Their Independent Bride Part 4

"About her safety, yeah. I foresee a lot of arguments in our future on everything else, though. She's very independent and used to doing things her way. It's going to take patience."

Greg shook his head. Most of the patience would be coming from him. Steven had plenty of it. He wasn't so sure that Janet was too long on patience, either. The two of them were going to be at odds an awful lot.

"Come on to bed, man. If she wakes up and both of us are gone, we're going to lose what little ground we've gained."

"I'm right behind you." Greg followed Steven out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the master bedroom.

Janet lay sprawled out across the bed almost sideways. He grinned. She was going to be one problem after another, but h.e.l.l to live without. He already found himself caring about her a lot more than he had antic.i.p.ated. No doubt Steven was well on his way to falling in love.

Shaking his head, he grinned across the bed at Steven and they carefully scooted her back toward the middle so that they could climb in bed next to her. She grumbled and frowned in her sleep but didn't open her eyes. Even when the bed dipped on either side of her, she didn't wake up. Yep, they had worn her out. Maybe that was the answer to most of their problems-wear her out every night so that she was too tired to get into trouble the next day. He couldn't help smiling at that thought. It wasn't practical and would never fly with Janet. She'd figure it out in a second.

With that last thought, he snuggled up closer to her and closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Steven stretched and yawned the next morning before turning over to see that he was in the bed with Greg and Janet was nowhere to be seen. He groaned and rolled out of bed. He hated it when a woman left them in bed together. It just wasn't right. He kicked the mattress.

"Get up, Greg. Janet is already up. We need to see where she is."

"What?" The other man rubbed his eyes and sat up looking around.

"Come on. We need to get dressed and see where she's gotten off to."

Greg cursed and climbed out of bed, grabbing his jeans as he headed for the bathroom. Steven sighed. He should have waited to wake him up until he'd had the bathroom first. Instead, he dressed and then took his turn before following Greg downstairs to look for Janet. For her sake, he hoped she hadn't gone outside alone.

They found her in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee with breakfast sizzling on the stove. She smiled when they walked in, and then frowned at the intense expression on Greg's face.

"What?"

"Um, nothing. We just didn't know where you were." Greg tried to cover up the anxiety that had probably bled through in the looks on their faces.

She c.o.c.ked her head and started to say something, but she changed her mind and stood up instead.

"Breakfast is about ready. I hope you like steak and potatoes. It's going to take me some time to get used to cooking with what we have. We're having currick again to replace the potatoes."

Steven pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She turned startled green eyes up at him. He guessed she really hadn't expected him to show affection outside of the bedroom. She wasn't a virgin by any means, but she acted as if no one had ever shown her any love before.

Greg smiled and a.s.sured her that whatever she cooked would be fine with them.

"We're not picky. We're used to living off our own cooking and neither one of us can cook worth a d.a.m.n."

Steven let her go and helped himself to a cup of coffee, and then he poured one for Greg. They sat at the table and discussed plowing the garden. They remembered to include Janet in the conversation.

"I'll show you where I want it. A lot depends on the sun. We don't have many trees around. If what those are out there are really trees. They look like something out of a kid's coloring book. Whoever heard of blue trees?"

She seemed to be nervous. She was rambling a bit. Steven had thought kissing her would show her that everything was fine. Instead, it seemed to fl.u.s.ter her even more. There was no telling with women. He sighed and sipped his coffee.

"Yeah, it looked like a rainbow on the way in yesterday. I've never seen so many colors on trees before that weren't in the leaves," Steven said.

"Baby, while we're gone every day, we want you to stay inside except when you're working in the garden, okay?" Greg asked.

"That's probably a good idea. I can do that. I don't want to tempt fate."

Steven could feel the relief roll off of Greg that she had agreed. If only everything would go this smoothly. He almost laughed out loud at that thought. He doubted there would be much that did. He watched her eyes crinkle when she smiled. He loved seeing her smile and realized that he was quickly falling in love with her.

"While you're looking over the plow thingy, I'm going to clean up the kitchen, and then I'll show you where I want the garden." She got up and gathered the dishes to take to the sink.

Greg opened his mouth and Steven cringed. He already knew what he was going to say.

"Don't come outside until we come get you."

She placed the dishes carefully in the sink then slowly turned around. Her face was as void of expression as was possible.

"I'm not a child. I can go outside by myself. I wasn't planning to run around the yard shouting for something to come get me."

"Greg!" Steven warned.

"I didn't think you would. I just don't want you outside without one of us with you until we know more about this place."

"Then why didn't you say that? Don't give me orders like I'm your employee. I'm not! I'm your wife and a human being." She slammed her hands on her hips and fumed up at the big man.

