December
Beneath the covers, my nightdress was bunched up about my waist. The only light that filtered into the room was from the half moon. My fingers stroked over my eager flesh. I knew how to rub myself, to bring myself quick and very illicit pleasure. In the past, it had been fast as I worried that the Arnolds would know of my late night activities. When they never fired me for my wanton behavior, I had to assume I had been quiet enough in finding swift release. But when Mr. Quinn and Mr. Porter talked to me earlier in the day, it was their faces, their broad smiles, and their even broader shoulders that filled my mind. The pleasure that built was only greater still when I imagined their hands on my body. How, I didn't know, perhaps having one of their hands replacing mine between my spread thighs, but my body wanted it. I had to bite my lip when the pleasure washed over me to prevent from crying out their names into the dark.
***
"Don't worry about knowing what to do," Porter told me. "We know. First thing is to get you naked."
My mouth fell open. "Naked?" I couldn't back up, couldn't go forward or to my left, so I slid along the bars to the right, but only made it a few inches before Porter's hand snaked out and grabbed the bar beside me, hemming me in completely.
"Naked," Quinn repeated.
I gulped. "You wanted to marry me just to see me without my clothes?"
Both men paused and stepped back. While I appreciated the space to breathe, I'd clearly said something wrong.
"If I just wanted a naked woman, I would have found one who wasn't so difficult and contrary," Porter said.
I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. "Then you should go and—"
Quinn cupped his hand over my mouth and looked down at me as if I were being difficult and contrary. Oh dear, I was just as Porter described.
"I want a woman who is difficult and contrary," he said.
"And tiny and lush," Quinn added.
"Who looks at both of us with curiosity and a hint of longing."
"Whose smile brightens any room she's in."
"Who is kind and friendly to the other women at Bridgewater."
"Who wants us." Quinn dropped his hand as they slowly moved closer once again and this time I felt longing and desire and want and something akin to love. Perhaps it was, but I couldn't consider the notion at the moment. "Isn't that right, angel? Do you want us as much as we want you? We wanted you for our wife from the very beginning, but do you want us to be your husbands?"
This was the moment. While I'd said yes earlier when Porter asked me to marry him, they couldn't ask if I'd take them both as my husbands in front of the sheriff. Porter had told me to trust him then, and I had. Did I trust them both now with my heart? That was what was at stake. I'd slowly been falling in love with them, bit by bit over the past two years. Perhaps that was why Mr. Matthews was so odious and of no interest to me. My heart had been held elsewhere.
I looked at both men. They were so big and strong and brave and dominant, and yet I had the opportunity to hurt them. What they wanted with me was intimate and private and special and I couldn't just toss that to the wind.
"Yes," I breathed. I nodded my head to back up my words. "Yes, I want you both as my husbands."
They grinned and I couldn't help but smile as well.
"Now then, we want you naked," Quinn repeated. He seemed to have a very specific focus and that solely involved me without any clothes. When I didn't make a move to remove them, he asked, "Shall we help?"
Porter didn't wait for me to reply, for he seemed smart enough to know I had no plan to do as they requested, and his hands came up to the buttons down the front of my dress. I tried to slap them away, but he would not be dissuaded. Quinn moved back, out of my field of vision. I didn't care what he did, for Porter had worked the tiny buttons free all the way down to my navel with surprising haste. He pushed the material off my shoulders and down my arms, working it completely off of me to pool in a circle around my legs.
"We can't do this here. Someone could come in!"
The air was warm, but goose flesh rose on my bare arms. Porter stopped his motions and looked me over. I wore a plain corset with a chemise and drawers beneath. Heavy wool stockings covered my legs to above my knee and I wore my sturdy boots.
"No one is going to come in. The door is bolted and the sheriff himself said that he was busy with his family." Porter spoke to me but kept his eyes on my body. "We only pulled him away because it was for a wedding."
Quinn returned to my side and looked at my uncovered body as he spoke. "It's Christmas and it's time for us to unwrap our present."
"This isn't what I imagined," I admitted.
Two sets of dark eyes met mine. "You imagined us taking your clothes off?" Porter's voice was laced with intrigue. "What did you think of?"
I'd caught myself in a trap, and the men knew it. I felt my cheeks flushed.