by Unknown
She hiccupped. “That’s not true,” she replied between blubbers and hiccups. “Damn it, I hate crying and it’s all I’ve been doing.”
His lips twisted with a faint grin. “Don’t I know it? I didn’t know a woman had so much water in her. If you aren’t leaking from one end, you’re dripping from the other.”
She snorted with laughter, which had been his intention.
“Help me up,” he said. “Don’t think I can manage it by myself.”
Once he was mounted, Jayla coiled the rope, handed it to him, and grabbed the rifle. She shoved it in the boot and looked up at Wild.“What now?” She prowled through his saddlebags, found a thermal shirt and fashioned a sling for his arm.
“Now? Well…” He gazed around as if not quite sure what they should do next. “We lost half our supplies and the travois, which means you’ll be riding up here with me.”
Jayla frowned—which meant he was going to be uncomfortable if she bumped his arm. “Can you handle the mare single handed?”
“Honey, I was born with reins in my hands. Get up behind me. There’s a small cave around the next bend. It’s shallow, but it’ll protect us from the wind. We’ll stop there for the night, build a fire. You need to eat. After that, we’ll take a look at this arm and see how bad it is.”
She blinked away the tears. Crying wouldn’t help either of them.
“I sure wish you believed in cell phones,” she mumbled.
“Right about now, I wish I did too.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain.
~William Faulkner
Montana
February 23, Monday
9:00 p.m.
Jayla helped Wild out of the long-sleeved flannel shirt. Hearing his groans and grunts of pain with each movement broke her heart. This was all her fault. If she hadn’t asked for his help, he would never have been injured like this. He had to be utterly miserable.
Thankful for the bottle of tequila he’d packed, she unscrewed the lid and passed him the bottle. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing for pain.
He hesitated before taking the bottle from her. “I don’t wanna get drunk. I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not okay. You need it. When I take off the thermal shirt, you’re definitely going to need it.”
Wild nodded and chugged a hefty amount of the brilliant golden colored liquor. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and nodded. “I’m ready.”
Jayla took a deep breath and slowly lifted the shirt over his head, working it up, over, and down his injured arm as carefully as she could.
Still he groaned. “Uuuuuh.” Wild shut his eyes and breathed hard. “Damn.
“I’m sorry. I’m trying to be easy.”
He shuddered. “I’m fine. It just…just…”
“Hurts like hell?” She bit her lip.
“Yeah. Hurts like hell.”
She tossed the shirt aside and stared at his poor battered body. Jayla couldn’t believe her eyes. His left ribcage resembled fresh road kill, the flesh skinned, bleeding, and blemished with huge purple splotches. His belly and chest were scraped raw. He looked like he’d been run over by a semi-truck and dragged down the asphalt. From the top of his left shoulder to the tips of his fingers, his entire arm had doubled in size. Bone from his upper arm poked through the flesh at his elbow. Blood crusted near the site, but still oozed and slid down his arm.
“Good grief,” she exclaimed before thinking better of it.
Their eyes met and held.
“Pretty bad, huh?” he said on a long breath.
She nodded. There was little use in sugar-coating it. “You might wanna take another swig or two of the tequila.”
“Nah. you can’t do this alone. I don’t wanna drink so much I flake out on you.”
She reached for the bottle. “Maybe I’ll just take that drink then and flake out on you.”
He grabbed her wrist. “The baby—”
“Right. No drinking. No flaking. Shit.” This was one she’d have to tough out. She looked around, spied the pot of water she’d heated. Yeah. Just what she needed. Hot water.
Why did people always think they had to have hot water? Was it some kind of healing ritual? Boil water? Heal the soul? Sort of like chicken soup?
Her mind was—hell her mind felt fuzzy. She mentally shook herself. For once, someone needed her, really needed her. She had to pull her act together and be here for Wild. “First, I guess I need to wash your arm and see where I go from there.”
“While you do, why don’t you finish telling me what happened with you and Kane?” He’d barely managed to bite out the words.
