Their Treasured Bride (Bridgewater Ménage 4)

There was a knock at the door and Emma stood, putting Ellie on her hip to answer it.

"They are...very eager." It wasn't the most accurate of words for how I considered Connor and Dash to be.

"Overwhelming?" Emma asked.

"Embarrassing?" Ann added.

"Enthusiastic." "Insatiable." "Doting." "Intense." "Dominant."

The ladies took turns listing additional words and they did fit for my men.

"My men are very eager to meet this baby we made," Laurel commented.

"They've been hovering over her and the other men dragged them off so she could have a few hours of peace," Ann shared, lifting her son from the high chair and letting him down. He toddled off toward some pots and a wooden spoon on the floor, sat down and started banging.

"A month is a far ways off, especially since I can barely move." She shifted in her chair. "I don't want them gone too long though, for I am as eager for them as I have ever been. I swear I have the needs like a lusty man and only they can satisfy them."

"Look who's joined us!" Emma said, coming back into the room. Behind her was a woman I recognized from the boarding house. "Rebecca, perhaps you've met Allison Travers? She works at the boarding house where you stayed."

Allison was very short with very curly dark hair pulled back into a loose bun. Her smile was warm and friendly and she seemed to be comfortable with the others, so I assumed she knew them reasonably well. Church, perhaps? Her dress was a forest green and her black coat hung over one arm. I had only seen her in passing at the boarding house, and had not been formally introduced.

"Yes, hello again," I replied.

"I've brought you your other trunk," she told me. "I apologize that it will have to sit out in the snow until one of them men can lift it from the wagon."

"Quinn can help with that," Emma told her.

I saw Allison's eyes widen and her cheeks flush at the mention of his name. "I did not see him, for I came directly here. As for your trunk—" She turned to me. "—I believe you've brought bricks all the way from England."

"Yes, it is quite heavy, but no bricks. Do not worry; the trunk is of no concern. It has seen much in the distance from London." I stood and came around to her. "You traveled from town by yourself in this weather? Surely Mr. Arnold wouldn't have allowed that."

I was speaking like an English lady, not a woman of the Montana Territory.

"True, but it was not snowing when I left and the way is familiar. Mr. Arnold could not bring it today himself and I offered."

"Coffee?" Emma asked. At Allison's nod, Emma handed me Ellie to tend to the task. The baby was heavier than I expected, yet warm and plump and smelled so sweet. Her pale eyes, just like her mother's, looked up at me and she grinned. Could we have made a baby the day before? Would I have a little girl with fair hair like Dash or would it be dark like Connor’s?

"Thank you." Allison placed her coat over the back of one of the kitchen chairs. She moved to sit on the floor beside Christopher and clapped her hands at his drumming. "I will admit, I had an ulterior motive for coming."

Emma turned from the stove and brought her the mug. "Oh? I can only imagine," she jested. "A certain gentleman, perhaps?"

Allison's cheeks reddened and she looked down at the wood floor. "I was full of gumption when I left the boarding house, but as I rode closer, my daringness fled. I'm actually quite glad the men are not here, for I fear I would make a fool of myself."

"That is something I understand," I replied, more to myself than the room at large. I had made so many mistakes with Connor and Dash since I arrived yesterday.

"Oh! I'm so sorry—I forgot the good news. Word has spread in town that you wed Connor MacDonald yesterday. It is all anyone—at least the ladies—can talk about."

I nodded my head and smiled. "Yes, I did." The townspeople knew of my marriage to Connor, but not of my proxy wedding to Dash.

"You must tell me how you met, for I've heard of love at first sight, but even t

his was too fast!" She seemed eager for the details.

I glanced at the other women, who all seemed so relaxed and unconcerned about the unusual marriages at Bridgewater. Surely they'd been told about our trip into town and the hasty marriage in the church. Did Allison know of the men's custom? If she did, she did not seem bothered by it. If she didn't, however, I did not plan to be the one to tell her. For if news of my wedding to Connor spread, I could only imagine so would the news about the women of Bridgewater claiming several of the men as theirs.

"My brother was in the Army with him, with many of the men here at Bridgewater, in fact. We were coming here to live on the ranch when he died."

Emma came and took Ellie from me.