Monroe, Marla - Their Bartered Bride [Men of the Border Lands 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Marla Monroe

  “We’ll keep the fire going in the fireplace for you,” Leigh promised.

  “I’m going to go get covers for you.” Jonathan started up the stairs.

  “Don’t forget his pillow, Jonathan,” Leigh called up the stairs.

  It was nearly midnight when they finally got Joel settled down. Leigh didn’t want to leave him downstairs alone in case he needed something, but Jonathan refused to let her sleep on the floor.

  “We’ll sleep upstairs in the bed. I’ll come down and check on him through the night. You are going to get some rest.”

  Leigh hadn’t realized that Jonathan could be so bossy. She stuck her tongue out at his back when he headed for the stairs. Joel caught her and grinned. Then he sighed and motioned for her to follow Jonathan upstairs.

  “Go on, baby. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “I love you, Joel.”

  Joel stilled then grinned. “I love you, too, baby.”

  * * * *

  Joel settled back on the couch, wondering at why she had all of a sudden said the words. Did she mean them, or was she worried about him and said them to reassure him? Her eyes had filled with love, so she had to have meant it. Did that mean she remembered now? He couldn’t wait to find out.

  He had held back for so many weeks in telling her that he loved her. With her not remembering anything about their relationship, he hadn’t wanted to push her. He felt guilty about bartering for her, but realized it had been the right thing to do. Did she remember that he’d been distant toward her those last few days before the wolf attack? If she did, maybe she had forgiven him since she had said she loved him.

  The crackling of the fire drew his gaze and he thought about how much he wanted to be holding her right then. Jonathan would be snuggling up to her, keeping her warm. He wanted to be in that bed with them, but there was no way he would be able to make it up the stairs without a lot of pain and Jonathan’s help.

  He sighed. The wolves had gotten the drop on them. He figured there had been close to twenty-five of them. They had managed to kill at least seven and wound another three or four. It thinned their ranks, but not nearly enough, as far as he was concerned. They would need another hunt, and soon, to keep them down.

  Maybe they would back off for now. He needed time to heal, and so would Brandon. He had a feeling Brandon was feeling a bit more pain than Joel was. He’d gotten a nasty tear on his chest.

  Meeting the other men seemed to be a good idea. They could help each other in tough times if they all became friends. Brice had already asked him if they would let Leigh visit Ronnie some when she got too far along to get out. They were worried about her getting depressed holed up in the house.

  Another thought struck him. What were they going to do when Leigh ended up pregnant? She would eventually, and there were no doctors around. They would need the women to help her then.

  Joel lay there worrying over every little thing for what seemed like hours when Jonathan slipped down the stairs to check on him.

  “What are you still doing awake?” he asked.

  “Thinking too damn much, that’s for sure.” Joel sighed.

  “You need to rest so you can heal. What are you thinking about?” Jonathan asked.

  “Have you thought about what we would do when Leigh gets pregnant?”

  “Not really. I figured when she gets pregnant, then we would worry.”

  “We’ll end up delivering the baby. I don’t know the first thing about delivering babies, Jonathan.” Joel wiped his hand over his face.

  “Neither do I, but it can’t be much different than delivering calves. We can find out who’s got a book, or get one from Sky Line when we go this spring.”

  “I expect you’re right. I can’t sleep because I’m not comfortable, so all I can do is lie here and think of things to worry about.” Joel tried moving to another position again.

  “So what’s the scoop on the wolf situation?” Jonathan asked.

  “Not as good as I’d have liked.” He filled Jonathan in on the hunt and the numbers of wolves.

  “That thinned them down some. Maybe they will stay away for a little while until we can hunt them again,” Jonathan said.

  “That’s what I’m hoping. I’d feel better if we could thin them down to about five or six. We need them to keep the vermin down, but not go after our claves.”

  “And women,” Jonathan added.

  “How’s Leigh?” Joel asked.

