Covering his hand with hers, Melissa’s expression changed to concern. “Are you hurt?”
“Just my pride. He knew everything that’s gone on between us, and he also told me something else. Seems I’m not the only one with secrets, sugar.”
Blushing hotly, Melissa looked away, but he hooked his finger under her chin and turned her face back to him.
“Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Marcus, I… I’m pregnant. We made a baby.”
“Do you know what that means?” he whispered.
She shook her head.
Running his hand through her hair, he said, “It means that no other man is going to call you his wife, and no other man is going to raise our child. I told you I’d never marry, but I made that decision before I met you, Lissa. You’re the only woman who could have convinced me to change my mind.”
She shuddered in his arms, caressing his face and marveling in the feel of his stubble against her palm.
“Are you sure?” she asked, her voice cracking. “I want you to be sure before you--”
His answer was to interrupt her with a kiss. Melissa whimpered in the back of her throat and felt Marcus leaning her back into the dirt. He supported her head with his hand, never breaking the kiss as his tongue slid over hers. She opened her legs to allow him to rest comfortably on top of her.
Marcus was in love with her! He wanted to marry her! Melissa’s thoughts whirled as she kissed him back, feeling the familiar need of desire spiraling through her. It had been far too long since she’d felt his skin against hers, and she dug her fingers in his hair to hold him close.
“Baby, it’s been too long,” he groaned, somehow reading her thoughts.
She felt him bunching her skirts up her legs and said, “What are you doing?”
“I can’t wait, Lissa. I can’t wait.” His voice sounded strained as he kissed and sucked on her neck.
She smiled, tracing his exposed ear with the tip of her tongue. “You’re getting my dress dirty.”
“Do you care?”
Excitement shot through her as she reached between them to unbutton his jeans.
“Not in the least, Mr. McCaide,” she teased.
“Lissa… Lissa stop!” His sharp tone startled her.
“What’s wrong? Did I hurt you?”
“No, sugar. God, no, but if you keep touching me like that, this isn’t gonna last very long.”
A slow smile of understanding spread upon her face. Raising her hands from his jeans, she slipped them underneath his shirt to stroke his soft skin.
He sucked in his breath. “That’s not much better, honey.”
“Then hurry up,” she told him boldly. “Because I’m not going to stop touching you.”
He kissed her hard at that admission, groaning into her mouth when her hands found his nipples. When he was finally free from his jeans, he plunged forcefully into her.
“Marcus!” Melissa cried out, raising herself up to meet him. “Oh, God, Marcus! I love you!”
“I love you too, sugar,” he murmured through his kisses. “And you’re mine. All mine.”
She moaned, swirling upward with each thrust, losing herself in his possession.
“You belong in
my
arms, Lissa.”
“In your arms,” she agreed breathlessly.
“I’m never letting you go, sugar. Never.”
The world suddenly shattered into a kaleidoscope of fragmented colors as Melissa rode out the waves of ecstasy with the man she loved.
~ * ~
As night fell, they made a rudimentary camp by laying out a blanket on the ground and allowing Pete to wander free. Marcus didn’t have much more than a few strips of dried beef in his saddlebags, but at least his canteen was full. After eating the food, Melissa lounged naked against him and sighed with contentment, sliding her leg along his. The stars twinkled down on them as she snuggled close.
“It’s so peaceful out here,” he said, his deep voice thrumming through her. His rough fingers caressed her arm as he gazed toward the sky, his other arm tucked underneath his head. “Your father said you’d give me peace. I guess he was right.”
Melissa leaned up and rested on her elbow, looking down on him. “He said that?”
“Yes.”
She blushed, and even in the dim light, she saw him smile at her.
“He also said that if I wanted you, I’d have to fight for you tooth and nail.”
“Guess you took his words to heart.” She grinned, tracing circles on his bare chest. “You stole me from my own wedding for pity’s sake.”
Giving her a wicked smile, Marcus grabbed her arms and rolled on top of her. “Ah, but aren’t you glad you’re spending your wedding night with me instead of old Dr. Newcomb?”
Trying not to chuckle, she ran her fingers through his soft hair and whispered, “I’m not convinced yet, Mr. McCaide. I think you may just have to spend all night convincing me.”
“Is that so?” He cocked a brow at her.
“It is,” she said, gasping at the feel of his fingers teasing her nipples.
“Then it will be my pleasure, Miss Bloom, to convince you beyond the shadow of a doubt.”
As he spoke, his hand wandered down her flat belly and began playing on the soft flesh of her womanhood.
Arching her back, Melissa moaned and tried to pull his head down to her. “I definitely need to compare kisses.”
Suddenly, Marcus stopped his erotic caress to pin her with his gaze. The lines of his body went rigid as he glared down at her. His voice was soft, but harsh nonetheless.
“That old man kissed you?”
Smacking his shoulder, Melissa couldn’t help but laugh. “No!”
