Bride
By Vanessa Vale
© 2016 Vanessa Vale
All rights reserved.
No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
Cover Design: RomCon - www.romcon.com
Cover Photos: Bigstock- John Bilous; Period Images
Emily Woodhouse is a penniless, homeless widow thanks to her recently deceased husband. His gambling ways have placed her in a desperate situation. Faced with working off his debt in the basest of ways, she chooses instead to accept Tyler and Xander's unconventional marriage proposal. She won't be marrying one man, but two.
Tyler and Xander know instantly that Emily is the one for them. Not only does the widowed young woman rouse their protective natures, she knows of their customs regarding a two husband marriage. Despite the fact that Emily needs the safety they can offer, she isn't eager to remarry. She might be reluctant, but they will show her what it will be like with two men to cherish, protect and possess her.
But the past catches up with them in the most dangerous of ways. Only in facing the past can they forge a future together.
THEIR RELUCTANT BRIDE
A Bridgewater Ménage
CHAPTER ONE
EMILY WOODHOUSE
I was so nervous I could barely catch my breath. My heart pounded so frantically I was afraid it would jump right out of my chest. My fingers tingled and sweat dotted my brow. Trying to take a deep breath, I lifted my hand and wrapped on the door.
Would they even be within? It was mealtime, so perhaps they were eating with the others. I should be hungry, but I hadn’t been able to eat a bite all day. It had taken me that long to build up enough nerve to come. I’d almost turned the horse around several times. I glanced behind me as I waited; the vast expanse of the Bridgewater Ranch was a stunning view. In the distance I could see another house and knew that the stables, barn and other structures were over the rise. Like all the houses on the property, they were set well apart for privacy. There was no shortage of open land on the Bridgewater Ranch.
I heard footsteps and I spun back around as the door opened. I clenched my fingers.
“Mrs. Woodhouse.” Mr. Tyler wiped his hands on a dishtowel and the way his pale brow winged up, it was clear that my appearance was not expected. “You are out early. We were just finishing our lunch. Won’t you please come—”
“I agree,” I blurted. I couldn’t hold back any longer, afraid if I did, I’d either change my mind or lose my nerve. It was petrifying, their offer of marriage, but I didn’t have much of a choice and Mr. Tyler and Mr. Xander would do. Taking in how handsome the man before me was, his fair hair tousled, his blue eyes aimed solely on me, his full lips quirking up into a half smile, he would do quite nicely. If only I weren’t so scared about the proposition.
“You agree?”
I closed my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath. I’d done it, I’d started the conversation, so the tightness in my chest eased, a bit. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t reject me, or that Mr. Xander would agree. A full day had passed. Perhaps in that time they’d changed their minds. What would I do then? “To your offer. To being fucked by both of you. I agree.”
He looked at me so intently I had to glance away. It was the first time I’d ever said the word fuck and it felt strange. It was the word they’d used the day before. Not intercourse, not sexual congress. Fucking. I could feel my cheeks heat and I wondered if I’d ever be comfortable with saying it.
“I believe Xander would like to hear this. Won’t you come in?”
I nodded and as he stepped back, I passed him into the entryway. His clean scent filled the air and I breathed it in. He didn’t smell like drink as Frank had.
“Xander!” he called.
There was footfall overhead, then down the stairs. The house was very large, especially when these two men took up the space, but it wasn’t theirs. It was Kane and Ian’s home, along with their wife Emma. They’d gone to Billings for several days, leaving their little girl with Andrew, Robert and Ann. Mr. Tyler and Mr. Xander were staying in the vacant home during their visit to Mr. Tyler’s cousin, Olivia. I was thankful that they weren’t guests in her house, for I would not have the privacy I did now. This conversation was hard enough without witnesses.
I looked up and watched as Mr. Xander’s long, lean body appeared one step at a time. I was able to take in the narrow waist, the long fingers, the muscular chest even before I saw his face. It was hard to look away from his chiseled jaw, the dark beard and strong brow. The few times I’d seen the man, he’d been watching me so intently it had been difficult not to squirm.
“Mrs. Woodhouse,” he murmured, coming to stand before me, a little too close.
I refused to take a step back, to let the man know I was a little fearful around him. It wasn’t because I was truly afraid of the man; he wouldn’t hurt me. I worried about his effect on me. The squirming I’d done was partially because of attraction on my part. I was not used to that and it was… scary.
“Mrs. Woodhouse has said yes,” Mr. Tyler told him.
Instead of his brows going up in surprise, Mr. Xander’s eyes narrowed, as if he’d found his prey caught in his trap and there was nowhere to go.
“Really? Is this true, Mrs. Woodhouse?” His voice was deep, dark and promised equally dark things. This wasn’t a gentle man; he was barely tamed.
I tilted my head back to look at him, for he was almost a head taller than me. I licked my lips and cleared my throat, and the words stuck there. “I agree to marry you.”
“Both of us?”
I’d known what being a Bridgewater bride entailed for about half a year when Olivia had first told me. At first, I’d been stunned, for at that time I’d had no interest in the one husband I did have, and saw no need for two. But now…
“Both of you.”
