by Becca Van
Once he and Seamus explained to Leah and she was back in their arms, he was never letting her leave again. If he had his way she would marry him as soon as he could arrange it.
Chapter Nine
Leah moaned and coughed as she rolled to her side. Her whole body was on fire, and yet she was shivering so hard her teeth were chattering. She sniffed through a clogged nose and caught the hint of smoke in the air. She wondered who was setting a fire and drifted in and out of consciousness. She was so tired and she knew she should be getting up, but for some reason had no idea why. She heard shouting outside and raised her hands to cover her ears. The noise was making her skull ache, and she couldn’t stand the pain it caused to her head. She felt around for her pillow and pulled it over her head.
She felt arms wrap around her and sighed as she snuggled into a familiar hard chest. A car door slammed closed, and she tried to open her eyes, but it was too much effort. When she surfaced again she was in a tub of cold water. She thrashed, pushing at hands as she tried to get them to stop torturing her. She was so cold and tired she wanted to wrap herself in a blanket and sleep for days on end. She heard deep voices as she drifted but couldn’t make out what they were saying. Everything sounded so garbled, and she was too tired to try and work it out. How long she drifted in that surreal world she had no idea, and for some reason she didn’t seem to care.
When she surfaced again she thought someone was trying to drown her. Firm hands were holding her head and shoulders up, and they were trying to get her to drink. The cool liquid trickling into her mouth triggered her thirst, and she gulped down the thirst-quenching water. She screamed with fury as the glass was taken from her before she was finished. Why are they torturing me this way?
She was being moved again. Why can’t they leave me alone and let me die in peace? Leah heard a scream from far away as her cold body was plunged into even colder water again. Why are they being so cruel to me? What have I done to deserve this type of treatment? Her throat was so sore and dry she felt as if she could drink a whole barrel full of water.
Leah was in bed again. It seemed she had just taken a sip of water, not enough to quench her thirst, and it was being taken away again. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing more than a raspy sound came out, and she drifted back to sleep.
She fought the hands pulling at her clothes, wanting them to leave her alone so she could sleep. She was so tired, and her whole body was one big ache. She tried to yell at them to leave her alone, but either they couldn’t hear her or they just ignored her. They pulled her this way and that, and then she was being placed back onto the bed, the covers were pulled back over her, and she sighed as she drifted back to sleep.
Leah woke up and moaned as her aching muscles protested. She felt as if she’d been in a car wreck and couldn’t work out why she felt so bad. She opened her eyes, blinking a few times as her eyes adjusted to the light. She felt so sweaty and dirty she wanted to have a shower, but didn’t know if she had the energy to get up. She looked around and knew she was back in her room at Connell and Seamus’s ranch. She wondered how she’d gotten back here because the last thing she remembered was leaving in a cab. She tried to push herself up, but her arms were so weak they wouldn’t cooperate. Then she remembered she had actually made it back home, and she knew she was sick. She’d heard there was a new strain of influenza making the rounds and wondered if that was what she’d caught. The sound of footsteps walking toward her room had her eyes glued to the door. She watched warily as Connell and Seamus entered the room.
“Baby, how are you feeling?” Connell asked.
“Terrible,” Leah replied. The sound of her own voice was so low and raspy Leah knew she must have been pretty sick.
“You’re looking much better, darlin’,” Seamus stated.
“How did I get here?” Leah asked.
She watched as Connell and Seamus moved farther into the room and took a seat on either side of the bed.
“We brought you here, baby. Why did you leave us, Leah? If you had any concerns you could have come and talked them through with us. Why did you leave without saying good-bye or leaving a note?” Connell asked.
Leah could see she had hurt him and Seamus deeply. It was there in their eyes, but they had hurt her just as much.
“That woman,” Leah began and licked her dry lips. She saw Connell get up, and he poured her a glass of water from the jug on the bedside table. He handed her the glass, and she drank thirstily. She placed the glass back on the bedside and turned back to Connell.
“That woman said she loved you,” Leah said.
“Yes, she did, and did you hang around to ask us about her or to hear what our reply was? You couldn’t have, otherwise you wouldn’t have left. Debbie is in our past, baby. We hadn’t seen or heard from Debbie for nearly twelve months. We thought we were in love with her and wanted to have a ménage relationship with her. She was too shocked and scared to try. And I thank God every day that she left. She wasn’t the one we needed. We were in love with the idea of sharing her, not actually in love with her. We didn’t even realize that until we met you. You showed us what real love was, baby. I love you so much and want to spend the rest of my life with you, Leah,” Connell said quietly.
Leah felt tears trickle from the corners of her eyes, and she turned to look at Seamus.
“I love you, too, darlin’. Please give us a chance to show you we really do love you, Leah. You mean the world to us and I can’t bear the thought of not having you by my side,” Seamus declared.
Leah’s throat was now sorer than before, after talking earlier so she didn’t try to speak, and she was too weak to throw herself into their arms. So she lifted her hand and beckoned them to her with the crook of a finger. The two men enveloped her in their warm embraces. She inhaled their familiar scents and knew she was where she was supposed to be. She’d saved herself for these two men and was mighty glad she had. They were a weakness she never wanted to get over. They were her one and true plunge into love, and she intended to relish every moment she was in their arms.
