Saving Emily (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Saving Emily

  Emily is being abused by her brother Chris Thistle, but he is her only living relative so she hides his abuse.

  She’s been living and working on the McCade Ranch and pining after her two bosses, Cole and Adam, for six long years, but she doesn’t think the two men see her as anything other than a sister figure.

  When her brother beats her so bad she can’t get out of bed and Cole and Adam discover what’s been going on, they fire her brother and kick him off their ranch.

  Cole and Adam have been waiting for Emily to grow up and have known that she is the woman for them.

  The two Alpha males plan to keep Emily by their side permanently until she is abducted by a ranch hand her brother owes money to.

  Will they rescue her in time?

  Will she choose to marry one over the other?

  Or will they all get what they want?

  NOTE: This book was previously published at 27,000 words under the name Becky Wilde with another publisher. This version has been extensively revised and expanded to almost 40,000 words.

  Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys

  Length: 39,653 words

  SAVING EMILY

  Becca Van

  MENAGE EVERLASTING

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

  SAVING EMILY

  Copyright © 2014 by Becca Van

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62741-987-1

  First E-book Publication: July 2014

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2014 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 to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Saving Emily by Becca Van from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Becca Van’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Van’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  SAVING EMILY

  BECCA VAN

  Copyright © 2014

  Chapter One

  They were just too handsome and sexy. No matter how hard she tried, Emily Thistle couldn’t keep her eyes off them.

  Cole McCade was a thirty-three-year-old, six-foot-plus man with sky-blue eyes, ebony hair, and a muscular frame. He was sex on legs and his brother was just as hot.

  Adam McCade was thirty-one and he had at least three inches of height over Cole, with brown hair and green eyes. His chest was nearly as wide as Big Spring, Texas, the town they lived near. They were both so damn ruggedly handsome and she found herself following them with her eyes every time they were close by.

  They were impressive, as men with all their muscles and good looks, and she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to kiss them. When she realized where her mind was, she made a conscious effort to pull it up out of the gutter. She shouldn’t be thinking about them that way. She was damn sure they didn’t think of her like that.

  Emily didn’t think they even noticed her. She had moved to the McCade ranch just before she had turned seventeen one a month ago and knew she was still a kid in their eyes. She lived with Chris, her older brother by six years, in one of the cabins on the McCade Ranch and she helped out with the horses and cooking meals for Cole and Adam.

  When her brother had told her they were moving, Emily had been devastated. She hadn’t wanted to leave the only home she’d ever known but she loved her brother and wanted to see him happy, so she had helped him pack everything up without any protest.

  Sighing, Emily turned and headed for the stables. At least one man on this ranch knew she existed besides her brother.

  Emily had seen Chad, the ranch foreman, watching her, and when she looked at him he would smile that sexy little smile. Pity she wasn’t attracted to him the way he seemed to be to her, but she liked him. He was nice and she could use a friend. She only really had her brother now that they had moved, and even though Chad wasn’t a McCade, she hoped they could form a friendship without any of the male-female stuff.

  Chad had asked Emily on a date this morning and neither of them had seen Cole while they were talking. He’d stepped in before she could turn Chad down and said in no uncertain terms, to her and his foreman, that she was too young to date the twenty-three-year-old foreman. Then he turned to her and told her if she wanted to date, she was to look at someone closer to her own age. He had been so big and intimidating, Emily had just nodded and then headed out of the barn. She’d needed to get away from his authoritative personality and good looks. She’d been a little intimidated by his dominant personality and she was so turned on by his show of confidence that she’d been scared of giving her lustful feelings away. But when she heard him start talking to Chad again, she moved into the shadows of the doorway and listened to him telling his ranch hand to keep away from her.

  He’d told Chad that she wasn’t old enough to date and to find someone else to set his sights on.

  Emily had been so incensed she had nearly storme
d out from her hiding place to confront him, but logic had reared its ugly head. He was her and her brother’s boss and she didn’t intend to do or say anything that would get them fired.

  This was the only home she and Chris had now.

  Even though there was supposed to be money left to her and her brother from the sale of their parent’s house, Chris kept telling her that her parents had more debt than cash and they had only just broken even.

