Monroe, Marla - Belonging to Them [Men of the Border Lands 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read Online Free PDF Page B

just hormones. She sighed and checked the corn. When she got to the end of the row, she looked out over the field of wildflowers behind it, and noticed the edge of the woods in the back had what looked like briars. Could there be blackberries among the briars?
    Heather hurried through the field and checked the briars to find that there were. She eagerly began filling her bucket with the ripe berries. Time passed and she realized it was growing dark. She would have to hurry to get back to the house in time to start supper. She realized she’d worked her way much farther than she had planned. She hurried back along the woods until she reached the spot behind the corn.
    She had just emerged from the garden when Brandon exploded from the house, his face much like a thundercloud.
    “Where in the hell have you been? We’ve been frantic looking for you.” He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the house.
    “Brandon, you’re hurting me.”
    “I’m going to do more than that. I’m going to turn you over my knee and spank your ass until it turns a rosy red!”
    Bolton slammed into the kitchen, looking as frantic as his brother looked angry.
    “Where have you been?”
    Tears stung her eyes. “I was picking blackberries for pies. I didn’t realize you would worry about me. I was just along the woods’ edge.”
    “You don’t ever go anywhere without one of us knowing where you are. Better yet, you don’t go anywhere without one of us being with you.” Brandon began unfastening her jeans and jerked them down to her knees along with her underwear.
    “No, don’t hit me please, Brandon, don’t hit me.” She cowered trying to pull away from him.
    Brandon cursed and turned away after letting her go.
    “Go upstairs, Heather. Now!”
    Heather was crying even before he pushed her away.
    She jerked up her jeans and ran up the stairs. She could hear the two men arguing below as she threw herself on the bed and wept. She felt even more a prisoner than she had before. It had reminded her that they owned her. She was a possession, not a wife or lover so much as their property.
    He wouldn’t have really hurt her. She realized that now, but for a moment, she’d been back at the brothel and panicked. What did bother her was that she couldn’t do anything without one of them there to watch her. She felt like a possession more than a human being sometimes.
    She heard footsteps on the stairs and knew it would be Bolton. The bed dipped and he laid a hand on her back and rubbed light circles around it in a soothing motion.
    “Heather? Are you okay?”
    She just sniffed and refused to answer him.
    “Honey, Brandon was scared to death someone had snatched you. I was scared to death.”
    He sighed and smoothed her hair from her face.
    “Don’t be mad at him, Heather.”
    “I’m nothing to either of you but a piece of your property. You don’t really care about me. You just want to protect what you own.” She felt the tears begin anew.
    “That’s not true.” Brandon had come upstairs now. “You mean more to us than that.”
    “It doesn’t feel that way. I’m not supposed to go anywhere or get out of your sight. I don’t feel like I’m really part of you.”
    “Don’t blame us for how things are. We can’t help it that the world is like it is. If you get out of our sight, anyone can take you, and we couldn’t do a damn thing about it. We would have to fight to get you back and there would be no guarantee we would ever find you,” Brandon said.
    She heard him spew a string of curses before he stomped back down the stairs. She heard the front door slam.
    “You don’t really believe all that, do you, Heather?” Bolton asked.
    “I can’t help how I feel. You treat me kind and give me what I need to take care of the house, but you are always telling me don’t do this and don’t go there. You keep reminding me that I’m not a person because I can’t think or do anything on my own. It hurts, Bolton. I want this