“I love you, too,” Leah rasped and squeaked when the four arms around her hugged her tight. They moved away slightly and eased her back down onto the bed. She could feel her eyelids beginning to close already and knew she was falling asleep again. But this time she had a smile on her face as she drifted off.
* * * *
Leah found out she had been so sick that her men had called in Doc to examine her. Her temperature had raged for three long days, and her men had taken turns looking after her. They had submerged her in icy baths, kept her fluids up, changed her sweat-soaked shirts, and changed the bed linen. She had wondered why they had looked as bad as she felt, and the knowledge that they had nursed her, taken care of her while she was so sick only made her love them more.
On the fifth day she was well enough to get out of bed for the first time. She looked around for her clothes, and when she couldn’t find any, grabbed the clean T-shirt draped over a chair and headed to the bathroom. She showered and savored feeling clean after washing her hair and body. She pulled the T-shirt on and wrapped herself in one of the large robes hanging on the back of the door and went in search of her two men.
Leah found Connell and Seamus in the kitchen drinking coffee. She headed to the pot, but Seamus ushered her over to a seat at the table and took over the task for her.
“You’re looking a lot better, baby,” Connell said.
“I feel much better. I’m sorry you had to look after me,” Leah stated.
“I’m not. We love you, Leah. We wanted to take care of you while you were sick.”
“Well, thank you. Both of you. I just hope neither of you ends up sick because you took care of me,” Leah said.
“If we do, then there is nothing we can do about it, darlin’. We’ll just ride it out the same as you did,” Seamus replied.
“Still, I hope you don’t. That was one nasty bug. Where are my clothes?” Leah asked. “I looked bu
t couldn’t find them.”
“Leah, don’t you remember the fire?” Connell asked with a frown.
“Fire? What fire?”
“When we came to the trailer to get you, darlin’, the trailer was on fire. We got you out and away from it just before the gas bottle exploded and engulfed the trailer in flames,” Seamus enunciated.
“Oh no, all of my mom’s things were in there. All my clothes, my purse, my cell phone, they’re all gone. Shit. What am I going to do now?” Leah sobbed.
Leah felt arms around her waist and looked up as Seamus pulled her onto his lap, enfolding her in his arms.
“I’m sorry, darlin’. We would have tried to save your things, but it was too dangerous. We only just got you out in time,” Seamus explained, and she heard a tremble in his voice as he remembered what she never would. “I thank God that we arrived when we did.”
“I had another one of those calls. Whoever it is had my cell number,” Leah said and shuddered.
“What did they say, baby?” Connell asked.
“Um,” Leah said as she thought back to that call. “It’s hard to remember, but something like I wasn’t good enough to be with you. That I was a slut for living with you both and I needed to die.”
“I’ll call and let Luke know. We need to keep an eye out in case someone is after you. I trust my gut and I don’t like what my intuition is telling me,” Connell said.
Leah looked up to Connell and asked the question she didn’t really want to hear the answer to, but she was better off knowing than remaining ignorant.
“What’s your gut telling you, Connell?”
“That you’re in danger, baby. I think you’re being stalked.”
Chapter Ten
Leah checked the cornbread she had put into the oven. She was glad to be back home where she belonged. She felt so much better about their relationship now that Connell had explained to her about Debbie. She was still worried about who could be out to get her, but she pushed that thought to the back of her mind. There was nothing she could do about it at the moment. Her two men had been sleeping with her every night since she had gotten over that dreaded flu bug, but they hadn’t tried to love her. She was becoming sexually frustrated now that she knew what she was missing out on. She knew Connell and Seamus were giving her body time to heal, but she was well now and needed them more than ever. She was determined to get them to love her tonight. After all, it had been two weeks.
Leah had prepared a baked dinner since the weather was cool enough and had just removed the beef from the oven, transferred it to a platter, and covered it to rest when she heard her men galloping into the yard. She rushed outside and stood on the porch watching as they slowed their mounts to a walk. She’d put on one of the new dresses her men had bought for her and stood waiting to greet them. A sharp crack echoed through the air, and she spun around to look behind her. Of course there was no one there. She felt intense pain in her arm, but ignored it as her men came running from the barn.
She had no idea what was wrong, but they looked furious and they were barreling toward her as fast as they could. She ran to meet them and squeaked in surprise when Seamus tackled her to the ground. He rolled as they landed so he took the brunt of their landing, but she still felt the air whoosh from her lungs. She moaned with pain as her upper arm connected with the hard ground.
“Are you all right, darlin’?” Seamus’s voice whispered in her ear.
“Yes, I’m fine. What are we doing on the ground?”
“Someone tried to shoot you, Leah. Didn’t you hear the shot?”
“Shit, I thought it was a car backfiring.”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Just my arm, it hit the ground when you tackled me.”
“I’m going to roll you over to take a look, but keep your head down. I don’t know if whoever tried to shoot you is still around. Okay?”
“Okay,” Leah replied. “Where’s Connell? Connell, where are you?”
