Resistance (4 page)

Reluctantly, she spread her legs. The position would make it
that much harder to take off at a full-speed run.

“That’s a good girl,” he breathed.

He withdrew the blade from her neck, but his strong arm
continued to clutch her waist. She was trapped. Her panic notched up a few
degrees. She steadied her breath.

“Now I want you to move slowly, Red. Lift your arms up to
the back of your neck and clasp your fingers.”

“I’m wearing mittens,” she snapped.

“Take them off. Easy…no sudden moves…” The undertone in his
otherwise soft voice was deadly serious.

She tugged off her white knitted mittens, probably not as
slowly as he wanted, but she was ticked at being caught. Cold air splashed
against her fingers as she dropped the mittens and did as he instructed,
bringing her hands up and clasping her fingers behind her neck.

“You’re considered armed and dangerous, so I can’t see why
you’d let me catch you so easily, Red. That is, unless you wanted to be
caught?”

He said the last sentence in a low, sensual voice as he
moved into view. Although they’d never formally met, she knew him—bounty
hunter, Cade Outlaw.

He was her ex-boss’s brother.

She relaxed and almost laughed at the irony. She’d worked
with this man’s brother overseas during the Terrorist Wars. She’d been his youngest
brother’s teaching assistant. Tyler Outlaw had joked on more than one occasion
that she and his brother Cade would be a good match. Something to do with both
of them having fiery tempers.

She had to admit, luscious heat did whip through her as she inspected
the enemy. He was a good-looking man, in a rugged sort of way. His lips were
perfectly shaped for kissing and, if his mouth hadn’t been fashioned so
sensually, she might have said his nose was too straight and gave him a hardened
appearance.

He was tall. Very tall. Probably six-foot-three to her five-foot-four
inches. He was big framed with wide shoulders. He had the appearance of a
renegade Indian with his dark tan, probably due to his working the fields of
the Outlaw farm with a couple of his brothers.

This Outlaw brother was considered lethal. During the Wars
he’d been a professional torturer, carving up terrorists nice and slow. They
said his cold heart allowed him to keep his captives alive for days until he’d
extracted the information he needed from them. He might even have been hired to
torture her so she shouldn’t—in the least bit—be reacting to him.

But she was responding.

His shoulder-length dark-brown hair was windswept and messy,
and his crisp blue eyes were full of smug appreciation. He was glad he’d finally
caught her.

“I’m going to have to cuff you while I do a search.” He
spoke in a deep timbre, way too husky to be professional.

She couldn’t help but blow out a steadying breath.

God!
Did he know how dark his eyes went when he
threatened her with handcuffs? Didn’t he know how erotic those words were to
her ears? She inhaled slowly and loved the delicate scent of spice wafting off
his skin.

Reena blinked and tried to thrust away the carnal need
sweeping through her as Outlaw lifted his coat, revealing two pairs of metal handcuffs
hanging from his belt. She caught a glimpse of a holster as well and an empty
knife scabbard.

Another round of warmth skipped through her as she spied the
impressive bulge between his thighs. She really should make an escape attempt. Maybe
take him down with a knee to that nice groin of his before he discovered her
other weapons. But all she could think was Cade had to be harmless, despite
what she’d heard about him. He must know she’d worked with his brother Tyler,
and he wouldn’t approve of Cade hurting her under any circumstances.

She bit her bottom lip as a sudden bout of nervousness
ripped through her. Unless…Cade didn’t know his brother was now a member of her
Resistance?

“Easy, Red. I’m not going to hurt you.”

To her shock, his calming voice reassured her and she relaxed
again.

She wondered if he’d strip her naked in order to frisk her.
Would he press his full lips against her mouth, push her up against one of the
nearby trees on the shoreline and fuck her senseless?

Oh shit, don’t start thinking that way
. She cleared
her throat, chastising herself for the string of wicked ideas rushing through
her mind.

Control, Red. Self-control.

Her thoughts of having sex with him had everything to do
with her being infected by the virus. She could handle this. She could handle
him. She’d done it with other men when her symptoms kicked in. She could resist
this man too.

As Cade stepped forward, she held her breath. She didn’t
need to inhale any more of his rugged masculine scent. If she did, she just
might be in trouble.

Self-control.

Again she cleared her mind and her dry throat. He studied
her as he circled to her right side. He probably expected her to bolt and she
really should run. Ordinarily she would, but the heated way he gazed at her caressed
her senses. Suddenly she didn’t want to be anywhere but here.

“That’s it. Hold nice and still,” he ordered.

