Free Dalton, Tymber - Hernando Heat (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Tymber Dalton

three of them couldn’t be together. Despite knowing they’d have difficulties down the road, he couldn’t bear to take Mason’s love from him when he knew from personal experience how damn lonely it would be.
    He’d mastered loneliness over the years and would never wish it on another. They could and would make this work.
    “What will people say?” She kept her voice low despite them being alone, just the thought, apparently, enough to make her want to keep it secret.
    He grabbed her hand. “You leave that to me. You’ll marry one of us. We’ll figure it out. Mason and I’ve lived together for a while. He’s still my cousin. It won’t cause talk.” He stroked her cheek and smiled to reassure her. “People would talk more if you didn’t marry one of us, despite you being a widow. They’ll expect one of us to claim you soon enough, I’m sure.”
    When she started to protest again, he laid a gentle finger on her lips. “No more worries, Katie. Promise me.”
    She finally smiled and nodded.
    “Good. Now let’s get back to dinner.”
    After dinner, he wouldn’t let her return to her room. Instead, he drew her into his bed, but they were both so tired they simply lay down together, with her nestled in his arms.
    She fell asleep almost immediately.
    He smiled as he studied the curve of her jaw, the smooth lines of her brow without wide-awake worry to crease it. He didn’t want to tell her about the one time he’d been with someone other than his Laura. A trip to Tampa, when he and Mase rented a soiled dove at one of the Tampa hotels and spent a night with her, fueled by Mason’s grief over a visit to his sister’s grave and Joe’s alcohol-fueled memories of his lost love. An evening where the two of them shared the girl, enjoyed losing themselves and their grief in her and for a few hours, deadening the pain in their souls.
    They never talked about it again after that, but he suspected Mason had enjoyed it as much as he did, at the time.
    He’d loved Laura so much, but she’d have tempted the angels themselves. Being young, he’d wanted her. And with only three weeks before their wedding, neither of them saw a reason not to give in.
    And then she was dead just weeks later.
    Deep down, he suspected Dorchester Junior, who’d made statements about wanting to court her despite her rejecting him once already, had a hand in it. The way the sickness had suddenly come on her, Joe had suspected poisoning, even though the doctors thought perhaps it was caused by a ruptured appendix brought on from a fall from her horse the day before.
    The doctor insisted she was delirious when she tightly clutched Joe’s hands as he sat with her. How she begged him not to trust the Dorchesters.
    The way Junior seemed to sneer at him at the funeral before disappearing.
    The Dorchesters hadn’t dared cross his path since.
    He’d never told Mason or anyone else his suspicions after the doctor warned him. “They’re powerful. They’re evil. And I don’t want to be burying any more people if they did have a hand in this.” The doctor shook his head. “I’m willing to bet this was natural, just unfortunate timing, son. Don’t let fantasies eat you alive. And don’t plan revenge.”
    Joe hadn’t planned revenge, but if the opportunity darkened his door, he wouldn’t refuse it. No one could convince him the Dorchesters were innocent. Especially not Junior.

Chapter Eight

    The repetitive, melancholy sound of a whip-poor-will awoke Katie just after false dawn the next morning. Confused, she didn’t recognize the room until she realized the warm body comfortingly pressed along her back was Joe.
    Closing her eyes again, she felt like laughing and crying at the same time. They’d made love yet again sometime in the dead of night, when she awoke with her face pleasantly snuggled against his bare chest. Then he’d shifted position slightly, rolling toward her, placing his lips within kissing distance and…
    She