"We'll find a wife, eventually."
My brow furrowed at this and this time I was sure I'd misheard.
"A wife," I asked, a quirky smile playing across my lips, "just one?" I added, with a chuckle. The two men's expressions didn't change.
"That's the way it is, where we're from." Cole's cool voice drifted over the wooden table. He'd suddenly become very talkative. I stared at him, watching the corners of his mouth, his eyes, the muscles on his cheeks, anything that would betray that this was some queer joke that they were making and that any moment now they'd burst out laughing. When I finally couldn't hold his stare any longer, I looked down at the table, the warmth of the whisky and my own embarrassment at not knowing what was going on flooding my cheeks again.
"I'm not sure I understand," I said, my hand fluttering up to touch the back of my neck at the bead of perspiration that had formed there.
"What Cole's saying," Austin began, "or what he's trying to say, is that things are done a little different where we're from."
"Is that so?" I shot, almost immediately after he'd finished.
"That is so," he said slowly, nodding at me. Thoughts were racing through my head now that it was clear the two men were serious. But how could they be serious? I'd never heard of any such fashion that two men might take a single woman for a wife? The whole thing seemed ridiculous. How would that...work? I blushed again at the thought of a woman being shared, one night with one man, the next with the other. Unless...
"I can see you've got some questions," Austin said, soft and low. I surely did and he must have seen them running across my face, which is why he asked.
"I was just..." I drifted off, trying quickly to come up with an explanation of what I'd been thinking about. Thankfully, Austin decided to save me any further embarrassment by continuing to talk.
"Most folks do, you know. When they hear about the custom. First thing comes into their minds is Well how in the heck would that work? Is that what you were wondering?"
I blushed again for the umpteenth time at his accurate estimation, but nodded nonetheless.
"Well, it's in the tradition, in our heritage that two men marry with one woman. That two men discipline and train her to be a good and obedient wife, that two men work to keep her in a good and comfortable home, and that two men make sure her needs are attended to. In kind, the woman submits to both men's will, does their bidding and lies with both..."
I almost gasped at the last part. Everything else sounded like a normal marriage, or what little I knew of what that looked like. I mulled over what he'd said for a bit, the obvious question rolling around in my mind before it made its way down to the tip of my tongue. The words came out soft and fragile, almost scared sounding like I didn't want to know the answer. But I wanted nothing more.
"Both? At the same time?"
Austin nodded before he spoke, confirming my suspicions.
"It's the Ironhorse way."
Perhaps my cheeks had tired of flushing, or perhaps the alcohol was making them burn enough already, but anything I felt about what I'd just heard went straight down into my belly and ended in the now familiar wetness in between my legs. My mind raced as I tried to imagine the possibilities. Flashes of flesh and limbs and softer things exploded burst like lightning in my mind's eye and faded just as quickly. The thought that lingered, the final one I had, was not that of two men's hands giving me the stern licking I deserved for misbehaving. It was the thought of two men's mouths caressing my skin with kisses at the end of the day. The ache in my middle grew, pushing at my insides like it didn't have enough room. Like my body needed something to take it away.
"That's where you're from? Ironhorse?"
"Yes ma'am," Austin answered, both of us adjusting to the new feeling in the room that had settled after the last conversation.
"What does bring you out this way?" I asked in earnest. Ironhorse was a long way from Dalton.
"Gettin' to be late," Cole mumbled from across the room, pushing his chair back and standing up. I looked at Austin, secretly hoping that he wouldn't follow Cole's lead. He took a breath, though, and nodded, standing up as well.
"That it is, that it is. Would you prefer that we stay in the barn?" Austin asked earnestly. I cocked my head and looked at him, unsure of whether he was serious.
"Now why would I drag you all the way up here from that nice cozy campfire you had burning by the river, just so as you could sleep in my cold, damp barn? There's a room over there with a bed and another right beside it. I'll go get fresh water first thing in the morning, but if you wake before I do, the well's out back the house."
Austin nodded, Cole had already started for the room.
"Good night then," Cole said heading in the direction of the rooms.
"Good night," I said quietly, watching him go.
"Well, good night. We do sure appreciate you taking us in like this," Austin said. I looked into his kind eyes and felt the warm swell of pleasure flood through me again. I'd certainly never felt anything like that before when looking at a man.
"Glad I could help," I said, not taking my eyes off his. For a moment we stood there, the energy in the room growing, my body almost shaking beneath his handsome gaze. For the first time, I'd felt that with a man, felt the swell inside myself, the swell of desire of his affections. I hoped to heaven he felt it too. Just when I thought he was going to
