Ecstasy in Elk's Crossing

Ecstasy in Elk’s Crossing When Katie Sellers moved from San Francisco to Elk's Crossing, North Dakota, she was leaving behind an abusive relationship, and not looking for anything more exciting than simply a new beginning. What Katie never realized was that small-town cowboys can lead to big-time romance and sizzling sensuality. Despite the cowboy boots and powerfully broad shoulders, there's a polished charm to Aaron McGowan that the ladies all love. As head of the McGowan clan, he runs a profitable cattle ranch with his three younger brothers, Flynn, Blair, and Garrett. The men all enjoy the innocent flirtation with Katie, the new girl in town, until a simple game leads to romance and seduction, and men who have never had to share find themselves falling in love with the same woman. Meanwhile, the man from Katie's past decides she needs to suffer, just to put her karma in order… Note: There is no sexual relationship or touching for titillation between or among siblings. Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys Length: 56,713 words

ECSTASY IN ELK’S CROSSING

Robin Gideon

MENAGE AMOUR

Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

ECSTASY IN ELK’S CROSSING Copyright © 2012 by Robin Gideon E-book ISBN: 1-61926-551-6 First E-book Publication: April 2012 Cover design by Jinger Heaston All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission. All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com

Letter to Readers Dear Readers, If you have purchased this copy of Ecstasy in Elk’s Crossing by Robin Gideon from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

Regarding E-book Piracy This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book. The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment. This is Robin Gideon’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Gideon’s right to earn a living from her work. Amanda Hilton, Publisher www.SirenPublishing.com www.BookStrand.com

DEDICATION For Jen, Keith, and Hannah with love.

ECSTASY IN ELK’S CROSSING ROBIN GIDEON Copyright © 2012

Chapter One Elk’s Crossing, North Dakota Katie Sellers looked at Aaron McGowan and his brothers, and told herself that they’d be nothing but trouble if she was foolish enough to consider them something more than just loyal customers of her grandparents’ saloon. They were all a little too handsome and much too manly to be anything but trouble for a woman fleeing from a man who’d battered her body and broken her heart. She picked up Aaron’s plate and told herself that he smiled at everyone, not just her, but that didn’t stop her heart from skipping a beat. “That was delicious,” Aaron said, his tawny, leonine eyes alight with pleasure. “Tell your grandmother she’s all that’s kept the McGowan brothers from starvation.” Katie laughed softly and replied, “You men provide a hefty chunk of the revenue of the Mountain View Saloon, so it’s a good thing for us that none of you have ever learned to cook.” “Never had the need to learn.” Aaron leaned back in his chair. His smile was lazy. “First we had Mama cooking for us most days, with your grandma cooking some evenings. When Mama passed away, it

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just seemed natural to come here for lunch and dinner.” “How is it four handsome men running a thriving cattle ranch don’t have so much as a single wife among them?” Katie immediately shook her head. “No, don’t answer that.” She felt her cheeks become heated. “I sometimes ask questions that I shouldn’t.” “You’ve been here how long? About a month now? Seems like in that time we’ve gotten to know each other well enough to ask questions like that.” Aaron turned in his chair slightly to look at his brothers. Katie could tell that all of them were waiting for their older brother’s answer. “It’s not that the McGowans aren’t a romantic lot. Blair fell pretty hard for Betsy Watters, but the instant they got engaged, the first thing she did was start making plans for taking him away from the ranch. The Circle-Square-Circle Ranch needs all four of us if things are going to get done the way they should. Without Blair, we’d have to hire an outsider to take his place, and that just wouldn’t seem right. Besides, Blair and Garrett are twins. They’ve been working side by side and fighting with each other since they were inside Mama’s belly.” “I’m from San Francisco,” Katie replied. “I’m a city girl through and through, so I’ll have to take your word on what it takes to run a cattle ranch.” She looked at the boys. “Sooner or later they’ll have to split up, won’t they?” She lifted an eyebrow. “Maybe not, I suppose.” “What about you? Why is a vivacious young woman like you still single? I’d have thought some rich banker would have snapped you up by now.” Katie felt a warm flush of embarrassment go through her. When her grandfather had fallen and broken his hip, her grandmother had called and asked if she’d help out at the saloon. For Katie, it was all the excuse she needed to leave San Francisco. Arriving in Elk’s Crossing, she’d felt like she’d made a successful escape from prison. Aaron’s voice was low when he took Katie’s hand, gave it a squeeze, and said, “Hey, there’s nothing that says you’ve got to answer that.”

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The heat of Aaron’s hand seemed to go straight into Katie’s blood. She tried to smile, found she couldn’t even fake one, and said, “No. You were honest with me, so I should be honest with you. The truth is that I was in what’s called a long-term relationship, but it went sour. He got very, very possessive, suddenly demanding that I tell him everyone I talk to, everyone I associate with. I was working at a highend steak house as the lunch hostess, so I greeted people every day.” She eased her hand out from Aaron’s. “But suddenly he accused me of being unfaithful, of flirting, of being a...” Her words died away. After several seconds, she cleared her throat softly and continued. “I was in love with him, and I told him as much, but he didn’t believe me. He started showing up at the restaurant, showing up just to keep an eye on me. He’d show up at my apartment at three in the morning, just to make sure that I was alone. I know it sounds incredibly stupid, but I put up with his behavior. I did because I just couldn’t believe how completely he’d changed. I guess I kept hoping he’d return to being the man he was when I first met him.” “What was the final straw?” Aaron reached out and took her hand again, giving it an affectionate squeeze. “You’re here, so I’m guessing that at some point he had to have gone beyond the pale.” “He demanded to see my phone. He wanted to read my text messages to see who I’d called. I refused, and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor with an eye that was swelling shut and starting to turn black.” A shiver went through Katie as she remembered the incident. “He said he’d kill me before he let anyone else touch me. That’s when I called the police. The restraining order didn’t faze him. One day he came to the restaurant and slapped me around. That got him arrested, and the judge gave him ninety days in jail. The judge was a woman, and he called her a cunt, right there in court. One of the sheriffs in the court was a woman, and he spit on her then punched her in the face. The judge gave him an additional six months in jail. In less than a year he went from being an investment analyst making a

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six-figure income to an unemployed convict who had to file bankruptcy.” Tears formed in her eyes, but she willed them away. “The first day out of jail, he showed up at the steak house. He said that it was all my fault he’d lost everything, and that he was going to make me pay for destroying him. I looked in his eyes, and I knew that the man was totally insane. If I stayed in San Francisco, he’d kill me. But that first night he was out of jail, my grandmother called and asked if I could help out here while my grandfather recovered. I was in my car and driving out of the city that night.” “If any man ever raises a hand to you,” Aaron said quietly, “he’ll answer to me.” “And me,” Blair chimed in. “And all of us,” Flynn said quickly. The brothers nodded and voiced their agreement with Flynn’s declaration. Katie looked away, fighting against the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks. “I could kiss each and every one of you,” Katie said softly. “There isn’t a one of you that doesn’t impress me more than you can imagine.” “Kissing? At last this conversation has taken a rather pleasing turn for the better,” Aaron replied, his grin roguish. He squeezed Katie’s hand again. “But there’s no need for you to worry about my brothers. Kissing me should be your first and foremost concern.” “That statement would have more validity,” Katie replied, “if you didn’t spend so much time kissing other women.” Aaron put his hand over his heart in theatrical sincerity. “But that’s only because you’ve never kissed me.” “You’re handsome as sin, and I’ll grant that you and your brothers are awfully tempting, but at this stage of my life, men are on my list of things I need to avoid. Avoid like the plague.” From behind the bar, standing near the grill where all the food was cooked, Katie’s grandmother called out, “Order up!”

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Katie was grateful for the interruption. She hadn’t intended on sharing her heart with the McGowan brothers. For the past month, they’d been talking, flirting a little, and sometimes flirting a lot. But it had always been light banter between them. Never had either side opened up so much. She started to leave, but Aaron caught her apron, stopping her. “If you said that all I had to do to get a kiss from you was stop the earth from spinning, I’d do it.” His lips curled into a half smile, and his tawny eyes sparkled. “And I’m sure that every one of my brothers feels exactly the same way. We all adore you.” “You’re a flatterer,” Katie replied, tugging free her apron from his large, callused hand. “I’ll admit, it does this woman’s bruised ego a world of good.” She cleared her throat. “My heart skips a beat every time you touch me. But I’ve got to be honest with you, holding my hand is as far as anything’s going to go. Once you’ve been a man’s punching bag, you start looking at all men very carefully.” **** Two hours later, sitting in a saddle he’d had for more than a decade, Aaron was looking at a herd of nearly four hundred prime Angus cattle, though all his thoughts were of a voluptuous blonde in her midtwenties who had recently moved to Elk’s Crossing. She was the one with the infectious smile that, just seeing it, made a grown man feel like a teenager. And at the age of thirty-two, Aaron didn’t particularly like feeling so young and naive. Blair, on his buckskin quarter horse named Jupiter, cantered over and came to a stop. He pushed his sweat-stained Stetson back on his head, gave his brother a smile, and said, “How long have you been thinking about Katie?” “Is it that obvious?” Aaron wasn’t thrilled to know that his thoughts were so easy to read, especially from a distance. “Uh-huh. I practically had to tie the boys into their saddles to keep

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them from floating away.” “A little light-headed, were they?” “That’s the understatement of a lifetime. They think the sun rises and sets on Katie.” “The boys” were Garrett and Flynn, the youngest of the McGowan brothers, and twins. The first time they had seen Katie at the Mountain View Saloon, she had been wearing a white silk blouse with a black skirt, stockings, and high-heels. She’d smiled at them in welcoming, and both young men had simply stopped dead in their tracks and stared at her. The blouse had been modest enough, perfect attire for a hostess at a high-end steak house in San Francisco. But in Elk’s Crossing, North Dakota, to unexpectedly see such a voluptuous woman in a silk blouse had quite taken the breath away from the two twenty-one-year-olds. “How angry did you get,” Aaron asked, “when she said some guy used her for his personal punching bag?” “It would have been a real bad time to get my blood pressure checked.” Aaron took his hat off and combed his fingers through his auburn hair. “About the first lesson I can ever remember Papa giving us was to always show respect to Mama, and never to lift a hand against her or any other woman.” Aaron felt a clenching in his stomach and a sudden pounding in his temples, which he quickly willed away. It wouldn’t do him any good to get furious about an injustice he had been powerless to prevent. “She pretty much lights up the whole room when she smiles, doesn’t she?” “That she does, big brother. That she does.” **** David Haynes stood outside the apartment building waiting for one of the tenants to enter. He had been unable to slip past the security system, but maybe someone would recognize him and let him

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in. It hadn’t always been dreadful with Katie. In their early days, she’d made him quite happy. But as he stood in the doorway across the street, avoiding the light, drizzling rain, David felt the anger welling up inside him once again. Things had been good, but only at first. Katie had said she loved him. He had a high-paying job as an investment analyst at one of the more prestigious financial firms in the city, and his future looked to be an unending series of successes. Then Katie changed. She got independent and forgot her place in their relationship. She never should have gone to the cops because he had every right in the world to straighten her out. First there was the restraining order. What a joke that had been! No goddamned judge was going to tell David where he could go or who he could see. If he wanted to talk to Katie, how was that any business of the court? David closed his eyes and tried to forget about those moments in the courtroom, when it was announced that he was now a felon in the State of California, and that, though most of his sentence was being suspended, he’d still spend months behind bars. The rest seemed to have happened so fast he could hardly fathom it. Some dumb-ass clause in his contract allowed his boss at the financial firm to give him the boot out the door. David had always been a high flyer, a man who made a lot of money, but he spent a lot of money, too. Having lost his six-figure income, and being unable to earn anything behind bars, he lost his condo and his Porsche. And to make matters worse, all his so-called friends sided with Katie against him. To hell with all of them. David pressed himself a little tighter against the building to avoid the drizzle. It’s Katie’s fault. I had money, friends, a great job, a hot car. I was at the top of my game. I had it all. Then she took it from me. She’s going to pay for that. I’ve got every right in the world to make her pay. Every right in the world. From the apartment building, a young couple got halfway out the

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door. They were laughing and kissing playfully. Apparently the young woman was saying good-bye to the young man, but neither wanted to be the first to turn away. David hurried across the street, being as unobtrusive as possible. “Don’t mind me,” David said as he slipped past the couple and into the building. The young lovers hardly gave him a glance, so entranced were they in their little game of you-first. David felt an eerie sense of déjà vu as he walked down the hallway toward the elevators. The last time he’d been in this building, two policemen had wrestled him to the floor, put him in handcuffs, and sprayed him with pepper mace. His heart was starting to pound as he walked closer and closer to Katie’s apartment door. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t make her pay for what she’s done to me. It’s for her own good, so she knows she mustn’t ever do anything like that ever again. He knocked on the door, his hand remaining clenched into a fist. Presently, the door opened, and an elderly woman looked at him above the security chain. “Yes?” “Hi. I was wondering if Katie is available.” David tried to keep his tone friendly, but he could hear the suppressed fury in every word. “She moved away.” The door was unceremoniously closed in his face. David heard the deadbolt lock being thrown into place. When her phone had been disconnected, he hadn’t been surprised. It was what he had expected her to do. What he hadn’t expected was for her to move out of her apartment. Finding a nice apartment that was affordable was a real trick in San Francisco. If it takes a day or a month or a year, I’m going to find her. Not letting me know where she’s moved? That’s just one more thing I’m going to have to talk to her about. That woman’s got to learn to listen

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and do what she’s told. He smiled, liking the way his mind was working. He was almost out the front doors of the apartment building when the bank of mailboxes caught his attention. He stopped, and for a moment tried to figure out just what it was that had triggered his unconscious curiosity. It took a while, but he finally saw it. A letter protruding from the overstuffed mailbox, addressed to Katie, from some culinary society. Written in longhand, probably by the old woman who now lived in the apartment, were instructions to forward the letter to an address in Elk’s Crossing, North Dakota. “Elk’s Crossing?” David said aloud. “Where the hell is Elk’s Crossing?” He stuffed the envelope into his back pocket, already making plans to travel out of San Francisco, even though his parole officer had made it quite clear that he wasn’t to leave the city. **** I’ve got to go on a diet. Katie was standing naked before the full-length mirror in her bedroom at her grandparents’ house. She had just showered, and was now getting ready for her evening shift at the Mountain View Saloon. Thirty-five pounds would be about right. No, maybe just twentyfive. Thank goodness I mostly carry it in my boobs and hips. That way it gives me curves. The thought made her smile, but not for long. A moment later she did the classic pinch test at the side of her stomach, and she didn’t like the results. I wonder if the McGowan men like their women to have curves, or if they like them petite and dainty? They’re all such big men. Maybe they’d like.... She cupped her breasts from the underside and lifted them

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slightly. Katie had struggled with her body image her whole life. Sometimes she felt good about herself and how she looked, and other times she did not. What she found most frustrating was that her positive or negative feelings were almost always tied to other factors in her life. Like David, who at one time had made her feel like the most precious woman in the world, and later made her feel dirty, defiled, and worthless. Think about the McGowans. When they look at you, there’s warmth in their eyes. They’d never hurt you. The twins almost swoon when you serve them their suppers. And Aaron likes it when you give him a little peek at the girls. A half smile tugged at the right corner of Katie’s mouth. Yes, Aaron liked to look at her all right, and so did his brothers. When they looked at her, Katie felt appreciated and attractive, not just lusted after. They could make her feel pretty without ever saying a single word about her appearance. And they’d never resort to violence. If Katie was certain about anything regarding the raw-knuckled Irishmen, it was that they wouldn’t use violence. Katie told herself that flirting with the McGowans was all just harmless fun. Though none of them had been overt in their desire for her, Katie knew in her heart that she would always have to resist them. If she ever succumbed to Aaron’s charms, then it would surely have a negative effect on his relationship with Blair and the others. Katie hadn’t done many things that she was ashamed of, but being a divisive element in a family as close and cohesive as the McGowans would surely leave her feeling a bottomless guilt. But there’s nothing wrong with a little harmless flirting. She chose a black skirt suit with a ruby red blouse that, when buttoned properly, showed a little more of her ample charms than Katie normally allowed. She completed the outfit with black thigh highs and a pair of stilettos that she was convinced made her legs look longer and thinner.

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She buttoned her blouse, checked herself in the mirror, unfastened a button, frowned, and then refastened it. Flirt, don’t flaunt! But the urge to flaunt her charms, even though she wasn’t a woman prone to doing such things, was getting stronger the more time she spent with the McGowans. They made her feel more daring than usual. **** Blair watched Katie as she spoke with Mr. and Mrs. Stackhouse, and asked himself whether she’d secretly been putting something in the food to bewitch him. He’d enjoyed the charms of his share of women and more. He was thirty years old, so it wasn’t as though he didn’t know how to behave around women. That didn’t stop him from reacting to Katie in ways that surprised and embarrassed him enormously. When she’d stepped between him and Aaron earlier to set their plates of food on the bar, he’d caught the faintest hint of her perfume. It was a delicate, feminine scent. Almost immediately, Blair had felt his body tighten in response to her nearness, and the front of his jeans grew quite tight. He hadn’t shared so much as a single kiss with Katie, yet he’d spent more time thinking about her than any other woman that he had met in years. She’d only been in Elk’s Crossing a month, but already there were many more customers showing up at the Mountain View Saloon. Since the foothills of the Badlands in North Dakota was remote cattle country, all of those customers were men. And Blair suspected the new customers were showing up because of Katie. Word of a beautiful new barmaid at the saloon had obviously spread to the surrounding ranches and farms. It was difficult enough for Blair to share her time with his brothers, but having to share it with cowboys outside the family was entirely rankling.

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No matter how often Blair told himself that he wasn’t the kind of man who pined away for a woman, the rational part of his brain said he was doing exactly that. He didn’t like to think of himself as a possessive man, but with each passing day, he found himself wanting to possess her body, soul, spirit, and heart. “She’s looking nice tonight.” Aaron’s voice cut into his reverie. “Nice?” Blair replied with a slight chuckle. “You’ve got quite the flair for understatement, brother. Damn, is it just me, or is she showing a bit more skin than usual?” “Makes it tough to keep from staring.” “Tough? I’d say impossible.” Aaron sighed and said absently, “I wonder what’s going to be on the TV tonight.” “You’re hoping it’ll distract you.” “Uh-huh.” Blair combed his fingers through his longish hair and sighed softly. “Maybe there’s a baseball game on. If not, maybe some whiskey instead of a beer or two might be in order. Hell, I feel like a damned high-school virgin hoping to get to first base with his girl.” The brothers shared a soft laugh, which drew Katie’s attention. She gave them a smile, and Blair felt his heart and his libido do a somersault.

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Chapter Two “Can I get you another beer?” Katie asked, spreading her arms to indicate the offer was for the entire McGowan clan, all four of whom were sitting at the bar. “That’s the ticket,” Aaron replied, his tawny gaze warm. “And how about finding a game on the tube?” The coolers were beneath the bar, and Katie knew that when she bent down to reach into them for the cans of beer, she was allowing the men to get a more intimate view of her cleavage. She didn’t mind. It felt nice to be innocently flirting with such handsome men, knowing that they would keep themselves in check. When the McGowan men looked at her, she felt attractive and appreciated in a way that was different from when other men ogled her. She put forward the cold cans of beer, popping open the tops with a gadget that her grandfather had made. Without fail, the men thanked her, their smiles lingering just a little longer than necessary. The dinner rush was over, and aside from the McGowans, only some cowboys from a neighboring ranch remained. Katie’s grandmother, having finished with the dishes, had left for the evening to tend to her bedridden husband. “Let’s see what our options are,” Katie said, taking the remote and turning on the flat-screen TV behind the bar. Katie thumbed the remote, thinking she’d find a baseball game, or possibly some NASCAR race. She had quickly developed a fondness for these evenings with the McGowans when the men drank a couple beers and watched a sporting event. It made the evening profitable enough for her grandparents, and she enjoyed the camaraderie the

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brothers had with each other, and how they interacted with her. She hadn’t intended on changing to the channel that specialized in movies, particularly classic ones, but when Seven Brides for Seven Brothers came on, the McGowans all laughed. “That sounds sort of like us,” Aaron said, slapping his palm down on the polished mahogany bar. “We’re watching this tonight.” Katie was surprised. The McGowans were a raw-knuckled lot, men who worked long and difficult hours, often in the saddle. She’d watched them concentrating on NASCAR races in almost total silence as the cars jockeyed for position. She couldn’t imagine them being entertained by a fairly campy musical about seven mountain men kidnapping seven brides. But they did watch it. They watched it carefully, and occasionally made quiet comments to one another about the movie, about the similarities to their own lives, and how the brothers on the screen interacted. Katie kept expecting one of them to complain that the musical was boring, but there wasn’t a single protest. Not even Garrett and Flynn, who were usually the quickest to become bored. There were differences between the McGowans of Elk’s Crossing, North Dakota, and the men in the movie, but there were enough similarities to make Katie feel fidgety inside. Though she kept her back to the men as she watched the movie, she could feel them looking at her. Were they wondering what it would be like to capture her, as the men had done in the movie, to make her a bride? The movie had started at seven and was finishing up as the clock neared nine. The cowboys from the other neighboring ranches had all headed for their beds after a long day of heavy labor. In all the time that Katie had been working evenings at the Mountain View Saloon with the McGowan brothers in it, she’d never seen the boisterous men so quiet, so obviously introspective. When the final movie credits rolled across the screen, Katie reached for the remote. “Now how about some World Championship Wrestling?” she

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asked, wanting very much to change the unbidden direction of her own thoughts. Individually and collectively, the McGowan men were disconcerting. “How about turning it off?” Aaron said in his husky baritone. “I can’t think of anything more pleasant to hear than the sound of your voice. Why don’t we just talk?” Katie flinched and told herself she was being silly to read into masculine, emotional reactions that she may or may not be interpreting accurately. “You’re a flatterer,” she said. She turned and faced him. “But I’ve said that before.” “You’re right. But you’re the kind of woman who deserves flattery. Besides, you only told me what I was. You didn’t say you wanted me to change.” His eyes took on a sudden bright intensity, and Katie had to look away. “I’m telling the truth. You deserve nothing but golden words.” Katie picked up a damp towel and began wiping the bar. She felt the warmth of embarrassment coloring her cheeks and ears. This wasn’t the light, bantering flirtation that she’d enjoyed for the past month. This was more personal, more serious. It was Garrett who lightened the mood by saying, “If she gave me a single kiss, she wouldn’t speak to any of you. One kiss and Katie would know that I’m the best kisser of the McGowans. One kiss and her heart would belong to me.” Blair issued a disrespectful growl and replied, “Does that wetbehind-the-ears whelp really think he knows better than his elders what a woman wants in a kiss?” “Yes,” Garrett shot back, getting defiantly off his barstool, a teasing grin on his lips. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you!” Katie exhaled a sigh of relief. The McGowans began challenging each other, each voicing the virtues of his own skills at kissing. Katie was pleased that the men were now paying far more attention to jostling with each other than they were to her. With a smile curling

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her lips, she walked away from the men and set about making sure there wasn’t an inch of the mahogany bar that hadn’t been wiped down. “There’s only one person who can vote,” Katie heard Aaron say, “and that’s the lady.” Turning, she asked, “What vote is that?” “On which of the McGowan men knows best how to kiss a woman.” Aaron smiled and shrugged his wide shoulders in what Katie suspected was supposed to be a gesture of innocence. She didn’t believe in the innocence for a second. “Seems to me talk’s awful cheap. The only real way we’ll ever know is if we have an objective woman taste a kiss and make her decision between good and bad.” It had never happened quite so distinctly or so swiftly before, but upon hearing Aaron’s words, Katie felt her clit suddenly throb with tension, and the lips of her pussy become creamy with the slick lubrication of excitement. “Just one kiss,” Blair said, getting to his feet. “One harmless kiss.” “Harmless?” A slender eyebrow arched. “I find myself deeply suspicious.” “A kiss from each of us,” Aaron said. “You’ll have to keep your eyes closed so you stay objective. You mustn’t know which of us is kissing you.” Warning bells started clanging noisily within Katie. What kind of a woman would accept a kiss from all of them? And not knowing which one she was kissing made it all the more scandalous. She was venturing into territory where she’d never before gone, but as frightening as that was, it was also exciting. It was also innocent, she reminded herself. It was just one kiss from each of them. And like Blair said, the kisses would be harmless. She looked at Aaron, the eldest of the men and their unquestioned leader. “It won’t be fair,” she said. “I’ll know when you kiss me because you’ve got a mustache. You’re the only one who does.” “If you’ve got a razor handy, I’ve got an answer to the problem.”

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Aaron smoothed his downturned mustache with a forefinger. “Never thought the ’stache would keep me from kissing.” “You can have a kiss,” Katie said to Aaron without being consciously aware that she’d just agreed to be judge to the absurd competition. “I’ll do my best to be objective.” She stepped around the bar, moving closer to the men, all of whom were now standing. To Katie, the men all suddenly seemed to be much larger than they had been just moments earlier. Though she was wearing her customary four-inch heels, the men towered over her, especially Aaron, the tallest of them all. “Close your eyes,” Aaron instructed. “You’re not to know who’s kissing you.” “Just one kiss?” She felt the pounding of her heart now, the quickening of her pulse, and the tingling of her clitoris. Katie told herself that she wasn’t the adventurous type, that she wasn’t a woman who casually kissed men. The tip of her tongue came out to moisten her lips, and after inhaling deeply once, she closed her eyes. She heard the thud of boot heels against the floor as Aaron walked until he was standing beside her. “Keep your eyes closed now,” he said. Then, to his brothers, he said, “Okay, you first. Nobody say a word or she’ll know who you are.” It’s just a kiss. This is just a little harmless fun. She heard the approaching footsteps. She tried to swallow, and discovered she couldn’t. A moment later, broad palms rested lightly on her shoulders, then warm lips were pressed against hers. Unable to resist, she opened an eye. It was Garrett who had been chosen to kiss her first. “She opened her eyes,” Aaron announced. Garrett straightened immediately, ending the kiss. “I’m sorry! Really I am,” Katie said quickly, looking first at Aaron then over at his brothers. “I’ve never kissed anyone when I

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didn’t know who I was kissing.” “That’s the point of this,” Aaron said as he began unknotting his neckerchief. “But since you don’t have the discipline necessary to play by the rules, I think a blindfold will help ensure the confidentiality of the contestants.” The twin emotions of skepticism and erotic acceptance shot through Katie’s system in a heartbeat. It had been more than a year since Katie had felt anything even remotely resembling passion, but her clit was itching now, and her panties were getting damp with her juices. With his neckerchief neatly folded, Aaron stepped behind Katie. He put the blindfold over her eyes then carefully knotted it into place. When he put his hands on her shoulders, Katie felt the heat of his body go straight into her blood. She very nearly moaned. He bent low to whisper into her ear, and when he spoke, she felt the warmth of his breath as he said, “Do you know what a safe word is?” Katie had read about them in Cosmopolitan, but she’d never thought she’d ever need one for herself. She nodded. “Pumpkins. Say ‘pumpkins’ and everything stops.” The words and the warmth of his breath against her ear and neck were a caress that caused her nipples to harden and her clit to pulse with an empty hunger. “Now let’s start this contest all over again. You go first.” Aaron kept his hands on Katie’s shoulders, and she wished he wouldn’t. As long as he touched her, the heat and strength of him slithered into her body like some wickedly seductive narcotic, distorting her senses, stripping away her willpower. She heard boot heels against the floor before callused fingers lightly touched her chin to angle her face upward. A mouth pressed against hers. It was a firm, close-mouthed kiss that lasted long enough to be more than just casual. “Okay. That’s enough,” she heard Aaron say. “Now you.”

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Again, boot heels against the floor. A ripple of anticipation went up her spine. Then fingers were again touching her chin to put her at the desired angle. A mouth pressed against hers. Unconsciously, Katie raised her hands, her fingertips running lightly up the sides of a corduroy jacket. “That’s enough,” Aaron instructed. As the boot heels receded, Katie confessed, “That was Flynn. I recognized the texture of his coat.” “I can see that this competition is getting more difficult by the second,” Aaron said with mock anger. “Well, if this is going to be a fair contest, we’ll have to make sure you judge it only by a kiss.” The blindfold seemed to make all the rest of her senses more acute, more sensitive. Katie flinched, and uttered a soft gasp, when she felt Aaron sliding his powerful arm inside her own. At first she wasn’t certain what he was doing, but then his left elbow was hooked with her left, and his left hand gripped her right arm just above the elbow. The move effectively kept her elbows pulled behind her back, preventing her from reaching out to touch the men who kissed her. It also caused her breasts to press even more snugly against her blouse. A myriad of emotions were rocketing through Katie. She wondered how much cleavage she was showing now that her arms were pinned back. She felt wicked for allowing what had initially been a rather silly game to transform into a situation where the erotic tension was thick in the air. The pulsing in her clit grew stronger. “Okay, now it’s your turn,” Aaron said. The third kiss was very much like the first two, only its effect on her was significantly stronger. Being held by Aaron as she was, and being blindfolded so she couldn’t know who was kissing her, excited Katie beyond anything she had thought possible. By the time, Aaron signaled an end to the kiss, Katie was certain her bikini panties were quite wet. Her nipples had grown hard, and she had no doubt their erect state was visible through her blouse and bra. “We’ll call that Brother Number One, and the order is random, not

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by age or alphabet,” Aaron said, a new tension showing in his tone. “And since I’m not a contestant, I’ll clear away the kiss so that you can taste the next one fresh.” Katie gasped when Aaron, with his free hand, cupped her chin in his palm, angled her face upward and to the side, and sealed his mouth over hers. It was a strong, commanding kiss, and the prickly feel of his mustache made it seem all the more masculine. When the tip of his tongue touched her lips, seeking entrance, she offered only the slightest resistance before accepting. His tongue danced with hers, moving slowly and erotically in her mouth. As she accepted his kiss, Katie suddenly realized that with her hands forced behind her back, they were pressed against the front of Aaron’s trousers. At last, Aaron straightened and ended the kiss. Had any kiss ever excited her so completely? Katie felt as though her muscles were dissolving, melting like candle wax when heated. She wasn’t at all certain she could withstand another such kiss and not end up falling to the floor. “Now you,” Aaron said. Another brother. Another kiss. It started out just lips pressing against lips, but seconds later Katie had another tongue seeking entrance to her mouth. It was a frisking, probing tongue, moving more quickly than Aaron’s had. Aware now how she was inadvertently touching Aaron, she balled her hands into fists so that he wouldn’t mistake the contact as a caress. The kiss ended, and Aaron said, “That was Brother Number Two.” He cupped her chin and Katie offered no resistance when he turned her face. “And here’s one from me, to clean the slate again. Tabula rasa, and all that.” Katie was expecting his kiss this time, anticipating it with a kind of wordless rapture that shocked her. This time when their lips met and parted, it was she who explored his mouth, sliding her tongue between his lips. As she kissed, she uncurled her fingers. There was no mistaking the long, hard bulge in the front of Aaron’s jeans. His

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erection seemed formidable to Katie’s lust-foggy consciousness. **** Aaron sucked Katie’s tongue deeper into his mouth and groaned softly when he felt her slender fingers sliding along the length of his cock, touching him through his jeans. His cock had grown to full extension and was throbbing painfully being trapped inside his clothing. With Katie’s fingertips now running the length of him as though measuring his stature, there was no possible way he was going to diminish in size anytime soon. He let his tongue waltz with hers, leading with practiced finesse, feasting on her mouth, holding her chin securely so that she was at precisely the angle he wanted. Every instinct in him wanted to take full command of Katie. He wanted to bend her over the pool table, pull up her skirt, and pull down her panties, and then plunge into her sweet pussy. Wanting much more than just a kiss, and knowing that he shouldn’t try for more, Aaron finally straightened his back and pulled away. He didn’t release Katie’s chin, though. Instead, he looked down at her lips, glistening from his kisses. The blindfold added elements of the forbidden to her appearance and made him want to possess her even more. He looked up at Blair. “Your turn.” His brother stepped forward, looked at Aaron briefly, and then bent to kiss Katie. His hands started on her shoulders, but before many seconds passed, they slipped down the front of her body until he was cupping her breasts. Looking over her shoulder, Aaron watched as strong fingers pressed into the pliant flesh. He felt his own cock throb lustily against her fingers. The soft, almost mouselike sound that Katie emitted through her nose when Blair captured her nipples between forefingers and thumbs, told Aaron that she was especially sensitive there.

