Ben said, “Come on, if we’re going to ride, let’s ride, but I’m thinking we should check out Old Man Johnson’s range. Maybe he’s seen something.”
Ella chuckled softly. “Do you men ever agree on anything?”
Blue said, “We agree on you.” He watched her cheeks instantly turn pink, and he knew his bold declaration embarrassed her but excited her as well. “There’s a lot of men who have married with less love in their heart than I have for you right now.”
“You know,” she replied, “for a man who says he’s not good with words, sometimes you sure know what to say.”
He wasn’t certain, but Blue thought her nipples had suddenly become just a little more noticeable through her chemise and blouse.
“And just in case you’re curious,” Dirk said, “I’d like to include my name on that list of men totally and completely infatuated with you.” The right side of his mouth quirked up in a grin. “And not just for tonight. I’m talking about tonight and tomorrow and the next day and next week and when the snow flies and then the spring sun melts the snow.” He put a hand over his heart, his grin boyish despite the sincerity Blue saw in his eyes. “I’m hoping you don’t mind.”
“Oh, I don’t mind,” Ella replied, her gaze darting from one man to the next. “Quite the contrary, in fact.” Her lashes lowered. “I’m just not sure I’m worthy of so much”—she cleared her throat nervously—“attention.”
Blue asked, “If that means ‘loving’ in the emotional sense, then I know you’re worthy. If that means ‘loving’ in the physical sense, then I’ve got an elixir, passed down from one generation of Blackfeet to the next, that works as a magnificent lubricant.” His eyebrows danced briefly with amusement. “It’s slippery as the Devil and made for sin.”
“And so are you,” Ella replied, “on both counts.”
“Then my grandfather’s secret ingredients will be a blessing to us all, won’t they?”
Ella closed her eyes, and Blue smiled when he watched her literally shiver with anticipation.
Ben cleared his throat, drawing attention to himself. When all eyes were upon him, he said with a theatrical flourish, “Apparently, I’m not the only man to have fallen in love with Ella.”
Out of the side of his mouth, sotto voce, Blue said to Ella, “I knew that eventually he’d say something that was right.”
“But I am the first to fall in love!”
Ella looked once again from one man to the next, her gaze darting here and there before settling on Ben. “Oh, dear,” she whispered, “this is going to get complicated, isn’t it?”
“That,” he replied, “is an understatement.”
Blue sighed wearily and added, “Among my tribe, a good hunter can have many wives. It’s never the other way around. Never.”
“Yeah? Well, this isn’t your tribe,” Ben said.
Blue looked into Ben’s eyes, then into Ella’s. He sensed her apprehension and knew that his next comment carried with it great weight.
“This isn’t my tribe,” he said after several seconds. “But it could be my new family. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
* * * *
“Don’t say it ‘cause I don’t want to hear it!”
Dirk’s words were nearly drowned out by the nearly continuous thunder. If it wasn’t the rolling thunderclaps that made the big Dutchman’s words difficult, it was the sound of rain striking man, woman, and beast.
Though it had been raining less than ten minutes, there wasn’t a single part of Ella’s body that wasn’t as wet as if she had been sitting in a bathtub. Even Queenie, who was usually the most amenable animal Ella had ever known, walked with a world-weary step, her ears flattened low to her head to keep the rain out.
“Blue, how much longer until we’re back to your cabin?” Ella asked, her shoulders hunched against the lashing rain.
“If we move steady, an hour,” Blue replied. His coal black hair was tight to his skull, and his buckskin shirt and trousers, though sun-bleached nearly white when dry, were now nearly black. “But if we push these horses in this rain, we’re begging for trouble.” As if to emphasize his point, Blue’s pinto stumbled briefly when it stepped into a water-filled hollow. He cast Dirk a looked of feigned fury then smiled at Ella and said, “Do you think my big, blond friend gets tired of being right all the time?”
“Shut up, Blue,” Dirk grumbled, his massive shoulders hunched beneath a sodden corduroy jacket.
