Damaged Cowboys (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) Read online

  Damaged Cowboys

  Emily returns to the country after a ten year absence. She’s almost twenty-two and very much a woman. Her first priority is getting into the pants of the three Macintosh brothers that she’s never stopped thinking about over the years. They’ve sure grown up and have to be the hottest cowboys she’s ever known.

  All three men easily fall in love with her, but aren’t willing to share. With such strong feelings for each of the Macintosh brothers, she could never choose between them. Her mission is to change their minds and convince them that sharing isn’t so bad after all. In fact, it could be downright amazing!

  Sensuality Rating: SEXTREME

  Genre: Contemporary/Western/Cowboys

  Length: 50,300 words

  DAMAGED COWBOYS

  Stacey Espino

  MENAGE AMOUR

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  ABOUT THE E-BOOK YOU HAVE PURCHASED: Your non-refundable purchase of this e-book allows you to only ONE LEGAL copy for your own personal reading on your own personal computer or device. You do not have resell or distribution rights without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner of this book. This book cannot be copied in any format, sold, or otherwise transferred from your computer to another through upload to a file sharing peer to peer program, for free or for a fee, or as a prize in any contest. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer.

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

  DAMAGED COWBOYS

  Copyright © 2010 by Stacey Espino

  E-book ISBN: 1-60601-402-1

  First E-book Publication: August 2010

  Cover design by Jinger Heaston

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2010 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter from Stacey Espino

  Regarding Ebook Piracy

  Dear Readers,

  Thank you for purchasing Damaged Cowboys from BookStrand.com and their legitimate distributors. If you enjoy this book, I encourage you to recommend it to your friends and family so they can buy their own copies.

  Please do not share your copy or upload it to file sharing websites as this is both illegal and unethical. As authors, we rely on royalties from sales to earn a living. A lot of creativity, heart, and soul go into each book we write.

  Please continue to purchase your personal copies of e-books and recommend others to do the same.

  Purchasing from legal distributors allows authors to continue writing the stories they love, for people who love to read.

  With deep gratitude,

  Stacey Espino

  DEDICATION

  I’m dedicating this book to all the wonderful friends I’ve made since I started writing for Siren-Bookstrand Publishing.

  Especially my “J” ladies: Jan, Jennifer, Jinger, Julia and Jade.

  Thank you for your support, friendship, encouragement and craziness.

  Love you all!

  DAMAGED COWBOYS

  STACEY ESPINO

  Copyright © 2010

  Chapter One

  Bradley Macintosh lit up another cigarette, rocking back and forth in the old wooden rocker, waiting for his brother to get home. Two o’clock in the morning and still no sign of him. The full moon highlighted the fields all the way to the tree line, where he caught the odd fox lurking in the shadows. His rifle leaned against the brick, in full reach, if those little buggers tried to get closer to the house.

  Why did he wait up for the youngest Macintosh? Aaron had turned twenty-two a few months back, no longer a baby, legally allowed to drink and throw his life away. His delinquent behavior was a regular occurrence these days, and none of Brad’s attempts to force some sense into his head seemed effective. Brad shouldn’t care, but he did. While Carter snored upstairs, he couldn’t sleep if he tried. Not until Aaron was tucked up in bed where he should be.

  “Where the fuck is he?” he mumbled under his breath. At this rate, he’d spend the night on the wraparound porch. With his workday starting before sunrise, he’d be more zombie than man by dinner hour.

  He took a heavy drag and released the cloud of smoke in a slow exhale. In the distance, he heard the rattle of the old pickup truck drawing closer. Dust obscured the moonlight down the road. His heart unclenched. Brad stood, stomped out his cigarette, grabbed his rifle, and let the screen door slap shut behind him. He waited at the kitchen table, ready to give the lecture of a lifetime. No, he wasn’t Aaron’s father, but he was the closest thing Aaron had to one. Being the eldest, he took the responsibility for his two younger brothers personally. They’d been through a lot together, and he’d be damned if he watched one of them end up behind bars or buried behind the house with the rest of their family.

  The metal truck doors slammed shut. Aaron’s irregular footsteps made their way toward the house, dragging and shuffling along the gravel. Feminine giggles followed. Brad stood, tossing his chair back as he barreled to the front door.

  He flung open the door to see his drunken brother falling all over two equally drunken females. At that moment, Brad wanted to strangle the life from him. He clenched his jaw down hard in an attempt to control his rising anger.

  “Aaron! What the hell were you thinking driving home drunk?” He bounded off the porch, ignoring the four steps, and shoved his brother in the chest. With his balance at the bottom of a bottle, Aaron toppled over onto his ass, laughing at the moon. Both girls squatted down, showering him with attention he didn’t deserve. They appeared young, maybe even underage young, with painted faces and too short skirts.

