In Your Arms (18 page)

Hissing through his teeth, Marcus stood and hobbled over to Pete, who chuffed at him and tossed his head, apparently sensing his master’s mood.

“They took her, Chuck. Those bastards took her!”

“Who?”

“Brigands, thieves--I don’t know and I don’t care. But I’m gonna find her if it damn well kills me.”

Crying out as he lifted the saddle, he felt hot tears in his eyes. He was hurting bad, but his physical pain was nothing compared to the terror in his heart for Lissa. All sorts of gruesome scenes played out in his head as he struggled to quickly saddle his horse.

“You’re in no condition to go after her, son!” Chuck barked as Marcus reached for the bridle on the ground. “You need a doctor.”

“No! I’m not going to leave her with those men, and you, sir, aren’t going to stop me!”

“Leave them to me,” Chuck said, a dark cloud passing in front of his features.

“No offense, Chuck, but you’re going to need some help to fight those men. There are three of them, and they’re well-armed and know how to use their guns.” Huffing, Marcus held on to his waist a moment before continuing his task.

“I noticed,” Chuck said sourly. “Look, you obviously can’t go alone either. I’m coming with you. You’ll need a tracker.”

Marcus nodded, his skin already damp with a sheen of sweat. Once Pete was ready, he needed Chuck’s help to swing up into the saddle.

“Better not lag behind, old man. I’m not waiting for you.”

Chuck mounted his own horse and gave him a resentful glare. “You just try to keep up with
me
, McCaide.” With that, he turned his horse and began to trot away, his eyes intent on the tracks in the dirt.

Uttering a curse, Marcus urged Pete to follow, silently praying that Melissa wouldn’t be hurt. If those men so much as laid a hand on her, they would pay. And they would pay nice and slow.

Twenty

When Melissa awoke, it was already late in the day. She was flung over the side of a horse like a sack of potatoes. Her hands and feet were bound as well as her mouth. She shook her head to clear it, but that was a mistake. Her head seemed to explode with pain, and she knew she had a knot the size of
Texas
on the back of it.

Biting the dirty bandanna in her mouth, she felt tears of hopelessness fall from her eyes as her memories returned to her in a rush. They’d shot Marcus--the bastards had shot him! If he wasn’t dead already, the amount of blood he’d have lost by now surely would have killed him. Low moans escaped her as she watched the ground slide by a few feet from her face.

“I think she’s awake, Dean.”

Her horse stopped, and Melissa cried out as Dean yanked her head back by her hair. His dark eyes searched hers, and he smiled cruelly.

“So it would seem,” he whispered, making her shiver.

Melissa didn’t know what these men had in mind, but she had a good idea. And there was nothing she could do to stop them. The only thing she could possibly do was bide her time and wait for a chance to escape.

“Well, I reckon we’ve traveled far enough for one day,” Dean said. “Let’s make camp and have some fun, boys!”

The other two men scrambled off their horses then led them to a nearby patch of trees.

“You listen to me, missy, and you listen well,” Dean hissed, still holding her head up by her hair. “You’re going to pleasure us tonight, tomorrow, and the next day. Until we tire of you. If you’re a good girl, we’ll leave you near a town when we’re through. Otherwise…”

He fingered the handle of the gun on his hip and smiled at the terror in her eyes.

“If you try to escape, I’ll kill you. If you fight, I’ll kill you. You got that?”

Melissa’s entire body trembled with fear. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been able to draw a breath.

“You got that?” he growled when he didn’t get an answer, shaking her head and twisting her hair brutally.

Whimpering, Melissa managed to nod, knowing full well that her fear shone in her eyes. It seemed to excite this man all the more to know she was afraid of him.

He took a knife from his pocket and unfolded it, then he cut the ropes that held her onto their extra horse. When he let go of her hair, she slid off the horse’s back to the ground, falling hard on her backside and knocking the wind out of her.

She didn’t try to get up. She sat there and cried, wanting desperately to flee as Dean moved around the horse to collect her, but she feared the consequences if she did. Grabbing her by the rope that tied her wrists in front of her, he dragged her to her feet and pulled her toward the clearing where the other men now sat.

“Boys, go rustle up something for dinner.”

“But--” Joe began.

“Do it!” Dean commanded, glaring at the men as if daring them to argue further. “I get her first.”

The other men glared at him but said nothing as they stalked away. Dean tossed her to the ground and smiled at the squeal of fright she gave.

“Remember what I told you, missy,” he said as he unfastened his gun belt to drop it on the ground. “Don’t fight me.”

Melissa’s terror grew as she watched him unfasten his jeans. She couldn’t let him do this! She had to get away. Glancing around on the ground, she found a small rock near her and picked it up in her bound hands, throwing it at him as hard as she could.

It hit him square in the face, making him stagger back with a cry of surprise. Cursing foully, he turned back to Melissa, who was trying to crawl away despite her bonds. He reached her in two strides. Grabbing the front of her chemise, he pulled back his closed fist and hit her hard in the face. Melissa fell dazed in the dirt. She could do nothing but lie there as the world spun in circles around her.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he panted as he turned her onto her back. “I was gonna be gentle, missy. Give you something to enjoy. Now I’m just gonna take you hard. And your tears won’t stop me, so cry all you want.”