When the cold metal snapped around one wrist and then the
other, the metallic clinks sent a shaft of unwanted excitement through her.
Visions of her naked, the rough tree bark brushing erotically against her
breasts and mons as he stretched her arms in front of her, pressing them around
the tree as he cuffed her wrists, seeped into her consciousness.

He would kick her legs apart, hold her hips steady, and his
engorged cock would plunge into her pussy from behind. His hard body would press
along her backside and he’d kiss her shoulders, her neck and nibble on her
ears, taunting her with teasing promises of luscious pleasure.

“In the way you’re looking at me, I take it you know me,” he
stated coolly.

She melted beneath his firm, bold stare. She wanted his full,
warm mouth claiming hers and she licked her lips with anticipation as need,
fierce and hot, lashed her. She blinked the naughtiness away and focused on
what he was saying.

“Then you know I’m very thorough when it comes to my job.
Any weapons on you besides that gun in your thigh holster?” he asked as he
unzipped her jacket.

She said nothing and his lips tilted upward as he retrieved
the hidden gun.

“Okay, let’s take this up against a tree,” he ordered.

Reena’s eyes widened in surprise at his instruction. Oh man!
Were they on the same wavelength or what? She wasn’t fast enough to follow his
orders, so he roughly grabbed her cuffed hands and pulled her off the ice. He
led her to a nearby tree where he gently pushed her left cheek up against the
coarse bark and held her head in place. At least now she didn’t have to look
into his scorching blue eyes and she would be able to think clearly.

Or not.

A booted foot nudged the insides of her feet apart.

Damn him!

Reluctantly she obeyed and spread her legs, envisioning his
hands sliding against the curves of her ass. He let go of her head and pressed
a strong palm against the small of her back and held her firmly against the
tree.

The hiss of the knife as he slid it into the scabbard at his
waist didn’t give her any relief. His body had been firm when he’d held her and,
despite her best intentions not to think about how easily he’d overpowered her,
she imagined Cade Outlaw thrusting into her with commanding strokes.

Dammit! Stop thinking. Stop reacting.

But this man was an Outlaw. She’d secretly fantasized about
her boss Tyler when they’d worked together during the Wars. But his heart
belonged to another woman, so she’d never physically pursued him. Ah, but
mentally was another story. She’d fantasized about him. Oh boy. Had she ever.

She’d even lusted after his suggestion that when they got
back to the States, he would introduce her to Cade. She’d imagined doing both
brothers, but that, of course, had never happened.

Too many things had gone wrong during the Terrorist Wars.
After Tyler had been taken captive, she’d been left wide open to the mandatory
R & R. Servicing men. Many men.

The intimate way Cade touched her as he frisked her was nice.
Her pussy creamed warmly as his hot fingers danced along one side of her neck
then the other as he checked her thoroughly for weapons. Pleasure tingled over
her skin wherever he touched, despite knowing he was simply doing a body search.
She sensed he patted her down slowly on purpose. Stroked her tenderly,
committing her curves to memory.

Oh stop it!

He was a man. A bounty hunter. Her enemy.

Despite the thickness of her grandfather’s hunting ski jacket,
the strength of Cade’s fingers swept erotically over one shoulder before moving
to her other one. She tensed as his fingers slid into her breast pocket and he
withdrew her jackknife and cell phone.

“Not that your cell works out here, being out of range, but
I’ll confiscate it anyway.”

A moment later, his hand dipped beneath her jacket. He
danced his long fingers along the waistband of her jeans and she sighed in
frustration when he discovered her homemade switchblades in each back pocket.

“You certainly do have as much of a fascination with knives
as I do.” He chuckled. Looking down at her with an amused smirk on his face,
his left eyebrow quirked up in surprise. It was a cute gesture, that thing he
did with his eyebrow.

She blinked aside the rogue thought and forced anger into
her voice. “Didn’t anyone teach you it isn’t polite to put a knife to a lady’s
throat? Or touch her without her permission? It seems you’ve forgotten the
manners your mother taught you.”

He answered with a snort and continued frisking her. Her
raspy breaths echoed in the air as his palms skimmed along the swell of her
hips, then over her ass curves, before sliding intimately down the insides of
her legs. Wherever he touched her, his body heat scorched her and she
shuddered, biting back her moans.

God, she’d better escape soon or she’d beg him to fuck her,
compliments of the X-virus. Not that having sex with him was a bad idea. Far
from it. She hadn’t been with a hottie, sex-on-a-stick in months. Since that
night with the man they called Will Blade.

She groaned in frustration when Cade discovered the small gun
she kept strapped to the inside of her left calf. He snorted, lifted her pant
leg and unclasped the gun from her holster. His soft, amused laughter was a sensual
sound that had her body humming despite her being pissed off at his
discoveries. He stuffed the gun into another one of his endless coat pockets.

