Edwina and the Seven Snowed-in Scientists (13 page)

As if I was some possession you get to keep. Hell, I wanted to smack

that arrogant smile off his face. I don’t belong to anyone. I’m my own person. I decide where my future is, not a bunch of guys going all

caveman on me.”

He laughed at her choice of words.

“Oh, I suppose that’s pretty insulting. I didn’t mean it the way it

sounds.”

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“I know what you meant, and I honestly can’t guarantee we won’t

be possessive and overbearing at times, but you’ll also be the center of our world.”

“God, what is wrong with you guys? I don’t want to be the center

of your world. Why can’t any of you understand that? It’s just

fucking. It’s not a prelude to happily ever after in your frozen village in the middle of nowhere.”

Calvin hesitated. What the hell could he say to that?

* * * *

Jake watched Calvin closely as he came back into the room.

“You shouldn’t be back yet,” Kieran said with a note of

disapproval in his voice.

Calvin nodded. “Yeah, I know. I left my stuff about thirty miles

north of here. I should head back.” Calvin seemed distant, like

something had shaken him badly.

“Are you okay, Cal?” Jake asked quietly as he followed his

brother out the door and onto the small outdoor porch.

“She doesn’t want us.” Calvin shivered in the cold but didn’t

change into his yeti form. “Where do we go from here?”

Jake shook his head. He didn’t have any more answers today than

he did yesterday. “We have time,” was all he could think of to say.

Calvin nodded, clearly unconvinced, as he changed forms and

then turned and loped away.

Jake watched his brother for a while before the cold wind became

uncomfortable, and he headed back inside. Edwina had stayed in the

bedroom, and he wondered if she was asleep. Considering that eating

and sleeping were pretty much all she’d done since she got here, he figured she was probably hiding in bed rather than facing the rest of them.

Without giving himself time to think about it, Jake headed into the

bedroom.

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Her soft crying stopped him short. Instant anger at his brother

burned in his gut, and he almost turned around so he could hunt down

the asshole and pound him into the ground. Only the fact that Edwina

needed him more than he needed to beat on his brother stopped him

from following through.

He didn’t say anything. Just stripped down to his long johns and

crawled into the bed beside her. She resisted his efforts to embrace

her but finally relaxed into his arms when he growled softly. He took a deep breath, filtering the different smells, scenting no injuries. It wasn’t that he expected Calvin had hurt her, it was more like his

thought processes short circuited at the thought of his mate being

upset.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she said in a whisper. “I’ve

known Calvin for months, but it was like I couldn’t control myself.

Geez, I wanted him as much as he wanted me.” She shuddered. “I

almost let him fuck me while he was still a yeti.”

Jake breathed deeply, double checking what he already knew—

Calvin hadn’t claimed her. Just as he and Kieran had done yesterday,

Calvin had made love to her in human form. For a brief selfish

moment, he’d actually hoped Calvin had claimed her, thereby binding

Edwina to them all, but he realized it wasn’t what any of them

wanted. They’d seen the results of an accidental claiming, and it

hadn’t been pretty. Human women didn’t appreciate having their

choices taken away from them.

Jake held Edwina close as she cried. He didn’t know what to say

to her. It seemed obvious to him that she belonged with them—with

them, not to them, as Gary had so arrogantly proclaimed—but mating

with seven brothers and settling down to raise yeti pups in the wilds of Alaska didn’t seem to appeal to Edwina at all.

“How about,” Jake said, trying to come up with a solution to fit

them all, “we just all take things as they come. We’ve got the next

eight months to get to know each other. Just do what feels right. If

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you want to sleep with one or all of us, then do it. Don’t feel you need to apologize for or defend your actions, just enjoy our time together.”

She nodded slowly but turned to look at him as she said, “It won’t

change anything. I don’t want to live in Alaska, and I sure as hell

don’t want to be juggling seven husbands for the rest of my life.”

“So don’t then,” Jake said, trying to sound nonchalant. This

conversation was confirming his worst nightmares, but he still held to the slim hope that they had eight months to change her mind. “Live a

fantasy for eight months. Enjoy being surrounded by seven men

who’ll do anything for you, and when it’s time to go our separate

ways, we’ll all have some sweet memories of our time together.”

“Okay,” she said even though she didn’t sound all that sure that it

was okay. “As long as you remember I will leave, I’m willing to have

some fun. It’s not like I’ve got anything else to do for the next eight months.”

Well, wasn’t that an ego-crushing, ball-shrinking statement?

It took every ounce of control that Jake had to keep the

disappointment from his face. He couldn’t even imagine his brothers’

reactions when he tried to explain this. Even when they’d doubted

they would ever find a woman they all could love, none of them had

ever expected to find one who’d refuse to love them back.

* * * *

Edwina stayed in Jake’s arms until he fell asleep. She wasn’t tired.

Hell, since reaching the shack she’d done nothing but eat and sleep.

And, okay
that,
too, but there was only so much sleeping one person could do.

Very carefully she slipped from Jake’s embrace. She wasn’t

entirely certain that he was fully asleep, but after a brief, reactive squeeze he let her go. She dragged on her oversized clothing and

silently crept out the door. She spent as much time as she could justify in the bathroom and then took a deep breath, shored up her defenses,

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and went to face the brothers. No doubt Gary had some smart-ass

remark. He was, after all, the one who’d said they owned her. He was

probably laughing his ass off that she’d had sex with three of his

brothers already.

When she finally found the courage to walk back into the main

area, she almost turned around and fled back to the bedroom. But she

was nothing if not stubborn. She firmed her jaw, straightened her

shoulders, and entered the room with her head held high.

