The Outlaw Lovers

by Jan Springer

  Obviously, that’s what he’d had in mind by forcing the preacher to marry them. But Luke needed to know about what had really happened all those years ago. And what they’d done to her in the experimental labs.

  She knew she wasn’t brave enough to tell him the truth. If he found out, he would hate her forever.

  Callie bit back a sob.

  Reluctantly she let go of Luke’s hard cock and lay her head on his muscular chest. The strong steady thump of his heartbeat eased away some of her pain.

  He would get better and then she would leave him.

  It had to be that way.

  * * * * *

  Luke had the sense that someone was nearby. He couldn’t hear anyone but he just had the sensation someone was with him. From somewhere far off came the bone-chilling howl of a lonely coyote and nearby the crackle of a fire.

  They’d had trouble out in the west pasture with some of the cows being butchered. His brothers and he had spotted numerous tracks.

  Not coyote tracks but human.

  Women, not men.

  It was bound to happen. Women who’d defied the new Claiming Law. Women who hid like animals in the woods evading capture from the numerous groups of men who were desperate for female company.

  He himself was desperate. But forcing a woman to submit wasn’t his way, nor was it the way of his brothers.

  But still, the idea of going out there and finding a woman to ease the ache and erase the memory of Callie…

  The thought of Callie made his heart pick up a mad pace. He’d had dreams about her while he’d been in the Wars and since he’d been back home.

  Lots of dreams.

  But these recent ones had been different.

  So real.

  He’d had nightmares of getting shot by the Barlows. Stumbling to the church. The preacher finding him…

  Then he’d seen Callie.

  Of course she’d just been a dream, but she’d reassured him she wasn’t.

  Suddenly her sweet feminine scent swarmed around him like a teasing lover and along with it came a bitch of an ache in his shoulder.

  What the hell had happened to him?

  Visions swooped over him. Naked bodies, the slurps of mouths on a woman. Screams. Overwhelming pain.

  Luke opened his eyes and he blinked at the familiar ceiling filled with pine rafters.

  It was the tiny log home he’d built for Callie. After boarding it up years ago he’d purposely stayed away from here because it reminded him too much of her.

  Yet here he was.

  Why? How did he get here?

  He tried to move his head but a dull throbbing erupted between his eyes making him stop.

  He licked his lips. So dry. Man, he was thirsty.

  He heard the rustle of someone moving and then he smelled her again.

  A delicious combination of flowers and her own unique feminine scent. A scent he’d never been able to forget even when he’d been surrounded by the stench of dead soldiers. Was he hallucinating about her now?

  Conflicting emotions spiraled through him, threatening to sink him back into oblivion. He fought it and recalled more things.

  Holding a gun on her, making sure she wouldn’t disappear again. Ordering her to stand in front of the candlelight, so he could admire the outline of her long legs, the seductive silhouette of her shapely hips.

  Where was she? She had to be somewhere nearby. Her scent was everywhere making him heady with desire. Making him scared, that maybe he’d somehow gone nuts.

  “Callie?”

  At least that’s what he thought he’d said. The only thing that escaped was a groan. Disbelief sifted inside him and yet there was a wonderful hope simmering too.

  She was here. She had to be.

  Clothing rustled and she appeared, a concerned smile on those luscious lips he’d been dying to kiss since she’d disappeared all those years ago.

  “Welcome back,” she said softly. “How do you feel?”

  He tried to talk but nothing came out.

  “Would you like some water?”

  He nodded.

  Momentary panic shot through him as she dropped out of his view but then came the tinkling of water and a moment later, she was back, pressing the cool cup to his parched lips.

  He drank eagerly, relishing the liquid as it washed away the dryness and when she pulled the cup away, he groaned in protest.

  “Not too much. I don’t want you getting sick.”

  He nodded again.

  Man, did she ever look good.

  Her mid-back length auburn curls were gone in favor of a very short, basic cut that gave her a tomboy look.

  A very sexy tomboy.

  He couldn’t help from grinning or stopping himself from exploring every inch of her flawless face. Her high forehead was barely concealed by wisps of short bangs that sat just above perfectly arched dark eyebrows. A dainty spattering of light freckles were sprinkled on her rosy cheeks and a perfect nose.

  His eyes fluttered sleepily.

  No! He couldn’t go back to sleep. She wouldn’t be here when he woke up.

  She must have sensed his fear for her fingers intertwined with his and she held his hand to the generous swell of her left breast.

  The hard pounding of her heart relaxed him. Reassured him that his fiancée was very much alive.

  Before he drifted off, he imagined his wedding ring glittering on her ring finger.

  But that wasn’t possible.

  They’d never gotten married.

  * * * * *

  The next time Luke awoke, Callie was sliding a pleasant scented ointment over the sensitive flesh surrounding the tattered exit wound in the front of his shoulder.

  Immediately he remembered the ring he’d thought he’d seen earlier. He looked down at her finger.

  The ring wasn’t there.

  A dream.

  Just a delirious dream. Like all the others must have been.

  He hadn’t held Callie at gunpoint. He hadn’t savored her curvy silhouette as he’d made her stand in front of the candle glow with the preacher watching in the background.

  But it had seemed so real.

  Too real.

  He lowered his lashes slightly so she wouldn’t notice he was awake and let his hungry gaze ravish her pretty features.

  She was sleepy, he could tell by the way her eyelids fluttered as she softly massaged the ointment into his flesh.

  Her eyes were just as he remembered them. Long black lashes that framed the prettiest pale blue eyes just like the color of the June sky at high noon.

  He’d always loved looking into them.

  Loved the way they’d flashed with laughter when he’d joked with her. It had always brought a gentle warmth coursing through him. And the way they darkened when he’d teased her had always made his breath back up into his lungs.

  Most of all he’d loved the way they’d sparkled when he’d orally taken her clit into his mouth and later sucked her sweet feminine cream from her vagina.

  Those familiar sparks in her eyes were gone now, replaced by a look of wariness.

  A look of the hunted.

  He frowned.

  There were other things he hadn’t noticed.

  Like the dark circles beneath her eyes and the faint worry wrinkles lightly etched into her forehead.

  He didn’t know what horrors she’d gone through over the past five years but whatever they were he’d help her through her pain. They’d get through it together.

  He lowered his gaze to where her breasts pressed tightly against the cotton material of the dark green blouse she wore. Every detail of her silky globes were etched in his memory forever, from the hot pink of her firm plump nipples, the darker pink of her areolas, to the darker blush on her face as she caught him watching her.

  “Good morning,” she said cheerfully, too joyfully.

  Immediately he knew something was amiss.

  “What’s wrong?” he whispered.

  She
shook her head and to his surprise, she laughed. It was a real laugh and it filled him with that wild happiness he’d always experienced when she was joyful.

  “You always did know when something was wrong.”

  “So? What…is it?”

  “I think something happened to the preacher.”

  Luke’s blood ran cold.

  The preacher.

  Yes, he had been here.

  Something flickered in the back of his mind.

  Pain. Confusion. The nervous preacher. An angry Callie. The preacher reading wedding vows?

  Luke blinked the silly thoughts away.

  “It’s been two days since I sent him for your brother,” she explained. “Neither of them showed up.”

  Damn! She was right. Something had happened. If Colter knew he was in trouble, he would have come.

  “Can we trust the preacher not to give you away in case he’s been stopped by the authorities?”

  She seemed shocked at his question. “He’s a man of the cloth. He won’t betray me if that’s what you mean.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “He hasn’t turned me in yet. He’s reliable.”

  He became painfully aware of the sharp ache in his heart as he realized she’d gone to the preacher for help instead of him.

  It hurt.

  Bad.

  A red-hot anger uncurled through him and he caught her gaze. “Exactly how long have you been here?”

  She looked away, opting to concentrate on smearing more of that goopy stuff around his wound.

  “Callie? I asked you a question.” He tried hard to contain his anger but his rising voice gave him away. “And why the hell didn’t you come straight to me? Which leads to my next question where have they been hiding you?”

  Fear flashed in her eyes. Fear of him? Or fear of his questions?

  Calm it down, Luke. You’re scaring her.

  She pulled away from him and slapped the lid onto the container holding the ointment.

  “You weren’t supposed to know I was here.”

  He wasn’t supposed to know?

  His gut twisted as if she’d just stabbed him. The pain hurt worse than the bullet wound that scorched through his shoulder.

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “It’s too dangerous. I don’t want you involved in my troubles.”

  She didn’t want him involved? What the hell kind of answer was that from a fiancée?

  His anger twisted tighter. He tried to relax.

  He couldn’t.

  His mind whirled with questions. Questions he needed answers to. Answers she obviously didn’t want to give him.

  “I asked you a question, Callie. Where have they been keeping you?”

  Her face whitened in the candle glow.

  “One of their top-secret labs. They have one in Bangor,” she whispered as if she was afraid to say it too loud.

  It was what the police department had told him when they’d located her car in a shopping mall in Bangor right after she’d disappeared. They’d said she’d most likely been taken against her will by the government. They’d said if that was the case there was nothing they could do. All records regarding X-virus-free women were sealed. They’d pretty much told him not to expect her to ever be released.

  He hadn’t stopped looking for her after hearing that news. He’d mortgaged his piece of the Outlaw farm and used his entire life savings to hire a lawyer to cut through the bureaucratic red tape in his efforts to find her. In the end, the lawyer had gotten rich and Luke had nothing.

  Despaired and depressed and utterly hopeless, he’d followed his brothers overseas and taken his rage out by fighting the terrorists who’d ruined his life.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked meekly. She acted as if she was still scared of him.

  Her timid attitude toward him angered him more.

  “What the hell did they do to you in there?” And why was she cowering away from him like some submissive woman who was being berated by an overbearing husband?

  Tears bubbled up in her eyes.

  Oh, man. He’d made her cry.

  She’d never been able to handle anger very well, compliments of an irate mother who’d enjoyed yelling and beating her three daughters when she was drunk.

  Man! He was a nasty son of a bitch.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m just pissed off. I don’t understand what the hell is going on here. They told me not to expect to see you again.”

  The burst of anger he’d just experienced had bitten away at his strength. Weariness washed over him.

  She said nothing as she headed over to the cast-iron stove he’d installed after he’d built the cozy home for them. A home they hadn’t been able to use.

  He fought the sleepiness but it was getting stronger, like a current trying to pull him under.

  He closed his eyes and listened to the clattering of a spoon hitting the side of a pot.

  She was preparing something for him.

  He wasn’t hungry.

  He wanted answers.

  As what happened whenever he was mad or upset he forced the visions of Callie to the forefront of his mind.

  Visions of pinning her to the bed, removing her clothes piece by piece, until she lay naked before him. Her legs spread wide. Her pussy fully exposed to him, her juices making it easier for him to slide his engorged cock into her tight channel.

  Luke’s cock hardened painfully.

  Well, at least that part of him wasn’t tired or sick.

  He gritted his teeth in annoyance.

  He’d better get on the mend and pretty fast or she’d slip away before he could show her that he wanted her more now than ever.

  * * * * *

  Callie turned from the stove with the cup of broth and saw his eyes fluttering sleepily. She didn’t miss the breathtaking erection bulging against the sheets she’d covered him with before he’d awoken.

  She trembled at the sensual sight.

  Fear, excitement and a fierce sexual hunger shot through her all at the same time and all those sensations of desire and lust she’d had for him, along with some new and powerful emotions she couldn’t put a name to, swarmed over her, leaving her hot and breathless.

  By the way his cock was pushing up the thin sheet Luke Outlaw was definitely on the mend.

  Soon he’d start pursuing her.

  Despite him being injured and weak, she knew Luke had a ferocious sexual appetite. He hadn’t been able to go more than two days without asking her to go down on him.

  Right now though wasn’t the time to be hot and bothered. She needed to get some food into him so he could fight off the rest of the fever.

  “Luke?” she said as sat on the bed trying hard not to look at those bulging muscles in his arms or the way his chest muscles flexed magnificently at the sound of her voice.

  His eyes snapped open and his gaze snared her.

  Lust shone in his brown depths and the sensual sight of it whispered seductively over her skin, making her want to tear her clothes off and have his hot hands running all over her, touching her in the most intimate places, kissing her…

  Oh, dear. Resisting Luke wasn’t going to be half as easy as she’d thought.

  “I’ve got some broth for you, open your mouth,” she instructed trying to act as if his nearness wasn’t affecting her.

  “At the moment broth isn’t what the doctor would order,” his voice trailed dangerously over her and he watched her carefully for a reaction.

  In response, she shoved the warm spoon against his sensually shaped mouth.

  “Open.”

  The pink tip of his tongue snaked out and dabbed at the liquid and she couldn’t help but remember all those times that same rough tongue had dabbed at her pussy opening or teased her clit with strong sensual strokes.

  “Chicken soup, my second favorite type of liquid,” he whispered softly.

  Her breath caught at his words. His favorite being her pussy cream,
if memory served her correctly.

  He smiled, his white teeth stark against the flushed skin of his face.

  “It’s good,” he whispered as he licked his lips in a sensual way that had her moaning with want.

  “It’s your mom’s recipe. I had all the ingredients except the bullion cubes. Those are pretty hard to get these days in the store.”

  His heated look vanished, replaced by a dark anger that frightened her.

  “You were in a store?”

  “That was the preacher’s job. Do you think just because I’ve been locked up in the labs that I didn’t know what’s been going on in the outside world…or in the Wars?”

  A flash of guilt shot into his eyes and she knew instantly he’d been unfaithful to her during his tour of duty. As if she’d expected him to be true to her when sex was mandatory for a soldier.

  Besides, Luke Outlaw had had no idea if she were alive or dead, so why should she care what he’d done with those women in the Wars?

  “Callie…” The sound of his voice shot her back to the present. Instinctively she knew he wanted to explain his infidelities.

  She didn’t want to hear it.

  At least not right now.

  “Don’t talk, Luke. I want you to save your strength and concentrate on drinking as much of this soup as you can. You still have a slight fever and I want you to sleep it off. We can talk later.”

  “Will you be here to answer my questions later?”

  The dark undertones of his question made her frown.

  She didn’t answer. Couldn’t guarantee she would be here when he got better. As if sensing her thoughts his eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.

  “If you leave, I’ll hunt you down until I find you and rest assured I’ll make you mine in every sense of the word. Do you understand what I’m saying, Callie? You’re mine.”

  Okay, so those words pretty much confirmed his intentions toward her.

  She nodded, trying hard not to cave into the lusty excitement shooting through her at Luke’s dark threat.

  He opened his mouth and awaited the next spoon of broth.

  His wet tongue was now lying dormant. Resting. Waiting for when he was strong enough to pleasure her.

  Callie’s pussy trembled and creamed hot with anticipation.

  Despite her need to walk away from him in order to keep him safe, she had a feeling she’d never be able to walk away from Luke Outlaw again.