“But you said you’re not a match for him, not without Changing me. If I stay with you, the only thing that happens is you get killed and I become Ridgemont’s slave.” And I can’t stand the thought of you dying. “Or you Change me and I end up a vampire. I don’t like either alternative.”
“There are other ways to kill Ridgemont than taking him on hand-to-hand. Don’t underestimate me.” McKinnon took a step closer. Val backed up another pace. “Come on, Valerie,” he coaxed in that deep, patient voice. “We don’t have time for this, the police are on the way. I can hear the sirens.”
She licked her dry lips. “Good. They can bust me. I’d be safer in jail.”
“Not if Ridgemont bails you out.” Dark-lashed eyes stared into hers, intent and demanding. Val realized she couldn’t look into them while she shot him. She dropped her aim to a point midway between his broad pecs and shut her eyes.
Just as her finger tightened on the trigger, she felt a rush of wind and movement. McKinnon’s hand clamped down over hers, jerking the gun up as his other arm snaked around her waist. Before she could even open her eyes, he pulled the weapon out of her hand as easily as a man taking a toy from a toddler.
Astonished, she stared up into his grim face. “How did you do that so fast?” He’d been standing ten feet away.
“I’m a vampire,” McKinnon snapped, tucking the gun into his empty shoulder holster as he hauled her around and dragged her back toward the car. Stumbling after his long strides, she heard sirens wailing their way steadily closer. “And you’re lucky I’m not Ridgemont, because he would have made you eat that gun. Only an idiot shuts his eyes when he shoots somebody.”
Stung, she glared at his stony profile. “Sorry. The next time I blow a hole in you, I’ll make sure to watch.”
“See that you do.” Muscles in his strong jaw worked as he lengthened his stride. The sirens were getting louder. “And what the hell’s wrong with you, anyway? I thought we’d been through this. Without me, you don’t have a prayer.”
She opened her mouth to answer, but before she could say anything, a patrol car bounced into the parking lot, blue lights spinning, sirens howling. Several others screamed down the street.
“Oh, hell.” He pulled her into a run.
“What?”
“There’s too many cops. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“What? Why not put a psychic whammy on them?”
“I can’t compel more than one person at a time. And it sounds like half the force is on the way. If they get here, we’re screwed.” As they reached the Lexus, he pulled open the driver’s door and pushed her inside. She scrambled across the gear shift and fell into the passenger seat.
“Hey!” A burly cop got out of his patrol car and bore down on him. “Sir, I need to talk to you. Now.”
Cade caught him with a stare. “We didn’t have anything to do with it.”
The man broke stride, confusion clouding his eyes. “But there’s a body on the…”
“No, there isn’t.” He slid behind the wheel and started the engine. The cop stared at them blankly as Cade backed the Lexus out of its space and shot toward the back exit.
Glancing into the rearview mirror, he saw another cop get out of a second car and stalk toward the first, gesturing. Cade winced, knowing he’d just gotten his victim a reprimand at the very least. Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to worry about that. There was a good chance they’d gotten a plate number, in which case every cop in town would soon be searching for him and Valerie.
He hit the gas, turned off the headlights, and took off with all the speed and razored reflexes only a vampire could manage.
* * *
As Cade punched it, Val fumbled automatically for her seatbelt and clicked it home. This had not been her finest hour. She felt sick to her stomach -- the aftereffects of an adrenalin jag mixed with despair. But it wasn’t the cops or even Ridgemont she was most worried about.
It was spending more time with McKinnon -- and getting seduced.
* * *
Sandra Kent frowned down at her patient’s battered face, barely registering the beep of the monitors ranged around him. An ambulance crew had just brought him in to the E.R.
Dr. Bryson had taken one look and told her to prep the man for surgery. She suspected it was a pointless effort. They were going to lose this patient; there was no way he could survive head injuries like the ones he’d sustained.
He had been hit with what must have been a ball peen hammer. His jaw was broken, his nose splintered, and facial bones shattered, but more important was the skull fracture to the back of his head. With the blows it had taken, his bruised brain was already swelling inside the cage of his skull. Soon the growing pressure would kill him.
