A Contract Bride's Triple Surprise (15 page)

So mortified she wished she could crawl into a hole, she kicked out and caught his knee.

“That’ll cause you a spanking,” said Ross. He stared at her, eye to eye.

“Put me down,” she demanded. It came out more like a pant, so she cleared her throat and tried again. “Down, Ross MacDougal.”

“You’re worse than the twins,” said Beth, laughing. “Come on, Amelia. Let’s leave these two billy goats to butt heads and play ‘I’m the better husband’ without us. That lemonade sounds wonderful.”

Ross set her down. He leered at her so openly she poked him in his belly with her finger. It didn’t penetrate past his shirt. The man was hard muscle, everywhere. She looked down, considering a more sensitive place to poke.

“No, you don’t.” Ross took her shoulders and turned her toward Beth and the house. “Off you go.” He gave her a playful slap on the bottom. She squeaked at the minor pain. She stuck her mouth open at him and stomped toward the house, arm in arm with Beth.

“Men,” said Beth. “Can’t live with them, but life isn’t much fun without them.”

They shared a laugh. Halfway across the yard, Beth slowed her steps. Amelia slowed as well.

“So, have you shared your bed with Nevin yet?”

Amelia stopped. She stared up at Beth for a moment before shutting her mouth.

“I guess not.” Beth winked. “Don’t go all white and frightened, Amelia. Before she died, Prue made me promise to tell you she wanted you to care for all the MacDougal men. Just like I do the Elliotts.”

“Umm—”

“Ross wants you to take care of Nevin, and Gillis when he’s ready, but he wants you all to himself as well.”

Amelia nodded. “You understand.”

“Very well.”

* * * *

Amelia waved as Beth expertly maneuvered the wagon down the worn track home. In a year, she would be equally proficient. Would she also have a baby at her breast? She rested her hand on her belly. Her parents had only two children though they were married for years. It took Prue three years to finally have a baby. She hoped she would be like Beth.

“See you soon,” she called out. The girls waved back until they went around the trees and out of sight.

Suddenly, tears flowed down Amelia’s cheeks. She hugged herself, fighting for control. She had a friend. One who accepted her as she was, scars and all. Even better, Beth didn’t care about society’s rules, choosing to do what was best for herself and her family.

She was part of the MD Ranch now. She would follow her own rules.

Amelia used her apron to wipe away her tears. It reminded her of something she needed quiet to do. She turned away from the house and walked toward the small plot of land framed by iron bars and wildflowers. She looked at the headstones, stopping at her sister’s.

Here lies Prudence Smathers MacDougal. Darling wife, loving mother. RIP.

She sank down, resting her bottom on her heels.

“I’m sorry I didn’t leave Father and come to you sooner. I was a fool, thinking he would change, that he would care about me. You were right to run away. You found the freedom you always wanted and the love we never had.”

A breeze stirred the hair that had pulled out of her braid.

“Hope is a wonderful baby. Gillis loves her so much. Only she can make him smile.”

She leaned forward and absently picked at the few weeds around the headstone.

“Beth said you made her promise to encourage me to love the MacDougal men. I think I may love Ross someday, but it’s too soon to say.” She sniffed back tears. “I really like how he makes me feel wanted. I know he wants my body, but I think it might be more than that.”

She brushed off her skirts and stood up.

“I don’t know how long it will take Gillis to get over his grief at losing you. But I’ll help him however I can. When he smiled at Hope, I could see the loving man you fell in love with.” She worried her bottom lip for a moment. “Beth is a wonderful woman, and she shares her men. If Gillis needs me that way, I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

Wildflowers waved in the breeze that swept her words toward the mountains.

“I’ll be the best aunt to Hope, treating her as my own daughter. I’ll tell her all about you and Mama. Even Grandmama. You didn’t know, but I met her a few times without Father finding out. She would have been so proud of you, making a place here in the wilderness. Thank you for bringing me here, Prue.”

