Her Perfect Men

  

  Men of the Border Lands 18

  Her Perfect Men

  Holly is instantly attracted to Jessup and Evers the first time she sees them, but is that enough to base the rest of her life on? She’s about to find out. She’s decided to go home with them as their woman.

  Jessup and Evers are excited that Holly has agreed to return to their home with them and want to make a good impression on her. More than anything they’ve wanted a woman of their own. Now that they have her, they want to keep her and set out to prove that she made the right choice.

  Together the three of them turn the Jessup and Evers’ place into a home where laughter and warmth prove that Holly chose the perfect men to complete her life.

  Genres: Action/Adventure, Contemporary, Futuristic, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 28,871

  HER PERFECT MEN

  Men of the Border Lands 18

  Marla Monroe

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Her Perfect Men

  Copyright © 2019 by Marla Monroe

  ISBN: 978-1-64243-705-8

  First Publication: March 2019

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2019 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

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  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Marla Monroe has been writing professionally for over thirteen years. Her first book with Siren was published in January of 2011, and she now has over 90 books and novellas available with them. She loves to write and spends every spare minute either at the keyboard or reading. She writes everything from sizzling-hot cowboys, emotionally charged BDSM, and dangerously addictive shifters, to science fiction ménages with the occasional badass biker thrown in for good measure.

  Marla lives in the southern US and works full-time at a busy hospital. When not writing, she loves to travel, spend time with her feline muses, and read. Although she misses her cross-stitch and putting together puzzles, she is much happier writing fantasy worlds where she can make everyone’s dreams come true. She’s always eager to try something new and thoroughly enjoys the research she does for her books. She loves to hear from readers about what they are looking for in their reading adventures.

  You can reach Marla at themarlamonroe@yahoo.com, or

  Visit her website at www.marlamonroe.com

  Her blog: www.themarlamonroe.blogspot.com

  Twitter: @MarlaMonroe1

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  Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+marlamonroe7/posts

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  For all titles by Marla Monroe, please visit

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  HER PERFECT MEN

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  HER PERFECT MEN

  Men of the Border Lands 18

  MARLA MONROE

  Copyright © 2019

  Chapter One

  Holly looked around as she gathered the apples in the field surrounding the small farm where she and several other people lived in the Border Lands. She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching her. She and Lucille were tasked with gathering the apples that had fallen from the trees, so they could make apple jelly with them. David and Tom, the youngest of the group, would climb up and shake the limbs in a few days and hopefully cause a few more to fall.

  “Lucille? Are you nearly finished over there?” she called out.

  “Yes. Are you ready to head back?”

  “Yeah. My buckets are full. I don’t think I can handle any more. We can come back tomorrow if there are any left on the ground,” she said.

  Together they walked back to the main farmhouse where she, Lucille, Amanda, David, Tom, and Mr. and Mrs. Johnson lived. David and Tom were the Johnsons’ children. David was nine and Tom was ten. Both boys had been born after the seasons of catastrophes. Something had happened with David’s birth and Mrs. Johnson hadn’t been able to have any more children. She and her husband had taken in Holly, Lucille, and Amanda when their parents had gotten sick and died six years ago. Holly was the oldest at twenty-five while Lucille was twenty-three and Amanda was twenty-one. They’d been living with the Johnsons for nearly six years now.

  Holly could remember some of what had happened all those years ago, but most of the time it felt more like a nightmare than something she’d lived through. Even now she hated bad storms and was always scared of being alone. She knew how there were bad men out there who would snatch her in a heartbeat given half a chance.

  They made it back to the house without incident and set the baskets of apples next to the back door so they could clean up.

  “Looks like a lot of apples to peel tomorrow,” Mrs. Johnson said.

  “That’s what we were just thinking,” Lucille said.

  “There’s still quite a few more out there and once the boys shake the trees we’ll have even more,” Holly said.

  “Think we’ll make some apple butter as well then,” the older woman said. “Supper will be on the table in a bit. See if you can find the boys in the barn. They were helping their da with milking.”

  “I’ll go,” Holly said.

  She walked outside and strode across the yard toward the barn. She loved living with the Johnsons. They were good to them and had accepted them as if they were their own children. Never treating them like step-children forced upon them even though they essentially had been. She opened the door and walked inside the barn to find the boys milking the cows while their da watched.

  “Supper about ready?” Mr. Johnson asked.

  “Should be on the table in a little bit. It will be dark soon,” she said.