The pain must be nearly unbearable, even with the tequila.
Shit, she hated knowing he was in such misery.
Jayla looked up, stricken. Maybe it’d help take her mind of his injuries, off her queasy stomach, and the fact she somehow had to scrape up enough nerve to push the bone back in place and wrap his arm.
She glanced around at the long shadows flickering on the rock wall of their little den. It was carved deep enough into the side of the mountain to protect them from the cold. Plenty of brush grew up the ridge within easy reach, and old pieces of limbs to keep a fire going. She added more branches to the fire and crowded the two remaining horses inside the cozy shelter, then fed and watered them.
Jayla took a moment to spread her and Wild’s sleeping bags by the fire. They’d be warm, but it was going to be a long miserable night, especially for Wild.
“Jayla?”
“Yes?”
“No use delaying the inevitable, honey.”
“I know. I was trying to remember where I left off.”
“No. You don’t want to cause me more pain,” he replied meeting her tear glazed eyes. “You’re simply putting off what needs doing, but baby, I’m already in a lot of pain. You can’t make me feel any worse than I already do. Come on, you can do it. I need you to do it.”
She nodded, drew a long, slow breath and released it on an even longer sound. She washed her hands, poured some tequila over them and turned to face him. “Where was I?”
“India,” Wild said, groaning as she proceeded to wring out a strip of one of his shirts, lifted his arm and washed the blood off it. “You were alone in India.” He choked out the words on a savage hiss.
“Yes. Alone…but not for long.”
* * * *
Five years earlier…
It took Kane exactly twenty-four hours to locate her. She thought she’d been so clever by not leaving a paper trail, but apparently Kane had ways of tracking someone other than following the credit cards.
Jayla sat on the side of the bed in her hotel room clad in a blush-colored bra and matching thong, contemplating where to dine when he flung open the door. She jumped and snagged the silk hose she’d been about to slip on. He sauntered in as if he belonged there, or that he hadn’t humiliated her days earlier.
Slamming the door shut behind him, he leaned back against it and raked his hot gaze up and down her body. She heard the soft snick of the lock clicking in place. Kane glared at her, his face dark with temper.
“Get dressed,” he ordered in a sharp tone. “Pack your stuff. I’m taking you home.”
Jayla dug her fingers in the brown and gold striped satin bedspread covering the queen-sized bed. The fragile material rent beneath her sharp nails. She didn’t care. She stared right back at Kane sure her face was filled with the scorn she felt for him.
“How did you find me?”
“That’s my job, sweetheart.”
“Get out,” she yelled. “I’m not your job. I’ll never be your job.”
“I work for the senator. I do what he orders me to do. He wants you brought home. You’re coming with me if I have to pack you in a trunk and ship you on a freighter.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Honey, when it comes to you, isn’t it ob
vious I’d dare just about anything?”
“I don’t care what the senator wants. I don’t belong to him. I sure as hell don’t belong to you!”
“Do tell.” He sounded bored.
God, how she hated him. How could he be so unfeeling? “I said get out,” she screamed, fighting tears. “I’m not going back.”
He ignored her, dug his cell phone out of his jeans pocket, opened it, and cut his eyes at her. Jayla wilted. She knew exactly who he intended to call and why. He’d found her, now it was time to report back to the senator. Her little rebellion was over before it really got started.
Before he punched in the number, he lifted a dark brow. His gaze slid over her, lingering on the lush curves of her breasts. “You wanna fight or fuck?” he asked.
Her mouth gaped. “I don’t wanna fight.”
Grinning, he unbuckled the slender belt at his waist. “Good. Neither do I. I’m too damn horny to fight.” Kane punched a number and waited. “It’s me,” he said into the phone. His gaze never left her face. He placed a finger across his lips when she started to speak. “I lost her trail in India. She’s no longer at the hotel. How would I know where she went from here? It’ll take me a few days to locate her again. Yes. I’ll call as soon as I track down her location.”
