by Becca Van
“No. I’m fine, Mr. O’Hara. I need to get back to work,” Leah said.
Connell bit back a curse when he heard her voice wobble. No way was she going back in there.
“No, baby girl, you don’t. You just quit,” Connell replied.
“What? Oh no. You can’t. You didn’t—What am I going to do now?” Leah asked then burst into tears.
Connell saw the pained look his brother gave him over his shoulder and felt a knot form in his chest. He nudged Seamus aside and scooped Leah up into his arms. He held her while she cried, rocking and soothing her as he inhaled her delicate floral scent and underlying feminine musk. God, she smelled good. He released his hold on her slightly as she pushed against his chest with her small, delicate white hand and looked down into her tearstained face. The sight of the bump and bruise forming on her head had his anger erupting all over again, but he contained it for the benefit of the woman in his arms.
“I have to go back in there. I have bills to pay,” Leah wailed.
“Your well-being is more important than money, baby girl,” Connell replied. “Besides, we’ve been looking for someone to cook for us. You can come and work out on our ranch.”
“But I don’t even know you,” Leah replied.
Connell looked down into her sad brown eyes as she looked up at him. The sight of teardrops clinging to blonde eyelashes had his gut clenching. She was so innocent and sweet, he wanted to wrap her up in a warm blanket and keep her there. But he knew that just wasn’t possible. Offering her a job on their new cattle ranch was the next best thing, and he intended to see that she took him up on the offer.
“You can check on us with the sheriff if you want to, baby. He’ll vouch for us. You have nothing to be scared of with me and Seamus. We would never hurt you. Now, let’s get you to the doctor’s office, you could still have glass in your skin,” Connell explained as he eased Leah onto the backseat of his truck. He helped to swing her legs around and buckled her in. He closed the back door and walked around to the driver’s side and slid into the truck just as Seamus got into the front passenger seat.
Connell kept his eye on Leah in the rearview mirror. She looked so sad and alone sitting in the backseat of his truck. He wanted to crawl back there with her and take her into his arms again. It didn’t take long for him to drive to the doc’s office. He pulled into the lot and got out. Leah was out of the truck before he or Seamus could help her. He took her by the elbow and guided her into the office. He was thankful there was no one in the waiting room.
“Leah needs some attention,” Connell said to the receptionist. The elderly woman looked him and Seamus up and down then surprised him by smiling.
“Go on through, Leah, Doc is free.”
Leah moved to the inner door, but Connell beat her to it. He held it open and followed her to Doc’s inner sanctum.
“Leah, what happened, honey?” the elderly Doc asked as he stood up from behind his desk.
“I had an accident with a coffeepot,” Leah replied.
Connell watched as she held up her still-bleeding hands and cussed himself for not wrapping them up. He’d let his anger get a hold and he hadn’t been thinking straight.
“Leah didn’t have an accident. She was tripped,” Connell stated.
“I was not…” Leah began and paused.
Connell could see her thinking back over the incident. Her face was so expressive, he could read every emotion flitting over it.
“What did Earl do? I can’t believe he’s begun to hurt you physically as well,” Doc stated.
“It was Eli,” Leah whispered.
“Luke shoulda run those three out of town long ago. We don’t like the way Earl and his friends treat you, Leah,” Doc said. “Hop on up here and let me take a look.”
Connell heard Seamus enter the room but didn’t take his eyes off Doc as he examined Leah’s hands. The elderly man pulled a large magnifying glass over to her and turned the built-in light on.
“You have a couple of slivers of glass still in there, young lady. Let me get my tweezers and I’ll have them out in a flash. You’re lucky that you won’t need stitches,” Doc muttered.
Connell looked on intently as Doc removed the glass, cleaned her hands up with alcohol swabs, placed some gauze over the numerous small cuts, and wrapped her hands up.
“Now, let me see that knot on your forehead,” Doc said. “It should be gone in a day or two. Do you have a headache?”
“No, I’m fine,” Leah replied.
“I don’t want you going back to the diner for a few days, young lady. You need to give your hands time to heal.”
“She won’t be going back to the diner ever again,” Connell stated.
“Well now, I’m glad to hear it. You’re Connell and Seamus O’Hara, aren’t you?” Doc asked.
“Yes, sir,” Connell replied.
“You listen to these two, Leah, they’ll take good care of you,” Doc stated.
“But…” Leah began.
“No buts, honey. You’ll be fine with these two men. They’re friends of Luke’s. They’ll treat you right. Now, change the dressings every day, but don’t get them wet. You can take them off in three days. If you have any concerns come back and see me,” Doc stated, patting Leah on the shoulder. “We’re all done.”
“Thanks, Doc,” Connell said as he grasped Leah around the waist, helping her to her feet.
“Come on, darlin’, let’s get you home,” Seamus said.
Connell and Seamus each took Leah by the elbows and led her out. She would have gone to the receptionist, but they kept her right on walking until she was outside and in the backseat of the truck.
“But I didn’t pay,” Leah said in a whisper.
“All taken care of, baby. Now, did you need to collect anything from the diner before we take you home?” Connell asked.