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She’ll hit the panic button any second now. Aaron waited a few more seconds. By this time, Katie’s breath was coming in deep, ragged gulps. If she had intended on remaining dispassionately objective while the McGowan brothers kissed her, she was failing miserably. When Aaron looked at Garrett, he almost started laughing. The young man’s face was a mask of sexual tension, the effort of holding back his lusty desire an obvious physical and psychological strain on him. The long bulge running down the left leg of his jeans was vivid proof that Katie’s charms had him in a death grip by the throat as thoroughly as they did Aaron. “Your turn,” Aaron said. Garrett stepped forward, his arms sliding around Katie’s hips as he slanted his mouth. He squeezed her buns as he kissed her deeply, and when he ground his bulging crotch against her, he did it with such force that Aaron had to take a half step backward. The small hands at his cock squeezed him with greater strength. The vixen’s going to make me come in my jeans if I’m not careful. I haven’t done that since I was a kid and Suzy What’s-her-name from school gave me a hand job through my Levi’s. “That’s enough now,” Aaron said after an appropriate amount of time had passed. His brother seemed entirely unwilling to end the kisses. “Hey, I said that’s enough now.” Garrett eventually lifted his head. When Aaron looked into his eyes, he saw they were glassy with lust. He seemed almost mesmerized by Katie. Aaron looked down at her then cupped her chin, angled her properly, and gave her a kiss that had all the voltage in it that he could muster. As he explored her mouth with his tongue, he reached over her shoulder to fondle her breasts through a blouse and bra that he could turn to shredded ribbons with very little provocation. Her nipples were fiercely erect, and Aaron could only imagine the pleasure that would be his upon sucking on them.

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Flynn was next in line, and after a moment he cleared his throat, clearly wanting to draw his brother’s attention without identifying himself by speaking aloud. Aaron lifted his head and in a tone that indicated he wasn’t at all pleased, said, “Your turn.” Young and impetuous, Flynn nearly ran the two steps it took to reach Katie. Her fingers were still playing with Aaron’s cock, and he expected her to squeeze him more intently while she kissed his brother. What he didn’t anticipate was his brother’s boldness. Instead of kissing her mouth, as all the others had, Flynn dropped to his knees on the floor of the saloon, pushed up Katie’s skirt, and pressed his mouth against the crotch of her panties, kissing her through the thin, gauzy material. **** “Oh God!” Katie gasped when she suddenly felt a warm mouth pressing intimately against her pussy, kissing her through the sheer material of her bikini panties. Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins! She could think the safe word. She just couldn’t find the selfdiscipline to actually say it. And until she did, the McGowans would continue to do with her whatever they wanted. Though she couldn’t actually admit it, Katie wanted all the lurid, taboo things that were being done to her. Being held so tightly by Aaron had triggered in her a fiery appreciation of bondage that made all the forbidden caresses infinitely more arousing. And being blindfolded heightened her sense of touch, it seemed. It was such a turn-on to not know the identity of whoever was on his knees and kissing her pussy through her panties. She felt fingers slide into the leg hole of her panties then felt the garment being roughly pulled to the side. She trembled violently when a wet, frisking tongue was thrust between the lips of her cunt

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before moving upward to slide over her clit. “Oh God!” she gasped again, unconsciously turning her hips slightly to the side in an evasive maneuver. Powerful hands cupped the cheeks of her ass, holding her hips steady. But doing that required both hands, so when her panties naturally moved back into place, whoever was on his knees no longer had access to his goal. Katie’s panties were torn at the hip, and then the hands returned to her buns to hold her securely as he resumed licking and sucking on her clitoris. This was a McGowan who wouldn’t be denied. The kisses that Katie received had excited her more than she’d thought possible. Being defenseless, with the single exception of having a safe word, had turned her on enormously. Being blindfolded added to her excitement. Still, when Katie sensed the approaching climax, its quickness startled her. Seconds later, when her orgasmic contractions began, she tossed her head back and thrust her hips forward, mashing her pussy against the tantalizing mouth. Her head thumped loudly against Aaron’s broad chest, and she heard him grunt from the impact. The contractions were so powerful and so harsh, they were nearly painful in their intensity. But when the last of them went through Katie, and the shudders ended, it felt as though all the strength had been drained from her body. Her knees buckled, and she would have fallen if Aaron hadn’t continued to hold her so securely. “Stop,” she said through deep gulps of air. “Please stop.” Then she heard Blair say sharply, “Oh, shit! It’s the men from Square-B Ranch! Must be five in all!” “Go outside and stall them!” Aaron ordered. Aaron released the iron hold he had on Katie and, with a little tug, removed the neckerchief blindfold. She was wildly embarrassed at the behavior she had allowed, and almost thankful for being unintentionally rescued by the Square-B ranch hands. If she hadn’t been disturbed, she knew in her soul that it wouldn’t have been long

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before she was begging to get fucked. “Get behind the bar,” Aaron told her, his devilish grin angering Katie, whose nerves were frazzled. “I guess it’s going to take a couple sessions to find out which of my brothers you think is the best kisser.” His grin broadened. “It’s probably a good thing I’ve got this mustache. If I was in the race, there wouldn’t be much competition.” Katie stepped behind the bar, smoothing her skirt down as she walked. As the cowboys entered the saloon, she looked down and saw her panties, torn at their most slender spot near one hip, hanging around her left ankle. She had never felt so disoriented by anything in her life, and the ripped panties were the visual reminder of her complete lapse of judgment. **** The man in the thousand-dollar business suit was so intoxicated he was weaving from side to side as he stood in front of the urinal at the truck stop in northeastern Nevada. David knew an opportunity when he saw one. From behind, he let the drunk have it, landing a haymaker to the back of the head. The man pitched forward, hitting the wall, and was unconscious before he came to rest on the floor. In his wallet was just under a thousand dollars. David nearly giggled when he slipped the money and credit cards into his pocket. He was back in his car and moving down the highway toward North Dakota with a full tank of gas in less time than he had allotted. He had enough money now to reach Katie. She had to be taught a lesson, and he was going to be her teacher. It would be a lesson she’d never, ever forget.

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Chapter Three The lunch special was Grandma Sellers’s homemade chili, so the Mountain View Saloon, which had a maximum capacity of about forty, was three-quarters full even before the ancient clock behind the bar chimed the noon hour. Katie was thankful for the brimming crowd because it kept her too busy to pay undue attention to the McGowan men. It also kept Aaron from grabbing her, though she strongly suspected she wanted to be grabbed. The presence of the cowboys from other ranches did make it impossible for Katie to throw herself at Aaron or any of his brothers. Which one of the McGowan clan went down on me until I came? The thought seemed to come out of nowhere, but when it slithered across the consciousness of her mind, it prompted a full-body shiver. Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Don’t even think about last night. But her blindfolded activities while being held in bondage by Aaron’s powerful arm were all she could think about. The harder she tried to concentrate on other things, the more vivid the memories were—her panties being torn from her hips, a probing tongue gliding between the lips of her pussy, her clit being lightly and skillfully sucked on. After carrying an aluminum serving tray full of bowls of chili to the cowboys from the Square-B Ranch, Katie stopped and looked around the saloon, making sure that everyone had what they needed. “Katie, can I see you a minute?” her grandmother asked, standing behind the bar in front of the small stove and grill where all the food was cooked. “What is it, Grandma?” Katie asked, sitting on a stool. She had

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learned that, during the lunch rush, it was best to take the weight off her feet whenever possible. “There’s something I’ve got to ask you, but before I ask, I want you to know that you can say ‘no’ and I won’t hold it against you.” Katie felt a chill go through her. “Go ahead and ask.” “Your grandfather and I have friends in Phoenix who have invited us to stay with them through the winter. They want us there at least until next spring. That way your grandfather can recuperate through the winter in nice weather, instead of living through yet another tough North Dakota winter.” She wiped her hands on her apron, and Katie could tell that she was uneasy with what she was about to ask. “We were wondering if you wouldn’t mind taking over the Mountain View Saloon. Think of it as your own. You’ve been here a month now, and you know who the distributors are and what it takes to operate this place.” She smiled. “You can keep the profits. Your grandfather and I have enough saved up that we’re in fine shape. We haven’t made a decision to sell the saloon, and we don’t feel it very fair to Elk’s Crossing if we closed up all sudden like.” “You want me to run this place all by myself?” “No, of course not. You’ll have to hire a couple folks. We know that. But your grandpa and I are getting right on up there in years, and we just can’t do the things we once did. Would you mind very much taking over the Mountain View Saloon for us?” Katie thought about the proposition. She was a city girl through and through. Moving to the mountains of North Dakota had served two purposes—to help her grandparents, and to get away from San Francisco and all the awful memories she associated with David. And even if being in the mountains wasn’t exactly the city life she was accustomed to, by next spring Katie would have fulfilled her familial obligations. “I’ll do it,” she said. Her grandmother’s answering smile lit up the saloon, and Katie knew that she had made the proper decision. She loved her

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grandparents, and if they needed her now, she wasn’t going to let them down. “You can’t imagine how happy you’ve made me,” the old woman said as she moved around the bar. “Give your old grandma a hug and a kiss.” After the hug and kiss, the old woman took Katie by the hand and almost dragged her across the saloon to the two tables where the McGowan men were seated before heaping bowls of chili. “Boys, I want to tell you something,” Grandma Sellers announced, still holding Katie’s hand, oblivious to her granddaughter’s rapidly escalating sense of unease. “This young lady here is taking over the Mountain View Saloon. The mister and myself are off to Phoenix to live with some friends there. It’ll be easier for him to get better during the winter months in Phoenix than in Elk’s Crossing. Now, I’ve been feeding you boys ’most every day since your ma died, and I’ve fed you lots even when she was with us, so that means I know you about as well as I know my own kin. I want you to keep an eye on Katie and see to it that she stays safe and sound. Will you promise me that? Can I ask that of you?” “We’ll keep a very close eye on her, ma’am,” Aaron said. He waved a hand toward his brothers. “Speaking for all of us, you can rest assured that Katie means the world to us, and that we’ll never let anything bad happen to her.” Katie found it absolutely impossible to look any of the McGowan men in the eyes. This was not what she had counted on when she had agreed to take over running the Mountain View Saloon. **** Katie was standing behind the bar at the cash register with her back toward the interior of the room, so he knew she hadn’t seen him step up to the bar. When she finished ringing up the order, she turned around and gasped softly in shock.

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“Sorry,” Aaron said, keeping his voice low. “Didn’t mean to startle you.” “You didn’t,” Katie replied in a blatant lie. “Are you doing okay?” He watched as Katie tried to smile, though she wouldn’t make direct eye contact with him for more than a split second. After an uncomfortable silence, he said, “Should I apologize?” He watched as her lips, always so plump and damnably kissable, compressed into a thin line. After a couple seconds, she gave her head an almost imperceptible shake. “I’ve got to get back to work,” he explained quietly. “Back in the saddle, and all that sort of stuff. But we’ll be coming in tonight. I’d like—no, we’d like—the chance to talk privately with you.” Katie turned huge blue eyes up to his. “Please, I can’t talk about what happened last night. I don’t know what came over me. I’m…I’m not really that kind of girl. I’m not the adventurous type. And I certainly am not the promiscuous type.” “We’d never hurt you.” It was a flat, honest declaration from Aaron. “Ever. And we’ll protect you.” He smiled. “Though it was kind of nice to have your grandmother ask us to keep an eye on you.” He chuckled. “As easy on the eyes as you are, it’s a blessing to see you twice a day.” “Aaron, you don’t know how confused I’ve felt since last night.” She nibbled on her lower lip for a moment, clearly deliberating how much she wanted to say. “One of your brothers kissed me—” “Many of my brothers kissed you,” Aaron said quickly. “Including me.” “But one of them kissed me…down there. You can’t imagine what it’s like for me to not know who did that.” She raised her gaze to his once again. “Who was it? I have to know.” The foreman from the Square-B Ranch stepped up to the bar beside Aaron, holding the tickets for the meals he and his men had enjoyed. He smiled at Katie, gave Aaron only the faintest nod of

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acknowledgement, and said, “I understand you’re taking over here.” Aaron looked at Katie, winked, and then turned and headed out of the saloon. What he had to say to Katie could only be heard by her and his brothers. **** “You must be completely out of your mind.” Katie stood behind the bar, and all four of the McGowan brothers were sitting on stools in front of her. “Please pay careful attention to the movie’s title. It is Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, not One Bride for Four Brothers. You do understand that there’s a rather significant difference between those two titles and what they mean, don’t you?” “Your reaction is a reasonable, though misguided, initial assessment,” Aaron replied in a perfectly calm voice, which greatly annoyed Katie. “And I’m not saying it’ll be easy. What I am saying is that my brothers and I think you’re someone special. We’d like the chance to prove to you just how special we think you are. And not just for a night.” Katie felt her face getting warm and pink, the blush caused by a mixture of embarrassment and anger. “What happened last night was completely out of character for me. I’ve never done anything even remotely like that before.” She took a moment to look at the men individually. One of them had tasted her intimate juices and had pleasured her with his lips and tongue until she’d climaxed. Had they laughed at her afterward behind her back? No, that didn’t seem likely. They were, after all, proposing a permanent romantic alliance between her and all four of them. Demeaning laughter wasn’t in keeping with what they were suggesting, especially not with the sincerity she now saw them displaying. “It makes sense,” Aaron continued. “I don’t know if what I feel for you is love, but it damned sure is more than mere affection. The

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same holds true for my brothers. And every time one of us falls for a woman, that woman tries to break us up. You wouldn’t do that because you’d have all of us as your own. All of us. Exclusively yours. And we’d have you.” His voice dipped lower. “Body and soul. More pleasure than you can imagine. And security. We’d never hurt you in any way, never raise a hand in violence. Never. We’re McGowans, and we just don’t do that.” “Mr. McGowan, you are a man speaking foolishness.” “So, I’m Mr. McGowan now, am I? That’s a little formal coming from a woman who last night kissed me with fire in her lips hot enough to burn the sun.” Katie shivered at the comment. She might not have known which of the brothers had kissed or caressed her, but she always knew when it was Aaron because he had always held her captive from behind, and he had a mustache. But she hadn’t exactly been uninvolved while her arms were being held behind her back. In fact, Katie could remember with pussy-moistening detail the length and thickness of the cock that she’d caressed through a pair of tight-fitting jeans. And if she remembered it, she was quite certain her caresses hadn’t been forgotten by Aaron. “I don’t sleep around.” The words came out softer and with more timidity than she would have liked. Things had progressed from the distantly theoretical to the suddenly plausible. Consequently, Katie was getting very frightened. “We wouldn’t let you.” The possessiveness in his tone was crystal clear. “You’ll be with us, and we’ll be with you.” “Just me for all of you? And you’d be satisfied with that.” The instant the words were out of her mouth, Katie regretted them. The statement implicitly opened the door to additional negotiations—negotiations she was trying to end. “The only woman for us would be you. There’d be no other women, romantically speaking, in our lives.” Katie closed her eyes and turned her back on the men. As was

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often the case, she was alone with them in the saloon. What was different this time was that now she felt emotionally naked. Previously, the men had lifted her skirt and ripped off her panties. One of them had pleasured her with his lips and tongue to such an extent that she shivered through a climax that, at the time, she thought might never end. But now it was her heart and soul that were naked and vulnerable, and that frightened her to the bone. The sound of the door opening, and male laughter, let Katie know that more customers had arrived. For that she was grateful, because her resolve had been weakening. Turning, she stepped closer to Aaron so that she could keep her voice low. “Listen, I’ve never had sex with more than one man at a time. Furthermore, I haven’t had that many lovers in my life. What you’re proposing is lunacy. I simply cannot have four lovers simultaneously.” “Why not?” It was Garrett who asked the simple question that had caught them all off guard. Katie tried to respond to the young man, but she didn’t have an answer. She was speechless. **** Katie didn’t know the cowboy’s name, and she didn’t like the way he was looking at her. She also didn’t like the way he was pouring the whiskies with beer chasers down his throat like they were nothing more than ice tea. He was sitting with four of his friends, but he wasn’t laughing it up with them. He was sitting silently. His cowboy hat was pulled low on his brow, making it difficult for Katie to see his eyes to know exactly how intoxicated he was getting. He lifted his head enough to look straight at her, and called out, “Hey, gorgeous, let’s have another round here.” Katie knew that when she cut him off, when she finally told him that she wouldn’t serve him any more alcohol, he’d get angry about it.

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She’d been in the hospitality business long enough to spot an angry drunk when she saw one. When she didn’t respond instantly, the cowboy said more loudly, “Come on, darlin’, let’s get another round over here!” Katie walked over to the cowboy’s table. He and his friends were openly ogling her. She’d heard them talking about her looks earlier. It had been particularly galling to hear one of them say she had “big fuckin’ jugs.” “You men can have another round,” she said, her voice calm despite her rising anger, “provided you convince me that he”—she pointed a finger directly at the annoying cowboy—“isn’t driving.” They all laughed, except the overly intoxicated cowboy. Feral anger flashed in his eyes. Katie suspected he was the type of man who thought a woman should know where her place was, and it certainly wasn’t as an equal to men. “He ain’t driving anywhere,” one of the others said. “Hell, he’s been pounding the drinks down since three this afternoon. Wouldn’t let him drive my truck. No way. Drunk or sober.” “All right, then I’ll get you another round. But it’s the last one you men get. You’ve had enough.” She went behind the bar to get their drinks, paying attention to the warning bells that were clanging in her head. Though she had earlier been uneasy with the fact that the McGowan brothers were still in the saloon, now she was grateful for their presence. They never failed to make her feel jittery inside, but she always felt safe with them. She returned to the table and began setting the drinks down. That was when the drunk said, “You’d get bigger tips if you’d let us see those jugs of yours. You’ve got a big ass, but you’ve got really big fuckin’ jugs.” “That’s it!” Katie snapped. “Get out of my bar! Don’t bother with your tab. Just get the hell out and never come back!” The cowboy leaped to his feet, knocking over the table and spilling all the drinks. He was drunk, but he was used to being that

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way. His right hand shot out, and he grabbed Katie’s arm tightly, just above the elbow. “You dumb cunt, I’ll teach you to not talk to me that way,” the cowboy said. What happened next happened so quickly, and with such finality, that Katie wasn’t entirely certain she’d witnessed it. The McGowan men, all four of them acting in unison but without preplanning, descended upon the foursome with righteous fury. Only one punch was thrown by a McGowan—by Aaron, who apparently felt it was his right and duty as the head of the clan—and that was to besotted man’s chin. Knuckles connected with chin, and the cowboy slumped unconscious to the floor. The cowboy’s friends, now confronted with the remaining McGowans, who were clearly hoping for some excuse to use violence, began apologizing with sincerity generally reserved for drunkards while sitting in the confession box in church. “Damn,” one of the friends said, “the way you McGowans act, you’d think she was sweet on all of you, and all of you sweet on her.” It was precisely what Katie did not want to hear. “Just take your friend and get out of here.” “And pay your tab before you leave,” Aaron said as the men picked up their groggy, staggering, slurring friend. “Just because he’s a fool doesn’t mean you get to drink for free.” Several twenties came out of jean pockets with significant speed. It was clear that the men wanted no part of any altercation with the McGowans. As they left the saloon, the cowboy started saying something about wanting a rematch, and one of his friends replied, “Shut your mouth, or I swear I’ll punch you myself!” Alone now with the four brothers, Katie experienced a strange mixture of feelings. Though she was never one for violence, she couldn’t help but feel relief that the men had reacted so swiftly, and so violently, to what had been a very real threat to her. But she was a woman who loathed violence. But if they hadn’t reacted violently, what would have happened to her? This was an uncomfortable

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question for Katie to ask herself. The words the stranger had spoken about her being sweet on the McGowan clan, and they on her, rang in her ears as loudly as the bells of Notre Dame. The awareness that she was in the presence of four men who were masculine in the extreme, men who acted instantly on their impulses, men who would defend her to the death if necessary, brought with it chaotic emotions. She was from San Francisco, and she couldn’t possibly imagine any of the McGowan men ever being comfortable in such a city. But San Francisco was where she intended to return someday. No matter how she looked at her friendship, or whatever it was with Aaron and his brothers, she always suspected that over the horizon was anger, hurt, and heartache. “Feisty lady, aren’t you?” Blair said. Katie gave him a smile and breathed a sigh of relief. She was glad to be out of her own thoughts. “As a matter of fact, yes, I am. And since you and your brothers were so quick to defend me, how about I buy the beers for the rest of the evening?” She had to walk past them to get behind the bar. She’d done it hundreds of times in the past month, so it shouldn’t have been something that would make her throat suddenly feel so tight that it was difficult to breathe. Only it did. The tension that she’d experienced at being threatened was now completely forgotten. But the drunk had served a useful though entirely unintended purpose. He’d made it possible for the McGowan men to prove beyond question to Katie that they would fight to defend her honor. When they said they would protect Katie and keep her safe, it wasn’t an empty promise. These McGowan men weren’t the wealthy businessmen from San Francisco that Katie was accustomed to. They didn’t toss out promises cavalierly, knowing they would never actually have to make good on their word. “A beer for a reward?” Aaron asked, arching a brow.

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Katie watched as the men fanned out, and for a moment she thought of them as a pride of lions, not yet ready to start the attack, but moving into position on the zebra, getting ready for the inevitable charge. Claws and teeth would sink into warm flesh… “Sometimes you can be frightening,” she said in a whisper. “We’d never hurt you.” Aaron’s tawny gaze moved up and down over her, and Katie shivered. “Quite the opposite, in fact. We’d keep you safe and give you more pleasure than you ever dreamed possible.” She believed him with every fiber in her body. In an effort to discharge the sexual electricity in the room, Katie cleared her throat, feigned a cavalier smile, and replied flippantly, “I’m sure all of that’s true. What’s less clear is whether or not I want to be the central figure in a gang bang.” The men smiled at that, and though the tension did dissipate slightly, there was still a lusty intensity in the eyes of the men that told Katie they wanted to take possession of her in every manner and method imaginable. “You’re trying to demean the act of making love.” Aaron looked at his brothers then back at Katie. When he put his hands on his hips, sliding his jacket back in the process, she was made aware of how lean his hips were, and how broad his shoulders. “Imagine this instead—four men, all fit and in their prime, each one more determined than the next to pleasure you, to excite you, and to make you feel alive beyond measure.” His heated gaze caressed her. “Sinfully alive. Wickedly alive. So alive the feelings should be criminal.” I can’t listen to this, or I’ll be on my knees in front of all four of them! The lurid thought hit Katie with a physical force that was so powerful she actually staggered back several steps. Like a lightning bolt shooting through her consciousness, she imagined herself fully clothed and on her knees. She could see the McGowans, all four of

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them, dressed in their finest cowboy garb, their jeans unzipped, their cocks pale and hard, glistening with her saliva. She could see herself sucking, stroking, and moving from one to the next, pushing all four closer to climax, to the point where they… Katie shook her head to force away the taboo images that taunted her consciousness. She combed her fingers through her hair and took in a deep breath to fight off the visuals that bombarded her. “Stop saying things like that.” Katie’s throat was so tight she had to force the words out. With greater emphasis, she added, “It’s impossible for one woman to be in love with four men. Utterly and completely impossible.” She started to walk through the men, past Aaron, to get to the bar. “Come on, it seems like we could all use a drink.” Aaron caught her arm, spinning her sharply. In an instant he had her elbows back, imprisoned with his single arm as he had previously. Her breasts were thrust forward as her spine arched. The top button of her blouse strained to remain fastened. “All I need,” Aaron declared, “is you.” It was a commanding kiss that he delivered to Katie, right from the very beginning. Though not a small woman, Katie felt delicate, almost fragile against Aaron’s extraordinary size and strength. Most of all, she felt his determination. Katie felt the lips of her pussy become creamy with desire the instant Aaron touched her. When his tongue pushed between her lips, she sighed and opened her mouth wider. The kiss continued, and Katie melted inside. Unlike the first time that Aaron had physically held her in bondage, his brothers didn’t remain a safe distance away until summoned. Though her eyes were closed, Katie could sense men surrounding her. The heat of their bodies and the lusty hunger they felt for her was so thick in the air she could inhale it. Aaron finally ended the kiss. Katie was looking into his eyes when, a moment later, Blair put his neckerchief in place to blindfold her.

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She heard Aaron whisper, “Say ‘pumpkins’ and this ends instantly.” But before she had a chance to talk, he was kissing her fiercely once again, cupping her chin in his palm to keep her at the angle he desired. They didn’t come at her individually, as they had the first night. Nor did they pleasure her in pairs. The McGowan men set upon her simultaneously, an awareness that aroused Katie even more than it frightened her. Katie felt strong fingers, made clumsy with haste and lust, struggle with the buttons of her blouse. Large hands squeezed her breasts through her blouse and bra. Her skirt, knee-length and quite modest by contemporary standards, was pushed up her thighs. “Damn it!” one of the men growled. She couldn’t tell which of the brothers it was. A moment later, Katie gasped as her blouse was ripped open, though she did not end her kiss with Aaron. She heard the buttons bounce on the saloon’s tile floor. There was an audible intake of breath from several men. Seconds later, the cups of her bra were tugged beneath the mounds of her breasts. She was still kissing Aaron when hot, wet mouths captured both nipples. She had never before experienced such a rush of pleasure from so many different places on her body. She had never allowed so many men access to her most intimate places. While her back was pressed against Aaron’s chest and his tongue danced with hers, another McGowan was kissing her taut throat, nipping her flesh lightly with his teeth, sending tingles through Katie that seemed to go straight to her clit. Two hands pushed up the outsides of her thighs, over her stockings but beneath her skirt. An instant later, skilled, callused fingers curled into the waistband of her panties, and the garment was tugged down to her ankles. Strong hands gripped her legs, lifting her feet one at a time off the floor until her panties were removed altogether.

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The McGowan on his knees wasted no time with dalliances. He sucked her clit between his lips and flicked his tongue against it. Katie shivered as frantic little whimpers came from deep within her while she continued to kiss Aaron lustily. The climax hit her like a sledgehammer. There was nothing gentle about it. She was being tantalized in too many different ways and from too many different mouths for the orgasm to be anything but wrenching. Katie forced her chin free from Aaron’s grasp, ending the deep kiss, and gasped, “Oh, fuck!” Her hips shook as though of their own volition, jerking forward and backward as the pulsing waves of ecstasy went through her. The McGowan on his knees rode with her through the climax, his hands tight on the cheeks of her ass, his mouth pressed to her cunt. “Wait! Wait!” Katie gasped when the last of the contractions had finally subsided. She felt Aaron become very tense. His lips were close enough to her ear when he whispered the single word, that she felt the warmth of his breath. “Pumpkins?” he asked. Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Katie’s better judgment screamed. But she remained silent. She would have fallen to her knees if Aaron hadn’t kept such a tight hold on her. **** Aaron looked at Katie, trying to read her mind, to guess her real emotions and desires. He’d made it abundantly clear what her safe word was, and that he would honor it. She seemed unwilling to stop the coerced seduction and unwilling or unable to admit that she wanted to participate. He looked over Katie’s shoulder, down at his brother, Garrett. The young man had remained on his knees after being a key component in

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Katie’s last climax. For several seconds, Aaron’s gaze went back and forth from his brother to Katie. Finally, Aaron gave his brother a nod, and Garrett breathed a deep sigh of relief as he rose to his feet. His jeans had already been opened and pushed down to the tops of his thighs, and his cock was sticking out, long and hard. Garrett held Katie’s skirt up above her waist. With a well-polished boot, he forced her feet to spread wide apart. He had to bend his knees to get at the proper angle for entry. Aaron’s heart hammered in his chest. He’d never participated in anything like this before. Looking over Katie’s shoulders, he watched as a hard, thick cock forced Katie’s pussy lips apart. Garrett invaded slowly but forcefully, and the sharp cry that Katie emitted held surprise in the tone, not pain or turmoil. A low groan of pleasure came from Garrett as he withdrew then plunged full-length into Katie on the second thrust. The young man impaled Katie with such force that Aaron was knocked a half step backward. Aaron immediately turned behind her, spreading his feet apart to brace himself for the next onslaught. Aaron was shocked at how erotic it was to watch a solid cock sliding back and forth between the lips of Katie’s cunt. He desperately wanted to be the one thrusting hard and fast into the temple of her femininity. He wanted to feel her heat and wetness surrounding his cock as he plundered her again and again until he felt her come, and only then would he allow himself the ecstasy of releasing his cum inside her. The fact that he was envious of Garrett, but not jealous of him, was a stunning revelation to Aaron. He’d never before been a man willing to share a woman with any other man. But now, quite mysteriously, it seemed the most rational thing in the world to share Katie with all three of his brothers. Sharing Katie among the brothers, Aaron believed, was more than just rational—it was natural. A moment later, Aaron’s view of the plunging cock came to an

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end when two of his brothers, Flynn and Blair, resumed sucking on Katie’s pebbled nipples. “Oh…” Katie sighed. “I’ve got a man inside me, and I don’t know who it is.” Aaron kissed her, but Katie turned her face sharply to break the kiss. She seemed calm, her words strangely casual despite their content. “I don’t know who’s fucking me…and I’m going to come again.” There were equal measures of mystification, helplessness, and ecstasy in Katie’s tone when she announced her impending climax. A single thrust later, Aaron had to hold tightly onto her as her voluptuous body thrashed and shivered through a climax. As she trembled and moaned, Garrett buried himself inside her and groaned, and Aaron knew that his brother had released his lust. **** A man just came inside me, and I don’t know who he is. That wouldn’t excite a good woman, but it excites me. These McGowan men have turned me into a demon. But almost the instant the thought entered her consciousness, another thought came to mind, one more rational and infinitely less self-critical. No, I’m not a demon. I’m a lover…but only for the McGowan men! All of them want me, and I want all of them. She felt the long, slick slide of the cock as it retreated completely. When she no longer had the solid flesh inside her, she experienced a strange sense of postcoital emptiness that was new to her. “Pumpkins?” The whispered word came from Aaron as he continued to hold her elbows back. Stop asking me that. She heard the sound of cowboy boots against the tile floor then felt a strong hand slide around her left knee to lift it so that she was balanced on one foot while Aaron held her.

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“Oh, God,” Katie said quietly. “I’m going to get fucked again.” “True enough, my love,” Aaron stated. She hadn’t made the slightest effort to make it sound as though having another McGowan cock plundering her pussy was anything but a good thing. And a moment later, when another long, thick erection was thrust between the lips of her cunt, Katie didn’t bother to disguise the pleasure she experienced as she issued the warbling sigh of desire. There were four McGowan men. Katie had already fucked one of them until he climaxed, and now she had a second one inside her. Did all four of them intend to make love to her in one night? A shiver of fear went through Katie. On a purely physical level, she wasn’t certain she could withstand that much masculine attention, even if it was as stimulating as anything she could imagine. And what would happen if she could only make love to some of the McGowans, but not all of them? Undoubtedly, there would be resentment among the men, first between each other, but then directed toward her. She heard a low groan and felt the man inside her slide just a little deeper into her, pressing his naked pelvis more firmly against her own. The pressure against her clitoris increased erotically, and the troublesome thoughts that had disturbed Katie’s ecstasy simply vanished as another climax began picking up momentum. Katie’s thoughts and consciousness began to drift, becoming ethereal and otherworldly. She heard the slap of flesh to flesh, and it seemed to come from quite a distance away, though she knew it was the sound of her lover’s pelvis slapping against her own. Which McGowan it was churning his hips so energetically between her thighs, she couldn’t say. But it was one of them, and under the circumstances, that was all that really mattered. She heard moans from the two men who were sucking lustily on her nipples, tantalizing the sensitive buds. Less distinctly, she could hear men masturbating. They would want her, too. They were in line to take their pleasure from her and give it in return.

