Lone Rider (21 page)

             
Then her fingers dipped low, encasing his steel with a velvet grip. With practiced hands, she measured the length of him, tightly, without reserve. She’d learned quickly what he’d liked and hadn’t hesitated to please him, tease him. Torment him. Her hand slid slowly, firmly down his shaft.

             
“I want you, Dallas,” she whispered. “Please.”

             
He gave up, slamming away all recriminations, yet acutely aware time was running out. Fumbling in the drawer beside the bed, he snagged a foil packet, ripping the edge with his teeth and quickly, efficiently, protecting her.

Not for the first time, the thought came that she could already be pregnant. His fault if she was. Except for that first night, he’d taken responsibility for birth control. She obviously hadn’t had to worry about it before he came along.

Tess’ impatient hands hovered over his, helping, tugging. She cupped his sac, weighing, squeezing lightly. It was more then he could bear.

With a growl, he rolled, taking her beneath him and burying himself completely with a swiftness that shocked them both. The slight resistance of her body, the excruciating tightness of her sheath was an exquisite, nearly painful, sensation.

At his urging, Tess wrapped one leg around his hip, taking him even deeper. She moaned. Expectant. Begging. Waves of extreme pleasure rocketed through his veins as deep thrust followed deep thrust. She was ablaze with desire, all wet, all heat. Her nails bit into the flesh of his shoulder as
Dallas
plunged into her yet again, demanding more. Demanding everything.

             
In a thousand years, he knew he’d never get enough of this woman. He had conquered her body as surely as she’d conquered his. And still he wanted more.

             
“I want you, Tess. All of you.”  He hadn’t meant to speak. But set free, the words seemed to resound about them, a deafening sound that triggered an avalanche of raw passion.

Outside the storm raged. A brilliant burst of lightning flashed, illuminating the room for seconds, capturing their movements in pulses of strobe.

             
Tess let out a cry, taking them both over the brink.
Dallas
collapsed over her, his mind reeling as his body pumped on without conscious effort, draining him, cleansing him.

             
The sound of a lone gunshot shattered what should have been their lover
s’
afterglow, followed by the rapid-fire chatter of a machine gun.

             
“Stay down,”
Dallas
ordered, swiftly rolling off the bed, dragging her with him to the safety of the floor.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure.”  It was an honest answer. He grabbed his jeans. The shots had definitely been fired somewhere on the grounds. But by whom?

Another burst of gunfire punctuated the charged silence. Echoing
,
then fading.

             
The raid wasn’t supposed to start until morning. Damn it. Had something gone wrong? Had some idiot pushed forward the time schedule? Or had someone settled a personal problem?

He checked his watch, listening for more shots, but the night remained eerily quiet. He debated staying put, but knew Bogen would expect him at the main house. Without Tess.

             
Dallas
thrust clothes at her. “Put these on, quickly. And keep down.”

             
With shaking fingers, Tess slid into the sweatshirt and pants. Reaching under the bed, she found a pair of sneakers and quietly slid them on. She watched
Dallas
creep back to the window and peer cautiously beneath the curtains. Muffled shouts drifted in from outside.

“Promise you won’t leave me,” she whispered, hearing the quake of trepidation in her own voice.

             
Dallas
merely nodded, motioning for her to be silent.
             
Tess didn’t know what to think other than she was scared. Did the gunshots mean law enforcement had finally arrived? Was she going to be rescued?

She glanced at
Dallas
, wondering not for the first time how her ultimate rescue would affect him. Questioning if she still wanted to be rescued. Whether she wanted to be free.

When had things stopped making sense, stopped appearing in black
-
and
-
white? The shades of gray were hard to judge, even tougher to decipher.

In the past few days she’d tried not to look too closely at her feelings for
Dallas
, tried not to read too much into their lovemaking. Into the fact that she craved the one-to-one, personal contact of their physical relationship.

She knew she cared for him. Knew she shouldn’t. At what point had she become unable to distinguish whether he was a bad guy or a good guy? He’d saved her...

             
Her heart constricted painfully at the thought of anything happening to him. He was her rock, the solid foundation she’d clung to. Without him, she wouldn’t have endured this ordeal. Because of
Dallas
, she’d maintained a grasp on reality, held back the hounds of hell nipping at her sanity over the past weeks. She wasn’t ready to lose him now.

             
But lose him she would
...eventually. It was inevitable.

             
Dallas
moved to the footlocker at the end of the bed
,
where he stored his reserve of ammunition and firearms. He crammed extra clips in his pocket.

             
He looked at her for a moment, wondering what she was thinking, torn between wanting to explain and thankful there was no time for explanations.

“Come here.”  Holding up his leather jacket, he helped her slide her arms into it, yanked the collar up. “I want you to stay right behind me,” he instructed. He didn’t know if taking her along would place her in more peril. But he couldn’t protect her if he left her behind. “Make as little noise as possible.”

             
“Where are we going?”

