Loving Their Dream Weaver
Page 1
LOVING THEIR DREAM WEAVER
Cooper McKenzie
MENAGE AMOUR
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Amour
LOVING THEIR DREAM WEAVER
Copyright © 2009 by Cooper McKenzie
E-book ISBN: 1-60601-682-2
First E-book Publication: December 2009
Cover design by Jinger Heaston
All cover art and logo copyright © 2009 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Letter from Cooper McKenzie
Regarding Ebook Piracy
Dear Readers,
I love writing my books and interacting with you, my readers. I love imagining and creating the worlds and characters and situations found in my books. Writing is also my work and I work hard at it, making many personal sacrifices in order to devote time to writing.
I get upset when my books are pirated. This means someone has stolen my work.
It is illegal to pirate ebooks. Just because it easy to share someone else’s work for free, it does not make it right, legally or morally.
Please do not share this ebook with anyone. Do not auction or send a copy of it to a forum, newsgroup, or file sharing site. Please do not give a copy of this ebook to anyone who has not bought their own copy from Siren-BookStrand or one of their authorized distributor sites. Some readers think the sharing of a copyrighted ebook doesn’t amount to anything, but it does. It hurts me as a writer. It hurts my means of making a living. I have to support my family in some manner.
Please respect my hard work and creativity. Please do not pirate my ebooks.
With deep gratitude,
Cooper McKenzie
DEDICATION
Many thanks to all who have believed in me over the years, even when I wasn’t so sure myself.
LOVING THEIR DREAM WEAVER
COOPER MCKENZIE
Copyright © 2009
Prologue
“I have to quit.”
They were some of the hardest words Suz Bowen Black had spoken in her thirty years. Meeting Joyce Leyton’s shocked gaze proved almost as difficult.
“Of course you do. I’d quit, too, if I had a man as gorgeous as the one you walked in holding hands with waiting for me.” The pediatric clinic office manager leaned back in her chair and smiled. “Is it serious between you two?”
Suz felt her cheeks heat. Penn McKenzie had insisted on coming with her while she quit her job. She thought he would wait in the car, but he had climbed out and held her hand securely as they entered the clinic where she worked as a medical secretary and receptionist. She’d left him sitting at her desk with orders not to touch or read anything while she met with Joyce for this most difficult discussion.
“He’s one of the reasons.” The other big one she would not share with Joyce was Penn’s twin, Liam. He had headed to her apartment to feed Mac, her cat, and meet with the movers about packing and shipping her life to New Bern. “My great-grandmother died and I’ve inherited the family business. I’m moving to North Carolina.”
“I’m sorry about your great-grandmother, but congratulations on the business. I guess you won’t be needing a job recommendation, huh? And a gorgeous guy on top of it all. Way to go, Suz. You deserve it. I hope he keeps you very, very happy.”
Suz smiled for the first time since walking into the building. “I’m pretty sure a recommendation isn’t necessary, but thank you. And thanks for this job. I’ve really liked working here. I’m sorry I didn’t give you more notice.”
Joyce chuckled as she stood and walked around her desk. “It’s all right, Suz. We’re going to miss you, but I understand. I hope that man waiting out there is everything you want him to be. All the best for your future.”
An hour later Penn picked up the box holding the personal items from her desk and tucked it under one arm. He wrapped the other one around her shoulder and guided her out. “All right, luv?” He brushed a kiss on her temple.
Suz nodded, biting her lip. Taking a deep breath, she forced a smile. “Yes, I’m fine.”
With a flurry of goodbyes and well wishes following them, Suz led the way out of the clinic, heading to her new life as the Dream Weaver.
As Suz settled into the driver’s seat of her car, Joyce’s words came back to her. Between the two of them, Penn and Liam were more than everything she’d ever dreamed of. The question that haunted her was, could she be everything THEY wanted?
Chapter 1
Suz stared across the backyard at Ruth’s studio. It had been six weeks since the last Dream Weaver had died. Ruth Amelia Brooks McKenzie Adams McKenzie had been 104 years old and had outlived her entire descendency, with the single exception of Suz.
The day of Ruth’s death, Suz had claimed the magic of the loom in order to continue the line of Dream Weavers that stretched back more than three hundred years to Sarah, the original Dream Weaver. Her first assignment had been to produce Ruth’s burial shawl. In doing that, she found that she loved sitting at the loom, throwing the shuttle and creating something beautiful for her great-grandmother. Those who had seen it during Ruth’s viewing and funeral wondered if Ruth had woven it herself. Only a handful of people knew the truth.