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But when would Aaron at last claim his due as leader of the clan? Without his commanding presence, Katie was certain she never would have allowed herself the luxury of behaving so wantonly. He made her feel safe. All she had to do was say a single word, and everything would end. All the mystery. All the passion. All the confusion and doubt. All the tingling excitement. It would all come to an end. I’ll never say pumpkins. Never. She heard the rumbling, masculine growl. Her McGowan lover went motionless, his cock deep inside her, his semen mingling with cum from her previous lover. Beneath her palms, Katie felt Aaron’s fierce erection, still captured within the confines of his jeans. Would it break the spell to say that she wanted him next? She did want him, but she didn’t want to ask for him. She loved these fierce encounters with the McGowans. She just couldn’t admit aloud that she loved them. That she had no choice as to which McGowan she pleasured added to the mystery, the allure. “Oh, shit!” She recognized Garrett’s voice. “It’s Sheriff O’Donnell with that new deputy he’s been grooming in.” The words put ice in Katie’s veins. Instantly Aaron pulled her so that she was standing upright, and he freed her arms. Next he removed her blindfold. To Garrett, Aaron said, “Step outside and stall them. All she needs is thirty seconds.” Katie looked down, and what she saw made her feel guilty as hell. Her blouse had been ruined. All the buttons had been ripped off in the McGowan haste to bare her breasts. Though her brassiere had been spared the same ruinous barbarity, the cups had been tucked down beneath her breasts. With hands that trembled, Katie adjusted her breasts back into the cups then quickly rolled up the tails of her blouse, and tied them into a knot between her breasts. She had turned her blouse into a midriff-exposing halter, a discordant sartorial choice

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given that she was wearing a professional businesswoman’s skirt beneath it, with stockings and heels. “You won’t have to worry much about the McGowan clan,” the sheriff said to his deputy as he walked into the saloon. “They’re on the rowdy side of life, I suppose you could say, but they don’t often cross the line.” “Good evening, Sheriff,” Aaron said, picking up a damp towel and beginning to wipe the bar. “What brings you here at this time of night?” Katie did everything she could to smile nonchalantly, but that was impossible when she could feel liquid moving inside her. Two men, both young and very virile, had come inside her. If she remained standing for very long, the evidence of their lust for Katie would become all too visible for everyone to see. “Time is why I’m here,” the sheriff said. “I’ll be right back with you,” Katie said as she made a dash to the ladies’ restroom. She made it to the toilet in time. Expelling the cum, she sighed with relief and wondered just what her life was going to be like if she really did have, all to herself, four lovers. She cleaned herself, tugged up her stockings and readjusted the elasticized bands at the tops of her thighs, and inspected herself in the mirror. She had no idea where her panties were or who was in possession of them. She’d never liked the midriff-exposing style in the first place, and it looked especially bad now, she decided. Her hypercritical subconscious was coming to the fore but then was tamped down with a vengeance. Or perhaps I’m just feeling trashy because I’ve already had a couple climaxes, and I might have more before the evening’s over. Though she was in the restroom only a couple minutes, when she stepped out the saloon was empty except for Sheriff O’Donnell and his deputy. “Where are the McGowans?” she asked. Alone with these two

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men, Katie was suddenly edgy, not truly afraid, but very concerned. “I sent them home,” the sheriff said. “Now listen to me carefully. I’m not going to ticket you this time, but you’ve got to keep a closer eye on the clock. I know you’re new to running the Mountain View Saloon, but that’s not an excuse. Rules are rules, and you’re to follow them, same as everyone else. No new drinks past one o’clock. I’ll be outside in my squad. You’ve got two minutes to turn out the lights, lock up, and drive on back home.” “Thank you, sir,” Katie said with relief.

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Chapter Four Katie watched as the pickup truck’s taillights disappeared down the driveway then onto the highway. Behind the steering wheel was her grandmother, who was nearly giddy with joy at being able to head out for Phoenix so quickly after breaking the news to Katie. Her grandfather made it known that he’d be eternally grateful to his granddaughter for voluntarily taking over the running of the Mountain View Saloon. It was just nine in the morning, and Katie had several hours before she would turn on the “Come On In!” neon sign at the saloon. And shortly after that, she would no doubt greet all four of the McGowan men, hungry from their labors in the pastures. And hungry for her, too. The previous evening, when Katie had returned to her grandparents’ home, she let herself into the house, went to her little upstairs room, got out of her clothes, and then took a long, hot shower. Finally, she returned to her bedroom, determined to go immediately to bed. She did that. What she didn’t do was go to sleep. Not even close. The moment she closed her eyes, she could see herself in her mind’s eye at the saloon earlier in the evening. There were two mouths, hot and wet, sucking lustily on her breasts, and one mouth sucking on her clit. The combined stimulation was an overload to her senses. And while all that was being done to her, Aaron was kissing her passionately, his tongue dancing with hers, stripping away all of her inhibitions. Aaron was holding me so tightly, holding my arms behind my

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back. I didn’t have any choice. They made love to me, one after the next. But it was a lie to call what she had done “making love,” just as it was a lie that she “didn’t have a choice.” She had her safe word, and Aaron had, to her considerable annoyance, asked her several times if she needed it. Even if it wasn’t making love, fucking never felt so good. Very slowly, she pulled up the hem of her unadorned cotton nightgown. Let’s see if I’m a little sore. She caught her lower lip between her teeth and bit softly. She was lying to herself to think that she was only curious about her own physical condition. Though she’d never before taken two different men into her body on the same evening, she wasn’t sore at all. Her excitement level, inspired by the McGowans, had been so spectacularly intense that her natural lubrication had made penetration seemingly effortless. When she touched herself, Katie felt the warm, slick juices of passionate excitement on the lips of her cunt. Using the pad of her middle finger, she touched her clit lightly. Warm tingles seeped outward from the small but erect button of flesh. The McGowans have made me greedy for climaxes. The more they foist them on me the more I want them. She eased the single digit between her pussy lips. The finger slid in easily. Her legs, moving without conscious thought, spread wider as her right hand began beating slowly back and forth. The sensation of having a single finger moving inside her intimate passage was pleasing, but it was nothing compared to what she’d experienced when she had a McGowan cock filling her. Which of the McGowan clan had fucked her? Blair? Flynn? Katie couldn’t say for certain. Any guess was complete conjecture, but that was what had made the encounter so wickedly arousing. Being blindfolded had allowed her to see her own true nature, the extent of

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her own real desires for Dominance and submission, for bondage, and for commanding men who knew what they wanted and weren’t afraid to take it. I’ll never get to sleep thinking that way. Maybe one more quick climax will help me relax enough to sleep. From her bedside table, she opened a drawer and extracted her vibrator. She’d had it a couple years, and had used it regularly after having passionate evenings with David, which had, without fail, left her unfulfilled. She bought it on the Internet. Though there were plenty of stores in San Francisco where she could buy a vibrator, Katie was far too worried about being seen in a sex shop to ever step foot into one. The Internet was anonymous, and Katie needed her anonymity to buy a vibrator. With her eyes closed, her fingers moved with economy and skill over the small, round, blunt-tipped vibrator. She found the bezel, turned it, and heard the buzzz! which she found embarrassingly familiar, and more than a little exciting. Katie’s hands moved slowly and skillfully. She held the vibrator in her left hand, putting the round, flat tip directly against her clit. As the vibrations went straight into her clit, and from there throughout her body, the middle two fingers of her right hand separated the lips of her cunt. No matter how delicious it felt to have the vibrator tantalizing her clit, she needed the sense of invasion and retreat within her body to feel the ultimate satisfaction. Her fingers weren’t as good as a McGowan cock, but under the circumstances, they’d have to do—and that was good enough for Katie on this evening. She imagined herself with all of the McGowans in a romantic and raunchy tangle of arms and legs. How did a single woman satisfy four lusty men? She wasn’t sure, but she suspected it was a skill she’d soon find necessary. Would one of them want her ass? Perhaps all of them? Probably. Katie had “gone Greek” as they called it in college, but it had been years earlier, and the boyfriend she’d lost the virginity

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of her ass to was embarrassingly unimpressive in stature. Even when fully erect, his cock wasn’t more in either length or thickness than a man’s middle finger. Katie had felt two McGowan cocks inside her pussy, and had felt with her fingers the erection that Aaron had for her, and she knew they were much greater in both length and girth than a man’s finger. The climax prompted by the vibrator and her own fingers had pleased but hadn’t sated. With a shake of her head, Katie forced the thoughts away. It would do no good to dwell on fantasies and memories of masturbation when she had very serious decisions in the here and now to deal with. Today, whether she was thrilled about it or not, she had the Mountain View Saloon to herself and the handsome cowboys who frequented the saloon. It was clear to Katie that she couldn’t possibly do all that needed to be done alone. She’d need to hire someone to help her. But who? Whoever she chose would have to be discreet because at some time or another, she’d give one or all of the McGowans a come-hither look. She’d get caught giving that flirtatious look, and it wouldn’t be five hours before the gossipmongers of Elk’s Crossing had heard the rumor that she was sleeping with all four of the brothers. Katie went to the front porch and sat down in the old wooden rocker. She looked out to the east toward the flatland, the prairies of North Dakota. Then she looked to the west to the mountains that seemed to go higher and higher until they finally ended in the snowcaps that never melted. What the hell am I doing in North Dakota, halfway into the Badlands, surrounded by a thousand times more cattle than people? I’m a city girl. Most of the time I can’t even get my cell phone to work out here. I’m in the boonies and seriously considering telling the McGowans that I’ll be their lover as long as I’m the only lover they’ve got. How did this happen to me? I’m not the kind of woman who gets in gang bangs. I don’t do orgies.

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When one of the customers haled Katie, asking for another beer, she was grateful her thoughts were interrupted. **** David awoke in his car with a severe pain in his neck. He’d slept behind the wheel, having pulled the car over in a restaurant’s parking lot. Though he’d put the seat back as far as he could, it was still uncomfortable. He’d slept with his head kinked to the side, so now he had a horrible crick in the neck. Just one more thing that Katie had to answer for, he told himself. One more fault for which she had to pay. If it hadn’t been for Katie, he wouldn’t be sleeping in a subcompact. He’d have money for luxury hotel suites. He’d have his Mercedes-Benz. He wouldn’t have to drive to some shit hole of a place called Elk’s Crossing. North Dakota was a place you flew over, not a place you drove to. Soon enough, he’d teach Katie the full extent of her errors. He’d make her pay full price for every injustice she’d caused him to suffer. **** Katie’s heart skipped a beat when she watched the McGowan brothers step into the saloon a couple minutes before noon. She was at the grill, spatula in hand, dressed in faded jeans, Nikes, and red cotton blouse. Though there were a few customers already seated at the bar, for a moment every man in the saloon who wasn’t a McGowan seemed to disappear. “Good afternoon, Katie,” the brothers said in unison as they took barstools. “Hello, boys,” she replied, trying her best to sound merely friendly and not like she wanted to vault over the bar to throw herself into their arms. “I’ve got a beef stew special going today that’ll stick

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to your ribs.” “That sounds perfect,” Aaron said. Katie walked over to the end of the bar where the McGowans sat. She turned her shoulders slightly so that her back was toward the other men in the saloon, and said quietly, “Last night I seemed to have misplaced my panties. I don’t suppose any of you boys would know where they are?” Aaron started to speak, but she immediately put her palm up, silencing him. “No, don’t tell me which one of you has them. I know that a McGowan man has them, and that’s all that matters, I suppose. Besides, it’s kind of exciting not knowing which one of you had me last night.” She sighed and shook her head in awed amazement. “You can’t imagine how bizarre it sounds to hear myself say that.” She gave the men a smiled that encompassed all of them. “Good thing the sheriff stopped by last night. Protect and serve and all that sort of stuff. It probably saved me from making a complete fool of myself.” “He might have been protecting you, but he sure as hell wasn’t serving me,” Aaron growled. Katie looked directly into his eyes. “I don’t know who had me last night. I know it wasn’t you. You were holding me. The leader of the virile McGowan clan, and yet you seem to have put yourself last in line.” “That’s not the way I wanted it, I can promise you that. Those were just the cards that I got dealt.” “But it proved you’ve got self-discipline. I can’t begin to tell you how impressed I am with that.” She closed her eyes for a moment, fighting to push away memories of the man she left in San Francisco. “I loathe men who can’t control themselves.” An instant before Katie was about to tell Aaron and his brothers that she was quite willing to have an affair with them, but that she wouldn’t be naïve enough to believe that what they had going had anything to do with love on a permanent basis, the cowboys from the Square-B Ranch walked into the saloon.

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“Hey there, Katie!” the foreman called out. “You’ve got that beef stew special going today, don’t you?” “You know I do,” Katie replied. “I’ve made a double batch this week because I knew you and your men would be showing up.” “I see you’ve got new hours. You’re closing from two ’til fourthirty?” “I’m working all alone for a while, so the change is only temporary.” “You’re all alone?” He put his hand over his heart. “Can I propose to you right now? Say ‘yes’ and you’ll never be alone again.” Katie smiled when she replied, “You can propose, but I’ll say ‘no.’ At least for now.” “As long as there’s still hope then I’ll stay and have lunch.” She turned back to the McGowans and said sotto voce, “We’ll finish this later.” **** Elk’s Crossing, North Dakota, looked as miserable as David figured it would. A hick, small town off the highway consisting of little more than a collection of pathetic-looking buildings that had all seen better, more prosperous days. Most of the vehicles were SUVs or pickup trucks, and few of them looked like this year’s models. “What a shit hole this is,” David grumbled as he got out of his car at the gas station. He walked inside the gas station. A man in his late sixties sat behind the counter near a cash register that looked to be as old as he was. The man wore a straw cowboy hat with the front brim bent so low it was almost impossible to see his eyes. “What can I help you with, young fella?” the old man asked. David despised him instantly. But in a friendly tone, he asked, “I’m looking for someone new to town. A woman named Katie Sellers. Know where I can find her?”

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“Yep. That’s the new girl. We don’t get those ’cept every once in a while. Most pretty girls leave Elk’s Crossing soon as they can.” David bit his tongue to keep silent the insults he wanted to scream. Sounding only a little sarcastic, he asked, “Would you mind telling me where she is?” “She’s over at the Mountain View Saloon. Serves up hot food and cold beer. Good, too.” David got directions to the saloon. Soon enough, he’d look into Katie’s eyes and explain that she’d made some very serious mistakes that had cost him grievously. She had to be punished for those mistakes—punished in a manner befitting the crime. **** “Keep an open mind,” Aaron said as he pulled the pickup into the long, gravel drive leading to the ranch house of Circle-Square-Circle Ranch. “We can make any changes you want, but we’ve made quite a few already. We want you to be comfortable.” “Changes to how you live, and you don’t even know if I’ll accept?” Katie sat between Aaron and Blair, and the warmth and strength of their bodies so close to her own was doing disastrous things to her willpower. “You’re pretty confident in yourself.” “If we weren’t, you wouldn’t be here now. A woman like you wouldn’t pay a man any mind at all if he wasn’t confident.” But I did spend time with a man who lacked confidence. David had to beat me up to prove his masculinity. The hundred-plus-year-old ranch house was a rambling, singlestory log structure that had been added to countless times over the years. Off to the north sat a large barn and a penned-in pasture with a white-painted, three-rail fence. A dozen horses were in the pasture munching grass and hay. To the south was the largest garage Katie had ever seen, and inside was an assortment of trucks, all-terrain vehicles, several tractors, and something she suspected had something

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to do with baling hay. The place looked well groomed and orderly. Nothing appeared run-down or unkempt. “Welcome to the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch,” Blair said as he extended a hand to help Katie out of the pickup’s cab. “Ask as many questions as you like.” Aaron added, “Can you picture yourself calling this ranch your home?” “I’m a city girl through and through,” Katie replied, not really answering the question. “I was born and raised in San Francisco.” “But you’re in Elk’s Crossing now.” Aaron’s leonine gaze was warm, his voice a subtle caress. “Like I said, keep an open mind. We’ve got a lot to offer, and we’re offering it all to you.” The McGowans had stayed at the saloon all through lunch, waiting around until Katie closed and locked the front door at two o’clock. As Katie stepped into the bachelor ranch house, she had expected the place to be messy. Her notions of what four men would do when left to their own devices was decidedly negative. Instead, she found a ranch house that was masculine, rustic, and absolutely clean. “Did you clean this place to within an inch of its life just for me?” she asked with a teasing smile. “Mama never tolerated us making a mess,” Aaron replied. “Said it was her job to raise us up to be gentlemen, not slobs. It was Papa’s job to raise us to be cowboys.” He smiled, and Katie could tell that he missed his mother and was grateful for the way she’d brought him up. “She also said it wasn’t her job to pick up after us. We do our own laundry and things like that.” “You’ve just never learned to cook.” He nodded. “Mama always did that for us. And after she passed away, your grandma did most of our cooking.” “The only meal we know how to make is breakfast,” Garrett piped in. “Eggs, bacon, and grilled potatoes washed down with milk and

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coffee starts our mornings.” “Well, that’s something,” Katie replied. After a moment, she added comically, “I guess.” Katie learned that the original log house had been built in the 1860s. It started out just a single-room structure built low and solid to withstand the rugged North Dakota winters and be easy to heat. Over the years, rooms had been added, then more rooms, and more rooms after that. With the advent of running water and electricity, and indoor toilets and showers, more additions and renovations had to be made. The end result was a rambling, sprawling log house that, even to Katie’s urbane sensibilities, was surprisingly warm, masculine, and inviting. “If you want, this will be your room,” Aaron said, opening a bedroom door. Katie’s heart skipped a beat. Her room. It implied a permanence that was much more than just being the lover to the McGowan men. As the door swung on its hinges to reveal the room, Katie knew instantly that the bedroom had been their parents’ room. It was bigger than the other bedrooms that she’d seen, and there was a private bathroom off of it. Her gaze went to the king-size bed, and instantly Katie’s imagination began conjuring the pleasures that would be hers to experience on that bed and with these four men. “The bed’s brand-new. Never been slept in. The chest of drawers is an antique. I can’t remember exactly, but it was either my greatgrandmother’s or my great-great-grandmother’s,” Aaron explained. “We figured you’d need a sanctum sanctorum to call your own. Over there’s a bathroom that’s exclusively yours.” Katie managed to censor herself before commenting that she was surprised a cowboy like Aaron would know what a sanctum sanctorum was. Instantly, she became even more determined than ever to not put these surprising McGowan men into neat little groups that they didn’t fit in. They just couldn’t be so easily categorized.

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“Very kind,” she said. “Very considerate. You’ve obviously gone through a great deal more thought than I had at first suspected.” “This is your room, and we’ll stay out unless you invite us in.” All four of you? One at a time or all at once? Oh, God, I’m starting to take this lunacy seriously. She shivered at the thought of trying to sexually satisfy four big, strong, lusty men simultaneously. Was it even possible for one woman to do such a thing? She was surprised to find that there were bookcases in nearly every room, and the one truly large room in the house—they called it the library—was dominated by floor-to-ceiling built-in bookcases, and a large, flat-screen television. “Earlier, when you invited me here, I thought I’d find some oneroom log cabin with clothes and whatnot strewn everywhere.” She made a passing motion with her hand toward the packed bookcases and enormous TV. “I didn’t expect orderliness in the extreme, or a TV the size of Rhode Island.” “Come on,” Aaron said. “I’ve saved the best for last.” “We’ve saved the best for last,” Blair said quickly. The “best” was waiting for her in a pen in the barn. It was a fourteen-year-old gelding quarter horse, sorrel in color with a white blaze on his forehead, and trained to perfection. “We figured, you being a city girl your whole life, that you wouldn’t have much experience riding horses, so we picked out Buddy here for you. He’s got plenty of get-up-and-go in him, but he won’t bolt into a gallop with you in the saddle unless you want him to.” Aaron ran his hand affectionately over the horse’s nose. Buddy replied with a whinny. “He’s yours. Your saddle’s over there.” “My own horse and saddle?” What woman wouldn’t fall in love with men who’d do something like this? “Your very own. We’ll teach you how to ride. We’ve got five high-country pastures we move the cattle between, and the best way

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to do that is from a saddle. The McGowans have been in this country for generations, and we’ve got pastureland spread all around.” He nodded toward the mountains to the west. “From high country to flatland prairie, we’ve got cattle grazing on our land. We’re all spread out, and that’s why it takes all four of us working it.” Katie felt joyous tears stinging her eyes. She willed the tears away, averting her gaze so the men wouldn’t read her emotions. She stroked Buddy’s nose and neck and murmured softly, “You want to be my horse? I don’t think I’ve ever been in a saddle except for those Shetland ponies they have at the amusement park when I was just a little girl.” These brothers have done more for me than all the previous men in my life combined. I feel precious with them. And protected. “You don’t have to make your decision right now,” Aaron said, his words coming out a bit rushed. Katie suspected he had seen the unshed tears in her eyes, and had misinterpreted them. “We just wanted to show you what’s yours at the Circle-Square-Circle. All you have to do is come and accept what we have for you.” He cleared his throat. “You’ll be ours, and we’ll be yours, and that’s the way that’ll be.” “Unconventional in the extreme, don’t you think?” Katie had tried for lightness in her tone, but she hadn’t managed it. “I can’t argue with that.” Buddy was the trump card they had to play, and it worked. I’m not going to say ‘yes’ just yet. I’ve got to think this through. I’ve got to think with my head, not my heart, or I’ll get hurt. “I’d better be getting back to Mountain View. It’s nearly four, and customers will be showing up. You’ve spent almost all day with me.”

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Chapter Five Katie was checking the amount of beer she had in the coolers when she heard the front door to the saloon open. The first of the evening’s customers had shown up, and that meant that she wouldn’t be alone with her thoughts any longer. She wasn’t at all certain whether it was good or bad to be thinking about having an affair with all of the McGowan brothers. Even thinking about making love to all four brothers made her shiver. “You’re looking good, Katie. Better than you have any right to.” The voice, masculine but high-pitched with tension, so startled Katie that she spun around too quickly and tripped. She hit the grill hard with her hip. She looked at David, hardly able to comprehend that he’d come all the way from San Francisco. “How…how did you know where I’d gone?” she asked, her heart pounding. She felt fear, marrow-deep and terribly real, for the first time in many weeks. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” David looked around the saloon. The expression on his face said he didn’t like what he saw. “Quite a downgrade for you, isn’t it? Going from a fancy steak house in San Francisco to some stinking saloon in some shit hole of a town in North Dakota?” “I like it here.” “What’s to like?” “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Katie smiled, having regained her composure enough to use her ex’s own words to taunt him. “How long have you been…?” The words drifted away, and Katie saw the hatred for her in

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David’s eyes. He walked slowly across the saloon to the bar. “Jail. That’s the word you’re avoiding saying. How long have I been out of jail? Let’s talk about how long I was in jail. All because of you.” “Keep your distance. You got locked away before for hurting me. Don’t make it worse for yourself.” David shrugged his shoulders in a gesture that said doing jail time meant nothing. Katie knew otherwise. David wasn’t a street thug who needed to beef up his street cred by doing some time behind bars. He was an investment analyst with a solid education and no job. He sat on a barstool, affecting a nonchalant pose. Now only the mahogany bar separated the man Katie loathed and feared from herself. Her palms were clammy with fear, and her throat felt tight. “How about making me a Manhattan? You know how I like them.” Katie cleared her throat, looked inside herself for courage, and then said, “No. I want you to leave. I’ve got a restraining order against you. You’re not supposed to be within five hundred yards of me.” “What a California court says doesn’t mean shit in North Dakota. Now let’s have that Manhattan.” Katie didn’t want to serve him, but she was alone with a man she knew hated her, and though he wasn’t a big man, he was big enough and strong enough to give her another thorough beating. She knew, tragically from experience, that he had no compunction against using violence on a woman. She made the mixed drink, careful to measure accurately, wanting it to taste proper. At one time, she had thought David to be a levelheaded gentleman. She eventually learned that he was a hothead who couldn’t control his temper, and that there was no telling what would infuriate him. Most of all, she learned that when he got into a rage, he let his fists do the talking. “Oh yes, that’s the ticket,” he said after testing his cocktail. “You

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always could make a good mixed drink.” His gaze lifted from the drink slowly, deliberately. “You’ve made some bad mistakes. Real bad ones. I wasn’t going to forgive you for what you’ve done, but seeing you now, looking all pretty even in a shit hole like this, makes me feel generous. We can start all over again, but you’ve got to promise that you’ll never, ever go to the police again, no matter what. I won’t allow it.” “No, we can’t.” Katie said the words slowly and distinctly. There was no equivocation in her tone. “I could never forgive—” He lunged for her, leaping halfway over the bar, his lip raised in an ugly, feral sneer, his fingers curled like talons as he reached for Katie’s throat. She tried to scream but couldn’t make a sound. The grill stopped her backward progress, but she managed to move just beyond his grasp. “Cunt!” he growled. His feet were off the floor, his stomach on the mahogany bar as he reached for Katie. Grabbing the bar with his left hand, he pulled himself forward, sliding belly-down on the polished wood. Katie leaped to the side, moving parallel to the bar. David touched Katie’s wrist, but he couldn’t get her in his grasp. A moment later, he fell headfirst over the bar and down onto the floor. Katie reached the end of the bar and was around it in a flash, her feet quickened by primal fear. Now she was in the main area of the saloon, and David was behind the bar. “Cunt!” he said again, getting to his feet. Katie made it to the front door in five furious strides. She was outside a moment later, running as quickly as she could while wearing her high heels. She saw the two pickups on the highway some four hundred yards away. It was the McGowan clan coming for supper. She nearly cried she was so grateful to see the familiar vehicles. After fifty yards, she stopped running. David wouldn’t dare strike out at her now, she figured. Like all men who beat women, he was a coward. He’d never

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stand up to a man like Aaron. She heard the crash of glass just as the first pickup pulled off the highway onto the saloon’s gravel driveway. There was a second crash of glass a moment later. Then she saw David hurry out of the saloon and jump into a very old Toyota coupe. “You little bastard,” Katie whispered as the Toyota sped in the opposite direction of the pickups, kicking up gravel as it roared toward the highway. Turning, Katie went back into the Mountain View Saloon to find out just how much damage her one-time lover had caused. **** Aaron could tell that Katie was nervous about something. He just wasn’t sure what it was. He didn’t believe the innocuous story she’d concocted about the mirror getting broken with a cast-iron pan in her haste to get ready for the evening rush. The fact that she seemed to be avoiding looking him directly in the eyes didn’t add to her credibility. But if it wasn’t the accident that she’d described, what had broken the mirror? Why make up a story? Of course, an easy answer to Katie’s unease could have been the fact that she had been asked to move into a ranch with four brothers, and be lover to all of them. Aaron had left little doubt as to just exactly what he expected of Katie, and what she could expect from the McGowan clan. The arrangement, though loving in the extreme, was anything but conventional. And should the outside world discover their living and loving arrangement, Katie’s reputation would take a beating by the rather conservative-minded citizens of Elk’s Crossing. Sitting on a barstool, having just finished his meal of a twelveounce New York strip steak done medium-rare, a baked potato the size of his fist with butter and sour cream, and a large green salad with the house dressing, Aaron watched as Katie cleared away the

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dishes from in front of his brothers. When she’d left the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch earlier in the day, she hadn’t said “no” to his proposition, but she hadn’t said “yes” either. That left the door to his heart wide open, and it made him feel vulnerable, which wasn’t a comfortable position for a man as determined to control his own fate as Aaron. When Katie finally stepped closer to Aaron, he gave her a half smile and asked in a low voice, “Is something bothering you?” Katie combed fingers through her blonde hair. He liked the way she did that because it momentarily caused her breasts to press snugly against her shirtfront, and caused her coiffure to have a slightly mussed appearance, which he enjoyed. As he looked at her while she searched for words, he realized there wasn’t much about her that didn’t please him enormously. Finally, she shook her head and said, “It’s nothing, really.” “Listen, I know what I’ve asked of you isn’t something you were prepared for. You being the McGowan lady for all four of us—that’s not something to say ‘yes’ to without thinking it through. But I don’t want you to feel pressured. There are no time restraints on you. If it takes you an hour or a day or a month to think this through, then that’s just how long it takes. My brothers and I will just have to accept that.” He glanced to the side to make sure only the McGowan men could hear what he was saying to Katie. “I hope you don’t regret what’s happened so far. And never forget your safe word. Whisper it once, and everything stops then and there.” “I want you to know that—” Katie’s words were cut off when two cowboys from a neighboring ranch suddenly bolted to their feet, squaring off against each other, hands balled into fists. “Boys, either you calm down and take a seat, or you can leave right now,” Katie said sharply, her blue eyes intense. “Act like gentleman, and the Mountain View Saloon will welcome you. Act like damned fools, and you’ll never eat another meal or drink another

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beer in here.” She couldn’t have said or done anything more to impress Aaron and his brothers. Now, more than ever, he knew that she was the woman for them, and they were the men for her. All four of them. But she had yet to agree to being their woman, their lover. Not for just one of them or some of them, but for all four brothers. It was the only way a woman wouldn’t split them up, and they had to stay together for the ranch. **** It was almost eleven o’clock when the cowboys from the Janson & Sons Ranch left the Mountain View Saloon, promising Katie to return the following evening. She wasn’t alone, though. The McGowan men were still there, some at the bar sipping beers, others at the pool table playing eight-ball with dedication, skill, and a fierce determination to win. It was clear to Katie that the brothers absolutely hated losing at any game to another brother. The twenty-dollars-pergame bet they had going was kept discreet because Katie’s grandmother didn’t approve of gambling. They weren’t the type of men to be overtly disrespectful, but in the time that Katie had been working at the saloon, she’d seen too many twenties surreptitiously get passed from one cupped hand to another for her to not know what was happening. It had been several hours since seeing David. Looking into his eyes had put a chill in her bones that had stuck with her. How had she ever thought anything positive about him? Why hadn’t she, from the very beginning, seen through the pleasant exterior he showed to people? What he presented was all a façade, hiding a truly wicked, heartless, self-centered man that stayed in the shadows. Stop beating yourself up over mistakes that are in the past. Learn from them and make sure you never again make such stupid decisions.

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She looked over the bar at Aaron. He was at the pool table, a cocky grin on his too-kissable lips as he watched Garrett lining up what even Katie could see was an improbable shot on the three ball. Garrett was forever matching and measuring himself against Aaron. Katie knew that he adored his oldest brother, but that didn’t stop him from desperately wanting to beat him. Garrett took his shot, his stroke smooth, though not quite accurate. The cue ball kissed the three, moving it to within a fraction of an inch from the side pocket. But the cue ball continued rolling, eventually tapping the eight ball, which dropped into the corner pocket. The winners cheered, and the losers groaned. Katie noted that Aaron didn’t cheer, though he was smiling. “One of these days, you’ll be beating me regular,” Aaron said as he extended his hand to Garrett. Though the brothers did, in fact, shake hands, Katie saw that a twenty-dollar bill went from one palm to the other. “But that day isn’t this day. Thanks for the match.” Garrett’s expression was dour. “Thanks for the lesson, I guess.” I love how gracious Aaron is with his brothers. They more than just love him, they respect him. His biggest concern for me was whether or not I felt pressured. It’s no wonder I’m in love with them. The simple, concise acceptance of her love for the McGowans came with an almost electric shock to Katie. She flinched and closed her eyes for a moment, forcing composure to return as swiftly as it had abandoned her. Aaron turned his head, his gaze meeting and holding Katie’s. The characteristic half smile was there, as was the amusement in his eyes. It was so obvious that he enjoyed spending time with his brothers that Katie felt an uncharitable pang of envy, and wished that she had a roomful of siblings she could call her own. Not by nature uncharitable, and suddenly and irrefutably aware that she was in love with four—count ’em, four—gorgeous men, Katie’s heart skipped a beat. Libidinous thoughts came rushing to the forefront of her consciousness like a tsunami of lust.

