Adams, Eve - The Banished Bride [Brides of Bachelor Bay 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (8 page)

“You’re married.”

He flicked a gaze past her toward Gage, and Amelia knew what he referred to. Lizzie may be married to Logan Gallagher on paper, but she was married to both Logan and Gage in private. The three of them kept it very discreet and out of the public’s eye, but it was no secret under this roof. Logan and Gage treated Lizzie as their equal and not a day went by that Lizzie didn’t have a beautiful smile on her face.

Oh, how she wanted reason to smile like that. To have not one but two men absolutely dedicated to her would be more than anything Amelia could have ever wanted. Would she be allowed such happiness? Had she done anything on this earth that warranted her being granted such bliss? Just the thought had her core heating up, her nipples hard, and the tender flesh between her legs throbbing as blistering liquid coated her curls.

“You’re flushed,” Andrew pointed out, a wicked twinkle in his eyes as he studied her. When did he ever look at her like that?

She cleared her throat to recover. “I’m upset, Andrew. I don’t understand what’s happening.”

Andrew stood and approached her. “Oh, I believe you understand perfectly. Logan is asking you to choose which one of us to marry. It’s time, Amelia. Make your choice.”

She wished it were that easy. As much as she hated to admit it, she loved Andrew. Having him release her made her realize that she didn’t want to lose him, but Noah brought out a passion in her that burned so hot it threatened to destroy her. She somehow doubted Andrew would ever pull that sort of reaction from her.

How long would she be able to hold Noah’s affection? They were so much alike, and she knew he’d never be faithful to her. Andrew, on the other hand, would never stray.

“I can’t,” she whispered and lowered her gaze. “I can’t choose.”

Andrew took her hand, and she watched the way their fingers curled together. She then looked into his intense blue eyes. “The husband you choose will be a formality only.”

She blinked at him.

Noah stood and went to her other side to take her other hand. “Amelia, what Andrew is trying to say is that we both want you as our wife.”

“And I have to choose?”

“Only for the public to know you are a Gallagher. To us, you will be our wife.”

“
Our
wife?”

Logan spoke up. “Amelia, in the privacy of your own home you will be a wife to both Noah and Andrew. In the eyes of this town, you will be a wife to one or the other. I don’t believe this town would accept our way of life.”

“How do you know that?” Amelia and Noah asked in unison.

Gage walked around and stood next to Logan, his blue eyes blazing as he glared at Noah and then Amelia. “You’re young and carefree. You don’t see the same things we see.”

“I’m not blind,” Noah argued and squeezed Amelia’s hand. “You’ve never openly announced your arrangement so how do you know? Our very own mayor shares the same relationship with his wife and brother as you and Logan do with Lizzie. Surely if the town founder has no problem with it, the rest of the town won’t.”

She stole a glance at Andrew. He held her in his gaze as he shook his head and stood, still holding her hand firmly in his. “If the Pettys caught wind of it they’d use it against us. Miles is absolutely miserable being married to Constance and will do anything to have others join in his misery.”

“He’s right,” Logan stated, pulling her attention back to him. “Amelia, you must make a choice.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Tonight will be your last night in this house as a Prescott. You will not be allowed to return until you marry a Gallagher.”

Too stunned to speak, she simply stared up at Logan. When he didn’t falter, her astonishment grew into a staggering fright. She jumped to her feet and cried, “You’re throwing me out?”

Gage spoke up. “Amelia, please understand—”

“But where will I go?” Her voice shook as her fear fueled the panic racing through her system.

“Aunt Mildred’s,” Logan answered.

No.
No. No. No
. How could he be so cruel? That horrendous woman hated Amelia. She hated everyone. It wouldn’t surprise Amelia if she hated life itself. She certainly acted like it.

“You can’t,” Amelia pleaded, not bothering to mask the terror in her voice. “Mildred doesn’t approve of me.”

“At the moment, she isn’t the only one.” Andrew seethed and dropped her hand to crisply fold his arms in front of him.

The poisoned daggers he shot at her from those icy blue eyes stabbed into her heart. How could he look at her like that, like she was nothing short of pure evil?

“Andrew, surely you don’t mean that. A moment ago you wanted me to make a choice between you and Noah. How can I possibly choose you if you don’t approve of me?”

“So choose me.” Noah grinned, and she wanted to return his smile, but having Andrew think so little of her hurt too much.

She dropped Noah’s hand and took a step toward Logan. “Please, Logan. Don’t send me away. I promise I’ll make this right. Just tell me what to do.”

He held his hand up to stop her. “You’ve already been given your choices. I will tell you this, Amelia Prescott. If you refuse to marry either brother, nothing you do will ever make any of this right. My brothers will never be what they were together. You’ve driven them apart, Amelia, so far apart that they may never be back to where they were without you. Aunt Mildred will welcome the company, and it will do you well to spend some time with someone who isn’t fawning all over you.”

“Please, Logan.” She sobbed out his name and didn’t try to hold back the panic-stricken tears as they began to fall. She didn’t want to have to make a choice. She didn’t want to live with Mildred. She didn’t want any of this. “Please don’t do this. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Amelia,” Lizzie sounded from behind her.

