by Amanda Boone
He lifted her up onto her knees, and examined her hands and shoulder before he helped her stand. “Let’s get back to camp.”
“Wait.” Cat turned back to the pit, which was smaller than she’d thought, but very much deeper. She looked over the edge and saw something glitter at the bottom. “Do you have a light?”
Boone clicked on his flashlight and directed the beam inside the pit. A large mound of brand-new razor wire glittered brightly in the light.
Cat’s heart turned to ice as she slowly backed away. “If I’d fallen on that, would I have survived it?”
“You didn’t. That’s all that matters,” he said, and tried to put his arm around her. When she resisted, he sighed. “Probably not.”
Chapter Three
Cat sat on the edge of Liam’s camp bed as he finished cleaning the abrasions on her palm. “Why did you follow me out there, anyway?”
“I’m nosy.” He wrapped a length of gauze around her hand and taped it off. “How’s the shoulder?”
She lifted her arm, rotated it carefully, and lowered it. “Sore, but not bad. Nothing I need to go to the E.R. for,” she added before he could suggest it again. She touched his arm. “You saved my life, Liam. Thank you. I mean that.”
He started to say something, and then eyed her filthy shirt. “You need a shower.”
Cat brushed some of the soil off his sleeve. “So do you.”
They both used a nearby creek for regular bathing, but Liam had rigged a shower in camp for anyone who wanted to rinse off after excavating. The thought of using it alone, however, made Cat shiver.
Liam helped her to her feet. “It’s okay. I’ll stand guard.”
“This is where I should assert my independence,” Cat told him as they walked out to the curtained shower rig. “Tell you I’m fine, and that I don’t need you to watch over me. I don’t think I’ll be doing that.”
“Go ahead.” Liam scanned the surrounding area. “I’m not leaving you alone.”
“Works for me.” She stepped inside the curtain and began to strip. “I’m really not a man-hater, you know.”
“Yep.” He kept his back turned toward her. “Try not to get that bandage wet.”
Why did he sound so testy? If Cat didn’t know better she would have thought Boone was angry with her.
“My dad really wanted a boy.” She tugged on the chain that released the water from the overhead sprayer and gasped as the cold liquid streamed down her body. “He never treated me like a disappointment, but sometimes I think he would be happier with a son.”
“Your father adores you,” Liam told her flatly. “Every time you wrote him he would carry it with him and read it over and over until the next one came. He lived for your letters and cards.”
Cat felt her heart twist. “I never knew that.”
“Soldiers learn keep their feelings to themselves.” He sounded distant now. “But not because we’re ashamed of them. We treasure the people we love and hold them in our hearts. They’re our shield against all the evil in the world.”
“Is that what you do, Liam?” Cat wrapped the towel around her and stepped out of the curtain. “Hide all your feelings in your heart?”
He spun around and took hold of her arms. “You want to know how it felt to see you hanging over that hole? How scared I was? How close you came to dying tonight?” He gave her a little shake. “That pit could have been your grave, Cat.”
“I know.” She gripped his forearms. “I just didn’t know how much you cared.”
Liam, who never swore, walked away from her as he used every curse word she knew, and a few she didn’t. He strode back to her and pulled her against him. “I care this much.”
Cat uttered a muffled yelp as his mouth came down on hers. Then his lips parted hers and he was kissing her, hard and deep and hungry, his tongue stroking in and out. When he hoisted her up off her feet, all Cat could do was hold on.
Somewhere from the shower to the tents her towel fell away, so that when Liam put her down on her camp bed she lay naked under his hot gaze. He began to reach for her, and then remorse darkened his eyes. He turned and pulled her blanket up over her nude body.
She stopped him. “No.” She shoved the blanket away. “Look at me. I want you to see me.”
He closed his eyes for a moment. “We can’t do this. I owe your father too much.”
“This isn’t about you and my father.” She sat up and reached for his belt buckle. “We’re adults. This is about us.” She glanced up at him. “I can’t do this one-handed. If you want me, you have to help.”