She closed her eyes and waited for a sign. All she heard was the sighing of the wind in the trees. She finally gave up and opened her eyes. A raven flew past and settled on Prue’s headstone. It rattled its wings at her, tilting its head almost comically.

“Did Ross send you to keep an eye on me?”

It nodded, bouncing its entire body to do so. She laughed at its antics. It flapped its wings and flew into the trees.

“He told me where to find you.” She gasped when Ross pulled her back against his chest. She would have to put a bell on him, he moved so quietly. He crossed his arms over her, resting his hands on her belly. “Between his bird’s-eye view of the whole valley and his speed, Raven knows what’s going on for miles around.” He kissed her head. “Beth and Prue were good friends.”

Amelia nodded. “I feel a lot better now. Both about being here with you and about not arriving before Prue died. I’m glad she had Beth.”

He rested his chin on her head. They stood there together until the sun began to set.

“I’m hungry, and so are these mosquitoes,” he said. “I don’t want that skin of yours to get all itchy from their bites.”

He took her hand, and together, they walked home to supper.

Chapter Fourteen

One week later

“Isn’t it wonderful how much help you’ve got,” said Amelia. They’d arrived early to the Elliott home to prepare for the expected help. Because the addition was for Meggie and Bridie, lots of miners walked to the Rocking E. Beth insisted home cooking had a lot to do with their eagerness.

“We’ve got a few minutes,” said Beth. “Could you help me get something upstairs?”

“Of course.” Amelia followed Beth. Both homes had the same layout yet seemed totally different. No welcoming aroma of sweetgrass greeted her, and the walls were covered with bright, quilted pictures.

“I just realized how bare our walls are. Yours are so colorful,” said Amelia.

“That’s one of the things I wanted to show you. Your sister gave me the most beautiful set of picture quilts, one for each season. I had the men put them up over our bed.”

Our bed.

Amelia gulped. She was going to see The Bed, the one Beth shared with three men. Three! She’d almost got her head around the thought of sharing a bed with Nevin as well as Ross. After all, it was their bedroom originally. But three men?

Face hot, she kept her head down, watching Beth’s feet, until they arrived in the room. Like in her own room across the valley, clothing hung on pegs on the wall. A screen closed off one corner for the chamber pot, which Gillis insisted on calling a “thunder mug.” Since her fussing about it almost made him smile, she reacted as he expected.

It didn’t take long for her to discover that men, especially bachelor brothers, could be very crude to each other. Most of the time, she pretended not to hear their outrageous arguments and boasts. Sometimes it made her blush, but the discomfort was because she wanted to do what they said.

“You’ll have to look at our bed to see them, Amelia. You might as well get it over.” Beth’s smile matched the tone of her voice.

Amelia closed her eyes, faced the far side of the room, took a deep breath, and then looked. A very wide bed filled the far wall. There was enough space on either side to walk past to make the bed, but that was all. Beth walked over and sat on one corner. She pointed to the wall above the bed.

“Oh, Beth, they’re beautiful!”

Amelia walked slowly forward, staring at the four picture quilts, one for each season. She recognized the one far to the left, spring, as it was the view she had every time she looked out the parlor window.

“I didn’t know Prue quilted.” She frowned at Beth. “Why isn’t there any of her work on our walls?”

Beth patted the mattress. After she looked at her fill of Prue’s work, Amelia sat beside Beth. She sank into feathers, far more comfortable than the cornhusk mattress she slept on.

“We took everything down because Gillis got upset having to look at them.” Beth pointed to a trunk in the corner. “Anytime you think he’s ready, or if you want them back, they’re all in that trunk. I packed them very carefully as they’re so precious. Her lace is in there, too.”

Amelia looked up at the tiny, framed quilts once more. The detail in them! She squinted and, yes, two brown dogs played in the autumn fallen leaves. A man on a horse walked through the snowy winter scene, facing home. A yellow light in the window welcomed him. Home.