             
“To the main house.”  He had to find out what was happening, who had fired the shots. He didn’t dare try to make it off the grounds with her until he knew who the players were. Bogen’s men would shoot to kill.
Dallas
’
men might also.

             
“But people are shooting out there. I’m scared,
Dallas
.” 
For you.

He tugged her against his chest, crushing her close to his heart. He brought his mouth down on hers, the kiss deep but quick. “Just stay by me.”

             
They avoided the main path in favor of one of the lesser-used trails through the woods. Rain came down in sheets, blinding and cold, turning the paths into small, muddy rivers. She was soaked to the skin in no time.

             
Tree branches and brambles scraped at her, catching strands of hair and clothes, tearing at her externally just as her thoughts tore away at her insides. She had a million questions she knew not to voice.

             
She kept her eyes on
Dallas
, remembering his fierce lovemaking of moments before, knowing he had forever changed her. Did she want it to end now, tonight, if it meant never seeing him again?

Would things have been different if they had met under other circumstances?

Extremely different circumstances, she amended, thinking about her life back in
Boston
. They were worlds apart. Tears rolled down her cheek and were quickly washed away in the rain. She’d been robbed of autonomy. Her life had become a blur of uncertainty and fear. Except for
Dallas
.

             
Without him, she would have been dead. She owed him her life. But not her heart.

             
Lightning flashed, the main house revealed clearly for just a moment. He tugged her close as thunder boomed, the ground beneath them trembling. “Remember. Do everything I say.”

             
The house was once more shrouded in darkness. A shadowy figure emerged from the bushes as they approached.

“That you, Haynes?”  The guard nodded when
Dallas
replied. “They’re in the basement.”

             
Dallas
pulled her to the back of the house, urging care as he lifted the cellar door and descended into the basement. Bogen, Snake
,
and Eddie were crowded at a table, arguing loudly. A single propane lamp sitting in the table’s center cast eerie shadows on their faces.

             
Thrusting her into the safest corner,
Dallas
strode to the center of the room and slammed his fist on the table. “What’s going on, Bogen?”

             
“Feds. They’re moving in, getting ready to storm the front gate. Duke’s dead, but Snake got away.”

             
Dallas
whirled, pinning Snake with an accusing glare. “Feds? What the hell are they after?”

             
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”  Snake looked derisively at Tess. “Perhaps their bloodhounds smell a bitch in heat.”

             
“I oughta--”
Dallas
lunged forward

             
“Enough,” Bogen yelled, as he stepped between the two men. “It’s a valid question. One that doesn’t matter right now.”

             
“I heard shots. Who got trigger-
happy?”
Dallas
asked, looking pointedly at Snake. “Feds would have to have a search warrant to come knocking on our door. And right now there’s nothing here they can bust us for.”

             
“What about her?”  Snake pointed an accusing finger at Tess.

             
Dallas
grabbed the other man’s finger, wanting to break it. Just for starters. “I can handle her.”

             
Bogen jabbed
Dallas
’ forearm, breaking the two men apart. “You can settle this later. For now--”

             
An urgent pounding on the door interrupted. The guard burst through the doors, soaking wet. “Jesus, you should see them. Fucking hundreds of ‘em. And they’re closing in fast.”

             
Bogen opened a metal locker and started handing out machine guns identical to the one the guard carried. And extra ammo clips. “Upstairs,”
Bogen
ordered.

             
Everyone moved at once, hurrying up the far set of stairs to the main floor of the house.
Dallas
pulled Tess along. “Stay behind me,” he ordered.

             
Tess had never been so terrified in her life. The array of firepower the men carried was frightening. Even more alarming was the realization that both she and Dallas could be killed.

             
“
Dallas
, please--”
she whispered.

“
Ssshhh.
”

They were in the living room now. The sound of a single, wailing, siren pierced the night.

             
“This is the FBI,” an electronically amplified voice announced. “Surrender your weapons and come out with your hands up.”

             
“Shit,” Snake yelled, releasing the safety on his gun. “They won’t take me alive.”

             
“Nobody fires unless I give the word,” Bogen said, peering cautiously out a window. “How many do you see, Haynes?”

             
“Stay here,”
Dallas
ordered, tucking Tess beside the desk. Crouching low to the floor, he moved to huddle with Bogen and the others.

             
Tess couldn’t hear what was said because they were again being addressed over the scratchy microphone. “You’ve got five seconds to acknowledge this warning. Then we’re moving in.”

             
Dallas
was back at her side, watching over his shoulder as Bogen and the others crawled toward the back of the house.

             
Grabbing a heavy glass ashtray,
Dallas
flung it through one of the front windows. The pane shattered noisily.

“We’ve got hostages,”
Dallas
shouted.

Seconds ticked by, the wind howling. “Release your hostages.” 

             
“Back your men up a hundred feet and we’ll send one of them out.”

             
Tess started at
Dallas
’ words. He meant to free her. End it. She shook her head. This was all so crazy, so impossible.