He still looked doubtful. “You really want me?”
She nodded slowly. “I’ve been burning for you since the morning you walked into my camp. Take off your clothes, Liam. Come to bed with me.”
Cat didn’t have to ask twice. Five minutes later Liam stood naked beside her bed, the lantern light gilding his big, muscular body. His erection sprang thick and heavy from a patch of dark hair, the dome glistening with a pearly drop.
Unable to resist, Cat propped herself up to curl her fingers around his shaft and bring the bulb of his cockhead to her lips. Licking away the small bead of semen, she took him in her mouth and sucked lightly.
Liam’s big thighs bulged as he gently withdrew and pressed her back onto the sheets. “I need to be inside you,” he said, his voice shaking a little.
She spread her legs to welcome him, tilting her hips as he fit himself to her. As he pressed in she felt it like a whole-body caress; the brush of his muscles making every inch of her skin came alive.
Liam’s face tightened as he stroked into her, his penis sinking deeper and deeper until he’d filled every inch of her softness. Only then did they let out the breath they’d both been holding, and he drew back to thrust in again.
“Oh.” Cat gripped his upper arms as the stroke of his hard shaft sent a jolt of dark delight through her. “That is . . . so good.”
“You want more?” he murmured, watching her face as he pumped in and out again. “That why you’re squeezing me like a fist?”
She nodded and wriggled under him as she tried to match his thrusts. “Like that. Ah, yes, Liam. Oh, please, more. I need more.”
He gripped her thighs. “I’ll give it to you, sweetheart. I’ll give you as much as you can take.” He plunged in hard, his shaft almost bruising as he filled her again and again. “Yeah, there’s what you need. Does it feel good to have my cock inside that hungry little pussy? You are burning me up now, Cat.”
They were both too excited for it to last long. Cat exploded first with a sharp cry, her body writhing under him as she came with a burst of dark delight. Then Liam stiffened and plowed impossibly deep, groaning as his shaft pulsed and poured into her.
He carefully drew out of her, and propped himself on his elbows while he took her mouth with a slow, hot kiss before he said, “It’s been a while for me. Usually I do better than that.”
“Me, too.” She caressed his lean cheek. “I guess we’ll just have to practice until we get better.”
He chuckled. “Nothing throws you, does it?”
“Life is too short to waste on nonsense.” She pushed him over onto his back and straddled him. “Just to be sure, I can do anything to your body that I want, right?”
He grinned. “If that works both ways, sure.”
“Good. What to do next. Hmmmm.” Cat ran her hands over his broad chest, savoring the resilient feel of his muscle. “There’s just so much of you to play with, William.”
He groaned as she bent her head and licked his nipple. “That’s a good spot.” He reached between them to caress her hard-tipped breasts, his hands massaging her slowly.
Cat worked her way down his chest and across his tight six-pack to his navel, which she explored with the tip of her tongue. She pushed her hair back to rub her cheek against his shaft, which had already grown swollen and hard.
“Hello, there.” Cat gave his straining, satiny tip a kiss. “I remember making o
ut with you a little before we were so rudely interrupted.”
“You can’t have a conversation with my dick,” Liam advised her. “It only ever has one thing on its mind – and it has a very dirty mind.”
“Funny, my lips don’t agree.” She kissed her way down his shaft, and then nuzzled his crinkly body hair as she nestled between his legs. She glanced up to see him watching her, desire blazing the blue fire in his eyes. “I think we might need to have a long talk.” She gripped his thick base as she rose over him. “Another night.”
Liam made a hard, low sound as she pressed his shaft between her breasts, and pushed them together, moving up and down to caress him. He seemed both amused and mesmerized by her teasing. “Look at you. You are so damn pretty me, Catriona.”
“Keep watching.” She held onto her breasts and tucked in her chin so she could lick the head of his penis each time she stroked her breasts down on his shaft. When he moaned softly, she enveloped him with her lips and released his shaft to work her mouth over him.