Tell him to fuck you!

Reena shook her head and fought the naughty idea until it
faded into the background. Defiance splashed through her like a black wave.

“You’ve signed your death warrant, Outlaw. My people will
hunt you down and take you out if you hand me over to whoever you’re working
for. You’ll be a corpse within twenty-fours of my death.”

“No one’s going to die, Red,” he said gruffly.

“I’m sure you’ll reconsider that thought when you’re six
feet under.”

“Quit with the dramatics, Red. You’re tougher than this. At
least that’s what I’ve been told.”

“Oh? And who told you about me? Your brother?”

“I’ll tell you all about it once I have you shackled and
near a nice warm fire. You seem to be trembling a little too much. Now come on.
We’re moving. I have a camp set up about half a mile due south.”

With a firm hand to the scruff of her neck, he pulled her away
from the tree and then angled her toward the south.

Shit!
The last thing she needed was to spend a night
in a camp with him. Especially when she might need to orgasm. But her being
cuffed, shackled, naked…

The thoughts of him dominating her rolled over her in a
sensual wave and she stifled a moan. Moving carefully forward, she made sure
her thighs didn’t rub together too hard or she’d be moaning out loud for sure. What
things had he been told about her? Did he know she was infected? That she’d be
begging him for sex pretty soon?

Up until now, she’d managed to keep her infection a secret.
Only a handful of her bodyguards knew and a few other trustworthy souls. Hopefully
Outlaw didn’t know and she’d be able to escape before she resorted to shameless
begging.

Chapter Three

Cade Outlaw wasn’t one who gawked at a woman. He preferred
to play it cool. Preferred not to let a woman know he was interested in her
until he was
really
interested. But hell, these days there weren’t many
women around because of the virus. He’d trusted women once. Not anymore,
compliments of a woman he’d known overseas.

He certainly didn’t trust this one, although she did have
all his senses firing up to full alert and his body primed and reacting.
Especially when he’d frisked her.

Oh yeah, his male instincts kicked in big-time while patting
her down for weapons. Her soft, seductive curves beneath his calloused
fingertips as he brushed areas where she might conceal a weapon had him
groaning to himself and his cock hardening in appreciation. Everything about
her blew him away, and nothing ever blew him away. At least not since he’d been
a teenager.

Whenever she spoke, her voice melted over him in delicious
waves like the chocolate icing his brother’s woman Laurie poured on the
chocolate cake he and his brothers loved so much. Red sounded whispery, bedroom
smoky, and she possessed a very strong, determined voice, but then she had to
in order to be the leader of the Resistance.

He couldn’t inhale her sweet, sexy female fragrance enough.
Her scent was a combination of delicate flowers, soap and prime female. The
sight of her flesh affected him, too. When he’d yanked up her jacket, her top
had edged up, allowing him a visual of her creamy smooth flesh, not to mention
her ringed bellybutton. That sight was the beginning of the end for him. He
tensed in awareness every time she so much as shifted.

She sat on a downed log, staring angrily into the crackling
fire, her wrists cuffed, ankles shackled, snowflakes lacing the sweet tumble of
fluffy, shoulder-length, red hair that peeked from beneath a black wool toque.

This was the first time he’d gotten this close after months
of tracking her. He was surprised she’d let him follow her so easily today. She
seemed to not have a care in the world. He’d overheard Laurie whispering about
Red to Tyler a few mornings ago. They thought Cade was still asleep, but he’d
been awake, sneaking around and eavesdropping on their conversation, hoping to
learn tidbits about Red. Laurie had said Red was taking a break and would
probably end up going to her grandfather’s cabin in the woods.

A few discreet inquiries regarding Reena Wilde, and he’d
discovered the name of her late grandparents and where they had a cabin. Hell,
if it been this easy for him to find her, he wouldn’t be surprised if there
were more bounty hunters on her ass. It was why he should be getting her to the
government—pronto—instead of cozying up to her by a campfire in the middle of a
snowstorm.

But he was bone weary after barely any sleep over the last
few days—in anticipation of capturing her. He could have gone in and gotten her
any time since discovering the cabin. But she could have had the place booby
trapped or worse, so he’d waited patiently for her to come out into the open
and far away from that cabin.

From the way she’d taken off, her reflexes were in top-notch
working order and, thankfully, so were his.

Being this close to her had his hormones sizzling like a son
of a bitch. Her pictures certainly didn’t do her justice. She was pretty as
hell in person, and thinking of wrapping his hands into that flaming red hair
and kissing her luscious mouth made his cock scream with need. She had big
hazel eyes framed by long lashes and a gentle spattering of freckles over high,
rosy cheekbones. Yes, a looker, and past experience proved he needed to beware
of these types as they were deceiving.