She laughed harder at the look of consternation on his face.
“It’s not nice to tease a man like that, sugar,” he growled. “Thought for a minute I’d have to kill him.”
Still chuckling, Melissa circled his neck with her arms. “You’re the only one who’s ever touched me, Marcus. I’m all yours.”
“Damn right,” he said, grinning himself as he lowered his mouth to hers.
Nineteen
Early the next morning, Melissa woke and shivered at the slight chill in the air as she rolled away from Marcus. Sleeping soundly next to her, he lay there with one arm stretched above his head and the other tucked around her. She had to smile at the picture he presented, so very tired yet satisfied at the same time.
He’d been insatiable the previous night. Just when she’d think he might roll over and fall asleep, he would return to her with renewed vigor, claiming he hadn’t had enough of her yet. And she hoped he never would. Being loved by Marcus McCaide had to be the most wonderful feeling in the world.
Standing from their makeshift bed, Melissa searched the dirt for her discarded chemise and drawers, still self-conscious about her body around Marcus regardless of all they’d shared. She wandered over to the babbling creek a few yards away where she took a few sips of the cool water and sighed happily. She was just about to move behind a bush to relieve herself when she heard a twig snap behind her, followed closely by the sound of a hammer being cocked.
“Well, what do we have here, Joe?”
Whirling around with a scream in her throat, Melissa found her mouth covered by a large hand before she could utter a sound. Fear gripped her heart as she stared into the dusky grey eyes of the man who held her. Another man stood a few feet away with his gun trained on her.
“Ooh, but you’re a pretty one,” her captor said. “And nearly unwrapped too!”
The one she could only assume was Joe began to snicker as a third man emerged from the thick brush near the creek. He was tall and intimidating, with eyes that were sunken and dark as if he’d ridden all night without sleep.
“Looks like you and your lover were dallying for a spell by the creek--right, little lady?” the man said with a sneer.
Her mouth was still covered, so she could do nothing but look at him, her body trembling as she willed Marcus to wake up. But the tall man’s next words told her it was too late.
“If you go for those guns, mister, I’ll fill your lady full of lead.”
Chancing a glance at him, Melissa saw Marcus naked and on his knees, appearing to be reaching for his gun belt.
“If you do that,” Marcus snarled, “you won’t live to see another day.”
“You might be right,” the scruffy man agreed as he nodded. “But, then again, neither would she.” With his words, he lifted a lock of her unbound red hair up to his nose and inhaled its scent.
Melissa tried to wrench away, but the man holding her had arms of steel as she jerked this way and that, his putrid breath assaulting her nostrils.
“We gonna have some fun with his gal, Dean?” he asked.
The taller man appeared to think it over before a slow, chilling smile spread across his face. “I don’t see why not. She’s already pleasured one man. She can pleasure us too. Right, boys?”
Melissa’s eyes bulged out of her head, and she thrashed all the more but only succeeded in getting her face slapped by the man called Dean.
“Leave now and no one gets killed,” Marcus said in a quiet voice, yet his face was as hard as granite. Still on his knees, he looked as if he were ready to dive for his guns at any second.
Dean laughed. “You’ve got guts, boy. Gotta admire you for that, but this little gal of yours is coming with us, you see. It’s been too long since I’ve had the pleasure of burying myself between a woman’s thighs. Damn, I’m getting hard just thinking about it.”
“You touch her and I’ll kill you!”
“Not if you’re dead first, cowboy.”
Marcus leapt for his guns, but, as fast as lightning, Dean aimed and pulled the trigger. The loud shot echoed through the hills. When the smoke cleared, Melissa could see Marcus lying face down on the blanket, blood already pooling across the coarse wool.
Screaming and thrashing as hard as she could, Melissa felt tears falling from her eyes at the sight. In her struggles, she managed to bare her teeth and bit the hand that held her mouth, shrieking at the top of her lungs when he released her with a yelp.
“Marcus!
MARCUS, NO
!”
Dean twirled his gun and smacked her hard on the head with the butt of it. Darkness suddenly overtook her.
~ * ~
“Christ Almighty!”
Marcus moaned at the sound and turned over on the blanket with a grimace, squinting at the bright sunlight bearing down on him.
“What in God’s name happened here?”
Gasping for breath, Marcus closed his eyes and tried to focus on sitting up once more. He had succeeded in fumbling his way into his jeans, but not before falling over at the exertion. His shirt was torn to shreds as he had ripped it to bandage his wound, but now the world was spinning again, and his left side felt as if someone were jabbing him with a hot poker.
“Can you hear me boy?”
Marcus’s eyes finally focused on the horrified face of Chuck Bloom. “How do you keep finding me?” He groaned again before he sat up with some help from Chuck’s outstretched hand.
Waving his hand and making a face, Chuck said, “I used to be a bounty hunter, but that’s not important. What the hell happened here, McCaide? Did she shoot you? Where’s Lissa?”