by Jenna Kernan
Carter was very good in bed. Too good. She remembered that as he kissed her. But in the blending of lips and the fierce thrusting of tongues, she forgot everything but him.
Chapter Twenty-One
Carter breathed in the sweet smell of her clean hair. Brushing it back, he exhaled upon her exposed neck and felt her tremble. Her long hair and onyx eyes captivated him. He stared at her beautiful face and then ran his hand from her shoulder to her hip.
He’d had women since Amber. But they’d all been a poor substitute. He admitted that now, but only to himself. He hadn’t moved on. Not even close. How could he when he still loved her? Every frustrating, beautiful, intoxicating inch of her.
He measured the span of her hips with his splayed hands. She had the wide, full hips of a woman, and the narrow waist of a girl. His desire for her grew with an anticipation that he understood was more than physical. He wanted to please her, of course, but also, at some primal level, he wanted to make her his again.
Amber lifted up so that she straddled his hips.
“You want top?” he asked.
“Keep you from bleeding all over the sheets,” she said, her smile sweet. “Are you sure you’re—”
“I’m fine.”
She lay on top of him, her knees bent at his sides and her body still. He didn’t know if she was being sure he was well enough for this or reconsidering. Gradually she slid her hips over his so that he throbbed beneath her. It was hard not to move.
“Still okay?”
“Amber, you don’t need to keep checking. I’ll tell you if it hurts.”
“Does it?”
“In all the right places.” He lifted his hips, and her eyes widened as he slid against her.
A sensual smile curled her lips.
He took a long look at Amber in the near darkness, knowing he needed to keep this picture for always. Her skin glowed blue as moonlight on snow, and her smile welcomed him.
He lifted his hands to her waist and stared at that flat stomach. His thumbs rubbed back and forth over taut skin as he wondered what it would be like to make a family with Amber.
He stilled, and his hands dropped away from her.
“Carter?” She dipped down to rest on her elbows to look at him, her full bare breasts now hanging just an inch above his chest.
He dragged a hand slowly along the center of her back and then pushed her forward so she fell on to his chest. Her body trembled with awareness and need as he stroked her thigh. Amber savored the tingling sensation of his fingers gliding slowly over her.
He pressed her tight against his naked chest and kissed her deeply as he pushed inside her.
They were better than before, and she nearly cried with joy at this reunion.
When they were both sated, breathing heavily, their hearts still thudding, they came to rest.
“I missed this. Missed you,” he whispered and kissed her temple.
“Me, too. That was wonderful.”
He made a humming sound of agreement. Her eyes drifted closed. Her body still buzzed with pleasure. She blinked her eyes, trying to think.
“Are you all right?” she whispered.
“Never better.” His words had that tired slur of a man not really awake, falling as she was, into slumber.
He brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face, his hand unusually clumsy. She pressed her lips to his neck and then closed her eyes, still draped across him like a second blanket.
She did not know how long she slept, but when she next opened her eyes it was to the barking of a large dog.
Carter was out of bed in an instant. Morning light flooded around the cracks of the curtains.
“Who is it?” she said.
“Stay here.”
He tugged on a pair of athletic shorts and retrieved one of the pistols from his duffel.
She lifted the sheets to her chest and then realized how ridiculous that was as a means of protection, so she scrambled from the other side of the bed. She shimmied into the polar fleece bottoms and dived into the red T-shirt. Carter had already vanished down the hall.
Justice had stopped barking. Amber stilled. Did he know the intruder or had someone silenced the dog?
* * *
CARTER STOOD FLATTENED against the wall between the kitchen and living room listening to the car door slam. A moment later, the front door opened. Justice continued to bark, but the inflection was different.
Carter suspected it was Kurt, but he waited until he heard his brother greet his dog and then let him out in the yard.
“Kurt?” Carter called. “It’s Carter.”
“Carter?” came the reply, his brother’s voice full of shock.
“Coming in,” he said.
When Carter stepped into the kitchen a moment later it was to find his brother standing beside the sink of dirty dishes with his gun drawn. Carter held up his good hand with the pistol. The other arm just didn’t cooperate, so he left it half-raised.
Kurt looked like hell. Red eyes, dust covering his jeans and jacket. But instead of yelling at Carter for worrying them, his kid brother grabbed Carter in a bear hug.
The embrace hurt Carter, and he didn’t quite keep the groan from escaping.
“What happened?” asked Kurt. “You okay? Mom’s worried sick and Jack...” He blew out a breath and put Carter at arm’s length.
Carter glanced toward the bedroom as Kurt followed the direction of his gaze.
“Amber? It’s Kurt. Come out.”
She stepped from Kurt’s bedroom door and into the hall on slender bare feet. The dragging hems of the fleece bottoms had been rolled, but the over large T-shirt did not hide that she wore nothing beneath. Carter looked to Kurt, whose eyes widened at the picture she made, her hair still tangled from sleep and her eyes half-lidded.