Amelia whipped around and wanted to fall to her knees, to plead with her sister to allow her to stay. She couldn’t live with Mildred. Lizzie understood that above all else.

She ran into her sister’s arms and sobbed. “Oh, Lizzie. Logan is trying to send me away. Don’t let him. Please, sissy. Please don’t let him do this to me.”

Lizzie wrapped her in the safety of her arms, and Amelia knew she’d won. Lizzie would never send her away. She hugged her big sister tighter and cried harder, just to make sure.

“This is for the best,” Lizzie said and kissed Amelia’s forehead. “It’s time you choose a husband.”

Amelia stiffened and pushed away, staring up into the cool green eyes of a stranger. She crinkled her brow into a frown as she studied the chilly expression on her sister’s face.

“Lizzie?”

“I’m sorry, Amelia, but you need to make a choice. When I spoke with Mildred today, she was in agreement.”

Shocked, Amelia dropped her jaw as she could only stare at her sister. “That’s why she was here today?”

Lizzie nodded and pulled in a breath, not looking away from Amelia the entire time.

And it clicked.

Tears flooded Amelia’s eyes—
real
tears that hurt as they fell. The sobs that bubbled up inside her tore through her as they released. “You–you knew? You knew what Logan wanted to do and said nothing to me? Oh, Lizzie. How could you!”

“This was my idea, Amelia.”

Her entire world shattered, and the strength left her legs. She dissolved and fell back, landing in the chair with a whoosh of air from her lungs when she realized her own sister was nothing more than a Judas.

Chapter 6

Constance Petty’s Journal, Saturday, August 12
^th
, 1865

Port Steele, Washington Territory

My, my, my. What tangled webs we weave. I escorted myself to tonight’s dance since my worthless man of a husband had a headache or some nonsense. Oh am I glad I did! I saw none other than the sweetheart of Port Steele, Amelia Prescott, dancing scandalously close with the town’s playboy, Noah Gallagher. To add to that, I saw them leave together after a single dance. It doesn’t take a genius to know what they could very well be doing at this moment. I love a good scandal, especially when it brings one of those Prescott women down—and even better when it includes one of her men. I only wish it were already morning so I could visit Lucy McTaggert and tell her of what I’ve seen. That gossip would no doubt take it upon herself to spread the good word at church and by the afternoon, the entire town would know of Amelia’s indiscretions. I for one would celebrate the fact that the most popular of all the brides will have finally received her just reward.

* * * *

“How could you?” Amelia whispered as the tears continued to melt down her cheeks and pull at Andrew’s heart.

Those tears were going to be the death of him. Andrew gritted his teeth and fought to keep his manner aloof and uncaring as Lizzie continued to break her little sister’s heart.

No, it wasn’t just her heart. Andrew spotted the exact moment Amelia’s belief in her sister, in Logan, and yes, even in Andrew shattered. It nearly destroyed him to do nothing more than stand back and watch. What did it feel like to learn that one’s own flesh and blood could deliver such a vicious blow?

Andrew’s gaze flicked to Noah, and he clenched his jaw again. Strike that. He knew exactly how it felt.

Amelia’s lower lip quivered, and Andrew’s insides clenched in response. He drew in a breath and turned his attention to the wall. He wanted to hate her. No, he didn’t just want to hate her. He wanted to despise her. He just wanted her to go away until he could clear his head.

Yet when Logan and Lizzie had a plan to do exactly that, Andrew wanted to do anything he could to put a stop to it. He wouldn’t see her smiling face every day when he walked down the stairs, and that bothered the hell out of him.

Besides, Amelia wouldn’t last five minutes with Aunt Mildred. She adored her boys, as she referred to the Gallaghers and Pettys, but she had no room in her finicky heart for the women in their lives.

Aunt Mildred, like Amelia, loved the attention she received from the opposite sex and didn’t pay any mind to the women that attention affected, good or bad. To rope Aunt Mildred with Amelia would be the worst possible thing for them both.

And the best.

Andrew stopped and thought about that. Aunt Mildred, now well into her late fifties, used to be the Amelia Prescott of her day. With looks that would stop ships, his mother used to say, Mildred Cabot had men from all over the nation vying for her attention.

Not much different than Amelia. More than once Andrew caught sight of Amelia smiling as she read a letter from Boston, no doubt from a suitor who’d never gotten over her moving to the Washington Territory. Apparently Amelia’s power over men spanned bicoastal, much like Aunt Mildred’s.

The two women weren’t all that different.

Mildred was the youngest of three girls, just as Amelia. The Cabot girls, according to his mother, all received their fair share amount of attention, but it was always the beautiful Millie Cabot who turned all the boys’ heads.

Logan took Lizzie’s hand and looked at Amelia. “First thing tomorrow we’ll transport your things next door to Aunt Mildred’s. For now, I’ll have Lizzie take you to your room.”

Amelia rose to her feet, that stubborn defiance in her burning blue eyes causing Andrew to take a breath. He loved that look.

“I know where my room is. I can escort myself, thank you very much.” She turned to Lizzie. “I wish nothing more from you. Ever.”

“Amelia,” Lizzie started, tears swelling in her eyes. “Please understand.”