Barefoot Bride for Three Read online

  “Whoa, where did that come from? I’ve got to sit down but I can’t move!” He trembled, gasping and laughing at the same time. She released him and backed away, smiling and licking her lips. He fell to his knees on the bed, then his back. “C’mere, wench.”

  She curled up against him, her head resting on his right shoulder. He held her tight as his violently racing heart slowed to mere excitement.

  “After that, I need a nap.” He looked around. “We’re in the shade. Wake me when you’re hungry again.” He settled his arms around her and dropped off. Just as tired, she got comfortable and joined him.

  * * * *

  Trace watched the witch softly snoring on her back beside him. She had to be a witch. Why else would he spout poetry and explode into her eager mouth like a fourteen year old? He shook his head. He’d damn near passed out when he came that time. He picked a flower from the grass and drew it across her nipple. It immediately crinkled. He smiled and touched the other. It responded the same.

  “Mine,” he whispered.

  His brothers understood why he had to get her away. Just the two of them. Things would be different when they returned home, and he wanted these memories fresh in his woman’s mind.

  His woman, to keep and to share.

  He rested his palm above the golden curls that hid her sweet perfume. Was his child growing in her yet? No matter who planted the seed, the first babe would be his. She twitched in her sleep. He kept still until her breathing deepened once more.

  What was it about this cantankerous female that made him want to hold her close so she’d never be hurt? He’d once spent most of a week with a comely whore in Virginia City. An hour after he left, he couldn’t have said what she looked like other than blonde with big tits and teeth.

  One look at his Beth in the dim glow of a sheriff’s lantern and she was branded on his mind.

  Her image and laugh kept him going during the long summer days. He had thought a clean house and good food would be enough. But Beth’s welcoming smile eased all his aches and pains. Sometimes he heard her singing when she thought no one was near. His voice was wrecked but his ears worked fine. He thought they were hymns but the woman couldn’t carry a tune in a basket. He’d never tell her that. Days when she sang, their loving was eager and explosive.

  He wet his finger and touched it to her nipple. When he blew, it tightened into a tight nubbin. When she woke, he would tease her with his moustache. He’d drag it over her belly and thighs, nibbling every morsel of her. He’d lick her juicy folds until she’d scream in aroused frustration.

  His cock swelled, eager to do his bidding.

  “Why don’t you put your mouth where it will do the most good?”

  He looked down and smiled. “You’re awake.”

  “Awake and hungry. What’s in the flour bag you took from my kitchen?”

  “Bread and cheese.” He trailed his moustache over her breasts. She pressed up into him. “You want food, or me?”

  “I can get food at home.”

  “I hoped you’d say that. Show me where to start.”

  First she stretched, arms and pointed toes straight. She rolled onto her stomach, then knees. “Give me a minute in the bushes first.”

  He admired the way her bottom jiggled with every step. She’d put on a few pounds since she arrived and was far better for it. She came out of the bushes, one hand splayed across her belly. Shoulders back, she sashayed over to him like the finest madam in Virginia City.

  “Whadda you want, cowboy?” She lifted her breasts to him. “These?” She turned around, spread her legs, and bent over. Her sweet swollen lips parted for him “Or this?”

  He knelt, clasped his cock and slowly rubbed up and down, enjoying her wild playfulness. “What else you got?”

  She walked until they were mere inches apart. He inhaled her scent, rising from just under his nose.

  “You can have whatever you find.”

  “I want two of those,” he pointed to her breasts, “two of these,” he reached around and clasped a buttock in each hand, “and this.” He bent slightly and rubbed his smooth chin against her mound.

  “Mmm, I think we can come to a deal. Do you pay in gold like the miners?”

  “Play now, talk later, pay last.”

  He slipped his hands down her legs and pulled. She collapsed but he caught her and laid her back on their bed. Blonde hair tumbled around her head and over her front. “God, Beth. What you do to me.”

  He suckled one nipple, then the other as she groaned in agreement. He slid a finger into her and curled it forward.

  “I want you now,” she growled, eyes flashing up at him. “Deep inside me. Hard!”

  He shook his head. “I’m going to stoke you so high you won’t know where you are. You’ll beg me to take you hard. And you’ll scream my name when you come.”

  He covered her mouth with his before she could reply.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “I swear, Trace Elliott, you will eat nothing but lumpy porridge and burned biscuits in the morning for the next thirty years.” His tongue flicked on her bud. “Oh, yes. There!”

  He immediately slid away from the spot.

  “Oh, you terrible man.” Beth panted for a moment, gathering her strength. Flat on her back in the hidden meadow, she looked down her body at him. Dark eyes grinned over her mound, her curls providing a blonde moustache.

  “I won’t let you touch me again before the snow flies.”

  Trace inserted a finger and rubbed it against a wonderful place. She curled her fists and toes to stop herself from thrusting up to demand more. She clenched her teeth, but a low moan still escaped. He flicked her clit with his tongue and hummed.

  The wonderful spiral of white-hot need spun tighter. She writhed, unable to control the moans and growls that escaped her. There! She was—

  He sat up, leaving one broad hand flat on her belly. His face from nose to chin glistened in the sun. He panted as hard as she. But he grinned in triumph while she howled in frustration.