Steven winced. He had no idea how Greg was going to take the outright challenge she'd thrown at him. He saw the spark in his eyes before he took a deep breath and blew it out.

"I'm sorry, Janet. You're right. You're our wife. I'm trying, but you're going to have to help me out and not fly off the handle when I make a mistake, too. Can you do that for me?"

She pursed her lips and seemed to be thinking it over. Steven prayed she would realize just how much of a concession Greg had made in apologizing to her. In all the time that they had shared women, he had never heard Greg apologize for being the way he was.

"You're right. I tend to speak before I think about it when I'm angry. I'll try to point out the error in your logic in a nicer way." She smiled and seemed to wait to see how he would react.

"I'm sure you will point them out. So, we're going out to check on the tractor and will be back in to get you in a few minutes. You can show us where to plow and we'll get it started."

Steven let out his breath. He hadn't even realized he had been holding it. They had made it past their first hurdle. All he could do was hope that things would get easier along the way and not harder.

He followed Greg outside after dropping a quick kiss on top of Janet's head. He could tell the other man needed silence, so he held his tongue. He didn't have long to wait.

"She's going to be the death of me. Write that on my tombstone. But as G.o.d is my witness, I'm already half in love with her." Greg started up the plow and drove it out of the shed leaving Steven to follow on foot.

Chapter Six.

Janet let out a breath once the men had closed the door behind them. She couldn't believe Greg had backed down like that. Maybe he really was trying to work with her. She sure hadn't helped matters by jumping on him like she had. She needed to think before she flew off the handle like that again. It wasn't fair to expect him to do all the changing.

She made quick work of cleaning up the kitchen and washing the dishes. She heard the tractor about the time she had finished and started to go out on the back porch to meet the men when she remembered that she had promised to wait inside for them. It aggravated her to wait for them like an obedient dog, but she would do it. As long as they were less demanding in other areas, she was willing to give on the issue of her safety. They did have her best interests at heart.

The door opened and Steven walked in with a giant smile on his face.

"Ready, love? Greg has the tractor primed and ready."

"I've got my drawings right here in my pocket." She pulled them out and handed them to Steven.

He took them and grabbed her hand to pull her out the door. She laughed and followed him. He was in a good mood for some reason. She wasn't about to ruin it. She just hoped that Greg was as well.

They stepped out onto the back porch. The spring day enveloped them in pleasing smells of flowers and bright sunshine. The sound of the tractor drowned out the eerie silence that she had learned was because there were very few bugs and no birds at all on the planet. She wasn't sure how she would get used to no birdsongs or crickets chirping, but she supposed it would happen over time.

Greg sat on the tractor waiting for her to give him directions. She could tell he was antsy to get started. She looked up at Steven and pointed out toward the back.

"I need to walk out there to find the spot."

He nodded and walked with her as she looked from the back of the house to the line of trees and judged where the best place would be. Finally, she was satisfied with her choice and explained it to Steven. He nodded and motioned for her to head back to the house.

"You can sit on the front porch and watch, but don't get off the porch without us. Like I said, we don't know enough yet about the planet to be sure of what is safe. I'm going to be walking the area to check for poisonous plants for you to avoid." He almost had to yell to be heard over the sound of the tractor idling in the background.

Janet drew in a deep breath and nodded. She could sit on the porch. There really wasn't anything she could do while they plowed the garden anyway. Planting time would have her out there soon enough. She hurried back to the porch and sat in one of the rocking chairs to watch the men.

After an hour of watching Greg plow and Steven walk around, she was bored and wanted something to do. She walked the length of the porch several times and started to walk down the steps on more than one occasion. Then Steven would look up as if knowing she was thinking of disobeying him. She huffed out a breath and decided to go inside and fix them something to drink. She was sure they would be thirsty.

She quickly brewed some iced tea and poured two gla.s.ses. She was about to carry them outside when Steven stepped inside.

"I wondered where you had gotten off to. Here, let me help you with that." He took the iced tea from her and walked toward the door. "If you'll open the door, I can carry Greg his."

"I want to go with you. I can't stand sitting on that stupid porch by myself."

"Come on. Just don't wander off. There are quite a few dangerous plants around here that I'm going to have to get rid of. I don't want there to be any chance you might get mixed up with one of them."

"Are they the same ones that we studied about on the shuttle? I think I can stay away from them on my own." She didn't like that he a.s.sumed she wasn't smart enough to stay away from them.

"They are. I figured you could point them out without a problem, but I want them out of the area. What happens when we have children? If we don't get a start on them now, we might not get them all."

Janet froze. Children? She hadn't thought about that. She really hadn't thought much past herself and realized she was being childish and selfish all at the same time.

"Good idea." She managed to get out around the lump in her throat.