  Why was he being tested? How long was he expected to keep it together? Now, Brad knew how his father had felt when he ran wild after hours as a teenager. He supposed this was payback, his own personal hell on Earth.

  “I’m not drunk,” his brother drawled.

  “Where’re the damned keys?” Brad bent over and searched Aaron’s pockets, rolling him to the side and patting him down, making Aaron laugh louder. Once he’d found the keys, he tossed them in the air and caught them in his fist with an abrupt jingle. “I’ll be keeping these.”

  Little brother might have been too drunk to care now, but tomorrow he’d feel the weight of losing his driving privileges.

  “Now get in the house. I’m driving these girls home before their daddies show up raising hell.”

  “They’ll stay in my room. We have some…plans.” Aaron made googly eyes with the gigglers.

  Brad’s temperature rose, heat creeping out from under his collar. Gritt
ing his teeth once again, he plucked each girl up by the arm and directed them to the truck.

  “Bed. Now,” he ordered Aaron. Aaron grumbled but complied, stumbling his way up the porch. His pants were unzipped and halfway down his ass. Brad imagined he’d already had his cock sucked by one or both of his companions. Aaron had built up quite the reputation around town as a playboy, fucking nearly anything that walked once he got enough booze in his blood. Damn, he wanted better for the kid. It would have broken their mother’s heart to see her youngest so lost and misguided.

  The drive back to town felt twice as long at night, carting two obnoxious passengers. They kept talking about nothing, driving him nuts.

  “How old are you?” asked the blonde.

  “Twenty-seven.”

  He didn’t dare ask their ages for fear of the truth. They looked around eighteen, maybe nineteen, and he hoped not any younger. He had enough trouble with his youngest brother without adding corrupting a minor to the list.

  “Mmm, that’s old. Bet you know a lot of stuff, huh?”

  The bunnies did nothing for him. His cock didn’t even twitch as they sidled up to him on the truck bench.

  “You don’t look like your brother,” said the other, squeezing his biceps. No, they didn’t look alike. Aaron was blonde, like their sister. Brad and Carter had dark brown hair and golden skin that never burned. But all three of them were built for manual labor, with broad shoulders, strong bodies, and uncommon height.

  Carter had them all beat, though. He could have tried out for a National Football Team, and they’d be glad to have him. He wasn’t bulky, but strong and powerful like a quarterback.

  Rolling his eyes at the girls’ comments, Brad pressed harder on the gas pedal, cursing Aaron under his breath for the hours of lost sleep. Not to mention the waste of gas. Driving to town took a good thirty minutes one way, and that was while reaching unsafe speeds the entire ride.

  Brad managed to ignore the two girls for most of the trip. They were too drunk to realize he never replied to their questions. They just kept talking to hear their own voices.

  The town slept, not a car in the streets. Brad coasted along under the minimal lighting from the few streetlamps, trying not to hit the gas too often because the muffler needed replacing in the worst way. Being caught with the two girls in the dead of night would not only make for interesting gossip around town but would ruin his reputation and, along with it, any chance of him making a living.

  After dropping the last girl off at her house, he pulled his truck door shut with an unforgiving bang of metal and headed home. Exhaustion pulled at him as he traveled the dirt back roads, tempting him to close his eyes and drift. His thoughts wandered, morphing into daydreams. He saw his family, all six members, at the kitchen table for Christmas dinner. A golden brown turkey, mashed yams, homemade gravy, and corn from their own fields decorated the tabletop. He could even smell the food, hear his sister’s laughter, and feel the love he never realized how much he missed.

  That seemed a lifetime ago.

  The image could only serve as a memory, now that just three Macintoshes remained. Brad wished he could be everything his two younger brothers needed, but replacing a mother, father, and the innocent love of a kid sister proved impossible.

  A sharp stab of adrenaline tore through his body as he swerved on the road, cutting a trail of gravel and dust with the rear tires. When he bolted to a full stop, he froze long enough to catch his breath and stabilize his thoughts. He knew better than to nod off while driving. It wasn’t much safer than driving drunk, in his opinion. Wildlife flourished in these back woods and fields, and he hadn’t noticed the two whitetails cut across the road. With a shake of his head, he cranked the radio, continuing toward home.

  He parked the truck in front of the old century house. With the brick painted white, it looked like shit, but it was home. All the lights were turned off, as they should be.

  His previous anger fizzled as he entered the silent house and found Aaron sitting on a chair, collapsed over the kitchen table and snoring loud enough to wake the dead. How could he hate the kid? In fact, he loved him something fierce. The whole playboy routine was Aaron’s way of hiding from the truth. Real emotion was too heavy to wear.

  Less than two years had passed, but Brad had hoped Aaron would have moved forward by now. Young men may have envied him and his womanizing ways, but Brad knew his youngest brother was filled with pain and despair, trying to hide from the reality threatening to destroy him. Destroy them all.

