The Lusty, Texas Collection
Love Under Two Prospectors
Lt. Brittany Phillips, USMC, survives a helicopter crash as an amputee—and Sean and Noah Kendall lovingly take on the task of helping her heal. Even though Sean blames himself when Brit has a crisis, he and Noah bring her to the safest place they can think of—Lusty, Texas. Can they show her that she’s even more beautiful to them now?
Brittany realizes she wasn’t the only one wounded in that chopper crash. Because he made a mistake, Sean is determined to only show Brit tenderness. Can she get him to treat her like the whole woman he claims she is?
Finally, Angela Malone agrees to marry Ricoh Stone. They’ve traveled a long, rough road to this moment. But as they plan to say their vows, Mother Nature throws a devastating curve ball not only to them, but to the other lovers in Lusty, Texas.
This time, it’s up to everyone to prove that love really can conquer all.
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length: 73,482 words
LOVE UNDER TWO
PROSPECTORS
The Lusty, Texas Collection
Cara Covington

Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
LOVE UNDER TWO PROSPECTORS
Copyright © 2018 by Cara Covington
ISBN: 978-1-64243-062-2
First Publication: March 2018
Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2018 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.
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PUBLISHER
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to all my readers who’ve continued to enjoy my work, and tell me as much. I’m so grateful to and for all of you!
I’m especially grateful to the members of my street team/reading group, The Lusty Ladies, and to Lisa Buchanan Phillips, the group’s admin. Thank you all for your friendship.
Thanks go to my beta readers, Angie Buchanan-Jones and Sandy Ebel, for your comments and encouragement, and your keen eagle-eyes and reading sense. Ladies, you made this book better than it was.
My dear friend and very amazing fellow author, Heather Rainier. What can I say about a friend who has been with me since the moment we met and clicked in Chicago? My heroine summed it up best when she observed Grandma Kate and Grace Warner together: “the kind of close friends who perhaps don’t see each other all the time, but who immediately take up where they left off whenever they got together.”
Heather, thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me borrow your characters, your city, and the Dancing Pony. Grandma Kate still smiles when she thinks of that dance with Ethan.
Finally, I’m grateful to the professional women and men of Siren-Bookstrand. Every single one of them are dedicated to their art, and work to make me look better than I am. To my editor Devin, thank you for holding my feet to the fire, for your high standards and your kind words. And to Amanda Hilton—thank you for continuing to say yes.
DEDICATION
To my husband of forty-five years and counting, and now my fellow author, David. We’ve begun a new phase of our lives together. I know you’re chuckling when you read—so far, so good.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Morgan Ashbury, also writing as Cara Covington, has been a writer since she was first able to pick up a pen. In the beginning, it was a hobby, a way to create a world of her own, and who could resist the allure of that? Then, as she grew and matured, life got in the way, as life often does. She got married and had three children, and worked in the field of accounting, for that was the practical thing to do, and the children did need to be fed. And all the time she was being practical, she would squirrel herself away on quiet Sunday afternoons and write.
Most children are raised knowing the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. Morgan’s children also learned the Paper Rule: Thou shalt not throw out any paper that has thy mother’s words upon it.
Believing in tradition, Morgan ensured that her children’s children learned this rule, too.
Life threw Morgan a curve when, in 2002, she underwent emergency triple bypass surgery. Second chances are to be cherished, and with the encouragement and support of her husband, Morgan decided to use hers to do what she’d always dreamed of doing—writing full-time.
Morgan has always loved writing romance. It is the one genre that can incorporate every other genre within its pulsating heart. Romance showcases all that humankind can aspire to be. And, she admits, she’s a sucker for a happy ending.
Morgan’s favorite hobbies are reading, cooking, and traveling—though she would rather you didn’t mention that last one to her husband. She has too much fun teasing him about having become a “Traveling Fool” of late.
Morgan lives in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a nine-pound Morkie dog who thinks he’s a German shepherd, and her husband of forty-five years, brand new retiree and aspiring author, David.
For all titles by Cara Covington, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/cara-covington
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgments
Dedication
About the Author
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Landmarks
Cover
LOVE UNDER TWO
PROSPECTORS
The Lusty, Texas Collection
CARA COVINGTON
Copyright © 2018
Prologue
Walvis Bay, Namibia, February 23, 2018 1000 HRS
“Brittany.”