“I’m okay, baby. Just stay with Seamus and let him take care of you. I’ll be back in a bit,” Connell replied.
Leah tried to lift her head to see Connell, but Seamus used a hand and pushed against her forehead.
“Keep that head down, darlin’. Connell will be fine. We’re trained Marines, remember? Now, let me see that arm,” Seamus said and moved slightly to the right.
“Fuck, Leah. You’ve been shot.”
“What? Where?” Leah asked, trying to see as she craned her neck sideways.
“Stay still, darlin’. I need you to stay calm for me, all right?” Seamus asked.
“I’m fine, Seamus. I promise, but my arm is hurting like a bitch.”
“I don’t doubt that it is. You’re lucky it’s just a graze. God, when I heard that shot, my heart stopped. I need to get you inside so we can call in Luke and Damon, but I think you should see Doc first,” Seamus said.
“Can’t you just fix it?” Leah asked.
“No, Leah. You’re going to need antibiotic ointment on the graze so it doesn’t get infected.”
“Seamus?” Leah said, her voice sounding weak even to her.
“Yeah, darlin’?”
“I don’t feel very well,” Leah whispered. She felt the blood drain from her face. Her eyeballs roll back in her head, and passed out.
* * * *
Seamus looked up to see Connell heading back from behind the barn. He shook his head, letting him know there was no sign of the shooter, and saw his brother look at Leah. The sight of her pale face and her closed eyes had his brother’s eyes wandering her body. They snagged on the blood dripping from her upper arm, and the tortured sound emitting from Connell’s mouth echoed his own turmoil.
“It’s just a graze, Connell, there’s no bullet in her arm. Go and call Doc and then get both the sheriffs out here,” Seamus said as he moved off Leah and gently picked her up. He carried her into the house and down to her bedroom. Connell followed behind, his cell phone to his ear.
Seamus gently placed Leah on the bed and rushed to the bathroom for a towel. He wrapped it around her arm, pulling it tight to stop her blood from flowing. He sat down next to her, feeling useless as he and Connell waited for Doc and the sheriffs to arrive. He smoothed her hair back from her face and smiled at her when she opened her eyes.
“Are you okay, darlin’?” Seamus asked, knowing he’d already asked her that question before. But he needed to hear her sweet voice letting him know she was still here with them. The thought of someone shooting at her had rage building up inside him, and he wanted to get up, go find who had shot her, and kill them with his bare hands. He breathed in and out a few times, trying to control his fury, and relaxed at the sound of his woman answering.
“Of course I’m all right. I just had a little nap and feel like I could take on the world,” Leah replied.
Seamus knew then that she was going to be all right. The fact that she was trying to put him at ease with humor when she had to be in a lot of pain had him smiling again. She was such a strong, feisty little thing when she wanted to be. He knew she fit with him and Connell as if she had been made specifically for them.
Seamus looked up at Connell when he heard two cars on the gravel drive close to the house and knew the two sheriffs and Doc had arrived. Connell left the room to let them in. Seamus gave a nod to Doc as he entered the room and moved to the end of the bed to give the elderly man room to work.
“Hi, Leah, what have you done to yourself?” Doc asked.
“Well, I didn’t do it, but someone took a shot at me,” Leah replied.
Seamus saw Doc flinch at her nonchalant statement and shook his head. The elderly man sighed, but then he got down to work. He had Leah’s wound cleaned up and wrapped in no time. Doc left the room after giving Leah and him instructions on her care, and Seamus rushed to her side when she sat up.
“Where do you think you’re going? Doc told you to rest.”
“I’m going to the bathroom and when I’m done I’m goin
g to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. I’m fine, Seamus, I promise,” Leah reiterated.
Seamus nuzzled her hand as she placed her palm onto his cheek. He kissed her on the forehead and headed to the kitchen.
“Seamus,” Sheriff Luke Sun-Walker greeted him as he entered the kitchen.
“Luke, Damon,” Seamus replied as he shook the two sheriffs’ hands.
“Did you see anyone?” Luke asked.
“No. I was too hell-bent on getting to Leah so whoever the motherfucker was couldn’t take another easy shot at her,” Seamus replied. “Have you been watching Earl and his cohorts?”
“Yes, when we could, but there are only the two of us, Seamus, and we can’t be everywhere at once,” Luke replied. “I don’t think Earl and his friends have enough backbone to do something like this.”
“Have you looked for the slug yet?” Seamus asked.
“No. We’ll do that as soon as we’ve talked to Leah,” Luke replied.
“You called?” Leah asked.
Seamus jumped to his feet at the sound of her voice, took hold of her elbow, and steered her to the table. He pulled her down onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her.
“Hey, I wanted coffee,” Leah stated.
“I’ll get your coffee, baby. You just sit and rest,” Connell said.
“Leah, did you see anyone when you were outside?” Luke asked.
“No. I went out onto the veranda like I usually do when Connell and Seamus come home, and I was watching them,” Leah replied, her cheeks pinkening with heat.
“Did you hear the gunshot, Leah?” Sheriff Damon Osborn asked.
