by Unknown
“For God’s sake, Jace has never struck me. Stop it! All of you,” Kaycee shouted. “It was Smitt Davis who hit me. He tried to rape me, and Jace saved me.” Kaycee blinked, then turned her eyes on her brother. “You can walk? How long have you been walking?”
Taylor’s legs suddenly buckled from under him, and he dropped to the same sofa he’d recently sent Jace flying over backward.
“Smitt Davis? What does he have to do with anything?” He swiped at the blood dribbling from his nose. “Obviously, I haven’t been walking very long or I could stay upright on my feet and beat the crap out of somebody.”
Kaycee darted him an accusing glare. “This isn’t something you keep secret.”
“Getting attacked by Smitt Davis is? You should have told me the truth.” Taylor breathed hard, inhaling deeply, exhaling slowly. “I haven’t been walking much at all, mostly late at night, a few steps. I wanted to surprise you.”
“You managed to surprise all of us.” Jace rubbed his jaw. “I hope your passport is up to date, Spencer, because as long as you work for me, you’re going to Australia if I have to bundle you up and stuff you on the damn plane with Dianna.”
Taylor merely nodded. He rubbed his legs and grimaced. “It is.” He sucked in a sharp breath. “Maybe Kaycee can pack a few things for me. Would you, sis?”
“No, she won’t,” Jace stated firmly. “Dianna can pack for you.” He took Kaycee by the hand and pulled her along behind him toward the front door. “Kaycee and I are going for a ride. We’ll be back later this afternoon. By that time, the jet will be fueled and Dianna and you will already be in the air. We’ll see you both when you get back.”
Kaycee pulled away from Jace long enough to hug both Taylor and Dianna. “Have a safe flight.” She pressed a kiss on her brother’s cheek. “I was surprised. And I’m very happy for you Taylor. I love you.”
Taylor grinned. “I love you too, sis. I want to hear about Smitt Davis when I get back. Everything.”
Kaycee nodded. “All right.”
Once again, Jace took his wife’s hand and steered her toward the door. “Scoot,” he whispered. “Grab a warm coat. I want some time with you, wife.”
She nodded and followed Jace outside. As Jace headed toward a red Jeep, she paused. “We’re going Jeep riding?”
Jace nodded and helped her inside it. “Yeah. I think it’s about time you saw more of the ranch. There’s a waterfall on the property I want you to see. We’ll drive to one of the empty line shacks. I want to make love to my wife.”
Kaycee felt the heat warm her cheeks. “I’d like that, too.
Jace climbed into the Jeep. “I know we still have things to resolve. We’ll work it out, Kaycee. I want to work it out. I hope you’ll think about us making a life together with our babies.”
Searching her husband’s dark eyes for answers, she blinked, ignoring the sting of tears.
Jace suddenly clasped her hands tightly in his. “Kaycee, please,” he said huskily. “Don’t let Jillian destroy the one sweet thing I’ve ever had in my life. I swear to God, I never meant for her to touch me or–or, God, I’d never deliberately do anything to risk losing you. Please don’t let her destroy us.”
She swallowed hard and fought tears. “I won’t.”
He wished to hell Danger would hurry up and get the results of the DNA tests back, but it all took time, and the holidays made getting the results back take even longer.
Danger seemed to think the results would come back any day now. Lord, he hoped so. He desperately needed to know Jillian’s baby didn’t belong to him and so did Kaycee.
He felt like a man on a tight wire and any moment, he’d slip off and there was no safety net to break his fall.
* * * *
Blackstone Ranch
February 6, Friday 12:00 p.m.
Smitt Davis crawled along the frozen ground on his belly until he reached the dried, grassy knoll he knew gave him the best cover and kept his presence on Blackstone land concealed. Pleased with the fact he’d outsmarted Danger, he raised the set of binoculars he was rarely without, to his eyes.
Oh, yeah, he was the smart one.
Here he was, about to go down there, invade the sheriff’s home, he might even fuck his beautiful wife, and the man had searched everywhere for him, except in his own backyard.
Wouldn’t the hotshot sheriff be pissed when he learned the enemy was camped under his nose, so close, so close? Oh, the thrill it gave him each time he prowled inside the Blackstone’s home.
