Denys, Jennifer - Wife for Three [Duoterra] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read Online Free PDF Page A

suddenly look worried.
    “Look, lady. You can’t live with us without being married. Not with the laws now. Not unless you are a widow, which I sincerely doubt.”
    Dammit. He is right. She bit her lip not knowing what to do. If she went off with him without being married it would be seen as promiscuity. This, of course, was unacceptable in their society as there were so many men in need of a wife, other than via polygamous marriages which were, by their very nature, mutually consensual. Any adultery was firmly punished in archaic fashion whereby the woman would be stripped naked, her hair shaven off, flogged through town, and exiled. She frowned. The guilty man, on the other hand, was just fined, being regarded as a wretched person driven to that course by sheer desperation.
    Adam continued, “Since we are too busy to get back to town, the only way around this is for you to return home.” Gasping in fear, she cried, “No! I can’t do that.” Looking at her suspiciously, he asked, “Why not? You’re in some kind of trouble, aren’t you? I knew Curt’s stupid advert would attract the wrong sort of woman.”
    Sucking in a breath at his accusation, she pouted. “I haven’t done anything wrong. I just don’t want to be forced into a marriage. I want to choose.”
    He chuckled harshly. “And here you are choosing three brothers you don’t know, two of whom you have yet to meet. For all you know, we could take you home, tie you to our bed, and one of us fuck you all day and all night. That’s a better life, is it?” 28
    Jennifer Denys
    Blushing fiercely, Brianna responded curtly, “It was until I met you!”
    Adam raised an eyebrow. “So now we’ve got that sorted, I’ll say good-bye.”
    “Please.”
    Her plaintive cry stopped him in his tracks.
    “Can’t I just stay at your place for a bit? I could cook and clean for you. I make a mean plum-apple pie.” She could see her offer was very tempting and followed it up with more pleas. “I’ve really got nowhere else to go.”
    He looked undecided and ran a hand nervously through his hair again. “You could stay here.”
    “What, here in this town—with those two men on the prowl?”
    “Hell! I’d forgotten about them. Damn. Are you sure you can’t go home?”
    Brianna nodded emphatically.
    A few tense, silent moments followed during which she could see him trying to decide the right course of action. “I guess we could go to see the law enforcer and take out a marriage contract right now. It’s perfectly possible for me to sign on behalf of my brothers. That way we won’t be breaking the law, and you would be safe from Ron and Bert.”
    So shocked was Brianna by this turn of events, her jaw dropped.
    She had only come to Frontier to talk to Curt. Part of her wasn’t sure if she would marry him after all. It may have just been a way of escaping her uncle. On the other hand, the reaction of the two men earlier had shown how vulnerable she was. And what she had said about having nowhere else to go was true. No one would offer her a job. The woman’s place was in the home. She certainly wasn’t going to the brothel in Eden. But by going off with this man who she didn’t know, wasn’t that tantamount to doing the same thing?
    “Well? If we are going to do this, we need to do it now.” Wife for Three
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    She swallowed nervously and nodded slowly, still amazed by what was happening. Somewhat bemused by it all, she quietly let him lead her over to the appropriate building, and within a short time, they were back on the street again, but only now, she was a married woman.
    Glancing down, she looked at the paper in her hands—her marriage contract. Despite the abundance of religious-related swear words, religion had been left behind on Earth, and marriages were not conducted by a minister or priest of any kind like the old days on their home planet, but in front of the law enforcer or town mayor. On most occasions, it was still a happy ceremony with