For the first time in a couple of hours, Kelsey felt her spirit lighten. “Is that a fact?”
Matthew met her gaze in the rearview mirror. “Fair warning. Once Benny is asleep, you’re going to be in for it. What do you have to say about that, darlin’?”
Kelsey would have thought her hunger and need for these two men would have abated by now, or at least leveled off. Instead, they had a knack for making her wet with just their words. She felt wanted, and loved, and most definitely aroused.
Kelsey smiled. “Bring it on, deputy. Bring it on.”
Chapter 20
The promise of private time and the decadent pleasures that would bring kept Kelsey’s blood humming all evening. Benny was delighted to see them all home at the same time. When he saw the bandage on Steven’s arm, he asked if he’d fallen off his horse.
Since that seemed the easiest answer to give the inquisitive four-year-old, he said yes.
It was all she and Matthew could do after that not to laugh. No one delivered pitying looks the way a small child could.
They fired up the outdoor grill and cooked hamburgers for dinner. Steven redeemed himself in Benny’s eyes by playing with him and his fleet of trucks on the back lawn while Matthew manned the grill. They had so much fun that, after dinner, Matthew joined them.
Kelsey wondered if that was just an elaborate ploy on the part of the men to get out of after-dinner clean up. Since they did seem to enjoy playing with the little guy, she really didn’t mind.
Kelsey could see them from the kitchen window as she finished up the dishes. Hearing Benny laugh and watching the way both grown men were able to relate to him filled Kelsey’s heart.
They’ll make very good fathers.
When the males came into the house, chased by encroaching darkness, Kelsey scooped up Benny and took him upstairs for his bath. He seemed to enjoy the water, especially when he could have boats to captain. Kelsey smiled as he made different engine sounds for each one.
He didn’t argue about brushing his teeth. When she tucked him into bed, he begged for a story. Kelsey complied, but as she expected he would, he fell asleep before even a couple of pages had been read.
She sat for a moment in the chair beside his bed, watching him sleep, the stuffed walrus clutched tight. All through the evening, through dinner, then a bath, then a story, she’d felt echoes of the past, echoes of Sean.
There would always be a hole in her heart because he was gone. But the sharp edge of grief that even so recently had slashed at her seemed less somehow.
She’d opened her heart to this child and to the brothers Benedict, and she thought that she was beginning to understand. It wasn’t time that could heal all wounds. It was love.
Sounds coming from across the hall told her the men had come upstairs. She took one more moment to smooth the blankets over Benny and to give him a tiny kiss on his head.
Then she went across the hall, ready for her own nighttime routine.
They’d turned off the lights. She watched them, both shirtless, as they went about turning on soft music and turning down the bed.
Though she’d entered the room silently, they both looked up at her at the same moment. They wore twin expressions of longing and lust and love.
Right then, Kelsey understood that for these two brothers it had never been just about sex. Bernice had said this room belonged to the three of them equally. Built large enough for four adults, she knew of a couple of families where the husbands numbered three, this bedroom in this house was meant to be a sanctuary for love. An old-fashioned concept, the marriage bed, had kept this room empty until these men had brought her here.
Until she’d arrived that first night.
A town founded on the fundamental ideal that freedom meant freedom to love, and to live, as a person chose. This town was filled with families, descendents of the original founders, who stood with open arms and open hearts not just for their own, but for those who needed them and those who made this town their own. This was their heritage. How had she ever gotten so lucky as to come here?
“Can you tell us what you’re thinking to put that beautiful expression on your face, sweetheart?” Matthew asked.
“I will if you’ll answer a question for me. How many divorces have there been in your family?”
Steven raised one eyebrow. And then he smiled as if he understood her thoughts completely.
“Just Benedicts? Or Benedicts, Kendalls, Jessops, Parkers, and Joneses?”
“All of them.”
“Of the family members who remained here in Lusty, none.”
Kelsey smiled. “That’s what I thought.”
“That thought couldn’t have been the author of that smile,” Matthew said. “Your eyes sparkled with love.”