He’d been in there several times the last few days, prowled through dresser drawers, careful not to disturb anything, but still, he’d touched Lacey’s underwear. He’d even brazenly stolen a matching set of her bra and panties—his trophies. Proof to himself he’d actually been inside the sheriff’s home, inside the sheriff’s bedroom and fondled his wife’s personal belongings.
The odd thing was the couple had separate bedrooms. He hadn’t expected that. He’d expected a hot, sexual relationship between them, one he might sometimes get a free peep at. Hell, he’d fondled the sheriff’s wife a few times. He was beginning to think he touched her more than the sheriff. Smitt was good at feather light touches and strokes.
He’d done the same thing to Kaycee while she slept when he stole her knife. It was so easy to move a woman’s gown to one side, so easy to trace a fingertip down smooth skin, lightly touch an exposed nipple, and gently stroke her labia. Light, delicate pressure, he knew how to apply it with the precision of a surgeon wielding a scalpel, the exact pressure to apply without disturbing her sleep.
He’d spent a delicious amount of time standing over Lacey just yesterday morning while she slept. He stood there fantasizing about removing her panties, touching her, thrusting his cock in and out of her.
Oh, yes, he’d ejaculated on her panties and her bra and took them with him when he left. His scent now mingled with hers on her underwear. In a way, it made her his. Yes, his.
After today, he wasn’t going to share her with Danger anymore. Ah, but the really delicious times were when he stood over her while she slept in late in the morning. Watched her breathe, watched her breasts rise and fall beneath the thin, silky thing she wore to sleep in.
At those times, his dick rose straight up and thumped madly against his zipper. Every time he stood at the side of the bed and observed her, his cock hurt—sometimes he came. When that happened, he had to clench his fingers into tight fists to keep from touching her nipples.
He ached to suck them, yearned to give them his special bite.
But he controlled the urge. He had other plans for Lacey Blackstone. Other plans. Smitt scanned the hushed serenity of the Blackstone Ranch. It wasn’t going to be tranquil for much longer. No, siree. All hell was about to rain down on Sheriff Danger Blackstone’s little family. All hell! Fun-fun-fun!
Three black and white pintos frolicked in the corral. He’d watched Danger work the horses for the last two evenings. A big red barn with the last of the season’s round bales of hay behind it stood off to the left of the corral. The sheriff’s Jeep, parked in a prominent place in front of the ranch house, told him Danger had made a quick stop home.
A smirk hovered on his thin lips. He’d bet his left nut the sheriff didn’t come home for lunch, but for a little afternoon delight before he went back to Rimrock and his duties of trying to catch him.
Oh what he’d give to sneak down to the house and watch Danger fuck his old lady. His cock twitched. Sheriff Danger Blackstone was an intelligent man. His sixth sense alone might warn the lawman someone was sneaking a peek.
Wouldn’t the sheriff be pissed if he knew he’d had some fun earlier in the morning watching Lacey strip for her shower?
Danger’s bitch had ruined everything for him three years ago. He’d lost all his wives, his babies, his carefully made plans all shot to hell because of her. She’d pay for her interference.
Because of her, he hadn’t had the heart to start over, until he saw Kaycee the first
time. She was meant to be bride one this time around. Then he’d search for bride two until he had nine women, nine females in each month of pregnancy with his child. He’d preserve their bodies, just like before.
But not before he punished Lacey Blackstone.
Oh yeah, he had a special hell planned for her.
He’d enjoy torturing Danger’s wife, then he’d slit her throat. He’d have his revenge against her and the sheriff. When he got finished with the sheriff’s beautiful wife, the lawman would never find her body.
Ah, there he was now, coming out onto the front porch—the beautiful Lacey right behind him frowning at her husband. They were quarreling?
Danger’s words carried to him on the wind. Odd. What was this? Trouble in Paradise?
“I’m glad you finally accepted it’s over.” Danger cut a swath through the air with his hand. “About damn time you granted me the divorce! Did it make you happy to keep me waiting?”
“You have your divorce, Danger. What more do you want?”
“You, out of my life, permanently. I can’t stand the sight of you!”
