Happy in the Border Lands Read online

  

  Men of the Border Lands 19

  Happy in the Border Lands

  Lucille is ready for her own family and hopes Ty and Jeff are the men to make that happen. Ty and Jeff are immediately attracted to her and hope she is the woman for them. When they approach her, she is receptive, and they see their future in her eyes. Can they make a go of it? They certainly plan to try.

  Lucille returns to their home with them and quickly jumps in to the daily routine of keeping the place going while they work out on the farm. When someone tries to kidnap her, she realizes that there are other dangers to consider outside of starving or disease.

  The men vow to keep her safe and one of them remains near her at all times from then on. Once again the future seems bright for all of them and the promise of a family forms on the horizon as Lucille makes an announcement that gives them all hope.

  Genres: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys

  Length: 33,693

  HAPPY IN THE BORDER LANDS

  Men of the Border Lands 19

  Marla Monroe

  

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  Happy in the Border Lands

  Copyright © 2019 by Marla Monroe

  ISBN: 978-1-64243-796-6

  First Publication: May 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.

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

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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 [email protected], or

  Visit her website at www.marlamonroe.com

  Her blog: www.themarlamonroe.blogspot.com

  Twitter: @MarlaMonroe1

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/marla.monroe.7

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

  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4562866.Marla_Monroe

  Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/marlamonroe/

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  Amazon page: http://amzn.to/1euRooO

  For all titles by Marla Monroe, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/marla-monroe

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  HAPPY IN THE BORDER LANDS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  HAPPY IN THE BORDER LANDS

  Men of the Border Lands 19

  MARLA MONROE

  Copyright © 2019

  Chapter One

  Lucille twisted her fingers back and forth in her lap as she sat at the kitchen table with the Johnsons and Jeff and Ty Cowell that night. They’d brought her and Amanda back from her other sister, Holly’s place earlier that day. The Johnsons had taken her and her sisters in when their parents had died after falling ill from one of the many diseases that had nearly devastated the human race after the season of catastrophes over twenty years before. Now she sat at the table, unable to force herself to eat while the others ate as if nothing was bothering them.

  “Lucille? Aren’t you hungry?” Mrs. Johnson asked.

  “Not so much,” she said, picking up her fork and toying with the beans.

  “You didn’t eat much for breakfast this morning either. Are you coming down with something?” Amanda asked with a smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth.

  “No. Just not hungry,” Lucille snapped at her.

  “I hope we didn’t push you girls too hard on the way back,” Ty said.

  Lucille looked over at the younger of the two men. Ty was only a year younger than his brother, Jeff, at twenty-eight. He had long dark brown hair he kept tied back and stood at well over six feet tall with broad shoulders and a wide chest. He had chiseled features with a generous mouth and narrow nose. Jeff was twenty-nine with long black hair that he also kept pulled back, but where Ty’s was a little wavy, Jeff’s was straight as a board. He also was muscular and broad-shouldered with similar features. Both men were built for hard work, and it was obvious that they were no stranger to it.

  Both men appealed to her, but she wasn’t quite sure how to handle that. She’d never been around men other than Mr. Johnson and now Holly’s men. She didn’t know how to act around two handsome men whom she was attracted to. All she seemed able to do was freeze up around them or snap at them. What would they think of her acting like that? They wouldn’t want someone like that in their lives.

  Lucille excused herself from the table, escaped to the room she shared with Amanda, threw herself on the bed, and cried. What was wrong with her? By the time Amanda came upstairs and found her on the bed, Lucille was all cried out and staring up at the ceiling.

  “What’s wrong, Lucy?” Amanda asked, sitting next to her.

  “I don’t know. I feel so mixed up inside. I like them, but all I can do is stare at them. I can’t seem to think of a thing to say. Then, when they tease me, all I can do is snap at them. What in the world are they going to think of me?”

  “Tell them that they confuse you. They’re bound to understand that you’ve never been around men before and don’t know how to act. I’m not attracted to them, so, to me, they’re just two older versions of David and Tom. Like older brothers or something. I imagine I’d be a little mixed up, too, if I liked them.” Amanda squeezed Lucille’s hand. “They’re bedding down in the barn tonight. They’re planning on staying over another night.”

  “Really? Why?” Lucille asked.