There was something special in the way Sean Kendall said her name whenever he answered his phone—or met with her, face-to-face. A certain flavor, a hint of emotion, a sexy promise. She didn’t have to close her eyes to see him. Brittany grinned. It wasn’t that Sean Kendall looked older than his brother. After all, only two years separated the men. But he had the demeanor of the older brother, the one in charge, the one who
took on the responsibility for the moment—and would likely take it on for the world, if allowed. His dark brown hair, styled shorter on top than Noah’s lighter brown, was short enough that he wore the look of the executive, a man who could wheel and deal and then chair the annual meeting. She’d seen him in a suit, and she’d seen him in a tee and khakis, and he was completely comfortable, either-or. His blue eyes were so dark they were almost black, and when he focused on her, she wanted to melt or do whatever it was he wanted her to do.
She somehow knew, when she finally got to see his chest naked, that it would have little hair but would be corded with an almost subtle musculature. No one would call this man fun loving by that first look, and no one, with an ounce of sense, would underestimate him.
Of course, his brother, Noah, had the same talent for drawing her in, just saying her name. With his brown hair thick on top, but close cut to his ears, there was just something about the way that man looked at her that made her anticipate a smile. Noah Kendall was quick to laugh, and capable of the sultriest expressions, and his light brown eyes shone with a spark of kindness. His face missed the image of Adonis by that much, giving instead the impression of honesty and tenderness, of a man who was eminently down-to-earth. She hadn’t seen him with his shirt off yet, either, but she imagined him with a solid chest—no bulging muscles but a kind of warm masculinity that invited a woman to snuggle in and get comfortable.
A few words in her ear from either of these amazing men—even if “in her ear” meant over her cell phone and nearly two hundred miles away—and she was practically mush. Lieutenant Brittany Phillips, U.S. Marine Corps, couldn’t help the grin at her fanciful thoughts. Since meeting Sean and Noah Kendall, she’d had a lot of fanciful thoughts—and just at the point in her life when she’d begun to think herself incapable of having any at all.
“Hi, Sean. Thought I’d let you know we’re all done here. I’ll be boarding the helicopter soon and heading back.”
“Hang on, sweetheart. Let me put this on speaker phone.”
Brittany heard a click and then Noah’s voice warmed her soul. “Hi Brittany. You’re on your way home to us?”
Home to us. There was another fanciful thought. They hadn’t even made love yet, and already there was something about the brothers Kendall that made her think of home.
“Yes, in about ten minutes. I have to write up a report when I get back to the embassy, fill in my supervisor, meet with the rest of the security staff, and then I’m off duty for two glorious days.”
“And nights?” Sean asked.
Brittany placed her hand on her stomach. They’d asked her on Wednesday, just before she’d left for Walvis Bay, if she would spend all of her off-duty time with them this weekend.
Her thoughts touched on the last two months, from the first moment she’d laid eyes on them at a popular restaurant in Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, to the moment after Sean attempted to kiss her for the first time and she’d stopped him, confessing she couldn’t choose between him and Noah.
To the shivering arousal that had coursed through her when they’d told her they didn’t want her to choose between them but to simply choose them.
Of course, as far as all her fellow marines and co-workers at the embassy knew, it was Sean she was dating. She considered it a huge tribute to the brothers that all her colleagues liked them both and approved of Sean Kendall as her boyfriend. Even Tommy Rogers, her closest friend in Africa and, as he called himself, her number one stand-in big brother, liked and approved of Sean and Noah Kendall.
The men had asked her to think about taking that next step and had made it very clear that “not yet” was an acceptable answer. And Brittany, who’d always believed herself lacking any genes that would lead her to romance of any kind, found she simply couldn’t wait any longer. She needed them so badly she wondered if she wouldn’t wither away not having them.
“And nights.” She heard their sighs, and her smile widened.
“We’re going to take such good care of you, baby girl,” Sean said. His deep-voiced pledge made her shiver in anticipation.
“Sweetheart, we can’t wait to see you tonight,” Noah said. “We made a reservation for dinner at Nice.”
Brittany grinned. Dinner at one of the better restaurants in Windhoek wasn’t a rare occurrence with these two.
She’d met them for the first time at Joe’s Beer House when she was with a group of fellow marines and embassy staff, celebrating Tommy’s birthday. The Kendall brothers had arrived, asked if they could join their party, and then insisted on picking up the tab as a thank-you for their service.
