The Cowboys and the English Teacher [Hot Off The Ranch] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (7 page)

* * * *

The next few weeks would find their relationship deepening, despite her initial fears. The weekend in the mountains had changed everything. Jack and Wyler loved her. As insane as that sounded, they’d left Betsy in no doubt about it. Jack seemed to find it easier to express his feelings than his brother, but nobody could fake the sincerity in Wyler’s eyes every time he looked at her.

Their remaining time together flew by in the rush of discovering each other. Jack had a silly sense of humor that both Wyler and Betsy didn’t quite share. On the other hand, Jack didn’t understand how she and his brother could spend hours discussing world politics. Having a separate and unique bond with each of them individually strengthened her belief in their relationship. It really was possible to be helplessly in love with two men at the same time.

Betsy learned to tell them apart in many other ways. She could recognize the difference between small details like their feet and hands, their smell, voices, and touch. Jack seemed the most demanding in bed, often setting the pace and tone for their lovemaking. Wyler liked to draw things out, prolonging the experience, and therefore the pleasure.

They’d never tried to seduce her individually. Nor did she want them to. Being with only one of them would have felt like cheating on the other.

By the time the end of their assignment drew near, a new fear had lodged in her chest. The thought of being away from them caused her more pain than she could ever have imagined. ‘Our little family’ as she referred to them all, would soon be apart, separated by an ocean, a culture, and thousands of miles.

Experience told her that holiday romances never worked, or if they did, it came at great emotional and financial cost to the parties involved. Believing in an unsustainable love affair seemed easy when she didn’t have the reality of everyday life to drag her down. Thoughts of what she would tell her family and friends, if their relationship even survived the initial separation, began to nag at Betsy. They would never understand, her mother especially.

Not that they’d given her the slightest reason to believe that they even wanted the relationship to continue. They made her feel like the most wanted woman in the world, but they never talked of the future. Maybe they had more going on back in Texas than they had let on?

Wyler and Jack seemed more withdrawn as their final weekend together had arrived. They insisted on taking her out to one of the island’s best restaurants. She wished they had let her go shopping. The evening would be a special one, and she’d wanted to find something a little more glamorous than usual to wear, but they reassured her that it wasn’t necessary. Betsy felt certain this would be the night they would explain, albeit kindly, that their romance was over.

Sitting between them in the small booth later, she perused the menu without really taking any of it in. Part of her felt sure they were no more able to concentrate than she. Jack confirmed this by looking at his for a full five minutes before folding it and starting a conversation about something completely different.

‘So, Betsy, what are we going to do?’

His question should have surprised her, but she knew what he meant. Their time together had run out, and the moment for decisions had arrived. ‘I don’t know,’ she said quietly, the sadness beginning to pull at her insides.

‘When are you due back?’ Wyler’s question referred to the start of the school year in England. Her headmaster had only agreed to let her go on sabbatical provided she return by then.

‘Next week. Some of the other schools vary by a few days, but it’s usually always the first week in September.’ He sighed and pushed back from the table, as if disappointed by her answer.

Jack’s head snapped up and he stared at his brother. ‘Do you think…no. Forget it. The old man would never go for it.’

Wyler shook his head. ‘Whatever you were gonna suggest, if it means we stay away any longer, he’s going to write us out of the will.’ He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

‘What are you talking about?’ Betsy asked, afraid to believe the hope flickering to life in the back of her mind. Two sets of green eyes turned her way, confusion clouding them. Wyler looked a little hurt. What had she said?

Jack put his hand up as if to halt whatever Wyler had just taken a breath to say. ‘We are trying to find a way to make this work, so we don’t have to let you go.’ She wanted to speak, but the lump that formed in her throat blocked the words
—
so her eyes filled with tears instead.

‘Don’t cry, Betsy, please,’ Wyler whispered, then reached around her back and lifted her into his lap. Jack scooted along the seat, adding his voice and hands to the ones already trying to soothe her.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, when she could speak again.

