You are Mine

by Lisa G Riley

  “Oh, don’t worry about her,” Jack said. “My guess is that she and her two wounded men were extracted, probably even before you caught up with Caroline.”

  “Well, I didn’t see her in the forest at all.”

  “No, I don’t expect you did, and you wouldn’t have, even if you hadn’t only had your mind focused on one thing.” He looked over at Caroline, who still slept curled up at Brian’s side.

  Brian looked at her too, his gaze going soft. “That’s right,” he said simply before turning to look at Jack again. “Did you get our house cleaned?”

  “Yes. I arranged for a service this morning. They’ll be finished this evening.”

  “Thanks, I really appreciate it. I didn’t want Caroline coming home to that. The doctor says she shouldn’t have any more big upsets. Let me know what we owe you. I’ll just add it to what we have to pay the hotel for the damage to the cottage.”

  “Don’t worry about it; it’s on Topnotch Security. After all, it was my fault. I found out that Brickman paid off one of my workers to turn a deaf ear to the alarm when he broke in.”

  “We did expect Brickman to try to get in, though; any way he could,” Brian reminded his friend.

  “Yes, but what I didn’t expect was for any of my people to make it so easy for him.”

  “Everything worked out for the best, so your little cog in your vast wheel is the last person I’m going to be mad at.”

  “You don’t have to be; I’m mad enough for the both of us. Anyway, I came in on a Winthrop Industries plane, so you and Caroline can hitch a ride home with me if you’d like,” Jack offered.

  “Great, thanks. That certainly makes things less complicated. I was not looking forward to another seven hour drive. My plan was to book a flight, but now thanks to you, I don’t have to. I’m sure there’s some way to arrange for someone to drive our car back to Chicago for us.”

  “Most likely. Say, did Caroline really shoot out Brickman’s knee cap?”

  “Yes, she did,” Brian said softly as he once again looked at her. His pride in her warred with the shame he felt for not protecting her like he was supposed to. He was surprised when her eyes opened and she looked right at him.

  “You’re much too quiet,” she chided gently, “which tells me you’re on your me-Tarzan-you-Jane kick again. Stop it,” she demanded. “You’re not Superman.” Her tone was still gentle, but there was a definite ring of steel in it.

  Brian kissed her nose. “You’re so cute.”

  Caroline rolled her eyes and sighing, rose into a sitting position. She smiled at Jack and held out her arms for a hug. “Hi, Jack. How’s my second favorite alpha male wanna-be?”

  ***

  CAROLINE stood in the middle of her studio trying not to cry. Equipment had been broken and stepped upon and blank canvases had been cut up. She noticed that at least three paintings that she’d completed for her next show were missing. Brian and she had been home for an hour and she’d been standing in the same spot for the last fifteen minutes, just taking in the destruction. Anguished, she looked at the sculpture she’d started before they’d left. It had been cruelly smashed in, and seeing it made her want to weep. Suddenly, it was all just too much.

  “Hey, you going to stay in here all day?”

  Brian’s voice came from behind her and she surreptitiously wiped her eyes and cheeks. She cleared her throat before responding. “I’m coming,” she tried to say clearly, but her voice came out hushed and shaky.

  She felt Brian come up behind her, his front flanking her back. “Hey,” he began in a gentle tone as he rubbed her shoulders “What’s the matter?”

  All choked up now, Caroline shook her head, but she had to sniff back tears that refused to stop falling.

  “What’s all this now?” Brian asked. “You barely cry through the mayhem in Michigan, and now when we get home, you’re practically bawling.”

  She tried to nod in agreement, but couldn’t and turned in his arms so she could bury her face in his shoulder. “They’ve destroyed her,” she said between sobs. “They’ve destroyed our baby.”

  Panicked, Brian pulled back to look into her face, “What?”

  “They’ve destroyed her,” she said again and pointed to the unfinished sculpture. “I was making a bust of the baby, and they’ve wrecked it.”

  Relieved, Brian chuckled. “Oh! You scared me for a minute,” he muttered before studying the sculpture. It was crushed in a couple of places, but he thought it could be salvaged. “Fuckers. Baby, I think you can fix it, though. Why don’t we get closer and take a look at it so you can see what you need to do to fix it?”