  Jonathan sighed. “She cried herself to sleep. She was really upset that you were hurt. You’re going to catch hell going on the next hunt. She’s not going to want you to step foot in those woods again.”

  “I figured that. But neither one of us wants to have to worry about her working in the garden alone this spring and summer. We’ve got to take care of them now while we have the snow to track them.”

  “I agree. We’ll worry about convincing Leigh when you get ready to hunt again.”

  Joel knew Jonathan hated not getting to go, but one of them had to watch out for Leigh, and Joel was the better shot. It was only smart for him to be the one hunting. Besides, if something happened to him, Jonathan was the best at taking care of Leigh.

  “Okay. You need to get some rest now. I don’t want to have to deal with you raving with a fever. I might have to knock you out.”

  “Like hell, little brother.”

  Jonathan laughed and walked back toward the stairs. He turned and looked at Joel one last time as if he wanted to say something. Then, he climbed the stairs and vanished from sight.

  Joel settled down once more and stared into the flickering fire, thinking about Leigh and what she meant to him. The one single word he could come up with that summed it all up was home. She meant home to him.

  Chapter Seventeen

  After several weeks, Joel was just about back to normal. Jonathan kept the herd close to the house, but there had been no further problems with the wolves. Leigh was still holding her breath, though. She was so afraid they would start up again and the men would want to go back out hunting.

  She had overheard Joel and Jonathan talking about it on several occasions, but they always hushed when she walked in the room. She was fairly certain they planned to set up another hunting party soon. She wouldn’t allow it if it were in her power. She was so afraid of losing one of her men.

  Another thing she wanted was for both men to make love to her. After everything Ronnie had told her about it, she could hardly wait. They had prepared her for several weeks before all the excitement, and now they were just beginning to have sex again after Joel’s injuries had healed.

  Leigh didn’t want to wait anymore. To her way of thinking, it was the last step to becoming one between the three of them. She saw it almost like a wedding ceremony, and she hadn’t had hers yet.

  She planned to broach the subject that night. She would take a nice, long bath and bathe in her best soap so she would smell nice. Then she would pounce on them. Leigh laughed to herself at the thought of pouncing on either of the men. She was so much smaller than they were.

  “What are you laughing at?” Joel surprised her. She hadn’t realized anyone was in the house. The men had been outside in the barn.

  “Just thinking that I’m happy. Everything is going so well. How are the horses?”

  “Doing fine. We’re probably going to get more snow tonight, though. The wind has whipped up some major clouds.”

  “Mmm, snuggling weather.” Leigh wrapped her arms around Joel and squeezed.

  “You’re feisty today. What’s gotten into you?” Joel held her out in front of him and tilted his head to the side. “You’ve got something planned. I can see it in your eyes. What is it, Leigh?”

  “Nothing. I’m going to have a nice, long bath now while you two are outside.”

  “Don’t catch cold, baby. Keep the water hot and wait for one of us to come dry you off quick. How long do you want to soak?” Joel played with her hair, holding it up on top of her
head.

  “About forty-five minutes.” She swatted at his hand when he tickled the nape of her neck.

  “That’s an awful long time in the cold.” He frowned.

  “I’ll be fine.” Leigh stood on tiptoe and kissed him, then bounded up the stairs.

  She ran the water as hot as she could stand and pulled out the smell-good soap she had found in the back of the cabinet. Then she slipped into the water, hissing at the heat. It would cool off quickly, so she would need to let some out and turn the hot water back on again.

  She quickly bathed, then leaned back and let the water soothe her. She was nervous about tonight and wanted to be relaxed, or the men wouldn’t take her together. She was sure they were reluctant to for fear of hurting her. Well, she was going to put an end to that thinking.

  Twice she had to add hot water before Joel came in to pull her out of the tub and dry her off. He kissed her as he wrapped her in the towel and briskly rubbed her skin. He was careful of her arms and her belly. Truly, she was healed now, but they were still so careful with her.

  “Where is Jonathan?”