He stepped closer, and I retreated. Again. My back bumped against the closed door and he leaned in, his forearm resting beside my head. His warm breath fanned my neck. He smelled of peppermint and wood smoke. His body didn’t touch me in any way and I knew if I took a deep breath, the tips of my breasts would brush against his chest.
“You understand what that will entail?” he murmured. “Whatever your husband did or didn’t do with you is buried with him. We have our own expectations of a wife and we shared those with you yesterday.”
I glanced at Mr. Tyler, yet felt surrounded by Mr. Xander. They were too big, too tall, too… male. I remembered all too well what those expectations were. When they’d escorted me to my ranch the day before offering marriage, I hadn’t turned them down, nor had I accepted. They knew the dire straits I was in—at least some of it—and had been honorable to offer for me. What they didn’t know was that Frank’s gambling debts went beyond what he owed the bank. He also owed a man named Ralph and he’d come calling, too. He wasn’t honorable at all. In fact, the amount of money Frank owed him was enough to have me working on my back for months to pay it back. Ralph didn’t believe a debt was repaid with my husband’s death.
�
�What did you tell me just now?” Mr. Tyler asked, tearing me from my thoughts of Ralph.
I licked my lips again and tried to calm my racing heart, but Mr. Xander was very distracting.
“I will marry you… and, and… and fuck you both.”
Mr. Xander took my hat from my head. I vaguely heard it thump on the floor, but he stroked his knuckles over my cheek. His dark eyes pierced mine and I couldn’t look away. “You’re not a virgin,” he said. It wasn’t a question.
I shook my head. I hadn’t been one for quite some time. I wasn’t a naive virgin for them to deflower.
“Then we don’t have to worry about you being a reluctant bride, do we?”
I wasn’t so sure about that. I was very reluctant, but I also had never been as eager for a man’s touch before as I was right now. I wanted more than just the tips of his knuckles on my cheek. But two men? These men? I shook my head again.
“We told you that we’d fuck you. What Tyler didn’t say was how he’d fill your pussy with his cock and pound into you until you came all over it. I didn’t tell you that I’d breach that sweet ass of yours, shooting my seed deep inside so that you’d be dripping all day from both holes.”
I gasped at the crude language and my inner muscles clenched at the picture he painted. I’d had no idea a man would put his… his cock in a bottom. I’d assumed fucking meant fumbling beneath the covers in the dark, my nightgown bunched up around my waist, just as Frank had done. Mr. Tyler would visit my bedroom one night, Mr. Xander the next. Not that. My cheeks heated and my nipples tightened against my corset.
“What we didn’t tell you was what we’d do to you besides fucking,” Mr. Tyler said. I opened my eyes—when had they fallen shut?—and saw that his gaze had darkened, his jaw was clenched tight.
“Other things besides fucking?” I wondered. What else could there be? Kissing? Frank had only rolled on top of me early in our marriage. I’d opened my legs for him and he’d push inside me, rutting, then filling me with his seed. It had been over in a minute or two. Then he began to drink and I’d been quite adept at avoiding him.
“Damn straight,” Mr. Xander said. He looked at me for one short moment, then lowered himself to his knees and began lifting up the long hem of my dress.
I tried to swat his hands away, but he was not to be deterred.
“What are you doing?” I squeaked. It was one thing to agree to marry and… fuck them, but it was another to do it right now.
“I’m going to show you how it’s going to be between us.”
“Yes, but why are you on your knees? Shouldn’t we be in bed? It’s not dark out,” I stammered, my palms pressing against the wood of the door.
He looked up at me and grinned. His teeth were white compared to his tanned skin and dark beard.
“You are a little reluctant after all.”
All of a sudden I was very reluctant.
“Don’t worry, baby, he’s going to make you feel good,” Mr. Tyler said, his voice a smooth timbre. He moved closer. Backed against the door, one man at my feet and the other just beside me, I had nowhere to go.
Mr. Xander’s big hands slid up my calves and knees, then my thighs, pushing the dress up as he went. More and more of me was exposed by each passing second and I shivered at the idea. Mr. Tyler took hold of the bunched-up fabric and held it up at my waist, making my lower half completely visible.
“When we marry, you won’t be wearing these or needing them ever again.” Mr. Xander tugged at the string on my drawers and they slid over my hips and down my legs to pool around my ankles. “Step out.”
“Why?” I breathed.
“Why?” he repeated. “We will want easy access to your pussy, sweetheart.”
He picked up the discarded drawers and put them up on one shoulder, the thin white fabric a stark contrast to his work shirt. A dark, rusty sound escaped his throat as he looked at me… there. I darted a glance at Mr. Tyler, who was also eyeing my body. Cool air brushed against my thighs above the edge of my stockings and my woman’s core was heated from their gazes. Covering myself was a waste of time. I knew with Frank that once a man had focus on intercourse, there was no dissuading. I wasn’t a virgin. I knew what they wanted, what he would do. But, here? I just had to close my eyes, grit my teeth and bear it. I just had to figure out how he was doing to do it on his knees.