‘It’s okay, honey. We’ll find a way to make this work.’ Jack’s words made her cry again.

‘It’s not that,’ she sobbed, muffling her words by burying her face in Wyler’s shoulder.

‘Then what is it?’ His voice became slightly colder. ‘Are we misunderstanding the reason for your tears?’

The knowledge that she was hurting and confusing them with her strange reaction sobered her. Betsy sat up and tried to clear her head with a shaky breath. ‘I thought you brought her here to say goodbye. To tell me you didn’t want me anymore.’

Wyler stiffened and Jack swore. It wasn’t the reaction she’d expected.

‘Damn it all to hell, Betsy. How many times do we have to tell you we love you before you believe us?’

‘Jack, don’t be mad. I…I guess it’s just that you never talked about what would happen when we finished up here. I assumed you simply wanted to go back to your lives and leave me to go back to mine.’

Wyler turned her face toward his. ‘It looks like we have no choice, but it’s not what we want. Not one bit. If me and Jack could come to England with you, we would. But our dad…you know, he’s getting on, and we can’t leave him to manage without us any longer.’

Jack appeared to recover from his flash of temper, giving her a smile as he spoke again. ‘It’s just a shame you can’t come back to Texas with us.’

‘Because of your family?’ She wanted to be sure.

‘No. What we do is our own business. We have our own place on the other side of the valley. Good fences make good neighbors, you know, even with family.’ A frown chased away his smile. ‘No, I meant because of your job.’

Betsy laughed with glee, surprising the pair of them. ‘Fuck my job.’

Jack guffawed as his brother gasped in fake shock. ‘Excuse me?’ Wyler tried to look stern but failed miserably.

‘You heard.’ She wasn’t brave enough to say it again with the pair of them looking at her so intensely.

‘You can’t just give up your career,’ Jack warned.

Betsy scrambled from Wyler’s lap, warming to her topic. ‘That’s just it. It’s a career. It doesn’t depend on staying in one place. Giving up a job isn’t like giving up a whole lifestyle in the way you guys would have to.’

‘I don’t know,’ Wyler mumbled, wincing as he said the words. ‘I’m sure I’m speaking for both of us when I say you are giving up a hell of a lot for something that none of us know for sure will last.’

‘Don’t you want me to come with you?’ She bit her lip, determined not to guilt them into saying what she wanted to hear.

‘Of course we do. Wyler just wanted to make sure you had really thought about this. I mean, what will you do if this doesn’t work out?’

‘Go back home, rent another pokey flat, and get another boring teaching job.’ Betsy laughed, unable to suppress the excitement she could see that Wyler and Jack were catching, too.

‘That simple, huh?’

She nodded. ‘There’s a teacher shortage in the UK. Finding another job won’t be a problem. And if I have to, I can move back in with my mother. I’d hate you both forever if that happened.’ She smiled to show them she didn’t mean it.

‘You’ll have to help me find a job and a place to stay,’ she hinted, pouting a little.

Jack sat back, a look of defiance crossing his face. ‘The job part is up to you, although you don’t need to work. But you’ll be staying with us, in our house. With the hours we work, it’s the only way we’ll get to spend any time with you.’

‘That’s not up for negotiation,’ Wyler added, stopping her from saying what she was about to.

‘Okay.’ She didn’t voice the thought that she had nowhere else she’d rather be. The guys wanted to be in control, and she let them. Maybe they felt they had to make up for their earlier indecision? Whatever the reason, she loved their newly found resolve.

Betsy let her gaze wander over the Farmer twins, turning from one to the other as her greedy mind weighed her blessings. The clothes that covered their bodies couldn’t hide the raw masculinity simmering beneath. Color flooded her cheeks, and she licked her lips as Wyler’s thick fingers caught her attention. Hours earlier, they’d been buried deep inside her as his brother licked her clit. Her eyes flew up when she heard one of them suck in a ragged breath.

