Free An Unusual Desconian Marriage (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) by Rachel Clark

she understood how seriously Desconians took their marriages.
    “I don’t want to be the reason Katarnia leaves you.”
    “Did she say something?” Jaegan had faith that everything would work out the way he intended, but if the problem had gone further than he realized then he and Luddeke might need to tweak their plans just a little.
    “No,” Deanna said, trying to move away from him. He only let her go far enough so that he could see her face clearly.
    “Do you love us, Deanna? All three of us?”
    “Of course,” she said immediately. He smiled at her quick and honest response.
    “Then it will work out. Families fight. It’s just part of the way things work.”
    “I don’t want to hurt anyone.” She bit her lips together as if she was trying not to cry again.
    “The only way that will happen is if you leave us.”
    “I don’t want to leave,” she said slowly. He noticed the stress she put on the word “want,” but chose to take the words literally.
    “Perfect,” he said, lifting her into his arms. He nodded a farewell to Jenelle and then headed out the door.
     
    * * * *
     
    “Can I come in?”
    Katarnia felt relief flow through her when she heard Luddeke’s voice. She nodded, stumbled from her chair, and practically ran into his embrace. Over the past few hours, she’d tried to convince herself that she was doing the right thing for three people she loved, but a selfish part of her didn’t want to let go.
    “I’m sorry about before,” Luddeke said as his arms enclosed her in a fiercely emotional hug.
    “I’m sorry, too,” she said as tears gathered in her eyes once more. Hell, would she ever stop crying?
    They stayed that way, cuddled together in the middle of her office, for a really long time. Eventually, Luddeke shuffled them both toward the sofa in the corner of Katarnia’s office and sat down. He pulled her onto his lap and continued to hold her close.
    “Kat, have you been pulling away from us because you want us to claim Deanna?”
    Her breath stalled in her lungs. Shit, her husbands knew her so well. How the hell was she ever going to find the strength to let them go? A small, scared part of her didn’t want to admit that was what she’d been thinking. What if they decided to take her up on the offer? Now that the time had actually come to do what she’d planned, she found she didn’t have the backbone. Fuck, how could she be so selfish?
    She gathered her flagging courage and nodded against his chest. She could barely breathe as he stroked her hair with his oh-so-familiar touch.
    “Sweetheart, I know this is usually Jaegan’s line, but I should spank your ass.” A hiccupped sob escaped her mouth as she tried and failed to hold herself together. “Katarnia,” he said, one strong hand holding her close, the other stroking her soothingly, “that’s the sort of decision we should be making as a family. Why didn’t you say anything?”
    She shrugged, unable to verbalize why it had felt like a decision she had to make alone.
    “Was I a gift?” a soft, feminine voice asked.
    Katarnia startled at the sad question. Deanna was standing at her doorway, Jaegan a looming presence behind her. Katarnia scrambled off Luddeke’s lap and wrapped her arms around the woman she’d fallen in love with long before she’d introduced her to Jaegan and Luddeke.
    Deanna wrapped her arms around Katarnia’s waist and started to sob.
    “No. No, it was never like that.” Katarnia felt tears flow down her own face as Luddeke and Jaegan both moved to embrace them as well. “I’m so sorry if I ever made you feel like that was the case. Deanna, from the moment we met I knew there was something between us.” She rubbed her cheek against Jaegan’s muscular bicep and made eye contact with Luddeke. “I would never have acted on it if you three hadn’t liked each other, but Dee, please know that I love you as much as I love our husbands.”
    “So you’ll stay?” Deanna asked quietly.
    “I