  Amanda shrugged. “Maybe to give you a chance to get used to them? I don’t know.”

  Lucille sighed. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to them.”

  “Just try to relax around them. The rest
will come.” Amanda patted her hand then walked over to the stand that held the pitcher and basin for washing up.

  Lucille listened as her sister washed up before getting ready for bed. Once Amanda was in bed, she took her turn and climbed back in bed to think over her options and what her sister had said. Even though Amanda was the youngest, she seemed, in this instance, to be the smartest of the two of them.

  Though she was sure she’d never get to sleep with everything on her mind, Lucille fell asleep before she knew it. Dreams of Ty and Jeff plagued her all night, but mostly they were good dreams where she was relaxed and happy, teasing and laughing with them as they ran through the rows of corn and sat in a field of wildflowers. It was no wonder that when she woke up the next morning she was smiling.

  * * * *

  Ty knocked at the door early the next morning with his brother, Jeff, at his back. The door was opened almost immediately by David, one of the Johnsons’ sons.

  “Morning, guys. Come on in. Breakfast is nearly ready,” David said, opening the door wide.

  “Thanks. We brought the eggs and the milk. Figured it was the least we could do,” Ty said.

  “Cool. We get a vacation from milking and collecting eggs!” Tom yelled, running through the kitchen.

  “Settle down, young man,” Mrs. Johnson called out.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Tom skidded to a stop, reached out to take the egg basket from Ty, and carried it over to the kitchen counter, where he carefully set it down.

  David took the milk pails from Jeff and set them in front of the sink. He pulled out a piece of cheesecloth and an empty bucket then covered the pail with the cloth and poured the milk into the empty bucket, straining the milk as he did. He did the same thing to the other pail.

  “You boys about ready for breakfast?” Mrs. Johnson asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. Anything we can do to help?” Ty asked.

  “No thanks. The girls have the table set and are washing up now. It’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

  Ty whipped his head around when he heard Lucille’s voice drift to him from the other room. She was laughing about something, and the sound went straight to his cock. He nearly groaned at the tinkling sound of it. When she walked into the kitchen, the laughter stopped, and he was sure it was because she caught sight of them. He looked up and found her staring at him and his brother.

  “Morning, Lucille. Amanda,” Jeff said.

  “Morning,” Amanda said.

  “Morning,” Lucille said in a nearly soundless voice.

  “How did you sleep, angel?” Ty asked Lucille.

  Her face grew a sweet shade of pink as she glanced up at him then back down again.

  “I slept well. What about you guys?” she asked.

  “Good. We did, too.” Ty reached out and brushed a strand of her fiery red hair behind her ear.

  He fucking loved her hair. It was the color of fire and shown in the sunlight like a bright light. It fell just past her shoulders and had enough curl to it to be unruly if she didn’t pull it back. He could easily imagine fisting it as she wrapped her mouth around his cock. Yeah, he’d already had that fantasy a time or two since meeting her.

  Ty blinked a few times to clear his head. He needed to go slow with her. She was more than a virgin. She was a virgin in more ways than one. She had only the farm animals as an example of sex and the Johnsons as an example of what men and women were like with each other. He and Jeff would have to be very careful with her and make sure they didn’t scare her to death with their appetites. No, she would require a light touch, and they were heavy handed to say the least. It would take all their patience and restraint to win her over. And they basically had only twenty-four hours to do it.

  When they sat down for breakfast, somehow it worked out that Lucille was seated between him and Jeff. Amanda smirked up at him, so he was pretty sure she’d done the maneuvering. He would have to thank her later. Lucille seemed scared stiff at first, but once they started eating and chatting around the table, she seemed to melt a little.

  “Lucille, have you finished the pillowcases you were working on?” Amanda asked.

  “Not yet. I should finish them today. I only like the hem on one of them,” she said.

  “Lucille sews and does all the mending for us,” Amanda said.

  “You sew as well,” Lucille said, brushing her hair behind her ear.

  “Not as good as you do, though,” Amanda said.

  “She makes the best fried apple pies in the world, too,” David said. “Better even than Mom’s.”

  “Don’t say that,” Amanda said. “Your mom will pop your head.”

  “It’s the truth,” Mrs. Johnson said. “Don’t know what you do to them, but they are the best.”

  “Sounds like you’re a good cook,” Ty said.