Ella grinned and put a forefinger to her lips, indicating silence.
It pleased her enormously that these men, whom she thought nearly flawless and invincible, could be so thoroughly wrong about something of which they were so completely confident. Seeing their vulnerability was almost worth getting caught in a downpour miles from a warm, safe, dry cabin.
* * * *
“You go inside,” Ben said, taking Queenie’s reins. “I’ll take care of your mare.”
“I’ll get the fires going,” Ella replied quickly, grateful that her men would take care of Queenie for her. Still, she hesitated a moment, uneasy with not quite doing her fair share. She had servants her entire life, but Dirk, Ben, and Blue were most definitely not her, nor anyone else’s, servants.
“Go on now!” Ben prodded. He tilted his head to the side to drain water from the brim of his Stetson before entering the barn. “We’ll be there as soon as we see to the animals.”
When Ella stepped into Blue’s cabin, she felt a strange sense of homecoming that was different from anything she’d ever known. When her father was alive, and she’d return to the T-3 Ranch, she had known what it was like to feel a sense of gratitude and security upon returning home. That changed in recent years. Home now meant her mother was near, a fact which brought no sense of comfort. It also meant Timothy.
The thought of her fiancé was something Ella decided she must avoid at all costs. At least while she was with her men. Soon enough, she’d have to face the unpleasant reality of having a fiancé, but that time wasn’t this evening.
She hung her hat on the peg in the wall, and water dripped from it. For a moment, Ella considered whether it was proper to be walking around Blue’s cabin, dripping water all over the wooden floor he worked so hard to make sure was smooth and level, then decided her men weren’t the kind to get too angry over a little thing like rainwater. Besides, what choice did she have?
The first thing she did was get a fire started in the stove. She was hungry, and she was certain her men were as well, so a hot meal was definitely in the plans.
Then she got a fire going in the fireplace and put the boiler in place above the flames. The men may not want a bath, but they would surely appreciate hot water to wash up with.
Lastly, she inspected Blue’s blanket and towel supply. She set aside three thick blankets for the men, along with three dry towels, and found one final one for herself.
At the southernmost end of the cabin she found two hooks, one on each facing wall, and soon found the slender rope with loops on each end that could be fixed to the twin hooks. The only trouble with Blue’s clothesline was that he never intended for it to be used for four people. When Ella stripped out of her blouse, camisole, riding breeches, underwear, and socks, her clothes took up nearly the entire length of the clothesline.
“Darn,” she muttered to herself, looking at her dripping clothes and judging how much more line she’d need for the clothes of three men. She vigorously rubbed her thick, blonde hair with a towel. “How’s a woman supposed to impress her men when it’s impossible to create a romantic atmosphere?”
The door opened, and Blue asked, “Who were you talking to?”
“Just thinking aloud,” Ella replied quickly, flashing the three rain- soaked and trail-weary men a smile. “Take off those wet clothes, and hang them up wherever you can. I’ve got the fires going, and it won’t be long before I can serve up a hot stew to take the chill out of your bones.”
Despite being fatigued and waterlogged, all three men loo
ked at Ella, clad only in a towel that appeared to be ready to fall from her voluptuous form at any second, with sensual interest that ran the gamut from famished to starving.
“Do as I say now,” Ella said, knowing she had better direct the men’s attention in other pursuits. To do anything otherwise was to tempt a sensual response from the men, and though she always considered herself a forceful and determined woman, she had come to understand that when these men turned their seductive charms upon her, she would succumb whether she intended to or not. “I’ve put out a towel for each of you to dry with, and then a blanket to wrap around you until the food’s ready and your clothes are dry.”
The teasing banter was endlessly amusing to Ella as she cooked. The men wrung out their sodden clothes, spreading the garments out before wrapping themselves up in blankets as the aroma of beef stew wafted through the small cabin. The damp towel around Ella’s curvaceous form was apparently too tempting a target, and the third time one of her men successfully stripped her naked, she abandoned the towel in favor of a blanket, which she wrapped around her body and tossed over her shoulder like a toga.