But they had to try.
With a sigh of resignation, Sandra reached up to check the flow from the unit of blood hanging over his head. A glimmer of blue made her glance down. Amazingly, the man’s eyes were open, though she could have sworn they’d been swollen shut a moment ago. He smiled up at her through cracked and bloody lips.
Sandra stared. How could he smile with his jaw wrecked? Bending closer, she saw the swelling seemed to have gone down. Delicately she reached out to touch the man’s shattered face. And gasped.
Half an hour ago, bone had shifted under her fingers when she’d touched him. Now it felt whole. Which was utterly impossible. She’d seen the X-ray films. Those bones had been splintered like glass.
A bruised, scraped hand snapped around her wrist so hard she yelped. “Fraulein,” the patient said, his voice so distorted by his mangled jaw she could barely understand him, “get me out of here. And then we’ll… play.”
It wasn’t the first time Sandra had dealt with a patient who was out of his head. She opened her mouth to gently tell him he wasn’t going anywhere except surgery. But as she did, she met those cold blue eyes.
And found she couldn’t say anything at all.
* * *
Eluding the police kept Cade’s mind firmly occupied for most of an hour as he wove through the darkened streets of Corrington. Spotting a man on the side of the road fixing a flat, Cade stopped long enough to influence him into switching license plates, then made sure he wouldn’t remember anything about it.
To further confuse things, Cade stopped just long enough to repeat the process, once at a house where the lights were on, again in a convenience store parking lot. The plate change should muddy the waters nicely as far as the police were concerned, though it wouldn’t stop Ridgemont.
Now that Cade stopped to think, it was obvious Hirsch had gotten the tag number at the airport. The ancient had then used law enforcement to track them down, something Cade damn well should have foreseen. Brooding, he glanced at Val’s impassive profile. I must have been distracted.
Well, using the tags to trail them wouldn’t be as easy this time, though Ridgemont could still do it. Cade knew the ancient would interrogate the owners as each switched plate was found, then get the new tag number and find that one in turn. Eventually he’d track Cade and Valerie down, but it would be a long process. Long enough, hopefully, to give Cade time to set a trap for him.
Unfortunately, at the moment Cade had no idea what form that trap would take. And he’d damn well better get it figured out in a hurry. Going up against Edward Ridgemont without a well-constructed strategy was a good way to get your head handed to you. Literally.
Cade glanced at Valerie as the lights of a passing car painted the clean line of her nose and stubborn little chin. She’d rested her temple against the side window, eyes closed. For the first time, he found himself questioning his determination not to Change her. Was he being honorable -- or just squeamish?
There was a certain ruthless logic that demanded he head for the closest hotel and get it over with. The Change would cost her any chance of a normal life and she’d hate him afterward, but it would still be better than her fate if Ridgemont caught him unprepared. Cade knew that better than anyone, having watched h
elplessly as his sire abused far too many women.
But even with Cade as her sire, the Change would still be terrifying for her. Of course, unlike Ridgemont, he had no intention of having sex with her during the process. It wasn’t necessary, and he doubted he’d be able to perform even if it was. The idea of doing something like that to Valerie was just too repellent. But he’d have to feed repeatedly, and since he couldn’t use his psychic influence to take away her fear and pain, she’d find the experience nightmarish.
No. Forget it. He’d have to come up with some other way to kill the ancient. Maybe another bomb.
I could seduce her… The thought stole into his mind. She had responded eagerly enough to his kisses back at the motel. Not to mention those incredibly erotic dreams… He blew out a breath and studied her again. He could tell by her breathing that she’d fallen asleep. Probably exhausted by the trauma of shooting Casale. And damn near Cade too, come to think of it.
He ground his teeth. It was ridiculous to feel hurt that she’d almost put a bullet in him. She was a captive, for God’s sake -- of course she’d try anything to escape. It wasn’t as if she really could’ve killed him. But if she’d been the vampire and he, the mortal, he knew he damned well wouldn’t have been able to point a gun at her.