  Tempted to carry Aaron upstairs to bed, Brad settled for covering him with a heavy quilt. Aaron was as big as him, and no way could he lug the two-hundred-pound Macintosh up the flight of stairs to the bedrooms. No matter what his age, Brad would forever see him as his little brother. As he retreated up the creaky set of wooden steps to the second level, he recalled the years when he was fifteen, already built like a man from working the farm, carrying his younger brother on his back like a horse in play. Aaron had always looked up to him, followed him around like a puppy, copying his every move. Now Brad wished the kid would continue that streak and not run amok, trying his damnedest to throw his life away.

  The next morning, all three brothers occupied the kitchen in uncomfortable silence. Early morning rays of sunshine filtered across the tabletop from the window above the double sink. Carter leaned against the counter, waiting for the coffeemaker to finish its cycle, the comforting smell already filling the large room.

  Refusing to make eye contact with either of his brothers, Aaron’s bloodshot eyes stared at the empty mug he cupped in his big hands. Bradley shook his head, continuing to spoon the cold Raisin Bran into his mouth. He had overslept and didn’t have time to rustle up a proper breakfast. His day started before the sun rose, but here he sat with the sun from the window warming his arm.

  Tension grew thicker with each passing moment. Brad hoped Aaron would say something, perhaps apologize or admit the error of his ways. Shit, say something.

  “Coffee?” asked Carter, pulling the carafe off the machine and holding it out. Before Brad could reply, Aaron held out his mug. The two older brothers exchanged a glance before Brad nodded his consent. Carter doled out the coffee and then returned to the counter, gazing out the window. “Good day to work the fields.”

  “Check that one John Deere before you head out. It’s been acting up.”

  “What about you?” asked Carter.

  “I have a job this morning at the Rickshaw ranch. We could use the extra money,” said Brad, sipping his coffee. He scowled from the bitterness and reached for the sugar dish in the center of the table.

  “What they need you to do?”

  “They have a boarder or something staying on with them. They want me to frame up and drywall a partition off the family room to make a bedroom. Said they’d pay me two hundred dollars, and let us harvest the hay in their east field for ourselves.”

  “Two hundred dollars?” voiced Aaron, finally making himself heard. “That’s bullshit. You know what kind of work that involves and the time needed? They should be paying you more than double that.”

  “Hey! They’re neighbors. I’m not gonna try and weasel more money out of them old folks just because we’re hurtin’. If I could, I’d do it for free.”

  Aaron’s chair scraped the floor as he abruptly stood. “Makes no sense working this farm anymore. For what? We should just sell it, and get it over with. Why the fuck should we struggle? Explain that to me.”

  “Because we’re a family, and this is our home,” stated Brad, setting his mug down. His youngest brother whirled around, his face turning red and his lips pursed.

  “Family? You call this a family? When you gonna wake up and realize you’re living a fantasy, Bradley? Both of you!” He stormed out of the house, the screen door smacking harshly against the doorframe.

  “That went well,” said Carter, joining Brad at the table.

  “He’s just feeling sorry for himself. He’ll get over
it.”

  “You’ve been saying that for nearly two years now. I’m worried about him.”

  “So am I.” From behind the screen, Brad could see Aaron’s figure disappear into the barn. He’d feed the livestock and do his duties, but his heart wasn’t in it.

  Chapter Two

  She hadn’t been to her grandparents’ farm in ten years. Back then, visiting had been a treat, but now it came as a punishment. Emily resented being treated like a child when her parents knew she would turn twenty-two in a couple of months. Guess if she acted her age, she wouldn’t be in this situation. That’s what they kept telling her anyway.

  The taxi pulled up in front of the old farmhouse. She could feel the uneven gravel drive beneath the tires, and hear it crunching as they slowly rolled forward. Inwardly she smiled, before recalling that this was no vacation. The Rickshaw ranch represented her prison for the next six months. Her parents had gotten the judge to agree to give her house arrest in place of any jail time. They were both lawyers and had some influence. Emily could roam freely in the sleepy country town but had to say goodbye to her city life and troublemaking friends. It’s not like she was a hardened criminal. In fact, she had happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, the crime of association.

  Her entire life had taken a sharp turn for the dark side about five years earlier. By her eighteenth birthday, her parents had already had enough of her negative behavior, but they refused to kick her out of the house. If only they knew the truth.

  She recalled the day when everything changed for her. Just bringing the events to memory had her body shutting down and going numb. She couldn’t revisit that place locked behind heavy guards in her mind. Her secret. Her torment. Nothing had seemed to matter after that day. Flowers didn’t smell as sweet, her best friend’s drama no longer interested her, and school became a bore.