Love Under Two Responders [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  The Lusty, Texas Collection

  Love Under Two Responders

  Carol Ashwood, esthetician, arrives in Lusty, Texas with no expectations but to earn her way and heal her heart from a major fight with her family. She’s led a sheltered life, but refuses to judge the way the people of Lusty live—and love. And that is probably a good thing, because she falls in love at first sight with Warren and Edward Jessop.

  Warren and Edward have been the town’s paramedics for a long time. Respected and loved by all, they’re still considered to be nerdy and socially awkward. And they are, with two exceptions—when they’re on a call, and when they’re with Carol. Their courtship is complicated by Carol’s family issues and the fact that someone has taken shots at Edward. And while the state police say it was only a drunken hunter shooting astray, investigation soon proves otherwise.

  Will they discover who has a grudge against one small town paramedic before that shooter tries again?

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

  Length: 87,909 words

  LOVE UNDER TWO RESPONDERS

  The Lusty, Texas Collection

  Cara Covington

  MENAGE EVERLASTING

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

  LOVE UNDER TWO RESPONDERS

  Copyright © 2013 by Cara Covington

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62740-819-6

  First E-book Publication: November 2013

  Cover design by Les Byerly

  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 Love Under Two Responders by Cara Covington 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 Cara Covington’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Covington’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  An author is nothing, if no one reads what they’ve written.

  I am so very grateful to my wonderful readers for their continued patronage. I’m especially grateful to my street team, The Lusty Ladies. You humble me with your eagerness to promote my books and you honor me with your willingness to answer my questions—especially for this book, when I asked you about the specter of tornadoes that so many of you had to deal with, personally, this year. And you give me such pleasure with your pictures and your thread-jacking and your great bounty of love. From the bottom of my heart, my thanks to each and every one of you.

  I’m grateful to Stormy for being such a good and knowledgeable beta-reader.

  I’m also grateful for all of the very talented and dedicated people at Siren-BookStrand. Your professionalism and hard work are much appreciated. I am especially grateful to my publisher, Diana. I will forever be thankful for this wonderful opportunity you have given, and continue to give, to me. I’m very proud to be a Siren author.

  A very special thank-you goes to my beloved husband. As I was getting my thoughts together to write this book, he and I were discussing various aspects of the story, as we often do. In light of the incident that I had discovered lay in Edward Jessop’s not-so-distant past, my beloved challenged me to do something different. He challenged me to create a non-villainous villain. In order to do that, I had to touch on a subject that was very close to home for us both, a subject that was very difficult for me to write about, and very difficult for him to read about.

  The loss of a child, even an adult child, is the hardest thing in life to endure. It is a loss that men and women—fathers and mothers—process differently, one from the other. Thank you, beloved, for allowing me to show the world that which has been so painful to bear. I know beyond doubt, that someone who reads this book is going to be helped by that aspect of this story.

  DEDICATION

  This story is dedicated to the memory of our middle child, our son, Anthony.

  Not a day has gone by since your passing that you aren’t thought upon, loved, and missed.

  Until we meet again.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  About the Author

  LOVE UNDER TWO RESPONDERS

  The Lusty, Texas Collection

  CARA COVINGTON

  Copyright © 2013

  Chapter 1

  How long does a woman have to wait for two men to make their move, for crying out loud?

  Carol Ashwood shook her head as she reviewed the dai
ly appointment book at the Lusty Glow Day Spa. Each one of estheticians there had their own column on each day’s page in the book. The only exception to that rule was Sandy. Sandra O’Brien was their licensed massage therapist, and the only one of Chloe’s employees who worked part time.

  Carol knew from lunches grabbed over at Lusty Appetites with the pretty redhead that the therapist would jump at the chance to work full time for Chloe—but the need just wasn’t there, yet. So for now, the woman worked Monday to Wednesday in Lusty, and Thursday to Saturday at a clinic in Waco.

  Carol brought her attention back to her column for the day, and reviewed the rest of her appointments, even as her eye wandered to the clock.