Instincts told him if he permitted his emotions—make that
his hormones—to get the better of him and he let down his guard, she wouldn’t
hesitate killing him in order to escape. It had happened once before with
another woman during the Terrorist Wars. He’d let down his guard and had the
knife scars to prove it.

“The food will be done in a few minutes,” he said. His gaze was
jolted back to her when she licked her pouty lips while she stared at the
frying bacon and eggs. He always celebrated a capture with bacon and eggs.
Besides, he was starving.

“I’m not hungry.” Her soft reply spiked his heart rate.

“That’s fine. It’ll leave more for me.”

She grunted in annoyance. Even that sound was sexy.

After a moment of silence, she asked, “Who hired you?”

“I was wondering when curiosity would get the better of you.”
He chuckled and she threw him a fierce scowl. He laughed again, enjoying the
sweet way his gut clenched as she scrunched her forehead in her pissed off
state. Maybe he should let her suffer a little while longer with curiosity. Or
maybe he should get this conversation rolling so he could lay all the cards on
the table. He opted for the latter.

“I’ve been hired by the United States Government,” he stated.
He wasn’t surprised when she laughed first then followed that by cursing him up
one side of his body and down the other, telling him what a stupid idiot he
was. When she finished cursing, she laughed again and he got the feeling she
knew something he didn’t.

“Obviously you find this amusing,” he said as he turned the
several strips of bacon with a fork. The bacon was done. Way over done, but
with her reaction, he’d lost his appetite.

“I find
you
amusing. What do your brothers think
about you working for the United States Government?” She spat the last three
words at him as if they were dirt.

He certainly understood her hatred for the dictatorship,
especially when they so actively endorsed removing women’s rights, making rape
legal. “My brothers don’t have a problem with how money comes in to pay the
bills.”

“Blood money,” she grumbled, her lips twisting in disgust.

“As I said earlier, no one’s going to die.”

She shook her head. “Do you think you can just walk me in
without any blood being shed? I’ve got an entourage a mile long waiting to hear
back from me, and if I don’t check in by sundown they’ll be on your ass so fast
you’ll wish you’d gone through that ice out there and drowned.”

“And here I thought you liked me.”

“You’re an asshole.” She rolled her man-killing eyes at him
and set her jaw in a firm pout. He’d irritated her with his remark and she
stared at him, either trying to gauge if her words had scared him or trying to
figure out another avenue of attack.

“You don’t scare easy, do you?” she finally said.

“Nothing to be scared about. Now have yourself some bacon
and eggs.”

He forked two strips of bacon and two eggs onto the small
aluminum plate he carried with him whenever tracking a bounty.

He was surprised when she lifted her cuffed hands and
accepted the plate. He was equally surprised when she turned it, allowing the
bacon and eggs to slide off onto the ground between her shackled legs.

Okay, she was trying to irritate the shit out of him. And it
was working. She’d wasted some damned good food.

“I said I’m not hungry.” She grinned and then whipped the
plate as if it were a Frisbee, off into the looming darkness.

He shrugged, pretending her ruining a perfectly good meal
didn’t rub him the wrong way. “Well don’t come crying to me tonight when the
wolves decide this place smells good and they drag you off into the woods and
eat you.”

Just like he wouldn’t mind eating her.

He ripped a hunk of bread off the loaf Laurie had baked for
him after learning he was heading out for a bounty. He hadn’t told her he was
going after her friend Reena or she would have laced the bread with rat poison.

Just thinking of Laurie had him smiling. She enjoyed playing
mother hen to the four men currently living at the Outlaw farm. Aside from his
brother Mac and himself, she also cooked for Tyler and his best friend Hunter—her
two lovers.

He sighed at the memories of what happened when darkness
descended over the Outlaw farm. That’s when Laurie and Tyler and Hunter headed
off to the bedroom the three of them shared. Their guttural moans and her
whimpers would send him and Mac scurrying outside to get away from what was
going on behind closed doors.

Cade knew something was going on between Hunter and Tyler,
too. It was evident in the way the two men looked at each other—expressions
filled with caring and need and love.

The two had suffered years of torture in a terrorist prison.
They’d also shared a prison cell for several years before being rescued. After
returning to the States, they’d seduced Laurie into their bed.

But he and Mac never complained about the erotic groans and
moans coming from that bedroom at night, because they knew how lucky they were
to have the youngest Outlaw brother back alive. Lucky, too, that Tyler had a
strong woman like Laurie to accept him and his male lover.

