One Bride for Five Mountain Men

“Oh, right,” she answers. “No, we were never in business together. Unless you count a lemonade stand when we were kids.”

“I sure don’t,” I smile, and squeeze her against me. The thought is attractive. More than that, though, she’s either an Oscar-quality actress or she’s telling the truth. I don’t hear anything in her voice but complete sincerity.

“Yeah, no, we were just buddies, best friends forever, that sort of thing. Until she started growing apart from me.”

“Why was that?” I ask cautiously. “Did something happen?”

“No, not really, not that I know of anyhow,” she answers. She looks

into the distance.

“When was that?” I have to be careful not to let her know I’m prying. I just want to confirm she had no idea about this before I move forward with her. I’ve already gone too far, but I need to save myself or throw myself headfirst into it.

I know which way I’m leaning.

“Oh, when we were about eighteen.”

Makes sense. Kelsey doesn’t want to be brought up on federal charges, so she waits until Jordan is an adult. I decide to sit on the information for a while. I don’t want to make any false moves. I look down at Jordan, who is looking up at me again in her wide-eyed way, this time the eyes framed with kohl and mascara.

She smiles.

“Why all the questions?” she asks, and I see a flash of teeth as she smiles.

“Just finding out more about you.” And your friend Kelsey. It sounds like she was nothing like you think she was, if my PI is to be believed. He’s confirmed that Jordan wasn’t on any kind of payroll. He was careful to add that that didn’t mean she wasn’t being paid under the table.

Still. I don’t think her innocence is a ruse. I think she’s sincere.

The car slows and the streetlights’ pattern against the tinted windows eventually comes to a stop.

“Do you think your colleagues will like me?” she asks suddenly. “Or are they just going to think I’m some little ninny?”

I’m more worried that they’ll think I hired you, I think. “They’ll love you,” I say. I give her a kiss on the forehead and she reaches out and grabs my thigh tentatively.

“I’m nervous,” she says.

“Don’t be,” I answer. “I invited you for a reason. Just don’t drink too much, keep your wits about you, and you will be fine.”

She nods. “Got it.”

I wonder if she knows she’s being tested. How naïve is she?

I think I can keep control of this situation.

...How naïve am I?

Chapter 9

Jordan

Dinner is a special kind of torture, and after knowing what it was like to have R inside me it’s almost impossible not to drag him into a dark corner and let him pull up my dress, and claim me once again.

I don’t want to talk to anyone else, don’t want to do anything but envelop him inside me, as deep as he can go, as he holds me close and grips me when he comes.

Having sex with King more than makes me feel safe; it takes all my pain away. It makes me feel like I don’t need Kelsey anymore, that I can become my own person and live without her. Like I don’t need her shit anymore.

It strikes me that that’s the real reason I came here: to prove to myself that I am my own person and Kelsey is just a memory.

I talk to these sophisticated business people and try to be pleasant, but we have very little in common; mostly, I just stay clutched to R’s arm, feeling the warmth of him under the expensive light wool fabric of his business suit. It also helps to hang onto him since I’m still feeling a little faint after the treatment he gave me in the elevator.