Adams, Eve - The Banished Bride [Brides of Bachelor Bay 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (17 page)

She shook her head, her sad eyes resting on him. “That’s where you’re wrong. She was already broken when she arrived.”

He stormed out of the room and stopped to gather his thoughts once he had a door separating him from Aunt Mildred. Damn his aunt and her words, and damn him for letting her get to him. Surely telling Amelia that he wanted to marry her meant something. Women put weight in those words, didn’t they? He didn’t say those words lightly. Amelia had to know that.

“Andrew!” Noah came racing out of Amelia’s room and over to the railing to look down at Andrew, his brown eyes wide. “Come quickly. I believe she’s gone mad.” He ducked just as a brush flew out of her room and narrowly missed his head. “See? I need help.”

Of course he did. Noah couldn’t do anything on his own. It surprised the hell out of Andrew that the man knew how to tie his own shoes without help. Lord knew it took him long enough to learn.

He took the steps two at a time and ran into Amelia’s room in time to receive his greeting—a comb across the forehead. He jumped out of the way before the large wash basin took the same path as the comb.

“What in the—” He stopped short and ran to Amelia when she picked up the heavy hand mirror. The woman definitely didn’t need to add any bad luck to her already unfortunate circumstances. He grabbed the mirror out of her hands and led her away from the vanity before she could get a hold of anything else.

He sat her down on a chair in the opposite corner and knelt down in front of her. She hadn’t done a thing to clean herself up or ready herself for their day out.

“Amelia, what on earth is the matter?”

“I hate you both!” She brought her hands up and buried her face in them as the sobs ripped through her.

He turned and glared at Noah as he entered the room. “What did you do now?”

Noah brought up his hands. “It doesn’t matter what I do or say. Everything makes her angry.”

Andrew turned to Amelia and brushed her ratty hair away from her pretty eyes. “My sweet, talk to me. What happened?”

“Why must you torture me so?”

He frowned. “How are we torturing you?”

“Noah is over every day teasing me with his wily ways, and you never stop by at all.”

“I’m here now.”

“Yes, but for how long?”

He squeezed her shoulders. “I’m here, Amelia.”

“As am I.”

“Get cleaned up. We’ll wait out in the hall.”

She flashed a glare at Noah. “You most certainly will.”

Before Noah could retort, Andrew grabbed him and pushed him out of Amelia’s room into the hall. When she slammed the door after them, Andrew turned to his little brother.

“What in the hell did you do now?”

Noah shrugged and flashed his playboy smile. “I simply offered to give her a bath.” He smacked his lips together. “She tastes like the bottom of my boot.”

Andrew sighed and pinched the skin between his eyes. Goddamn his brother and stealing kisses—and God only knew what else—from Amelia every chance he could. “Noah, we discussed this. No more pursuing her without me. Is that where you’ve been when you’ve said you had to run errands? You’ve been paying secret visits to Amelia?”

“I couldn’t stop myself. Even covered in head-to-toe dirt, she’s still so beautiful. I see her and all reason escapes my mind.”

Clenching his jaw, he said, “If you do it again, I’ll cut off your balls. Perhaps you’ll be able to keep that in mind should the opportunity present itself again. What if someone saw you? It’s all over town that Amelia now lives here. If someone saw you stopping by every day, there is no stopping the gossips.”

Noah laughed. “You’re simply angry that she prefers me over you.”

“That, I can say for certain, is not the case.” He folded his arms in front of him to stop himself from reaching over and wrapping his hands around his brother’s neck.

“Care to place a wager on that? I bet that, after today, she makes her choice and you will come out the loser.”

Andrew looked at him. “How much are you willing to lose?”

Chapter 11

Mildred’s Journal, Saturday, August 19
^th
, 1865

Port Steele, Washington Territory

Oh, my dear journal, I am so troubled with what I’ve learned today about my boys and their plan with the girl. She doesn’t deserve what those boys have in store. Not only are they playing with her emotions by teasing her with the idea of marriage—of which I’m sure neither of them will follow through with—they’ve actually made a bet on her affection. I find this unacceptable. I know firsthand how charming men can be, that is until they get what they want. Then they are as cruel and cold as a summer day is long. When she finds out—and she will find out—if they think my actions have broken her, they are sadly mistaken. What they’ve done will surely destroy her and, as one woman to another, I cannot sit back and allow this to happen. It’s time I step in and make sure Amelia knows what her future will be if she continues on this path of destruction.

* * * *

Amelia tried to hold back the tears as she scrubbed at her face with the rough soap and coarse rag. Still, the dirt refused to come off. Giving up, she sank down on the corner of the bed.

“You need warmer water,” Mildred said as she walked into her room with a steaming kettle in her hands. Amelia shot to her feet and looked around to make sure she didn’t have anything out of place.

Mildred added the hot water to the basin and took the rag from Amelia. She dipped it and soaped it up, then dipped it again, making the water nice and sudsy. After wringing out the rag, she approached Amelia.