  “Downstairs, locking up. He figured you would be asleep in a tub full of cold water.” Joel picked her up and carried her to the bed.

  “Climb in and snuggle. We’re going to take showers and be right with you.”

  Joel stripped and hurried to the bathroom to the shower. She heard Jonathan’s heavy tread on the stairs. When he walked in, he headed straight for her.

  “So, are you a prune under there?”

  Leigh laughed. “No. I’m not a prune. I really enjoyed my bath, though. Hurry up with your shower. I need my men to keep me warm.”

  “I’ll hurry, baby. You stay warm. Joel will be out in a minute.” Jonathan hurried out the door to use the bathroom down the hall.

  Leigh could feel the nervous flutters in her belly once again. She tried to will herself to calm down, to no avail. Finally, she managed to calm down enough so that her teeth were no longer chattering.

  When Joel emerged from the bathroom, she grinned and held out her hand.

  “Hurry up. I’m cold over here.” She snuggled up to him as soon as he climbed beneath the covers.

  “Mmm, you smell good, baby. I like that scent. What is it?” Joel buried his nose in her neck.

  “Honeysuckle.” She giggled when he began licking her neck.

  He moved his mouth around her neck to her jawline and nibbled his way around to her chin. Then he kissed the corners of her mouth before sucking in her lower lip to tease with the tip of his tongue. Leigh moaned. Joel took advantage of her open mouth and plunged his tongue inside to slide sensually along hers.

  He sucked her tongue inside his mouth, where he pulled on it in time to his thrusting hips against her side. Then he pushed his back into hers to explore the roof of her mouth, as well as teasing her with his thrusting in and out.

  Leigh reached down and found his rock-hard cock. Just touching it had her pussy juices flowing. She ached inside for him to fill her up. She squeezed the base of his dick, enjoying the groan that slipped from his mouth.

  Joel broke the kiss to breathe as she ran her hand up and down the thick stalk of his cock. Then he was thrusting into her hand. He sucked on her neck, tickling it with his tongue before moving lower to her cleavage. He licked there before moving up to lick around her nipple.

  She tried moving to get him to touch her beaded nipple, but he avoided it, spreading open-mouth kisses all around her breast except where she wanted it. She grabbed his head and held him still while she brushed her nipple over his mouth.

  “Is this a private party, or can anyone join?” Jonathan dropped a knee on the bed, then climbed in to help Joel torment her breasts.

  Both men teased her until she was whimpering with need. Then Joel sucked in her nipple at the same time that Jonathan twisted her other one. She came up off the bed with a miniorgasm. Now her pussy juices were coating her inner legs. She was so turned on that even anal sex might not hurt. It was now or never. She pushed against the men until they moved back with strange expressions on their faces. She pushed Joel down and climbed on top of him. He grinned.

  “You want to ride, baby?”

  “I want you in my pussy and Jonathan in my ass.” She held herself up with her hands on his chest.

  “Baby, I don’t think you’re ready yet,” Joel said.

  “Let’s prepare you some tonight, and maybe in day or two,” Jonathan began.

  “No! I want you now. I need both of you now. I want to feel whole, and I don’t feel that way right now.” Leigh rose up from Joel and aligned his straining cock with her cunt and slowly lowered herself on him. She moaned at the fullness that gripped her.

  Jonathan ran his hands up her back over and over again. His work-roughened hands felt good stimulating her skin. She wanted to feel them on her ass.

  She rose up off Joel then dropped again, managing to sink a little lower on him this time. She rose and fell until she was sitting flush against his pelvis with his balls against her ass. She sighed in contentment. All she needed now was for Jonathan to fill her ass with his hard cock. She looked back over her shoulder and pleaded with him, using her eyes.

  “Fuck, Leigh. I don’t want to hurt you,” he said.

  “You won’t if you do what you’ve been doing. I really want this, Jonathan. It means a lot to me.”

  “Joel?” Jonathan asked.

  “Yeah, man. Give her what she wants. I’ll never be able to say no to her.”