  Who am I kidding? There was only one entry she had eyes for, and only one client—actually two clients in one—who could make her heart race, her palms sweat, and her female bits sit up and take notice.

  Those two hunks masquerading as first responders were scheduled to come in for their biweekly manicures, this morning at eleven.

  Just ten minutes from now.

  Carol looked up toward the firehouse, where she knew those two were right now, probably canoodling with that tramp in newly hired EMT’s clothing, “Amanda, but you can call me Mandi” Bates.

  She half expected to have heard from Chloe that Warren and Edward had called and cancelled. Maybe they’ll forget all about their appointment with me today. Maybe eleven will come and go, and they won’t even notice because that auburn-haired bimbo with the big fake boobs and tiny emaciated waist will be fluttering her false eyelashes at them as she ogles their beautiful butts.

  If those two men canceled, or worse, forgot, Carol would…she’d…well, she didn’t know what she would do but it would be something!

  Even as she felt those negative emotions roiling inside her, Carol knew she was being unfair in her thinking. Amanda Bates was probably a perfectly nice woman. She was new to Lusty, and it was only natural that Warren and Edward had to work with her and Bradley Long. And really, she didn’t have any claim on those two Jessops. Yet. No, stop thinking that way. Have a little faith. One of these days, very soon, they’re bound to make that first move.

  “You’re looking pretty fierce there, Carol. Is anything wrong?”

  Carol didn’t jump, but it was close. Chloe’s words of concern accompanied by a light touch—in this case a hand on her shoulder—yanked her right out of her own sour, self-pitying thoughts. She’d been pretty deep into them, too, because she hadn’t even heard her boss, who was also her friend, approach.

  “No, nothing’s wrong. I just had a few moments of letting my mind wander where it shouldn’t go. It really is too small to be let out all on its own without a leash.”

  Carol smiled, but Chloe just shook her head. “You ought not to trash talk yourself there, woman, even in fun. There’s nothing at all wrong with your mind that I’ve ever seen.”

  “Thank you. That’s a very nice compliment.” In fact, Chloe couldn’t possibly understand how nice Carol thought that compliment was.

  “Your gumption, on the other hand, could use a good swift kick in the pants.”

  Carol had no clue what Chloe was talking about. She raised both eyebrows, letting the woman know she was confused.

  Chloe sighed. “I’m not surprised those two EMTs have been slow to make a move on you, hon. But it’s not you, it’s them. They’re the shiest, most socially clueless men I’ve ever met.”

  “Actually, they’re not EMTs, they’re paramedics. They both hold Associate of Applied Science degrees in Emergency Medical Services from Austin Community College.” Carol’s qualification of the two men in question came swiftly and almost without her conscious thought.

  Chloe grinned. “I thought so. You’re as sweet on them as they are on you. Good.” Chloe rubbed her hands together. “I think the three of you make a very attractive triad. There’s nothing I like better than a good love story.”

  Carol hadn’t confided in Chloe before now, but suddenly, she was really glad to have the topic out there. “They’re not sweet on me. They’re just coming to see me every two weeks for their manicures.” Carol was under no illusions. She looked in the mirror every day. She wasn’t ugly, but she certainly wasn’t beautiful, either. She was…ordinary. Kind of like the girl-next-door type of ordinary, someone totally unremarkable in every way. Anyone meeting her for the first time would be forgiven for thinking her name was Jane, as in Plain Jane, because she sure was that.

  And isn’t that just damned unfair to all the women in the world named Jane?

  Those two Jessops, on the other hand, oozed masculine beauty. Sometimes just looking at them made her mouth water. They weren’t conceited, either, not like so many of the good-looking men she’d seen in Abilene. No, they were sweet and caring and kind and…

  Carol slowly became aware that Chloe had been looking at her silently. Carol had gotten pretty good at reading her friend’s mood. Right now, however, she couldn’t say for certain if the owner of the Lusty Glow Day Spa was fighting her laughter, or wanted to sigh in frustration.