  But Caroline was inconsolable and refused to lift her head from his shoulder, or move anywhere near the sculpture. She was plastered to his body now, her arms tight around his waist.

  “You know I can’t pick you up right now. Will you at least walk over to the sofa with me so we can discuss this comfortably?”

  She said nothing, just continued to hold onto him and started moving toward the sofa.

  “I’m sorry,” she said between deep sobs once they were sitting. “I just can’t seem to stop.”

  “It’s all right,” Brian assured her. “After all you’ve been through, you’re entitled.”

  “So are you.”

  He scoffed playfully. “I’m a man. Real men don’t cry.” When this got no response other than more sobs, he tightened his hold on her.

  She moved in closer, practically burrowing into him, and finally like a geyser bursting, confessed, “I thought you were going to die…I was just so scared!”

  “Aw baby, I know. I was scared, too, but we’re okay, now, right?” he soothed and lifted her chin to kiss the tears from her face, starting with her cheeks and ending with her mouth. “Right?” She nodded her agreement and kissed him back, her lips clinging to his. He kissed her again, this time sucking on her bottom lip and she curled into his side and cupped his cheek, opening her mouth for him. Brian gave vent to three days of pent-up frustration and the kiss became hot and carnal in a matter of seconds.

  “I want you,” he said in an urgent tone.

  She smiled shyly against his mouth before running her finger over his lips. “You always want me.”

  “That’s right, so let me have you.”

  “I want you too, but your shoulder --”

  “You’ll have to do most of the work,” he told her as he pushed up her skirt until the hem of it was ringing the top of her thighs.

  She mewled her pleasure at his touch and kissed him again. Brian slid back on the couch and brought her with him so she was sprawled on top of him. Some shifting here and some ripping there, and he was soon moving inside of her, sounds of relief and welcome emanating from both their throats.

  Caroline whimpered and leaned down to kiss him again. He filled her so completely that she soon found herself screaming her release into his mouth. Even so, she continued to move sinuously on top of him, her body pulling him in and clenching tightly around him until he was yelling out her name in delighted gratitude.

  CAROLINE pulled the throw from the back of the sofa and spread it over them. “I suppose we should make our way to the bedroom soon.”

  Brian squeezed her naked butt, making her squirm deliciously against him. “Not until you tell me just how you know we’re having a girl.”

  She shrugged a bare shoulder. “I just know; that’s all.”

  “Um-hmm,” he said skeptically, “And how exactly do you know so much that you’re able to create a sculpture of our unborn child?”

  She kissed his chest. “Again, I just know,” she said in a sing-song voice.

  “Sure it’s not just wishful thinking?”

  “Care to make a small wager,” she countered in the same tone he’d used.

  “You’re on, sweetheart.”

  Epilogue

  “All right. I want to know how you did it.” It was a demand, but it was said in a cooing tone as Brian was smiling down at the newborn daug
hter he held in his arms as he spoke to his wife. The baby was five days old and he’d found it difficult to take his eyes off her since the minute she was born. She stretched and yawned, one tiny fist and arm popping out of the pink blanket, and smiling, he stroked the fist until she opened it and squeezed his finger.

  “Hello, sweet Bella,” he cooed. “He-lohhh. Daddy loves you; yes he does,” he assured her as she kicked her legs as if she understood him. He bent his head and nuzzled her downy soft black hair with his nose, happily taking in her sweet baby scent. “You are the most beautiful baby in the world, and guess what? Your mommy’s going to tell me right now what kind of voodoo she practiced to know what she knew, or there’ll be no more she-knows-which for her she-knows-what. It’s almost her favorite thing in the whole world for your daddy to do to her, so the stakes are pretty high. Yes, they are,” he cooed when Bella turned her head in response to his voice.

  “Brian!” Caroline sputtered with laughter and he looked over to where she sat in their big four poster with her back leaning against several pillows. “Don’t talk naughty to the baby,” she chided. “Now give her to me. It’s time for her lunch.”