An arrow of loss shot into her heart. She collapsed sideways onto the bed. She covered her face with her hands, but the tears wouldn’t stop. She was jostled when Beth moved closer and rubbed her back.

“I’m sorry,” Amelia choked. “I know Prue’s gone, but now and then, it hits me.”

“Don’t be sorry for a few tears. Your father and sister, the only family you had left, are gone. You have a baby to raise in a place far from anything you know. You’ve got to get used to living with your husband. Even more, he has two brothers who want you.” She leaned closer and hugged Amelia. “Nothing could have prepared you for the thought of sharing your bed with more than one man. Cry as much as you want. I’m here, and I’m ready to answer your questions.”

Beth patiently waited while Amelia’s emotional storm passed. Beth handed her a handkerchief when she sat up. The delicate lace edging, Prue’s signature work, almost got her started again.

“Better?”

Amelia nodded. Beth brought her a cup of water from the jug on the side wall. She drank it slowly, thinking about what to say.

“Actually, something did help prepare me for this.” She waved her hand at the huge bed. Beth said nothing so she continued, still looking at her cup. “I had these…dreams. For years, before I came here. Then, just before I left, I found a book.” Beth was silent. “With drawings. Of men and women together.”

“A pillow book?”

“Is that what they’re called? The title is
Sinful Pleasures
. I looked at the whole book one night, page after page. I had terribly wicked dreams. In the morning, I packed it away in my trunk. It’s still there, in the bunkhouse.”

Beth leaned over, an eyebrow raised over a sparkling eye. “Does Ross know about it?”

Amelia nodded. Heat flashed up her body.

“Someday, I’d like to borrow it. When you’ve memorized it, that is. I might get some ideas to surprise my men.”

“There’s one drawing with three men and a woman. She looks”—Amelia bit her lip, looking for a word—“uncomfortable.”

Beth laughed. “You might find it so the first time, but once you relax and enjoy it, things will go much better. Remember, you are the one in charge of the bed. You decide if you will share it, with whom, and what goes on.” She wiggled her eyebrows like a bad villain actor. “Or comes off.”

“Um, Ross thinks he’s in charge of the bedroom. And other things as well.”

“You let him think that, but don’t let it stop you from doing otherwise. Men, especially strong ones like ours, like to think they’re in charge. Smart women let them have their illusions. You’re a very smart woman, Amelia MacDougal.”

Beth took her hand. “If Auntie is going to stay in the downstairs bedroom with Hope, get Ross to build you a small room of your own. Anytime I want to just sleep, I go downstairs and rest in my own room. Alone, or with someone to hold me. It’s a sunny room, so I have my sewing in there as well.”

“If I had a place of my own, I wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed.”

“I’m much taller than you, Amelia, and I get overwhelmed by all that he-man bravado sometimes.”

“How do you stand it?”

“They’re just trying to be the top dog in the pack.”

“But we’re a family, not a pack of dogs.”

“They’re male, and men work in packs,” said Beth in a droll voice. “Men don’t think or act like women. We are the ones who nurture and build families. They protect us and provide what we need for our family.”

“Mrs. Beth, riders!”

The yell came in through the open window. Beth scrambled across the bed to look. She leaned out for a moment before facing Amelia.

“I recognize the Circle C men, but the others are strangers. We’d better go down and greet them.” She smiled reassuringly at Amelia. “Luke Frost wouldn’t bring trouble to our door. Perhaps the others heard about our cooking. Single men will do almost anything for a good woman-cooked meal.”

Amelia followed Beth downstairs and across the yard.

“Luke Frost, you are not having any pie unless you put in a good day’s work!”

Beth shook her finger at the repentant-looking man, but Amelia heard the laugh in her voice. He turned his head, and she saw a wide scar on the right side of his face. He was the man who stood up first in the hotel dining room. His smile pulled at the scar, disfiguring his face even more. The sparkle in his eyes more than made up for it.