MILITARY ROMANCE: The War Within Himself (Alpha Bad Boy Marine Army Seal) (Contemporary Military Suspense & Thriller Romance) (142 page)

Raine felt pity for him then, and she saw how desperate he had been to come there with a gun, but she also knew something else.

“Why didn’t you just ask?” she said.

Carson looked puzzled. “Ask?”

She nodded.

“When you were making all those calls here and then hanging up, you could have said who you were at any time, and I would have told you everything, how we were looking for you, how we wanted you to come back, all of it.”

Carson’s face had changed to something she might see on a child ’who’d been caught playing with fireworks.

“I never thought of that,” he admitted sheepishly.

Raine grunted a laugh, the ridiculousness of the situation and relief it was over, combined with his expression made it worse. She laughed again and again, eventually falling into the chair Carson had vacated and holding her belly as she roared laughter.

“Oh, I’m gonna pee!” she squeaked, and Celine chuckled too setting Raine off again. “Stop, it hurts.” She begged.

Even Carson had a sad smile on his face.

Once the pair had finally calmed down, Carson looked at them both. “You’d better be calling the police.”

Raine sighed. “No Carson,” she said in a decisive voice. “You’re going into the guest room to get some sleep. We can sort all this out in the morning.”

He looked at her for a long time and nodded gratefully.

Raine heard the front door open then slam as she quaffed some more powerfully strong coffee. She had called Antony after putting Carson to bed, making sure to tell him what had happened and how the situation had been defused.

Now she stood as he stormed through the hallway and into the kitchen, not even pausing as he caught sight of her standing there, unharmed.

She smiled as he crossed to her, his heels clicking on the marble floor, and wrapped his arms around her so tightly she found it hard to breathe for a second. His right hand cupped the back of her neck, holding her to him while his left roamed all over her as if to make sure she was real and unharmed.

“I have never been so scared!” he said, his words muffled where his mouth was in her hair. “I thought I’d lost you, that he’d shot you or was going to. I was frantic trying to get here.”

Raine smiled. “I’m fine, babe. I’m okay.” She could feel his whole body shaking with the adrenaline which had been pumped through it, and Raine rubbed her hands across his back trying to soothe him.

Antony pulled his head back to look in her eyes. “Are you crying?” she asked, astounded. He had never cried in front of her before.

He smiled through his tears. “I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you,” he told her. “It was like something in me was being stabbed and cut out...”

His breath caught in his throat, and Raine wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down into a deep, passionate kiss. Her body had come alive as soon as she heard the front door slam, knowing it was him and preparing for his touch, his kiss, his cock inside her.

“Where is he?” Antony demanded with a glint of something dangerous in his eye.

Raine pointed up. “Asleep in the guest room. ’He’s strung out.”

“He’s going to be more than strung out when I pull his fucking spine out through his mouth.”

A jolt of arousal shot through Raine as the knowledge hit her that he was this concerned and angry because she had been in danger.

“Leave him be for now,” she said, turning in Antony’s arms, so she could rub her ass against the hardness she could feel in his pants. “I’ve got something to show you upstairs.” Raine looked back to see Antony had a salacious look on his face, and his pupils were massive with arousal and desire.

“Really?” he asked, his voice deep with lust.

“Really,” she told him in her own deep voice, squealing when he slapped her butt cheek through her tight jeans.

***

Sunlight filtered through the huge picture windows, which offered views across New Haven Bay. Raine opened her eyes and stretched like a sleepy kitten. The other side of the bed was empty but still warm, telling her Antony had not long been gone.

She rolled from the bed and padded across to the cavernous en-suite they shared and sneaked in to the bathroom to avoid alerting him.

As she tiptoed across to where his figure was, bathed in a cloud of steam, she paused admiring the view. She ran her gaze from his tense calves up his thighs to his tight buttocks, pausing as she remembered the feel of those strong cheeks tensing as he pumped himself in and out of her. From there she looked up to his thin waist and sinewy back, the muscles twitching there as he soaped himself down. Unable to resist touching him any longer, Raine reached out and put her palms on the triangle shaped muscles at the base of his back and gripped his sides with her hands.

Antony jumped and rose on his tiptoes, twisting and shrieking as Raine ran her cold hands all over him.

“Shit! Raine, that’s cold!” he said as she laughed at him trying to twist away from her. Abruptly, he grabbed her forearms and dragged her under the flow of hot water, the fingers of heat trailing down her back making her shiver. Antony pressed himself against her, feeling the swell of her belly and breasts against his skin.

“What are you up to, woman?” he asked, gyrating against her and grinning. He ran his soapy hands down her back and squeezed her ample buttocks, her flesh hot and slippery in his grip.

“Saying good morning,” she replied.

“This is a new way of saying hello,” he told her. “I have to say I quite like it.” Antony leaned down and thrust his tongue in her mouth, laying claim to her. “What is it you are doing today?” He asked as he slid his fingers into her pussy from behind.

Raine moaned as she felt him penetrate her and pushed her ass backwards to let him get his fingers deeper.

“H-helping...Janine a-a-and Sheryl-Ann...to...to move in...next door.”