Carter tucked the pistol in the pocket of his shorts.
Kurt’s eyes widened even more, and he made a humming sound before glancing away.
“We’ve been looking for you two.”
When Kurt turned back to his brother, Carter found his cheeks a little too pink and his voice a little too breathless.
“What happened to you?” Kurt said, finally noticing the ACE bandage still holding the dressing in place.
“Got shot.”
Kurt’s bright smile dropped away. “Shot?”
“Last night,” said Amber.
“Let me check it.”
“Call Jack first,” Carter said.
Kurt reached for his phone. Carter stayed his hand.
“No cell phones.”
Kurt blinked at him. “That’s all I have. Wait, you want me to leave?”
Carter nodded.
“After I check that.”
“All right.”
Carter sat on a kitchen chair as Kurt unwrapped the bandage and peered beneath the dressing.
“Needs a stitch or two.”
“So, stitch it.”
Kurt worked as a paramedic, mostly in the air ambulance flying folks from rural areas to the larger medical facilities in Phoenix. His brother kept his personal medical kit in his truck and a similar collection of supplies in his home.
A few minutes later Carter was regretting his words, but Kurt was quick and competent. He added antibiotics to the treatment and had Carter’s throbbing, stitched, disinfected shoulder dressed and bandaged again.
* * *
FROM OUTSIDE THE DOOR, Justice scratched and whined. Amber stepped toward the door, and Carter grabbed her hand.
“Let Kurt do it.”
She understood. He didn’t want her seen from the drive. Kurt let his dog inside. Justice was all wiggles and whines for the three of them until Kurt gave him his breakfast, and he settled d
own.
“You want to fill me in or should I go first?” asked Kurt.
“You first,” said Carter.
Amber sat at the kitchen table, leaving the opposite chair vacant. Kurt drew a water bottle from the refrigerator, while Carter leaned against the counter nearby.
They looked a lot alike, she realized. Same soft brown eyes and black hair. Similar bronze skin color, though it looked like Kurt spent more time outdoors. They were close in height and body build and the wide set of their eyes. But Kurt’s face was younger, less angular, and his eyes held an openness missing from Carter’s. Their similar build and appearance only highlighted to her more vividly how different their brother Jack was by comparison.
“Well, I heard on the news that the mine admitted that some supplies are unaccounted for. News speculations that we’re talking explosives.”
“What did the authorities say?” asked Amber.
“What they always say. ‘No comment.’”
Amber’s stomach squeezed at this. Why hadn’t she suspected wrongdoing instead of chalking up the error to an honest mistake?
“They also found the car used by the shooter’s inside man. Someone torched it. They’re sorting through what’s left. Lost cause, though.”
She thought of the shooter’s driver parked at the loading dock and that strange blond hair, certain now it was a wig.
Amber wondered what would have happened if she had gone over Ibsen’s head to the head of the business office upstairs, and sadness threatened to swallow her up.
Carter slid orange juice before her. “Drink that,” he ordered. Then he returned his attention to Kurt. “Did they find the US marshals?” asked Carter, his face grim.
“Thanks to your marker.”
“Anything on the two that impersonated the FBI?” asked Carter. “The ones who took Amber and me from the station?”
Kurt shook his head.
“Might be the same guys,” offered Carter.
“That’s what Jack thinks, too,” said Kurt.
“How long have you been looking for us, Kurt?” asked Amber.
“I got a call from Jack yesterday about one in the afternoon saying that you two never made it to Phoenix. State Police, sheriff and police out of Darabee PD were all searching for you, but they didn’t see the marker. You left that for us, right?”
Carter nodded and measured out the water, then poured it into the reservoir, then flipped on the coffeemaker. The hissing and gurgling sounded promising.
“Jack spotted that and called Tommy.” Kurt flicked his attention to her. “He’s a tracker with the Shadow Wolves.”
Carter had told her that.
Kurt continued. “He’s home on leave until the end of the month.” His attention returned to Carter. “Anyway, by the time Tom got down there, the state police and FBI had ruined any tracks around the van. US Marshals had also been tromping around. Crime tape, the whole deal. They let Jack in since he found the thing, and that FBI guy, Forrest, he okayed us. He’s Black Mountain, you know?”
“Met him,” said Carter.
“They had seen where you went down the bank and brought the dogs who, of course, caught both trails and wanted to go in both directions at once. Tommy found your message, and we headed back toward town while the rest of them went the other way. But we lost you on the outskirts when you left the arroyo.”
The coffeepot was only half full, but Carter tugged it free and half filled three mugs. He gave her one first.
“Sugar,” he said, pointing to the packets in a similar mug on the table.
“Now you,” said Kurt to Carter.
Carter rolled his shoulder and winced. “We were attacked by two gunmen driving an SUV with state police markings. Amber saw only one man. It was the same man from the copper mine,” he said as he related the details of their experience.