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She walked around the mahogany bar and went to the front windows that looked out onto the gravel parking lot. As she walked she was distinctly aware of the slow scissoring of her thighs, of the subtle pulsing in her clit. She could feel the collective McGowan gaze on her, some looking at her with undisguised desire, others with a bit more discretion. Their visual touch made the surface of her skin tingle with a low-voltage sexual electricity. Even before she got to the front windows of the saloon, she could feel that her nipples had grown hard and erect and were extremely sensitive. She looked out the window past the neon sign advertising a popular beer sold at the saloon. The only vehicles in the parking lot were her own car and the two big pickups belonging to the McGowans. Behind her, the crisp crack! of billiard balls had resumed after a brief stoppage. Though Aaron had won the previous game, and by rights “owned” the table, it sounded like Blair was playing against Flynn in the newest game of eight-ball. Flynn was promising to redeem himself by getting revenge. In the reflection in the dark window, Katie watched as Aaron approached her from behind. She made a point of not making eye contact with him through the window, but his nearness, his masculine presence, was so powerful it felt as though she was suddenly wrapped in a warm, protective blanket. The McGowans are the world’s best security blanket. She smiled at the thought. “Want to let me in on what’s so pleasing?” Aaron asked. He stood very close. Katie closed her eyes and inhaled, catching the subtle scent of aftershave, though she couldn’t tell the brand. The McGowans, upon finishing their labors for the day and before arriving for their dinner at the saloon, always showered. It was just one more reason that Katie wanted to take little nibbling bites out of each and every one of them. “Pleasing? I thought you’d say ‘funny.’” “That’s the smile of a woman who is pleased, not one who finds

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something funny.” “Aaron, you’re without a doubt the most perceptive man I’ve ever met in my life.” “Kind of makes you want to spend the rest of your life with me then, doesn’t it?” He had said it in jest, but beneath the bonhomie was an inquiring seriousness that Katie picked up. Looking out at the nearly empty parking lot, Katie was for once thankful that the majority of her patrons showed up for meals and left before closing time. She turned slowly until she faced Aaron. Standing so close, even in her four-inch heels, she had to tilt her head far back on her shoulders to look up into his face. “As a matter of fact, yes, it does.” She saw his eyes widen as the impact of her words registered. For a moment it seemed like he would let out a whoop! of victory, but Aaron remained silent. “When I left San Francisco, I figured Elk’s Crossing was just a stopping place for me to spend some time, to let the bruises on my soul fade away. I never thought I’d fall in love with you.” She felt her cheeks get warm and suspected she was blushing visibly. “And I never dreamed I’d fall in love with all your brothers. Who can say in advance what’s going to happen in our lives?” “What are you saying…exactly?” Katie slipped her hand into his and stepped away from the window. Aaron followed her as she pulled him along over to the pool table. She took Aaron by the shoulders and gave him a firm push so that he half sat on the edge of the pool table. Though she kept her attention focused on Aaron, with her peripheral vision she saw the other brothers slowly moving, surrounding her. That was what she wanted, though their nearness was adding to her unease. Even Katie wasn’t entirely sure what she was about to do. Katie took a step back and let her gaze run slowly up and down over Aaron. From his cowboy boots to his jeans to his plaid shirt to the downturned moustache, he exuded quiet, country confidence. He

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was a man secure in his own skin. Like an aura that hovered around him, there was a rugged and dependable masculinity that Katie knew instinctively that she could count on. “You look like you just stepped out of a Ralph Lauren ad,” she said quietly. “Who’s he? Should I be jealous?” There was just enough possessiveness in Aaron’s tone to trigger an immediate, favorable, feminine response from Katie. “You’ve never heard of Ralph Lauren?” Katie couldn’t imagine anyone from her San Francisco days not having heard of the designer. She thought everyone was familiar with his work. “I know pretty much everyone in a three-hundred-mile radius of Elk’s Crossing, and I’ve never heard of this Ralph fella.” Katie sighed, her head slanted slightly to the side. “That only makes me want you even more.” “How well does this guy know you?” “He’s never laid eyes on me.” With a lifted eyebrow, he said, “Eyes I can forgive. When it comes to hands and other body parts, I get less forgiving.” Katie stepped between the well-polished black boots he wore in the evenings. “I can live with that,” she said quietly. Every McGowan heard what she’d said. Though none of them spoke, Katie had heard an audible intake of breath from several of them. “Aaron, you’re the head of the McGowan clan, the alpha male that all your brothers look to for guidance. And on recent evenings, you’re the man who held me with my elbows back, blindfolding me”—she cleared her throat, pushing on though she was finding it difficult to choose just the right words for the occasion—“so that I wouldn’t know which one of your brothers was touching, kissing me…fucking me.” “You could have stopped it just by—” She stopped his words by pressing the pads of her fingertips against his lips. “Yes, yes, yes. I know that I could have stopped it. I didn’t use my safe word because I didn’t want to. I knew I was safe.”

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She closed her eyes and felt the blush rising in her cheeks. “I’ve never known such eroticism in my entire life. To be so dominated by you, to be held in bondage by your arms while your brothers touched me, kissed me”—a shiver went through her—“kissed me everywhere.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “The blindfold...not knowing which one of you...” She moved a fraction of a step closer to Aaron, and now her knees were between his. Her mouth felt dry, and her palms were clammy. There were four McGowan men looking at her, devouring her with their collective gaze, and listening to every soft-spoken word, but she only looked at Aaron. “I’ve made the decision,” Katie whispered. “I’m yours. I’m all of yours. But right now, right here, I want you, Aaron. You’re the only McGowan I know that I haven’t really given satisfaction to. You were always holding me, kissing me.” Her gaze went from his eyes down to the front of his jeans, which were bulging noticeably. “It was shameless of me to be squeezing your cock the way I was.” She heard him groan at the memory. “I’ve gotten you so hard, but I’ve never given you satisfaction.” Very slowly, her attention went from the swollen bulge in his jeans back to his face. “You’re always putting everyone else first. Not this time. Aaron, I want you to stand there and let me take care of everything. Let me give you the kind of passion you deserve.” Aaron reached for Katie, but she shook her head quickly. She took him by the wrists and placed his palms on the edge of the pool table near his hips. “Just stand there,” Katie whispered. For the first time, she looked around at the other brothers. All their attention was focused solely on her. “I’ll get to each and every one of you sometime soon, but right now, this is all about Aaron. You can watch, of course. I’ve discovered that it excites me to have you watching me. But for now just be part of the audience, and know with rock-solid certainty that the time will come when it’ll be you I’m kneeling in front of.”

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She looked into Aaron’s eyes, thought of tasting a kiss from him before she got down on her knees, and then realized that if she didn’t act quickly, her flagging courage would vanish altogether. Watching the movement of her hands as though they belonged to someone else, she placed them on Aaron’s broad chest then used the sides of her manicured thumbnails to scratch his nipples lightly through his shirt. The rumbling groan she received in response gave her all the approval she needed. As her palms slid slowly down the front of Aaron’s body, Katie sank to her knees in front of him. She’d been on her knees in front of a man before, but never when she had an audience. And of all the things that the McGowans had done to her while Aaron held her so his brothers could take and give their pleasure, she’d never once been put on her knees. They had given her cunnilingus, but she’d never given fellatio. He had a big, oval-shaped belt buckle. It was silver and engraved with the brand of the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch. For several seconds, Katie just looked at the buckle, struggling to comprehend the reality that she was on her knees in the middle of the saloon she had seemingly inherited, about to give one of the four men she loved a blow job—a slow, leisurely, make-his-toes-curl-inside-those-cowboyboots blow job that would be impossible for him to ever forget. She opened his buckle and slipped free the wide leather belt. The snap of his jeans offered little resistance, though she had a bit of difficulty pulling down his zipper. He moved away from the pool table just long enough for her to lower his jeans to the tops of his thighs, and then he sat back again. The long shaft of his cock stood out through the gaping fly of his boxer shorts. Rather than try to lower them past the unyielding barrier of his erection, Katie reached into the fly and, with a bit of effort and a small grunt of discomfort from Aaron, tugged his heavy balls out through the opening as well. Katie licked her lips and was surprised to discover that her mouth was watering, as though she was a starving woman anticipating a

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delicious meal. Though she’d given head before, it was something that she had done without any great enthusiasm. Sometimes she’d done it out of some sense of obligation or fairness. With David, it was the only way he could get an erection if he’d had a drink or two. Either way, Katie had performed fellatio with what she had hoped was a certain skill, but with very little spirit. Until now. Wrapping the slender, pale fingers of her right hand around the shaft, Katie sat on the backs of her heels and looked up into his face as she began stroking him. “Never in my life,” she said with quiet sincerity, “have I ever wanted to suck a man’s cock as much as I want to right now.” Aaron leaned down and, with just the pads of his fingers, caressed her cheek and temple while giving her the half smile she had learned to adore. She turned her head and kissed his palm, let her tongue tickle his hand briefly, and then said, “This time, all you have to worry about is yourself. Let me take care of everything.” Intensely aware that everything she said and every move she made was being watched and listened to by the entire McGowan clan, Katie leaned forward and began licking the crown of Aaron’s erection. He was plump and thickly swollen, and as she tongued his cock, she heard him groan his approval. Several of his brothers groaned, too, though Katie suspected it was because they felt tortured at being able to watch but not participate in the lurid, public blow job she was performing. She had the entire knob moist before she pushed her lips slowly over it. Aaron’s low moan was an aphrodisiac to Katie. Never before had she wanted so much to selflessly please a man, to bring him to such a climactic release that he would never, ever forget the experience. She massaged the shaft with her lips, taking Aaron deeper. When the crown pressed against the opening of her throat, she tried to take him even deeper, realized quickly that she couldn’t, and then rotated her face around him. With her mouth filled to overflowing with

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Aaron’s hard cock, she cupped his balls in her left palm and gave them a firm squeeze. “Ohhh! That’s damned good,” Aaron said quietly, his tone hoarse with lusty tension. “You make me feel like a king.” Katie began bobbing back and forth, pulling away until just the slitted tip of the hard cock still separated her lips, then moving farther down the shaft until the crown pressed threateningly against her throat. Each time she filled her mouth with him, she squeezed his heavy, egg-shaped balls and moved her head slowly in a rotating fashion. Aaron reached down and stroked Katie’s hair. She loved the gentle caress. A moment later, when he bent at the waist and squeezed her left breast through her blouse and bra, she thought of removing the clothing so that he could touch her without barriers. Tilting her head back on her shoulders, Katie looked up into Aaron’s eyes, aware of the lurid picture she was presenting, hoping desperately that he was as aroused as his bone-hard erection indicated. “Woman, you are so damned sexy,” he whispered, looking straight into her eyes. “I’ll never get enough of you. Never.” Katie leaned back, releasing him from her oral embrace. She watched her own hand moving slowly along the saliva-moistened length of his cock. “Such a bounty,” she whispered, sliding her fist down the shaft until her fingers were wrapped firmly around the base. Covetously, possessively, she added, “And all mine.” For the first time since she had knelt, she looked around at the other brothers. They stood only a few yards away. They were close enough to hear everything she said and see everything she did to their eldest brother. Katie saw that, without exception, each brother had an erection trapped inside his jeans. Soon enough I’ll have to satisfy all of them. Four lusty men...four lusty cocks.... A shiver went through Katie at the thought of what kind of

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uninhibited behavior would be required of her to give them all sexual release, to satisfy each of the McGowan men. They would want her pussy, her mouth, and her ass. Just looking into their eyes made her certain of it. They would want everything she could give, and in return they’d give her everything they had. She turned her attention back to Aaron. A drop of pre-cum had formed at the slit. Leaning forward, aware of the erotic spectacle she presented, she stuck her tongue out and licked off the cream. It was salty, but for the first time in her life, she didn’t mind. Turning her face to the side, Katie licked and used her lips lightly on the shaft, moving slowly toward the base. Once there, she tongued his balls until they were moist, then tucked them one at a time between her lips and sucked lightly on them. Aaron ran his palm over the back of Katie’s head, caressing her hair. “You’re sure I can’t do anything for you in return? I’m feeling a little selfish here.” “Next time, perhaps,” Katie replied, her lips nuzzling his balls as she spoke. Then she tantalized the shaft with her lips as she made her way back to the crown. “Right now, all I want you to do is watch and feel.” She licked the head of his cock, the tip of her tongue toying with his slit. “I want to please you.” She looked up into his eyes and whispered, “I want to swallow your cum.” He groaned in response to her saucy comment, and Katie pushed her lips over the head of his swollen cock, taking in as much of him as she could. She drew a firm vacuum on Aaron and began bobbing her head and shoulders a bit more quickly than before, determined now to bring him to the brink of ecstasy then take him further. It was Blair’s startled cry that shattered Katie’s plan. “Oh, shit! It’s the boys from the Square-B Ranch!” She almost leaped to her feet, her thoughts and emotions in a whirl. It was impossible for her to accept that she had just been on her knees giving Aaron a blow job while all his brothers stood nearby, watching her wicked behavior.

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“Stall ’em,” Aaron ordered, taking long strides toward the men’s restroom.

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Chapter Six There were only two pickups in the parking lot, plus one car. David had hoped he’d find just the car, but luck hadn’t been with him. It seemed Lady Luck had completely abandoned him for quite some time now. But maybe that would change soon. Katie had looked a lot better than he’d remembered. It would be good to have her in his bed again, in his arms, to feel the lush warmth and firmness of her full breasts against his chest as he thrust into her hard and fast…. David had parked his car on a gravel road off the highway nearly a mile away. On his way back to the Mountain View Saloon, he’d had plenty of time to think about what he was going to say to Katie when he got her alone again. She had to be punished, of course. Severely so, in fact. But he was going to take her back into his life, into his arms. Seeing her again earlier in the day had reminded David of just how lovely she was. True, she was headstrong and more feisty than she had any right to be, but he intended to get that out of her system. All she needed was to learn a few lessons, and there wasn’t a better teacher for her in the world than David. He was certain of that. As he approached the saloon, tacking far to the north so that he could walk along the tree line and stay hidden in shadows, David was glad now that he’d shown the good sense to leave his car behind. He wanted to see how she behaved with the men he’d seen driving up. Was she flirting with them, the same as she’d flirted with the steak house customers back in San Francisco? He hoped not. Back then, he had been forced to slap her around some, just so that she’d learn the error of her ways. David didn’t want to slap her around for flirting with other men, though she would have to be punished for going to

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the police and getting him sent to jail for months. David’s shoes crunched softly against the gravel as he approached the saloon. He could hear the jukebox playing a country-western tune. Nothing but fucking rednecks out here. The thought made David feel better about himself. He liked knowing he was better than the men around him. He’d never doubted his supremacy back in San Francisco, and it certainly wasn’t in doubt here in some stinking shit hole called Elk’s Crossing. He heard the crack of billiard balls striking, followed immediately by several men giving some kind of primitive war whoop. It was difficult for David to figure out what Katie could be doing in a place such as this. There was nothing either country or western about her, and though she’d been slutty enough to flirt with the businessmen who came to the steak house, she wasn’t enough of a cunt to associate with manure-spattered cowboys. David was confident in his assessment of Katie because he’d always been picky about the women he fucked. David could feel his heart rate accelerate as he reached the saloon. He flattened his back to the wall, just to the side of a big window, and waited a moment, breathing in deeply a couple times to calm himself. Finally, very slowly, he turned so that he faced the building, and then moved inch by inch to the side until he could look in the window. He saw a handful of men in their twenties, wearing jeans and cowboy hats, standing around the billiard table. He looked toward the bar, but Katie wasn’t there. Movement to his left drew his attention. He hesitated, not wanting to step more directly in front of the window, knowing instinctively that for now he needed to keep his presence a secret from Katie. Katie was talking to a tall cowboy with a mane of sandy hair and a downturned mustache. David didn’t like the way she looked up at him. There was open affection in her expression. Soon, he’d have a talk with her about that. David realized he had a lot of teaching to do. He wouldn’t give her a black eye like he had in San Francisco. Too

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many people noticed a black eye. But if he put the bruises on her arms or legs or ribs, bruises that would be hidden by her clothing, then she’d learn her lesson, and he wouldn’t have a bunch of nosy bastards and prissy bitches asking questions that were none of their goddamned business. He watched as Katie took the cowboy by the hand and walked him over to the billiard table then gave him a firm push. The rest of the men moved closer to Katie. For a few seconds, as she was talking to the men, David’s view of her was blocked by one of the men, but after a few seconds he took a step to the side. After that, though, David didn’t have a full view of what was happening. What the hell is she saying? She looks nervous. She also looks more friendly with those clod-hopping cowboys than she should. Damn, her tits look good. So do her legs and ass. I wonder if she’s lost some weight. He smiled at the thought. Probably went on a diet to get me back. I always said she needed to lose some weight if she wanted to keep me. He was looking at her profile, and the plump fullness of her breasts brought back memories of when he’d first set eyes on her at the steak house, and how he’d promised himself that the day would come when he’d fuck her. As with most of the goals he’d ever set for himself, he’d accomplished it. Fucking Katie had required more time, dinners, and sweet talk than he would have liked, but she eventually relented, and that was the important thing. Standing in the darkness outside the saloon, he wondered when next he’d fuck her. Soon, he decided. He deserved a good fucking, and she was just the bitch to give it to him. He was certain she’d come around to his way of thinking. She always did, except for that bit of foolishness when she called the police. David’s mind wandered a bit, thinking back on the police and what a crime it was that scumbags in blue uniforms should wrestle him to the ground and put handcuffs on him, so he didn’t at first notice that Katie was getting more than just a little “friendly” with the

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big cowboy. His jaw literally dropped when he watched her sink slowly to her knees as she opened his jeans and brought them down. The cowboy’s cock sprang out, and David could hardly believe his eyes. Was that really Katie on her knees, about to give some stinking cowboy a blow job? And she was going to do it with more cowboys standing around watching her! He watched, thunderstruck, as Katie starting licking the cowboy’s cock. Then she took him in her mouth, and David knew with all his heart and soul that he’d never seen a more disgusting thing in his life. There was the woman he had been about to bring back into his life, fully clothed but on her knees, slowly bobbing back and forth to perform what appeared to be a willingly given, sensual blow job. A thousand conflicting thoughts rocketed through David’s consciousness. The injustice of it was nearly enough to make him retch. Back in San Francisco, Katie had never shown much zeal in giving him head. She’d done it, but it was clear to David that it wasn’t an activity she much enjoyed. And now she was on her knees in the middle of a saloon, sucking some worthless cowboy’s cock while a bunch of other cowboys watched? That cunt has got a lot of lessons to learn! It was the sweep of headlights from a big Chevrolet Suburban that pulled David’s attention away from the saloon’s interior and back toward the highway. Suddenly illuminated the by headlights’ glare, his instinct for survival kicked in. Moving at an undignified run, he headed for the nearby trees, moving away from the headlights and the saloon, certain only that Katie had committed crimes against him. When he took his justifiable revenge for what she’d done, she might not live through her punishment. **** Katie was behind the bar and ready to grab beers out of the cooler

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by the time the men from the Square-B Ranch walked through the front door of the Mountain View Saloon. Garrett and Flynn were pretending to be in the middle of a game of eight-ball. The others had taken stools at the bar, and though they all gave a greeting to the men who entered, none of them stood. They’ve all got erections they’re trying to hide. She smiled her greeting to the four men from the Square-B Ranch. Was I really just giving Aaron a blow job while all his brothers watched me? Was I really doing that just a minute ago? “You’re looking sweet tonight, Miss Katie,” the Square-B foreman said as he straddled a barstool. “But then you look sweet every night. That must be why you had yourself a Peeping Tom when we pulled into the parking lot.” Katie frowned. “Peeping Tom?” “Yep. I pulled into the lot, and he was standing at that window over there, lookin’ on in.” The foreman shrugged his broad shoulders and tipped his straw Stetson back on his head with a forefinger. “I hit him with the headlights, and he run off like a scared jackrabbit. Don’t suppose you’d know who it is?” “No,” Katie lied. Her first instinct was to do whatever was necessary to keep the McGowans and David separated. “How would I know?” **** “She’s not going to show up.” Aaron looked at Garrett and replied, “Yes, she will. She’s only late because of work. Sometimes that takes a while.” He was standing near the fireplace at the ranch, a cold can of beer in hand, trying to pretend he wasn’t as anxious as the rest of his brothers. “Katie said she’d come here, so she will.” Garrett, young and impetuous, shook his head emphatically. “No. When the boys from the Square-B showed up, she got spooked. Real

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spooked. She was going to be ours, and we were going to be hers, but now she’s spooked, and she’s not going to want anything to do with us.” “You’re young and in love,” Aaron replied. “That clouds your thinking.” “And you’re old and in love, so that makes you thickheaded.” “Thirty-two,” Aaron said, a smile tugging at his lips, “isn’t really all that old.” The look he received from his kid brother suggested otherwise. A window-rattling crash of thunder followed a bright white bolt of lightning by a split-second, and all the men in the room flinched. The thick, black clouds had rolled in from the west as the sun had been setting. A few minutes before midnight, the rain had started, not too heavy at first, though the deluge soon followed. Thunder and lightning came with the downpour. Now the storm seemed to have settled over Elk’s Crossing, the rain coming in sheets. “This storm’s a bad one,” Blair said. “Do you think that’s what’s keeping Katie home?” Aaron walked to the window and looked out. The rain-streaked glass gave a distorted view of the land surrounding the homestead. Only the lightning cut through the fathomless darkness of the foothills. The Circle-Square-Circle Ranch was miles from anything that might be construed as a streetlight, so he did not at first realize that a vehicle had pulled up close to the house until the driver’s side door opened, and the dome light came on. “She’s here!” Aaron exclaimed. “I knew she’d come!” “Oh, she’ll come, all right,” Blair murmured ambiguously under his breath. Aaron hurried to the front door of the ranch house, followed by all three of his brothers. He opened the door just in time to let Katie hurry inside. She wore a tan raincoat, which she had pulled up over her head. Her shapely legs were exposed to midthigh. “Come in,” Aaron said, throwing the door open wide and stepping

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aside so that Katie could run in. “Let’s get you out of the rain.” Blair added, “Welcome once again to the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch.” Katie slid the trench coat properly down around her shoulders and smiled broadly as she patted her blonde hair into place. In her blue eyes, Aaron thought he saw happiness tinged with nervousness. “This is my first North Dakota storm,” Katie said, stepping deeper into the ranch house, the stiletto heels of her shoes clicking softly against the polished wooden floor. “Are thunderstorms always this violent in the mountains?” “The mountains don’t get it as bad as the foothills. We’re in the foothills.” Aaron was certain he’d never seen anything lovelier than Katie, standing at the entrance to the great room. Softly, he added, “I was afraid you wouldn’t come.” Katie walked to the center of the room. She looked at the big, flatscreen television. Some sports-analysis program was on, though the volume had been muted. Aaron was annoyed at anything that diverted Katie’s attention away from him or his brothers. She turned and looked straight into his eyes. “I’m not agreeing to move in with you.” The pink tip of her tongue moistened her lips, and her gaze darted from one brother to the next before returning to Aaron. “But I’m here now, and I’m staying for the night.” Aaron heard a collective sigh of relief from his brothers. He felt like shouting out his joy but kept his nearly ungovernable emotions tightly leashed. Garrett stepped up to Katie. “The McGowan men all seem to have forgotten their manners. Can I take your coat? Would you like something to drink?” Katie unbuckled the belt and unfastened the buttons, turned her back to Garrett, and let the moist raincoat slide off her shoulders and down her arms. That prompted the second collective gasp from the men in the room, though this time even Aaron added his voice to the chorus. Aside from her four-inch pumps, Katie wore only a red baby-

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doll nightie. The bottom hem of the lingerie was black lace that cut a horizontal line across the tops of her pale thighs. Aaron couldn’t tell if she was wearing panties beneath the lingerie, but the question alone was fascinating enough that his cock began to grow inside his jeans. The deep V-neck of the baby-doll put on display the plump inner swells of Katie’s breasts, making them appear even more extravagantly rounded than if she wore nothing at all. Aaron felt an instantaneous tightening in his throat. He resisted the urge to tell Katie just how sexy she was. She had once before called him an “alpha male,” but with Katie standing in a lacy red baby-doll and his heart racing in his chest, he was feeling more like a besotted teenager inexperienced in the ways of the flesh. Katie walked slowly over to the fireplace, where split pine logs crackled as the flames licked at them. With her back to the men, she asked, “What are my drink options?” Aaron groaned. “Just beer or whiskey, I’m afraid.” She turned slightly to look at him, and in doing so gave him a view of herself in profile. Aaron’s mouth went instantly dry. “Just so that you know, I like martinis with gin. Or a gin and tonic, if it’s hot out.” “In the future, you can pretty much count on asking for anything you want, and having a one-hundred-percent chance of getting it,” Aaron replied. “I’ll have a beer. A light beer, if you’ve got it. I’m going to start really watching my calories.” She smiled sheepishly. “For you men…my men…I’ve decided to go on a diet. I’m going to lose weight so that you’ll think me so sexy you won’t even look at another woman.” “Trust me when I say you couldn’t get sexier if you tried,” Aaron said with conviction. The other men voiced their agreement with his assessment, drawing a sheepish smile from the object of their fascination. “Garrett, since you seem to be the only one of us with any manners at all, would you please get this lovely lady a beer?”

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By the time Garrett returned with a Miller Lite, the television had been turned off, the whiskey-drinkers had refreshed their cocktails with ice, and others had gotten new beers. Some sat in the heavy, leather wingback chairs that bracketed the outside edge of the fireplace. Aaron was standing near the long leather sofa that faced the fireplace, though was further away from the flames than the chairs. Katie took her beer, sipped it, and sighed. “I confess, I do like beer.” She stepped closer to Aaron, her hips swaying with her steps. He still couldn’t tell if she had panties on beneath the baby-doll. “In San Francisco, drinking beer is considered a boorish thing only for the lower classes. God, I was such a snob back then. You men have taught me so much. Sometimes I think back on the beliefs I used to hold dear, and I’m actually embarrassed.” She took another couple sips of cold beer. “Are you going to kiss me or not? The last time I was this close to you, our time together was…um…abruptly and unfortunately abbreviated, a fact which I’m sure frustrated you enormously, and stopped me from accomplishing something I’d struggled to find the courage to do.” As the pulsing in his jeans grew stronger with each passing second, Aaron slipped his right arm around Katie’s waist and pulled her body in snugly against his own. While still holding a can of beer in his left hand, he slanted his mouth down over Katie’s, bending her backward as he did so. Her lips parted, the invitation unmistakable, and he danced his tongue with hers. Blindly, Aaron extended his left arm straight out while continuing to kiss Katie. One of his brothers—he wasn’t certain which one—took the can of beer from him. With both hands now available, he pulled Katie’s voluptuous body in even tighter against his own then filled his hands with the globes of her ass. She wore panties beneath the babydoll, and the smooth texture heightened Aaron’s excitement. He feasted on her lips, filling her mouth with his tongue as he pulled her pelvis in against his own so that she had no choice but to feel how big and hard his cock had gotten.

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He felt her moving slightly, weaving her hips from side to side to rub against his rapidly growing erection. When her tongue slipped between his lips to explore his mouth, Aaron knew that he’d never kissed a woman who excited him so much and never touched a woman who triggered such an instantaneous and wildly lusty response from him. Finally, the kiss ended. Aaron kept his hands beneath the bottom hem of her baby-doll, squeezing her buns through silk panties. “It’s your call,” Katie said, a bit breathlessly. “Tell me what you want, Aaron. I can resume where I left off, if that’s what you want. I’m yours to command. Tell me, and I’ll do it.” **** A shiver went through Katie as she looked up into Aaron’s eyes. What was it about Aaron and his brothers that made her want to be submissive to them, that made her want to give herself totally and completely to them both sexually and emotionally? She didn’t need to look around to know that she was surrounded by McGowan men. She could almost feel the heat of their bodies going straight into her bloodstream, the hunger in their eyes devouring her flesh, and the feasting on her physical charms. She started to kneel, deciding to finish what she’d started in the Mountain View Saloon, but Aaron caught her by the upper arms. “No, darling,” he said, his voice hoarse but commanding. “I need more from you than just lip service. I need to be inside you.” Aaron wasted no time unbuckling his belt and dropping his jeans and underwear to expose his throbbing erection. He sat on the sofa and motioned Katie forward. She was as feverish as Aaron to feel the joining of their bodies. She handed her beer can to Blair, but didn’t even bother to remove her panties before she straddled Aaron’s lean hips, placing her knees on the sofa’s leather cushions. She pulled the crotch of the panties aside to expose her pussy.

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“I’ve dreamed of having you inside me,” Katie said as she lowered her hips until the lips of her pussy touched the conical head of Aaron’s cock. Before she took him inside, she looked around at the men surrounding her. “Soon. All of you.” She lowered her hips and felt delicate, sensitive tissue stretching, expanding to accommodate solid masculine flesh. “Oh, God!” she gasped, sinking to take the full length of his cock inside her slick, receptive body. Katie felt Aaron’s muscular thighs beneath her own. More significantly, she felt the long, hard length of his cock pulsing with virility deep inside her cunt. Her lashes batted against her cheeks for a moment, and then she looked into Aaron’s eyes and whispered, “Anywhere. Anytime. Anything you want. I’m yours.” She didn’t really expect him to say anything in response. She was shocked enough at her own complete acceptance of the McGowan clan’s claim to her body, soul, and heart. But when Aaron replied, “And I’m yours. We’re all yours,” a sob caught in her throat, and might have escaped had she not felt her own onrushing climax fast approaching. She kissed Aaron flush on the mouth for only a few seconds before she threw her head back on her shoulders and started bouncing on his lap, impaling herself on his unyielding cock. “At last,” Katie sighed, dropping onto Aaron’s lap to accept everything he had to give her. She worked her hips forward and back, loving the feel of his thick cock stretching her. “The first time…but not the last time.” She leaned forward to kiss his forehead, then temple. She whispered so softly that only he could hear, “I know you love me, but this time, just fuck me.” He slid his fingers into her hair, cupping the back of her head in his palm. He pulled her down and kissed her fiercely, even harshly. It was a bruising, claiming kiss, meant to show his possession. I’ve never been wanted as much as by these men. I’m theirs, and they’re mine, and this is going to be a very long night. She loved the feel of Aaron’s hands on her bottom, guiding and

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directing her movements as she bounced on him. But then she felt another hand on her breast, and the reality that she was fucking one man while three of his brothers were standing nearby came rushing back. Without pausing in her undulations, she looked over her shoulder and saw that it was Garrett standing behind her, reaching beneath her arm to fondle her breast. “Take the nightie off, darling,” Aaron said. “It’s pretty enough, but I want to look at you.” But Katie had chosen the baby-doll for a reason, and it wasn’t to take it off. She knew her breasts were a particular source of fascination for the McGowan men, and she knew they liked the curve of her hips. It was her stomach that caused Katie to feel the sharp teeth of insecurity. Rather than pull the lingerie up and over her head, Katie slipped her hands inside the lace-trimmed silk cups, then slowly slid the silk beneath her breasts. “Kiss me,” she whispered, lifting her right breast to Aaron’s mouth as she bounced on his lap. When she felt the heated wetness of his mouth capturing her nipple and much of her areola, Katie let out a short, startled cry of ecstasy. There was no doubt in her mind that her next climax would be a cataclysmic event in her life. While she impaled herself on Aaron’s cock and he sucked on her nipples, Garrett and Blair stepped up onto the sofa, moving so that they sat on the uppermost portion of the backrest, one on each side of their brother. Katie was surprised to discover the men had stripped off their clothes, and seeing their naked bodies for the first time made the slick honey of her excitement flow freely. “You’re so beautiful,” she whispered, looking at washboard abdomens, taut chest muscles, wide shoulders, and narrow hips—and two hard cocks that angled sharply upwards. Theirs were bodies made lean and muscular by hard work, much of it done on horseback. They did not have the slab muscles of men who exercised in a gym while watching themselves in the mirror. “You make me want to eat you

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up.” “Good idea,” Blair said, hooking his hand around Katie’s neck and pulling her toward him. While continuing to bounce on Aaron, Katie let Blair pull her forward and to the side, and a moment later she had the plump crown of his cock in her mouth. Her head was swimming with the startling reality that she had a cock in her pussy and another in her mouth. If, a month earlier, someone would have suggested that she was capable of such uninhibited behavior, she would have laughed in their faces. But now, in a room literally filled with naked men, it seemed entirely rational to have more than one man loving her, more than one man she needed to satisfy. “Fuck! Her mouth feels so fucking good.” Blair whispered, the coarse words coming out slowly as Katie took his cock to the back of her mouth and wrapped her hand around the base of his pulsing shaft. She moved, but was not entirely conscious of all the things that she was doing, and the things that were being done to her. She filled her mouth and stroked Blair while, with the opposite hand, stroking Garrett. And as she was pleasuring those men, she continued to follow Aaron’s lead as he guided her up-and-down movements. After several seconds, she leaned to Aaron’s other side and brought her moist lips to the knob of Garrett’s erection. His body, she noted, was lean, the thinnest of all the McGowan men. Four handsome brothers, and they’re all mine. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth opened wide when she felt Garrett push his fingers into her hair then clench his hand into a fist. While it was abundantly clear that all of the men wanted her, Garrett’s lusty hunger took on an added dimension, which Katie attributed to youth and perhaps a touch of inexperience. With her hair entwined in his fingers, Garrett sped up Katie’s bobbing, forcing her to suck on his cock faster. “Easy,” Aaron said to his youngest brother. “Katie will make you happy.” His voice dipped lower with authority. “Just make sure that

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you make her happy.” A moment later, Katie felt the fingers loosen in her hair. She pulled up, releasing the cock from her mouth with a moist popping sound. She looked up into Garrett’s face, gave him a smile to let him know that she wasn’t angry or disappointed with his ardor, and then leaned to Aaron’s opposite side and resumed sucking on Blair’s cock. It was chaotic and disorderly, and Katie simply didn’t know what to do or what was expected of her. She’d had sex with a few men in her life, but she’d certainly never engaged in anything even remotely like the ménage she was currently in. She was in the eye of the storm, and everything swirled around her. Her lips were a tight, moist ring around the shaft of Blair’s cock when she heard Aaron groan beneath her, and his fingers tightened fiercely on her hips, pulling her down so that his cock was buried completely inside her. A moment later, when he let out that low, rumbling groan of ecstasy, Katie knew that he was releasing his cum inside her. The awareness that Aaron was releasing his lust deep inside her while she had another man’s cock in her mouth provided the final necessary stimulation to elicit her own climax. While holding Blair’s cock between her lips, though not really sucking on him, Katie’s hips jerked rapidly forward and backward, her thighs against Aaron’s and the full length of his cock still inside her as the spasms started. She let out a high-pitched squeal from deep in her throat as her orgasm reached its peak. She almost immediately began a free fall descent. What happened next made Katie feel like she was in a dream, almost as though she was having an out-of-body experience where she could look dispassionately down at herself and watch her own lusty activities without actually participating in them. Though she was by no means a tiny or petite woman, Aaron got up off the sofa, lifting Katie as he did so. He turned then set her down on the sofa so that her back was against the seat cushions, and her head was against the backrest. Taking a step backward, he withdrew his sated erection

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from her pussy. But an instant later, Blair was between her thighs, guiding the crown of his cock to her entrance. With a single, hard thrust, he invaded her body with every solid inch he possessed. The young twins, Garrett and Flynn, knelt on the sofa, their cocks standing out hard and almost vibrating with lusty tension, each one pointing portentously at Katie. All she had to do was turn her face this way or that to give pleasure to Garrett or Flynn. Flynn was the next McGowan to get overstimulated. Pumping his hips frantically, driving his cock between Katie’s soft lips, several indistinct words which may have been a curse or a prayer were ripped from his throat, and a moment later the floodgates opened. Cum, hot and thick as cold cream, raced through the shaft of his cock to spew against Katie’s frisking tongue. Katie swallowed repeatedly then shivered because it was not a taste she found pleasant, but she drank her lover’s passion anyway because she knew it was what he wanted. She was willing to do anything to please him. They all want me, and they’re all going to have me. Here. Tonight. The thought had come to Katie a few minutes later while she was on her hands and knees on the sofa, rocking between two of the McGowan brothers. She knew that it was Blair in front of her who had one hand entwined in her hair, and with the other was reaching beneath her to squeeze her breasts as she gave him a blow job. Katie had not seen who had moved into position behind her, so she did not know the identity of the man whose cock was pistoning back and forth between the lips of her pussy with steadily increasing speed and fury. What if all of them want me a second time tonight? A third? At least one of them will want my ass. The thought made a shiver zip up her spine. I not ready for that yet. Oh, how did this happen? I’ll be flooded with cum. I’ll drown in it.