  She held out her arms and smiled at him, and he was struck once again with how much he loved her. He put the baby in her arms and tears stung the back of his eyes as he realized how incredibly lucky he was. Speechless, he bent and first kissed Caroline’s mouth and then the top of the baby’s head.

  Caroline adjusted her clothing and gently moved her nipple around Bella’s mouth until the baby latched onto it. “There’s my sweet girl,” she murmured softly before looking at Brian. “Now, what crazy idea were you bandying about before we were interrupted by more important matters?”

  Brian looked over at the bust of Bella Caroline had completed three months before. It was an identical match to the baby, even down to the straight hair lying thickly all over the baby’s head. “I want to know how you did it. What kind of witchcraft are you practicing behind my back?”

  Looking smug, Caroline stuck her tongue out at him. “A mother just knows. Now stop sounding like such a sore loser. I won fair and square and I want my prize.”

  She smiled again and still feeling dazzled by the sight of his wife nursing his child, Brian said quietly, “You got it, sweetheart. Gladly. Here are the keys to that house you loved so much that day we went house hunting on the island.”

  Caroline looked at the shiny new keys he’d dropped into her palm. Her smile was huge when she looked back up at him. “You bought it already! When?”

  “A few months ago,” Brian admitted grudgingly.

  “But the bet wasn’t --”

  “I know, I know. The bet was still on, but I decided that you were right about it being a good place to put the bonus.”

  She looked at him knowingly. “Whatever you say.”

  Shaking his head, he muttered, “Just so spoiled.”

  Startled laughter escaped her throat before she said, “You’re the one who bought it! I merely presented a logical argument.”

  Brian let loose with a doubtful, “Um-hmm,” before rising to lean over her and bracket her between his arms. “I love you, Caroline,” he whispered lovingly.

  She cupped his cheek and angled her neck back to kiss him. “I love you too, darling.”

  ***

  Barcelona, three months later

  Cesare opened the small package given to her by Alvarado. He’d said that one of his favorite clients had sent it to him for her. She poured out its contents and the first thing her eyes went to was a picture of a gorgeous, plump baby girl smiling giddily at whoever was behind the camera. She couldn’t help but smile and take a finger gently over a chubby celluloid cheek. “Oh, how beautiful,” she said with a note of wonder and affection in her voice. The message in the package said simply:

  You helped to save us. You helped to save our Bella. Words cannot express our gratitude enough, but thank you. Thank you for our lives. If there is ever anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.

  There were two cards folded within the note. One had the name and number of Jack Winthrop, and the other that of Caroline and Brian Keenan. Cesare lifted a brow. She’d heard of Winthrop and his former service as an FBI agent. She picked up the second piece from the package -- a long rectangular box -- and opened it. It held a hand-tooled leather holster. Beautifully made, it was long and slender. Cesare reached in and pulled out the stiletto. “Oooh. Lovely. Italian, I think,” she murmured and her voice held the same note as it had when she’d looked at the baby. She studied the stiletto, loving it with its bayonet-style blade and light horn handle. She turned it over in her hands, and startled, laughed out loud, wondering if the Keenans were serious. Etched in the blade in elegant script was the phrase:

  Veni, Vidi, Vici.

  fin

  About the author

  Lisa G. Riley’s work has been called “character and issue driven; exciting, passionate and thought provoking.” The author of several novels and stories, Ms. Riley writes in several genres including romantic suspense, erotica, historical and paranormal. Her last novel, Dashing Through the Snow, is a contemporary, (somewhat erotic) cozy mystery. Please visit her at www.lisagriley.wordpress.com for more information on the work.

  Other work by Lisa G. Riley:

  Dashing Through the Snow

  After the Morning After

  Stolen (co-authored with Roslyn Hardy Holcomb)

  Give Yourself to Me

  Do Me Right

  Given (co-authored with Roslyn Hardy Holcomb)

  At Last (Caroline and Brian)

  Caught Up in the Rapture (Jack and Tracy)

  Big Spankable Asses (anthology)

  Bound to Ecstasy (anthology)

  Honey Flava (Zane anthology)

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue