Her Three Liberators [The Hot Millionaires #6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (20 page)

“Right, here we go, then.”

They followed her along the gravel path to the stallion’s barn, almost running to avoid as much of the rain as they could. Marius whinnied when he heard her voice and she rewarded him with a couple of mints.

“Here he is,” she said, smoothing his silky neck as he nudged her pockets in search of more mints. “And as you can see, he’s full of himself.”

“Indeed he is.” Sam cast an expert eye on Marius and grinned at Richard. “Even better than I remember.”

“Is he getting plenty of mares?” Richard asked.

“What do you think?”

“I heard that a few people had doubts about the quality of his progeny.”

“Really?” Steffi affected surprise. “Where did you hear that?”

“Not exactly sure. You know how people gossip in the horse world.”

“That’s all it can be, gossip. There’s nothing wrong with Marius.”

“Ah, but darlin’,” Sam said, sliding a hand round her wet slicker before she could stop him, “to be sure, there’s no smoke without fire. That’s why we wanted to see your Mr. Malone. To make sure he was still happy with his purchase.”

Steffi pulled away from Sam. “And that would be your business because…”

“I feel responsible for the horse, is all.”

Steffi let out a mirthless chuckle, not bothering to dignify that with a response. “Well, you’ve seen him,” she said instead, folding her arms. “Anything else I can help you gentlemen with today?”

“The truth is, Steffi,” Sam said, focusing those magnetic eyes of his on her profile, “I need your help, darlin’.”

Steffi blew air through her lips. “Why else would you be here?”

“I made a mistake walking away from you,” he said, “and I want you back.”

“And wouldn’t your wife just love that!”

“Er, I don’t actually have a wife.” Steffi elevated her brows but said nothing. “I just said that because I was wary of commitment.”

Steffi’s shrugged and could see that her disinterest threw him. Presumably, she was supposed to fall gratefully into his arms, but she wasn’t following the script and Sam had trouble ad-libbing.

“You lied, in other words,” she said offhandedly. “Now there’s a surprise.”

“I’ve got a great setup going for me in Ireland, so I have, and I want you there to help me run it.”

Steffi laughed in his face. “No, thanks.”

“You don’t know what’s involved yet.”

“I don’t need to know. I’m perfectly happy here, thanks all the same.”

“But how long will it last?” Richard asked. “Marius isn’t performing, no matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise. I happen to know that more clients are cancelling than bringing their mares to him. Malone will get fed up and want rid of the horse soon enough.”

“And you’ll take him back out of the kindness of your heart, then sell him on to Sam here at a healthy profit.”

Both men gaped at her. “What makes you think—”

“Perhaps you’re not quite as clever as you think you are.”

Richard recovered quickly. “It doesn’t matter why people have cancelled. All that matters is that they have. Malone will cut his losses and you’ll be out on your ear.”

“But Marius is used to you,” Sam added, “and I miss you. It’s a win-win situation for us both.”

“No, thanks.”

“Don’t be such a stubborn fool!”

Richard grabbed her arm hard enough to make her cry out. Why had she been foolish enough to come into the stallions’ barn with them? No one else would hear them. The other hands were busy elsewhere and the stallions’ barn was set well away from the rest of the facility so that its occupants didn’t get wind of the mares in season until the time was right.

“Let go of my arm,” Steffi said in a commendably even tone, given that she was scared shitless of the vindictive expression in Richard’s eye. “You’re hurting me.”

“You’ve always been a pain in the backside,” he said viciously, increasing the strength of his grip. “Wiggling your way in with my mum and dad, doing everything better than me so you could show me up—”

“Listen to yourself,” she said scathingly. “You sound like a spoiled brat throwing his toys out of the pram.”

He slapped her face hard enough to draw blood at the side of her mouth.

“It seems like you’ve been expecting us,” Richard said. “How?”

Steffi wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, trying hard not to let her fear show. She’d never seen Richard this depraved before and was concerned that anger and jealousy would make him do something stupid. Like really hurting her.

“You think a powerful man like Daniel would just accept all those cancellations without looking for a reason?”

“It doesn’t matter what she thinks she knows,” Sam said gently. “All that matters to her is that she gets to stay with Marius. Now, sweetheart, let’s not fight over it.” He wiped a trickle of blood from her face with the pad of his thumb. “How do you fancy starting a new life on the Emerald Isle?”

“The lady said
no.”

Jonny, flanked by his brothers, stepped into the barn, murderous expressions on their faces. Steffi had never been more pleased to see them.

“Get out!” Richard obviously mistook them in their jeans and plaid shirts for hands. “We’re having a private conversation with my cousin.”

Relief flooded through Steffi as she stepped across to the brothers. They closed about her in a protective circle, Jonny on one side, Brad on the other, Harry directly behind her.

“Meet Mr. Malone’s sons,” she said to openmouthed Richard and Sam.

“I wish I could say it was a pleasure,” Jonny said, the steeliness in his soft tone more sinister than if he’d raised his voice. “You all right, babe?”

“I thought you were in New York.”

“The weather put paid to that.”

She gestured toward Richard and Sam. “How did you know?”

“The gateman was told to call us if anyone asked for you. Harry got the call and picked me up at the airport.”

Their protectiveness made her heart swell with love.

“I ought to tell you,” Sam said, his charm giving way to a malicious glower, “that you’re wasting your time with her. She’s as frigid as a nun, so she is.”

