I shrugged. I had no regrets. I’d had a lot of anger to work out. The man was still alive, wasn’t he? That was more than the others could say. We’d had to even the odds.
“When will she wake up?” William asked, still worried.
“Oh, anytime now, I’d say.” Doc nodded reassuringly. “It could be five minutes, it could be an hour. She’s had quite a day.”
Yes, she had. She was battered and bruised all over. My lips tightened, and I wished Carmichael’s death hadn’t been so quick. He’d deserved to suffer more. If I could have given him a bruise to match every one of Sassy’s…
But he was gone, and she wouldn’t have to be afraid, no threat hanging over her head.
We still needed to deal with her dishonesty, but not until she was fully recovered. My cock tried to rise when I thought about spanking her perfectly rounded ass until she was very sorry, she’d ever lied, but I pushed back the thought. That was days away.
Doc left, and William and I sat down on either side of the bed, each holding one of Sassy’s hands and watching her pale face for any sign of movement.
“We’re going to have to get back to the ranch, eventually,” I murmured unhappily. We both wanted to take care of her, but part of that included taking care of the ranch. If our source of income fell apart, we would all suffer. Yet leaving our wife alone when she was injured felt plain wrong.
William nodded reluctantly. “We could trade off. Just for the rest of today and tomorrow. See how she’s doing after that.”
Sassy stirred, causing us to fall silent. Sitting up alertly, we waited to see what happened. Her lips parted, her eyelashes fluttered, and a little moan escaped. William and I squeezed her hands, giving her whatever comfort we could.
“It’s okay, sweetheart, just relax, you’re safe,” William said soothingly. To my surprise, she did relax as soon as she heard his voice. I was glad he was there. I hadn’t even considered she might wake confused, not realizing she was safe.
Slowly, her eyes opened, and she focused on us, one after the other.
“Lord Carmichael is dead?”
“As a doornail,” I said quickly. Her eyes widened, and William coughed. Damn, might have been too crass. “How’s your head? The Doc left some medicine if it hurts too much.”
“It’s okay.” She winced, wrinkling her nose as though she wasn’t sure of what she’d just said. “I think. It doesn’t hurt as much as it did… it…” Her voice trailed off, eyes shifting, then she tried to jerk her hand back. I tightened my grip, and she stared up at me. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
I frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be nice?”
To my horror, tears sprung to her eyes.
“You… you were so angry. You called me… you called me a… lying whore.” Her voice dropped, whispering the last two words, and my heart dropped as well.
I hadn’t realized she’d heard that. Shame filled me, and I hung my head, but I didn’t let go of her hand—I couldn’t.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I was angry that you’d lied to us, but I should have never said that, never called you that.”
“He’s got a temper, but it moves fast,” William said, also sounding apologetic on my behalf. “He says things he doesn’t mean sometimes.”
“I’m working on it,” I added hastily. I was never going to call her that again. Just the hurt look in her eyes made my heart ache. “If I forget again, William will pop me a good one.”
Instead of smiling, her lips tightened. “I didn’t like you two fighting. Not over me. I’m not worth it.”
Both of us scowled down at her.
“The hell you aren’t,” I said.
“Yes, you are,” William said, right over top of me. “You’re worth everything, Sassy.”
The expression on her face was disbelieving, which made me scowl even harder.
“I don’t care that you lied to us. I mean, I do care, and we’re going to discuss that later,” I quickly amended, “but it doesn’t change how I feel about you.”
“How you feel about me?” Her eyes widened again.
“I love you.” There, I’d said it. Something inside me eased once I had the words out. I’d never said them to a woman, other than my mother, but it felt right… because it was. Sassy was my wife. I was still ticked she’d lied to us, but my anger didn’t diminish my feelings.
“And I love you,” William said, right on top of my confession.
Sassy’s eyes filled with tears, and her hand squeezed mine tight.
13
Sassy
* * *
“How… how can this be possible?” I wanted to believe them, I wanted to believe them so badly, but it didn’t make any sense.
They knew what I was, what I had been… how could they possibly love me?
“How could we not?” William asked, a small smile curving his lips. “Why wouldn’t we?”
Clive’s grin was a little lopsided. Despite his words earlier, I could see how sincere he’d been in his apology. Their hands were warm around mine, comforting, and neither of them was willing to let go.
“I was a whore,” I said baldly, bitterly, watching them for any change in their expression, but they just stared back.
“And now, you’re our wife,” Clive said, finality in his tone. “Are you planning on returning to being a whore?”
“No!”
“Are you going to go looking for pleasure with other men for the fun of it?” William asked.
“No!” I would have shaken my head, but the smallest movement sent a little jab of pain through my skull, and I immediately stilled. Both of them were already leaning forward, looking at me closely.
“Are you alright?”
“Don’t shake your head like that, sweetheart.”
My lips pressed together as a sob rose in my chest. They settled back into their places on the bed, steadily regarding me. Did my past really not matter to them? It had seemed to matter a great deal to Clive.
I met his gaze. “Why were you so angry before then? Why aren’t you still angry?”
“I wasn’t angry that you were a whore,” he said, then paused. “I wish it hadn’t been necessary for you to become one, but I wasn’t angry. I was angry, you lied.”
“He has a thing about lies,” William said.
“I don’t trust easily,” Clive admitted. “So, when I do and find out I was lied to, it hurts. It makes me wonder what else the person lied about, and when the person is someone I love…” His voice trailed off, and then he shrugged. “I started to wonder if everything you’d said to us was a lie.”
“No!” I squeezed his hand tight. Out of all the possibilities, that had not been one I’d considered. “I’m so sorry… I never… I never meant to hurt you.” I hadn’t really thought I could.
“We know, sweetheart,” William said sympathetically. “You’ll be punished for lying, and that will wipe the slate clean, and we can start over.”