Their Reluctant Bride (Bridgewater Ménage 6)

“He won’t stop, Emily. You have to know that,” Allen added.

“Then I should leave them. They don’t need this kind of burden. I don’t want their business hurt. I don’t want them hurt.” My throat burned with tears.

“You’re too upset. You’re not thinking clearly,” Belinda said softly.

I was brushing my hands over my skirt, fiddling with the fabric.

“You don’t think your husbands can defend themselves from one man?” Allen asked.

I thought of Ralph. He was no competition physically, but that didn’t mean something bad couldn’t happen.

“I… I guess so, but he’s… he’s mean.”

“Darling, you have to trust that your men will take care of this. That they will take care of you.” Belinda placed her hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eye, then pulled me in for a hug.

I cried then, realizing in that moment how much I cared for Xander and Tyler. I hadn’t wanted one husband, let alone two, now I couldn’t imagine not having either. They were risking their lives for me.

Then there was Belinda and Roger and Allen. God, they were wonderful. They were parents. Real parents. There was so much I hadn’t even known I’d been missing. It took two men to show me what real love, real commitment was like. Caring. Protection. Devotion.

I saw it in the way Allen and Roger looked at Belinda, cared for her. I felt it with Xander and Tyler.

“I don’t want them to be hurt,” I murmured. “I don’t want Xander to go back to jail.”

“Xander won’t be going to jail. Ralph will,” Roger said. He was so sure of himself, of my husbands that it offered me some comfort.

Realizing I was a blubbering mess, I wiped my eyes and stepped back. Roger gave me a handkerchief.

“You love them,” Belinda commented.

I looked to her as I wiped my cheeks, saw the pleased smile on her face. “I don’t know. I’m not really sure what love is. Frank, my first husband, wasn’t… nice.”

Allen came over, placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “It’s love, dear. You’ve got those two boys in knots. I’ve never seen Xander so… fierce before. And Tyler, well, he’s more worried about Xander keeping you for himself than anything else.”

My mouth fell open. “Why would Tyler worry about that?”

“Have you seen the way Xander looks at you? He needs you in a way Tyler doesn’t. You soothe something in Xander. We can all see it.” Belinda looked at her men and they nodded. “We’ve known him a long time. It might not be lightning, but it’s… special.”

“I want Tyler, too!” I admitted.

They laughed. “Of course, you do,” Roger said. “Just remember, just because they’re big and bossy doesn’t mean they don’t hurt, too. Be… gentle with them.”

I thought of Xander’s words, how he’d said he could never be gentle with me. While he touched me, he wasn’t gentle. I craved the rasp of his callused palms. The press of his body into mine. The dark bite of his voice. And yet he was out slaying my dragons for me. He was ridding me of my one heavy burden—Ralph. It might not be gentle, but it was what I needed. What our little family needed.

I was about to respond when they came through the front door.

I stood and spun around, saw that they were in one piece and ran out of the parlor and into their arms.

I took deep breaths, savoring their scents. With them standing so close to me, it was a mix of peppermint, leather and pure male. Their hands roved up and down my back, over my hair as I wrapped my arms around them both.

They pushed me back far enough to look at me. “You’ve been crying,” Xander said as he glanced over my shoulder at Tyler’s parents.

“We didn’t make her cry. You did,” Allen said.

Xander looked down at me and frowned. “We made you cry, sweetheart?”

I nodded, then smiled. “I… I love you,” I admitted.

Both men stared down at me with utter shock on their faces for a moment before something shifted. Their looks changed. Xander’s eyes narrowed, his jaw tightened. Tyler’s looked the same, but I saw something almost reverent there as well.