Chasing Emily [Duoterra 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (2 page)

He couldn’t resist a passing comment to the young men who were astonished when he suddenly appeared. “Afternoon, boys. It’s going to be a great dance tonight. Know any girls?”

Chuckling at their startled mutterings, he tried to recall everything he’d heard about Emily as he made his way across the street into the bar. Frontier, as the name suggested, was on the edges of the wild region and was still a pretty small town with just one long street with a few buildings and houses on either side, so it didn’t take long.

Actually he found he couldn’t remember much about her, other than the fact that she had a reputation for being something of a good-natured tart.

Standing in the doorway, his gaze instantly went to the woman behind the counter. He guessed she was in her midforties. As he was thirty-four himself she didn’t seem overly old to him. Anyhow, he liked older women. She was a brunette, but with red tones in her hair, which was tied back at her neck.

However, it was her face that he really noticed as it lit up the place. She had a wonderful smile and beamed cheerfully at the people she was serving. Although she seemed to have two male assistants, most people gathered around her end of the bar, all clamoring for her attention.

“Hey, Emily. How about a kiss?” requested one young man leaning forward, his lips puckered in anticipation.

Finn grinned at the look of sarcasm she gave the crowd. She then laughed as she picked up a mug of ale and tipped it over the impudent pup. “When you stop wearing nappies, George!”

The whole crowd around her burst out laughing as the hapless George staggered back from the counter, dripping wet, wailing, “Emily!” He then moved past Finn to exit the building, presumably to go and put some dry clothes on—it had been a full mug.

As Finn enjoyed watching the spectacle, he reflected on Emily’s voice, which had been deep and husky. Being a singer, Finn always listened to people’s voices initially as it told him a lot about them. He could tell that Emily was someone who talked a lot and that her voice carried well across the room, probably necessary for running a busy bar. He wondered if she did any singing. Her tone resonated with a rich timbre.

He was thinking about the possibilities of performing with her and was startled when she suddenly called over to him, not conscious that she had noticed him standing there.

“Are you coming in, stranger?” She then spoke to those surrounding her, although he heard every word—as she clearly intended. “Maybe he’s applying for the job of doorman? With you lot coming in and out all day, I need one.” Her gray eyes sparkled with merriment as she turned her head to stare boldly at him, a brazen smile on her face.

Grinning back, he told her, “I’m looking for Emily.”

The crowd suddenly moved away as they turned to look at him, and Finn could see her better, his gaze dropping down to her body. Her blouse was plain-white, but had lace around the edges and was unbuttoned to midchest, showing a generous amount of her cleavage. This woman was not only voluptuous, she wasn’t afraid to show it off.

Oh, I’m going to like this woman!

Across the room, Robin lifted his head as Emily called out to the man in the doorway, and he narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he watched the interaction between her and the man.

Dammit. Emily is
my
woman. Why does everyone think they can have a piece of her?

Tightening his hands on his wooden mug, he saw the stranger move forward and had to resist an automatic urge to jump up and place himself in between them. Robin McPherson had been in love with Emily for a long time. He wasn’t like the other guys in town who enjoyed a laugh and roll about in bed with her.
They
didn’t care for her the way he did. He wanted to show her the love that she deserved, to protect her, and to look after her. Oh, he had asked her to marry him on several occasions and had been rebuffed every time. Each one hurt more than the previous, and she had lately avoided him whenever she could. They hadn’t even made love in a couple of months at the least.

His need to interpose himself got worse as Emily loudly asked of the newcomer, “So, handsome, would you by any chance be the travelling musician we’ve been waiting for?”

Handsome! How dare she tell someone else he is good looking?
Robin stared at the man and saw someone whose slight build was very different to his own tall, muscular frame. He also noted the other man was different in coloring, being fair where Robin was dark, and older than Robin. “Yup. The name’s Finn, Finn Taylor, and I guess you must be the gorgeous Emily I’ve heard tell about?”

Robin gritted his teeth as Emily chuckled, and he saw her lean forward on the counter. Her blouse was low cut enough already, but when she did that, she not only showed her breasts off to everyone close by, but also pressed them closer together, giving her terrific cleavage. He saw a few heads suddenly swivel in her direction, and he wanted to jerk those men off their chairs.

“You guess right, kiddo. How come we haven’t seen you in these parts before?”

Meaning “How come I haven’t seen you before?” Robin knew that tone of voice. They didn’t get that many strangers coming to Frontier on the outskirts of the wild region, but when they did, she took the opportunity to flirt outrageously with the newcomers, particularly if they were young.

He growled, and Emily clearly heard as she swung her head in his direction. Her expansive smile slipped. Instead, a calculating look came over her face, and she pulled at her hair clip holding her hair back, letting it all fall loose. She followed this up by shaking it to free the curls, which then tumbled over her shoulders in wild disarray. There was no gray in it at all. He knew that the women had found a plant from which they could distill a dye to cover the natural color of their hair. At least the dark-haired women could. Unless the fair-haired women had a sudden desire to turn brunette, they had to make do with the effects of sunlight.

Emily turned her head away from him and moved out from where she was standing. She leaned back, elbows on the bar, her chest raised enticingly as the man called Finn sauntered up to her with a broad grin on his infuriating face and placed his hands on either side of Emily on the counter.

But she didn’t look at the man. Instead she glanced at Robin. He could tell this was her way of saying she could choose who she wanted and wouldn’t be tied down to one man—meaning him. He grimaced and refused to look at her, darting his eyes toward the man.

From what Robin could see of Finn’s profile, he was clearly enjoying being flirted with as he answered Emily’s earlier question, “I’ve been here before, but you were away, I seem to recall. Normally this is off my path. If I’d known there was someone as stunning as you here, I’d have made it part of my regular journeys.”