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Chapter Seven Standing in the rain outside the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch house, drenched to the skin, David shivered with a combination of cold and fury. The lightning wasn’t letting up, and neither was the rain. It was as though nature itself had conspired to make this evening as miserable as possible for him. Perhaps Katie had some power over the weather. It would be just like her, he decided, to force him into a situation where he risked pneumonia. That was one more thing she had to answer for. But the weather was nothing compared to the crimes against him she was committing now. Though there was only a single lamp lit in the room, it gave off enough of a yellow glow to let David see exactly what Katie was doing with the four naked men in the ranch house. The man with the mustache was entertaining himself with Katie. The other cowboys had shed their clothes quickly once the action started. And David had seen it all, missing nothing from the moment she took off her trench coat to show them she was wearing nothing but a slutty little nightie that put those disgusting tits on display. The biggest cowboy was sitting on the sofa, and Katie was astride him, bouncing like a slut while she took turns sucking on two other guys who were sitting on the sofa’s backrest. What had happened to Katie? When had she become a slut? It was obvious to David that Katie had been transformed during his incarceration, changing drastically and not for the better. No doubt it had happened because she felt a great personal guilt for what she had unjustly caused him to experience during his incarceration. She was being self-destructive to punish herself for going to the police when

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all he was doing was teaching her life lessons that would make her a better person, a better woman. A bolt of lightning came simultaneously with a pounding thunderclap. David felt its force inside his chest make him flinch as though he’d been physically struck. He turned his face skyward, feeling the rain striking his open eyes. Not even the rain could cleanse him, and he knew it. Katie had soiled him, defiled his soul and spirit, and for that she had to pay a price. And David intended on being the tax collector. **** Consciousness came slowly to Katie. Her long lashes tapped against her cheeks as she blinked the sleep from her eyes. She looked first at the bedroom’s ceiling then to her left and right. She was alone in the room, and the sunlight coming through the curtained window told her that the day was well under way. Memories, intensely vivid and evocative, came rushing back to Katie. In an unconscious move, she put a hand to her mouth, shocked at her own intemperate behavior. For a moment she tried to tell herself that she should feel terribly guilty, or at least embarrassed, for how she had behaved with the four McGowan brothers, but she just couldn’t manage to summon either emotion. I made love to four men in a single night, sometimes loving them three at a time. She put a hand between her thighs, touched her pussy lightly, and felt a twinge of discomfort. I had so much good loving I’m a little sore today. She smiled as the pad of her middle finger lightly caressed her clit. Being sore has never felt so good. With a sigh, she brought her hand away from her pussy. As entertaining as it would be to masturbate into a quick, mild climax, she decided it would be best if she saved whatever sexual energy she possessed for her men. Katie wasn’t entirely certain that if the men wanted her again that night that she’d be able to handle them all.

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“What a delicious dilemma,” she murmured aloud, her lips curling into a subtle smile. “So many gorgeous men to make love to.” She combed her fingers through her hair and sat upright in bed, her arms behind her. Closing her eyes, she listened carefully and heard nothing. Her lovers, it seemed, had let her sleep in while they went to handle their daily chores. Cattle, it appeared, needed daily attention. Yes, cattle need daily attention, and so do I. She smiled. Maybe not as much attention as I got last night, but I do adore the attention I get from my lovers. Katie took a long, leisurely shower, running her soapy hands over her body while wondering when the men would return home. It wouldn’t bother her a bit if they should come home while she was still undressed. As she smoothed the bar of soap over her breasts, her nipples hardened. She turned slowly so that the warm water spray hit her on the shoulders and back and didn’t wash away the soapy bubbles as she paid rather more careful attention to her breasts and pussy than was hygienically necessary. The McGowans have made me greedy. The more climaxes they give me, the more of them I want. The tip of her middle finger slipped between the delicate folds of her pussy, and a soft sigh, barely audible above the sound of the water striking her, drifted to her ears. The single finger slipped an inch deeper into her pussy, and Katie caught her lower lip between her teeth and bit softly. Turning her hand slightly, she used the flat part of her finger to press against her clit, and fresh waves of pleasure surged through her senses. I shouldn’t do this alone. I should save myself for my men. The thought did not stop her body from behaving in ways it wanted, seemingly without her conscious thought. She turned sideways to the stream then brought her left hand to the cleavage of her ass cheeks. A single slippery finger eased between her buns and into her ass as two fingers pumped between the lips of her pussy.

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I’m so wicked, she thought as the onrushing climax gripped her senses, and her legs shook and quivered so much that she nearly fell to her knees. **** David awoke slowly with the sick awareness that he was behind the wheel of his car, and that every muscle in his body was stiff and sore from sleeping while sitting upright. That’s one more thing Katie’s got to answer for. A smile curled his lips as he thought about the work he’d done on her car while the rain poured down on him the previous evening. Should he stick around to see the end results of his handiwork, or would it be more prudent for him to put some distance between himself and Katie? He shifted his body and heard his spine make an odd crackling sound. A stab of pain went through him. Years of making a great income had made his body soft. The closest hotel to Elk’s Crossing is forty miles away. I’ll drive there and get some decent sleep then see how things are with Katie later. He didn’t want to spend the money, but his body gave him little choice. Whatever happens to Katie, she deserves what she gets. The bitch. **** Aaron crossed his palms over the horn of his saddle and watched as Garrett cantered his horse closer. It was a gorgeous day, but Aaron knew that what made the North Dakota high country look so beautiful were the memories of what he and his brothers had done with Katie the previous evening. She’d given herself completely to them, accepting their command joyously, and because she had, Aaron and his brothers had done everything they possibly could to see that she

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was thoroughly and satisfyingly entertained. “Hey, Aaron,” Garrett said, reining his horse to a halt beside his brother. “Hey, Garrett.” “Nice day, huh?” Aaron nodded and smiled. “What’s on your mind?” “Do you think she’ll come to the ranch again tonight?” Aaron could hear the desire in his brother’s tone. The emotion was more than just lust. “She’s her own woman,” Aaron finally replied. “If she comes to us or stays away, that’s her decision to make.” He lifted an eyebrow. “But I damn sure won’t be happy if she spends the night all by herself in that little apartment above the saloon.” Off to the east, a calf, having gotten separated from its mother, started calling out in alarm. “Take care of that, Garrett. Calf’s lost its mama. Besides, you and I sitting here jawing about something we’ve got no control over makes no damned sense at all.” “Katie really plays on a man’s mind, doesn’t she?” “Damn straight she does.” Aaron pulled his cowboy hat a little lower on his forehead. “Woman’s got my brain tied up in knots.” **** Katie turned the key, locking up the Mountain View Saloon for the evening. The previous evening’s storm had caused one herd of the Circle-Square-Circle stock to stampede, trampling down two entire sections of barbed-wire fence. The repair work had taken so much time that they hadn’t come to the saloon for any of their meals. I go a single day without seeing the McGowans, and I feel like I’ve been abandoned. She smiled at the thought. They want me. I want them. What could be more natural than that? A low rumble of thunder rolled across the hillside. It had rained

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intermittently during the day, occasionally escalating into a downpour. Katie had served only half the number of customers she usually did, and though she’d miss the income, she hadn’t missed having an easy day at the saloon. The slow business had given her time during the day to reflect on the unusual turns her life had taken lately. There’s nothing wrong with love, but I’ll have to keep my love for the McGowans hidden just the same. She sighed at the thought. I could never explain my life or love to anyone else. They’d never understand. I don’t understand it myself. As she got in her car and started the engine, a sharp crack of thunder made her flinch. It was going to be another night of violent thunderstorms and dangerous winds. Katie was new to Elk’s Crossing, but she could feel in her bones the impending tumult. She stepped on the accelerator, deciding it would be best to hotfoot it to the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch, wanting to get there before the weather turned worse. Katie was driving faster than she normally would have and was just banking into a sharp left-hand curve when she felt the front left wheel of her car fall off. She tried for the brake, but an instant later she was sailing off the highway and through the air, careening downward at sixty miles an hour. And then there was nothing but blackness. **** “She’s not coming,” Garrett said dismally. “I thought for sure she’d come.” Aaron closed the paperback western he’d been reading and set the book aside. “You’ve known from the very beginning that the decision is always in her hands. She didn’t come tonight. Maybe she’ll come tomorrow night.” “Maybe we should go look for her.”

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Aaron shook his head. “Katie’s made a decision, and we’ve got to respect that even if we don’t like it. If we show up at her house, it’ll look like we’re stalking her. We’ve got to be patient, that’s all.” Garrett nodded in agreement, muttering, “Even if it kills us.” **** Aaron was at the wheel of his pickup truck, and though he wouldn’t admit it to any of his brothers, he was anticipating seeing Katie more than he had thought possible. The weather had finally abated, the storms of the past days and nights having surrendered to the famous, wide-open Dakota skies. “I wonder what the blue-plate special is today,” Blair said conversationally, looking out the side window. “A whole day without Katie’s cooking and I feel like I haven’t eaten in a week,” Aaron replied, banking into a tight right-hand curve. He saw it then and knew it was something, but what exactly that something was, he couldn’t say. Without really being conscious of what he was doing, he put his foot on the brake. “What’s up?” Blair asked. “I don’t know.” Aaron braked harder, slowing the pickup rapidly. From the truck behind him, he heard Flynn yell out, “What the hell are you doing?” A sick, hollow feeling came to life in the pit of Aaron’s stomach. He still didn’t know what had drawn his attention, but a cold dread had suddenly gripped his soul. He whipped the pickup into a tiresquealing U-turn and tromped down hard on the accelerator. The big V-8 engine roared. “Down there,” Aaron said, pointing off the road to an area where there were white-bark pine trees with freshly broken branches. “Someone’s gone off the road and crashed there.” “It can’t be Katie,” Blair said sharply. “It just can’t be.” Aaron was out of the pickup and hurtling down the ditch and

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through the trees in an instant, oblivious to the branches that slapped his face and impeded his progress. Then he saw the rear of a car that had broken the branches and knew that his worst fears had come true. It was Katie’s car. But was she in it? “Don’t move her,” Blair said, in hot pursuit of his brother. “If she’s hurt bad, the best thing to do is call the paramedics.” Even before he got to the driver’s-side door, Aaron pictured what had happened in his mind’s eye. Katie would have been driving to see them at the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch, and probably had a tire blowout as she was making the turn. With no side rails to stop her, she sailed off the highway and down the hillside into the trees. Though the trees must have slowed her downward plunge, they also hid her car and the fact of the accident from all the traffic that had driven by since then. She was slumped over the steering wheel, her face turned toward Aaron, her cheek on the white airbag that had deployed. The entire front of the car had collapsed inward, with the engine compartment shoved nearly into the passenger compartment. The car had buckled so completely that the drive train had bent, and the doors couldn’t be opened. “Break the passenger-side window. Garrett, you’re the smallest of us, so you crawl in and see if you can find a pulse.” When the passenger-side window broke, Katie’s lashes fluttered momentarily before she opened her eyes. With a groan, Katie pushed herself away from the steering wheel, leaning back until her head was against the headrest. But with the car angling nose-down so sharply, gravity was against her, and she soon crossed her arms over the wheel and put her head on them. “Can you hear me?” Aaron asked, his heart swelling with relief. “Do you think anything’s broken?” “My seatbelt’s jammed or something.” She gave Aaron a faltering smile. “The damned thing won’t let me go. I’ve been in here all night.”

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Garrett’s jackknife made quick work of the seatbelt, and soon the four McGowan brothers helped Katie crawl out through the passenger-side window. In defiance of her protests, they took her back to the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch, eased off her clothes, and put her in the comfortable bed. “You’re staying in bed and resting,” Aaron said, the tone of his voice suggesting he was willing to tie her to the bed to keep her there. “Are you sure you don’t want to see a doctor?” “Absolutely positive. The airbag saved me, and the worst injury I’ve got is a bruised knee and a sprained thumb from the steering wheel.” She gave the men a soft, grateful smile. “Thank you for coming to my rescue. I was afraid I’d stay buried in those trees forever.” “If there’s anything you need,” Garrett said, shifting his weight nervously from boot to boot, “all you have to do is ask. There isn’t anything you can ask for that you can’t have.” “I’ll be fine. I’m just tired. As you can guess, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” **** “It wasn’t a blowout, and her tire didn’t just magically fall off because of bad luck,” Aaron said, his voice taut with suppressed fury. “Look here.” He pointed to the wheel bolts that hold the rim in place. “Only one of the bolts is stripped. The threads on the other three are in perfect condition.” “That means somebody removed three of the four lug nuts holding the tire in place.” Blair’s hands balled into menacing fists. “This isn’t prairie land that’s nice and flat. This is mountain country. A tire can take a lot of lateral strain up here. Whoever did that was trying to kill her and make it look like an accident.” Aaron nodded and tilted his Stetson back on his head. “Someone wants her dead. From now on, she stays at the ranch, and we always

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leave one of us on duty guarding her. Agreed?” “Agreed.” “What kind of psycho would want to kill someone as sweet and gentle as Katie?” Aaron asked. “I don’t know, but I’m not going to rest until I find out who it is and make sure that he’s stopped permanently. Agreed?” Aaron replied, “Agreed.” **** Sheriff Dixon looked at the wheel, his lips pursed into a thin, unpleasant line. “The threads on three of the bolts show the normal wear and tear of an old car, but it’s clear that the lug nuts were removed with a wrench. The third bolt is stripped, which means it had a nut on it when the pressure of going through a curve in the highway proved to be too great.” Aaron tugged his Stetson a little lower on his brow and battled with himself to keep his furious rage under control. “Someone tampered with Katie’s wheel.” “Whoever did it,” the sheriff said, seemingly thinking aloud, “removed the hubcap, removed three of the four lugs, and then put the hubcap back on to hide what he’d done. It might have taken a day or perhaps even a couple days, but with the roads we’ve got up here in Elk’s Crossing, it was just a matter of time before the wheel, without any forewarning, came off.” He cursed under his breath. “Damn it, Aaron, I’m just a lawman, not a lawyer, but as near as I can tell, that turns this from a traffic accident to an attempted murder.” “That sort of stuff just doesn’t happen here, does it?” The sheriff shook his head. “I’ve been sheriff in this county for more than twenty years, and there’s never been a single murder. Old Man Hutchinson accidentally shot himself deer hunting about a dozen years back. That’s about the closest thing to murder we’ve had, and the only reason why that happened was because Hutchinson couldn’t

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stop pulling on a whiskey bottle even when he hunted.” Aaron cleared his throat and looked away, desperately wanting a target on which he could pin his rage. “What are you going to do now?” “Not much I can do. Not a lot of evidence to say the least. I’ll file a report and send it in then keep my eyes open wide.” His gaze met Aaron’s. “Is it okay if the lady stays at your ranch, at least for a couple days? I’d feel better knowing she was under your protection. I’m the sheriff, and seeing she’s safe in my responsibility, but I can only be in one place at a time.” “She’ll be safe at the Circle-Square-Circle. When you go about town talking to people, let them know that…” His words died away. “Don’t worry. Nobody will think anything but the best about you and your brothers.” He patted Aaron on the shoulder. “Damned decent of you to take her in and all. And don’t you worry, I’ll find out who is behind this and see to it he goes before a judge.” Forget the judge, and don’t even think about some fancy lawyer getting him off. Whoever tried to hurt Katie is going to answer to me and my brothers. That’s all the law he deserves, and that’s all he’ll get. **** Katie heard the sound of cowboy boots against the hardwood floor, and a smile touched her lips. The rest of her men had come back home. Only Flynn had stayed at the ranch, and though he’d checked in on her often as she rested in bed, he mostly kept silent. Aaron declared that what Katie needed the most was time, peace, and quiet, and all the brothers were determined to see that she got those things in spades. Flynn put his head into the room, looked straight into Katie’s eyes, and smiled when he saw that she was awake. “The boys are back.”

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A moment later, the McGowan men, led by Aaron, marched into the bedroom carrying every article of clothing and possession she owned. “Now wait a minute,” Katie said quickly, sitting a little more upright in bed. She pulled the sheet up to hide her nudity. “I didn’t say I was moving in. I never agreed to that.” The men smiled indulgently and began hanging up her clothes in the closet. “Don’t get angry,” Aaron said. “At least hear us out before you start making hasty decisions.” But she didn’t need time to think this through. Aaron and his brothers had made an absolutely critical decision about her life, and they’d done it without consulting her. She’d already suffered mightily at the hands of a man who wanted to run her life, so she’d be damned before she’d make that sort of mistake again. “Against my better judgment,” Katie said slowly, “I’ll give you three minutes to say precisely why I shouldn’t be mad as hell with your presumptuousness.” While the youngest McGowans busied themselves with putting her clothes in the closet and bureau, and Blair put away her toiletries in the bathroom, Aaron sat on the edge of her bed and explained in detail what had happened to her car, how it had happened, and why it had happened. The only piece of the accident puzzle he didn’t have, it seemed, was the identity of the perpetrator. At the very end, he told of the sheriff requesting that the McGowans take her under their wing, just temporarily, for her protection. “Someone intentionally sabotaged your car, knowing that sooner or later the wheel, under stress, would come right off.” He took her hand in his and gave it a firm squeeze. “Until we find out who did this to you, we’ve got to assume that you’re still in danger. Being here with us will keep you safe. If, after the danger has passed, you want to leave, the four of us will help you move right on out. But as long as there’s a threat out there, wouldn’t it be best to stay with us where we

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can keep an eye on you?” Katie wanted to say that she could take care of herself, but she knew it would sound particularly silly to four big, powerfully built, endlessly capable men. She also knew something that they didn’t—the identity of the man who had tampered with her car. It was David. Katie was certain of it. But what would happen to David if she told Aaron and his brothers? Their reaction would be all too predictable. They’d go on a hunt, just like they did for elk and mule deer, and they wouldn’t stop until they had David in their sights. And then what? She shivered at the thought. “She’s cold,” Aaron said sharply. “Can someone bring me one of her nightgowns?” Garrett took her nightgown from the hook in the closet. He handed it to Aaron. A sudden sexual tension had enveloped the room. “Okay, you’re right,” Katie said quietly. “It’s best if I stay here, at least for now.” She shifted her weight on the mattress and winced when she felt the pain in her knee. “This knee has stiffened up some.” “Let’s get the nightgown on you, and maybe later on you can take a little walk around the house.” Knowing full well that she was about to give the men a show, Katie sat upright in bed and let the sheet fall, exposing the mounds of her breasts. She heard the sharp, sudden intake of breath, and she struggled to keep from smiling. She loved knowing that the McGowans found the sight of her naked breasts both shocking and exciting. “Easy with the bum hand,” Aaron said, his tone holding a hint of sexual tension in it. He eased the nightgown over her upraised arms then down past her head. “There you go.” Katie smoothed the nightgown down her arms and adjusted her breasts in the flannel bodice. It went a long way from being the sexiest nightgown she had, but that didn’t seem to disappoint the McGowan men who surrounded her bed, looking down at her.

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“Go back to sleep now,” Aaron said, getting to his feet. “We’ve got things to do. Flynn will keep an eye on you. If there’s anything you need, just let him know. And don’t try putting any weight on that bad knee unless one of us has a hold of you.” “Yes, Nurse McGowan,” Katie replied, receiving a smile in return.

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Chapter Eight At the northern edge of town, the sign read, “Now Entering Elk’s Crossing City Limits. Please Drive Carefully.” Less than fifty feet from the sign was a gas station. A tow truck was parked along the south side of the building, where two cars were waiting to get repaired. A third car, Katie’s, was also there. All it took was a glance to know that the vehicle was totaled. Please, oh please, tell me that cunt got killed in the crash! David circled the block, giving himself time to think. He couldn’t just walk up to whoever owned the gas station and start asking questions about what had happened. He was an outsider, a stranger in town, and folks in Elk’s Crossing had already shown themselves to be pretty damned nosy. Still, they were a stupid lot, David believed, so he had little doubt that he could get the information he wanted without drawing suspicion. He pulled his car into the station and parked it near the gas pumps. David stretched a little, as though he’d been driving for a very long time. Inside the ancient brick building, behind a counter and near a cash register, he saw a man in his early forties who sat studying him casually. Just another stupid prick working and living in this shit hole called Elk’s Crossing. God, how can anyone live in a place like this? “Hi there,” David said, stepping into the building’s interior, his tone friendly. “How are you doing today?” The man, wearing bib overalls, shrugged his shoulders and replied after a full five seconds had passed. “Fine, I suppose.” “You do repairs here?”

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“Yep.” “Yourself?” Again, a response took a full, empty five seconds. Then he said, “Some. My boy does some, too. Got something wrong with your car?” “The brakes seem to be pulling a little. Thought you might look at them.” Unable to hide the disgust he felt for the man, David turned away and looked out the window at Katie’s wreck. “What happened there? Must have been some smashup.” “Woman driving down the road and her wheel fell off. Lucky she wasn’t killed.” “Pretty badly injured, was she?” “My boys and me pulled the wreck out and brung it here. She’s got herself some real lucky stars. Sailed right off the highway and hit some trees. It was the trees that slowed her down some. Hell, the way I hear tell, if her seatbelt hadn’t locked up on her, she could have walked away.” David tried to swallow, but his mouth was suddenly too dry. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and fought against the nausea that was welling up inside him. In as disinterested a voice as he could manage, he asked, “So she didn’t get all fucked up, then?” “Bunged up her knee some, I guess. And bent her thumb back on the steering wheel when she crashed, but I guess she just sprung it. Like I said, she’s got herself some real lucky stars.” That cunt! That lousy, stinking, goddamned cunt! She didn’t get hurt just to spite me! Cunt! Bitch! Whore! I’m not fucking around anymore. Next time, I’m going to take matters into my own hands. I’ll shoot that bitch right in the face. I’ll look her straight in the eyes and let her know why she’s got to die, and when she pisses her panties in fear, I’m going to laugh and squeeze the fucking trigger. That’s what I’m going to do, and she deserves it. David felt almost sick to his stomach. The old man was still

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talking to him, saying something about lucky stars, good fortune, and the power of The Almighty, but David couldn’t listen. Not when his headache was pounding so furiously and not when his stomach felt like someone had just slammed a huge fist into him. It was time to take action against Katie that was direct and forceful. Removing the lug nuts from Katie’s wheel had the potential to be fatal. Just potential. Now it was time for direct, lethal action against the treacherous, traitorous bitch that had ruined his life. David got into his battered Toyota, put the transmission in gear, and headed for the Mountain View Saloon. A handwritten sign was taped inside the window of the front door. It read simply, “Temporarily closed due to accident. Come back soon!” David turned away from the door, took a single step toward his car, and then stopped. He bent over at the waist and vomited. She’s going to pay for this. She’s going to pay for everything she’s done to me. All I need is a gun. **** Katie awoke slowly and peacefully. She blinked her eyes several times to clear her vision. She was alone in bed. Her bed, she mused, sliding her palm over the cotton sheet. The lovely, commodious bed that had been reserved for her at the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch...and whoever she invited to join her on it. The soft murmur of deep male voices drifted to her ears. The men were in the great room. Katie could hear the TV playing and snippets of conversations. The McGowans were clearly keeping their voices very low so as to not disturb her. They’re always so thoughtful and so considerate of me. She smiled and closed her eyes. Except when they want me. Then they just take. They take me however they want me, and that’s just the way I love it.

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The horror of her automobile accident, and then being trapped by the seatbelt that wouldn’t release, was only a distant memory now. There had been the brief but horrific sense of helplessness when the tire came off. Then the marrow-deep terror that gripped her when she realized that her car was speeding off the highway and about to plunge down the hillside, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. All of that seemed quite far behind her now. Laughter from the other room brought a smile to her lips. Almost immediately, she heard Aaron shushing the brothers who had made the noise. I feel safe when I know my men are nearby. Katie eased the blanket aside then gingerly pivoted on the mattress until her legs dangled over the edge. Beneath her simple cotton nightgown, her injured knee was wrapped with an elasticized bandage, as was her left thumb and wrist. Slowly and cautiously, Katie eased off the bed, carefully testing her knee to see if it could carry her weight. She felt a sharp stab of pain when she put weight on the injured leg, but the pain was very fleeting. She discovered that any discomfort was predicated on whether her knee was bent or locked straight when she put weight on it. She walked to the bathroom, limping only a little, with each step being slightly less uncomfortable than the one before it. Once inside the bathroom, she closed the door and stripped out of her nightgown. Then she unwrapped the bandage from around her wrist and thumb, neatly rolled the bandage back up, and returned it to the mirrored medicine cabinet. As the men enjoyed themselves in the great room, oblivious to Katie having gotten out of bed, she quickly and artfully did her makeup then brushed her blonde hair back from her forehead and around her jawline at the sides in the fashion that was most flattering. Naked, she looked down at her bandaged knee, not liking the way the bandage looked. She started to remove the bandage, but when she

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shifted her weight to the leg, felt another lightning bolt of pain go through her, and then secured the bandage once again. The bandage, at least for now, would have to stay. Naked, she returned to her bedroom and the polished walnut bureau in the corner. She opened the top drawer to reveal her sleeping apparel. Several nightgowns were clearly utilitarian in purpose and function. They would be comfortable to sleep in. Other sleepwear had been created with the intention of being seen by someone other than just the wearer. Katie deliberated a moment, reaching into the drawer to feel the various silks and satins that made up her lingerie collection. After a moment, with a smile on her face, she extracted a robin’s-egg-blue baby-doll nightie with a matching pair of tap pants. The confection was made of silk with white lace trimmings, and put her barelycontained breasts on display while concealing her stomach. The tap pants were comfortable and, more importantly, easy to get around or remove. She was just about to close the bureau drawer when she noticed, partially hidden by her sleepwear, a small, white plastic bottle. Removing the bottle, she read the label and smiled. It was her intimate lubricant. She reached around her hip and applied it liberally, and the contact of her fingertips seemed particularly exciting, awakening nerve endings to the possibility of intense pleasure. She put on the baby-doll nightie and lace-trimmed tap pants then limped back to the bathroom to inspect herself in the mirror. If I can’t get their attention with this on, then I’ve completely lost my magic. She studied her bosom in the mirror and adjusted herself a bit in the sheer bodice, making sure that her areolas did not show in the deep V-neck. I’ll get their attention, and I’ll keep it. The only question is whether they’ll take off my lingerie or rip it off. ****

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While his brothers played one-against-one on some video game that included the main street of an Old West town and the OK Corral, Aaron reclined in his favorite easy chair with an enormous hardbound history of World War II in his lap. His thoughts, though, kept drifting endlessly to Katie’s accident and not at all on the tragic war that had caused the deaths of so many people. Aaron now had an enemy, someone who had tried to kill the woman he loved but had succeeded only in injuring her. But the villain had come close enough to his goal to make Aaron cringe in fear at the thought of losing Katie. His right hand balled into a fist briefly. The slow-burning rage that had been ignited once he’d learned that Katie’s accident was no accident couldn’t be tamped down or ignored. Movement caught his attention, and he looked away from his own clenched fist. Standing at the doorway to the great room was Katie, wearing blue lingerie that put her most ostentatious charms on flattering display. She was smiling coyly, her arms folded beneath her breasts as though to lift them with her forearms to subtly draw emphasis to them. If that was her intention, she had succeeded magnificently. Aaron’s first instinct was to tell her she shouldn’t have gotten out of bed. His second instinct was to rush across the room, take her into his arms, kiss her until she was breathless, and then throw her to the hardwood floor and ravish that voluptuous body of hers. But rather than acting on his impulses, he moistened his suddenly dry lips with the tip of his tongue then said, “My God, you are without a doubt the most beautiful woman in the world.” Katie’s laugh was throaty and sensual. “You and I both know that’s not the truth, but don’t let that stop you from saying it.” All attention in the great room was now focused exclusively on Katie. Aaron let his gaze go slowly over her, appreciating the fact that she had removed her cotton nightgown in favor of lingerie that would please him and his brothers. He noticed that she had removed the

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bandage around her wrist. It was a vivid reminder that she had an enemy who was both vicious and cowardly. “Are you sure you should be out of bed?” Aaron asked. Seeing the bandage had instantaneously put a damper on his lust. Katie’s shimmering lips curled upward at the corners flirtatiously, and she shook her head. “No, I don’t think I should be out of bed. I think I should return to bed immediately, and that I should be taken there by you.” She looked at Blair. “And you.” Then to Garrett and Flynn. “And you two, of course.” In a voice that was the epitome of innocence, she said, “As you can see, my knee still isn’t one hundred percent perfect. Would any of you gentlemen mind helping me to my bed and then following me into it?” “Wait!” Aaron’s voice cut through the silence like a gunshot. He was conscious of all eyes turning toward him, though he looked only into Katie’s cool, blue gaze. He waited, aware that there wasn’t a person in the room who was breathing normally. Finally, when the tension became nearly unbearable, he said, “It was said that George Washington was the first among equals. In our unusual romance arrangement, at least for tonight, let’s all consider me first among equals.” He let his gaze go up and down over Katie’s voluptuous and deliciously exposed physique. “And as such, I insist upon the right to carry you to bed and ravish you as I so desire. I then intend to sit back, sated and happy, as my brothers pleasure you to the fullest extent of their abilities.” He smiled. “Does that suit you, my darling?” He watched a tremor go through her. Katie’s breasts wiggled tautly inside the sheer bodice of her silk lingerie. In a voice so soft it was barely audible, she replied, “More than you’ll ever know.” **** When Aaron stepped up to her, Katie reached up to twine her arms around his neck. He bent, slanting his mouth down over hers in a commanding kiss. Katie felt her nipples instantly harden, tightening in

