Free Menage by Emma Holly

can take it from here.'
    Joe was sitting on the stairs when I emerged, his head in his hands, his back bowed over his knees. He'd pulled on a pair of briefs and nothing else. I sat next to him on the faded cabbage-rose carpet runner. He gathered my hand on to his knee. My guess was Sean had never said he loved him.
    'You heard?'I said.
    'Yeah.'
    'You know, we can stop this any time you want -before anyone gets hurt.'
    'Do you want to stop?' His eyes were brilliant in the low light from the hall.
    I shook my head.
    'I don't think Sean wants to stop, either, Kate.'
    'But-'
    He silenced my protest with a petal-soft kiss. 'You have to be brave to have an adventure.'
    I snorted. 'Yeah, and you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, but I don't want you or Sean to end up cracked.'
    He bussed the tip of my nose. 'I'm not a coward and neither is Sean - or you.'
    I leant my head on his shoulder and thought that over. Cowards don't divorce their philandering husbands, or start their own businesses, or form ménages a trois . Maybe I could handle this. Maybe.
    'We'll wait until he comes out,' I said. 'He can spend the night with us.'
    Joe squeezed my shoulder in approval. "That's a girl. We'll make an adventuress out of you yet.'
     

Chapter Four
Intimate Notions
     
    The next day was Saturday. Mostly Romance didn't open till
noon
. A quickie to start the day would have suited me, but Sean was too grumpy and Joe was too hungry. The rumbling in his stomach distracted me from my goal.
    As a result, we all rolled out of bed together.
    'Bagels, coffee, fruit,' Sean said in his curt morning rasp. 'Be at the table in half an hour.'
    Fortunately, this meant he was preparing the meal. I'd just finished setting the kitchen table when the telephone rang. More at home now that he'd tupped the lady of the house, Joe grabbed the cordless receiver. He frowned at the voice on the other end.
    'It's Larry,' he said, and thrust the phone in my direction.
    For a moment, I drew a blank. Then I remembered. L. Kingston Something-or-other.
    'Oh, damn. Marianne must have given him my number.'
    'Indeed, she did,’ said L. Kingston as I lifted the phone to my ear. 'She also gave me to understand you were available.'
    I noticed Larry had my ex's knack for turning any statement into an accusation. Switching hands, I tried to unhunch my shoulders. Both Sean and Joe had crossed their arms across their chests. I didn't know who made me angrier, this obnoxious estate agent or the two Stone Age men who'd suddenly appeared in my kitchen.
    'As it happens, Mr , um -'
    'Larry.'
    'Larry. As it happens, Marianne mistook the situation. I'm not currently available. Marianne, on the other hand, is - and finds you quite attractive, I might add.'
    'I'm not interested in Marianne.' He rolled her name off his tongue as if it were something nasty. 'Look, you're not married, are you?'
    How dare he? He should be so lucky to find an uninhibited woman like Marianne. 'Look, Larry,’ I said, giving his name the same disparaging intonation. 'My marital status has nothing to do with it.'
    I guess he realised he wouldn't endear himself to me by insulting my friend, because at once he was full of apologies.
    Thirty seconds into his backpedalling , Sean grabbed the phone. 'Hey, dick-head, the lady's not interested.' And he slammed it down with a flourish.
    I stared at him, astonished by his gall.
    Amusement tugged the corners of his mouth. 'Breakfast was getting cold. Come on. Sit, you two.'
    Against my better judgment, I sat. I accepted the toasted bagel half Sean handed me, but I wasn't forgetting what he'd done. 'You had no right to do that, Sean.'
    Completely unperturbed, he poured a glass of juice and pushed it to my elbow. 'Why not? You wanted to get rid of him, didn't you?'
    'But you were rude.'
    'So were you.' He passed the honey-walnut cream cheese. 'I just got rid of him cleaner.'
    I couldn't deny that, though I wanted to. Feeling vaguely in the wrong, I knifed a smear of