"I...I was to marry a man I did not wish."
"You are affianced?" Brody questioned.
"Not officially. I learned my father arranged the marriage as part of a business contract. He gained a long term alliance and the other man gained a wife."
"What was so lacking in this man?"
"Youth, agility and kindness," I replied succinctly. "You find it odd I have qualifications for a husband?"
Brody shook his head. "Some women don't."
I pursed my lips. "He's well over twice my age, is rotund and has jowls from overindulgence and shared some less than pleasant plans for me."
"What kinds of plans did he share with you?" Brody asked, his jaw clenched tight. He ran his hand over the shadow of pale whiskers.
I blanched at the memory. Mr. Palmer had leaned in close enough for me to smell his foul breath and whispered tawdry things in my ear. "He...he intended to tie me to the bed and take me until his seed took root." I kept my gaze pinned to my hands folded in my lap.
"That idea repulses you?" Mason asked.
I whipped my head up and narrowed my eyes, shocked. "Yes! Everything about that man is repulsive."
"It isn't the idea of being tied up and fucked that bothers you. You've thought about his words, being fucked hard and long, over and over, filling you with seed until your belly is ripe. You're squirming in your chair so it's obvious to me—"
"Me, as well," Brody cut in.
"—that it is something that interests you. But not with this man."
I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it. Was this the case? Were the man's words so awful just because he would do those things to me? I glanced at Brody and Mason who were awaiting my answer. If these men had me tied to a bed, the idea held...appeal. I did squirm, my...pussy awakening once again at the very idea. I refused to admit the truth, although they seemed to recognize it before I.
"When was this marriage to occur?" Mason asked.
"Today."
"You went out into a blizzard, risking death, because of your impending wedding?" He looked at me with a combination of surprise and anger.
Folding my hands in my lap, I straightened my posture. "I did not know it was to be a blizzard. It was barely flurrying when I rode out, so do not think me insane. Would you wish to be married to a man who was cruel, unappealing and old? I assure you, his actions would be akin to rape."
"He will not touch you," Mason growled. He stood, the feet of his chair scraping across the wood floor. The adamance of his words sounded possessive. "You almost died out there. The man almost drove you to suicide." He waved his hand toward the window where the snow still fell. It had lessened over the course of our meal, but it was still a winter wonderland.
"Your father will search for you. Without you, there
is no deal." He gripped the back of his chair, his knuckles white.
"Both men will search for her," Brody added.
"Yes, I do not know who has more at stake." Mr. Palmer's interest was greater than avarice. He saw something in me that set me apart, a condition in a contract unlike any other. When he discovered I was tainted goods, my father would become irate. There was no chance I could make either man happy.
"Who is your father? Surely if you're from Simms he is familiar to us." Brody set his forearms on the table. "You should be familiar to us."
Here is where I had to lie. I couldn't tell them my father's name. I'd been back only a week and in that short time I knew the man's power. He'd held me prisoner at a school in Denver for almost my entire life. I knew more than anyone his control.
"Hiram Johns." It was the first name that came to mind, the name of the riding instructor at school in Denver.
The men looked at each other, but said nothing.
"The snow is to our advantage. They will not search for you until the weather improves. Any trail you may have made is buried under a foot of snow." Brody tipped his chair back onto two legs.
"They will search in town and toward Virginia City, not this way. At least not to start," Mason added.