He snapped the phone shut and tossed it on the bed beside her. Working the knot free on his tie, he wadded it up and threw the navy blue strip alongside the cell phone. It only took him a second to shed the rest of his clothes. He stood before her, his cock rising gloriously from a nest of silky dark hair.
Jayla’s heart beat with excitement. Kane had lied for her. Did that mean he wanted to spend time with her? Uninterrupted time? She licked her lips. Lord knew she wanted to spend every second she possibly could with him without the chance of Barbara walking in on them again.
Why she should still want Kane after the way he’d treated her she had no clue. She only knew she was crazy about him and still wanted him. Jayla held her breath, waiting to see what he’d do next.
He pushed her back on the bed.
Without preliminary planning or foreplay, he worked her thong down her legs, tossed it across the room, and lifted her legs onto his shoulders. “I remember you’re very small.”
Jayla groaned as he guided his cock inside her, slowly pushing the wide head of his penis past the layer of soft tissue, past the tight muscle, and at last, settling the full length inside her.
Kissing wasn’t on his agenda.
Neither was touching.
And going slow simply wasn’t about to happen. He set a fast rhythm, powerful thrust in, slow pull out, over and over, long, deep penetrations that rocked her to her soul in spite of no foreplay. She clawed his arms, lifted her hips to take him deeper with each hard drive of his cock.
He didn’t slow down or allow her to catch up with him. In seconds, he shuddered, stiffened, and poured his seed inside her.
She screamed her frustration.
He fell on top of her, his chest heaving. “I needed that,” he whispered, brushing her hair out of her eyes. “Damn if I didn’t need that. You feel good. Hot. Tight. You make my dick ache. I can’t keep from coming. Jesus, you just suck it right out of me every time I’m inside you.”
“Do you ever plan to screw me for me, for my pleasure, or is it always going to be what you need? Your needs?”
He wiggled his hips. His cock twitched and started to swell inside her. “Give me a couple of days for me. Hell, sweetheart, you’re the only woman I’ve touched in three damn years. I have a lot of need built up.”
She looked at him, startled. “But your wife—”
“Is a fucking cold fish. Besides, she prefers women. Why do you think she was so damn jealous of you and me?”
“What?” Now she really was surprised. “You’re kidding.”
“She didn’t give a damn that I wanted to fuck you. She had her eyes on you for herself.”
“Oh my God, never in this lifetime or any other. I don’t do women.”
“I do.” He grinned. “Give me a little time, honey, I’ll rock your world. You’ll never want another man. I promise.”
“Good. So, we’re staying here a few days?”
“We’re staying until both of us are too weak to move. If it takes a week or a month, we aren’t leaving this bed until you’re exhausted from your orgasms.”
“What about Barbara? Won’t she wonder where you are?”
“She knows where I am, what I’m doing, and who I’m doing it to. Fuck her. I’m sick to death of her.”
For the first time since his arrival, he cupped the sides of her face and took her mouth in utter violence. He ate her mouth, nibbling, sucking her tongue, biting her lips, owning them each time he claimed her mouth.
By the time they were ready to leave India almost two months later, Jayla felt content and utterly exhausted. Kane had kept his promise. He’d pleasured her until she was sated. She couldn’t breathe anymore without taking in his scent.
The last few days, her body had started to feel different to her, like it didn’t belong to her anymore. Her breasts ached. When Kane touched them, she barely stifled a groan they were so sore. They felt tender when she washed them. Kane wasn’t a gentle lover, so she’d laid it off on his strong sucking. Her body was covered with love bites. His fingerprints dotted her thighs, arms, and breasts. She didn’t care.
What she dreaded was when he decided their time together ended and she had to return to the senator. She didn’t think she could bear Hamilton’s touch after knowing Kane’s love.
Their last morning there, she woke so nauseous she barely made it to the commode. Stumbling into the bathroom, she hugged the porcelain, retching. Jayla lifted her head and swiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Dear God. What was wrong with her?