Her face was so lovely framed by that auburn mane, like a sleeping Renaissance angel. Her long eyelashes fanned against porcelain cheeks, her eyes flicking back and forth behind her closed lids. Wondering what she was dreaming, Cade automatically reached out his mind to touch hers, knowing her Kith shields always dropped in sleep. Otherwise, he’d never have been able to enter her dreams.
His psychic probe touched a vivid dream image -- Cade himself, looking like the hero of a cowboy flick on the back of a big white stallion, holding Val perched on the saddle in front of him.
Cade grinned. She was naked. It was one of those nude-in-public nightmares everybody had. But my, oh, my, he thought wickedly, the possibilities!
Of course, the gentleman his mother had raised would never have invaded Val’s privacy as she slept. The vampire he’d become saw it as a unique opportunity to seduce a woman who was more than half-willing anyway. And the man… remembered she’d damn near put a bullet in him.
Cade took the first exit he came to. For this, he needed to pull over.
* * *
Val squirmed in the saddle, but the hard-muscled arms encircling her waist didn’t loosen. She desperately needed to put on some clothes, but Cade wouldn’t let her down. Mortified, she wanted to scream. She couldn’t imagine how he’d gotten her on the back of a horse buck naked.
Suddenly the dream took on a vivid clarity that surprised her sleeping mind. She could feel the leather of the saddle between her bare thighs and the warmth of his body at her back. A night breeze blew across her breasts, and her nipples hardened at the cool, delicate sensation.
“What’d you do, darlin’?” Cade purred. His breath teased the sensitive whorls of her ear. “What nasty crime did you commit to get arrested by a Texas Ranger?”
“What?” She pushed at the arm that held her, but it didn’t budge. “I haven’t done anything.”
“You’re shackled, sweetheart,” he rumbled, his chest vibrating against her head. Glancing down, she realized her hands were chained in front of her. “You must have done something. Steal a horse? Rob a bank?” He lifted a gloved hand and closed his fingers around one bare breast with exquisite tenderness. “Maybe you’re a soiled dove, and the ladies of the town decided to drum you out for tempting their menfolk into sin.” Leather-clad fingers teased and rolled the tight, hard point of her nipple. His drawl lengthened. “You’re certainly tempting me.”
“Cade, stop that!” She squirmed. And froze, eyes widening, when her bottom rubbed against the thick bulge of his erection.
“And now you’re out here in the middle of nowhere with a ranger who’s having a hard time remembering he’s supposed to be the good guy.” Lazily, he trailed his fingers down her belly to slide between her tight, damp folds. Rough leather brushed her erect clit. His voice deepened and dropped. “Then again, considering how wicked you are, maybe it’s my duty to dish out a little frontier justice.”
He lifted the reins and stroked the supple straps against first one breast, then the other.
Obeying his tug on the reins, the stallion began to dance under them. Black hooves left the ground in a partial rear that threw Val back onto Cade’s lap. His thick erection, covered in the coarse fabric of his jeans, rubbed between her bare cheeks.
“I think I might enjoy disciplining you,” he rumbled, and scraped the reins over one nipple again. Obediently, the horse hopped forward on its back legs, jarring her against his cock. His cupping fingers rasped over her clit, the wicked swirl of pleasure making her writhe. Cade laughed in her ear, the sound wolfish. “Would you like to do a little hard time, Valerie?”
“Stop it,” she told him. “You’re supposed to be the guy in the white hat, remember?”
With a tug on the reins, he brought the horse down on all four hooves, then grabbed his Stetson and shoved it into her hands.
“I’m not wearing my hat now,” Cade said in her ear, his tone a velvet threat. Lowering his head, he pressed his mouth to the side of her throat. “Now I’m a vampire.”
Slowly, taking his time, he sank his fangs into her skin. She arched in erotic shock at the burning penetration. “Oh!” The sound emerged as a tormented little whimper.
