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“Yes, I’ve been told my personality matches.”
She dropped her hands to her belly and clasped them together. “Then we’ll get on just fine then. Tell me about yourself while you finish dressing.”
Pulling a neatly folded dress from my bag, I shook it out and stepped into it, worked it up over my hips before slipping my arms in.
“I’m from Wichita. I live… lived with my five brothers. There isn’t much to say.”
“Why did you choose to be a mail order bride?”
I glanced away and stuck as close to the truth as I could. “I left home because my family was quite overbearing. No man could get near me, and those who were interested in courting, were scared away. I wanted my own life, house, husband before I became too old to have it.”
“Your family just let you leave? If they didn’t like men sniffing around, surely they wouldn’t let you travel unescorted to a different state to marry a man you didn’t even know. Then you discovered you got two in the bargain.”
“Two was a surprise,” I replied. “And no, they didn’t let me leave. Technically, I ran away.”
“Mmm, I ran away, too, but for different reasons.” She went to the chair beneath the window and sat down. “I hope you don’t mind,” she replied, indicating with her hand to the chair. “My husbands would spank my bottom red if they found out I was standing too long.”
My mouth fell open at her words.
“Then you wouldn’t be able to sit,” I said, before thinking.
She laughed. “Yes, that’s true. So I will sit before they spank me, which makes me want to stand. That hardly makes sense, doesn’t it? I will have to tell them this and perhaps they will abstain from spanking me until the baby is born. Although… I do like a good spanking.”
I just stared at her. I knew my eyes were wide, especially when she laughed at seeing my face.
“I’m sorry. I forget myself. I was a widow when I married Luke and Walker. You, I assume, just discovered what it is like with a man, or men, last night.”
I nodded, remembering myself and buttoning my dress. I also felt how I was still damp between my legs, lingering evidence of what we’d done.
“You… um, you like to be spanked?” I asked.
She glanced at the door, then back at me.
“By Luke and Walker, yes. It’s… good.”
It was my turn to laugh. “Good?”
She smiled wickedly. “Very good.”
“You seem very happy with your husbands,” I observed.
She glanced down at her belly, stroked a hand over it. “My first marriage was an unhappy one with infidelity. I knew Walker and Luke weren’t inexperienced when we wed, but after my first husband, I needed to know they would be faithful. They are quite possessive.”
I looked longingly at her happy face, the roundness of her belly. I wanted that. A look only her husbands could give her, a child growing within that would be the start of their own family.
“Yes, I can see that. Based on what we did last night—” I flushed hotly, but I needed some guidance and perhaps Celia was the only woman who would understand the… intensity of being with two men, “—they came to the marriage very well versed. I am not naive to that. Five older brothers certainly taught me about the ways of men.”
“All older?” she asked, clearly amazed. “Oh, my. I’m sure Lane and Spur will stop seeing their mistress now that they have you.”
A mistress.
“They shared a mistress?” I asked, my words tight. Lane had said he was serious about our marriage, even forbid me to do things like gamble and visit saloons. But when I’d told them that I wanted fidelity, neither had responded. They’d mentioned attraction, which was rampant, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t also have a mistress. And Spur was just as virile. If they shared me, then did they share her?
“All I know is that her name is Lil. Your men don’t speak of her. When Walker, Luke and I first married, we stayed in this house. It was winter and snowing and we’d ridden up from Denver. We spent the night here before continuing up the mountain to Slate Springs. It was our wedding night, so Lane went and stayed with Lil to give us privacy.” She stood, came over to me and patted my arm. “Don’t worry. If your men are as honorable as mine, she is a thing of the past.”
Jealousy pulsed through my veins and I was angry by it. Where was my gun? No, I couldn’t think of what came before yesterday. Holding my hand up, I told her, “Yes, that’s true. But… never mind. I don’t want to know.”
“Yes, I understand,” she replied, then looked up at my hair. “I shouldn’t have mentioned her. I’m sure it’s nothing, and for that, I apologize. Would you like me to put this up for you?”