  Emily knew Chris was lying, but he controlled all the money and there was nothing she could do about it.

  She’d tried talking to her brother regarding the money, but every time she mentioned it Chris would clam up and brush the subject aside, but he got this real angry look in his eyes and she was starting to get scared. She was worried about her brother. He seemed to be changing before her eyes, and not in a good way.

  Emily finished up her chores with the horses and headed to the ranch house to wash up and prepare lunch for Cole and Adam.

  Just as she was placing the leftover sliced roast beef, salad, and bread on the table, Cole sauntered into the kitchen.

  “Looks good, Em. I don’t know what we would be eating if you hadn’t arrived at the ranch. You’re saving our miserable stomachs,” Cole said and smiled at her while taking a seat at the table.

  Emily was still annoyed with Cole from this morning so instead of answering him, she made a noise and turned back to the fridge for the jug of iced tea. She had just placed it on the table when Adam entered.

  “Hey, baby girl, looks and smells good. Thanks.” Adam sat down and started reaching for the food.

  Emily was sick and tired of them seeing her as a child and after this morning’s scene with Cole, she’d had enough. Before she could stop and think about what she was doing, she spun around to face Adam.

  “You listen to me, Adam McCade,” she said angrily while pointing a finger at him. “I am not a baby and I would appreciate it if you and your holier-than-thou brother would stop treating me like one.”

  Adam clenched his jaw with what looked like frustration and even though Emily knew she was being unfair by taking her pique out on him instead of where it really belonged, on Cole. She just couldn’t seem to help herself. She was sick and tired of being told what to do all the time. First she had her brother lying to her and ordering her about, and now Cole and Adam had joined the bandwagon. She knew they were a lot older and more experienced than she was, but she wasn’t a child, damn it.

  Adam gave her a hard stare and his mouth opened to reply, but Cole spoke before he could.

  “No, you’re not a baby, Emily. You are a young adult, but you haven’t reached eighteen yet. You’re living on our ranch and are under our protection. That means you abide by our rules whether you agree with them or not.

  “You’re not dating a man six years older than you. If you want to date, go out with someone your own age. Chad will not be bothering you again.”

  “Chad asked you on a date?” Adam roared.

  “Don’t worry, Adam, I’ve already handled it. He won’t be bothering Emily again.”

  Emily had had enough of their stupid rules.

  “Enjoy your lunch,” she said in a loud voice, not really meaning it, and then she rushed across the room and slammed out the back door.

  * * * *

  “She’s magnificent when she’s pissed off,” Adam said with a grin. How such a small woman could have such a fiery temper astounded him. She wasn’t much taller than five foot one at most, had gorgeous blonde hair, and eyes that sparkled like sapphires when she was enraged. She had no compunction whatsoever about standing up to them when they annoyed her and he liked it. A lot. Probably too much, since she wasn’t over twenty-one yet.

  “Yeah.” Cole smiled. “We have to keep her safe, Adam. She’s got no one else and that poor excuse of a brother never spends any time with her. If it wasn’t for Emily, I would have sacked him a week after he started.”

  “Can’t do more than we already are, Cole.” Adam took a sip of iced tea. “We have to wait.”

  “I know and that’s the hardest thing of all.” Cole sighed.

  * * * *

  Emily took off to the stables intending to work off her anger. She was mucking out the back stall when she felt a large brutal hand grab her upper arm. Turning quickly, she sagged with relief when saw her brother, Chris.

  “Please let me go. You’re hurting me,” Emily said as she tried to pull her arm away from him.

  “I’ve heard that Chad asked you out. Is that true, Emily?” Chris practically snarled the question.

  “Yeah. So?”

  “You are not dating anyone unless I say it’s all right.” Chris said through clenched teeth and shook her. “Do you hear me, Em? You will not be going out with anyone.”

  “But, Chris, you’re out all the time. As soon as your shift is over you get in your truck and go wherever it is you go. You’re never around on the weekends. I’m lonely.” Emily tried to get her brother to see that she needed companionship as much as he did, but when she looked into his angry eyes she realized he wasn’t going to be reasonable.

