Beauty and the Beasts [Bride Train 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Reece Butler Page A

out so she doesn’t get hurt.” Gabe pointed his callused finger at Luke. “Don’t go getting her riled up about marrying you.”
    “Or what?” Luke felt like exploding. Instead, he slapped Gabe’s finger aside. “I don’t need you hovering over me, telling me what to do.”
    Gabe set his hip on the corner of the table. He sniffed and looked around the room as if bored. “You plan to act like a child, or like the man you say you are?”
    Luke screwed up his face and growled. Gabe swung his foot. He took out his pocketknife and began cleaning under his nails. Luke had learned long ago he could never out-patient Gabe. Worse, the man was right. Again, dammit.
    Luke let the anger drain away. While he couldn’t imagine life without Gabe at his side, he both enjoyed and resented his constant presence. The only son, Luke learned early how to smile and flirt to get whatever he wanted from his mother and sisters. Once he knew about sex, he used his charm to encourage women into his bed. The only one who saw through his charm was Gabe’s mother.
    Thanks to the war his good looks and happy family disappeared. By the time they headed west he’d developed a thick skin to go along with the scar across his face. Now he pretended to be just as handsome as ever, flirting with women as if his life was still perfect. Even if he married Sarah and had many sons, his life would always be a lie. Because of him, something terrible had happened. Something only he, Gabe, and Oz knew about. The others, the innocent ones, were dead. He’d blame himself until his death set him free.
    “Ah, my good friend,” said Luke, shaking his head. “Still trying to save me from myself.”
    Gabe stood up and stretched his arms out. He bent his elbows and rested his palms against the ceiling, only a couple of inches above his head. He had an inch and sixty or more pounds of honed muscle on Luke. Both men were strong, but Luke usually ended up flat on the ground when they tussled. They hadn’t fought since Gabe got out of prison.
    “Somebody has to tell you when you act like an ass,” said Gabe. “I’ve been doing it all my life, and it looks like my job’s not over yet.” He sighed and headed to the barn, leaving Luke to clean up.
    “By the end of July, I will be married to that woman,” vowed Luke.
    And then the Frost family would rise like a phoenix from the ashes of death. Perhaps he’d never have the respect and social standing his parents and generations before them enjoyed, but he’d have sons to carry on the proud Frost name.
    All he needed was one stubborn woman to see herself in that dream.

Chapter Seven
     
    It was half an hour before supper the next day when Gabe knocked on the hotel kitchen door and let himself in. A quick look showed that Sarah wasn’t in the room. That was both a blessing and a problem. After she implied she’d appreciate his efforts in the bedroom, and the way he ran from her like a child scared of a whipping, he wasn’t sure how to act around her.
    Was she serious about wanting him in her bed, or not? He saw Sophie at the stove so pulled off his hat and held it over his belt buckle. Ever since seeing Sarah he’d been harder than a fence pole in January.
    “Gabe! About time you showed up for a visit.” Sophie smiled at him over her shoulder but kept on stirring something that made his gut gurgle in anticipation. “What do you think about what happened yesterday?”
    He cleared his throat, fighting to control where his brain kept heading. “Do you mean Sarah getting attacked, Oz kissing her, or the fight he got into?”
    Sophie laughed. “All of it. Help yourself to coffee and sit.”
    When she turned away, he filled a tin cup. He carefully sat, setting his hat on his lap. Sophie was a good woman, kind and helpful, but also well aware of men and their needs. He saw her look away now and then when she threw parties, and figured she had a few needs of her own that weren’t being met. She wasn’t much