After some questions, Carter continued and told how they’d returned to get the second pistol from the dead US marshal.
“Tommy said you had been back,” Kurt said as his smile fell. “Is that when you got shot?”
“No. During a second attack. We stole a car. Left it behind in—”
“Found it already,” said Kurt. “How’d you get here?”
Carter told him about the truck and asked if Kurt could get Jack to contact the owner and return the vehicle.
“I’m sure he can. Hey, that rental you were in was pretty banged up. Looked like you got hit from behind and sideswiped by a dark blue car.”
“It hit us. Then he tried to knock us off the road, but I managed to push him off the shoulder. That’s when I got shot.”
“You see the driver?” he asked.
Carter shook his head and then lifted his chin toward Amber. “She did.”
Kurt had set aside his coffee, and his expression was uneasy. “Same guy?”
Amber shook her head. “No. Not the shooter.”
“Could you identify him?”
“Yes. He drove the Subaru the day we were kidnapped. Last night I saw him again, only his nose is all swollen, purplish.” She thought of the man who had been driving the Subaru, picturing him as he stepped from the SUV and then with his nose gushing blood from the impact with the air bag. Her skin prickled. Something had been familiar about him. Was he the same one driving the van in Lilac? She briefly considered that and decided they could be one and the same.
Kurt turned back to Carter who had finished his coffee and was reaching for more.
“What kind of vehicle hit you?”
“A police cruiser, dark color. Bumped us from behind and then swiped Amber’s door.”
Kurt sagged back against the counter.
“What’s wrong?” asked Carter.
“I saw that car.”
“Where?”
“On the reservation last night. Unmarked car with the mirror hanging off. It was all scraped up on the driver’s side.”
“Tell Jack,” said Carter.
“Yeah. I did.” Kurt’s hand ran absently through his thick short hair. “I forgot to tell you that the van they found at Lilac was outfitted with a police scanner.”
Carter shifted from side to side as if trying to find his balance. “So they have been following all radio communication.”
“That’s what Jack said. He’s got ears.” Kurt lifted his coffee and drank the remains in one swallow. “This is why they can’t find him.”
Amber knew who he meant. It was impossible for the Lilac Mine shooter to still be at large and switching vehicles as if he owned a car rental company, unless he had help—the kind of help that came from law enforcement.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Carter’s brother showered and changed. He didn’t say anything about the bed that had obviously been slept in by two people, and when he was done, he gave Carter a container holding the rest of the antibiotic capsules.
“I’d like to bring you to the fire station,” Kurt said. “Safer than here, I think.”
But he wasn’t sure. Amber could see that from his wrinkled brow.
He continued. “I don’t want to leave you here alone.” His hand went to his phone and then dropped away as he recalled it was no longer a viable option.
Carter shook his head. “Whoever is after us has information from the inside.”
“Jack couldn’t get that kind of detail,” said Kurt.
Someone higher up than a tribal detective, thought Amber.
“What do you want me to do?” asked Kurt, reverting to little brother.
“Get to Ray, Dylan or Jack. Make sure to relay what you told me about the vehicle you spotted on our Rez. Then tell them where we are and tell them to identify themselves before they come through that door.”
Kurt nodded. “I’ll be as quick
as I can be.” He let his dog back inside and then gave him a quick pat. “Take care of my brother, Justice.”
Carter stood facing the closed door with the dog standing before him, tail wagging merrily. At least one of them was happy to be here.
Amber fiddled with her empty coffee mug as silence descended on the kitchen. She felt the gnawing ache that followed a mistake of epic proportions. Carter needed this reservation like he needed air. She knew she couldn’t take him from this place. To experience how hard it was on the outside. How could she protect him the way he was protecting her?
Last night had proved two things. She still loved Carter, and she would have to leave him again to keep him safe.
She rose and took her mug to the sink. Carter intercepted her before she could get past him. His fingers wrapped about her forearm, staying her. She kept her eyes down.
“Amber? You okay?”
She thought of all the times she wasn’t okay, back when her dad had disowned her, when she had to leave with nothing, when she’d come back to Carter and he’d rejected her, too. But of all those miserable times, this was the worst. Because she knew now that Carter understood everything and that they might have had a chance together in any other time and place. She gave one hard swallow, and she lifted her chin to face him.
“Fine.”
He assessed her, studying her expression and staring into her eyes. She managed a half smile.
“Help is on the way,” she said. And with it, their imminent separation.
He nodded, but kept hold of her with his hand and the steady stare.
“You want to talk about last night?”
A pain stabbed across her stomach, and she forced herself to relax, breathe, think.
She shook her head, not trusting her voice. Her jaw clamped so tight it ached.
His eyes narrowed. “Amber?”
She tried for a smile and from his growing concern, failed miserably.
“Say something,” he demanded.
“I—I think you... I need a shower.”
She had changed direction mid-sentence, but he didn’t press.