Cade didn’t know if he would be able to share a woman with
another man. Some of his brothers had been able to share. But he wasn’t sure he
could do it with a woman he loved. These days, however, men had to adapt. There
were so few women to go around. He’d finally come to the conclusion he may not
end up with a wife in the traditional sense.

“What’s got you all smiling? Are you picturing me getting
ripped apart by wolves? I guess all you really would have to do is bring my head
back to get your bounty,” she said coolly from the other side of the fire.

“They want you alive. They just want to talk.”

“See? That’s why I find you amusing. With you being an
Outlaw, I wouldn’t have expected you to buy bullshit like that. The government
needs me dead.” She reached up with her cuffed wrists and brushed a stray
strand of hair off her rosy cheek.

“Actually they want you to come in and negotiate a peace
agreement. They’re willing to talk.”

“Over my dead body,” she whispered.

She didn’t believe the government. Hell, he hadn’t believed
them either. At first. But a close friend of his who worked inside the
government, a man Cade trusted, had confirmed the request was legit.

“There’s something you should know, Red. Your father is now
working with the people you hate so much, and he’s been able to convince the
president that having you on their side would be more productive than having
you dead and a martyr…or in prison. So they’ve asked me to bring you in so you
and the president can come up with some compromise.”

He’d expected her to be surprised at the news of her father
being involved. Or at least doubtful. Instead she merely shook her head.

“My father is dead,” she said softly.

“Well, he was very much alive when I left him several days
ago. If something’s happened in the meantime that I should know about—”

“He’s dead to me,” she clarified.

She raised her head and looked straight at him. The pain
shining in her eyes unexpectedly rocked him.

Cade inhaled slowly, trying to settle his composure. He
hadn’t figured he would be in the middle of some family dispute. Whatever her
father had done, she wasn’t happy about it. Her father had reassured him that once
she found out he was involved, she wouldn’t be a problem. Looked like daddykins
didn’t know his daughter as well as he thought. Or maybe her father wanted her
dead just like the others? No, the guy seemed sincere. His face had glowed with
love and even remorse. His voice had filled with regret when he’d told Cade
he’d been away from his daughter too long. His wife was dead and Reena was the
only thing left in his life. Sincerity like that couldn’t be faked.

“Okay, so you two had a falling out. He still wants to talk
and I still need to bring you in.”

She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. The woman
remained totally pissed at him. He could tell by the way her mouth twisted
tight and the muscles in her jaw twitched.

“We’ll have to spend the night here.”

Her head snapped up. Surprise and panic flared in her eyes.
“Why can’t we head back to my cabin? I’m sure I can find it in the dark.”

He shook his head. Roaming around in the storm could prove
fatal. They could get lost, one of them could trip and break a bone and,
besides, he had no idea how many weapons she had in that cabin. She could have
anticipated getting captured and set a trap.

Call him paranoid, but she was a resourceful woman and he
wouldn’t put anything past her. Even if they did make it to the cabin and he
permitted her to call her Resistance friends as she’d said she needed to do,
she could call at a predetermined time and give them some sort of code
indicating trouble. Nope, it was better this way.

“We’ll leave at first light. That’s final.”

“Oh, come on. It’s cold out here.”

“You’ve got me to keep you warm,” he teased, but her cold glare
had him dashing any such hopes of snuggling under the covers with her.

Sighing, he grabbed a tin cup from his packsack. He’d have
to eat his supper out of the cup and retrieve his plate later. He doubted he
could find it. There was already a thin layer of snow covering everything.

As he scooped his dinner into his cup, she merely rolled her
eyes at him—indicating he was a hopeless case—shook her head and focused her
attention back to the fire. Okay, so she was giving him the cold shoulder
treatment. Figures. He’d finally caught himself an unattached and very
attractive woman and she wouldn’t give him the time of day. Man, sometimes he
just had the most rotten luck.

While he ate in silence, she sat quietly, not saying a word,
not taking her cold gaze from the fire, and he shivered involuntarily at her
icy stare. When he finished, he unpacked the emergency plastic to place over
the nearby lean-to he’d constructed last night. They would use this shelter tonight.
Hopefully by morning she would be a little more receptive to a warm meal.

* * * * *

Since the night Will Blade had entertained that succulent
red-haired woman, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind. He’d tasted
her that evening. She’d been as sweet as sin and sexy as hell. The erotic way
she gazed at him when he’d kneeled between her naked thighs, her strawberry-red
hair tumbling to just above her plump, pink nipples, her succulent lips parted
as she panted and waited expectantly for him to take her pussy into his mouth
had made him so damned aroused he hadn’t been able to sleep for several nights
after the encounter.