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response to Aaron’s searing kiss, becoming more sensitive to the touch. His hands went down to cup the globes of her ass, squeezing the mounds firmly through her tap pants. Fresh cream moistened Katie’s tingling pussy. When Aaron pulled upward, Katie gave a little hop and then wrapped her legs around his waist. The fabric of his jeans against her naked skin seemed to heighten her sensual awareness of their differences. As she parted her lips to accept his tongue into her mouth, she felt Aaron begin walking, carrying her back to her bedroom. A thousand different sensations tantalized Katie’s senses as slowly, step-by-step, she was carried back to the bed that had yet to see the full realization of its purpose. She heard the shuffling sounds of stocking-clad feet against the hardwood floor as the McGowan brothers followed Aaron. She heard the soft, feminine sound of her own moans as she swirled her tongue against Aaron’s. Faintly, she heard the sounds of belt buckles being opened and brass zippers being tugged down. I’m surrounded by McGowan men. They want me. They all want me…and they’re going to have me. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know when they had entered her bedroom. The hands at her bottom squeezed and fondled even as they supported her weight. Though by no means a petite woman, Katie felt small and almost delicate in Aaron’s arms. The motion of his steps caused her breasts to rub against his thickly muscled chest, and the tingles that emanated from her erect nipples seemed to shoot straight down into her clit, which throbbed with an aching need for attention. He put a knee on the edge of the mattress then leaned far forward to place Katie in the middle of the bed. Never once, during the entire time he’d carried her from the great room, had Aaron stopped kissing her. Katie kept her arms around Aaron’s neck. She loved the

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awareness that whatever had to be done would be done, and that all she had to do was get in tune with her own sensations. Her body was singing and her senses soaring. She felt lusted after, to be sure, but she also felt adored. Her men had worried about her and cared for her when she had been injured, and now that she was better, she sensed their relief as well as their desire. The weight of Aaron crushed her to the mattress. Katie spread her thighs a little wider apart, making more room for an intimate contact of pelvis-to-pelvis with the man she adored. She thrust her tongue past his, this time exploring his mouth and tasting him, taking the bolder role in the kiss. Aaron released the hold he had on her bottom, put his palms flat on the mattress near her shoulders, and lifted his upper body off hers. “You’re sure?” he asked, his leonine eyes glittering with a combination of desire and concern. “I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you.” Katie shook her head as waves of desire and gratitude swept over her. “Take me, my darling.” While looking into his eyes, she quickly tugged the baby-doll’s bodice beneath her breasts to expose them to the lusty collective gaze of her men. “I won’t break. Take me. Make me yours.” The wanton laughter that Katie heard, as Aaron all but tore open his jeans to expose his rampantly aroused cock, was shocking to her only to the extent that she had made the sound herself. An instant later, Aaron grabbed her ankles, put them together, and raised them high. Her silk tap pants were jerked over her hips and down her legs in an instant. And then he was on her, his weight pressing her into the mattress, his checkered cotton shirt still buttoned nearly to his throat. His chest compressed her breasts and tickled her erect nipples. His jeans were lowered only to the middle of his thighs, and his feverish kiss stole her breath away. It was not a gentle invasion, but Katie had already become so

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aroused by Aaron’s kisses and caresses, and the ambience of the moment, that her passionate juices had prepared her for penetration. Still, when the long, thick length of Aaron’s erection spread the delicate lips of her pussy, she gasped into his mouth and clung more tightly to his neck. A quick retreat was followed by an instantaneous second invasion, and this time Aaron plunged full-length into Katie. When his pelvis slapped against Katie’s, her legs straightened, angling sharply to form a valley for Aaron’s hips, and her toes pointed toward the ceiling. She was stunned with the ecstatic reality that a climax of magnificent intensity was rushing toward her at shocking speed. Turning her face aside to end the commanding kiss, Katie squeezed her arms more tightly around her lover’s neck and whispered, “I’m not fragile, my darling. Love me.” She flicked her tongue into his ear. “Or, you could fuck me.” At that point she was powerless to stop what was happening, and that was precisely the way she wanted it to be—powerless and desired, with an almost manic intensity. Aaron put his left forearm beneath her head and slipped his right hand between their bodies to squeeze her breast, his fingers burying deeply into the tingling, pliant flesh, his need for Katie feral and intense. Then his hips began churning, pumping, and filling her hungry body with his cock again and again, the machine-like thrusts driven by a desire for Katie that she delighted in, though could hardly comprehend. When he slanted his mouth down over hers, it was a fierce kiss that nearly bruised her lips. Katie welcomed the intensity, taking delight in Aaron’s focused ferocity. She was the woman he wanted, the one he couldn’t seem to get enough of. Katie had felt lusted after before, but with Aaron and his brothers, it was more than raw, animal lust, and more than love. It was— Oh, God! I...I’m going to... She was swirling her tongue with Aaron’s, and he was pummeling her voluptuous body into the mattress when the climax hit her, taking

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control of all her senses. The orgasmic contractions were powerful, pulsing through Katie in waves of libidinous sensation. Unconsciously, she squeezed her arms tightly around Aaron with boaconstrictor strength, and her legs straightened, her toes pointing toward the ceiling. A high-pitched, keening sound came from her throat as she shivered through her orgasm. Moments after the last contraction relaxed, Aaron let out a rumbling groan, and Katie knew that he was releasing a torrent of cum inside her. Turning her face aside, Katie found herself looking at Garrett, who was kneeling on the bed near her hip. He was naked, and his erection was fully formed and filling his hand. While Aaron’s lips were warm and moist against the side of her neck, caressing gently between big gulps of air, his powerful chest sweaty and heaving from the aftereffects of his exertions, Katie stroked his hair, looked into Garrett’s eyes, and said, “I think you’re in for a special treat later.” Aaron pushed himself up until he was sitting on his haunches. With a groan, he slid toward the footboard of the bed, disengaging himself physically but not emotionally from Katie. Blair was on his back beside Katie, looking sideways at her. The cock that filled his hand was so swollen it looked painful. Katie resisted the urge to slide down on the bed to taste his eager flesh, choosing instead to roll over on the mattress and then straddle his lean torso with her knees. “First your brother, and now you,” she whispered, holding the shaft of his cock between her fingers to put his erection at just exactly the right angle. “How lucky can a girl get?” She lowered her rounded hips, and the plump crown of Blair’s cock spread the passion-puffed lips of her cunt. “Oh, yesss!” she sighed, throwing her head back on her shoulders in ecstasy as she lowered herself, loving the sensation of taking her lover’s cock into her body inch by glorious inch.

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Moments later, Garrett and Flynn were standing on the bed, very close to Katie and on each side of their prone brother. Katie wrapped her hands around their cocks, purring softly, watching her hands moving over the young, unyielding flesh. “So much,” she whispered, her lashes barely open. She licked her lips to moisten them as she bounced on Blair and stroked his brothers. A glistening pearl of fluid formed at the slit in the ruddy-hued crown of Garrett’s cock. She leaned to the side, licked off the sharp-tasting nectar, and added, “And all for me.” Though she still had very little experience in ménage sensuality, and so was occasionally plagued by stabs of insecurity, what was entirely satisfying to Katie was the awareness that she was being watched while she behaved scandalously. For so many years of her life, Katie had been, to one painful degree or another, self-conscious about her looks and about her weight. That was why she continued to wear the baby-doll nightie, though she’d adjusted the bodice beneath the bouncing mounds of her breasts. With the McGowans, with her men, she loved the way they touched her with their collective gaze. When she caught them looking at her breasts, she saw adoration and lust, and she welcomed both emotions. Turning her face toward the opposite shoulder, Katie pushed her lips slowly over the head of Flynn’s cock, using a swirling motion with her tongue against the underside. A shiver went through him, and Katie’s self-confidence ratcheted up a notch or two. “That’s so sexy.” It was Aaron’s deep tenor that had cut through the silence. He was on his feet, standing at the edge of the bed. “Watching you give my brother pleasure like that...” His words trailed away, and he uttered a slow, rumbling moan of desire. “Damn it, Katie, if you keep sucking cock like that, you’re going to get me hard all over again.” The words were a narcotic to Katie, a balm to whatever nastiness had befallen her in the past. If Aaron wanted her again that night, if his desire for her was such that she felt passionately needed, then

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she’d satisfy him in any manner he wanted. Never in Katie’s life had she ever felt so beautiful, so passionate, so adored, and so needed. These men had made it clear to her that it was she and she alone who inspired their feverish, even animalistic needs. She released Flynn from her oral embrace then looked at Garrett. “I want you.” A sudden stab of fear tightened her throat and made it impossible for her to speak for a moment. “And I want you,” Garrett replied, smoothing blonde hair behind her ear. He leaned forward, and she kissed the slick tip of his erection. Katie shook her head as though to shrug off fearful thoughts. She looked straight into the young cowboy’s eyes. “From behind. I want you from behind.” Then she looked over at Flynn and then down at Blair, and said in a hushed voice, “All three of you inside me...at the same time.” **** The pressure in Garrett’s balls was so intense that he wasn’t at all certain how long he could take his pleasure from Katie’s voluptuous body before he released his semen. She was just too sexy for him to be casual, and her request had triggered in him a response that was like being hooked up to a high-voltage charge of electricity. He was standing on the bed directly behind Katie as she bounced on Blair. Her head was turned to the side so that she could take Flynn’s cock back and forth between her lips as she bounced. Not so much as a single twinge of jealousy went through Garrett as he watched the woman he loved doing everything she could to satisfy the rampant desires of his brothers. “Okay, Katie, now you’re going to get what you’ve asked for.” Garrett heard the false bravado in his own voice. He was nervous about what was about to happen, and he suspected Katie was also. He put a hand to her shoulder, thumbed the spaghetti strap of her baby-

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doll for a moment, and then with a firmness that would not allow denial, pushed her until her breasts were pressed against Blair’s chest. He waited until Flynn got down on his knees beside Blair’s shoulder so that Katie could resume sucking him. Only then did Garrett get into proper position for the triple-penetration of the woman who had captured the hearts of the McGowan men. The sweeping curve of her naked hips and the pale and taut cheeks of her ass made his erection throb. Garrett put his hand on her hip, and with his other hand, guided the head of his cock to her taboo entrance. “I’ve wanted your ass more than you can imagine,” he said through a groan, applying pressure. She resisted at first. Garrett could see her tense up. But he would not be denied, and with a short, sharp thrust of his hips, he forced her cheeks apart and slipped inside her tight, forbidden passage. She made a short, sharp sound deep in her throat. The sound was of pain and shock, though she kept Flynn’s hard flesh deep in her mouth the entire time. When Garrett retreated, the bulbous crown slipping out of her bottom, a sigh of relief instantly followed. Garrett thrust a second time, more forcefully than the first. This time, nearly half of his length slipped between Katie’s quivering buns. “Tight,” he growled, withdrawing partially before plunging forward once again. “Her sweet ass is so tight.” **** Garrett couldn’t know that his words were precisely what Katie needed to hear, but they were. How many times, as a child and then later on, had the words “fat ass” been tossed her way? Even though the rational side of her brain knew that the words really didn’t apply in any honest way, that didn’t keep them from putting a scar on her soul, or at least a bruise. Though pulsing waves of pain continued surging through her body

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from her bottom, Katie pushed herself backward, impaling herself on Garrett’s relentlessly thrusting cock. When his torso slapped against her buns, she saucily gave her hips a shake, as though to let him know she had taken everything he could give her, and she wanted more. I’ve got three cocks in me at the same time. What kind of woman would do such a thing? She immediately answered herself. Only a woman desperately in love. Katie mentally chased away any doubts regarding her behavior as she rocked back and forth. It didn’t take long for her to learn how to position herself so that Blair could move beneath her, Garrett could move behind her, and Flynn—who had a determined grip on her hair, just in case—could fill her mouth at whatever tempo gave him the most pleasure. The psychological effects of having three cocks pistoning deeply in and out of her body, filling her pussy, ass, and mouth all at the same time, was as arousing to Katie as the nerve endings that were being stimulated. The sounds were particularly tantalizing to Katie. There was Flynn, on the bed near Blair’s shoulder, who now had both hands combed into her hair and was holding her quite steady as his lean torso churned, his cock sliding back and forth between her lips. As he fucked her mouth, his low, hoarse groans of pleasure were steadily growing louder. Katie had little doubt that it wouldn’t be long before the young man unloaded a torrent of cum against her tongue. And beneath her, Blair had both hands on her breasts, squeezing them tightly, perhaps a bit too tightly, now that his lust had gone from red-hot to incandescent. His breath came in gulps as he muttered, “Oh, god! Oh, god!” with each upward thrust of his hips. He filled Katie’s pussy with the very essence of his desire for her. And behind her, with his hands on her shoulders and his slender hips pumping ever faster, was Garrett, his cock forcing the cheeks of her ass to spread wide apart. The hard, masculine flesh filling her body, pumping and driving

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and arousing more nerve endings at one time than Katie had ever thought possible, was everything that she had hoped it would be. Even the short-lived lightning bolt of pain she’d experienced when Garrett had first forced her delicate tissue to surrender to his desires had been precisely what Katie had wanted to feel. She came a second time and was racing headlong toward a third climax when her lovers had exhausted themselves, their orgasms occurring with groans and moans and, from Katie, some sputtering and choking before she was able control her instincts and swallow repeatedly. Later, alone in the shower, Katie slowly and leisurely soaped her body, taking measure of the burdens she had placed upon it. Her knee, injured in the car accident—it was no accident, she had to remind herself—was throbbing once again, having been strained during the astonishingly physical ménage a quatre with her McGowan lovers. And there was a slight bruise on the left side of her throat where a frantic Aaron had bitten her with a touch more force than he had intended. Her bottom was stinging, but that was to be expected. She hadn’t taken her pleasures Greek-fashion very often in her life, and Garrett was both endowed and energetic. Katie knew that she’d do it again that way—the triple penetration had been much too arousing for her to give banishing such activity any serious thought—but it might be a while before she let her lovers know she wanted them again that way. Her dark desires rather frightened her. While passing the bar of soap over her breasts, she felt warm tingles emanate outward, and she closed her eyes. Every one of the McGowans seemed thoroughly besotted with her breasts. They like their woman fleshy, thank God. Every time I even mention going on a diet, they all start complaining. She smiled as her thoughts shifted focus. Maybe I should invent my own diet. I’ll call it the McGowan Diet Plan. She smiled. The McGowan Diet Plan involves lots of meat and protein, combined with an exhausting physical regimen. Provided I don’t die of happiness or they don’t fuck

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me completely to death, the McGowan Diet Plan is perfect. She rinsed the soap from her body and limped slightly as she crossed the bathroom to get a towel. Yes, her life was perfect. Except for the fact that someone had tried to kill her and had very nearly succeeded, and unless she was very much mistaken, the person who had tried and failed would keep trying until he succeeded.

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Chapter Nine Just seeing Katie’s car, with its smashed windows and bent metal, made a cold dread go through Aaron’s veins. His hands unconsciously tightened into threatening fists. With effort, he tamped down his desire for immediate revenge. He walked around the car slowly. “Hey there, Aaron, whatcha doing?” It was the gas station owner. Aaron knew he liked to talk, but he himself wasn’t in any mood to be even remotely friendly. “I’ve just stopped by to pick up some of Katie’s things from the trunk of her car,” he explained. “It’ll only take me a second, and then I’ll be gone.” “That other fella took more than a second,” the old man said, hooking his thumbs into the shoulder straps of his bib overalls. “He had all sorts of questions about that gal and what happened to her.” It was as though a hand was slowly tightening around Aaron’s throat. He turned to face the old man and asked, in as casual a tone as he could manage, “What kinds of questions? What did he look like?” “Wanted to know if she got hurt. Had an odd look on his face when he found out she gots herself a bushel basket full of luck.” He scratched his beard-stubbled chin contemplatively. “An outsider, he was. Didn’t have real fancy clothes on, but he had one of those fancy ways about him that some city folks have. Not a big guy like you, though. Just a little feller gettin’ kind of doughy ’round the middle.” “Did he say where he was staying?” “Nope.” “Did he say anything else that might help me?” “Nope. Twitchy fella, though. You’ll know him when you see

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him. Ain’t from around these parts.” **** David looked at the owner of Paulie’s Gun Shop and wanted very much to kill him. Paulie was just one more insufferable dumbfuck without the sense to know his betters. “There’s simply no way I can sell a pistol to you without the state doing a complete background check, sir,” Paulie said for the third time. “I’d lose my license if I did.” And there was no way that David was going to let this asshole, or anyone else, for that matter, do a background check on him. Would his stint in jail show up? He hadn’t actually been sent to prison, just the county lockup—but that was bad enough. David put his hands on his hips and forced himself to remain calm. The only way he would ever be able to collect on the debt that Katie owned him was if he remained calm, if he let his brilliant mind deal rationally and objectively with the inferiors that surrounded him. Turning slowly away from the counter, David looked around the store. The new rifles and shotguns were stored in racks near the front of the store. The used rifles and shotguns were in racks along the back of the store. All of the handguns were in glass cases near the cash register, and all of the cases were locked. David wondered if the glass was breakable, or if it was really some kind of plastic that was impervious to the blows of a hammer. “You’ve got enough guns here to supply an army,” David said, his tone disrespectful. “I try to stock up at this time of year. Once deer and elk season starts and then goose and duck season, I can’t keep enough guns on the shelves. And the ammunition just flies out of here.” “Maybe you’ll have something I might like after all,” David said, nonchalantly tucking his hands into his back pockets as he headed toward the rear of the store. His funds were running low, and if he

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was going to buy any kind of weapon at all, it would surely have to be used. “I’m in the mood to increase my weapon supply.” Actually, he didn’t have a supply of weapons. He didn’t own any guns at all, and he found it appalling that there were so many weapons in this store that were openly for sale to whoever could plunk down the money. He looked at several used rifles. All of them had gleaming, polished stocks and looked to be in immaculate condition. And they were all more expensive than David could afford. While it was true that delivering the punishment to Katie that she deserved was his main priority, it was also true that until he made her suffer, he had to sleep somewhere, he had to eat, and he had to put gasoline in his car. All of that took money. “Is there anything in particular you’re looking for?” the proprietor asked. “I might be able to steer you in the right direction.” So what would he admit to hunting? Elk? Deer? Or maybe he’d just be honest and admit that he was hunting the stupid bitch who had ruined his life? “Deer. Pretty big deer, so the shotgun’s got to have some punch to it.” “I see,” Paulie replied, cocking his head slightly as he looked at David. “You do much hunting?” David was about to brag about hunting in Africa and decided his lie would be an overreach. “I used to, but then I was married for a while. She didn’t like me hunting, but now that she and I have parted company, I’d like to get back to it.” Paulie smiled broadly, and David knew that he’d come up with the right lie to get the man on his side. “Ammunition these days is a lot more powerful than it used to be.” “Oh?” “A lot more deadly.” David felt a sudden surge of confidence. He didn’t know anything

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about guns, but with Paulie’s help, he’d know a lot more before he walked out of the gun shop. “What would you recommend, then?” Paulie pulled a weapon from the rack, pulled back the bolt to see for himself that it was unloaded, and then handed the rifle to David. “If it’s deer you’re after, this is all the weapon you need. It’s easy to use, and with the four-power scope, you can’t hardly miss.” David’s brow furrowed. “The barrel doesn’t seem to have a real big hole.” Paulie laughed softly. “You’re thinking of the old days when you had to have a bullet as big around as your wrist in order to drop a deer. Those days are long gone, my friend. This is what puts ’em down and keeps ’em there.” He winked conspiratorially. “And it’s a bargain at an even one hundred fifty bucks.” David had hoped to spend less than that, but the weapon seemed so perfect, and Paulie had given it such glowing praise, that he just had to have it. “It’s a deal,” he said. “Fine. You’ve made a fine choice. Now let me tighten down that scope, get you some ammunition, and you can be on your way.” A shiver went through David as he held the gun in his hands. This time he wasn’t going to set it up so that an “accident” happened. This time he was going to look at Katie through the four-power telescopic sight. He’d be looking right at her face when he squeezed the trigger. And once that happened, David would finally have settled a score, and justice at last would be served. **** Katie stood in the kitchen wearing jeans and a man’s strap-sleeved T-shirt that showed the curvature of her breasts, smiling softly, thinking that she wouldn’t mind considering this kitchen as her kitchen for the rest of her life.

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On the table were four segregated meals, each pile containing two large sandwiches wrapped in tinfoil, with similar-sized squares of tinfoil containing freshly baked caramel rolls. In the middle of the table was a large insulated plastic jug containing coffee that had finished brewing only minutes earlier. Katie inhaled deeply, savoring the fresh scents of caramel rolls and coffee. When she exhaled it was a long, slow sigh of sweet and utter contentment. It wasn’t just the fantastic sex, though if she wanted to be honest with herself, Katie would admit that sex was a prime source for much of her contentment. It was really nothing more than, well, everything. And everything had names. The names all ended in McGowan. Katie’s name never would end in McGowan. A woman simply didn’t marry four men. It just wasn’t done. Elk’s Crossing was a long, long way from San Francisco, and what might be accepted in the city by the bay wouldn’t fly in North Dakota. Bitterly, Katie reflected that in some places in the world, men were allowed to marry more than one woman. In fact, having multiple wives was commonplace. But a woman marrying four men? Unthinkable! Even in Katie’s hometown of San Francisco, one woman marrying four men would cause an absolute uproar. My love will have to remain a secret, that’s all. As long as I love the McGowans and they love me, I don’t care if I can’t go public with it. What difference does it make if other people don’t know? In a large wicker basket, Katie packed the lunches she’d prepared for her men then picked up the heavy container of coffee and stepped outside into the midday North Dakota sun. After the recent storms, the air seemed cleaner than it had been, the sun brighter and more welcoming. She put the food into the bed of a Ford pickup and was just about to get behind the steering wheel when a thought struck her. What if she showed up at the worksite wearing nothing but some sexy lingerie, like she had that first night she arrived at the Circle-Square-

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Circle Ranch when it had been raining so hard? The look of stunned surprise on all of their faces when she’d removed her raincoat had been nothing short of priceless. Stop thinking about sex all the time. That’s not the only reason they love you, after all. That morning, the only concession she had made to overt sexuality was that, for one of the extraordinarily few times in her adult life, she had consciously decided to go outside without wearing a bra. Garrett had teased her that she didn’t need to wear one all the time, especially around the ranch, and though she had pooh-poohed the idea when it was first presented to her, on that morning, she had decided to be a just little naughty, but not a lot. She’d found a strapsleeved T-shirt in Garrett’s bureau. The men were working the high-country pasture that was bisected by a slender, slow-moving mountain stream aptly named Meandering Creek. Though Aaron had written down very precise directions on how to drive to the pasture, she was glad that Garrett had punched the coordinates into the GPS unit. Up in the unpopulated Badlands, street signs were a luxury the taxpayers could afford to do without. The narrow, gravel road split into a Y, and Katie brought the pickup to a stop. The GPS unit didn’t seem to show definitively which direction to take. When she checked Aaron’s handwritten directions, it made it very clear she was to go to the left. Katie smiled. Her men looked after her. Garrett, more tech-savvy than Aaron, had programmed the GPS unit for her. Aaron, an old hand at the unmarked mountainous Badlands roads, had printed clear and precise directions that were easy to follow. It’s easy to be in love when you’re treated with such respect and with such consideration. How did I get so lucky to have such men in my life? Five minutes later, when she found the elbow bend in Meandering Creek and saw the four horses loosely tied to the stream’s grassy bank, Katie eased the pickup half off the gravel road and put the

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transmission into park. The brothers were in the stream, apparently sitting down since they were all in water up to their necks. Aaron noticed the pickup truck and waved a long arm. All heads turned instantly toward Katie. Then Aaron stood up, revealing several critical facts. The first was that the water was only knee-deep. The second was that he and his brothers were completely naked. The third was that the water was from melted snow high in the hills, and that it was still very cold. “I thought you were supposed to be working?” Katie called out, opening the truck’s door. Seeing her men all entirely naked made her nipples pebble up instantly, causing distinct dents in the thin cotton Tshirt she wore. “Swimming doesn’t seem to me like working.” “The horses needed a rest, so we thought we’d take one, too,” Aaron countered with a smile, walking slowly toward the nearest grassy bank. “Besides, it feels good to soak in a cool stream every now and then.” As Katie approached the men with the wicker basket in the crook of one elbow and the insulated coffee container in the other, she smiled broadly, giving a general nod in the direction of Aaron’s penis. “From the looks of things, I’d say the water’s more ice-cold than cool.” Blair, Flynn, and Garrett laughed at the jibe. “You men seem to be of diminished stature as well,” Katie said, making sure she didn’t single out any of her lovers for teasing. She doubted these men were insecure about such things, particularly since they were all gorgeously endowed and spectacularly responsive, but sometimes insecurities lurked even in the most confident of men. “I’ve brought you sandwiches, caramel rolls, and plenty of fresh, hot coffee.” “Everything smells wonderful,” Aaron said, stepping closer to Katie. With his hands, he wiped water off his arms, chest, and legs. “If I’d have thought this through properly, we’d all have been sundried and completely dressed by the time you got here.”

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“Trust me on this,” Katie said quietly, her gaze alive on Aaron’s face. “I’m not offended by seeing my men nude. I’m just a little worried that some other women will drive by, see you men, and try to steal you away.” “Never happen,” Aaron said. “We’re yours. You’re ours. And that’s that.” “But she’d get to see what I have, and then she’d be envious.” Garrett shook his head. “You’ve got to get used to Badlands life. We could be here three or four days and maybe not see another truck drive by.” Aaron started to put his clothes back on, but Katie stopped him. “You’d normally just let yourself dry in the sun, and then you’d put your clothes on, right?” Aaron nodded. “A man gets a little chafed in the saddle riding in wet underwear.” “Then please, eat your meal and dry, just as you normally would.” She smiled teasingly. “I promise, no more jokes about cold water.” “That,” Aaron replied with mock annoyance, “will be greatly appreciated. Now, let’s see what you’ve brought us.” They sat cross-legged in a circle in the thick grass, with Katie passing out the sandwiches, knowing that Blair preferred the roast beef with spiced mustard, and Garrett was especially fond of summer sausage with Monterey Jack cheese and just a touch of mayonnaise. She passed out blue enameled tin coffee cups then walked around and filled them in turn. It gave her exquisite pleasure to be serving her men, to help them with their cowboy duties in a manner that made them grateful. For her part, with each passing second, Katie felt the juices flowing more freely to the lips of her pussy, and she experienced that sensation in the pit of her stomach that was always there whenever all her men were around and she could sense their virility. Her nipples, without a bra to hide them, were hard little pebbles of aroused tissue showing plainly through the snug strap-sleeved T-shirt. Her amorous

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emotions were on display. And the movement of her breasts inside the T-shirt, causing her nipples to rub against the well-washed cotton, was a small but evocative caress that sent little tingles throughout her body. The men fell into an easy banter. Each one in turn complimented Katie for the quality of his sandwich, and she made a mental note to always pay special attention to which of the brothers liked what. She would have to be careful to never assume that, for instance, just because Aaron liked to have a whiskey once in a while with his beer, that any of the others brothers did. It’s going to be so damned complicated loving four men simultaneously...but I wouldn’t have it any other way. As time passed, Katie became more and more aware of the men looking surreptitiously at her, casting sidelong glances when she was looking in a different direction. They like me going braless. She rose to her feet and slowly walked around the circle of men, bending low each time she filled a tin cup with coffee. The men all voiced their appreciation, and Katie moved leisurely so they could look at her charms. She filled Aaron’s cup last, and when she stood upright, he put his hand on her calf, touching her through her jeans. “Nice to see a city girl like you dressed like a cowgirl,” he said, smiling up at her. “You like me in jeans and a T-shirt?” Garrett piped in quickly, “My T-shirt, if I’m not mistaken. And you’ve never looked better. Seriously.” “I decided to go without a bra.” Katie leveled her gaze directly on the young man’s. “Just for you.” “I like it.” Aaron’s deep voice cut in. “Yes, it’s fine for you to go without a bra, but only when you’re coming to see us exclusively. If you went without a bra at the Mountain View Saloon, then I wouldn’t like it.”

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Katie raised her eyebrows. “Oh? You wouldn’t like other men looking at me, watching my breast jiggling as I poured beers and served drinks? And if I thought of you men, my nipples would get all hard and tingly, and those other men would see that, too, wouldn’t they?” She watched color come to Aaron’s cheeks, and she knew that she had piqued his anger a bit more than she had intended. With Aaron and his brothers, jealousy didn’t scare her, didn’t make her feel like she was being controlled without her consent. She had, against her better judgment but of her own free will, consented to be their lover, their woman. Their only woman. If they were jealous and possessive, it was only because they cared, and they wanted to hold on to the good thing they had. Aaron suddenly tossed his tin cup aside and rose swiftly to his feet. Katie was reminded once again of his great size, of the breadth of his shoulders and the leanness of his hips, of the clearly defined muscles in his chest, shoulders, and abdomen. “Be careful how you tease me.” Aaron’s voice was low. Katie looked straight into his eyes, but with her periphery vision she saw that all the other brothers were quickly getting to their feet. “Being in love is new to me. It’s never happened before, so I’m just learning now how to deal with it.” “Don’t be—” Katie silenced herself before she finished the sentence. She had almost said “afraid,” but she knew instinctively that no man as alpha as Aaron could ever allow the word “afraid” to be tacked onto him. Not without rebelling, he couldn’t. As she looked up into his eyes, feeling small and fragile and deliciously protected and coveted, she was aware of the other McGowan men slowly surrounding her. It was almost as though she could feel the heat of their nearby bodies going straight into her bloodstream, warming and exciting her, and making her clitoris pulse and throb with hungry anticipation. Aaron prodded with suspicion. “Don’t be what?”