Sucking Liam gave Cat a powerful sense of commanding his pleasure, and she took her time with it, teasing and licking him between long, slow forays. As she felt his muscles bunch under her she abandoned the playfulness and bobbed her head, taking as much of him in her mouth as she could as she sucked firmly.
“I’m going to come,” he told her through his clenched teeth, and then shuddered and groaned as he jetted into her mouth. Cat held on and swallowed his cream until he went boneless beneath her.
She gave his slick penis one last kiss before she curled up on his chest with a sigh. “You know, we might not have to talk at all.”
Chapter Four
The next morning Liam woke with Cat in his arms and stared at the peak of her tent. Last night had been the most passionate of his life, and no woman had ever made him feel as good. He felt like going out and shouting that to the mountains. Then he might have to find a bear to wrestle.
“Do we have to get up?” Cat murmured sleepily.
“Everyone has the day off.” He kissed her temple. “But we need to go talk to the police. Have them come out and look at that pit. Then decide what to do.”
“We don’t know it was meant for me. Maybe it was here before we came.” She sat up and looked at him. “A rancher could have thrown that wire in it, I don’t know, to get rid of it.”
“Let me tell you what I do know,” Liam said. “That’s brand-new, long barb razor wire.” He put his arm around her shoulder. “That particularly grade runs about a hundred bucks a roll.”
“You mean no rancher would have thrown it away,” she said.
He shook his head. “No more than they’d burn a stack of hundred dollar bills.”
“This is what I get for chasing killers, I suppose.” She climbed out of bed and began to dress. “All right, we’ll call them. But can I at least work a few hours this morning surveying the area around the grave? I want to mark the sites we need to check for remains before the cops come out here.”
“They might end up declaring the whole area a crime scene,” Liam said as he tugged on his trousers.
“No, I’ve already filed all the proper permits.” She sighed. “They may want to try to find living relatives once we’re finished, but the victim died a long time ago, so it will be difficult to identify her.”
He felt a surge of impatience. “I’m talking about your stalker, Catriona. This woman who keeps calling you and sending the hate mail. Maybe she’s here. She could have dug that pit.”
She went completely still and stared at him. “I never mentioned anything to you about the hate mail.”
He rubbed his jaw. “No, you didn’t. Your father did.”
Cat walked out of the tent. Liam pulled on his shirt to follow her. “Doc, wait.”
“Oh, we’re back to Doc now.” She whirled on him. “My father didn’t send you here to work. He sent you to spy on me.”
“He asked me to watch out for you,” Liam corrected. “He thought this stalker might try to hurt you. Last night proved he was right.”
She folded her arms. “Okay. If this is all so innocent, why didn’t either of you tell me?” When he didn’t reply, she strode off again.
Liam caught up with her. “You’re over-reacting.”
“You think?” she countered. “Who are you, Boone? Homeless guy? Bodyguard? Mercenary killer? I just realized I really don’t know anything about you at all, do I?”
He pulled her to a stop. “I’m not homeless. My family has a ranch on the other side of Ghost Lake. I did serve in the Army, under your father’s command in Afghanistan. Other than that, I’m just a regular cowboy.”
“Well, thank you for finally telling me.” She marched off again, and then stumbled abruptly and fell down in some shrubs.
“Cat.” Liam went to help her up. “Just calm down, okay?”
“I tripped over something.” She bent down to pick up a length of rope. “This.” As she pulled it out of the ground more soil began to shift.
“Stop.” Liam took the rope from her. “You don’t want to do that.” He moved aside some brush to show what was on the other end of the rope. “Another Reaper Victim?”
Cat stared down at the desiccated skull, and the bright blonde hair still covering the back of it. “Not this time.” She crouched down to gently brush the dirt away from the skull. “Liam, she has braces on her teeth.”