After all this time living in India, surely she hadn’t picked up some kind of bug. As the nausea returned, she slowly pushed herself off the cool floor and looked around, numb. She pressed an arm against her midriff and thought. The possibility crept inside her mind.
No. She couldn’t be. Could she?
Quickly she figured the dates in her head and realized she hadn’t had her period since the first of last month. Regular as a clock, she was almost eight weeks late. It was enough to convince her she was pregnant.
Jayla rubbed a hand down her face.
Kane’s baby.
Lord she’d conceived his child. When? Had it happened that first time in D.C. at the dinner party? Or here over the last two months? How far along was she?
She didn’t know when.
She didn’t know how many weeks.
She didn’t know what to feel.
She was seventeen, and pregnant with a married man’s baby.
How would Kane feel?
She was too unsure of him and his feelings for her to know how he’d react to the news they were going to have a baby. He’d called his wife every single night, laughing and talking, which made Jayla feel insecure.
Would he want the baby?
Or would he drop her when she told him she’d conceived his child?
She sank down on the side of the bed and shivered.
What should she do?
Should she share the news with him?
Or keep it secret?
Kane returned to their room, whistling as he closed the door behind him. “Okay, we’re all set. I booked our flight to Switzerland like you wanted. The desk clerk is calling a taxi to take us to the airport.” He stopped and stared at her, taking in her dishabille. “You aren’t dressed? Our flight leaves in less than hour.” He must have read something in her eyes or on her face because he froze. His eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong? You’re pale as a corpse.”
“I’m pregnant,” she blurted.
“What?”
“I’m going to have a baby? We’re going to have a baby.”
He dropped onto the side of the bed beside her, his face blank. He stared at her, but she didn’t think he re
ally saw her.
“You’re sure?” he finally asked.
“Yes. And it’s yours.”
“I know that.” He blinked. “Do you want it?”
“Of course I want it.” She had a horrible thought. After all, he had a wife. He probably didn’t want a kid, not with her. “What about you?”
“Huh?” He sounded dumbfounded.
“Do you want our baby?” She waited her breath tight in her throat.
Kane rose from the side of the bed, crossed the room, then crossed back to her and squatted in front of her. He cupped her face. Pressing a gentle kiss against her mouth, he slowly released her and took her hands. “Sweetheart, why the hell do you think I never wore a rubber? Hell, yes, I want this baby. I plan on us having two or three. I just didn’t expect it to happen so quick and easy. I hoped.” He shrugged, a slow movement of his shoulders, “but I wasn’t sure if we’d make a baby right away.” He kissed her again, laughing. “I love you, Jayla. If you want the baby, then we’ll have it, and however many others you’re willing to let me put in you.”
Jayla flung her arms around his neck and shuddered. “Oh, Kane, I’m so desperately in love with you my body aches all the time.”
“We need to cancel our flight and reschedule.”
“Why?”
“You’re seeing a doctor today before we get on a plane. We need to make sure everything’s okay with you and the baby.”
She grinned. “Okay.”
He patted her thigh. “Get dressed. I’ll see what I can do about making you an appointment.”
Jayla started to get up, but Kane grabbed her hand. “I love you. Did I say that?”
“Yes.” She smiled and kissed his mouth. “Let me get dressed.”
He nodded, took out his cell phone, and punched in a number. Her heart sank when she heard the senator’s voice on the other end.
“Kane. About damn time you reported in. You find her yet?”
“I found her. She’s fine. Everything’s perfect. I’ll bring her home in a few days. I said I’ll bring her home. That thing you and I discussed before I left D.C.? You know? Yes, that thing…take care of it. Jayla and I will be doing some traveling to a few out of the way places. No, you won’t be able to reach me by my cell phone. There won’t be any service where we’re going. I’ll call when I can. You can tell me all the news then. Yes, I’m sure. Do it. We’ll see you in a few weeks.”
