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

sighed.
    “Good morning.” His deep, sleep-thick voice rumbled through her.
    Afraid to respond and break this wonderful dream, she cuddled tighter against him. Maybe if she pretended this wasn’t real, there would be no hurt, no scandal.
    No heartbreak.
    His arm circled her waist as his lips brushed the nape of her neck. “You okay, Katie?” he softly asked.
    “Yeah,” she finally admitted. “I’m all right.”
    “Please don’t regret what we did. I love you.”
    She squeezed his arm. “I love you, too.” Working up the nerve, she rolled to face him. “How do we tell Mason about this? I can’t break his heart.” She swallowed hard as she stared into his eyes. “I love you, but I love him, too. I can’t lie to you, and I won’t lie to him, either.”
    He stroked her cheek. “Do you trust me?”
    She nodded.
    “Then let me handle this. Please?”
    “You can’t run him off.”
    He sat up. “That’s the last thing I have planned, believe me.” He clasped her hand to his chest. “You love us both enough to be with us?”
    She nodded, afraid to say it out loud. Dreams spoken aloud rarely came true.
    He brushed his lips across her knuckles, sweetly, yet lighting fires inside her. “Then trust me to handle this,” he repeated. “Please.”
    She worried it wouldn’t be that easy, but she nodded. After all, he knew his cousin a fair sight better than she did.
    She wondered how Mason had spent his night, and if he was safe.
    Worry filled her heart. What if something happened to him while he rode with the posse? What if she never got a chance to tell him how she felt?
    What if something horrible happened and she had to live with this burden of guilt for the rest of her life?
    Joe leaned in and kissed her. “Let’s get up and I’ll help you with breakfast,” he said. “Then I’ll take you into town.” His face hardened, and he squeezed her hand, just a little, firmly but not painfully. “And today, when I tell you to stay put until I come for you, you mind me. All right?”
    That made her smile. “All right. I promise.”
    A smile lit his face. “That’s my good girl.” He helped her out of bed.
    She returned to her room to wash up and dress. The sight of Paul’s picture filled her with sadness. No, he was gone even though her love for him would never wane. It didn’t make it any easier to look at his visage and feel heat rise in her again at the memory of Joe’s hands and mouth on her.
    She carefully wound the clock. “I’m so sorry, Paul,” she whispered. “I hope you’re not ashamed of me, but they’re good men, and I’m so damned lonely without you. And you did tell me you wanted me to be happy.”
    As the sun peeked over the woods beyond the eastern pastures, she stepped outside and checked the clothes she’d hung the evening before. They’d mostly dried, still a tad damp in the seams from the evening air, but they wouldn’t sour if she brought them in.
    They ate breakfast in a comfortable silence, frequently pausing to look at and smile at each other. When he finished, before he stood he took her hand in his and brushed his lips over her knuckles, clasping it between his warm, strong palms.
    “Please, Katie, believe me when I tell you this will be okay.”
    She nodded.
    “You think you can handle two men chasing after you all the time? Because you realize once I talk with Mason, we’re both going to be after you.” His lips quirked in a delicious smile that made her pussy ache in a pleasant way and started another trickle of moisture between her thighs.
    Heat rose in her face. “After more than a year alone, believe me, it would be nice not to spend my nights alone anymore.”
    He drove her to town and left the buggy at the livery before riding his horse to the sawmill. She tried to keep herself busy, to not think about either man, but whenever her eyes fell upon the chair she and Mason had shared during the rainstorm, worry crept in.
    What if Mason didn’t want to share