“No, I never take my purse to work, everything I need is in my uniform pockets,” Leah replied.
“Good, then let’s get you home,” Connell stated and gently closed the back door. “We’ll need to stop by her place and pick up some clothes. I don’t want her feeling uncomfortable, by not having any of her own things at our place.”
“She’s gonna kick up a fuss,” Seamus replied.
“I know, but she doesn’t really have a choice. She’s going to need our help while her hands are bound up. Come on, let’s get this over with,” Connell muttered and got into the truck.
“You’ll need to direct me to your place, baby,” Connell said as he drove out of the doctor’s parking lot, glancing in the mirror at her. He saw her cringe and wondered if she was ashamed of where she lived. He kept an eye on her as he drove, and the sight of her nibbling on her bottom lip as she directed him made his cock jerk in his pants. He could just imagine what she would look like with her beautiful pink lips wrapped around his dick as she knelt before him, and he nearly groaned out loud. She was the sexiest, sweetest woman he’d ever laid eyes on, and he knew Seamus felt the same way. He and Seamus had both been looking for a woman to share since they had retired from the Marines.
Connell and Seamus had always been attracted to the same women. When their friend Luke Sun-Walker had told him about his own ménage relationship and the others forming in the small rural town in Colorado, he and his brother had been intrigued. They had talked it over and decided that they also wanted to have a ménage relationship. And when they had finished serving their time for their country, they had decided to relocate as well.
They had been in Slick Rock for just over six months and had been so busy setting up their new cattle ranch they hadn’t taken the time out to see any of the females in the small Colorado town. They had been to the diner a couple of times, but had never seen Leah there before. She must have had days off both times he and Seamus had eaten at the diner. Pity, they could have saved her from six months of hell. He knew Leah was the woman for them and now they were going to take the time to get to know her and try and ease her into a ménage relatio
nship.
Connell kept his face blank when he saw the old trailer standing in the middle of a nowhere. He saw no car and wondered if Leah had left it at the diner, but then remembered she said she’d left nothing behind.
“How do you get to and from work every day, Leah?” Connell asked, as he turned the truck off.
“I walk,” Leah replied. “Thank you for bringing me home.”
“No problem, darlin’. Why don’t you give me your keys and I’ll get the door?” Seamus asked.
Connell got out and saw his brother open the back door, helping Leah out of the truck.
“You don’t have to see me in, I’ll be fine,” Leah said, moving toward the dilapidated trailer.
“Yes, we do, darlin’, you need some help to pack up your things,” Seamus said.
Connell saw Leah freeze, her hand halting on the key she’d just pushed into the lock. She turned her head and looked over her shoulder at him then Seamus.
“What? What do you mean?”
“You’re coming home with us, baby. I thought I’d already told you we were hiring you to come and cook for us,” Connell stated.
“But—but I don’t even know you.”
“What’s to know? You need a job and we need a cook. I am thirty-five years old, an ex-Marine, and just started a cattle ranch with Seamus,” Connell said.
“I’m thirty-three, retired from the Marines eight months ago, and can’t cook worth a damn,” Seamus stated.
“Come on, Leah, you don’t have a job anymore and we need a cook. You’re going to need our help until your hands have healed. So what do you say, baby? Are you going to come and put us out of our misery and cook for us once your hands are better?” Connell asked.
Connell watched as Leah nibbled on her bottom lip again. It was obviously a habit she had taken to when she was nervous or concentrating real hard. He wanted to pull her to his mouth and soothe the hurt she was inflicting on herself, but knew it was way too soon to make a move on her. He wanted her feeling comfortable around him and Seamus before they began to try and woo her into their hearts and beds. He knew as soon as he saw her staring up at him and his brother like a doe caught in headlights that she was the woman they had been waiting for. Now all they had to do was convince her she wanted them just as much.
Chapter Three
Leah glanced up to see Connell watching her in the mirror. She felt her cheeks heat again and lowered her eyes. His gaze had been hot enough to singe her with its fire. She wondered if she was crazy as Connell drove, heading to their ranch with her in the backseat. The thought of actually living on their ranch and having a large, spacious room of her own for the first time in her life, rather than the cramped confines of a trailer, was just too good to pass up.
She hadn’t put up much of a fuss, and she wondered if she’d taken leave of her senses, letting them talk her into packing up her stuff and going with them. There was just something about the two large men that got under her skin. She’d thought she had enough of pining over men when she’d had a crush on the new sheriff, Damon Osborn, and had felt a little hurt when he and his brothers had hooked up with their new fiancée, Rachel Lamb. It had taken the two handsome men walking into the diner for her to realize she had only been interested in the sheriff. He hadn’t made her body stand up and take notice the way it did with the two O’Hara brothers. And the sound of their lyrical Irish accents just made her shiver and her pussy weep.
Leah turned her head and looked out the side window. She wondered what her mom would think about her jumping at the opportunity of having her own room instead of living in a rundown trailer on the edge of the national parkland. Even though her mother had been promiscuous, Leah knew her mom had done it because she was lonely and for the gifts she had received from her men. She had often pawned those gifts for money which had helped to keep a roof over their heads, food in their bellies, and clothes on their backs. She’d also raised Leah to be a good girl, drumming morals into her she hadn’t practiced herself. Her mother had had to drop out of school at the age of fifteen when she found out she was pregnant and her own parents had kicked her to the gutter. Leah had no idea who her grandparents were and didn’t even know if they were still alive. As far as she was concerned, after the way they had treated her mother, they could rot in hell.
