Linc’s laughter eased then finally dwindled down to silence. The only way they were getting out of here was if someone found them. And Linc figured that wasn’t likely to happen until morning. The problem was most everyone would be suffering some degree of injury or shock. And even if he and the lady managed to get out, what would they do? Where would they go? They were miles from help. If all the cars had suffered as this one had, his horse was either dead or had run off into the night. Jesus, there was no telling how long it would be before help arrived.
A man’s voice came from outside the car. “You think many died?”
“Who the fuck cares? Let’s get to the back car and the money.”
Linc’s hand came to cover her mouth again as he cursed, this time low, the sound only reaching the lady beneath him. “Don’t move. Don’t say anything.”
The voices moved off. Two men, at least two men, were walking the length of the train. Linc felt the lady squirm beneath him. She moved her head back and forth, trying to dislodge his hand. “What is the matter with you? You moron. Those men could have helped us.”
“Lady, didn’t you hear them?” Linc would have loved to have shaken her, but their current confines forbade any such motion. Pinned against her, he couldn’t move his arms more than a few inches. “They’re the ones who caused the crash. They’re looking for the money in the back car. In a minute, you’ll hear an explosion as they blow the safe.”
Linc had barely finished his words when the clear sound of guns firing came to fill the otherwise silent night. Moments after the gunfire came the roar of an explosion.
“Oh my God,” she moaned.
“What? What’s the matter? Are you hurt?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? Either you’re hurt or you’re not. Which is it?”
“Shut up.”
Linc grinned.
“I can’t stay here. You have to move. You have to.”
Linc took a deep breath and listened to the sound of her groan.
“Oh my God, you’re squashing me.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Can’t you move at all?”
“No. If I press up, against whatever is laying over us, I’m going to hurt you.” If a deep breath caused her discomfort, that was pretty much a given.
“I’ll take the chance.”
Linc grinned. “Someone will come along soon. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not in the least worried. What I am is uncomfortable. And what in the world is dripping on me?”
“Blood, I expect.”
“What? Do you mean to say you’re bleeding?”
“A little, I think.”
“Oh my God. I think it’s a little more than a little. You might be seriously hurt.”
Linc grinned. The little lady might not take a likin’ to his use of the Lord’s name spoken in vain, but she surely didn’t hesitate to repeat ‘Oh my God’ again and again. “Yep. Could be.”
“And you’re sure you can’t move?”
“Positive.”
“All right. You rest; I’ll keep calling out. Someone will hear us eventually.”
“Shush,” he murmured. “We’ll call out in the morning,” he said as he rested his head against the side of her neck. “Sorry. I just need a few minutes.”
Linc wasn’t sure what the problem was. In truth, he wasn’t aware of a problem. All he knew for sure was he felt suddenly, overwhelmingly exhausted. He couldn’t keep his eyes open. And as he drifted off, from a great distance, he heard her hollow yet panicked voice. “Don’t fall asleep. Oh please, don’t.”
Chapter Two
Abigail Willingham felt a wave of panic. God, please, he couldn’t fall asleep. Not now, not here. She tried to shove against him, but relaxed in sleep, he grew even heavier, so heavy he nearly stole her breath. She was pinned in place, locked under him until someone came along to save her.
If
someone ever came along to save her
. In the meantime, she was trapped. She might as well be in a coffin. A coffin couldn’t be tighter or darker or have less air. She couldn’t breathe. She had to get out of here. She had to!
From a great distance, a small voice whispered,
Wait, you’re not in a coffin. Breathe. Take a deep breath.
Abby had to concentrate, to think, to calm the panic in order to obey her thoughts. On the verge of hysterics, she knew no amount of ranting or screaming at an unconscious man would suffice. Desperately, she fought for control.
Someone would find them soon. There was no need to panic. Even if this fool fell asleep, she had nothing to fear. Abigail strained into the darkness and wondered how in the world she’d gotten herself into this mess? She’d been taking care of herself and doing a fine job of it when this idiot had knocked her from her seat to a filthy floor and somehow, in the midst of a train crash, ended up on top of her. No amount of struggling would suffice. He wouldn’t or couldn’t move. And she was going to kill this dolt the minute her hands were free.
God, but she wished she were bigger. Bigger and stronger, strong enough to free herself from this clumsy fool.
Oddly enough, she wasn’t afraid to find a strange man sprawled over the length of her, his weight pinning her to a dirty floor. Even the pitch blackness brought about no real fear. It was the confined space. She hated to be held in a small area. As punishment, a teacher had once pushed her into a closet. A closet that held plenty of air, and yet she had nearly gone berserk insisting she couldn’t breathe, only to finally collapse in a faint. She felt again that rush of terror, of not being able to breathe, even though she knew better. The problem was ‘knowing better’ didn’t stop the unreasonable fear.
The steady sound of his breathing soon penetrated her terror, and slowly, her fear began to receded. Lord, she wished someone would find them, someone who could pull away the debris and set them free of this horror, this awful thick silence and terrible blackness. In the meantime there wasn’t a thing she could do. Except wait.
