A Desconian Marriage of Convenience (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) by Rachel Clark

peace. With that last amazing thought held firmly in her mind, Jenelle relaxed into their care and let sleep take her.
     
    * * * *
     
    Several hours later, Tosh played with Baylen’s hair as he rested his head on Tosh’s thigh. He was trying hard to concentrate on what he was reading, but his thoughts kept wandering back to the woman lying in the bedroom in their husband’s arms. Thank the goddess they’d thought of how she might react before they’d dragged her in front of an audience and claimed her. Hell, he knew Jenelle considered their joining as one of convenience, but it was obvious that Baylen and Jax were as emotionally invested in claiming Jenelle as their mubella as he was. Terrifying her in front of an audience was not the way they’d wanted to start their marriage. They loved her and most definitely planned to keep her.
    But their joining had been everything he’d ever dreamed it could be and more, so much more. For a woman with such horrific violence in her history, the trust she’d given Tosh and Jax had been the most amazing gift he could ever have asked for. It only proved that she was exactly where she was meant to be.
    If only the stubborn woman could see past her own concerns about her infertility. It was obvious she considered it a fatal flaw for any relationship. Being unable to produce offspring was not something that affected the way Tosh, Baylen, or Jax felt about Jenelle, but it was obvious it affected the way she felt about herself. If only he could find a solution.
    Many years ago Desconian medicine had briefly concentrated on creating external incubators and artificial wombs, but so far the information Tosh had been able to dig up hadn’t been very promising. Considering that most Desconian women had a problem with poorly developed ova rather than a malfunctioning uterus, the research seemed to have been abandoned. But it did leave him with enough hope to keep trying. Right now he was scouring hundreds of gigabytes of information from ancient medical texts from Earth in the hopes of maybe finding something that would lead him to a solution.
    The chiming of the front door was unexpected.
    “I’ll get it.” Baylen rolled off the sofa and onto his feet. A few moments later he came back into the room. “Look who I found loitering at our front door.”
    “Galeena,” Tosh said warmly as he abandoned his research and went to greet Jax’s sister and her husbands, Tyler and Alekai. “We weren’t expecting to see you three until the claiming ceremony.”
    “Yes, well,” Galeena said, glancing around the room, most likely looking for her brother, “we have a bit of exciting news, so we thought we’d drop by early.”
    “News?” Baylen asked with a broad grin. Tosh knew exactly what Baylen was thinking but unfortunately knew enough about Galeena’s medical history to know that she wasn’t here to announce a miracle pregnancy.
    Tyler reached out and pulled his wife into his arms. “We’ve decided to move back to the capital. As nice as it is to live and work halfway across the planet, it’s just too far away from our families,” Alekai said with a wide grin.
    “And now that you’re claiming a human mubella,” Galeena added excitedly, “I have every intention of being close enough to spoil my nieces and nephews rotten.”
    Baylen’s smile slipped from his face, and Tosh struggled not to show the fear he was feeling. Hell, he prayed Jenelle was still sleeping. His concern was partially allayed when Jax came into the main area to greet his sister, picking her up and giving her a tight hug before whispering something in her ear. Tosh had no idea what he might have said, but Galeena’s smile faltered as he put her down.
    “Where are you staying?” Jax asked, changing the subject with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
    “We’re over at my parents’ for the moment,” Tyler said as his wife stepped back into his embrace. He gave Jax a concerned stare, but Jax didn’t