Since returning from Denver five weeks before, Suz had not been back in the studio. She couldn’t. She could not take Ruth’s place at the loom permanently. She wasn’t creative like her great-grandmother.
At first she’d put it off as she settled in, blending her things and the McKenzies’ things with Ruth’s classic country décor in the farmhouse. That had lasted four days. She’d spent another handful writing notes and dealing with the aftermath of Ruth’s funeral.
Thankfully, Isabella, Ruth’s supermodel-looking attorney, took on the role of family spokeswoman and handled the many requests for phone and on-camera interviews. Those interviews resulted in another deluge of condolence cards and letters which had kept Suz busy for another week.
Things had now calmed and she was getting bored. It was time to get serious about ste
pping into her role as the Dream Weaver. She did not want to think that she only had six weeks remaining until she, Penn, and Liam left for Scotland.
Once in Scotland, they would spend a few days visiting Penn and Liam’s family before trekking deep into the wilds of the Highlands. There she would deliver her first shawl to Mother Nature. She was bound by three hundred years of tradition to make and deliver a shawl each spring.
Each winter since Sarah had claimed the loom three centuries before, the Dream Weaver wove a shawl for Mother Nature to wear in celebration of spring’s arrival. The Dream Weaver legend proclaimed that without the shawl, spring would not arrive and the world would perish in an endless winter. The future of the world sat on the Dream Weaver’s shoulders.
“What are you thinking about, luv?” Penn wrapped his arms around her middle. He held her weight easily when she leaned back and rested her head against his broad chest.
“Lass? Are ye all right?” Liam asked as he leaned in and brushed a kiss on her cheek.
Taking a deep breath, Suz released a sigh. “I’m okay. I guess.”
The men spun her so they could see her face. Each wrapped an arm around her, Penn around her waist and Liam her shoulders. Their identical expressions contained equal parts concern, caring, and love.
“It doesna sound like yer okay. What’s up, lass?” Liam asked, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek.
She looked at them and blinked, reminding herself that she was supposed to be seeing double. They were identical twins, after all. Sharp cheekbones and solid jaw lines held a ruggedness that would cause any woman to take a second look. Wavy hair blacker than coal fell in waves to lay heavily on their shoulders, though Penn had pulled his back with a string tied at the base of his skull. And those pale blue eyes the color of worn denim. Those eyes had been a part of her dreams for so many years. Even as thirty-six year old men, these two were identical in every way.
“What happens if I can’t do it? What if Ruth was wrong and I’m not meant to be the Dream Weaver?”
Penn smiled gently before leaning in to kiss her. “I’m sure every Dream Weaver since Sarah wondered the same thing. All ye have to do is try. We’ve claimed the loom and ye have the knowledge of three hundred years of women who’ve sat there before ye running through yer blood.”
“I’m scared,” Suz admitted, dropping her chin to her chest. “The thought that I could bring the world to an end by not pleasing Mother Nature with my weaving is really, really scary.”
The brothers cuddled her between them, pulling her even closer, surrounding her. Their long, thick erections pressed into her hips and she lost her train of thought.
“You’ll be fine, lass. Ignore those nasty voices tellin’ ye that ye can’t. We ken. Ye’ll be fine. Just relax and try. Yer creative spirit will break out and ye’ll be surprised at what will happen.”
Suz nodded. She would try as soon as she found the courage to cross the yard and enter Ruth’s—no, her—studio.
“I’ll be in my office all day doing paperwork if ye need me, luv.” Penn kissed her deeply before releasing her and walking out the back door.
“I’ll be in and out so call me cell if ye need me.” Liam kissed her just as deeply before following his brother out the door. Together they headed to the barn and office complex across the meadow where the Dream’s Dell, Inc. offices were located.
Penn was the president and CFO of the company. His days were filled with the business side of the yarn industry—paperwork, phone calls, and meeting the growing demands for Dream Weaver yarns.
Liam oversaw the management of the five local farms that supplied the sheep, goat, and alpaca fibers to the company’s spinning factory. He kept their four-legged suppliers happy and healthy. Penn and Liam had taken the Dream Weaver’s one-woman weaving operation and built it into a multimillion dollar international company recognized throughout the world for fine yarns.
With her men off to start their days, Suz stared past the triple car garage with its upstairs apartment, to the outbuilding that housed the heart and soul of Dreamer’s Dell, Inc. The Dream Weaver’s studio. Ruth’s studio. Her studio.
Only Suz had no training in weaving or in what the position of Dream Weaver entailed. She had not been raised to nurture her creative side. Her father had always demanded that she live a practical and realistic life. He’d turned her into a type-A workaholic like he’d been.
