Our Fugitive Bride (Treasure Falls Brides 1)

He took a deep breath and sighed. “My family all died in a fire. I’ve been an orphan since the age of ten. It’s not something I really talk much about.”

Her mouth opened and she grasped his other hand. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how you must have grown up without them.”

“It’s one reason I want to make certain that my children—and I want children very badly—to always have someone who will take care of them. I never want them to live in an orphanage. Never. It’s why the Treasure Falls way of life appeals to me.”

Now she understood why some men would like this kind of life. She had so many questions about what living with two men would be like.

“Men like to be in charge. Of the two men, who is the leader of the family?” she asked.

He smiled at her. “We would be your husbands. We would both have the responsibility of taking care of you and our children. We would both sleep with you at the same time.”

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as a blush spread across her face. Smiling, he reached out and stroked her cheek. “You’re curious. I like that.”

“I’m just trying to understand,” she said. “But men are possessive.”

“Yes, but Jesse and I have been friends for a long time. We’ve shared women before. We know what to do. We work well together.”

Heat flowed through her as she thought of the two of them sharing a woman. Of the two of them sharing her and her breath suddenly grew fast and short.

She leaned in close to him and breathed in his essence. “How does that work?”

He leaned back and burst out laughing. “That you will have to find out for yourself.”

“Dang,” she said. “A girl needs to know what she’s getting herself into.”

His fingers took her chin and he pulled her close. She thought he was going to kiss her and she wanted him to. She was eager to feel his lips on hers. To see if this attraction she was feeling was real.

“Soon, Mary. If you choose us, we’ll share you and I promise you’re going to enjoy yourself.”

She was breathing hard when he released her chin and smiled at her.

Jesse walked up. “Andrew, you snuck off with Mary.”

“Yes, I did,” he said with a smile. “I’m going to go fix her a plate of food. You take good care of her.”

Jesse sank down onto the bench beside her. “So the matchmaker didn’t tell you girls what kind of life we lead here?”

“No,” Mary said, wanting Andrew to come back. Yes, she was attracted to Jesse as well, but she wanted to see what it would feel like to be sandwiched between their bodies.

The urge to speak with Aunt Grace overwhelmed her. There were so many questions whirling around in her head.

“Mrs. Newton did keep repeating that if we were not happy here, we had two weeks to change our mind and return home. That you would pay for our way back.”

No matter what, she would never take them up on that offer. Treasure Falls was her new home. Somehow she had to make this work, and it seemed like these two men were attracted to her and she definitely felt something for them.

Sure, she knew what happened between men and women, but she had not had anyone to help her understand how they found one another.

“Are you going to go back to Charleston?”

“No,” she said. “There’s nothing back there for me. This is my new home. This is my future.”

A smile spread across his face and he pulled her toward him. His lips gently covered hers as he gave her a brief kiss. A tingle of fire spiraled up her spine.

“Welcome to Treasure Falls, Mary,” he said. “We have much to discuss.”