* * * *
Abby moaned as his mouth crept slowly up the side of her neck to her jaw to find her lips. She tried to turn her head, but in her sleep, she couldn’t manage the chore. Then, she suddenly could. His mouth was there, brushing lightly over hers. She sighed her pleasure. This was so lovely. She hadn’t remembered that Bradley had ever kissed her so sweetly. His kisses were usually quick, hard and stiffly given. When had they grown so soft, so sweet? Lord if he’d always kissed her like this, she might have begged him for more. At her sigh, she could feel his lips curve into a smile, and she couldn’t stop hers from smiling, as well.
“Lovely,” she said as she breathed in his scent.
He smelled so good. She wondered when he had come to smell like this. Then his mouth was at her lips again, pulling at them, forcing them to part. She frowned. What was he doing?
“Bradley, what?” she asked only to forget the thought as his teeth caught her bottom lip and drew it into his mouth, a mouth of blazing heat. Hot, oh God, his mouth was so hot, so clean, and she loved it so much. “What are you doing?”
“Kissing you, sweetheart.”
Abby frowned. “But that’s not a kiss.”
“Watch. Let me show you,” he murmured
With her lip trapped in his mouth, his tongue began to tickle it, and Abby never thought to dissuade him from so shocking a venture. In truth she didn’t have but a few seconds to think on the matter when his tongue was suddenly in her mouth. Even in sleep, she couldn’t imagine such a thing. She tried to pull back but there was no where to move. She was dreaming. She knew she was dreaming. But the man in this dream wasn’t Bradley. How odd to dream of another. A man she couldn’t see, a man she didn’t know. She’d never dreamed like this before. Why would she now? What did it mean? And why did it feel so…so…what? Abby couldn’t quite understand. What was she feeling? If she thought on it, she’d have to say she felt as if she were floating, maybe on a cloud, even while something odd was happening to her stomach. He wasn’t touching her there, but it felt all fluttery and strangely yearning. Why?
She couldn’t think why, and when his tongue delved deep into her mouth, she forgot to think at all. How could a lady be expected to think when a man put his tongue in her mouth? Hot, wet and hungry, he sipped at her taste, ate of her essence. Judging by his low moans, he certainly appreciated what he found. Still, his discovery didn’t happen without leaving behind his own deliciously clean taste. She couldn’t imagine why or how he could taste this good. He just did. God, but she’d never known anything this wondrous before.
She couldn’t say why she did it. Never in her life had she done anything like it, never had she thought to do anything like it. Still it was a dream, wasn’t it? And in dreams it hardly mattered that a lady might do something so outrageously decadent. Taking her cue from his previous actions, she sucked his tongue, and at the sound of his deep groan of delight, she instantly knew it was the right thing to do. Her lips curved into a smile. She hadn’t known it was possible to cause a man to groan. And she thought she rather liked the feeling of power it conferred. She sucked it again.
They were both gasping for their next breath as his mouth left hers to drift deliciously to her jaw, her ear and down her throat, to a shoulder and chest that were oddly naked.
The confined space permitted only the most meager movement. Still it seemed to pose no problem, for his mouth was somehow able to span the short distance from her mouth to her naked breasts.
Abby wanted to laugh at the thought. Naked? How could that be? How could she be so exposed? And how could a man’s mouth feel this good sliding over her skin? It couldn’t of course. The scratch of whiskers, the softness of lips, nothing felt this good. Except in dreams. That was it. That was why it felt so good. She’d forgotten for a moment that she was dreaming.
And when his mouth left hers to cover her breast and suck her nipple into an inferno of heat, she gasped and moaned her pleasure, wishing she could always dream like this. A man, a strange man lay over her prone form. Peculiar that it would be a strange man. Why wasn’t it Bradley? Peculiar as well that she found nothing shocking about it. It was dark, she couldn’t see who he might be or where they were. All she knew for a fact was that her jacket and the blouse beneath it were open. Her chemises had been pulled down exposing her breasts to his pleasure. And she loved every touch of his mouth.
Oddly enough, despite the fact that a man had never touched her where this man now sucked and licked, she wasn’t shocked. Indeed, her dream seemed to have softened her resistance and left her with the strangest craving for more. A low moan escaped her throat, and she arched her back just enough to let him know she loved this. And she did. God, she truly did. Why had it taken so long before she’d discovered this delight? Why in the world had she never done this before? Why now with a strange man did she pant and gasp for every breath, hungry for all he could show her.
She wasn’t dreaming. She was still on the floor with the man who had tackled her lying over her. He was touching her where no man had ever touched her and she didn’t care. All she knew was she wanted more.
“Delicious,” he murmured above her. “God, you taste so good.”
“Mmm,” she muttered in return. Drugged with passion, her words were thick and hard to come by. “You, too.”
In the tight confines, his hands gathered her naked breasts together, and Abby moaned as he rubbed his whickered cheek back and forth over sensitive nipples.
“Do you like this?”
“Mmm, do it again.”
His laugh was low and silky as his tongue played with a hardened tip. “When I first saw you, I thought you were a girl.”