  He watched her turn that cute shade of pink again. He liked it when she blushed. He wanted to kiss her cheek to see if it was as warm as it looked. See if it was as soft as it looked as well.

  “I do okay,” she murmured.

  Ty looked over her head at his brother and could see that Jeff was just as engrossed with her as Ty felt. She was the one for them. All they had to do was convince her to accept them so that the Johnsons would allow them to take her to their home. The fact that they were friends with Holly’s men and that they’d brought her home first would go a long way to easing the way for them, but none of that would matter if Lucille didn’t agree.

  After breakfast was over and the dishes cleared away, Ty and Jeff took Lucille’s hands and led her outside to talk. She reluctantly went with them but didn’t put up a fight.

  “We just want to talk,” he said when she asked why.

  “So, what did you want to talk about?” she asked once they were behind the barn where the fields were freshly planted.

  Ty brushed off an old stump and indicated she should sit. When she did, he and Jeff stood on either side of her trying to come up with what to say that would get her to agree to be their woman.

  “We like you, Lucille. You’re pretty, friendly, are a hard worker, and seem to have a good head on your shoulders. Plus, you’re family to Holly, who lives just an hour away from us. We’re attracted to you and want to take you home with us as our woman,” he said.

  “Wow, that’s really romantic,” Lucille said in a dry voice. She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.

  Ty turned and stared at her. Romantic? Where had that come from? What did she know about romance?

  “Romantic?” Jeff asked.

  “Yeah, like flowers and candy and getting on your knees to ask me to marry you. That sort of thing,” she said, uncrossing her arms.

  “Where in the world did you hear about that?” Ty asked.

  “In books. When men ask women to marry them, they give them rings and get on their knees and ask them to marry them,” she said.

  “This isn’t one of those romance books, Lucille. This is real life. We don’t have candy or flowers or rings. There’s just us and a house and land that has to be worked. We’re asking you to be our woman. We’ll take good care of you and do our best to make you happy,” Ty said.

  “We’ll protect you and make sure you have anything we can give you that will make things easy for you. We’ve got solar panels like Holly has, so you’ll have hot baths and a fridge. We’ve got well water, and we’ve got a smokehouse for smoked meat,” Jeff said.

  Lucille sighed and looked down. She nodded then looked up again. Ty couldn’t tell what she was going to say, but there were tears in her eyes. They ripped at him. He hated to see her cry. Was she going to tell them no? He wasn’t sure what he’d do if she said no. It would tear him apart.

  Chapter Two

  Lucille wasn’t sure where all that crap about rings and candy had come from. She’d read about them in romance books she and her sisters had hoarded over the years, but she’d known those types of things were all in the past. Why had she brought them up? It hadn’t been fair. Now she’d sounded like
a spoiled brat to them.

  She liked them. If she were truthful with herself, she liked them a lot and wanted to find out where it would go. They were nice. They’d treated her like she was the most important person in the world and had made sure she had everything she needed while they’d brought her back to her home. It would be nice to be so close to Holly. She’d miss Amanda, but maybe they could find her a home close by as well. Otherwise, four hours wasn’t that far away.

  She listened as the two men promised her that they would take good care of her and give her whatever they could to make her happy. It was more than she’d ever expected of two men. They were offering her a good life. The fact that they had solar panels was a huge plus in her world. She loved the idea of hot baths and showers. Still, it was more than that. They were good to her, and she was attracted to them. Was it sexual? She wasn’t sure since she knew so little about sex outside of the books that she’d read.

  Sex. How did she feel about sex with them? It was an inevitable event. Could she do it? Well, she’d have to if she went home with them. Would they be gentle? Holly seemed happy enough, and she had two men. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. If Holly could handle two men then, surely, she could.

  She looked back up to see the two men looking anxious and unsure as tears welled up in her eyes.

  “I’d like to be your woman.”

  Ty whooped and pulled her off the stump into his arms. He whirled her around then plastered her lips with his before handing her off to Jeff, who did the exact same thing, only his lips lingered a little longer before he let her slide to the ground until her feet found purchase. Had that been his manhood she’d felt against her? Dear God, it felt huge. She shivered. Maybe she’d spoken too soon.

  “We promise you won’t regret it, angel,” Ty said. “We’ll make you happy and make sure you have everything we can possibly give you.”