  Laughter finally won. “Really? Not sweet on you? And what line did they feed you about their reason for coming to you for manicures in the first place? For which, by the way, when they called to make the first appointment they specifically and adamantly asked for you.”

  Carol looked down at her toes for a long moment. Why had she thought she could hide the truth from this woman—from any of the women she worked with? And why did she want to?

  The last time the two paramedics had arrived for their appointment with her, she’d seen a knowing snicker on Ari’s face and received a saucy wink from Tasha.

  “All right. I admit that their whole, ‘we need our hands to be smooth so as not to tear the latex gloves and endanger our patients or ourselves’ line sounded a bit suspicious at the time.” Then, because it was such a relief to not have to guard her words, she smiled. “I thought their line was original, mind you, but definitely suspicious.”

  “Oh, they’re good!” Chloe’s voice held a note of admiration. She slipped her arm around Carol’s shoulders. “Honey, like I said, I’m not surprised they haven’t made a move, yet. They give an entirely new dimension to the word ‘shy.’” She lowered her voice and leaned closer. “Sometimes, a woman just has to take matters into her own hands, you know? I think this is one of those times, and you should do just that.”

  That was what Carol had been afraid of. Her instincts were telling her that Chloe Rhodes—soon to be Jessop—was a woman who could be trusted, and one who knew what she was talking about. So she mentally crossed her fingers for luck, lowered her voice to match her boss’s, and said, “Then I have a real problem because I really don’t know how to do that. I have absolutely no experience in these matters.”

  Chloe’s gaze looked startled. Then her eyes widened as understanding dawned. “Oh! Oh my…goodness. Well. Ahem. Hmmm. All right, then.”

  Carol giggled. For a woman she considered to be sophisticated and wise beyond her years, her friend seemed to be completely taken aback by her revelation, cloaked in innuendo though it had been.

  Chloe exhaled deeply, ruffling the hair that framed her face. “In that case, what’s called for here is a little…misdirection.” Her gaze seemed to go unfocused for a moment as she turned her head to look out the window. When she spoke, her words sounded distracted. “Yes, I would say that misdirection is definitely called for.”

  Carol looked to see what had snagged Chloe’s attention. From where they stood, in the front reception area of the spa, they could look out the plate glass window and see the firehouse. Standing on the sidewalk, just in front of the building, Grant Jessop talked with the new male member of his staff, Bradley Long. Bradley was the other EMT hired by the Lusty Town Trust recently.

  For the last two weeks, Warren and Edward had been kept busy showing the newcomers, Bradley and Mandi, the ropes—introducing them around town and having the two accompany them on the few emergency calls t
hat had come in.

  One of the things that Carol loved best about her home state of Texas was the neighbor-helping-neighbor attitude that stretched from the north and the Oklahoma border all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. The town of Lusty was small in size but big in heart. It hadn’t taken her long to understand that while the paramedics and the firemen were occasionally needed right here in town, mostly they responded to calls from neighboring communities and counties.

  Being close to one of the state highways meant the paramedics could be and often were called to the scene of automobile accidents.

  There’d been a couple of those just in the last week, alone. On their last appointment, they’d told her that with the heat of summer and the sometimes shorter tempers, car accidents happened more often now than in the winter months.

  Carol brought her focus back to the conversation at hand. Appointment time was nearing, and it really didn’t help her emotions any that while she could see Grant and Bradley—and Andrew who just stepped outside to join them—those other two Jessops and that floozy were nowhere to be seen.

  “Yes, I think he’s going to be perfect!” Chloe said.

  Carol frowned. “He? I thought you were engaged to both of them!”

  Chloe seemed to come out of the almost trancelike state she’d been in—a common occurrence, Carol thought, whenever those two minor mountains impersonating men were in sight.

  She turned her wide brown eyes on Carol, and smiled. “I am! Yes, I am. Now, don’t you worry about a thing. I know just what to do.”