  “Fall is coming fast now,” he said. “Hurry up, boys. We best be getting in afore your ma gets upset.”

  Holly turned around and ran right into the chest of a tall man standing behind her. She yelped then jerked as he held her arms to steady her.

  “Sorry, didn’t expect you to run into me,” he said. He released her just as quickly as he’d grabbed her and took a step back.

  Mr. Johnson grabbed a pitchfork and walked closer. “Holly, come over here, missy.”

  She slowly walked to stand behind him as another man walked up next to the first man. Both were handsome men with shaggy hair and bushy beards. One had dark blue eyes with black hai
r and broad shoulders standing around six two while the other one was only about six feet with dark brown hair and green eyes. Both men looked to be in good shape though they needed a trim and probably a bath.

  “Don’t mean you no harm. Just need a place to stay until this first snow passes us by. Got our own place farther north but we won’t make it before the first snowfall. We can work for a place to bed down,” the first man said.

  “What makes you think it’s going to snow?” Mr. Johnson asked.

  “Can smell it in the air. Plus, the animals are hunkering down. Look at your cows out in the pen. They’re sticking close together. Figure snow will be here by tomorrow night at the earliest,” the second man said.

  “Got no extra rations for two healthy men,” Mr. Johnson said.

  “We’ve got our own and can hunt for you, as well,” the first man said.

  Holly couldn’t take her eyes off either man. They were handsome despite their bushy beards and shaggy hair. She was sure that without all that excess hair they would be easy on the eyes. It has been a long time since she’d seen grown men other than Mr. Johnson. The last men she’d seen had tried to rape her. She’d been lucky that Mr. Johnson had come along when he had, or she wasn’t sure what would have happened. She shivered at that memory.

  “Stay in the barn. Don’t make a fire out here though. You’ll be fine tonight until we see what the weather is going to do.”

  “Thank you. We’ll be fine with the shelter,” the second man said.

  Both men looked at Holly for a long moment before they stepped back so that they could all pass through the door. The boys carried the four pails of milk with Holly between them. Mr. Johnson didn’t come in with them but stayed outside for a little while before returning to the house.

  “Harold? Are you sure it’s a good idea to let them stay with the girls here and all?” Mrs. Johnson asked.

  “Better to have them where I can see them than to tell them to go and not know where they might be hiding,” he said.

  “I guess you’re right,” she said. “Do they need something to eat?”

  “No, not tonight. They’re going to go hunting tomorrow. If they kill anything, we’ll cook it for all of us and share our vegetables with them,” he said.

  Holly couldn’t help but hope that she’d get another look at the two men again soon. Something about them teased her. She was attracted to them and that worried her. Why was she attracted to them? Was it just that they were men and she was a woman? What if they were bad men? What did that make her?

  After dinner, Holly, Lucille, and Amanda got ready for bed and crawled into the bed they shared. In the winter she was thankful they shared a bed, but in the summer, it was hot and uncomfortable. They shared for several reasons—one, they were safer together, two, in the winter they were warmer, and three, there was only one other bedroom and it had a lot of damage they had yet to fix.

  “What did they look like,” Amanda asked.

  “Shaggy,” Holly said with a chuckle.

  “What?” Lucille asked.

  “They were shaggy. They had long hair and bushy beards. They need a haircut and probably a bath though they didn’t smell that I could tell.”

  “Were they good looking?” Lucille asked.

  “It’s hard to tell with all that hair, but I think so. You’ll probably get to see them tomorrow. We’ve still got to gather the rest of those apples and maybe pick figs if we have time,” she said.

  “Wonder where they come from,” Amanda said.

  “They’re heading to their home a little farther north. Don’t know why they were away from it though.” Holly turned on her side. “Let’s get some sleep. You know Mrs. Johnson will have us up before the sun rises to get started on those apples.”

  Even though she knew that to be true, sleep didn’t come right away. She kept thinking about the two men and wondering what they’d look like cleaned up.

  * * * *

  “What did she smell like?” Jessup asked.

  “Like apples. She smelled like ripe apples ready for plucking,” Evers said.

  “She sure was pretty. All that white blond hair and those bright blue eyes. Haven’t seen anyone like that in years. Most everyone we’ve seen has had dark hair. It’s a wonder she’s living here untouched.”

  “Figure they’re off the beaten path enough that most men don’t come this way. We only did because it’s on the way to our place, and we’re off the beaten path for a reason,” Evers said.