  “Beg me,” he growled. “Beg me to take you hard!”

  “No!” His cock, hard and red, showed he was as close as she. “No, I won’t. You want this too.”

  He curled his hand around his thick cock. “I can take care of myself. You can’t.”

  “I can, and will, as soon as I get home. Simon and Jack will do everything I want. Twice!” She struggled to get up, but his palm kept her pinned.

  “Not if I tell them to stay away.”

  His calm words cut though the need pulsing through her veins. She stopped struggling and looked at him. No emotion showed on his face. It was as if they were in town and the mayor or banker was near. His cock drooped, a measure of emotion he couldn’t hide. Would he do that to Simon and Jack? He was the one who encouraged them to touch her.

  Her husband had brought her here for a reason. She caught a flash of yearning before he turned his face away. It wasn’t the waterfall that entranced him. He wanted something from her. Something more than her body.

  She told him when they married she did not want to be just a body to be used. Did he think that was all he was to her? A method of protection and joy easily replaced by two brothers? If so, he was wrong.

  “Does anyone else know of this place?”

  He hesitated and then shook his head.

  “Thank you for bringing me. It’s beautiful.”

  He shrugged. “So are you.” He lifted his hand from her belly but she didn’t move.

  “Trace, look at me. Please.”

  When he met her eyes, his were hooded.

  “Trace Elliott, I have something to tell you.”

  He stiffened.

  “You are my husband, in law and the church.” He stared as she spoke, his chest barely moving. “And also in my heart.”

  Nothing moved but his eyelids. She’d learned he blinked hard when hiding strong emotions.

  “I love you. I know you said you can never do the same. Knowing you wan
ted me to see something so precious to you is enough for me.” She sighed heavily. “Even when you make me scream in frustration, I still love you.”

  His cock grew, stretching toward her. “Aw, sweetheart,” He croaked. He brushed strands of her hair out of her eyes, tucking them behind her ear. With the back of his knuckles he brushed her nipples, which she hadn’t realized had also softened. “You’re not just saying that because I won’t let you come unless you beg me?”

  The laugh lines were back, outlining his dark eyes. She rolled her head from side to side in an exaggerated “no”. His sigh seemed to come from so far down in his chest that it rattled his ribs when leaving. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers.

  “Sweetheart, I can’t…”

  “Shh, it’s all right,” she said. She ran her fingers through his hair as one day she might their child. Lovingly and with no demands.

  “Do you love the twins, too?” She felt the tension in the lost-little-boy question.

  “Yes, but not the same as you. You’re my husband. The first man who let me be who I am. You’ll always be first in my heart. But Simon and Jack need me, too. I see their hurt when you take me to bed, excluding them. They want what we have. But until you prove to them that you’re not jealous, they won’t ask for more.”

  “Can you love three men the same?”

  “No, not the same,” she replied, “but equally.”

  He frowned but didn’t reply.

  “You are all different people and I love different things about you. Simon’s deep and quiet. One wink from him means more than ten minutes of Jack’s loving blather. But get Jack alone and he’s quiet and earnest.”

  Trace picked a grass stem and chewed for a moment. “Have they touched you without me there?”

  She shook her head. “Other than a light hug during the day, no. They love you so much, they’d go without rather than chance hurting you.”

  “I’m not jealous of Simon and Jack loving you.”

  “I don’t know how you can prove it when we sleep alone in our bedroom each night.”

  “You don’t mind bedding Jack or Simon without me?”

  “No, but you have to first prove to all of us that it is what you want.”

  He looked at her for a moment before his eyes began to glow. His cock rose as well. “What I want is a passionate woman.”

  “Hmm,” said Beth. She lay on her back and stretched, arms and legs wide. “Do you see any around?”

  “Yep. There’s one right here, ripe for the taking.” He growled, rolled over her, and captured her mouth.

  She tasted her own tang as his tongue fought hers. This is how their life would be, each of them fighting for control. Each of them giving in. She reveled in his power, completing the empty part of her and making her whole.

  “What say you, Kate?” he said when they finally broke for air.

  “Take me hard,” she begged. “Make me yours.”

  With a feral growl, he rolled her over and pulled her to hands and knees. Like a stallion covering a mare, he grasped her hips and drove deep. Her body primed for so long, her heart singing, she screamed his name as she fell apart.

  * * * *

  “We’re going behind the waterfall?”

  Trace nodded at Beth. She’d never looked lovelier. Long strands of wet hair caressed her body. The sun sparkled off drops of water from their dip in the pool. The chilly water made her breasts hard and nipples harder.

  “You see the lip of the waterfall?” He pointed to the flat plate where water spilled over. “It’s a harder layer of rock than the face of the cliff.”

  “What’s in there?”

  “You asked if I paid in gold, like a miner.”

  “We were playing.”

  He held out his hand to her. She grasped his and he showed her where to step to avoid slipping. As the rock sides curved into the curtain of water, there was no way of knowing anything but a hard rock face existed behind.

