Shotgun Bride [Tasty Treats 12] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Polyromance) Read online

  Tasty Treats 12

  Shotgun Bride

  A shotgun denting their forehead isn’t the way Matt Drakestone or Colton Westmoreland intended to get married, however, Ella Parker, the naked woman sandwiched between them, is certainly worth any mild discomfort. They rescued her from certain death, as she was locked in a basement filling with storm water. They claimed the wicked sexual reward she offered, and now must face the slight embarrassment of her father finding them all in bed together.

  Fortunately, they’re ready to marry her, hoping she’ll give them the heir they need to secure their legacy property. Unfortunately, the two men her father brought along have the same intention, and they’ve already put down a deposit for her bride price.

  Ella made a deal with Matt and Colton to avoid marrying the two men her father selected. After a single night together, she’s already half in love. Her deplorable father doesn’t care for Ella beyond the generous bride price she’ll fetch because of her ability to conceive, but the secret he hides may well ruin their landowner ambitions.

  Note: There is no sexual relationship or touching for titillation between or among siblings.

  Genre: Futuristic, Multiple Partners, Western/Cowboys

  Length: 38,862 words

  SHOTGUN BRIDE

  Tasty Treats 12

  Lara Santiago

  EVERLASTING POLYROMANCE

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Everlasting Polyromance

  SHOTGUN BRIDE

  Copyright © 2013 by Lara Santiago

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-382-8

  First E-book Publication: February 2013

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2013 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 Shotgun Bride by Lara Santiago from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

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

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

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  DEDICATION

  To Lindsey R. and company for keeping me in line and always organized.

  SHOTGUN BRIDE

  Tasty Treats 12

  LARA SANTIAGO

  Copyright © 2013

  Chapter One

  Wyoming, 2099

  “I’m not looking forward to the search for a bride.” Mathew Drakestone kneed his borrowed horse into a trot to keep up with his younger half brother, Colton Westmoreland. He then promptly shifted his weight, now jostling along in his also-borrowed saddle when the horse sped up to accommodate his command.

  “Why’s that? Having a woman in our lives has obvious benefits.” Beside him on another borrowed horse, Colton grinned. Matt and his younger half brother shared a mother but had vastly different fathers. Four years his junior and likely twice as ambitious, Colton was the reason they were even on this outing today. He’d been given the chance to own legacy land through his father. And Matt knew Colton truly wanted it more than anything else on earth.

  “Because we don’t have a shitload of money, and we’ll have to take whatever bride we can get. All the best women with the highest fertility scores will fetch a bride price we won’t be able to afford.” Matt’s law practice made enough to be pretty comfortable if he didn’t go crazy, but his modest business wouldn’t provide the kind of dollars needed in today’s bride price market.

  “Wouldn’t it be great to just fall in love with a woman and get married without having to pay for her?” he asked rhetorically.

  “Sure. But that isn’t the reality we live in.” Colton sobered. He cast his gaze away as if studying the eastern sky was suddenly imperative. Matt hadn’t meant to disillusion him.

  “Besides, in my personal experience, women without bride prices attached can also be very expensive,” Colton added in a low tone. Colton had always been unlucky at love and, as a result, didn’t trust women. Matt hadn’t meant to bring up anything to do with his brother’s relationship failures.

  He did, however, wish to be back in his comfortable law office drawing up tedious legal paperwork instead of trotting along on a horse on loan from his cousins Alex and Rafe’s stables.

  Matt was a lawyer. He liked being a lawyer. But instead of arguing cases and bringing limited justice to his corner of the world, he was on a field trip traversing the dustiest of trails leading to what likely constituted a big waste of time in looking at a piece of land for a future he wasn’t sure he even wanted.

  The main problem was his lack of desire to participate in ranching. The close second was the huge cost associated with starting up a ranch. The property they traveled to see had been unoccupied for several years. He and Colton were on this outing to discover the condition of the existing structures and what kind of money they’d have to put into this legacy land before a profit could be gained.

  Colton was prepared to do anything and everything to make it happen. He did have the knowledge and experience to be successful. Matt was less excited about the entire prospect.