"Come on. You can let Greg know that he's doing a good job when you give him his tea." Steven urged her forward once again.

Greg stopped the tractor and cut the engine when they walked up to the edge of the freshly plowed ground. It was turned under but still needed quite a bit of plowing before it would be ready for a garden. Janet could see sweat beading on Greg's forehead. Even though it was spring, the sun was hot and the heat from the tractor's engine shimmered around him. She watched him climb down and smiled at him.

"Thanks, that looks good." He took the gla.s.s from Steven but looked at her. "How about a kiss, baby?"

She smiled and walked over to kiss him then stopped in midstride.

"Wait. You're all smelly and wet. I don't think I want to have to take a shower this early in the day," she teased.

"I can kiss you without getting you all messy. Just lean up a little and purse those pretty lips for me."

She giggled and leaned forward. He leaned down and took her lips in a scorching kiss that rocked her world. She wasn't even aware until later that she had plastered herself to his sweaty body and wrapped her arms around him. His lips devoured hers, eating at her mouth with teeth and lips and tongue.

When he slowly pulled from her embrace, a satisfied grin stretched his face. Knowing eyes sparkled as she pulled away with a frown. He'd known what he was doing.

"I suppose you think it's funny that I'm going to have to take a shower and change clothes before I can fix your lunch." She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"Now, baby. I didn't touch you-" he began.

"It was just supposed to be a quick kiss, not a scorching prelude to s.e.x on the gra.s.s," she interrupted him.

"Oh, well, if you want to get naked right here, I'm game." He started unb.u.t.toning his jeans.

"Oh, you!" She stuck her tongue out at him and stomped back toward the house.

She could hear them laughing as she slammed the kitchen door. She wasn't really mad, just miffed that she'd fallen so completely under his spell this easily. It wouldn't take much for her to learn to love them. They were stubborn and bossy but funny and gentle all at the same time. Even Greg, with his overwhelming personality, had his moments.

She talked to herself all the way upstairs to shower off and change clothes. She couldn't believe she wasn't as mad as a wet cat at him. Instead she found herself smiling and even chuckling at the way she looked when she saw herself in the mirror. Moisture plastered her top to her chest where her nipples were poking through the bra and wet shirt. There was a line of dirt around the area and another circle of dirt around her mouth and on her cheeks. She made out a dirty handprint on her shoulder. Yeah, he'd touched her all right. Never mind the over-the-top kiss.

Janet stripped out of her clothes and stepped into the shower. She couldn't decide whether she needed to be mad at him or laugh it off. Part of her wanted to slam him for using s.e.x against her, while another part of her wanted to forgive and forget. After all, all he had done was kiss her. She'd done the rest, which only showed how much she enjoyed his kisses.

While she soaped up and sponged off, she planned a quick lunch of soup and cracked bread. She could have the bread made in about an hour. By then, they would be ready for another break. She wouldn't make the same mistake of kissing either one of them a second time, though.

With that, she stepped out of the shower and dried off. After dressing, she hurried to the kitchen and started prepping the bread. When they came in a little over an hour later, she had everything ready for them.

"Stop right there, and take those dirty boots off before you track it all over the house."

The men stared down guiltily at their dirt-crusted boots and stepped out of them before continuing to the washroom to clean up. She smiled and set the table while they washed their hands.

Once they had finished lunch, it was decided that the men would switch places and Steven would plow during the afternoon. She wondered what Greg was going to do. He announced that he planned to take a shower and clean up.

"Want to take another one with me and scrub my back, baby?"

"I think I've had enough showers for the day. You go right ahead and get cleaned up. I'm going to read for a while, I think." She backed away from him as he advanced on her.

"How about a kiss before I go shower?"

"Not on your life. You got your kiss earlier." He took another two steps toward her. She backed up then turned and ran to the living room.

He chased after her but only halfheartedly. She easily escaped him and circled around the couch. He feigned left but went right. She managed to escape him by a thread. She laughed and ran back into the kitchen to put the table between them this time.

"Okay, okay. I am going to take my shower now. I'll be back down in a few minutes." Greg turned and headed for the stairs.

Janet didn't trust him and remained where she was until she heard the shower cut on above. She grinned. He had a playful streak in him she hadn't expected. Earlier had been a small glimpse.

She found her book and curled up on the couch to read. Thirty minutes later, a much cleaner Greg bounded down the stairs to the living room. He looked like a Greek G.o.d with his hair still wet and his chest bare. She couldn't help but stare at him. He smiled, catching her ogling him.

"Come sit in my lap while you read, baby. I want to hold you."

She started to say no and go back to reading, but she really wanted to and wasn't one to deny herself when she really wanted something. Besides, he hadn't said it in a demanding voice. He sounded like he really wanted to hold her.