Free Bridled and Branded by Natalie Acres

will?” Sarah Beth asked, turning to face Scott. Only Scott had the gun aimed at his head now. Seemed fair enough all things considered.
    “I thought you were dead. I wanted these two to pay for the pain they’d caused you.”
      “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I can tell you from experience, your woman was feeling no pain if she was in bed with these two.”
    “Lynlee!” Blaine yelled. “Shut the hell up.”
    “No,” Lynlee said. “Blaine, for once, I’m speaking my mind.”
    “For once?” Blaine asked.
    Ignoring him, she continued, “Look, it’s not every day that I pay a two-hundred-dollar entry fee for an event I’m now going to miss so two crazies can congregate in my little trailer. I live a simple life, something the two of you apparently can’t comprehend, seeing as you must enjoy the drama surrounding you.
    “In any case, I haven’t the time or the patience to see how you resolve your not-so-private matters of the heart. Sarah Beth, I wouldn’t be too quick to judge. Yes, your husband held me against my will, but what is it that you’re doing now?”
    “Getting even,” Sarah Beth replied.
    “Okay,” Lynlee drawled. “So you’ve gotten even. Do you feel any better?”
    “Not much,” she admitted.
    “Naturally, you wouldn’t,” Lynlee said. “Truth is, the only person you’re trying to get even with is yourself. Whatever pain you caused in your marriage, you’re going to have to own it. Blaine and Rhett may have been the instruments used in tearing apart your relationship, but they weren’t responsible for the underlying mechanisms that tore you away from your husband.”
    Lynlee took a deep breath. “It’s easy to point fingers and cast blame. In the end, sometimes the only thing you have to do is sit down and face the truth. You made a mistake. You have to own up to that, otherwise, you’ll spend your life making one crucial error after another.”
    “Should I applaud now?” Blaine asked, smirking.
    “You can save the smacking sounds for later dear,” Lynlee said, unsure if her speech made a difference since Sarah Beth still squeezed the gun tightly in her left hand.
    “So what’s it going to be, Sarah Beth?”
    She glanced down at the shag carpet. “I don’t want to be married to a man who doesn’t want children.”
    “So you don’t want to be married. Get a divorce. You can walk away amicably.”
    “You don’t understand,” she bit out.
    “Maybe I don’t,” Lynlee agreed. “But I don’t have to understand.”
    With a wicked smile and pure evil denting the dimples in her cheeks, Sarah adamantly disagreed with a shake of her head. “You may change your mind if you’re in bed with these two. See, the reason I’m here is to find out which one of them plans on supporting me and my unborn child. I’m pregnant.”

Chapter Eleven

    “How could you be so stupid?” Lynlee screamed. Four hours had passed since the little standoff in her camper. Rhett had convinced Scott and Sarah Beth that if Sarah was indeed pregnant, then he would do the right thing by the child. Blaine never admitted anything.
    “Lynlee, damn it, what don’t you understand? There is no way I could’ve gotten that woman pregnant.”
    “Let me guess,” she drawled. “You wrapped it twice?”
    “No,” he said, bowing his head. “But I did wear a condom.”
    “News flash, Blaine. When it rains, a man hides under his raincoat. When there’s a flood, and we both know what I’m talking about, there aren’t any guarantees everyone will stay dry.”
    “That’s the corniest thing I’ve ever heard.”
    “I don’t care, and you don’t owe me an explanation.”
    “You do care, and I want to explain.” Blaine clenched his fists. “Damn it, there’s more to this than I wanted to talk about straight out of the gate.”
    “Then why don’t you start talking? I’d love to hear why you think Rhett could be a potential daddy, but you aren’t susceptible to the same damnation,