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Despite her best intentions, Katie couldn’t keep her gaze from flicking down to Aaron’s penis, which was no longer showing the truncating effects of the icy stream. “Being in love is new to me, too,” Katie replied, opting for honesty. “I’m just as confused as you are.” Aaron smiled, and Katie realized that she hadn’t changed the conversation properly. The man she adored smiled down at her and said, “How about if you let me and my brothers love away any confusion you’ve got? Out here. Under the sun. What could be more natural than that?” He closed his eyes and tilted his face up to the sun. Katie shivered when she looked at the full length of his body. He seemed sculpted in marble as though by a master artist, and in the sunlight, its strength and proportion were flatteringly on display. Though she’d seen him before, Katie’s body and libido reacted as though experiencing the visual splendor of Aaron’s nudity was completely new. “No.” Her single word came out softly. Aaron’s eyes opened, and Katie was conscious of the other brothers staring intently at her. She smiled sheepishly, a bit apologetically. “It’s not that I don’t want to, and it’s not that I’m not appreciative of your desire for me.” She placed a hand lightly on Aaron’s naked chest. She felt the heat of his body and took her hand away. He was far too enticing to touch without responding favorably. “It’s just that last night was very vigorous, and as entertaining and as loving as it was, I’m not yet ready for another...um—” After several seconds of silence, Aaron suggested, “Session?” Katie smiled. “Yes. That’s a good word for it. Session.” Garrett blushed guiltily and asked in a low voice, “Is it me? Is it what I did to you?” Katie shook her head vigorously. “No!” She gave the single word the emphasis of a slap in the face. There could be absolutely no misunderstanding how vehemently she meant it. “You’re not to blame. And you didn’t do it to me, you did it with me.” More softly,

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she added, “There’s four of you and only one of me. As much as I want you all, my want exceeds my ability. Sorry.” She let her gaze slide slowly and sensually from one brother to another. It was obvious that the influence of the cold mountain stream had been mitigated by her nearness and attire. This isn’t the last time I’m going braless in a T-shirt for my men, she decided. I feel so trashy this way, but they make me feel sexy. They make me feel beautiful. I can’t make love right now...but I don’t want to let them down. Aaron reached out and touched her forehead lightly with his fingertip. He drew the finger slowly down between her eyes, along the bridge of her nose, and then finally down over her lips to her chin. A shiver went through Katie. “There’s no reason for you to apologize.” His timbre was low, a subtle caress to her feminine senses. “We’re all big men, and we got pretty rambunctious last night. I admit that I can’t seem to get enough of you, but I sure as hell won’t hurt you.” He cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand and ran the edge of his thumb lightly over her lips. Katie kissed his thumb and closed her eyes as a whirlwind of chaotic emotions swirled around and through her. Only a fool would simultaneously fall in love with four men. It took an even bigger fool to fall in love with four brothers and think they would share one woman among them. Katie knew this and accepted it as fact, just as she accepted as fact her love for the McGowans. So she was a fool. So what? There were worse things to be, she decided. The hows and whys and wherefores of her love for them were, she suspected, both irrational, dangerous, and possibly insane. A sane woman would fall in love with a McGowan man. It would take a certain degree of insanity to fall in love with all four of them. She kept her eyes closed, concentrating only on the thumb passing slowly left to right and then right to left over lips that suddenly seemed heightened to the potential for pleasure. She could feel her

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heart steadily accelerating, and the soft, insistent throbbing pulse of her own heartbeat in her clitoris. “I can’t,” Katie said, her voice a breathy whisper, “but I have to.” Burgeoning desire had made her only partially aware of the contradiction. “No.” Aaron’s tone was authoritative. He was in charge. He was always in charge. Katie felt intoxicated by the virility and adoration of the naked men surrounding her. She opened her lips and captured the tip of Aaron’s thumb between her lips. When the thumb slipped deeper into her mouth, she sucked it erotically. The visual double entendre couldn’t be mistaken. She swirled her tongue against Aaron’s thumb and uttered a low, sensual moan. Aaron’s tone was taut when he asked, “Are you absolutely certain you can’t?” Katie’s eyes were still closed, but she could feel her lovers all around her, enveloping her in the aura of their virility. The thumb was pulled from between her lips, and she issued a small, plaintive sigh, as a spoiled child might who had suddenly been told she couldn’t have an entire chocolate cake all to herself. “Kiss me.” It was a breathy whisper of words from Katie, her tone hushed and more than a little frightened. “All of you, kiss me now. One at a time.” A tremor went through her. She kept her eyes closed. “How is it the four of you always excite me so?” She felt strong fingers encircle her right wrist. An instant later, a hand slipped around the back of her neck, the fingers sliding beneath her hair. She knew it was Aaron who had moved closer, and that he was going to kiss her. She angled her head back, keeping her eyes closed, and an instant later she felt Aaron’s lips against her own, taking possession of her mouth. She parted her lips and accepted his probing tongue at the same time her fingers curled around the shaft of a cock that was swelling rapidly. A soft moan came from her as Aaron’s kiss became more

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heated and more intense. A hand took her left wrist then guided her hand to another cock. Someone—she wasn’t quite certain who, though she suspected it was Blair—had moved behind her and reached around her body to caress her breasts through the thin T-shirt. It was exhilarating and confusing for Katie. So many men all wanting her simultaneously, so many cocks all needing her undivided attention. As she sucked Aaron’s tongue deeper into her mouth, she worked her hands over the shafts that filled her hands. As always, the McGowan men were responding to her quickly, and it was only seconds before their erections were all intensely rigid. “Ohhh,” she sighed when the kiss finally ended. Her stomach felt fluttery, and her heart was pounding. “You men will be the death of me.” Aaron took a half step away from Katie. “That’s the last thing in the world I want.” Katie opened her eyes, a bit shocked at the forcefulness of Aaron’s statement. “Boys, we’re just going to have to leave her alone. She made it clear she needs time to recuperate, and we’re going to give her that time.” All four men started to move away from Katie. She still had her fingers around two hard shafts, and she tightened her grip on Garrett and Flynn. “Not so fast,” she said. “I might be a little out of commission—a very temporary condition, I assure you—but it’s obvious that you men aren’t.” She let her gaze go from Aaron’s face down to his erection. His cock, thick and hard, was pointing straight at her. “Come closer, darling. Let me give you pleasure.” Slowly, with her gaze locked with Aaron’s, Katie sank slowly to her knees in the grass. She saw the fire, the spark of raw lust, sizzling in Aaron’s eyes as he moved closer. “Now there’s no need to be in a hurry. You four are so good at making sure I’m always satisfied. Let’s just let the good times unroll slowly.” “Whatever you want,” Aaron said, putting his hands on his hips. When Katie captured the crown of his cock between her lips, and then

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put her tongue in motion on the underside, he groaned and whispered, “Oh, lordy, she excites me.” It was a surreal experience for Katie. Her head was spinning dizzily. She had thought she knew what she was doing with the McGowans, but she really didn’t. On her knees in the high country, fully dressed under a brilliant sun, she looked up to see the four brothers, their bodies gloriously naked, their cocks exquisitely hard— for her. She nodded slowly over Aaron as she used her hands on the twins. Then she released Aaron and turned her attentions toward Flynn. A minute later she had Garrett between her lips, and his lean body quivered with the erotic sensations she provided. True to her word, she wasn’t in any hurry, and neither were her men. She would bring one brother to the brink of orgasm then turn her attention to another. It might have seemed like she was taunting and teasing the men by pleasuring them until they were at the edge of ecstasy and then stopping, but what this did was heighten the excitement until Katie knew that all four brothers were aching to come. “My gorgeous men,” Katie whispered. She eased her face between Aaron’s powerful thighs to suck one of his testicles into her mouth. She sucked lightly, feeling the salivamoistened shaft throbbing lustily against her cheek. She heard Aaron groan, and she knew that it wouldn’t be long before he climaxed. She released him, planted a moist, smacking kiss on the head of his cock, and then turned toward Blair and took as much of his erection into her mouth as she could hold. I can’t believe I’m giving head to four men, she thought, amazed at how her life had changed upon coming to Elk’s Crossing and meeting the McGowan brothers. These men make me uninhibited. They make me want to do things with them that I wouldn’t imagine doing with anyone else. She tilted her head back on her shoulders to look up. The brothers were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a half circle directly in front of

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her. They towered over her, but their size and strength did not intimidate her. In fact, quite the opposite was true. Their power and their stark masculinity made her feel protected and distinctly feminine. I’d get down on my knees for them anywhere, anytime, in front of anyone, she thought as her supple lips traveled along Garrett’s shaft. For these men, there isn’t anything they could ask that I wouldn’t do. Nothing at all. I’d give them everything and more so long as they’re mine. Mine alone. Exclusively, faithfully mine. Her thoughts were wandering in a desultory fashion when Garrett pushed the fingers of both his hands into her hair and clenched them into fists. Though it had been Katie who had been bobbing while the men remained standing motionless, Garrett’s hips suddenly began churning as he held her head motionless. “Oh, Katie!” he said through clenched teeth. He was the first to come, as Katie had suspected from the beginning. Flynn wasn’t far behind him. With just the two older brothers to contend with, Katie pleasured one then the other, sucking slowly and expertly. In a calculated manner, she pushed Blair into the abyss of pure sensation. Lastly, as the alpha male of the clan, it was Aaron’s turn to erupt. Shortly afterward, as she watched her men putting their clothes on, each one smiling in the subtle fashion that indicated sexual satiation, Katie felt an overwhelming sense of triumph, and a selfconfidence to a degree that she’d never before experienced. I’m good at this, she thought as she collected the wrappers and cups and put them back in the wicker basket. I’ll keep them all so happy they won’t even think of other women.

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Chapter Ten Aaron was hot, sweaty, and tired. He and his brothers were working one of their lowland pastures. They had arrived early in the day, only to discover that several nights before some kids had decided to use their pastureland to have a party. Since the pasture was remote, there wasn’t much chance of them getting caught by the sheriff. And in truth, Aaron wouldn’t have minded the kids using McGowan land to blow off a little steam, have a few beers, and maybe do some kissing in the shadows. But the kids—and he guessed there must have been fifteen to twenty of them—were the kind that Aaron positively loathed. They probably had four or five cases of beer with them, had drank every one, and then left the cans all over the place. There were also to-go wrappers from the Mountain View Saloon everywhere. He wondered if Katie would remember who had come in and ordered a great deal of food to go. He’d like to have a damned stern talk with the kids about picking up after themselves and asking to use a person’s land, not just assuming that it would be all right. “The herd’s all accounted for,” Garrett said. “We did the count twice, and we’re not missing any. Seems like the trespassers just wanted to party.” “I don’t begrudge them partying, I begrudge them being slobs,” Aaron replied. “This is clean country. We don’t need trash strewn on good grazing land.” Garrett’s lean body twisted around sharply in the saddle, and then he was tumbling out of the saddle. He had nearly hit the ground when Aaron heard the distant gunshot echo out through the valley. Garrett landed in the grass and rolled onto his back as blood spread out across

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his chest, soaking through his shirt. “I’m hit! I’m hit!” **** David had a sick, empty feeling in the pit of his stomach as he hurried through the trees, the rifle he’d purchased from Paulie’s Gun Shop clutched tightly in both hands. He had been aiming at the big man in the cowboy hat, not the slender one. He had lined up the crosshairs on the man’s back and pulled the trigger. The anticipation of seeing the big man react to the bullet hitting him in the back had been so intense David nearly salivated, like a man waiting for a sumptuous meal. What had gone wrong? The crosshairs were on the big man’s back. When David pulled the trigger, he figured he had a heart-shot for sure. Instead, it was the slender man on horseback to the right who spun out of his saddle and hit the ground hard. At least I killed one of them, David thought as he got into his car. He had left the key in the ignition. When he twisted the key, the engine turned over but didn’t start. Oh, goddamn it, car, don’t fuck me over now, David thought as the engine turned over and over without coming to life. I just killed some dumb son of a bitch, and now my car’s going to fuck me over? And then the engine coughed and sputtered before coming to life, and David smiled because he knew he’d just killed one of the bastards that had been fucking Katie, and with any luck, he’d kill her, too. Yes, her too, and very soon. Because David knew in his heart that he just couldn’t return to San Francisco and get his life back in order as long as Katie was still alive and still hadn’t suffered for the injustices she had foisted upon him. David stepped on the accelerator, and the tires spun on the gravel road. Within minutes he was on the two-lane highway. It was time to celebrate, he decided. He’d have a good meal somewhere then find a

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hotel he could afford. A man of his importance deserved a luxury suite, not some Super 8 out in the country, but luxury suites with inroom Jacuzzis would have to wait for now, but not for long. David smiled as he drove down the highway. He’d never killed a man before, and he hadn’t really been sure how he would handle it emotionally. Now he knew how it felt to kill, and he smiled. It felt good. And the next time he sensed the exhilaration of having taken a life, it would be Katie’s life that would be extinguished. **** Garrett pushed himself up a bit in the bed. He grimaced when pain lanced through his body from the gunshot wound to his shoulder. The county doctor who had bandaged him up had given him pills for the pain, but Garrett didn’t much like taking them, even if they worked. Garrett was an ardent fan of professional football, and he’d read too many stories of athletes getting addicted to painkillers for him to not have a skeptical attitude toward their use. He looked around the bedroom, and despite the dull throbbing in his left shoulder, he smiled. This was Katie’s room. She had transformed it into her own, and in doing so, had made it feminine. On the bureau were her perfumes and lotions. In the open closet were her clothes. A soft knock at the door preceded it opening by only a second. Katie stuck her head into the room. “Oh, good,” she said. “You’re awake. Do you mind if I come in?” “Of course not,” Garrett answered. “It’s your room, after all.” “Until you recover completely, this is your room.” Garrett felt a surge of emotion go through him when Katie stepped into the room. She wore a white cotton blouse and a pair of blue jeans, and though the attire was simple enough and certainly not unusual for Elk’s Crossing, in Garrett’s eyes and judgment, she was the most beautiful and sexiest woman in the world. In her hands was

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an aluminum serving tray, and on it was a can of beer with a glass. “At last, a beer,” Garrett said happily. “A single beer. That’s all you’re allowed. Doctor’s orders.” Garrett watched as she poured the beer into the glass then handed it to him. He patted the mattress near his hip, and she sat on the bed. “I feel better about things just looking at you,” he said. “You gave us all a frightful scare.” She shivered visibly at the memory. “Fortunately, the bullet only hit you in the shoulder and passed clean through. It hurts because you tore up a lot of muscle tissue, but the bullet didn’t hit any bones. And the bullet was a small something-or-other. I can’t remember what the doctor said.” “Small caliber?” Garrett asked. Katie nodded. “The bullet seemed to come out of nowhere.” “No, it didn’t,” Katie said sharply. “I know who is behind all of our troubles. I know who jimmied the tire on my car, and I know who shot you. It’s David.” “That old boyfriend of yours?” Katie nodded. “Just give me time to heal up this shoulder, and I’ll beat that man to a pulp.” He put the glass to his lips and drained half the beer in several big gulps. “He knows you’re here with us. That’s why he shot me.” “I can’t begin to tell you how guilty I feel.” “Don’t. You didn’t do anything wrong. He’s a psycho, and that’s just not your fault.” “You’re feeling better now?” Garrett gave her a smile. “I’m feeling better, but I know how you could make me feel much, much, much better.” Katie grinned and slapped his knee through the blankets. “Don’t even think about that now. First you rest and get better, and then I’ll show you the kind of loving you deserve. Agreed?” “Agreed,” Garrett said, pretending to pout. “But let the record state that I’m only grudgingly agreeing.”

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**** “I was real sorry to hear about your brother,” Paulie said, his elbows on the glass counter of his gun shop. “And I’ve got to tell you, when I heard about it, I got a queer feeling inside me like something hinky was going on.” When Aaron had gotten the call from Paulie to say he wanted to talk about the ambush shooting of Garrett, he’d gotten in his pickup and driven into town immediately. Paulie wasn’t the kind of man to talk unless he had something to say, unless the subject was hunting, which he could prattle on about endlessly. “So why was it you called me?” “A man came in here the other day. Smooth-talking fella that sounded like he’d been educated proper. Said he wanted to buy a handgun, but when I said I’d need the state to do a background check on him, and that he’d have to wait a couple days, he didn’t like that at all. Then, all of a sudden like, he says he wants to do some deer or elk hunting, and do I have any guns for him. He said he knew about hunting, and that he’d done a passel of it when he was a single man, but then he got married and couldn’t hunt no more. Well, he said he’s single again, and he wants to get back to it.” Aaron shrugged his shoulders. “So far, that doesn’t sound all that unusual.” “But like I say, there was something hinky about this fella. The more I looked at him, the more hinky he got, and I just couldn’t see myself putting a high-powered rifle in his hands all the while thinking that he ain’t got no more hunting sense than I’ve got knowledge of the dark side of the moon.” Aaron smiled. “So what did you do?” “I showed him an old, used twenty-two rifle that nobody’s wanted, and told him it was an elk rifle. Now any damned fool would know you don’t hunt elk with a twenty-two, but he didn’t know that.

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And when he didn’t know, that’s when I knew real certain-like that he wasn’t no hunter. Not now and not ever.” Paulie tapped his head with a forefinger. “So I got to using my noggin, I did. I got to sell him a rifle because he asks for one, and I just can’t say no to him because my noggin tells me he’s not a right sort, but that doesn’t mean I got to be real honest about everything.” Aaron’s brow furrowed. “Don’t string me along, Paulie. What did you do?” “Before I gave him the rifle, I said I needed to tighten down the scope and that sort of thing. Well, I adjusted the scope so that it would shoot way off to the right. Unless he sighted in that rifle himself after he left here, and I’m certain he didn’t, he doesn’t stand a chance of hitting what he’s aiming at.” The cleverness of what Paulie had done impressed Aaron, but then, like a sledgehammer, reality hit him in the solar plexus. He felt a physical pain even though he hadn’t been touched. Paulie had altered the telescopic sight so that the bullet went far to the right of the shooter’s intended target. Garrett had been sitting on his horse, to the right of Aaron, when he’d been shot. “Say, you okay there?” Paulie asked quietly. “Did I say something?” “No, it’s not your fault,” Aaron replied, fighting against the urge to run out of the gun shop to hunt down David. He thought of what Katie had told him of her ex. “This hinky man who bought the gun, was he a little paunchy in the middle, and does he stand about five and a half feet?” “That about fits him.” Paulie wore a pained expression. “Had a hairline that was going south on him. He was one of those fellas you just know in your gut you never want to turn your back on.” “I know the type, Paulie. I know the type all too well.” He extended his hand, and Paulie took and shook it. “Anything else about this man you can tell me?” “Had license plates from a different state. I noticed that, though I

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can’t tell you where they were from.” He held Aaron’s hand a bit longer than what was polite. “You coming here for your hunting supplies? Elk season’s just around the corner, and I hear the ducks in Canada are thick as fleas on a mangy dog.” “Yes, yes,” Aaron said, extricating his hand and turning toward the door. “My brothers and I will get everything we need here. Trust me, you’re going to make money from the McGowan brothers this year. Money like you’ve never made before.” Paulie was smiling happily as Aaron left the gun shop. **** “I can’t begin to tell you how dreadful I feel about all this,” Katie said, standing in her bedroom, which would be Garrett’s until his shoulder fully recovered. “It’s not your fault,” Aaron said. “But you’ve got to be honest with us from now on. Honest from the beginning. If there’s someone out there who wants to hurt you, you’ve got to let us know.” He felt the urge to take her into his arms, but this wasn’t the time for passion. Not when the man who had shot his brother was still on the loose. “Now, brothers, I want you to listen carefully. I spoke with the sheriff, and he’s got the major thoroughfares out of the territory covered. But we all know there are lots of gravel roads to get from here to there, if you know where you’re going.” “You figure that little bastard is sticking around?” “He tried to kill Katie by taking off the lug nuts on her wheel, and he probably tried to kill me with a bullet in the back. If it wasn’t for Paulie messing up the scope on his rifle, I’d probably have taken one smack in the back. And thank God he’s an idiot about weapons. Garrett getting hit by a twenty-two in the shoulder is unfortunate, but if that had been a thirty-odd-six or something like that, just imagine how bad the wound would have been.” He watched all his brothers react to his statement. When he

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looked at Garrett, who was reclining against the headboard of Katie’s bed, he gave his kid brother a wink. “Too bad for you, I suppose, but Paulie misaligning that scope probably saved my life.” “That means you owe me a beer,” Garrett replied, grinning. “And a steak at the Mountain View Saloon that’s the size of Nebraska.” Katie raised her hand to get the attention of the men in the room. “No, Aaron doesn’t have to pay for that. I do. The only reason David’s angry with you men is because you’ve been protecting me.” She combed fingers through her hair, shaking her head slowly. “I should have told you everything from the very beginning. I’ll never completely forgive myself for not trusting you men with everything.” Aaron began unfolding the enormous map of the territory that he’d brought with him to the impromptu meeting. He put the map on the bed near the bulge in the blankets where Garrett’s feet were. “The sheriff’s on the north side, and the highway patrol’s looking to our east. If David’s sticking around, he’s going to make at least one more try for Katie. If he doesn’t try for her, then he’s got to get out of the territory. Maybe he’ll take some of the gravel roads, and maybe he’ll take the highways. Trouble is, there’s just not a lot of highway patrol on duty at any given time in these parts. And the sheriff, he can’t spend all his time sitting in one place hoping David will drive by.” “So that means it’s got to be us McGowans that patrol the country roads,” Blair said, correctly interpreting his brother’s plan. “But we’ve got to keep someone here to keep an eye on Katie.” “I’ve got a dinged-up wing, but if you give me one of the revolvers, I’ll be all the protection Katie needs,” Garrett said, pushing himself up a little straighter in bed. He tried to hide the pain he felt, but Aaron saw it showing in his eyes. “Give me the forty-four magnum.” “You can have the thirty-eight with the six-inch barrel,” Aaron replied. “You don’t need a cannon. Besides, the way our luck’s been

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running, you’ll shoot David with the magnum and it’ll go clean through him and into one of us.” “I’ve got to tell you,” Katie said quietly, “how disturbing I find this talk. I hate guns. I hate violence of any sort.” “We didn’t start this fight,” Aaron said, keeping his voice low. “But we do intend to finish it.” **** Aaron leaned back on the barstool, took a sip of beer, looked at Katie, and said, “If we’re going to have any chance at all of anticipating David’s next move, you’ve got to teach me how to think like him.” Katie smiled ruefully and replied, “I don’t think it’s possible for a good man like you to think like David. It’s just not in your makeup.” Aaron and his brothers were at the Mountain View Saloon after a hard day’s work. What had become clear over the past days was that despite the dragnet that the Sheriff and the McGowans had hastily set out to catch David, he had evaded them. And since they really had no concrete evidence whatsoever that David was at all responsible for any of the mayhem that had occurred, the Sheriff couldn’t put out an all-points bulletin to have the man arrested. All they had were suspicions, and the law doesn’t apply on someone’s gut instincts. “I don’t want to act like him. I just need to think like him for a little while.” He leaned forward, putting his elbows on the bar, and Katie saw the intensity and seriousness in his eyes. “I can’t really relax until I know that he’s out of your life forever. Now can you think of anything that you haven’t told me already? Any little quirk or personality trait that might help me?” Though she hadn’t taken Aaron entirely serious before, she did now. After a few moments she said, “As much as I hate to say it, I don’t think he’s gone for good. He’s not the type of man to let anyone slander him or thwart him in any way, and not seek revenge. He…he

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takes the slightest thing and can blow it all out of proportion. Say a joke goes bad. Well, the person doing the joking really didn’t want to start a blood feud. He just was going for a laugh or two. But that’s not the way David will see it.” Needing a moment to collect herself, since she was now venturing into very uncomfortable emotional territory, she picked up Aaron’s beer glass and topped it off from the draft dispenser. “David will see a dumb joke as a personal affront.” Aaron nodded, scratching his chin, his gaze distant. “He’ll think on it and dwell on it and brood on it until he sees some grand plan to make him look bad. It’s almost never just one person, either. He needs a conspiracy, and that requires several people.” He smiled but did not make eye contact with Katie. “When your ego is as oversized as his, it’s not enough to have a single enemy. There’s got to be superior numbers to his enemy. Only then can he justify losing. He can look in the mirror and tell himself he would have won if it had been a fair fight.” Katie was consciously aware, at that moment, that she had underestimated Aaron’s intelligence. She had taken his hardworking, plain-speaking country mannerisms and extrapolated them into a man who wasn’t nearly as intelligent, or as multifaceted, as Aaron McGowan really was. When the time was right, she’d tell him as much, and apologize. He might not realize that she had short-changed his intellect, but she knew, and she intended to make her world aright. “He’s left Elk’s Crossing,” Aaron said, his voice having a dreamy, faraway quality to it that Katie hadn’t heard before. She could tell he was lost inside himself, going deeper than he had before, and the deeper he got, the closer he was to David’s psyche. “He’s gone, but he’s not going to stay away. He’ll come back. Katie’s unfinished business to him, and he won’t be satisfied until he’s closed the book on her.” She watched as Aaron blinked his eyes, inhaled deeply, and then issued a slow, soft sigh. He had spoken of her in the third person, as though she wasn’t actually right there with him. Now it was as though

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she was watching him psychologically coming back into the present, back to her. So enthralled with Aaron’s analysis, Katie was not at first aware of the significance of what he’d just said. When the impact of his words hammered home, she shivered. “Then you think he’s coming back?” He inhaled deeply once again, blinked one last time, and then looked her directly in the eyes. “I can’t say anything for certain. The man’s a lunatic. A deranged, dangerous man with an ego the size of Alaska. But being crazy doesn’t make him less dangerous or any less intelligent. He’ll come back. You’ve made a fool of him, and that’s something a man with his vaunted sense of self-worth can’t tolerate.” The action at the pool table caused a roar of either approval or disappointment among the brothers, temporarily stopping the analysis of their lives. “He’s gone, and it’s nice to think that he’s gone for good…but I don’t think that’s reality. I think he’ll come back, and that we’ll have to deal with him.” Katie shivered, and, to take her mind off the reality of her life, she said, “I’d better get your brothers some fresh beers. It looks like they’re all pretty much close to empty.”

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Chapter Eleven David lay in the sagging bed and stared at the motel’s ceiling. It was a crummy motel off the highway, but at least he was back in California. Tomorrow he’d reach San Francisco. He had friends there, and he knew the lay of the land. He needed money, fresh clothes, and a new car. It infuriated him that Katie was still alive, and that all he’d managed to do was wound some kid who was fucking her. Since when did she start passing out sympathy fucks? The thought made him unconsciously grind his teeth. It felt like he was running away. David knew on an intellectual level that he wasn’t running away, that he was escaping, but that didn’t entirely make a difference. It seemed to him that very stupid, very boorish cowboys from some shit hole place called Elk’s Crossing were making him run away. They were also fucking his girlfriend. And they were preventing him from seeing justice served by standing between Katie and him. They all deserved to die. Each and every one of them should die slowly and painfully, looking him in the eyes, knowing that he was the one to put an end to their villainy. A smile curled the left corner of his mouth as he thought about Katie dying. Even more than the men, she deserved to die slowly and painfully, aware during each and every last second that she had made a fatal mistake by punishing David for doing what he had every right in the world to do. The day would come when he would see that Katie’s punishment fit the crimes she had committed. But the punishment wouldn’t be with a gun. David had already

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gone that route, and though he had shot one of the men, the wound injured but would not kill or even permanently maim. I’ve got to finish the job, but I can’t go back there until I’m ready. I’ve got to wait for their guard to be down. I’ll get some good wheels and a pocket full of cash, and then I’ll return. Silently. Alone. Like some badass SEAL Team 6 member. His smile broadened. Thinking of himself as a member of the U.S. military’s most elite unit was a good feeling, even though he loathed the military and saw it as a fascistic organization and a colossal waste of taxpayers’ money. I’ll use a knife. A razor-sharp knife. I’ll look her right in the eyes when I cut her, and she’ll feel the blade and know in her heart, right before she dies, that she made the biggest mistake of her life by fucking me over. The cunt. The worthless bitch. Katie will know what a cunt she is right before she dies. **** Aaron looked at the sheriff. “He’s got to have made it past the checkpoints. We’d have seen him or heard about him by now if he’d stayed in the territory.” “That’s the way I see it, too,” the sheriff replied. “I found out that a couple days back he rented a room at the hotel over in Sandoval, but it was just one night, and he hasn’t been back since.” “You know that he’s going to come back for Katie. It’s a blood feud with them, and he won’t let it rest until he gets his revenge.” “If you’re going to ask me to put out an arrest warrant, don’t bother. I already talked to the county attorney about it, and he flat out rejected the idea. There’s not one bit of evidence that this exboyfriend has done anything criminal. No evidence at all.” “Still…” “I know you’re not happy about it, but I can’t put out an arrest warrant on someone who, as near as we can tell, has not done one

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criminal thing wrong.” The sheriff put his hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “I think he’s guilty of something. I don’t know what, but he didn’t just make a wrong turn and suddenly find himself in Elk’s Crossing. Would you mind doing me a favor by keeping an eye on Katie? I’m sure it’s putting your house out a bit by having a female suddenly living there, but I’d feel a lot better knowing that the McGowans were keeping an eye on her.” “Sure thing,” Aaron replied. “It’s the least I can do for some young woman with a deranged ex-boyfriend trying to kill her. You can count on my brothers and me keeping a careful eye on Katie.” “Thanks. I appreciate that,” the sheriff said then turned and headed for his squad car. Aaron got in his pickup truck and drove back to the ranch. When he got there he found that the doctor was just finishing his examination of Garrett’s shoulder. “Working on young men makes a doctor look like a genius,” the doctor said to Aaron as he put the last strip of white tape on Garrett’s bandage. “Young men like Garrett heal incredibly fast. I don’t want him exerting himself just yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if within two or three weeks he’s back to nearly one-hundred percent.” “There won’t be any permanent damage?” Aaron asked. The doctor shook his head. “It was a small bullet, and I’m sure it hurt like the dickens when it ripped up muscle, but muscle and tissue damage are rarely permanent, and certainly not in this case. Just don’t overdo it right away. There are stitches inside that will dissolve and stitches in the skin that I’ll remove in a couple days. But I don’t want him exerting himself and then ripping out the stitches.” “I’ll make sure he follows doctor’s orders,” Katie said. The doctor smiled at her. “It’s nice to know he’s got such a dedicated nurse. Now if you’ll all excuse me, I have to get back to my clinic.” ****

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As far as guest bedrooms went, it was nice enough, David decided. Of course, he shouldn’t have to be in a guest bedroom. He should be in the master bedroom with some good-looking babe next to him. And he would be in a master bedroom…if it hadn’t been for Katie. She was the sole source of his fall from grace. And for that, she would have to pay her dues. The world was an unjust place as long as she remained unscathed by her betrayal of him. During his brief time back in San Francisco, David had acted quickly. He’d borrowed money from four different friends. They didn’t want to loan him a penny, but he’d reminded them of all the times that he’d supplied the cocaine during parties, and only then did they come across with cash. It wasn’t as much as he’d wanted, of course, but at least it was something. David liked to think of it as “working capital.” Brooding, he stared at the ceiling, asking himself over and over again just how long it would be before he could look into Katie’s eyes and close the books on her treachery, on her deception, and on her dishonesty and cruelty. Every day she lived was a day she didn’t deserve to have. Every time she laughed, her happiness was an act of theft against karma. Pain, suffering, and abject humiliation were the only emotions, the only sensations, she should be allowed to experience. And then David asked himself, why wait? Why wait for some later time to set things straight? He felt the awareness that he was going to take a human life in the pit of his stomach. He was going to do it personally, with his own hands, and when he was finished he would know that he had done a good and just thing for this world. There was no better time than the present. His friend—the owner of the house in the hills of San Francisco that had deigned to let him have the guest bedroom “for a few days, but no more than that”—was an asshole, and David knew it. What

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kind of friend would set a time limit on his gratitude when he has a friend in need? An asshole, that’s what kind of friend! A smile started to curl David’s mouth. His friend was an asshole, all right, but he was an asshole who left his car keys on a hook near the front door. Sitting upright in the bed, David twisted until his feet were flat on the floor. Was this the right time to make his move? The question taunted him. He didn’t want to act rashly, but he didn’t want to not take action should this be his moment. Closing his eyes, David looked inside himself. Was this the right time? He waited for the answer. After several seconds, very distinctly, he heard a voice say inside his head, “Yes! Yes! Yes! Go after that bitch now!” He got to his feet, and when he moved toward the closet where his new clothes were hanging and the used suitcase was, he was careful to remain as quiet as possible. Pausing, he glanced at the digital clock on the bedside table. The red numerals told him it was twelve minutes after two o’clock in the morning. His friend would be sound asleep, and had been for at least two hours. Perfect. Everything was falling into place. David knew it wasn’t just luck. It was karma. He was on a mission to make the world a better place and see to it that a traitorous bitch didn’t fuck over anyone else ever again. Soon, he would see that karma was adjusted properly. He put his clothes into the suitcase. They weren’t designer-name clothes, but they were clean and new. The suitcase was used, having been purchased at a thrift store, but that was all right. David knew that a lot of rich people who traveled a lot had luggage that showed all the miles their owner had taken them. Used luggage just proves you’ve got the wherewithal to travel all over the world, right? He was down the stairs, taking them one careful step at a time. Though the streetlight coming through the living room windows was

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dim, David could see that the cocaine was still out on the mirror on the coffee table in the living room. Using the razor blade, he chopped up two lines then snorted them with the glass tube that he’d used the previous evening. Instantly, he was wide awake, and his thinking was clearer and more rational than ever. David was certain his brain had never been so clear, so purposeful. And now he had enough energy to drive hours and hours and hours. With enough cocaine, he’d never, ever feel tired again. And he’d never be depressed. And he’d never doubt that he was doing the right thing. Cocaine took away doubts. That was another thing that David was certain of. He carefully rolled up the plastic baggie with the remaining cocaine in it and shoved that into his pocket. Next, he went to the kitchen and, just as he knew he would, found the car keys to the shiny new Lexus hanging on the hook. From the utility drawer in the kitchen near the sink, he found a Phillips screwdriver. Lastly, from a solid woodblock containing many knives with many different functions, he took out a large-bladed knife. It would be the knife that would draw Katie’s blood and set his soul free. The knife would put him back on the road to riches. The air was cool, and he could smell the saltwater on the evening breeze. A good night, he decided, to head back to Elk’s Crossing and put his life back to rights. He drove his old car two blocks, found a parking place, and then removed the license plates. He walked back to his friend’s Lexus and had the license plates changed in only a matter of minutes. When he put the key in the ignition and turned it, the engine purred immediately to life. For a moment David just looked around himself at the interior of the car. Everything was new. The instrument panel informed him of engine temperature, coolant temperature, gas levels—positively everything. He saw that the gas tank was very nearly full. “That was damned nice of you to fill this for me,” David said to his sleeping friend as he put the transmission in reverse and pulled

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quietly out of the parking spot, the finely tuned engine hardly making a whisper. **** It was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon, and the Mountain View Saloon was packed to the rafters with customers, all of them happy to partake of Katie’s cooking and companionship. Katie was moving here, there, and everywhere, trying to see to it that all her customers were satisfied. She was way too busy and couldn’t have been happier if she tried. “I’ve got some friends who will show up in a day or two,” Katie said to the sheriff and to Aaron. “They’ll be able to help me during the busy times, so I won’t have to do everything myself.” “Won’t that be putting them in harm’s way?” Aaron asked. “David’s gone, and he’s going to stay gone,” Katie replied, confident in her assessment of the man she once loved and now loathed. “He’s a bastard. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not going soft on the guy. But I think he realizes he’s crossed a bunch of lines he’s never crossed before, and he’s probably going to get away with it. But if he comes back and tries something more, something else against me, his odds of succeeding are drastically diminished, and the odds that he’ll spend serious time in prison are enhanced. The guy’s a cretin, but he’s not stupid. I’m on to him, and he knows it. My guess is he’s back in San Francisco mooching off his friends and cursing me for all his lousy luck.” “I wish I could be so confident that he will stay away,” Aaron said, sipping his after-meal coffee. He turned to the sheriff. “Are you sure there’s nothing the law can do about him?” “He’s on parole, and as long as he stays in the area where he’s under court supervision, then he’s fulfilling the terms of his parole. I’ll call San Francisco and ask them to keep an eye on him, but that’s nothing they wouldn’t do anyway.” He sighed and tilted his sheriff’s

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hat back a little on his head. “Trust me, I’d love to slap the handcuffs on him, but for now, I’ve got no just cause to do that.” Katie was thoroughly and completely tired of talking about David. He had done his damage, and now he was gone, and that was that as far as she was concerned. She was surrounded by her McGowan men. They loved her, and she loved all four of them. Whatever problems she had would be concerned with her being in a love relationship simultaneously with four brothers. David was now out of her life forever. The noon crowd began filing out, but Aaron stayed at the bar, sipping his coffee. “Go on now,” Katie said to him. “You’ve got work that needs to be done, and I’ve got work to do around here. You think the supper rush just happens smoothly without me preparing for it?” “Maybe I should leave Garrett here to keep an eye on you? He’s still got a wounded wing that keeps him from working one hundred percent.” Katie shook her head emphatically. “No, that’s not necessary.” She placed her hand over his on the bar and gave it an affectionate squeeze. “Tonight, when I get home after the evening rush, how about we have a party? A quiet, private McGowan-brother party.” “With you as the main attraction?” “The center of attention,” Katie said, keeping her voice low because there were still a few customers in the saloon other than the McGowans. “Think of me as an entertainment committee of one.” Katie saw the lusty fire come to life in her lover’s eyes and knew in her heart she was in for a rollicking good time when she finally arrived at the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch that evening. How would they want her tonight? Who would want what? Their endless permutations and seemingly limitless sexual creativity made each night of ménage loving a new lesson in the possibilities of pleasure.