“I’ll need to make a run into town soon,” Blue said as he held up a whiskey bottle with less than a quarter of its contents left. “My larder’s getting slim.” He grinned at Dirk. “My tobacco papers got wet. How do you suppose that happened?”
“Let Dirk and I stock you a grubstake,” Ben said quickly. “It’s the least we can do.”
“And that way we won’t feel guilty about holing up here with you,” Dirk’s gaze turned toward Ella with intimate familiarity, “and Ella.”
Ella pulled on one of Blue’s leather gloves to lift the cast iron stew pot out of the fire. “Enough talk about this, that, and everything else,” she said as the men pulled their chairs closer to the table. “Time for you to tell me how my cooking tastes.”
“If it tastes as good as you,” Ben said, his dark eyes suddenly very intense beneath black brows, “then I’m sure the three of us will never get enough of it.”
“You say that,” Ella replied, her heart accelerating rapidly as the ambience in the small cabin altered radically, “as though you’d like to eat me alive.”
“Precisely,” Ben replied.
“With tiny nibbles that’ll make you squirm,” Dirk added.
“In places on your body you’ve always ignored,” Blue concluded.
Ella knew it was going to be hours before she would get any sleep. For an instant she considered putting up token resistance, but that was essentially quite silly because she knew in her heart that she would give these men anything they desired, and they knew it, too.
Chapter Eleven
Ben awoke with Ella’s plump left breast filling his hand and the warmth of her naked back against his chest. It was a spectacular way to awaken, he immediately decided. The cheeks of her ass pressed loosely against his pelvis, with the backs of her thighs against the front of his. He felt warm and spectacularly, deliriously content. It was a state of mind nearly unprecedented for him.
With full consciousness came an almost instantaneous awakening of his penis. To his dismay, his erection started to grow, sliding between Ella’s thighs. After a long night of lovemaking with Ella doing all she could to satisfy the lustful hungers of three virile men, it seemed to Ben that it would only be fair and fitting if he let her sleep.
Still, the urge to awaken the woman he loved with a rollicking good fuck as a way of greeting the new morning was decidedly tempting.
He blinked his eyes and pushed an elbow beneath him to get a better look around the cabin. He was on Blue’s bed, with Ella sandwiched between himself and Dirk. All three were on their right side, facing the interior of the cabin. Blue was on a pile of buffalo robes just outside the bed.
A pang of guilt went through Ben. As a wealthy man, he’d never slept on a floor in his entire life. He wasn’t entirely certain how many guest bedrooms there were in his house, but it had to be close to a dozen or more. No matter how many guests were spending the night, they’d have a big, comfortable mattress all to themselves. No need to share with anyone, unless sharing was preferred. Blue didn’t have such luxury, and yet he gave up his own bed to accommodate his friends.
Ben decided at that moment he would make sure Blue’s cabin could accommodate more people comfortably, particularly since he strongly suspected he would be one of those frequent guests. The trick would be getting Blue to accept a gift without the independent-minded tracker feeling as though he was being given an unearned gift.
Easing away from Ella, careful to not disturb her, Ben got out of bed. He stepped into his underwear and pulled them up into position past a half-formed erection and buttoned the waistband. He paused a moment, standing at the foot of the bed to look down at Ella. With her sleep-mussed blonde hair spread over her face and pillow, she was more lovely than ever in Ben’s eyes. And with her sleeping on her side, her breasts lay one atop the other, their voluptuous splendor half-concealed by a blanket that slipped down. Ben had always preferred slender women, but now that he discovered Ella’s delights, slender women seemed unpleasantly boyish and unappealing.
With a smile on his lips, Ben turned away from the bed. If he stayed there looking at Ella much longer, his penis would grow to full stature, and once that happened, he knew his willpower would be insufficient to rein in his desires. He’d awaken Ella and make sweet morning love to her, but she needed to sleep, and no matter how much Ben wanted her, he wouldn’t behave selfishly.