“Where are the others?” She tried really hard to sound casual but

felt fairly certain she hadn’t pulled it off.

“Kieran and Brian went for a run.” She waited. Surely that smart-

ass remark was coming any moment now. Gary looked at her for a

few seconds and then simply went back to whatever he was doing on

the computer. Unsure what to say next, Edwina dropped onto the sofa

beside the desk and wondered what the hell to do now. Back at

Mawson base she’d always had something to do, either flying

scientists, equipment, and supplies between bases or maintaining her

helicopter, or chipping in with all of the day-to-day chores that

everyone was required to do. But here she felt quite useless.

“Can I do anything for you?” She cringed at her poor choice of

words. Gary glanced over at her, smiled as if he missed the double

entendre, and shook his head.

“I’m almost finished with this.” She must’ve looked really

disappointed because he glanced around the room as if looking for

something for her to do. “Can you cook?” She tried to hide her

disappointment. She didn’t mind cooking—especially when she had

absolutely nothing else to do—but she hated the assumption that she

would. Although, he had asked “if” she could cook, and that didn’t

exactly scream high expectations. She fought her natural instinct to yell at him for asking such a stupid question and tried to stay

reasonable. Of course she could cook.

He watched her closely, and she got the feeling that he could read

every thought in her head. “Are yetis telepathic?” she blurted out. His
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eyes widened with surprise, and then his features relaxed into a

friendly smile.

“No, Edwina, we’re not telepathic. In fact, other than the fact that

we can change at will between our yeti and human forms, we’re pretty

ordinary guys.”

Uh-huh. Ordinary. Sure.

Ordinary didn’t explain her fascination with them all. Ordinary

didn’t explain the way she’d willingly fallen into Calvin arms or

Jake’s or Kieran’s, and ordinary sure as hell didn’t explain why she

wanted to fall into Gary’s right now. She didn’t even like the guy.

Except that maybe she did. Other than that statement about her

belonging to them, he’d been a fairly decent man. Even when she’d

been yelling at him, and he’d trapped her against his chest, and kissed her like the world was coming to an end, he hadn’t done anything she

hadn’t wanted him to do.

“I can cook,” she said, trying to change the subject. Thinking

about all the amazing sensations she’d felt while in the arms of the

brothers was doing nothing to calm her down. She definitely needed a

distraction.

“Okay,” Gary said quietly. “It’ll be the five of us again tonight.

Simon and Evan won’t be back for a couple more days, and Calvin

went back to collect his equipment.”

She nodded, not surprised that Calvin had left. The look of hurt on

his face as he crawled out of bed wasn’t something she’d forget any

time soon.

“I hurt him,” she said tiredly. She frowned at the confession. After

months of keeping to herself and limiting her interaction with others, it seemed that now she just couldn’t shut her mouth. Gary gave her a

measured look.

“He’ll get over it,” he said with so much confidence that she felt a

little better.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” she said. “I just can’t be what he

wants me to be.”

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“What does he want you to be?”

“The center of his universe, apparently.”

Gary looked thoughtful for a moment. “You don’t want to be the

center of anyone’s universe, do you?”

“No,” she said, trying hard not to sound like a bitch. Calvin said

he and his brothers were willing to put her on a pedestal and worship her like she was perfect or something, and it was absolutely the last thing she wanted. She wasn’t perfect. Never would be.

“Do you know why?”

“Of course I know why,” she said angrily. “I don’t belong to

anyone. I’m not going to sit on the sidelines and let every decision, every choice be made for me. I don’t belong to anyone. I’m a person,

not a possession.”

He pushed his chair back from the desk. “Come here, Edwina.”

She felt herself move instinctively to follow his order but caught

herself just in time. She glared at him stubbornly until he reached

over, snagged her wrist in his strong grip and slowly, inexorably

pulled her onto his lap.

“Kieran wants to spank your ass.”

“Yeah, well if he tries, I’ll kick his.”

“No,” Gary said, gathering both her hands in one of his and

threading the other through her hair. “I don’t think you would.”

“Goes to show how little you know about me.”

His answering grin could only be described as predatory.

“Perhaps,” he conceded. “But I know that you find the idea of

Kieran spanking you exciting.” He used the hand in her hair to move

her head and then pressed soft kisses to the underside of her jaw. She tried to move her hands, but he held them tight in his grip. The feeling of being trapped did funny things to her insides. Instead of being

afraid, Edwina felt her body soften, relaxing into his hold. “Good

girl,” Gary said as pressed his lips against her own. It began as a leisurely exploration, his tongue gliding over hers, delving into her mouth, tasting her. But then she moaned, could feel her juices leak

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from her body, could even smell the scent of her own arousal, and he

deepened the kiss.

He thrust his tongue hard into her mouth, pressing her hands

against his stomach, refusing to let her move, refusing to let her back away. She practically melted in his arms. Her breasts ached, her

vagina throbbed, swelling and begging for his possession. Her

breathing grew ragged, her thought processes skewed, her need

became urgent.

With no warning he flipped her over his lap, pressed her face

down with a strong arm across her legs to stop her from kicking. She

growled as she felt her oversized jeans dragged down her thighs, tried to wriggle away when his warm hand touched her ass, screamed as

the first blow hit.

But then the warmth spread across her buttocks, the sting going

straight to her clit. He smacked her again, the slap harder than the

first. She gasped, panting, trying to understand. Orgasm beckoned,

and he’d barely touched her. He continued to spank her, peppering her bottom with hard smacks until tears flowed down her face and she