  He’d found the hidden meadow when his parents still lived. No one else knew of the meadow, much less his treasure. He stepped through the pounding water, towing Beth behind him. As soon as they were in, he pulled her body against his. He was used to cold far more than Beth.

  “Oh, that was chilling,” she said.

  “But worth it.” He kissed her nose. “Look around, but be careful you don’t trip. The constant flow of water breaks off rocks all the time.”

  Rubbing her arms with her hands, she turned in a circle. Everything from small boulders to gravel covered the floor. He watched her reactions, knowing what was to come. He knew she’d be surprised, but what else?

  “Ouch!” She winced and lifted her foot.

  “Why don’t you look at what you stepped on?”

  She frowned at him. “I know that look. You’re hiding something from me.”

  He pointed to the floor. She sighed dramatically and crouched down. He gulped when she spread her knees wide to balance while facing him. She picked up a handful of small rocks, glanced at them, and tossed them aside. After a second her mouth dropped open. She turned to where they landed and scrabbled around.

  “I swear one of those rocks looked golden.”

  She scooped up a double handful and looked closely and then gulped. When her face lifted to his, her eyes were wide. Not in greed but awe.

  “You left all this gold, just lying here?” She let it sift from between her fingers.

  “It’s not going anywhere. But I wanted you to know about this place. If we’re blessed with children, they may need it someday.”

  “How many years has it been since you came here?”

  “Last time was after I lived through this.” He rubbed his throat.

  “I don’t know why you didn’t die.”

  “Too stubborn.”

  “Tell me the truth.”

  He shrugged as if it meant nothing. “I couldn’t die. Simon and Jack had nobody else. They were barely fourteen, still in shock from Ma and Pa dying. And I couldn’t put two more onto the MacDougals.”

  “They must be wonderful people to take in four children when they already had seven. You’ve never told me the whole story.”

  He nodded. “When gold fever struck, they stood it as long as they could, wanting to keep us all together. But Fin and Sunbird like their space and there wasn’t enough of it here. Soon as I was better, I hauled a few loads down the mountain and handed it over. Seven years ago they hauled everyone but Fin Junior, Hugh and Gillis to the Texas Hill Country and set up the Bar MD brand. Ross and Nevin came back four years ago to join Gillis. The other two lit out for Texas as soon as they could. I gave them a sack of nuggets to help pay the way.”

  Beth brushed off her hands and stood up. She washed the grit off in the water pounding past them. When she turned to him he saw a light in her eyes that made his heart ache.

  “You are a wonderful man, Trace Elliott. Take me home.”

  “What about the gold?”

  She shrugged and held out her arms. “I’ve got three Elliotts of my own. Why do I need gold?”

  He wrapped his arms around her and held tight. He hadn’t known this was a test until she passed it. If his face was wet, it came from the waterfall, nothing else.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “We should blindfold her first.”

  “She won’t open her eyes until we tell her. Right, Beth?

  Beth looked from Jack, who didn’t trust her, to Simon, who did. Their reactions suited their distinct characters. Jack grinned openly while Simon lifted a corner of his mouth. His eyes, however, glowed. Whatever was going on, they were proud of themselves.

  “What did the two of you do while we rode up the mountain?”

  “Go upstairs and find out.”

  “I haven’t gone up there since I found a pile of clothes that must have been moldering since you were children.”

  “They’re gone.”

  “Did you open the windows? The place stank of onions and worse.”<
br />
  “Kate, move that sweet ass up those stairs before I paddle it!”

  Trace’s voice rose with each word. She looked from one man to the next and the last. All three twitched with eagerness, just like the puppies when she held a bone.

  When they arrived home, Simon insisted on caring for Peaches while she had a nap. While they shared a light supper of soup and lightly scorched biscuits, the men often nudged each other and cleared their throats. The dogs had been sent to the barn for the evening though it was still light.

  “That’s it!” Trace approached her with a wild look in his eyes. He leaned his shoulder against her hip, grabbed her legs and stood up. She folded in half, her head hanging down his back.

  “Put me down!” She grabbed his belt to hold herself secure.

  “Nope. Keep your head down.”

  She shrieked, pounded him, and kicked, but it was like hitting rock.

  “Hold it,” said Jack. He grabbed one of her feet and started undoing her boot laces. Simon took the other. Her stockings soon followed, pulled off without any attempt to arouse. When she was barefoot Trace, swatted her bottom and started up the stairs.

  Because she faced Trace’s backside, she couldn’t see anything until he swung her around and set her on her feet. A bit dizzy, she grabbed his arms until the room steadied.

  “Oh, my.”

  They’d hung the set of four beautiful picture quilts Prudence MacDougal had given her. Pru had created the Elliott side of the valley out of fabric scraps. Beth had seen the view herself when looking out Pru’s parlor window. A pair hung on each side of the center window that lit the northeast half of the open second floor. Winter’s stark white, gray, and evergreens hung to the left beside spring’s bright green with wildflowers. Summer’s gold, sage green, and brown along with autumn’s fiery show lit up the right side. They’d also hung a small picture frame above the window, though it seemed to be empty. She dropped her eyes past the window.