Songbird(24)

She sagged against Taggert in a gesture of surrender. Fatigue hollowed her eyes. Making love to her when she was so fragile had probably been a bastard thing to do but he—they—had been unable to resist any longer. They’d waited a damn long time. They weren’t waiting anymore.

Taggert pressed a tender kiss to the top of her head and snagged his fingers in her long hair.

“Lie back down, Emmy. Rest. I’ll be here. Sleep and we’ll face tomorrow together.”

She closed her eyes and then allowed Taggert to ease her down on the mattress. She crawled onto the pillows and curled into a tight ball. She fell asleep before either man could recline beside her. Instead they sat toward the end of the bed watching the soft rise and fall of her chest.

Greer drew in a deep breath and avoided Taggert’s thoughtful stare. Hell, he was sitting on a bed in his underwear with his brother after they’d made love to the same woman. It didn’t get any weirder than that.

He slid off the bed and stood abruptly, his back to both Taggert and Emily.

“She’s right you know,” Taggert said in a low voice. “Have we really considered the life we’ll have? We’ve talked some but mainly we’ve avoided the issue, believing it’ll all work out. But will it?”

Greer cursed under his breath. He didn’t appreciate Tagg’s cold logic. Not now. He didn’t want reality. Didn’t want to face any harsh truths. What he wanted was to keep Emily safe from the world. From her bastard father and the prying eyes of others. But that wasn’t possible. They lived on a ranch where a number of other hands lived as well. How would they look at Emily knowing he and Taggert both shared her bed and her love? Would they think she was some easy lay, there for any man’s taking? He’d kill any son of a bitch who ever acted on that impulse.

“We can only control the way we deal with things. We can’t make others accept it. We can’t keep them from speculating. Any life we have with Emily will be open to the public if she goes back to singing, and if I have my way, she will sing again. She stands to lose more and be hurt more by her relationship with us. If she can deal with it, then I sure as hell can take whatever heat we get.”

Taggert nodded, some of the tension easing from his brow. “You’re right. If Emily is willing to put so much on the line to be with us, then I can man up and do the same. I just don’t like the idea of her being hurt. She’s been hurt enough.”

“Her father could be a problem.”

Hatred for Cecil Patterson left an acid taste in Greer’s mouth. The idea that he’d beaten Emily filled him with such rage that it was all he could do not to go give the old man a taste of his own medicine.

“He won’t say anything,” Taggert said. “He’ll pretend Emily doesn’t exist, but he won’t shoot off his mouth because it will hurt his standing in the community, or so he thinks.”

“The people of Creed’s Pass have been good to Emily. They’ve always been proud of her fame. I’d like to think they won’t turn their backs on her because of us.”

Taggert’s expression turned thoughtful. “No reason to flaunt our relationship in front of them. Word will get round quick enough, but that doesn’t mean we need to give them any more to gossip about.”

“I agree. I wouldn’t be comfortable making a spectacle of our relationship anyway.”

Emily stirred and turned over, curling once again into a small ball. Taggert smiled, a soft gesture that told Greer how much his older brother felt for her. Taggert reclined on the bed and pulled her against him. Greer suddenly felt like a voyeur, an intruder in something intimate.

He turned toward the door. He needed a cigarette in the worst way. “Think I’ll head down. I won’t be able to go to sleep anyway. See you at breakfast.”

Chapter Eleven

Arousal stirred deep within her and fluttered outward in exquisite waves. Emily opened her eyes just as Taggert moved over her, parted her thighs and settled his heavy erection at her entrance.

He lowered his head and captured her lips in a more demanding, less gentle measure than before. She responded eagerly to his possession. This is what she waited for. For him to take her. She wouldn’t break no matter how delicate she may appear. She needed this more than she needed her next breath.

“We didn’t use protection, Emmy,” he murmured over her lips. “Neither of us did. I don’t have it now. I need to know how you feel about that. About having our babies. We should have asked, should have protected you better. You’re fragile right now. I need to know if it’s too soon. You could be pregnant already.”

She smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around her neck to pull his mouth down to hers again.

“I want a normal life,” she admitted. “I want all the things I wanted with Sean. I want a family. Children. I want you and Greer and this ranch. I don’t ever want to leave. Make love to me, Tagg. Give me your child.”

He groaned low in his throat, a tortured sound that told her of his fight to maintain control.

“I love you,” she whispered. “Love me too.”

“Aww Emmy, I love you more than anything.”

He reached down and gently touched her clitoris. He traced the line of the hood that protected the sensitive bundle of nerves, and then he reached lower, testing her readiness with one fingertip.