  The cost of “buying” a bride to ensure an heir was another expense Matt didn’t want to incur. But the rules for owning land had changed even in the past few years. Marriages these days didn’t involve first falling in love. It wasn’t usually even in the top-five list of consi
derations for a union.

  Women able to conceive were few. Legacy land was traditionally passed down to the next generation in the same family or the nearest male blood relative. Laws had been enacted to ensure this practice continued after tragedy had struck more than half a century ago.

  The Richter virus unleashed on the world over sixty years ago had changed everything, reducing the world’s population of women by almost a third. The eventual cure for this disease came at the high cost of extinguishing fertility. And not only those women affected but also coming generations of women born to the victims of the virus. The sterility rate was raised significantly in a large percentage of women saved from the disease. Three generations later, women able to conceive and bear children were still in very short supply.

  “So you think we’re wasting our time?” Colton turned his head back, stating more than asking the question.

  Matt hated to disabuse him of his long-sought dream but wanted to scream, Yes! However, not seeking to ruin the day or his brother’s mood, Matt answered instead, “Not necessarily. But even if we fall in love with the probably desolate land we’re about to explore, there are so many hoops we have to jump through to make this future venture happen, I wonder if it’s even worth the effort. We have to pay for a bride. We need capital to restock the ranch with cattle, horses, supplies, ranch hands—”

  “Yes. Yes. I know, but you have to spend money to make money.” Colton’s enthusiasm came roaring back with a vengeance and wouldn’t be contained or trampled on. “We can make this project a success, Matt. I know we can. You’re smart. I’m motivated. And I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen no matter how hard I have to work.”

  Matt understood this venture was all important to his little brother. He also knew that if Colton didn’t accept the land, his younger half brother Zebulon would then be offered the ranch and land.

  The irony being that if Colton couldn’t make a go of it in the next five years and produce an heir, there were funds in the trust to help his younger half brother be a success with the land at the end of the five years with or without an heir. It was a provision included as a last-ditch effort to keep the property in the Westmoreland name. Colton’s father followed tradition to a point but had always played favorites with his children.

  Old man Westmoreland, as Matt had always thought of him, had been married three times and produced three different boys with three different women. Matt had briefly been a part of the household when his mother had married Westmoreland and given birth to Colton. He’d been largely ignored by Colton’s father during his time there and afterward. That had suited him just fine, then and now.

  The marriage eventually crumbled due to old man Westmoreland’s penchant for pretty young women traipsing frequently through his bed. And his additional lack of concern for getting caught by whatever woman he was married to at the time. As a result, the inevitable split between him and Colton’s mother had not been the least bit amicable. Unfortunately, Colton now paid the price for that long-ago dispute.

  Colton only received the waiting trust funds if he used his own money and sweat equity to make the land successful and also provided an heir within five years. Many wondered why Colton didn’t simply select Zebulon to link with and make a go of the property.

  The truth was, Colton and his younger half brother didn’t get along. And that was really an understatement. Zebulon had been a spoiled-rotten little brat since the day he was born. Apparently, no one had ever told him no in his life, shaping him into the sullen, entitled adult he’d become.

  If the rumors were true—and Matt had on good authority they were—Zebulon planned to level the ranch structures, rebuild, and make the ranch property a gambling mecca, if given the chance.

  “I’m not trying to burst your bubble, Colton. I just want to look at this property with realistic expectations of what we are capable of accomplishing.”

  Colton’s grin didn’t seem to take in Matt’s attempted reality check. “You sound like a lawyer.”

  “I am a lawyer.” Matt was also very practical. Settling down on a piece of property, finding a woman to marry, and setting up house with his half brother wasn’t even on the top one hundred list of things he’d ever planned to do with his life. And yet deep down in his soul, he was drawn to the possibility. But only because he wanted a family. He wanted children. However, he wanted them with a woman he loved beyond all else. In this, he was more dreamer than Colton because that wasn’t the way the world worked anymore.

  Colton, his expression filled with adoration for a life on his own ranch—which he desired above all things—grinned like he’d won the lottery. “But on the other hand, if it’s perfect, it will give us something to aspire to, don’t you think?”

  “You’re the dreamer, Colton. I know that you expect the land to be everything you’ve ever desired in ranch property.”

  “Of course, because I’ve already seen it.”

