CHAPTER THREE
She dreamed of them. They came to her on the heels of a nightmare. A sweet balm to her battered senses. They replaced images of the devil and hell. Their hands soothed away the hurt. Adam, Ethan and Ryan, their touch gentle yet demanding, their lips worshipping her body.
Holly awoke dripping with sweat, need and a healthy dose of embarrassment. She shivered as a chill settled over her damp skin. She looked at the window to see darkness beyond. How long had she slept? Her gaze settled on the bedside clock. Four-thirty. In the morning? It must be.
Chances were the brothers weren’t even awake. It would be a perfect opportunity for her to steal away. She endangered them by staying here. Mason would find her, and he would kill anyone in his way. And the idea of her three saviors being harmed because of her hurt in a way she couldn’t explain.
She slid her legs from the covers, careful not to make a sound when her feet hit the floor. Her shoes, a simple pair of sneakers, lay by the door, her socks stuffed inside.
She quickly pulled on her socks then laced up her shoes. She had no coat to wear over her thin sweater so she retrieved the flannel shirt she had worn yesterday. It would have to do.
With extreme care, she opened the bedroom door and peered out into the hallway. The other bedroom doors were slightly ajar, much to her dismay. She’d have to sneak past them the best she could.
She tiptoed down the hall and breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the living room. That is until she saw Adam lying on the couch. He must have slept there last night since she’d taken over his room.
A low fire burned in the fireplace, and she longed to go stand in front of it, anything to infuse as much warmth into her body as she could before she stepped into the cold.
Taking in a deep breath, she took small, measured steps toward the door. She glanced over at Adam, who didn’t stir. She reached out a hand for the door and held her breath as she turned the handle.
She opened it a crack and slipped out before a rush of cold air could blow in. She eased it shut behind her and breathed a sigh of relief. She’d made it.
The icy cold air made quick work of her inadequate clothing and sent an uncomfortable chill over her skin. The Land Rover stood parked in the drive, and for a moment she contemplated taking it, but she wouldn’t steal from the men who had shown her nothing but kindness.
She’d walk until she found another means of transportation.
“Going somewhere?”
She whirled in the direction of the voice to see Ethan and Ryan standing a few feet away, their arms loaded with firewood.
Her jaw worked up and down, and she struggled to say something, to respond. But nothing would come out. So she did the only thing she could think of. She ran.
Behind her, a set of curses rang out as she sped as quickly as she could across the snow. She had no idea where she was going. She only knew she had to get away.
She hadn’t gotten far when arms plucked her off her feet. She met with a hard chest and found herself staring up into Ethan’s face.
“Damn it, don’t look at me like that,” he ground out. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’d kill anyone who hurt you.”
She looked at him in complete bewilderment at the possessiveness in his tone. “Let me go,” she begged. “I can’t stay here.”
“And where would you go?” Ryan demanded beside them. “You wouldn’t survive an hour out here.”
She knew he had a point, but she couldn’t stay here. She didn’t understand the attraction she felt for the brothers, why she shivered if one of them so much as looked at her. One she could understand, but all three of them? What kind of freak did that make her?
“Give me your coat,” Ethan said to Ryan. “She’s freezing already.”
A moment later, she was bathed in warmth as Ryan’s body heat bled into her. His coat smelled like him, felt like him, as if he held her instead of Ethan.
“I can’t stay here,” she whispered, dangerously close to tears.
Ethan stared down at her for a long moment. Then to her complete surprise, he bent and captured her lips in a long, intense kiss.
He caught her gasp of shock and swallowed it up as his tongue danced over hers. She forgot all resistance as she melted like hot butter into his chest.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph. He was every bit as lethal as Adam. And she shouldn’t be reacting this way to him. Not after what she had done with Adam.
Hot tears flooded her eyes, and she let out a moan of distress.
“Back off, Ethan,” Ryan growled.
“It’s wrong,” she whispered.
“What’s wrong?” Ethan asked.
“Kissing you. After I kissed Adam. What kind of woman does that make me?”
“Our woman,” Ryan said. “That’s what it makes you.”
Confusion buzzed through her head like a hoard of angry bees. She didn’t understand any of this. Their woman? Were they all crazy or was she the only one taking a serious departure from reality?
“Come on, doll,” Ethan said. “Let’s get you back to the house. You’re freezing. Adam’s not going to be happy about you running.”
She tensed and Ryan spit out another curse. “Quit scaring her.”
“We’d never hurt you, Holly. You’re going to find out very quickly that we’d do anything to save you from hurt.” Ethan bent to swing her back into his arms.
She lay still as he strode back to the house. Her mind fought to comprehend the bizarre conversation she’d just had with the brothers.
Ryan opened the door, and Ethan walked into the house with Holly still in his arms. Adam stood a few feet away, his arms crossed over his chest, his expression formidable.
Despite Ethan’s assurances, she began to tremble. She turned her face into his chest, trying to hide from Adam’s scrutiny. His power terrified her. Mason was nothing next to this man, and yet he’d done so much to hurt her. Adam could do much more.
Ethan’s arms tightened around her. “Don’t be scared.” He walked her over to the fire and set her down. She quickly arranged herself behind him so he stood as a barrier between her and Adam.
To her surprise, Adam laughed. “So is this going to be the way it is? You hide behind Ethan every time you do something to piss me off?”
She frowned and stuck her head out from behind Ethan. Adam was smiling, and Ryan looked at her with quiet intensity. For a moment, she saw something in Ryan’s eyes she recognized, could relate to. Torment.