Moaning in defeat, Melissa stared at the late afternoon sky, feeling him frantically ripping off her drawers. Tears rolled freely down her cheeks into her hair as she lay underneath him, futilely pushing against his chest. He was determined to rape her and there was nothing she could do to stop him.

~ * ~

It took all of Marcus’s strength stay on his horse, but he held his reins ruthlessly and continued to trail after Chuck as the older man followed the tracks.

“We’re close,” Chuck murmured.

It was already late in the day. The more time that passed made Marcus pray that Melissa was all right. He could only hope the men who’d taken her hadn’t defiled her in any way. He shuddered at the thought, but it was altogether possible that she’d already been raped.

A black rage filled him, and he knew damn well that if they’d forced themselves on her, he would kill each and every one of them without mercy. He cried at the thought of his beautiful Lissa writhing in pain under them as they took their pleasure in her warm depths. Kicking Pete into a faster gate, he rode up alongside of Chuck.

“How close?” Marcus asked as he held his midsection. His makeshift bandage was already soaked with blood and needed to be changed, but despite Chuck’s urgings, he wouldn’t stop. Not when they were so close to finding Lissa.

“Shh,” Chuck said suddenly, reining in his horse and silently ordering Marcus to do the same.

Marcus watched as Chuck listened for something. Gesturing for Marcus to follow but to be quiet about it, Chuck urged his horse forward a few yards until four tethered horses could be seen within the cover of trees.

Marcus smiled and drew his gun.

~ * ~

“Shit!” Dean spat as he stopped his attack.

Melissa held her breath, wondering if he was going to hit her again. She could already feel the blood rushing to her face as her left eye swelled shut.

“Damn it, woman! Why didn’t you say you were on your monthly?”

Her eyes widened at that as she shook her head, unable to answer him with the bandanna in her mouth.

“Oh yes you are, missy!” Dean groaned in disgust as he pushed himself up from the ground. “Might not stop Joe, but I can’t abide a bleeding woman.”

How was that possible? She couldn’t be having her monthly, she was pregnant. As she glanced down at herself, she indeed saw the blood staining her drawers. It could only mean one thing--she’d lost the baby!

Deep sobs wracked her as she fell back to the ground, uncaring now what they might do to her. They’d killed the only man who’d ever loved her, along with her last link to him--their child. Turning onto her side, she couldn’t stop the torrents that fell from her eyes.

Dean didn’t give her any time to grieve. “Damn, I’m still hard as a rock. Can’t take you down there, missy, but you’ve got a perfectly good mouth.”

Reaching for her once again, he yanked her to her knees and pulled out the bandanna. Her mouth was unbelievably dry, but that didn’t stop the look of revulsion she gave him in the realization of what he wanted her to do.

Twining one hand in her hair, he dug the other hand into his jeans until it wrapped around his manhood. Melissa tried to pull away, but he held her fast.

“Oh, you’ll do it, missy,” he growled. “And you’ll be nice about it too.”

The sound of a cocking gun echoed through the trees.

“Let her go.”

Instantly, Dean went still, his hand still buried painfully in her hair.

“I said to let her go, unless you want to die.”

It was Marcus!

Melissa’s heart soared at the sight of him sitting on Pete’s back pointing not one but two guns at Dean’s head. His eyes were on fire as he stared him down, looking as if it was all he could do not to pull the trigger.

“I could snap her neck right now,” Dean taunted, yanking his hand and making Melissa cry out.

“I wouldn’t,” another voice sounded from the other side of the clearing.

Gazing that way, Melissa saw her father pointing a shotgun at Dean’s chest!

Glancing back and forth between Marcus and her father, Dean resembled a trapped animal. She knew she was his only bargaining chip, and she had to remove herself somehow. Lacing her fingers together, Melissa did the only thing she could do. She brought her hands up hard between Dean’s legs with all her might.

He screamed in what sounded like mortal agony as he let go of her and fell over, but as Melissa crawled away as fast as she could, Dean pulled out a small pistol from his boot and aimed it at her head.

Melissa closed her eyes and heard two sharp gunshots. When she opened her eyes again, she saw smoke rising from Marcus’s revolvers and Dean collapsed on the ground. Instantly, her father was off of his horse, the barrel of his shotgun resting on the man’s chest.

“He’s dead,” Chuck said as he spat on the corpse.

Sobbing, Melissa crawled over to Pete and stopped near the horse’s hooves. “Marcus!” she cried out, barely able to see him through the blur of her tears.

She heard him clamor off his horse only to crumple next to her. His belly was wrapped in the remnants of his shirt, and it was soaked through with blood.

“Oh, Marcus, you’re bleeding!”

She moaned as she scooted closer. He made short work of the bonds on her hands and feet, and she embraced him.

“I thought you were dead, Marcus. I thought I’d lost you.”