Where There is Hope [Taos Wolven Mates 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (4 page)

“Hey!” Leaning forward, Hope grabbed the arms of the chair and squeezed. “You guys are the ones who turn into some kind of strange…thing, not me! If anything, you’re the beasts.”

“Joran meant no insult, Hope.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at them. “Just so we have it straight that
I
am a human being, one hundred percent human.”

They both smiled at that and stood. Holding out their hands, they both looked down at her. “Would you care to hear the rest of the story as we take you on a tour of our ranch?”

“Ranch? There aren’t any ranches near Manhattan.” At least there weren’t any that she knew about.

“We aren’t in New York anymore, Hope. We’re in the Dakota Territory.”

No way!
How could they be anywhere but New York? She hadn’t been out for more than a few minutes. “North or South Dakota?”
Crap
. She didn’t really expect them to tell her the truth. How was she supposed to get away from these lunatics if she didn’t even know where in the heck she was?”

“Right now, in this time, where we are on the North American continent is called the Dakota Territory. I’m not sure I know what you mean by North or South Dakota,” Braxton said as they both reached down and took her hands, pulling her to her feet.

“Weren’t North and South Dakota admitted as the thirty-ninth and fortieth states in the mid-to-late eighteen-eighties?” Neither history nor geography was her strong suit in school, but she did remember researching something for her ex on western expansion.

“We have no idea, Hope,” Joran said as he and Braxton moved to pull her toward the back of the house. “We weren’t in your time long enough to check the historical trivia of the territory.”

When Hope realized they were headed deeper into the house, she stopped walking and pulled back. She wasn’t just going to let them drag her into a bedroom. She wasn’t stupid.

“I don’t think so, boys. You’re not getting me into a bedroom without a fight.” She might be attracted to them, but sleeping with either of these lunatics was out of the question.

“We don’t intend to take advantage of you, Hope.”

“Ha! What would you call knocking me out and kidnapping me?”

“We would call it trying to preserve our race.”

“Shut up, Joran.” Hope ignored the pleading look in his sea-blue eyes. “I don’t give a crap about your race. I just want to go home.”

Joran handed her the dress he pulled from the strange-looking pack earlier. “At least put this on so you won’t attract attention with what you’re wearing. The women around here don’t show their ankles, not to mention their knees.”

Reaching back into the pack, he pulled out a hideous pair of shoes with a two-inch heel. She eyed them with trepidation. She couldn’t believe they expected her to wear shoes with hooks where the eyes for laces should be.

Hope snatched the dress and shoes from him with a scowl and marched into the bedroom she saw on the left, slamming the door behind her.

Did they really think that she was going to believe they had carried her back in time? Well…she’d play along for a while, just long enough to find a way away from these lunatics, then she’d escape and send the police back here after these two nut jobs.

Hope changed into the dress. She left out the undergarments they supplied for her. She refused to wear the shapeless underwear and the petticoat. Heck, it had to be ninety degrees outside. The fewer layers she had on, the better.

Before she left the room, Hope removed the bobby pins from her hair, combed it with her fingers, and rearranged it into a French twist. She figured it couldn’t hurt since they insisted they were in the late eighteen-eighties.

She reached for the old-fashioned door knob and twisted it. The door, wood floors, and outer walls looked new, and she frowned at that. From what she’d seen of the outside of the house, it looked like one she’d seen while doing research on the old west for one of her husband’s papers.

Hope pressed her lips together. Just thinking about all she’d done for that jerk made her want to swear. Then she smiled. Let the jerk con his little hussy into doing the research for his next paper. It would probably be awesome if he wrote a paper on the uses and nuances of Cherry Bomb lipstick.

After all, Buffy, Muffy, or whatever the heck her name was, didn’t have much interest past her makeup and what type of miniskirt she’d wear next. Whatever the girl’s real name was, Hope had taken to calling the little tramp Stuffy, because no woman that thin had boobs as big as that little home-wrecker. Besides, silicone was easy to spot. Fake boobs always looked like inverted bowls on a woman’s chest and they stayed in place as though cemented there. Hope was convinced that it was as she suspected. The money they should have saved after her husband had cancelled their last vacation went to paying for that bimbo’s new rack.

Hope closed her eyes and took a deep breath then released it. Whatever her husband had done, it was over with now and she needed to move on. Keeping herself stuck in this negative rut would only serve to keep her down.

Pasting a smile on her face that she hoped looked at least passable, Hope pulled the door open and stepped out into the hall.

Both men greeted her with those strange wolfish smiles and held out their arms. If they even thought for one second that she would willingly touch them, they were crazy. Instead of taking their proffered elbows, she crossed her arms and raised a brow.

“Exactly what did you have in mind when you said you would give me a tour?”

Hope ignored the fact that they both towered over her five-foot-eight frame even though she wore the high heels. She pushed past them and led the way to the main room. A large cast-iron stove sat in one corner. It looked cold. It felt cold too, because with the heat outside, Hope was sure the house would have been unbearable had the stove been lit and working.

“I’m ready if you are.” She glanced at them, before turning her attention back at the stove. It looked new. Hope closed her eyes and counted to ten. She was
not
falling for their ruse.

Both of them held out their arms again as though they still expected her to take them.
I don’t think so.

With her nose in the air, Hope walked past them and through the front door. “I don’t believe you two. I refuse to fall for this scam.”

“It’s not a scam, Hope.”

Turning, she glared at Braxton. Reaching up, she poked him in the chest to emphasize her words. “Then. Prove. It.”