‘Okay, well I’m not hungry anymore.’ Jack laughed and looked to his brother and her for agreement. Without need for further discussion, they scooted out of the booth as Wyler threw a few bills on the table to cover the cost of the drinks. The boys each placed a hand at her elbow, almost lifting her in their haste as they propelled her toward the exit and out into the dark promise of the night.

Wyler cast a quick look over at Betsy, trying to judge her reaction.. The huge house at the heart of their family’s ranch seemed larger when he tried to look at it through her eyes. They’d timed their arrival carefully, planning to arrive at dusk when the staff would all be gone for the night and their father would be alone. The dim light made the house look imposing. The white, three-story building reflected the pink hues of the sunset, making it stand out from the dusty hills behind.

‘Wow.’ The word was almost silent. Wyler could only tell she’d said anything at all because her lips had moved.

Jack seemed to catch Wyler’s thoughts. ‘It’s not just a home,’ he explained, his words coming out in a rush. ‘It houses the business side of things, too. There are offices and kitchens for the ranch hands. Only the top floor is private.’

‘I’ve worked in schools smaller than that.’ Betsy seemed over awed. She slapped Jack on his arm suddenly. ‘Why didn’t you tell me your home was so grand? I’d never have insisted on buying these jeans if I’d known.’

‘Darlin’, I wouldn’t have missed the sight of your cute little ass in those jeans for anything.’ Wyler laughed at her outraged expression. ‘Besides, we’re wearing exactly the same thing.’

‘It’s different for you. Everybody knows you here.’ Betsy pulled down the visor above the windshield and started fussing with her curls. ‘Oh, my God! Why didn’t you tell me my hair looked like this?’

‘Jack, pull over a minute.’ Wyler looked at his brother over her head, trying to silently convey to him that they couldn’t take her in there until she calmed down.

‘No. I don’t want to keep you from your father any longer. I’m fine.’ She turned to Jack. ‘Please don’t stop the truck. Let’s just get this over with.’

Jack gave her a long, searching look and then nodded to Wyler. ‘She’ll be okay. Stop worrying.’

Wyler let him get away with the attempt at nonchalance for Betsy’s sake. Truthfully, they were both worried about their father’s reaction. Of course, they wouldn’t tell him outright why the curvaceous English teacher had moved into their little house. They would explain that she was a friend who wanted a chance to experience Texas and let him assume that she had a relationship with one of them.

Once they knew how things were gonna work out between them all, they would tell him and ask for his blessing. But that could wait until he knew her better and loved her the way that they did.

As the truck stopped outside the house, Wyler’s attention shifted from the nervous beauty beside him to the thin, regal looking man stepping off the porch. Silas Farmer looked good for his seventy plus years, but nobody could tell that his health wasn’t so great. Wyler blinked away the tears the sight of his father always brought. Everybody should have a man like Silas to look up to.

He and Jack raced from the truck and over to the older man, remembering just in time not to hug him too hard. He returned their embraces with a slight squeeze of his own. The most he could manage thanks to the muscle wasting disease ravaging his body.

Silas’ pale blue eyes misted over as he looked up into their faces. Wyler could have sworn he’d shrunk a little. Since when did they tower over him so much?

‘It’s great to see you, old man.’ Jack’s voice betrayed the emotion simmering between them all. ‘How are things?’

‘Better now my boys are home.’ A smile lit his face as he reached to slap Jack on the shoulder. His attention drifted past his son to the truck and the person sitting inside. ‘You brought company?’

‘She’s a friend of ours, Dad. Come to stay for a while, if that’s okay?’ Wyler thought it best he did the talking. Jack could easily let something slip.

‘Well damn it, boys. Why did you leave the poor thing sitting in the truck? Let’s see her.’

‘Tell you what, you and Jack go get the coffee on and I’ll bring her in to meet you.’