Antony moved round, so he stood to the side of her and slipped his other hand down her belly, rubbing gently across the tip of her clit. In a matter of a minute, he felt her hot muscles clench around his fingers, and she moaned through her orgasm.

“Oh, yeah. Now I remember,” he said.

THE END

Love in Ghost Lake Ranch

Book 1

(Can be read as a standalone book)

By: Amber Duval

Rescued by the Cowboy

Chapter One

The breakfast smells of maple and coffee filled the big dining room at Ghost Lake Ranch, adding to the cozy warmth provided by the crackling flames in the river stone fireplace.  The six big men sitting at the battered old farm table didn’t say much as they plowed through huge piles of plate-size blueberry pancakes, thick sausage patties and jam-slathered toast.  Running a cattle ranch in the Montana mountains always required plenty of fuel, determination, and stamina, but now that winter had arrived the Boone brothers would be working twice as hard.      

“That monster cold front out west is headed our way,” Ethan Boone said as he filled a thermos with coffee from a white-speckled enamel pot.  “Forecast predicts sub-zero temps, and at least three feet of snow before midnight.” 

“Great.”  Caleb, his youngest brother, scowled down at his half-eaten stack of pancakes.  “There goes the winter rodeo.”

“You can impress the ladies with your calf-roping after the thaw, boy,” Buck Lloyd, the old trail cook who ruled the ranch’s kitchen, set down a fresh platter of sausage.  “Mr. Ethan, I’ve got to head out to my place to look after the wife and grandkids, but there’s enough grub in the freezer to keep you boys fed for a month.  I’ll put up a pot of chili in the fridge before I go, too.”

“Appreciate it, Buck.”  Ethan down sat at the long, battered oak table with his brothers.  All of the Boones were big men, with broad, muscular frames toughened by years of range riding and stock work.  From their father, whose mother had been Cheyenne, they’d inherited jet-black hair and hooded eyes.  Thanks to their mother, a talented equestrian who had won dozens of trophies, the brothers had been gifted with a natural affinity for horses.

Although it had been fifteen years since losing their parents in a car crash, Ethan never forgot what they had taught him.  He and his brothers were the fifth generation of Boones at Ghost Lake, and despite the hard work and isolation, they were thriving.    Ethan only yearned for a partner with whom he could share it – but these days few women had the desire or the strength to take on ranch life.

The rising wind outside made a mournful sound, reminding Ethan of the loneliness that came along with the long, cold winter months.  After the storm he could take a run into town, where he knew several ladies who would be happy to entertain him for a night – but that was getting old, too. 
How the hell do I find a woman who can take on Ghost Lake as well as me?

Ethan pushed aside his loneliness and looked down the table.  “All right, boys, you know the drill.  Liam, you and Rob prep the stables, barns and cow sheds for the storm.  Jonah, take the hands and bring in that herd from the east pasture.  Chris, ride out with Tom and make sure we don’t have strays in the foothills.    Cal, you’ve got the supply run.  Pick up the feed order and whatever else we need in town.”

His brothers acknowledged his orders with a few grunts and nods, but after growing up on the ranch, all the Boones could practically work it in their sleep.  Ethan had also earned their respect, not only as their eldest brother but as their boss.  Since losing their folks, Ethan had devoted himself to running the ranch, expanding their herds, and improving the quality of their livestock.  Ghost Lake now produced some of the finest beef and dairy cattle in the state.

Once the brothers finished eating, they headed out to work.  Only Liam, the second-oldest, stayed behind to have a private word with Ethan about Richard Demesse, their new and troublesome neighbor.

“I told Dick Dumbass to stop using the pasture access road as a shortcut to his place in winter, but I saw fresh ruts out there yesterday,” Liam said.  “I warned him, he gets his Lexus stuck out there in the snow, he’s done, but he won’t listen.”

Ethan sighed.  After a stint as an ordnance expert in the Army, Liam had little patience with fools, but in this case his brother wasn’t overreacting.  Demesse had inherited the property adjoining Ghost Lake last year when his grandfather had passed, but had flatly refused to sell it to the Boones.  Instead, the attorney had sold off his grandfather’s stock, renovated the old house and moved in.  Since then he had repeatedly trespassed on Boone land, spooked the herds by shooting in the woods by their pastures, and otherwise behaved like a snotty, ignorant city slicker.

“I’ll ride out and padlock the gate.”  Ethan didn’t care to be antagonistic toward a neighbor, but if Demesse’s pricey car got mired down in a drift, they probably wouldn’t find his frozen ass until next spring.       

“There’s something else.”  Liam’s strong jaw tightened.  “One of the hands said he saw Demesse in hardware store last week.  Said he had a big order of rope and chain and hoists and the like.”

Ethan shrugged.  “He’s allowed to shop in town.”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t have any stock.  He sold off the last of his granddad’s steers over the summer.  Far as I know, he doesn’t even own a dog.”  Liam’s jaw tightened.  “So what the hell is he tying up?”