Braxton took Hope’s arm in a firm grip. She could fight him if she wanted, but something told him she had better manners than that. She might think they were crazy, but she would also believe her life could very well depend on how much she cooperated with them.

They would never hurt her, but she didn’t know that. As a matter of fact, he counted on her fighting them at least a little bit. No wolf wanted a pushover for a mate—at least none that he knew.

“Come on, we’ll take you out to the barn and introduce you to the animals.”

“Animals?”

“Yes, Hope, the animals,” Joran said with a smile. “Surely you didn’t expect a ranch not to have animals.”

“I suppose I thought about it, but it just didn’t register.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I saw the barn and the chicken coop. I guess I just didn’t think about them having animals in them.”

Joran released her to open the door to the barn when they stopped just outside the door.

“Do you have horses?”

“We have a lot of horses. Most of them are in the field. We have our riders in here along with two mares. One will foal in less than a month, the other dropped a little filly five days ago.”

“Oh! I love horses. Can I see them?”

Braxton glanced at Joran over her head and smiled. “Of course you can. You can even name her if you like.”

Pressing her hands to her cheeks, Hope looked between them. “I…” Pausing, she shook her head. “I can’t.” Her face hardened. She was back to her disbelief again.

“Whatever you like, Hope.” He moved deeper into the barn.

Sunlight shone through the small windows they left open. Dust motes floated in the golden rays bathing the interior of the barn. Bales of hay sat against the outside wall near the stalls. They stored the rest of the hay in the loft over her head.

He glanced into an empty stall and saw the clean hay awaiting Maribell’s birthing and imagined Hope lying in the center of the pile, her hand raised as though in invitation. He shook his head and wondered how long he would envision her calling him to her before she finally succumbed to their advances—
if
she ever relented.

They led her to Lady’s stall where the white mare lay with her pure black filly. The two fit together perfectly, the tiny filly lying within the curve of her mother’s body, a stark contrast of soot black against pure white.

“They’re beautiful.”

The expression on her face when she saw the mother and filly together told him she was the one, that somehow, they would overcome her fears and she would stay here with them. This was a woman who belonged on a ranch surrounded by the animals she loved.

Watch her expressions, Joran. She belongs here with us. I’d lay claim that she loves that little filly already and she’s barely laid eyes on her.

I hope you’re right, Brax.
Joran glanced at him over her head, the corner of his mouth quirked in a half smile.
I also hope she can cook, or we’re in a lot of trouble. I can’t see her eating raw meat, even if we turn her.

You’re right,
Braxton said with a sigh.

“Is something wrong?” Hope glanced up at him. She looked worried.

“Not a thing, sweetheart.” He smiled down at her. “Would you like to visit with them?”

“Do you mind?” She looked up at him as she bit the corner of her lip. She looked so adorable, he wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her.

“I wouldn’t have offered if I minded, darlin’.” He smiled, reached out, and opened the stall door.

“Won’t her mama have a problem with me being in there with them?” She looked at the little filly wistfully as she held her hands at waist height and twisted her fingers together.

“Lady is one of the gentlest mares I have ever seen.” He gestured to the next stall. “Her friend next door is just as docile. Joran and I received them as a gift from the king of Austria, for a service we provided, along with a male to breed them. I think we are the only people in the territory with Lipizzaners.”

“You’re kidding me!” Hope’s eyes grew round as she stared down at the mare and her foal. “No wonder she’s pure white and her baby is black. I’ve read so much about these horses. I love them. My mother almost paid for me to go to riding school at the Lipizzan training area in Florida.”

Hope moved closer and lowered herself to the floor. First she reached out to the mother and stroked the beauty’s pure white nose before scratching her behind the ears. “I don’t even know if they still train them in Florida anymore.” She smiled. “It’s been a long time since I was fifteen,” she said almost absently as she reached out to touch the pure black filly that kept nudging her arm for attention.

She scrambled to the corner of the stall when Lady stood up and leaned closer. “Crap! I’ve ticked her off.”

“I doubt that,” Joran said with a laugh. “She’s telling us she’s hungry and that she’s ready to take her babe outside.”

The filly stood on spindly legs and moved to nudge Hope’s hand.

“See? She likes you,” Braxton pointed out as he bent to offer her a hand up.

Pulling her toward the door, they left the stall open and headed for the back of the barn and the door that led into the fenced paddock. He grabbed two buckets of feed along the way. Lady and her filly followed him through the door and out into the sunlight.

He dumped the feed into the feed box and turned just in time to trade buckets with Joran who had already drawn the water from their well. He dumped those buckets into the dry trough with a frown.

“Robio and Dradon were supposed to feed the horses while we were gone.” Braxton looked around. “We were gone less than a day anyway, but why are the troughs dry?” He looked up at the sky then pulled the radio from his pocket. “Carella?”

“Yes, General?”

“How long were we gone from our ranch?”

“Calculating.” After a short pause, Carella informed them, “You have been gone two days, General.”

When Joran returned with more water in the buckets, he gestured toward the barn. “Lady has enough for the moment. Give that to our horses in the barn. We’ve been gone two days and the trough is dry.” He could only assume the horses in the barn needed water as well.

“Two days?” Joran frowned. “Why haven’t Robio and Dradon been here to care for the animals?”

“I have no idea, but we’re going to find out as soon as we fill the troughs and feed the animals.” Nothing short of personal injury would have kept the other men from caring for the animals like they were asked. Life here revolved around being able to count on your neighbors to care for one’s home while out searching for a mate.