#
Jason arrived an hour after they’d found the body and paled as Cat filled him in. “That’s horrible. What are you going to do?”
“I need you to stay here with the body,” she told him. “Liam is going to drive me into town to give a statement to the police.”
“Well, what if this murderer comes back?” Jason swallowed hard. “I’ll be all alone here.” He turned to Liam. “Can’t I take her into town? I won’t let her out of my sight, I swear to you.”
Liam nodded. “You’d best get going.”
Cat eyed him. “When I get back, you and I are having a serious discussion about my father, and you, and -- trust me, I’ll have a list.”
A short time later Jason took the dirt access road that led out to the highway and offered Cat a stick of gum.
“Thanks, I’m good.” She sighed as she looked out at the pasturelands they were passing. “I’m sorry about all this, Jason. I know how much this project means to you. And I want to apologize if I’ve hurt your feelings. Sometimes I talk before I engage my brain. You’ll find another dig to work on.”
He sniffed a little. “I wanted to write my thesis about The Reaper, but I needed a fresh angle on the murders. I guess now that you found this dead girl they’ll shut down the site permanently.”
“They’ll have to, for the investigation.” She rested her cheek against her knuckles. “I wish I understood why the killer had to bury her out there.”
“Maybe the guy knew about the Reaper burying his victims there,” Jason suggested. “He figured he’d do the same, maybe as homage or something.”
“But the killer had to know we would find her.” She sighed. “Maybe that was the point.”
“Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe he’s been trying to get you out of there, Dr. Merlin. Maybe he’s tried everything to stop you from coming here in the first place. But you just didn’t get it, did you?” Jason removed a handgun from his jacket and pressed it into her side. “Don’t move; don’t scream. You do and I’ll pull the trigger, you bitch.”
As his shrill, high-pitched shout echoed in her ears, Cat remained perfectly still. “You’re the one who’s been calling me.”
He nodded. “Calling, and writing, and following you – do you know how long it took me to dig that pit? How hard it was to keep you from finding it until it was finished?”
Despite her horror she held onto her composure. “Why have you been doing this?”
“This is my life,” he screamed at her. “And you’re trying to ruin it.”
Cat shrank back from him. “I’m sorry that I didn’t re
alize how you felt.” She nearly hit her head into the door as he swerved onto another dirt road. “Where are you taking me, Jason?”
His expression turned smug. “You’ll see.”
Jason drove up to an ancient barn and parked the car behind it so it couldn’t been seen from the road. He then dragged Cat out of the car and marched her inside the partially-collapsed structure.
“This was my great-grandfather’s place,” he told her, shoving her toward a mound of rotted hay bales. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.” She glanced up at the rafters, from which dozens of old, rotting ropes hung. “Did he leave it to your family?”
Jason snickered. “The bank repossessed it back in the thirties. The old man had to go live with his kids in California. When he died he left a box of journals. No one wanted to read his crap, except me.”
Still holding the gun on her, he picked up a coil of rope with a loop slip-knotted on one end. “Put the noose over your head. No,” he said when she opened her mouth. “You can’t talk your way out of this, Dr. Merlin. None of them could. Not with my great-grandfather, and not with me.”
Cat slowly pulled the rope loop over her head. “He was The Reaper.”
“Yeah, he was. The real killer. The guy they hung for it, he was just a drifter. Wrong place, wrong time kind of thing. Tighten the loop around your neck. Tighter.” When she did, he pointed to the hay bale. “Climb up on that.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Why are you doing this, Jason?”
“Because I am The Reaper reborn.” He grinned broadly. “And now you’re going to die for me, Dr. Merlin.”
Chapter Five
Liam took the tarp back to the shallow grave they’d uncovered to drape the body and protect it from the elements. As he did he noticed a bright flash of something sticking out of the dirt and bent down to examine it. It appeared to be a small piece of foil. When he brushed the dirt away from it the way Cat would, he saw it was clutched in the hand of the murdered girl.