“I’ll be out of your way by tonight.”
“Good! The sooner, the better.”
“Here’s your copy of the divorce papers.” She slapped him in the chest with the thin sheaf of papers. “I signed the deed to the ranch back to you like you asked.”
The tremor in her voice carried plainly to Smitt. Huh. The little woman wasn’t feeling so hot. She looked pale as death. He snickered. Ah, there was always justice. Now the bitch didn’t even have a home.
Danger took the papers, folded them, and shoved them in his hip pocket. “Be gone by the time I get home this evening. I don’t want to have to talk to you. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
Lacey stared at him, her eyes wide. Her shoulders slumped. She bowed her head. “Sure. I’ll be out of your way by four.”
Smitt snickered and watched Danger hop into the Jeep and drive away. “Way to go, Lawman. Knock ‘em in the dirt. Women, they’re all worthless as shit.”
He stroked his cock behind the zipper and grinned. Yep, he had plans for the sheriff’s lovely—er, ex-wife. Big plans. And now it looked like the sheriff wouldn’t even give a damn if something happened to her. She’d have to pay for messing up his plans again. Perfect. It meant the lawman would spend less time trying to find him if he no longer gave a shit about Lacey.
Smitt flung down the binoculars and picked up the pistol on the frozen ground beside him. “I’m coming for you, Lacey. Coming for you, Lacey. Time to play.”
* * * *
Lacey grabbed Danger’s empty coffee cup off the kitchen table and set it in the sink. She stood there over the sink and let the tears fall unheeded. She cried for her loss, for her son’s loss, because inevitably, Joseph would be the one to pay for his parent’s decisions and mistakes.
Sniffing, she rubbed away the tears, but it didn’t make the pain go away. So, it was over. Divorce filed, granted, final, just the way Danger wanted it. She understood now why he detested her, but what she didn’t know was what she did in the first place to make him fall out of love with her.
Long before he asked for a divorce, he’d stopped touching her. He’d stop touching her over five months ago. Now he’d never touch her again. It didn’t matter. She didn’t want his kisses or caresses anymore. It suddenly hit her she was a single woman again. A single, pregnant woman.
Lacey brushed another tear away. She couldn’t bear this. Danger had wanted their marriage dissolved. In her opinion, he’d dissolved it back in August, maybe even sooner than that. She just hadn’t realized what he was doing or how determined he was to cut her out of his life.
Bigger fool her.
Even after she knew, after she learned the extent of his deception, she’d stayed, tried to make things work between them, but it had been too late, and she couldn’t do it by herself. Lacey squared her shoulders. She had to accept it was over. The proof lay snuggled in her womb.
Too much had happened.
Too many hurtful words spoken.
Too many things to be forgiven that couldn’t be forgiven. Ever.
A soft shuffling sound on the front porch snared her attention. She heard the front door open and close and swiped at the last of the tears wetting her face. Danger’s sister, Anna Leigh had arrived to take Joseph home with her while Lacey packed the things she wanted to take when she left.
“I’m in the kitchen, Anna. Come on in.”
Lord, she hoped Anna wouldn’t be able to tell she’d been crying.
“Oh, I’m in, honey. I’m so in.”
Lacey spun around at the sound of the creepy intonation. Oh, God. Oh, God. She knew the voice. Even after three years, she’d never forgotten the tone. How had she ever thought he sounded anything like Danger?
She jerked open a drawer beside her, closed her fingers around a butcher knife. “You come near me, you sonofabitch, I’ll kill you!”
“I don’t have to come near you, cunt. Not yet.” Smitt leveled a pistol at her.
Lacey froze.
The gun in his hands settled between her eyes. Her heart hammered. “What do you want?”
Pow!
The hard blow from the force of the bullet knocked her back against the kitchen cabinets. The report of the gun wasn’t nearly as loud as the explosion of pain that ripped through bone and her right shoulder.
Pow!
Or the second one that plowed through the upper portion of the right side of her chest. That shot knocked her to the floor. Lacey lay where she fell. Baffled by the white-hot pain ripping her apart, she groaned. Something was in her mouth, something warm and wet and tasted like rust. Blood? Why did she have so much blood in her mouth? She felt like she was drowning in it.