  “Yeah, when you were five.”

  He shrugged. “Well, I have an excellent recall.”

  “Whatever. I’m not getting my hopes up. It’s been ten years since it was a fully operational working ranch and seven or so since anyone’s even been out here. The existing structures, including the barns, the homestead, and bunkhouses, will likely have to be leveled and replaced due to neglect.” Two weeks ago, this opportunity hadn’t even been on his plate, and today he was trotting along on a borrowed horse.

  In fact, he’d been seriously contemplating a joint venture with another small law firm an hour away. They wanted an office in his area, he wanted to expand but lacked the contacts and financing to do so. Partnership would offer him a more solid future. Unless he decided to scale back his practice to invest everything and more into a ranch property his brother wanted. He guessed there were worse things he could do with his life, but nothing specific popped into his head.

  Last week, Colton had arrived to have Matt look over a legal notification leaving him the property he was getting saddle sores to go see and also to ask if he wanted to join with him in the legacy property.

  Colton had inherited the land with the contingency that he had to pair up with another acceptable male blood relative—i.e. one that wasn’t in jail or incompetent—and make strides to form a family, produce an heir, and make the ranch a success, so that the land could be maintained within the same family and support a successful business. That meant that if they liked the property they were about to go see and the buildings were fairly sound, they’d have to find a bride quickly and begin breeding in order for the land to remain in their hands. Five years was really the barest of minimum times to produce an heir.

  Due to the difficulty of conception even in fertile females taking longer, most contracts stipulated seven to ten or even twelve years to produce an heir. Old man Westmoreland was giving Colton only five years to accomplish the task. And the timer had already started running.

  Colton, ever the dreamer, said, “Possibly. But there could be some salvage. Maybe even a lot. It’s only been empty for a few years. Even with the blackout storms prevalent in the area, the structures could be perfectly sound.”

  “If your father had bothered to put the money into the care and maintenance while the ranch was in full production mode. But we both know he was better at talking about doing things than actually following through. Every time I think of what will need to be done, I only hear ka-ching, ka-ching ringing in my head.” Not surprisingly, Matt hadn’t had the best of relationships with his stepfather.

  “Then why did you agree to go with me on this exploration?”

  Matt shrugged. “Because maybe I’d like to have a woman in my life. And more than that, I’d truly like to have children,” he admitted quietly. His mind filled with images of his cousins Alex and Rafe and their brand-new life with recent bride Brianna and their newborn son.

  Colton tilted his head back and laughed to the cloudy skies above. “I get it. You’re jealous of Alex and Rafe. You want thei
r life.”

  “No. Not jealous. Envious. There’s a difference. I want a wife I care about and children with my wife regardless of whether I have land to pass down to them.”

  “Uh-huh. Well, whatever the case, I’m glad you agreed to check this out with me.”

  “I know you want this, Colton. I know you deserve it. And I promise, I’m willing to go along if there is a true chance for us to succeed, if I have even the barest chance to have a family, then I’m in.”

  “Even if we end up with the cheapest bride in the land?” Colton grinned.

  “Tell you what. We’ll offer a bid on the second-cheapest bride price available and then we can elevate our personal self-esteem. How about that?”

  Colton laughed out loud. “Perfect. Thanks, bro.”

  “Sure. And maybe we’ll even take a look at the third and fourth cheapest just to keep a better and more positive perspective. Because looks don’t factor in to the bride price equation. You know that, right? It’s all about the fertility certificate and the percentage represented.”

  “I know.” Colton looked to his left and into the far western skies. Matt followed his gaze. It looked like darkness was coming upon them faster than expected for it being so early in the morning. Probably a storm was brewing. That would be just their luck. A blackout storm would occur just as they toured the legacy land and keep them trapped inside or possibly beneath the sagging, leaky roofs of dilapidated buildings.

  Matt hated being out in bad weather on horseback. Unfortunately, due to the abandonment of the land, the only way to access it was by horseback. The only other option had been renting a helicopter to fly in and survey the land. But with fuel costs being what they were, that was also exceptionally cost prohibitive these days, and a drop-off and pickup scenario would equal a month’s pay. No thanks. If they established a working ranch again, easements through the surrounding lands would once again be allowed and available to them.