“I-I don’t understand,” she said tiredly. “I don’t get any of this.”
Adam looked at her standing behind Ethan, clutching fiercely at his shirt. She looked lost and forlorn and very afraid. He was glad she at least trusted Ethan, even if she had no idea she did. She was assigning Ethan the role of protector. From him.
Ethan warned him with his eyes not to push. Hell, he could figure that much out. Holly looked like a frightened fawn. Ready to bolt with the least provocation.
He sighed and sat down on the couch. “Come here, baby.”
She clutched at Ethan’s hand and chewed nervously at her lip.
What had made her so afraid?
Ethan’s arm went around her, squeezing her reassuringly even as he guided her forward. Ethan cupped her chin and forced her to look up at him. “No one will hurt you, doll. I swear it. No one will ever hurt you again.”
She relaxed a bit at his vow then turned her nervous gaze on Adam. “Are you angry?”
He held out a hand to her and felt an insane sense of victory when she trustingly curled her hand into his. He pulled her into his arms and smoothed her hair from her eyes. “I’m not angry, baby. Not at you. Never at you. I’m angry at the son of a bitch who hurt you, who put that fear I see into your eyes.”
He tugged her down further into his arms then kissed her, gently, feather soft across her mouth. She melted into his arms, and she fit so damn perfect, like she’d always belonged there. Then she tensed and yanked away from him, torment and self-loathing burning in her eyes.
With an inarticulate cry, she ran past him and down the hall to the bedroom. Adam started after her, surprised by her reaction. Ethan’s hand on his arm stopped him.
“You’re going to have to explain,” Ethan said. “Now.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Ethan sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. “Oh come on. You kissed her. She kissed me. She thinks she’s some kind of whore because she’s attracted to two strangers. You know she has to be confused. She doesn’t understand herself or us. You have to explain it to her.”
Adam closed his eyes and sighed. “You’re right. I’ll talk to her.”
He walked down the hall to the bedroom, his brothers following a short distance behind. He knocked softly, not wanting to alarm her by barging in. “Holly, honey, it’s me, Adam.”
“Go away.” Her voice, muffled by sobs, filtered through the door.
He opened the door, flinching when he saw her huddled on the bed, her eyes red-rimmed. She’d discarded Ryan’s coat on the floor. He stepped around it and walked over to sit on the bed next to her. He pulled her into his arms. She didn’t fight him, much to his relief.
“Tell me why you’re crying.”
“What would you say if I told you not two minutes before I kissed you in the living room, I was outside kissing Ethan?”
He smiled and smoothed his hand over her hair. “I’d say it makes me pretty damn happy.”
She gave him a look of disbelief. “Happy? I’m acting like some kind of…slut…and that makes you happy?”
He gave her a disapproving frown. “I won’t tolerate you talking about yourself that way.” She looked down, avoiding his gaze.
“There are some things you should know,” he said. “Starting with the fact that you belong—we want you to belong—to us. All of us.”
He expected to see fear at his statement. Instead, he saw surprise. Ethan and Ryan, who had been standing in the doorway, moved closer to the bed. Ethan sat down behind Holly, slipped his hands over her shoulders and rubbed soothingly.
Holly looked uneasily between the brothers as Adam allowed time for his declaration to sink in. She wet her lips and turned troubled eyes back to him.
“Does that mean you’re not going to let me leave?”
He chuckled. “If you’re asking if you’re a prisoner, the answer is no. If you’re asking if we’re going to open the door and let you waltz out of our lives, the answer is also no.”
Holly’s breathing sped up. Beside her, Ryan curled his hand around hers. She stared down at their entwined hands, noting the significance and how much stronger she felt for that bond. She tilted her chin until her gaze met Ryan’s. She was struck by the power that radiated from this quiet man. She was comforted by it when it should scare the bejebus out of her.
There was a challenge in his eyes, a dare to reach out and embrace what they offered.
Beside her, Adam shifted. There was raw desire in his eyes, a look that peeled back the layers of her skin and bared her vulnerability in a way that discomfited her.
“You belong to us, Holly,” Adam whispered. “I can feel your want, your need. It’s as strong as our need for you. You’re frightened, but you want us.”
“Is this about sex?” she asked in a strangled voice.
His eyes narrowed. “If you think this is only about sex, you’re wrong. We’re talking about forever. You would be our wife, our mate.”
She stared at them all in disbelief. Were they serious? Was this some kind of twisted joke? But they returned her scrutiny with utter seriousness. She shook her head. “You can’t all marry the same woman!”
“Can’t we?” Ethan asked.
“It’s not legal!”
“You’re thinking with your mind,” Adam chided. “There’s no law that says you can’t live with three men. In our hearts, you would be bound to all three of us. Wife to each one of us. Cherished by all of us.”
She shook her head in denial, in confusion.
“It’s that way in our family,” Ryan said quietly. “If you’re wondering if it’s genetic then no, it isn’t. We have a choice, and we’re choosing you. Our fathers chose our mother, our grandfathers chose our grandmother. But we aren’t bound by an invisible compulsion to lead that kind of life. It’s something we decided when we were old enough. We always knew there would be only one woman for the three of us. And so we’ve waited.”
“I can’t,” she whispered.
“But you want us,” Ethan persisted.
She hesitated but then gave a slow nod.
Adam frowned. “Then why can’t you?”
“Because I’m already married,” she choked out.