Standing perfectly still, she allowed Mildred to wash her face, scared of what she really had planned. After several minutes of awkward silence, Mildred stepped back and smiled, and her pale, tired eyes even warmed from the gesture.

“There,” she cooed. “Now to do something about that hair.”

“Why are you being nice to me?” Amelia didn’t trust her, not for one moment. Mildred had never said a kind word to her, yet she now wanted to help her get ready to go out with two of her boys?

Mildred set the cloth in the basin with a huff. “Do I need a reason?”

“Yes,” Amelia said. “You do, actually. You’ve been nothing but unkind to me and made certain I understand that I’m not welcome here.”

Mildred lowered her gaze and let out a long sigh. “I’m not proud of my actions. I thought I was doing the right thing by you.”

“By treating me as a servant?”

“You weren’t supposed to give in, my dear girl. Why didn’t you fight me?”

“Because that is not how you treat your elders, Mildred. I would never fight you.”

Mildred looked at her, shock and regret swirling in those pale eyes. “I can see why Andrew loves you. Noah does as well.”

Should she thank her? Amelia didn’t know what to say to that, so she remained silent.

“You have no idea what you have, do you?”

“I, um…” Amelia still had no idea what was going on.

“Come.” Mildred took a seat at the foot of the bed and patted the spot next to her. “Sit with me. Please?”

Amelia did, still not trusting her. She looked into Mildred’s eyes and pulled in a gasp. “Why are you crying?”

“I’ve done so many things wrong in my life, child. So many things.” She took Amelia’s hands in hers. “Promise me something.”

Amelia nodded, still reeling from the sudden change in this woman.

“Don’t hesitate a moment, Amelia.”

Amelia felt a jolt at Mildred finally calling her by her name. Although she didn’t want to, she felt herself warming to the old woman. “Hesitate in what?”

“In everything!” She smiled even though she openly cried as she talked, and Amelia wondered if she’d finally gone mad. “You are young and so very beautiful. No doubt the men surround you like bees to their hive, protecting their queen. Am I right?”

She nodded. “I do rather like that.”

“As did I. But that attraction fades quickly. There is always another who is more beautiful than you.”

She took offense to that and stiffened. “I’ll thank you to take that back.”

“I won’t. You need to know this. New brides are due here any day, and I promise you, one will be the new Amelia in town. She will steal all the attention from you and where will you be?”

Amelia dropped her gaze to her lap. “If this is supposed to make me feel better, it isn’t working.”

Mildred squeezed her hands. “Learn from my mistakes, child. There was a time when I turned every man’s head. I was on top of the world. With a simple smile I obtained my dreams. I had suitors from all over the world vying for my attention. I prayed it would never end.”

That sounded like heaven. She smiled at how Mildred had just described how Amelia’s perfect world would be.

“But it did end.”

Amelia lost her smile, and then her discomfort melted into concern as Mildred’s face contorted into a pained expression. “What happened?”

“I grew up,” she told Amelia with a sad smile full of regret. “Instead of making a life for myself, I watched as my oldest sister married Caleb Gallagher, the man of her dreams, and have four beautiful boys. Our middle sister married Donald Petty.” She laughed as she stared off into the distance. “None of us liked him, you see. I’m not terribly fond of her boys either, but they are family.”

Amelia smiled and blinked, and it startled her to feel hot tears stream down her cheeks. “Tell me more.”

“When we lost Cecilia in that terrible accident which I still have my suspicions over, suddenly life was so short. All of the things I’d set out to do, I never did. I wanted to marry a man of importance and live in a palace. I’d have servants and diamonds and sleep in a mattress made from imported down.”

“And did you?” Even though she asked the question, deep down Amelia already knew the answer.

Mildred shook her head, and it made her limp curls move ever so slightly. “I did meet a man who promised me that. Several men, actually. Each one of them promised the same thing. After I gave them what they wanted…” She paused and looked at Amelia knowingly. “They never followed through with their promises.”

Amelia swallowed tightly. “Do you think that is what will happen to me?”

“Andrew loves you,” Mildred repeated. “He wouldn’t have challenged me if he didn’t. Noah loves you as well, and I believe that scares him more than anything.”

Amelia missed this, having a heart-to-heart girl talk with a woman offering words of wisdom. It felt good and made her miss her mother so much she could barely breathe. “They both want my hand in marriage. What am I to do?”

Mildred smiled and stood from the bed to dip her hands in the wash basin. “Your answer is clear, Amelia.”

“It is?”

“Of course.” Mildred glanced over her shoulder. “Where is the rule written that you must choose? Take them both and live the life I never did. I do, however, expect to hear all about it. After all, since I’ve missed my chance, I must live vicariously through you. Make me proud, child.”

Amelia smiled. “You have my word.”

* * * *

Amelia stared straight ahead as Noah sat to her right and Andrew to her left, controlling the reins. She didn’t care if they took her straight to the Founder’s Day picnic or dropped her into the woods outside of town. As long as she spent the day with her men, she didn’t care.