But after that one sharp sting of pain, it didn’t hurt. She could feel his lips moving on her neck as he drank from her in long swallows, rumbling in pleasure. His mouth was warm and soft and arousing as his hands stroked her body. An orgasm gathered low in her stomach like a building storm, only to hover there, not quite breaking. Unable to stand any more, she moaned, “God, Cade, please!”
Still feeding, he growled a feral sound and cupped his long fingers over her sex, pulling her against his jeans-covered cock as he rolled his hips as if driving hard into her. She twisted desperately, trying to get that last little stimulation she needed to come, but it eluded her. She cried out in frustration.
Just before she lost her mind, he released her throat and licked up the straining cord to her ear. His breath gusting on the delicate flesh made her gasp in desperate arousal as he whispered, “See? It doesn’t hurt. Wake up, and I’ll show you…”
* * *
Hard as the broadsword in the back seat, Cade slipped out of Val’s dream just as she jolted awake. He watched as she lifted trembling fingers to the side of her throat, searching for the marks of his fangs. They weren’t there, of course. He hadn’t bitten her.
Not that he hadn’t been tempted.
“That was interesting,” he drawled, grinning. Any minute now, she’d sear his ears with one of those inventive curses of hers, maybe even try to punch him in the nose again. He suspected he deserved it.
“You dreamed with me again?” Licking her lips, she glanced around as if trying to get her bearings. “Where are we?”
“I pulled off the road.” Her sleep-drugged confusion sent a shaft of guilt through him. When she woke completely, she’d really let him have it. “Except it wasn’t an accident this time. When you sleep, your mental shields drop, so I was able to enter your mind.” And it had been one of the hottest experiences he’d ever had in his life.
“You did that? You made me dream that?”
He winced, the guilt intensifying. “Well, the basic idea was yours, but I helped it along some.”
Actually, the whole thing had gotten out of control. He’d meant to tease her with a dream bite, not practically fuck her in the saddle.
Val’s eyes slid away from his, blinking hard. As he watched in growing alarm, embarrassment and betrayed hurt flooded her face. She fumbled for the door handle and opened it.
“Val, what are you…”
Ignoring him, she got out. He’d pulled well off the road into a little grassy clearing, and now she started across it in the moo
nlight, her shoulders stiff.
Oh, hell, Cade thought, his stomach dropping as he shoved his own door open. I really did hurt her.
Val trudged mechanically across the grass, her body still flaming almost as hot as her mortified embarrassment.
Cade had reached into her mind. He’d seen how much she wanted him, used that knowledge to plunge her into this helpless arousal. He knew how to get her now. Could take her any time he wanted. She wouldn’t have expected it of him.
He’s a vampire, moron, Val told herself savagely. To him, you’re a blood supply and pussy in one convenient, easy-to-use package. A two-for-one combo. And she kept seeing him as her noble Cowboy. How stupid could she be?
The really galling part was how brutally she still ached for him. In the face of that clawing hunger, all the reasons to stay away from him no longer seemed like enough -- not the fear of his vampirism, not even her own instinct for self-preservation.
Why should she deny herself? she wondered bitterly. It wasn’t as if she had a prayer of survival anyway. Why not grab what fleeting moments of pleasure she could, considering the precipice she teetered on?
Before she could take another agitated step, Cade’s strong fingers caught her shoulders, dragged her to a halt, and turned her around.
Val glared up at him. Even after what he’d done, the sight of him made her body vibrate like a tuning fork -- and she was sure he knew it. She waited for him to push her down into the grass.
But instead of triumph, she saw guilt in his eyes. “Val, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
She rocked back on her heels, studying him. Part of her wanted desperately to believe his apology, but she remembered the mocking vampire seducer from her dreams a little too well. She wondered which was an act -- Cowboy Good Guy or Big Bad Wolf.
Did even Cade know?
“Why should you be sorry?” Val demanded, and was pleased at how bitter she sounded. Bitter was better than hurt. “I’m not a vampire or a ghost. I’m just a mortal. You screw mortals over all the time -- make us believe whatever you want, do whatever you want. You’re the lord of everything with a pulse.”
Forever Kisses Volume 1 Page 13