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Chapter Twelve “Sure you don’t want to play?” Garrett asked, extending the hand unit of a video game toward Aaron. “Thanks, but I just cracked a fresh one,” Aaron replied then took a long swig of cold beer to add emphasis to claim. “Besides, you kick my ass at that game every time.” “That’s why I like playing against you.” Aaron chuckled and took another drink of beer, turning away from his brothers. It was late, and soon Katie would be finished with her night shift at the Mountain View Saloon. Then she’d hurry to the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch, where he and his brothers would prove to her, in words and deeds, just how much they were all in love with her. Thoughts of making love with Katie brought a smile to Aaron’s lips, but it didn’t last long. He couldn’t be away from her company without thinking about the man who hated her, and who was still on the loose. David was unfinished business, and Aaron had been working for himself too long—his whole life, in fact—to be satisfied when there was unfinished business. He walked over to the high windows facing the east. The sun had long since set, and it was very dark outside, the moon hardly more than a sliver. The trees along the eastern windbreak seemed to be flickering a pale, almost pinkish color. Aaron studied the trees a moment, wondering what was causing the color change. There wasn’t enough moonlight for the leaves to be reflecting that. Behind him in the room, some action on the video monitor caused his brothers to all shout in unison. Blair called out, wanting Aaron’s

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opinion on a contentious call. With a wave of his hand, Aaron dismissed himself and walked stocking-footed to the front door, his stomach suddenly turning a little, the beer no longer tasting fresh and clean in his mouth. He set the beer bottle down on the dining room table, and, with each step he took, the sense of unease became stronger. The front door wasn’t open an inch before he caught the scent of smoke on the breeze. When he opened the door wide, he saw that the barn was already well ablaze, with flames within the barn casting their colors red and gold against the windows. “Boys! The barn’s on fire!” Aaron shouted. “Garrett, you call the fire department. The rest of you, come with me!” As he pulled on his boots, Aaron was already doing a quick mental calculation of the contents of the barn, the livestock that would be lost, and what machinery would be destroyed. How much of the loss would insurance cover? He thought, too, of the volunteer firefighters who would come to help. If the fire had been at a different ranch, Aaron and his brothers, who were all volunteers for the Elk’s Crossing Fire Department, would be racing into town at that moment. He started running, his long legs eating up the ground as he approached the barn. The fire had started inside the barn and had not yet made it through the windows or up to the hayloft on the second story. How long until the fire department arrived with the old red truck, with the long hoses and the enormous water tank that had saved so many buildings in the territory over the years? He almost ran to the enormous sliding doors on the end of the barn, but his better judgment told him to go to the much smaller side door. A fire needs oxygen, and opening the wide sliding doors would only make matters worse. He looked into the interior of the barn from the window near the side door, and his stomach clenched. Three of the four pens were ablaze, as was the bin for the oats. The pens were empty, and he

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breathed a sigh of relief, only now remembering that the calves that had been in the pens had been released into the pasture just that morning. Aaron was no expert on fires, but it didn’t take a lot of experience to understand that, barring some assistance, a fire didn’t “accidentally” start simultaneously at four or five different places inside a barn. “How bad is it?” Blair asked, coming up fast from behind. “We’ve lost it,” Aaron said, watching as the flames curled up along an interior wall then slid sideways along the ceiling. The old wood accepted the flames with resignation, as an old man might accept death after a long, happy life. “Don’t open the doors. Let’s wait until the fire truck gets here. All we can do is make sure we don’t lose any of the other buildings. Maybe we can save...” His words drifted off. The ranch was too far out in the country, and the fire had been started at too many different places in the old barn, for the destruction to not be complete. He could feel the heat now radiating through the window. **** David decided he liked the smell of gasoline. What had that line been in Apocalypse Now? The one Robert Duvall used? “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like…victory!” Fuckin’ A right, it smells like victory! He had been on a losing streak. David would admit to that, but only now that the losing streak was behind him. And he’d known the losing was behind him when he’d slipped secretly into the barn, splashed gasoline around, and then watched as the place so quickly and easily went ablaze. He didn’t stick around long—maybe thirty seconds after dropping the match into the gasoline-soaked hay—but it was long enough to feel the heat of the fire against his face and watch as the fire grew into a conflagration in very, very little time.

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He flexed his fingers around the steering wheel of the Lexus. He’d have to get rid of it pretty soon, even if it did have completely new license plates on it that he’d stolen from a car in the parking lot of a truck stop in northern California. Ahead of him, perhaps a mile or more away, he saw the red flashing emergency lights on an oncoming vehicle. The swirling red light cut an ominous streak through the ebony darkness of a night in deep country. He felt his heart accelerate, and he told himself to remain calm. He was on a winning streak now. That was undeniable. All the proof he needed was to smell the gasoline can on the floor of the front seat of the Lexus and remember how beautiful it had been to watch and smell the barn take to the flames so quickly, almost greedily, as though welcoming its own destruction. A few seconds later, driving in the opposite direction of David’s Lexus, roared the single truck belonging to the Elk’s Crossing Fire Department. The fire engine was headed, hell bent for leather, in the direction of the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch. Too late, you dumb fucking cowboys! By now the barn’s so far gone it would take an ocean of water to put the fire out. More proof, David decided, that he was on a winning streak. Perhaps this was the winning streak that would put him back on top, with a corner office on one of the upper floors that had a view of San Francisco harbor and Fisherman’s Wharf. A minute later, a pickup truck with its emergency flashers blinking roared by David, headed for the Circle-Square-Circle and its burning barn. The pickup was traveling very fast, so David only had a glance into the cab, but it looked like there were four big men piled into the cab. You missed the fire engine, but you’ll be just in time to watch the barn burn to the ground, you idiots! You’ll stay busy, though. Yes, you’ll stay busy running around like chickens with your heads cut off fighting that fire. That’ll be long enough for me to do what I came

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here to do. If ever he’d had any doubts as to his own intellectual superiority over everyone in North Dakota, it vanished as the pickup’s taillights disappeared in his rearview mirror. Setting fire to the barn had been an act of pure, unfettered genius. **** Katie glanced at the clock, and her brow furrowed briefly. The Mountain View Saloon was completely empty of customers. A half hour earlier, the four customers that had been playing seemingly endless games of team eight-ball had suddenly tossed two twentydollar bills on the bar, half of them shouting something about having to leave right away. The twenties not only covered the beers, they also amounted to about a one hundred percent tip on their tab. Had one of the cowboys suddenly remembered a promise to a wife to be home before eleven? Had one forgotten a girlfriend’s birthday? Whatever it was, Katie figured some girl or woman was going to get flowers in the morning. Leave it to a cowboy to forget a girl’s birthday! she thought with amusement, certain that the four McGowan brothers she loved would never forget hers. She felt a warm flush go through her. It was a common reaction whenever the reality of being in love with four men at the same time came, colliding like freight trains going in opposite directions on the same track. A sane, intelligent, sober woman like Katie simply didn’t put herself in the lurid and socially unacceptable position of being the lover of four gorgeous brothers. Right? The bell attached to a thin ribbon of metal over the front doors tinkled, signaling the arrival of late-night patrons. It wasn’t unusual for a couple cowboys to show up for “one last one” before closing time. Except this time, when Katie saw who had stepped into her

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saloon, her heart seized in her chest, and, for just a moment, she wasn’t altogether certain she wouldn’t get sick. “Hello, Katie. It’s good to see you again,” David said, holding a five-gallon gasoline can in his left hand and a very large kitchen carving knife in his right. “I can’t really say that I’ve missed you, though I can say that I’ve been thinking of you almost constantly since our separation.” Just for a moment, for a time span no more than a second or two, Katie was afraid that she was going to faint. No, no, no! the fiercely independent voice of self-preservation screamed. Fight this bastard. Don’t give up without a fight! “What’s the matter?” David asked, his voice a little high-pitched, almost whiney. “Cat got your tongue?” When Katie looked into his eyes, she saw his pupils, and they appeared to be no larger than pinpricks. She knew right then that he was high on cocaine. How high? And for how long had he been high? Katie hated hard drugs, and she especially hated the way David got whenever he used them. Whenever he snorted coke, he said he was going on a “power run,” which, Katie knew with dreadful experience, might mean a three-hour power run, or a three-day power run. The longer they went on, the weirder and more psychotic David’s mood swings were. “Well? Answer me, damn it,” David said when the silence ticked on. “Or maybe you’ve finally put in one of those tongue studs? You know, the kind that I asked you to put in so it would feel good on my cock while you were sucking me.” He’s such a sick bastard. She had come to the conclusion before, but now she meant it literally, both in the psychological sense and in the physical sense. His skin looked pasty, and though there was an intensity in his eyes that suggested a man vividly alive, they were red-rimmed and rheumy. Did the right side of his mouth have a twitch to it that she hadn’t noticed before?

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Don’t make him angry. He’s over the edge now. This is different from all the other times he’s gone postal. This time he’s brought a knife and a gasoline can, and there’s no telling at all how many days he’s been awake without sleep. Katie shook her head. “No, David, I never did get my tongue pierced. I know you wanted me to, but it just seemed so icky to me, I guess. Was that a big disappointment to you?” She saw his eyes narrow as he looked at her, studying her. Clearly, he hadn’t expected her to respond in such a calm, lucid fashion. After a couple seconds, he cocked his head slightly to the side, as a dog might who has suddenly heard a sound he couldn’t recognize. “Can I get you a drink?” Katie asked. “How about if I make you a Manhattan? Are those still your favorite?” She watched as his eyes narrowed again. His suspicion of her, of her suddenly friendly behavior, had caught him off guard. She tried to smile but wasn’t sure if anything more than her lips curled in something resembling a smile. Maybe it just looked like a grimace. Lord knew, she felt like grimacing. She felt like screaming at the top of her lungs and running from the Mountain View Saloon like an Olympian sprinter. But David was there, and he was staying between her and the doors, with a gasoline can in one hand and a nasty-looking knife with an eight-inch blade in the other. “Well?” Katie prodded, hoping her smile didn’t look as phony as she suspected. The seconds ticked by, and Katie felt beads of perspiration form at her temples. She had been frightened of David before, of course. How could she not have been frightened of him when he was beating on her? But then he’d been at least rational in his irrationality. He’d been furious with her and blaming her for things, but he hadn’t been this…odd. Quietly, intensely, unblinkingly odd—and high on coke. She hated cocaine maybe even more than she hated David.

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“Sure. I guess,” David said at last. “We’ve got time for a quiet drink, I suppose.” Katie almost breathed a deep sigh of relief. She was still doing everything she could to pretend that she wasn’t scared to the marrow of her bones. She was shaking in her Nikes, but if she let David know how frightened she was, then he would go on the offensive. David was the kind of man who just couldn’t resist kicking someone who was scared, someone defenseless. In a mixing glass, she combined the vermouth and bitters then opted for Wild Turkey hundred-and-one-proof bourbon whiskey instead of the regular eighty-proof bar bourbon. Maybe getting him drunk would be a help to her, especially with him being strung out on cocaine, which she was now certain he was. She mixed it carefully with the ice cubes, aware that he was watching her intently as he moved closer to the bar. “You can’t shake it too vigorously,” Katie said companionably as she gave the mixing glass a shake, “or you bruise the spirits and cloud the drink.” “That’s right,” David said, his voice lower, softer than it had been. “It’s nice that you’re taking the time to do it right. I like it when you try to please me.” “I try to please all of my customers,” Katie said, straining the cocktail in a martini glass. Instantly, she was aware of her error. She heard David’s immediate intake of air, and she wished to God and anyone else in Heaven who might help her that she hadn’t said a single word to the unstable lunatic now in her saloon. “Like those shit-stinking cowboys you’ve been fucking? I’m sure you try real hard to please them, don’t you?” Katie set the cocktail before David, placing down a paper napkin first. She noticed that her hands were shaking and that she’d spilled some of the cocktail. Every second of being alone with David heightened her terror. His sudden use of foul language was almost

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better than the feigned polite conversation they’d been having earlier. Maybe not, now that she thought about it. The look in his eyes had turned murderous. “I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” David lifted the gasoline can up onto the bar. There was a challenge in his gaze, like he was expecting Katie to complain about putting the can there, maybe even hoping she would say something about it. But she didn’t say a word about the gasoline can and did everything she could to ignore the can so completely that she didn’t even look at it or acknowledge its presence in any way. “Sure you do. You know everything you’ve done with those manure-smelling cowboys, and everything you’ve done to me.” He smiled, and a shiver went up Katie’s spine. “You remember what you’ve done, and believe me, I remember. I remember like you wouldn’t fucking believe. I remember ev…reee…thing.” He spaced the syllables in the last word out as though issuing to Katie some utterly taboo obscenity that she should be frightened of. And she was. Right down to her socks. Despite her personal pledge to say nothing more than necessary, Katie heard herself ask, “What do you want, David? Why are you here?” He smiled and replied, “For justice. I’m a lawyer, and I like seeing justice done. The innocent shall have their names purged from the system, and the guilty will suffer for their crimes. That’s the way it’s supposed to be, isn’t it, Katie? Don’t you agree that the guilty should suffer for their wrongdoing?” “I…um…what do you think?” Katie realized, with dreaded certainty, that this confrontation was different from those in the past. This time David wasn’t going to be content with blackening her eye or bruising her ribs and thighs, where the injuries were hidden by clothes. “When did you become such a milquetoast? What happened to that vaunted Katie confidence?”

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She heard the hatred laced through the words, like a single poisonous thread in a weaver’s tapestry. “I’ve still got it,” she said, but the quaver in her voice said otherwise. David shook his head and made a strange, swirling motion with the knife in his hand. “No you don’t. You used to, but you don’t now. What do you think? Do you think I beat the uppity cunt out of you? You don’t seem to have much uppity cunt left in you. That’s the way I see it, anyway.” With theatrical concern, like a journalist who really doesn’t like the person he’s interviewed, he inhaled, cocked his head to the side, exhaled, and asked, “Am I wrong here? Can you tell me where I’m wrong?” He waved the enormous knife casually, as though it wasn’t a lethal threat. “Of course you can’t. You know I’m right. I’m always right, and that’s part of the reason why you’ve behaved so badly. You couldn’t stand me always being right.” His eyes narrowed and hardened. “Admit it, Katie. Admit to me now that you’ve known all along that I was right and you were wrong. Admit to me that you’ve done some very terrible things to me, and, for that, you should be punished.” Katie inhaled and held her breath for a moment, struggling desperately to find an answer that wouldn’t incite David’s violence. “Well?” he prodded. “You used to be a lot quicker on your feet than this.” That’s because you’ve never before had a weapon in your hand while you were demeaning me. David looked around the saloon, smiling. He sipped his cocktail, set it down, and then picked up the gasoline can. “Nice place you’ve got here. You keep it nice and clean, but it’s still got that stench of bullshit in here. I suppose that’s from all those redneck cowboys traipsing in and out.” With a circular move much like a dance move, David grabbed the gasoline can and swung it out away from his body. Gasoline sluiced through the spout onto the slat wood floor and over the pool table. He

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turned to face Katie again, and the smile on his face was pure venom. He gave the red gasoline can a second swing, sending the flammable liquid splashing on the floor all the way to the front door. Then he walked back toward Katie and, while looking at her, splashed gasoline on four of the padded stools lined along the bar. “There, that should help mask the cow-shit smell on cowboy boots, shouldn’t it?” Katie said nothing. When she looked into David’s eyes, she saw that his pupils were no larger than pinpricks. What did she have behind the bar that she could use as a weapon to defend herself? Katie realized now that she had always led a very sheltered life. The only violence she’d ever known was what had been foisted on her by David. She’d never had to fight anyone, not physically, anyway. Sure, she’d had a few professional battles along the way, but that was different, completely different from what she was facing now. Being fired or getting overlooked for a promotion was one thing. Getting killed by a psychotic ex-lover was something else entirely. “What are you doing?” Katie asked. Though she had tried to sound casual, her voice quavered, and she swallowed drily. “What are you going to do?” She had tried to hold the words back, but she couldn’t. Even as she was speaking, she knew she was making a mistake. “What am I doing? Evening a score. Making sure that karma is balanced.” David smiled, and it was a dreadful thing to see. “You should appreciate that. Weren’t you the one who taught me about karma? How all things have to balance out in nature?” He picked up his Manhattan and took a sip, sighing afterward with pleasure. “You’re part of the servant class, Katie. Why did you forget that? You make an excellent Manhattan. I’ll grant you that. But that’s only to be expected of the servant class. Isn’t that right?” Fear blossomed in her breast, but so did disgust at this monster’s self-appointed superiority. “Yes,” Katie heard herself say, her better judgment taking control

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of her words, at least temporarily. “That’s to be expected of the”—she choked on the words before blurting out—“the servant class.” “Then you agree that you’ve made some terrible mistakes and that you should be punished for them?” He picked up the gasoline can in both hands. “What do you say we just call this perfume? It should disguise the stench of all that cowboy cum on you.”

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Chapter Thirteen The fire hose had been deployed, but it had already been decided by general agreement among the McGowans and the volunteers that the barn was a total loss. Nearby was a shed for grain, as well as two different machine sheds. All the buildings were made of wood and were the better part of a century old. They could be saved, provided they were watered down enough so that the dry, old wood would take to flame by sparks. Aaron watched as his neighbors and brothers scurried about, some in their protective asbestos jackets and rubber boots, others arriving in such a hurry that they were in their civilian clothes. Arson. No doubt this is arson. The barn had been built by his father and his grandfather back in the days when there were no power tools to make the work easier. It was all done with brute hand labor, with saws and hammers and sweat, and built to last for generations. And it had lasted and would have continued to serve its purpose if not for an arsonist. Aaron was thinking about how different it would be to have an aluminum barn, new and shiny and efficient, with all the doors in perfect alignment. But he already knew that every day he looked at the new pole barn that would be erected in just a couple days, he’d remember the old barn and how there was magic and memories in what was old. And then another thought crept into Aaron’s consciousness, and it made his insides clench and his heart suddenly accelerate. For a moment he closed his eyes, looking inside himself, searching for an alternate reason why someone would want to burn his barn.

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“Oh, God,” he said aloud, “Katie’s all alone at the saloon.” He looked at the volunteers as they manned the fire hose, spraying water onto the side of his grain shed. All the good men in the territory were here at the Circle-Square-Circle Ranch. If not for the fire, then several of them would surely be enjoying a late-night beer at the Mountain View Saloon. “Blair! Garrett! Flynn! We’ve got to get the hell out of here! Come on!” His brothers all turned toward him, each looking at him incredulously. “Katie’s all alone at the saloon! This was set to get everyone here and keep us here!” He turned and started running for his pickup truck, running faster than he’d ever run in his life. **** “Wait…wait a minute. Please?” Katie asked, feeling trapped behind the bar. She smoothed her hands down her sides. Her palms were clammy, and she couldn’t seem to dry them, even when she wiped them on her jeans. David held the gasoline can in both hands. He had slipped the big knife inside his belt at the small of his back. There was a feral smile on his lips, and the brightness in his eyes was more intense than she could ever remember seeing. “Please, can’t we just talk a minute?” “What’s to say? That you’re a cunt? Fine.” He gave the gasoline can a shake, and the flammable liquid sluiced from the nozzle. Katie put up her hands defensively. The gasoline splashed over her forearms and chest. Her blouse was soaked through, and she could feel the liquid seeping into her brassiere. “Say it! Say you’re a cunt! I want to hear you say it!” “I’m a cunt! Okay! Now put the can down.” The smell of the gasoline was powerful, filling Katie’s nostrils. She knew the danger she was in. She did everything she could to pretend that she hadn’t been doused. “Don’t do this, David.” In a softer voice, she added, “You don’t want to do this.”

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“Ever think that maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do?” He chuckled malevolently. “You never were as smart as me. Never. I’m a lawyer. At least I was until you fucked me over.” Katie felt the gasoline saturating her brassiere, now cool and itchy against her skin. She looked down and saw the wide stain of wetness on her blouse. “No, I was never as smart as you,” Katie said. She picked up a washcloth, the one she used to wipe down the tables with, and started wiping the gasoline off her hands and forearms. “When you break it all down, I’m just a glorified waitress who—” She had been looking down, so she hadn’t seen David’s initial move. This time when the stream of gasoline came at her, she didn’t block or deflect any of it. Though the pungent liquid didn’t hit her in the face, her blouse was now soaked to the skin, and her jeans were wet nearly to her knees. “Damn it, David, did you have to do that?” “Yes, cunt, I did. You were going to take your blouse off. You always did have great tits.” He tossed the can in her direction, but this time Katie skipped sideways to escape the spray. Gasoline splashed over the back counter, pooling among the bottles of vodka and whiskey. Turning, he tilted the can upside down and poured gasoline onto the pool table and then over the floor and along the wall near the jukebox. Katie saw her moment of opportunity, and she took it. She ran to the end of the counter and was nearly out from behind the bar when David hurled the nearly empty gasoline can at her. She started to duck and simultaneously raise her hand to defend herself, but her actions weren’t quick enough. When the rounded side of the can hit her just above the left ear, brilliant lights flashed in her brain, and her legs buckled. If she hadn’t grabbed onto the bar, she would have fallen to her knees. “Where are you going, cunt?” David bellowed then threw his head back on his shoulders and released an enormous belly laugh. “How

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many goddamn times do I have to tell you to ask for permission before you do things? Is it any wonder I had to slap your fat ass around? When are you going to open your ears and listen to reason?” Katie was at the end of the bar, doubled over, fighting to remain conscious. The ringing in her ears was so loud she could barely hear David’s insults. The acrid stench of gasoline burned her nostrils. Her blouse and brassiere were so saturated that gasoline literally dripped off of her. From his shirt pocket, Katie watched as David pulled out a box of sulphur-tipped stick matches. “Don’t. Don’t do this.” David shook his head slowly, his gaze locked onto Katie’s. “Not this time,” he said, his voice very low, nearly a whisper. “It’s time for justice, Katie.” In a single motion, he scratched a match against the emery board on the side of the box and flicked the burning match at her. Katie let out a startled cry and slapped her hands together, trapping the match and putting it out, but not before getting a burn on both hands. “This isn’t justice,” Katie said. Both palms were throbbing where she’d crushed out the sulphur that had still been flaring when she’d caught the match. “This is murder.” David sent another flaming match at Katie. This time, instead of catching it, she slapped it out of the air. The match, still flaring when it reached the floor, landed in gasoline. It took instantly to flame, and within seconds the fire was crawling toward the stools near the bar that David had saturated with gasoline. Katie now had fire to her left, and David standing between herself and the front doors that were her only escape. To get to the back room of the saloon, she’d have to get past David. She watched as fire crawled up onto a barstool. Black smoke from plastic curled toward the ceiling, its stench burning in Katie’s nostrils. She looked back at David just in time to see another flaring matchstick arching through the air toward her. Again she slapped it

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out of the air. When the match landed on the pool table, the gasolinesaturated felt tabletop went ablaze. Now Katie had fire to her right and left, with her back to the wall and David in front of her. “Seems an awful lot like hell, doesn’t it?” David laughed again, but the sound was cut off abruptly, and he glared hatefully at Katie. “You put me through hell, you cunt! This is justice! Your justice! This is the goddamned karma you taught me about, the karma you deserve!” Katie’s brain seemed to suddenly operate a hundred times faster than normal. As though the world was in slow motion, she saw all of her options clearly and precisely. Most importantly, she saw them with a crystalline lucidity. Her clothes were soaked in gasoline. To her right and left were fires that were growing stronger by the second. In front of her was a demented ex-lover flicking lit matchsticks at her, clearly hoping to get her blouse to start on fire. If she tried to run through the flames to get away from David, her clothes would start on fire. As soaked as they were, if the fire didn’t kill her, she’d still be burned beyond all recognition. The only path to freedom was straight ahead, straight at David, and he had a nasty-looking kitchen knife and a big box of matches. If she waited much longer, the flames would come to her, and she’d die. David tossed the matches aside and extracted the knife from his belt. He held the knife out in front of himself, crouching over in a classic knife fighter’s stance. “So what’ll it be, you cunt? Do you want the fire to get you, or do I get to slice your fucking throat?” “Want to know something? Since I dumped your pudgy ass, I’ve found out what it’s like to get thoroughly and royally fucked.” She forced a laugh from her throat. “Not that limp-dick, half-assed stuff you used to give me. I’m talking about real men with real cocks.” “You vile cunt!” David took two steps toward Katie, realized he was standing in flames, and then danced backward quickly. The right leg of his trousers was smoldering, and he slapped at the fabric before

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it went ablaze. “You’re just saying that!” “No, I’m not.” With her periphery vision, Katie studied the flames. She figured she had less than a minute before she’d have to make a run for it. But maybe, if she could enrage David enough, he might charge her. With luck, she could push him aside, and then she could get to the other side of the fire, and he would be the one with his back to the wall. “Liar!” “That tiny cock of yours never gave me any pleasure. I’ve got four lovers now. Four hot, horny men that love me just the way I am. And I give it to them, David. I give them everything they ask for.” She put her hands on her hips saucily. “I’ve even given them my ass.” “Cunt!” David screamed and rushed at Katie. It was losing his temper that saved David’s life. An instant after he attacked Katie, Aaron’s pickup truck smashed through the front wall of the saloon, just to the left of the front doors, careening into the main room, smashing into the pool table as glass, splintered wood, and remnants of neon advertising signs sprayed in every direction. Aaron bolted from the pickup truck, his handsome face a mask of rage. “Come here, you bastard!” he shouted, rushing headlong at David. Katie had no choice but to run through fire to get to the enormous hole in the front of the building. Off to her left, she saw that David had bolted behind the bar to escape Aaron’s fury. The other three McGowan brothers were piling out of the pickup’s cab as Katie rushed toward them. She heard the whoosh! when her blouse caught on fire. Across the surface of her mind flashed horrific images of herself, her face and body burned beyond anything anyone would recognize. Then hands were on her, ripping at her clothes, wiping down her face and breasts even as she was pulled out of the building through the gaping hole created by the pickup. “Get her down!” one of the brothers screamed.

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“Get her clothes off! They’re soaked in gasoline!” shouted another. Hands were everywhere, tearing and rubbing, stopping the flames the instant they started. Her blouse was ripped from her, and then her gasoline-saturated brassiere. She smelled the stench of singed hair, but not the unmistakable smell of burning flesh. Her Nikes were removed, and then jeans and panties were unceremoniously ripped down her legs. In something of a daze, Katie pushed herself to a sitting position, finding herself in the parking lot completely naked, forty feet from the saloon, surrounded by the men she loved. Flames now were completely engulfing the ground floor of the saloon, and smoke was coming from the upstairs windows. “You’re all right?” she asked Aaron. The look in his eyes was murderous. “Bastard ran upstairs. I couldn’t follow him.” She could feel the heat of the fire against her bare skin. When she started to get to her feet, the brothers immediately helped her. She looked at the Mountain View Saloon, stepping backward because each second sent fresh waves of heat toward her, each one more intense than the last. An upstairs window opened. David leaned out, his smile maniacal, waving the long-bladed knife. “I win, you fuckers! I win!” He disappeared back into the room. It was the bedroom that Katie had used when she had stayed with her grandparents. “He doesn’t stand a chance,” Aaron said as ever-thickening smoke rolled out of the upstairs windows. Aaron removed his shirt and gave it to Katie. She was hardly aware of her own nudity, conscious only of the four men around her, of what they’d been willing to do to save her, and of their love for her. From inside the saloon, from the upper floor, a hideous cry cut through the night, high-pitched and loud enough to be heard above the

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roar of the flames. **** Katie looked at herself in the mirror, and she was not at all happy with what she saw. “It’ll grow back,” Aaron said, standing behind her. “Yes it will,” Katie said, “but you’ve got to look at me with a boy’s haircut until it does.” The fire had singed her hair so severely that the haircut she needed was infinitely shorter than she wanted. The only burns she received were the two on her palms, when she’d caught the flaming matchstick. “Trust me, that’s the only thing about you that looks like a boy.” Katie turned slowly away from the mirror. The horrors of the fire and of their last-second escape were never far from her thoughts. The McGowan brothers were standing near the door to her bedroom, each one more handsome than the next. “In that case, why don’t you show me just how much you love me?” “For how long?” “How does ‘forever’ sound?” “Like a good start, is all.” Aaron raised a brow. “Is an eternity asking for too much?” All four McGowan brothers smiled and began unbuttoning their shirts.

THE END WWW.ROBINGIDEON.COM

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Robin Gideon has been the featured author on the nationallysyndicated TV show CBS Sunday Morning, was named 3rd Best Alltime for sexy romances by Amazon.com’s ListMania, and is the author of numerous novels and novellas. She lives in what has been described as Frostbite Falls, Minnesota. She loves hearing from her readers and can be reached at [email protected].

Also by Robin Gideon Ménage Amour: The Dakota Dynasty: Ecstasy Times Two Ménage and More: Elysia’s Passion

For titles by Robin Gideon writing as Brandi Maxwell, please visit www.bookstrand.com/brandi-maxwell

Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com