“I can smell her arousal from here,” Mr. Xander said.
Smell me?
“Her curls, they’re glistening. She’s wet and we haven’t even touched her yet.”
“I’m not wet,” I countered, embarrassed, trying to cover myself. “Mr. Xander, truly, I bathed just this morning and I don’t smell, nor is my skin still damp.”
“I’m just Xander.” His hands cupped my ass and pulled me toward him. “If you want to be formal about it, you can call me sir, especially when I’m about to lick and finger fuck your sweet pussy. Either will do nicely.”
Lick? I didn’t have time to ponder his words, for his tongue flicked out and over my folds, sliding along them until he circled and circled the little bundle of nerves.
“Oh, dear Lord,” I gasped, my hips bucking. I had no idea a man could—would—do something like this.
“Say his name, baby,” Mr. Tyler whispered, kissing along the side of my neck, nipping at it and then licking the tender spot. “A man likes to hear his name when he’s eating his woman’s pussy.”
Xander’s hand dipped between my thighs to play over my… pussy as he continued to lick and suck at my tender flesh. I gripped his head, tangling my fingers in his hair. I wasn’t sure if it was to push him away or pull him closer.
Slipping a finger inside, he curled it and found a spot that had me crying out. His name came out on a surprised groan.
“Xander.”
His finger slipped free and I felt empty. He lifted his head and looked up at me. His lips and beard glistened. Lifting his hand, he brushed his finger over my lower lip and coated it with my wetness.
“You are wet. Dripping. An aroused woman will coat a man’s fingers, mouth and cock with her pussy juices.” He pushed the tip of it past my lips and into my mouth. “Taste.”
I tasted myself on my tongue as I sucked on it. Xander’s eyes widened and his jaw clenched as I did so. He growled as he pulled his hand free.
“I want a taste,” Mr. Tyler uttered.
Xander pushed to his feet and took hold of the bottom of my dress as the other man took his place between my legs.
Mr. Tyler took a moment and just looked his fill. “I can see her clit poking out from here. So easily aroused.” Glancing up, he asked, “Do you want to come, baby?”
I wanted to do something, for I felt as if I was going to burst out of my skin. My heart was racing and my skin flushed; the taste of myself was indeed sweet on my tongue.
I’d come before, not from Frank, but my own fingers late at night. Sometimes he wouldn’t come home and I’d been able to explore my own body, to touch myself the way I liked. In all those moments, I’d never felt remotely like this.
“Yes,” I whispered. “God, yes.”
“I’m not God. Just Tyler. You’re going to scream my name before I’m done with you.”
Tyler pushed against the inside of my thigh, making me widen my stance. Only then did he lean in and put his mouth on me. Where Xander had been deliberate and aggressive, Tyler was focused and attentive. While he did pay special attention to my clit, he sucked one fold into his mouth, then the other before pushing the tip of his tongue inside me. I’d had Xander’s fingers and Frank’s member in me, but never a tongue. It wasn’t big enough, nor did it go in deep enough to make me come, but the idea of Tyler filling me with his cock had me clenching his shoulders. I was lost, wild to the feelings.
These men. Lord above, these men were skilled. I had no idea what I’d been missing. I was in the entryway with my dress bunched about my waist with a man—a gorgeous man—between my legs doing wicked things to me! A second man stood by and wa
tched. It was… wicked.
“You’re going to come for Tyler, but not until I say,” Xander whispered in my ear, the soft rasp of his beard on my neck another sensation to my already overwhelmed body.
How he knew I was almost on the brink, I didn’t know. But with Tyler pressing his tongue flat against my clit as he dipped not one, but two fingers inside me, I didn’t know how stop it.
I licked my dry lips as I gasped and cried out with pleasure. My eyes had fallen closed and I just gave in to the feeling.
“Not yet, Emily. Be a good girl and wait for your men to tell you when you can come. Your pleasure belongs to us now.”
I turned my head to look at Xander, to tell him what he could do with his pushy ways. His face was right there. His dark eyes bored into mine, our breaths mingled.
“Stop.”
I stilled at his order, but I realized when Tyler lifted his head and pulled his fingers from me that Xander was speaking to him, not me.
“No, don’t listen to him. Don’t stop!” I was panting now, as if I’d run the distance to Bridgewater instead of riding. I glanced down at Tyler—he, too, had slick lips—then at the fierce Xander.
“The next time you tell me I’m pushy, you’ll be punished and you won’t come,” Xander vowed. “That’s a promise.”
Had I said those words aloud? It seemed Xander was not a man to be trifled with.
“You want to come so much, sweetheart, then you tell Tyler exactly what you want him to do.” He stroked my hair back from my face with a gentleness that contradicted his tone.
“Make me come,” I said. I’d never said these kinds of words aloud. Frank had never brought me pleasure before. In fact, I never knew it was actually possible with a man. Until now.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Xander shake his head. “How?” he asked.
Tyler wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Waiting.
“How?” I repeated, confused.