She’d gone to college to work on a business degree but left after getting pregnant at nineteen. She’d married Luke Black then found out he was emotionally and physically abusive. He’d grown angry, bitter, and frustrated that no matter what he tried, she could not orgasm. He didn’t understand that she was pre-destined to only orgasm for Penn and Liam. She’d divorced Luke after he’d beat her, causing her to miscarry the baby.
After divorcing him, she’d gone wild for awhile chasing after her elusive orgasm. Finally she gave up and focused on survival. She’d worked one realistic yet boring job after another, trying to be practical and keep the bills paid. She’d kept her nose to the grindstone and her shoulder to the wheel and ignored the sadness that wrapped itself around her like a heavy cloak. She grew to hate her life and what she had become.
Then Ruth had called her home to Dreamer’s Dell, just in time to say her goodbyes before the old woman died. Suz had claimed the loom, the McKenzie twins, and her position as the Dream Weaver. She had quit her job and moved from Denver to New Bern, North Carolina but now felt lost, like a balloon let loose in the wind. Without a time card to punch or a supervisor to report to, she drifted through her days.
Penn and Liam would never push her, but she knew they worried. She worried. Hell, she was scared to death.
What if she couldn’t do it? What if Mother Nature hated the shawl she created? Spring would never come, the world would end, and it would be all her fault.
Tears welled and blurred her vision. She hated being afraid. She had been afraid of so many things for so long.
She felt an unfamiliar pull. A need to sit before the loom, throw a shuttle, and pull at the beater bar. She felt the urge to create.
“All you can do is try,” she murmured to herself as she reached for one of the shawls hanging from the pegboard on the wall near the back door. She knew she had to do something before the tension that had been building in her gut caused her to implode.
Sliding her feet into red Crocs, she wrapped the shawl around her shoulders and opened the back door. Her jeans and sweater kept most of the morning chill at bay. The winter had been unusually mild and she wondered if she would ever again wear the heavy winter parka she’d worn each winter in Denver.
She hurried down the stone path to Ruth’s studio. She didn’t glance toward the office complex across the meadow where Penn’s office was located. She didn’t look toward the parking lot to pick out Liam’s truck. She focused on getting to the studio.
She had a month and a half until she had to deliver Mother Nature’s shawl. If she screwed up the first one, she would try again. But she had to get her ass into gear, get into the studio, and try.
She slowed as she reached the two steps that led to the covered stoop. It amazed her that this fifteen-by-thirty foot building housed the keystone of the entire Dreamer’s Dell, Inc. empire.
Reaching into the flat-top mailbox, painted with sunflowers and morning glory vines, she retrieved the small brass key with its plastic sunflower fob and unlocked the door. Returning the key to its place, she opened the door and stepped into what she had to now think of as her office.
Flipping on the lights, Suz was surprised to see that the room appeared almost exactly as it had when she’d walked out after finishing Ruth’s burial shawl. Only the loom was different.
At some point, Penn and Liam must have come in and reconnected the warp threads to the apron rod so the loom was ready for her to weave on again.
“But how am I supposed to know what to weave?”
Closing the door, she hung her shawl on an
empty hook then turned to the room. As they had the first time she had entered six weeks before, her eyes flitted around the room like hungry bees in a room of ripe clover. She didn’t know where to look first. Turning a circle trying to see everything at once, Suz got dizzy.
Nothing else had changed since her last visit. The shelves were still full of colorful spools of threads and yarns. The idea wall was covered with Ruth’s notes, designs, and pictures culled from magazines. Some were so old they were in black and white, others more current and colorful. The far wall of windows filled the room with natural light and a view of the meadow and tree line that surrounded the Dream’s Dell home farm. Finally she turned to the main attraction of the room.
The Dream Weaver’s loom. The loom that had passed down through women of her family for more than three hundred years.
Four-inch logs formed a cube of nearly six feet. The frame was crude and held together with small wooden stakes. The inner workings had been updated at some point over the years.
Suz circled the room. She fought the urge to clean and organize instead of create. Cleaning would erase Ruth’s presence in the studio. Right now Suz needed Ruth’s influence any way she could get it, since she couldn’t call upon her wisdom and advice any other way.
On a lower shelf in the bookcase, Suz saw a number of thick notebooks. Each carried a label that read “Designs, Patterns, Thoughts, Etc.” and a number. A thinner notebook had a bright pink sticky on it. Leaning close, she saw Ruth’s neat handwriting.
Dear Suz, Read this one first. It will help. Love, Ruth