  “I don’t care,” he snapped. “If I hear anything about you going out with anyone, there will be hell to pay. You got that, Emily?” Chris squeezed her arm hard and she winced at the pain. She was sure she was going to have bruises.

  “Okay,” Emily said louder than she intended, due to the pain her brother was inflicting. It was really hard to fight back the tears but she didn’t want her brother to see how much he was hurting her, and not just physically. He had changed so much over the last four weeks and seemed to be becoming more aggressive and angry each day. She was worried about him, but she was also getting more scared of him with each day that passed. There was something terribly wrong with her brother but she didn’t know what.

  The days passed quickly yet seemed to drag, too. With each month that went by, Emily became more introverted and scared of setting her brother off. Even the McCade brothers had noticed she wasn’t as talkative as normal. She’d caught them watching her and frowning at her often, but she wasn’t about to let on that she was frightened of her own brother. He was the only family she had left and even though she was beginning to dislike him, she loved him.

  She couldn’t tell anyone what Chris was doing to her. She didn’t want to see anyone looking at her with pity, especially Cole and Adam. But the more time that passed, the more jumpy she became and sometimes she couldn’t hide her reactions.

  As time went by, weeks turning into months, Emily became quieter and more withdrawn. She got very nervous around the McCade brothers, but not just them. She was anxious when any of the ranch hands were close by, too.

  Emily finished putting the finishing touches to the meal she’d cooked for Cole and Adam and then placed the dishes on the table. As she turned to head back to the kitchen, she slammed up against a hard chest and squealed with fright.

  She placed her hand on her chest and tried to calm her racing heart and looked up into Cole’s blue eyes. Cole frowned at her but reached out and grasped her upper arms to steady her, and she couldn’t help but gasp with pain.

  “What’s wrong, Emily? Are you hurt?” Cole asked.

  “Uh…no, not really.” Emily hedged as she frantically tried to come up with an explanation and nearly sighed with relief when she did. “I knocked my arm on the stall gate and bruised it. You just grabbed the bruise.”

  Cole immediately took his hands from her arms. “Sorry, Em. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Do you want me to take a look at it? Have you put any ice on it?”

  “You didn’t hurt me, Cole. I did it myself. No ice. I’m fine. Thanks anyway,” Emily said turning her back on him, glad to have an excuse to get away from his penetrating gaze. She grabbed another bowl and took it to the table.

  “I noticed Chris has gone out again. Why don’t you start eating here with us, Em? That way you don’t have to worry about preparing another meal when you get back to your cabin,” Cole suggested. />
  Emily wouldn’t meet his eyes as she thought about the best way to answer him. She didn’t want to spend more time with him or his brother. She didn’t want Cole or Adam picking up on her attraction to them. Nor did she want them to know any of the other stuff happening in her life right now. He and Adam were very observant and it wouldn’t take them long to realize she was hiding things from them. She didn’t want to jeopardize any chances her brother had of earning money. He only gave her an allowance each week for food and after writing out a list, Chris went to the store to buy what they needed. She didn’t even have any of her own money because her brother took whatever she earned each week, telling her he was still covering some of the debt her parents left. She hated knowing that he was lying to her but she figured that if he needed her money she wasn’t going to quibble over handing it to him. Emily had hoped Chris having more money would make him happy but that didn’t seem to be the case, but once she’d set a precedence of giving him whatever she earned and with how angry he got over the slightest thing, she didn’t want to upset the applecart even more by telling him no. So each week she handed over her paycheck and kept her mouth shut. But what irked her was the way she was stuck and had no way of going anywhere. This ranch, even though it wasn’t hers, had become her life. Her brother controlled everything she did, almost to the point of obsession, and she daren’t rock the boat in case she set him off. Sometimes she just felt so trapped and couldn’t see a way out from beneath her brother’s control. She was too young to get a place of her own, plus she needed Chris as much as he needed her, even if he didn’t admit it and even if it was only for the money she handed to him every week. She just wanted to be loved for the person she was. She didn’t think that was too much to ask. As much as she hated the person Chris was becoming, she loved him. He was her brother.