She giggled and raised a hand to caress Finn’s arm from forearm to shoulder, finishing by running her fingers through his hair. Robin dropped his eyes down to avoid watching, but then saw her raise a foot to rub the man’s leg.

That did it. Robin flung his cup away. It bounced off the wall, nearly hitting a man nearby, who yelled, “Hey, watch it!”

Robin jerked back from the table, his chair falling over with a loud clatter as he rose angrily and stalked outside, away from the sight of Emily fawning over the stranger. As he went, he could hear her talking. “You are very welcome here, Finn. We need some merriment and fun. Everyone is getting too
serious
.”

The last word was raised as he strode out of the building and it was clearly aimed at him. He didn’t go far, just around the corner, and banged a fist on the side of the next building. “Damn, damn.” He leaned forward to rest his forehead on the wall and considered hitting it with that part of his body, too.

Instead, he braced his hands on the side of the building as the sound of her laughter filtered through the air. He knew she liked young men. He also knew she liked a variety of men, preferring to spread her favors around, never allowing any one person to get too close to her. So what could he do to get her to accept
him
as her husband? She proved she didn’t need a man running her business. She certainly didn’t need him in her bed since she could have anyone. He was something of a quiet person and not somebody who could come out with witty lines. He bet the bastard making out with his woman in the bar had some smooth lines. And he just knew Emily would be lapping them up.

“Damn her!”

“I thought you loved me, not wanted me sent to hell.”

He spun around. Emily had followed him out of the bar and was standing there, leaning against a post with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. This was typical of her. She might flirt and have fun but had a serious side that she could turn on in an instant.

“Why him? Why any of them?” Robin couldn’t help crying out, wincing at his own plaintive tone.

She huffed. “What you really mean is ‘why not you?’”

Robin could feel his face getting hot. “All right. Why
not
me? You’ve enjoyed it when we’ve made love. I know you have.” He finished that sentence slightly less than certain. He thought she got pleasure from their lovemaking. At least he hoped she hadn’t been faking her orgasm.

Her arms dropped as she shook her head, and for once she looked worried, glancing warily around them. “For God’s sake, keep your voice down. And we didn’t ‘make love.’ We just had sex,” she stated in an angry whisper.

He was incredulous. “Everyone in town knows what you get up to, so it’s pointless keeping quiet.”

She marched up to him and responded urgently, “Yes, but there’s no need to announce it out loud, particularly with strangers in town, you idiot! Not unless you want me sent to the state brothel.”

Turning his head away, he suddenly felt ashamed of his outburst. He didn’t want her sent away. “I love you, so why not just marry me, and there won’t be any reason for you to be sent away.”

Her answer was a frustrated huff before she declared, “Oh, for heaven’s sake. Not again!”

“But why not? What’s so wrong with me that the thought of becoming my wife is so unthinkable?”

“You’re too young for a start.” That annoyed him, partly because it was true. He was twenty-nine to her forty-five, but that didn’t faze him. All his life he had preferred mature woman to the young girls in the town, who just seemed silly to him.

“Well, that hasn’t stopped you bedding most—or all—the young men in town.”

The look on her face told him he had gone too far this time, and when she abruptly started to move away, he grabbed her arm.

“I’m sorry. That was rude of me.”

Her body relaxed slightly, and she sighed. “You know perfectly well if you youngsters didn’t have someone like me, you’d be going to your marriage beds untutored and frighten the poor girls with your rampant lusts.” She stopped to chuckle at her own words. “Or you’d be jerking off at every street corner, and the jail would be full as you’d all get arrested for lewd behavior.”

He was annoyed that she had included him in her catalog of young men to be trained and passed off to be married. “So, haven’t you done enough ‘duty’? Isn’t it time for you to settle down?”

Emily suddenly lost all tenseness and leaned into his body, pressing her breasts against his chest. She ran her hands up his arms, folding them around his shoulders, her fingers caressing his neck.

Uh-oh.
Robin was suspicious by this abrupt change of behavior—and he had every right to be. She gripped his hair to bring his head down to hers, causing him to hold onto her waist to avoid toppling over. Emily wasn’t that small, but he was well over six foot.

Using her most seductive voice she stated, “What—with you, little boy? Is this what you want?” She then ran her tongue along his lips. He automatically opened them, welcoming her into his mouth, and sighed. It had been some time since she had allowed him into her bed, and he missed her so much. Stroking her back, he moved his hands down to her buttocks to pull her close to him as his cock began to harden. She had a wonderful hourglass figure, her butt as luscious as her breasts, and he relished her roundness as he held her to him.

Hearing a noise, he started, and opening his eyes, he looked over her head. There was that man, Finn, watching them as he propped a shoulder against the wall, drink in hand. Robin saw him grin and raise his cup in acknowledgement.

Robin didn’t get the chance to enjoy his victory as Emily suddenly pulled her head back. He was stunned at how quickly she dropped her allure. “If sex is what you want, then that’s all you are going to get.” All seduction was gone, and her body was tense as she decried, “I’ve done my ‘duty.’ I was married, and it was a hellish marriage, partly because Vince was a raging boor who’d had no instruction before bedding me, and so I suffered horrendously, because he didn’t care about anyone else’s feelings, mine most of all. Throughout our partnership he ignored me, abused me, insulted me, and treated me abysmally.”

She moved back from him so quickly he stumbled. Her parting shot as she walked swiftly back into her bar ripped him in two. “I’ve been married, so I am not required to do so now. And I have absolutely
no
intention of tying myself down to one man ever again, least of all you.”