Leah closed her eyes as she leaned her now-aching head on the cool glass window. She wondered if she’d done the right thing or if she was making a huge mistake. Only time would tell, and if things didn’t work out she could always go back to her mom’s trailer. What she’d do for work if that happened, she had no idea.
The sound of the truck slowing had her lifting her head and opening her eyes. She looked around and couldn’t help her breath halting in her chest when she saw the new ranch house, barn, stables, and other outbuildings. She’d heard through the grapevine that Earl’s parents had had to sell up or foreclose to the bank and knew Earl had moved to the apartment over the diner, but she’d had no idea who had bought the property, until now. She looked around in awe, seeing nothing of the old house that used to be here. She’d come out to this place with her mom once and still, to this day, had no idea why her mom had come here. All she knew was that her mom and Earl’s parents had argued over something, and when they had left, her mother was upset, with tears in her eyes. Her mom had never brought her back again.
Everything was so new and clean. Even the corral near the barn was made from fresh timber. She stared at the large, long ranch house with the new timber decking and breathed out. What the hell am I doing? I don’t belong here.
Leah looked around as she got out of the truck. Seamus held the door and helped her down by holding her elbow. She could see the beginnings of a vegetable garden near the side of the house and the bare beds of a flower garden running the length of the timber deck. She turned back to the truck and went to grab one of her bags from the backseat, but to her surprise, she was lifted out of the way.
“No you don’t, darlin’. You’ll hurt your hands,” Seamus stated.
Leah was even more surprised when he held her by the waist until she was steady on her feet, then reached in and grabbed her two bags.
“Come on in, baby girl, and let’s get you settled,” Connell said.
Leah walked to the steps of the decking and hesitated. She felt as if her whole life was about to change and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She took a deep breath, placed her foot onto the first step, and kept right on going. She didn’t have much of a choice at the moment, but she would save every penny she earned, and when she had enough money to leave, she was heading out on the first bus out of Slick Rock, regardless of where it was traveling to. She followed Connell as he led her into the house and the next stage of her miserable life.
Leah looked around her, and she followed Connell through the mudroom into a hallway. The hall had several doorways leading off it and then widened out into the biggest living room she’d ever seen. She saw a huge television up on the wall and noted the furniture wasn’t small and delicate, but large and chunky, no doubt a good fit for the large men who owned it.
“This is the living room as you can see. The kitchen and dining room are through there,” Connell said, pointing his finger for her benefit. “If you’ll follow me, baby, I’ll show you to your room.”
Leah followed Connell, peeking in open doorways as they passed. He led her to the end of the hallway off the living room and opened a door to the left. He walked in and put the small bag she had directed them to pack for her, containing some of her mother’s precious belongings, onto the bed. He walked over to a closet and showed her where she could hang her clothes. The bed in the room was huge compared to the single bed she’d slept on in the kitchen area of the trailer. The bed was covered in a maroon quilt with matching covered pillows. The closet was bigger than the small bathroom in the trailer, and she knew her pitiful amount of clothes would look lost in the large space.
“There is a bathroom down the hall, baby, se
cond door on your left. The first door is Seamus’s room and the one next to yours at the end of the hallway is my room. You’ll find towels in the cupboard on the right in the hall and there are more in the one in the bathroom. If you need anything all you have to do is holler. All right?” Connell asked.
Leah was so overwhelmed by Connell and Seamus’s generosity and the sheer size of everything that she couldn’t answer. She gave a nod of her head as she took in the chest of drawers against the wall next to the doorway and the timber dresser beside it. Her clothes wouldn’t even fill the drawers. She felt tears pricking the back of her eyeballs and turned away, hoping Connell hadn’t seen them. She kept her head lowered and saw boots standing beside her.
“You okay, darlin’?” Seamus asked.
Leah blinked a few times, dispelling the moisture from her eyes and looked up to see Seamus looking at her with concern. She gave him a tremulous smile, nodded her head, and lowered it once more. She saw Seamus place her bags on the bed, and then he lifted her head to his with a gentle fist beneath her chin. She hadn’t even heard him enter the room. How such a big man could move without making any noise was beyond her comprehension.
“Why don’t I run you a bath and you can have a soak while I put your clothes away?” Seamus asked.
“That would be nice, thank you. But you don’t need to put my clothes away. I can do it later.”
“We know you can, baby, but Seamus wants to. You’re going to need help with your bath, Leah. Doc told you to keep the bandages dry.” Connell’s lyrical voice rumbled through her as he moved in close to her back.
“I’ll manage,” Leah replied. “It’s only my palms that got cut, not my fingers.”
“Okay, but if you need any help, all you have to do is call out,” Connell said as he placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Why don’t you sit down on the bed, baby? You’re looking a bit worn out. Do you have a headache?”
“Yes, just a bit of one.”