She tried to breathe, but couldn’t get past the pain in her chest.
Why did she hurt?
Lacey coughed and spewed crimson droplets across her face and the front of her shirt. Oh, God, her lungs felt as if acid had been doused on them. Nausea bubbled like green foam in her stomach. She swallowed the urge to vomit and slid a protective hand across her belly.
My baby. Dear God, please, don’t let anything happen to my baby.
A shadow fell across her, dark and menacing and obscene. He gazed down at her, unblinking. His eyes looked as cold and dead as a winter’s day.
“Hello there, beautiful, we havin’ a bad day?”
Lacey stared at him, unable to form words. She coughed and felt the warmth of her blood trickle down her chin. She caught the bright, shiny glint of the knife she’d grabbed from the drawer in his hands.
Oh, God. Oh, God. Please!
“Aww, you don’t have anything to say? Is that it? I can see it in your eyes. You’re not having fun.” His hand went to his zipper and he slowly tugged it down. Slowly. Slowly. A smile played on his mouth. “Don’t you worry none, Lacey, darling, don’t you worry ‘bout havin’ fun, cause me and my buddy here, well, we’re going to have all kinds of fun.” He freed his cock and stroked his fingers up and down the hard length of it. “Oh, yeah, me and my buddy, we’re gonna have a party. And guess what, Lacey, darling? We got all afternoon.”
Smitt leaned down with the knife in hand, grabbed the top of her blue T-shirt and cut it down the middle from top to bottom. Smiling, he sliced her bra in half and folded back the sides. “Woo-hoo, would you lookie here? Course, I already knew you had a nice set of tits.” He squeezed her breasts with both hands, pulling on the nipples.
Lacey pushed at his hands, struggling to get up.
“Stay down.”
“What?” Her voice sounded distant. She tried to get up again, but for some reason, she didn’t have any strength in right arm. Lacey held up her hand, puzzled why her arm wouldn’t cooperate. Blood streamed off her fingertips and dripped onto her neck.
“Stay down, or the next bullet goes between your eyes.”
She fell back. Not because he ordered her to, but because she couldn’t d
o anything else.
“That’s my girl,” he said softly and laid the blade of the knife along her cheek.
“Now, we got us a few rules here, Lacey, darling. I like rules. I like obedience.”
The entire time he talked, he finished cutting away her shirt and bra, until there was nothing left.
“I like to suck titties,” he said casually. “Sometimes, I even like to bite and chew on the nipples. What I don’t like is screams. Screaming messes with my concentration. Makes it harder for me to get my load off, you know what I mean? I hear screams I go a little crazy and do real bad things, like bite the nipples completely off or I do a little carving on the belly. So, rule number one, no screaming.”
He leveled his gaze on her breasts. “You got a pair of beautiful tits there, Lacey. I’m partial to pretty tits.” He squeezed her breasts. “Yeah, nice and firm. Sweet.”
She groaned.
“Uh-uh. No moaning. Remember rule number one.”
Lacey flinched when he pulled on her nipples. They were already tender from her pregnancy. What he did made them ache worse.
She frowned. What was he doing now? Oh, Jesus. Oh God. He was sucking her right nipple, but the way he did it, pulling on it with his teeth, hurt like hell. She bit her lip to keep from crying aloud. Sharp pain burned through her nipple. Then he sucked harder, deeper. He wrapped his tongue around the tender bud and moaned.
Slowly, very slowly, he released it and reared back. “Ahh. What’s this shit? Woman, you making milk?”
“No–no, too soon.”
“You got a baby in you?” He rubbed his hand across her belly, tightened his fingers on her flesh. Smitt slapped her across her face, enraged. “You gotta kid in you? Answer me!”
“No. No, baby.” Lacey blinked.
What happened? She couldn’t concentrate for the pain. “Oh, God. Oh, God.” He was unbuttoning her pants, fumbling with the zipper. He was going to rape her on her kitchen floor? “Do–don’t touch…me!”
Smitt snickered. “Honey, I already touched you in more ways than you can imagine. I want a little feel of your sweet pussy. I might even stick my cock in you for a bit of fun.” He laughed. “My afternoon delight.”