“Pretty sure of yourselves.” She guessed they could hear the smile in her voice when they laughed.
“Not at all, sweetheart,” Sean said.
“We wanted to take you to supper, regardless of what your answer would be.” Noah’s voice held an edge of emotion.
Of the two, she would say he was the most sensitive, the most emotional. Sean was eminently more practical and very logical, though she sensed he was also a very passionate man. Each man appealed to a different side of her. She was looking forward to seeing what came next.
“Thank you. I’m looking forward to having supper with you.” While she’d been away from the embassy, she and her fellow marines had pretty much stayed on board the U.S. Navy ship a few hundred miles away in the Atlantic. She would never discuss her last few days over her cell phone and would share very little of the meetings she’d attended when she was with them, face-to-face. Just one more thing to really like about the brothers Kendall was their absolute respect for her boundaries, both personal and professional.
Brittany saw her group walking past the alcove she’d stepped into to make this call and knew it was time to go. She decided to tease them, just a little. “And breakfast, too.”
“Breakfast will be in our suite.”
“I certainly hope so.” She sighed. “I have to go. They’re getting ready to board.” A helicopter would take her, and the five other marines assigned to the U. S. embassy who’d attended the briefing, on the just-over-an-hour flight from Walvis Bay to Windhoek, where the U.S. Embassy was located. It would be a shorter flight than the one they’d already taken from the ship that morning, which was a blessing.
“Safe journey, love,” Noah said.
“We’ll see you soon, sweetheart.” Sean’s words carried a thread of passion. Brittany was very happy no one could know her panties were damp.
She arrived at the helipad just as the others were beginning to board. She found her seat in the back, strapped in, and donned the headphones that would allow for communication despite the noise of the chopper.
“Someone’s going to be off duty for the entire weekend,” Tommy said.
There were a few guffaws, but nothing untoward. The guys she worked with on this deployment were the best. She was serving as the assistant security attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Namibia on this deployment, her third since joining the marines.
The hardest thing she’d had to get used to here was that the seasons were reversed, as opposed to what she was used to. It was February and not winter here, but summer.
“Any big plans?” Chuck Woolsey, a marine sergeant who had about ten years on her, asked.
“Supper tonight.” She smiled. “At Nice.”
“Nice!” They all intoned on cue, pronouncing it to mean pleasant, instead of the city in France.
The lot of them were hams and clowns at times, but she thought there wasn’t a better bunch to serve with. There was only one other female marine assigned to the embassy. She worked building security. Brittany and Carla didn’t cross paths often, but Brittany made sure to have coffee with her at least once a week.
Everyone observed the protocol of rank, but with a relatively small crew, everyone tended to be friendly when not on duty.
The chopper lifted off. Brittany knew that everyone on board who’d been on this two-day program of briefings was tired. Their current ve
rsion of home was just over an hour and a half away. The chatter of the others around her droned on over the headphones as the pilot took them west, along a course only he knew.
There was very little unrest in this country, as Namibia had one of the more stable governments in Africa. However, precautions and protocol were a part of military life. Security protocols dictated that helicopter flights never follow the same route twice, and there was no such thing as a helo pilot filing a flight plan.
Some of the guys chatted with each other, talking about hockey and basketball. Brittany was a fan of both sports. Sean and Noah had hosted all of the off-duty marines earlier in the month, throwing a Super Bowl party in their penthouse, complete with beer, soda, and pizza. That had been a fun event.
The helicopter shivered, and Brittany looked up and around, but no one else seemed to be worried by the sudden anomaly. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes and let herself think of the coming night. On one of the days Brittany had been off-duty about three weeks before, she’d gone shopping and splurged on a selection of sexy lingerie. Now she smiled, thinking about the moment when Sean and Noah Kendall would peel those bits of lace from her body. Eyes closed, she let herself drift, not solidly asleep but relaxed and maybe dozing just a little.
She let her imagination run wild in anticipation, something that was so uncharacteristic for her. She envisioned Noah holding the door to their suite open while Sean guided her in. The door closed, and the sound of the lock being shot was unmistakable. The way they looked at her, as they had done since the beginning, was a turn-on all by itself. And the way they kissed? Until Sean and Noah Kendall, Brittany hadn’t understood what the big deal was about kissing. Now, it was one of her favorite activities.
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