  “Any chance we could make her ours? She’s pretty and looks like she’s in good shape. She’d do all right out at our place. We’d take good care of her,” Jessup said.

  “Don’t know that they’ll give us a chance. We only have a few weeks before heavy snow sets in and we’ll have to get gone or we’ll be stuck here all winter. Need to be back home by then,” Evers said.

  “Guess you’re right. I’d hoped we’d find ourselves a woman when we went south this time. Guess it just isn’t for us,” Jessup said.

  Evers felt the same way. After they’d harvested their garden, even before they’d cleaned it off and tilled it under, they’d set off for the small towns down south in hopes of finding a woman to make their own, but there weren’t any single women left in those areas so they’d started back with the hope of making it all the way home before the first snow set in. Unfortunately, they weren’t going to make it. There was a storm heading their way.

  He was pretty sure it would be a small one and wouldn’t last very long, but it would put them several days behind in getting home and getting to work on their garden. For it to be ready come spring, it needed to be cleaned off before the heavy snows set up. Plus, they needed to winterize the house.

  “Maybe if we’re really helpful they’ll see that we know how to take care of a woman and they’ll let us have her. We’re not that far from them. We could promise to bring her back for visits occasionally,” Jessup said.

  Evers sighed. Jessup was only a year younger than him, but it often felt like he was years older than his brother. At thirty, he sometimes felt ancient. Old beyond his years. It was times like these that he wondered if he had the will to go on. Then he’d remember that his brother was depending on him and he’d buck up and keep going. This was their lot in life and there was nothing to be had but to tread it. He’d keep his brother’s hopes up and carry on.

  “We’ll see. First, we need to kill something to eat tomorrow. Then we’ll see if they let us eat in the house with them,” Evers said.

  “Shouldn’t be hard to get a couple of deer. Colder air coming in will have them bedding down nearby in the woods.”

  “Let’s hope we can get them early so we can get them field dressed and ready for them before lunch time. I’d like something besides jerky to eat if possible,” Evers said.

  “Ain’t that the truth. Sick of that stuff,” Jessup said with a half laugh.

  “Get some rest, brother. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Don’t know what’s in store.”

  Long after he heard his brother’s soft snores, Evers lay awake thinking about the pretty young woman and how she’d felt for that split second he’d had her in his arms. She’d been soft and smelled so damn good his dick had instantly gotten hard. Her hair had brushed against his beard and gotten hung there until she’d turned around and pulled away. He’d wished a little of it would have pulled free and been left in his beard, but he wouldn’t have wanted even that tiny of a sting to have harmed her.

  Evers wondered how old she was. She couldn’t have been more than twenty-two or -three years old. She looked so young. Young and beautiful. She hadn’t looked anything like the two boys who’d been milking the cows. Was she a member of the family or a blend like so many of the families were these days?

  Finally, he gave up trying to figure it all out and allowed himself to fall asleep. He dreamed of blond-haired beauties with soft blue eyes.

  Chapter Two

  Holly wiped her forehead with her upp
er arm as she peeled apples with Amanda and Lucille. They’d started before breakfast then continued after breakfast. She was tired and cranky and wanted to stop but knew they needed to finish so they could cook them down and make the apple jelly and apple butter.

  They were sitting on the back porch since it was much cooler outside than in the kitchen where the old wood stove was cranked up to cook the apples. The boys were out shaking the trees and gathering the rest of the apples and Mr. Johnson was nearby checking the cows and tending to the chickens.

  She heard something and lifted her head to find the two strangers walking toward them dragging two sleds with deer on them. She set her pot down and walked into the house to get Mrs. Johnson.

  “Those two men are back, and they have deer with them,” she told her.

  “Get back to work. Harold will see to them,” she said. wiping her hands on a dishcloth.

  Sure enough, Mr. Johnson walked from around the barn and met them just before they made it to the house. He nodded at them and clapped them on the back. Then he led them out behind the barn where Holly knew they had the hooks for hanging meat to dress.

  “They looked like woolybuggers to me,” Amanda said.

  “They do from far off, but they’re kind of cute close up,” Holly said.

  “All I care about is that we’re going to have fresh venison tonight,” Lucille said.

  They continued peeling and cutting up apples until Holly was sure her hands were never going to be able to do anything else the rest of her life. They were cramping so badly she had to keep stretching them. By the time the last apple was cut up she was almost in tears.

  “That all of them?” she asked as she stretched her legs out in front of her.