* * *

Jessa Cooper knew she wasn’t the first woman to be shoved in the trunk of the car.  The smell of bleach and new carpeting stung her nose, and the man who had abducted her had done so with the ease of much experience.  Now she lay half-naked, her wrists bound with duct tape, and the terror of what awaited her crawled over her skin like bugs made of ice.

             
I have to do something. 

When he came to take her, she hadn’t suspected anything.  She’d stepped outside to lock up the back door to her animal clinic, and he’d rushed over to her from his expensive luxury car.  He’d been so convincing when he’d told her about the wounded dog he’d found in the street, and how afraid he was to move him before she had a look at the poor animal.  He’d even produced tears of gratitude when she’d hurried over to his car with him.

“Thank you so much, Doctor Cooper,” he’d said as he’d unlocked the trunk, and even then she hadn’t realized there was no dog.  She’d simply frowned at the empty trunk, completely confused, until the jolt hit her.  Everything went dark.

Cold air slapped Jessa awake some time later, and she woke up to find herself inside the trunk.  Her back hurt, and when she lifted her hand to touch her head, the other hand came with it.  She looked from the duct tape wound around her wrists to the face of the man standing over her, and felt dread drag her heart to the edge of an abyss.  “What have you done?”

“Lots of terrible, lovely things,” he told her, and tugged at her shoes.  “But to you?  So far, I’ve only knocked you out.”  When she screamed for help he slapped her so hard her ears rang.  “Don’t even bother.  We’re parked on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.  No one can hear you, or save you.”    

“Why are you doing this?”  She tasted blood in her mouth and frantically tried to sit up, but he shoved her back down.  “Have you lost your mind?” 

“You answered your own question.  How clever of you.  Now don’t test me again, or I’ll punch you in the face.”  He pinned her with one strong arm while he removed her shoes and scrub pants, which he shoved in a plastic bag and dropped on the ground.  “There, that’s better.  I knew you’d have gorgeous legs.”

The compliment cut through her pain and confusion like a razor blade, and she realized why he had taken her.  Panic made her voice shake as she said, “I don’t even know you.”

“True, but you will, soon enough.   Very, very intimately.”  He tapped a manicured finger against his thin lips.  “Hmmm.  I’d take off your top, too, but I’d have to use the scissors.  That really ruins the garment
and
the memories, so we’ll leave it for now.  Okay, we’re ready to go.  Rest while you can, Doc, because when we do get to my house, I’m going to have fun with you.”  He playfully snapped the elastic band of her panties.  “A lot of fun.”

Jessa felt her stomach heave, and swallowed hard to keep the bile down.  “You don’t have to rape me.”

“Sure I do, for starters,” he said, smiling down at her.  “Don’t worry.  After a week I usually get bored with the mess and the begging and screaming.  That’s when I’ll cut your throat – unless you do something to piss me off, like struggle or try to escape or some other nonsense.  Then I’ll chain you in my basement and let the rats have you.  It’s a very slow, unpleasant way to die, but I’ll enjoy watching it on the monitor.”  He leaned in closer, until she could smell his minty breath.  “See, I always do.”

Jessa knew every word he said was the truth, and that she was looking into the eyes of pure evil.   If she couldn’t get away from him, the only escape left would be to kill herself.  “Why me?”

“Why not?”  He stepped back and slammed the trunk shut.

              It had been more than an hour since he’d locked her inside, and now Jessa wondered how much time she had left before they reached his house.  She could feel the wind buffeting the car growing stronger, and the temperature inside the trunk had dropped from cold to frigid.

             
This can’t be how I’m going to die.
 

Regret swamped Jessa as she thought of all the things in her life she had put off because of her career.  She’d never married or had children; she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been out on a date. Whenever the emptiness of her life had bothered her she’d filled the space with her work.  That had helped to make her one of the most successful veterinarians in the city, but now it seemed like a huge waste of her short life.

              If she got away from this monster, that would have to change.  But she was never going to get away, and the last days of her life would be spent enduring unthinkable horrors . . . .   

              “No.  Think, think.”  She closed her eyes and tried to remember everything she knew about cars.  People usually kept at least a tire iron in their trunk; if she found his, she might use it as a weapon when he tried to take her out.

             
Or maybe I should shove the sharp end between my ribs.
  Thanks to her training, Jessa knew exactly where to stab herself to drive something into her heart.  But could she really commit suicide?  She thought of what he’d said about the basement and the rats, and shuddered. 
Absolutely I can commit suicide . . . but maybe I won’t have to.

The new carpeting he had installed on the trunk floor had been badly cut to fit, and the edges curled over in some spots.  She spotted a bulge and gripped one edge to pull it back, hoping to see something she could use.  It turned out to be a plastic greenish-yellow tab that glowed faintly.  Jessa was about to let go of the carpet when she peered closer at the tab and saw little black symbols on it.  It was also attached to something inside the bottom of the trunk.

She pulled on it carefully, and nothing happened.  The second time she tried it she heard a faint click next to her cheek, and turned her head to stare at the trunk latch.  Holding her breath, she jerked the tab harder, and the latch released.

As the trunk opened, a burst of snowy wind hit her face.