  Leigh leaned forward and laid soft kisses across his chest from nipple to nipple. She stopped and licked each small disk before moving upward to his neck.

  Jonathan rubbed and massaged her ass cheeks before spreading them and applying lube to her back hole. He slowly inserted his finger until she felt his fist at her ass. He pulled out and pushed in several times before pulling out and adding more lube. Then he added a second finger. Leigh pushed out as he pushed in. It burned, but not too badly. He pumped them in and out over and over. She could feel him press against the thin membrane separating her cunt from her ass.

  She sighed when he pulled out and added a third finger. She pushed out, knowing it would hurt less if she did, but it pinched hard this time. She swallowed back her whimper and tried to relax her back hole. He slowly thrust them in and out of her ass until she didn’t feel the pain anymore. Something more was beginning to fill her body. She tingled all over.

  When he pulled out, she knew this was it. He added more lube. Then she felt his cock pushing against her dark rosette. The more he pushed, the more she pushed back. The burn and pinch were almost more than she could handle until finally, the head popped through and he lunged forward. Jonathan stopped and rubbed his hands over her ass cheeks in a soothing motion.

  “Fuck, you’re tight, baby. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. It burns, but it’s beginning to go away now.” Leigh wanted him to move, but kept still for a little while.

  “I can feel you inside of her,” Joel said in a strained voice.

  “Move, Jonathan. Please. I need you to move.” She couldn’t wait any longer.

  Jonathan pulled out then plunged forward. He did this several times until he was fully seated inside her dark channel. He rubbed his sweaty forehead against her back.

  The two men began moving in tandem. First one pushed in, and the other pulled out. Then they switched. Leigh tried to move with them, but found she couldn’t. She was the vessel they were filling and she had no recourse but to lie there between them, letting them fill her.

  Never had she felt so full and so complete. With all three of them connected she felt like they were indeed a family unit.

  Slowly the tingles she had felt earlier grew in intensity. They soon had her nipples aching for stimulation and her clit begging for pressure. Her cunt wept, coating Joel with her juices. She could feel them each time she moved on him.

  Jonathan changed angles and her clit now came in contact with Joel’s pelvis. Th
e raspy hairs surrounding his cock stimulated her clit until she knew she would come soon. Leigh began squeezing her muscles in an effort to bring the men toward orgasm faster. She wanted them all three to climax at the same time. She was fast reaching that point.

  Heat suffused her face and traveled down her body as her climax washed over her. She screamed out their names. Somewhere in the distance she thought she heard them shout out as well, but the roaring in her ears pretty much obscured all sound. She closed her eyes and collapsed on top of Joel. Jonathan leaned heavily on top of her. Then he moved back, pulling loose from her.

  She heard the water running in the bathroom and realized he’d gone to clean up. She started to try and rise off of Joel, but he held her tightly against him.

  “Don’t move yet, baby. You feel so good here. My dick is warm and comfortable inside your cunt.”

  A few seconds later, Jonathan returned with a warm, wet bath cloth. He cleaned her up then helped her pull off of Joel, who complained. He cleaned her up the rest of the way then went to discard the cloth in the bathroom.

  Joel pulled her into his arms and kissed her repeatedly. As soon as Jonathan climbed back in the bed, he, too, snuggled up next to her and kissed her wherever Joel wasn’t. Leigh felt as if she were a princess. They were showering her with love. She wanted to give some of it back.

  “I love you two. That was even better than I thought it would be. I feel so much closer to you now.”

  “We love you, too, Leigh,” Jonathan told her. “More than anything.”

  “You’re our Bartered Bride, baby,” Joel said. “I couldn’t have made a better decision than to trade that bottle of whiskey for you. I’ll never regret it as long as I live.”

  “Kiss me, Joel.” Joel pulled her in for a nice, leisurely kiss.

  Leigh turned and kissed Jonathan, then clasped their hands in hers before drifting off to sleep. Her last thought was that they were the best owners a woman could ever have.

  THE END