Their Reluctant Bride (Bridgewater Ménage 6)

Tears streamed down her cheeks, but that was the only indication of her feelings.

“He’s gone, but you’re stuck with us, sweetheart.”

When he said the endearment, there wasn’t any warmth to it.

“You want me to tell you I married you for love?” she asked, her voice low. “You don’t love me. You desire me. You proved tha

t last night. But, love?” She shook her head. “No. You wanted me for your own reasons.”

She was right. While I felt a connection with her, a bond that was strong enough to want me to marry her, I didn’t love her. At least not yet. I barely knew her. The way she was standing up to Xander, the way she must have had to deal with Ralph, not to mention her husband before he died, had me admiring her. She didn’t deserve an asshole for a husband. She didn’t deserve to be left as a penniless widow. She didn’t deserve to be hounded by a man who wanted money. Hell, maybe she didn’t even deserve us.

“You got what you want.” Xander placed his hands on his hips. “Now, it’s time for you to give us what we want.”

His intent was clear.

Emily didn’t break his gaze as she swallowed, then calmly turned and leaned over the desk. Reaching back with an indifference born of experience, she lifted up her dress so that it bunched at her waist. Her gorgeous ass was round and curved over the edge.

“Jesus,” I whispered, pissed that she’d done it with such easy acceptance. I stared hard at Xander, wanted to punch him in the face. “She bent over the desk thinking you want to fuck her as payment.”

Xander stepped up to her, ran a hand over one pale globe and she flinched. “You think we want a whore?” He spanked her and she gasped. “We didn’t marry you to be our whore. That’s not what I want from you now.”

She looked over her shoulder, confusion marring her smooth brow. “Then what do you want from me?”

“Honesty. We gave the man money and you’ll give us the truth.”

Damn straight.

“I told you the truth!” She tried to rise, but Xander pressed a hand at the small of her back and held her down. A pink handprint was forming on her pale skin.

“I went to jail for six months because of a lying woman,” he admitted.

I moved to stand at the side of the desk so I could watch her face, saw her stunned expression at his admission. It was clear the Bridgewater ladies hadn’t told her.

“Ralph came to you for money?” I asked. She looked up at me with her dark, sad eyes. “When?”

“The day I buried Frank. Said Frank owed him money because he’d lost playing cards.”

“Did you give him any?” Xander asked.

“What money?” she asked, her tone dry. “The bank’s taking the ranch, the furniture. Everything. I even offered for him to take whatever he wanted in payment before the bank took it away. He didn’t want it. He wants me. Everyone in town knows my husband was a drunk and a gambler.”

I’d heard it from various sources, but didn’t realize the extent of her husband’s troubles. Most men went to the saloon now and again and played a game of cards. But to lose a successful ranch and still owe money, that was something else entirely. And Emily had been mixed up in it all. Trapped, even.

“Then why did you target us?” Xander asked. It wasn’t how I’d have phrased the question, but it made her respond.

She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t target you two, you big brute. You asked me.”

“You were desperate though. Desperate enough to say yes,” Xander said, pushing her.

“That’s right. I was desperate enough to say yes,” she repeated, her words dripping with bitterness. “I assumed if he ever came around that you’d protect me. You’re both much bigger than he is and that when he saw you both, he’d just give up the money owed him. Besides, your ranch isn’t near here. I’d hoped he wouldn’t know where I’d gone.” When neither of us said anything, she continued. “What was I to do? He was going to make me work on my back as repayment.”

Xander pushed down the back of her dress and stepped back as if he’d been burned. Spinning on his heel, he rubbed a hand over his beard and swore. Now he saw the error of his ways. His line of questioning made her think we were just like Ralph, that we just wanted her body.

“He was going to make you whore for him?” I asked. Anger bubbled to the surface and I clenched my fists. It was a good thing Quinn had dragged the man away, that enough time had passed where I couldn’t go after them.

She came up slowly, clearly worried we’d push her back over the desk. “Saturday. I was supposed to go to him on Saturday.”

“Fuck!” Xander shouted.