Jonny let out a soft growl and moved so fast that Steffi had no advance warning of his intentions. He stepped right up to Sam, raised his right fist, and planted it clean in the centre of the Irishman’s face. Sam crumpled to the ground and didn’t move.

“Who slapped your face?” Brad asked.

Steffi pointed to Richard, who looked justifiably scared.

“It was just a family disagreement,” he said feebly.

“Like beating up women, do you?” Brad asked scathingly.

Before Richard could answer, Brad knocked him out cold.

“Ouch,” he said, flexing his fingers afterward and winking at Steffi. “The bastard’s got one hell of a hard jaw.”

“Aw,” Harry complained. “I wanted to do that.”

Three months later

Harry returned to the guys’ sitting room. Since the positions on either side of Steffi were taken by his brothers, he flopped down at her feet.

“How is he?” Steffi asked.

“Wearing me out,” Harry complained. “For someone who was at death’s door three months ago, Daniel shows remarkable stamina. He just chewed me out for making an obscure error in some coding. How the hell he found it I’ll never know.”

Steffi smiled. “I still can’t believe the changes in him.”

“He’s been given a new lease on life and is making the most of it. No one knows how long it will last, so in his position I’d do the same.”

“Right.” Steffi ran her fingers through Harry’s hair as he leaned his head against her legs. “I’m so glad we persuaded him to give the alternative treatment a try.”

“Yeah, he’s now making huge donations to the guy’s research program.”

The three of them fell into a contemplative silence. Steffi still had trouble believing all that had happened during the past three months. Most importantly, Daniel was back with them, looking and acting more like his old self with every passing day. All slurs on Marius’s virility had been well and truly squashed and he was back to full-time employment, servicing the constant stream of mares sent to him with enthusiasm. Steffi still worked as Daniel’s PA, even though she suspected that her services were surplus to requirements.

What surprised her most was that the guys had remained at Porlock for so long. She’d gotten her longed-for trip in Jonny’s plane when he took her to New York with him for a long weekend. She’d been to California with Brad to see the winery and Harry and given her a guided tour of the ICT facility. They appeared to spend every spare moment they had with her, either singly or as a pack, and she seldom slept in her own bed anymore.

It had to end, of course, and when the time came, she’d let them go without making a fuss. She owed them more than she could ever repay. They’d liberated her from her own neuroses, turning her into a woman who was comfortable with her sexuality, unafraid to go after what she wanted.

What she actually wanted was these three as a permanent presence in her life, but miracles like that just didn’t happen. She’d sensed restlessness amongst them recently. Daniel was more or less back to normal and they weren’t needed here.

“We can’t go on like this,” Jonny said, as usual sensing her thoughts.

“No, I suppose not.” Steffi hoped she didn’t sound as deflated as she felt. She’d been counting on them staying just a little longer.

“Daniel’s up and firing on almost all cylinders again,” Brad added.

“Yes, he is and I’m glad.”

Harry looked up at her. “And he keeps asking us what we intend to—”

“When are you leaving?” she asked.

“Leaving?” they echoed as one.

“Yes, presumably you’re going back to your respective operations soon.”

“Fed up with us already?” Jonny asked.

“No, but you can’t just hang out here forever.”

“Why not?” Brad asked. “In this enlightened Internet age, it’s possible to run things from just about anywhere.”

“Besides, we like being here,” Harry added.

Steffi frowned. “I don’t get it, then. You just said we can’t go on like this.”

“I meant the four of us,” Jonny said. “Daniel keeps asking when we’re gonna make an honest woman of you and give him grandkids.”

Steffi’s mouth dropped open. “Come again?”

“Later,” Brad said, smirking. “We need to get this sorted first.”

“I’m not sure what you’re suggesting.”

Jonny took over. “We’ve all fallen in love with you.”

“We did almost from the first,” Harry added.

“No question,” Brad agreed.

“And we want you to marry us,” Jonny concluded.

Steffi was convinced she must be dreaming. “But I can’t. I mean, you don’t mean that.” She shook her head. “Hell, I can’t even string a coherent sentence together.”

“You don’t want to marry us?” Harry asked, sending her that hurt, puppy-dog expression of his that so got to her.

“I love you all,” she said with straightforward sincerity, “but I can’t marry you all. Besides, you’d get fed up with me. There’s only one of me. How can I keep you all happy?”

“You’ve done a bang-up job of it so far,” Brad said.

“We like living the way we do, sharing you and all,” Jonny said. “None of us are interested in having a woman to ourselves. We’d rather just have you between us.”

“You’d only marry one of us,” Harry explained, “just for appearances’ sake, and things would go on pretty much as normal after that.”

“Jonny, as eldest, gets to be your official husband.”

“If you’ll have me,” he said, picking up her hand, turning it over, and applying his lips softly to the inside of her wrist, his gorgeous eyes fixed firmly on her profile.

Steffi felt her heart overflowing with love for each of them. They really meant it. She’d get to stay here with the three of them
and
Daniel and Marius. She didn’t think she could stand so much happiness.

“Yes,” she said, kissing first Jonny and then Brad and Harry. “Yes, please, I’d love to marry you all.”

THE END

WWW.ZARACHASE.COM

Zara Chase is a British author who divides her time between Europe and West Florida. Her gritty ménage stories feature feisty British heroines who get themselves involved in all sorts of problems, ranging from kidnapping to murder. Fortunately American heroes are on hand to save the day.

Zara is an animal lover, a keen walker, and is on a one-woman mission to save the wine industry from the global recession.

Learn more about her and her books at
www.zarachase.com
.

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