He went to the stove, found the kindling and a month-old newspaper and got a fire started. He looked at the water bucket and found it three-quarters filled, but decided on fresh water instead, and went out to the nearby stream to get it.
By the time Ben returned in the cabin, both Dirk and Blue were on their feet, shirtless but wearing trousers. Ella was alone in the narrow bed, the blanket now pulled up to her chin, sleeping peacefully. Ben assumed one of the men pulled up the blanket, probably to avoid temptation. It was motivation he could well understand.
“Morning,” Ben said in a whisper. “Thought I’d get the coffee going.”
“I’ve got plenty for breakfast,” Blue said, “but how about I do the cooking instead of Ella?”
Dirk and Ben both nodded in enthusiastic approval. Opinions regarding Ella’s cooking abilities were unanimous.
“The woman’s got talent in a thousand different ways,” Ben said, keeping his voice low. The last thing he would ever do is intentionally hurt Ella’s feelings. “But cooking isn’t one of them.”
“I finished the plate of stew she made last night,” Dirk said in a conspiratorial whisper, “but only out of respect for Ella.”
The three men smirked. Having spent countless nights on the trail, they learned to fend for themselves, and cooking was an essential skill. But Ella, the pampered daughter of a rich man, hadn’t out of necessity learned the art of making meals tasty.
Movement out of the corner of his eye drew Ben’s attention. He turned to see Ella prop her upper body up with an elbow. The blanket fell away from her pale breasts, and Ben heard the sudden inhalation as all three men in the cabin reacted to their naked splendor. She combed fingers through her golden tresses, smoothing the silken strands away from her face, seemingly oblivious to how the move caused her breasts to tremble tautly.
“Did I oversleep?” Her eyes were only half-open.
“Not at all,” Ben replied quickly. “Why not stay there and let us serve our lady breakfast in bed?”
“That sounds heavenly.” Ella tossed the blanket aside and rose to her feet, making no effort to hide her nudity, a fact which caused a sudden tightening in Ben’s throat and an instant swelling elsewhere on his body. He watched, nearly spellbound, as she plucked Dirk’s shirt from the back of a chair and pulled it on. “Let me splash some water on my face and take care of a few things, and I’ll be right back.”
She walked to the cabin door, her demeanor casual despite her dishabille as she roll
ed up the sleeves several times. The shirt, massively oversized for Ella, covered her to mid-thigh. She disappeared without another word as three grown men stared at her open-mouthed and mute.
Alone in the cabin with Dirk and Blue, Ben let out a long, slow, breathy sigh. He rolled his head on his shoulders in an effort to force himself to relax and sighed a second time.
He asked, “Anybody else in this room feel as love-struck as a schoolboy?”
“Still wet behind the ears,” Dirk said.
Blue groaned. “Just as green as grass.”
“What are we going to do about it?”
Always the most pragmatic of men, Blue made an ambiguous gesture with a hand and answered, “As long as we don’t let her cook, I don’t know that there is anything to do about it.”
Dirk nodded in agreement. “You’re right. We can’t let her cook again.”
“Other than that,” Ben muttered, turning away, his gaze unfocused, “the woman’s damned near perfect.”
* * * *
Kneeling in the narrow, cool stream, Ella was not nearly as calm as she appeared when she left the cabin. When she woke and gazed at her men, they appeared delightfully sleep-mussed, and with all three shirtless, she had her choice of Dirk’s thickly muscled and hairless chest, Ben’s hairy and lean-muscled chest, and Blue’s hairless, lean-muscled, and copper-hued physique. What more could any woman ask for? She had an embarrassment of masculine riches to choose from…but, was it greedy and immoral…
By comparison, Ella held the self-conscious fear that she wasn’t giving her lovers an attractive enough woman to look at. The least she could do was present to them a clean body to look at. And touch, if they wanted. And taste, if that would give them pleasure.
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