Rogue Rider (Lords of Deliverance) (9 page)

“Bjornsen couple?” Nancy asked.

The woman’s smoky voice lowered even more. “The Bjornsens are that weird couple who moved here from California.”

“I met them once,” Nancy said. “What happened to them?”

“Shh. I don’t think this has been made public yet. I only know because I overheard Sheriff Miller talking on his phone at the Purple Plate. He was saying that the Bjornsens had been slaughtered in their own trailer a couple of nights ago. Quite the coincidence that this man shows up with no memory at around the same time.”

Reseph’s gut twisted. He didn’t think he’d have done something like that, but “think” was the key word here, wasn’t it? He didn’t
know
much of anything. Although he was reasonably certain he wasn’t an altruistic world-class surgeon.

“Have the police questioned him about it?”

“I don’t know, but from what I hear, the deaths are being blamed on an animal.” The woman’s voice became a whisper. “Or a demon.”

“Don’t say that,” Nancy said sharply. “The demons are gone.”

Reseph scrambled backward away from the door. A killer was on the loose near Jillian, and whether it was a demon or an animal, it didn’t matter. He might still be upset and angry that she’d abandoned him, but
he
wouldn’t abandon
her
.

But what if it was you who killed those people?
It
couldn’t have been. Deputy Dick would have questioned him if they’d suspected, right?

Reseph needed to see the scene. Needed to know for certain that he wasn’t responsible for slaughtering the Bjornsens.

But first, he needed to make sure Jillian was okay.

The house was so empty without Reseph. Worse, Jillian kept seeing his face when she’d told him she was leaving without him. She’d been deliberately cruel, wanting him to get upset with her, but instead, he’d kissed her. Kissed the breath right out of her.

And still she’d left him.

He didn’t know anyone. He had no home, no job, no friends. And she’d left him to be dropped off at a women’s shelter.

No doubt Reseph would have as much company as he could stand.

That particular thought annoyed her enough that she stopped worrying about him.

For an hour.

Then she realized how big the living room looked without him to fill it. How lonely the kitchen table was without him to talk to.

And how stupid was she anyway to get so worked up over someone she’d only had in her house for a few days?

But wow, could that someone kiss. Even now, her body heated in remembrance. The way he’d touched her had lit her on fire. There’d been nothing inappropriate about where his hands had been, but there’d been a whole lot of inappropriate in her thoughts.

The phone rang as she was buttoning her coat to do her evening chores. When she picked up, Stacey was on the other end, and she didn’t even bother with a hello.

“Why didn’t you tell me you had a strange man at your house all weekend?” Stacey snapped. “A strange man with amnesia?”

“Hello to you too, Stacey.”

“Well?”

Stacey was nothing if not tenacious. “The phone lines were down, and I don’t know smoke signals.”

“You realize he could have sliced you up with a chainsaw, and it could have been months before anyone knew?”

Jillian sighed. “You come up here all the time. You’d have found my mangled body in a couple of days.”

“That’s not the point,” Stacey said, “and you know it.”

“Well, you’re always telling me I need a man around the house.”

Stacey cursed, which cracked Jillian up. Her friend had grown up with strict, religious parents, so whenever Stacey used a four-letter word, it would come out as a whisper or as something barely understandable.

“A
man
,” Stacey shot back. “Not Freddy Krueger.”

“Trust me,” Jillian muttered. “Reseph’s no hideous slasher movie guy.” She braced her shoulder against the door. “You at work tonight?”

“Yeah. That’s why I’m calling. I just got off the phone with Nancy Garrett.”

A tremor of unease ran up Jillian’s spine. “The lady who runs the shelter?”

“Yep. Seems Freddy’s gone missing.”

Jillian bolted upright. “Missing? When? Did he tell anyone where he was going?”

“Nope. Nancy went to check on him a few minutes ago, and he was gone.”

“Shit.” Jillian’s gaze darted around the room. Keys. Where were her keys? She must have left them in the truck. “You’ve got to find him. He’ll starve or freeze out there.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine. He was obviously resourceful enough to weasel his way into your house.”

Jillian looked around for her gloves. “He didn’t weasel his way anywhere.”

“Do you think he might have remembered something?”

“I don’t know.” She found the gloves on the coffee table and jammed them into her coat pockets. “Look, I’m on my way in. I’ll help look for him.”

“Jillian, no. He’s not your problem anymore. We’ll take care of it.”

Problem
. That was basically what she’d said to him. He was a problem. He had nothing and no one, and she’d dumped him the way some people abandoned pets without a single thought about how afraid and confused they’d be without the only people and home they’d known. An overwhelming sense of shame crushed her.

“I think,” Stacey said quietly, “that you should come stay with me for a little while.”

“What? Why?”

“I can’t talk about it right now, but trust me, okay?”

A chill seeped into her bones. “Is this about Reseph?”

“Not… exactly. I’d just feel better if you weren’t out there all alone.”

Why did everyone think she shouldn’t be alone? She liked alone. When she was alone, she had control of her life.

“We can talk about it later. I’m coming into town to
look for Reseph.” She was not going to back down from this. “I’ll come by the station.”

She hung up before Stacey could argue. Where could Reseph have gone? What if he was injured or lost?

Sick with worry, she hurried outside. Darkness had settled in, but she wasn’t going to obsess about what might lurk in the shadows beyond the farm. Reseph could be in trouble, and she had no one to blame but herself.

She’d almost reached the truck when a whisper stopped her in her tracks. No, not a whisper… it was more of a puff of warm air blowing across her cheek and ear. A rank odor made her nostrils burn and a sour taste fill her mouth.

Oh, Jesus. Her knees nearly buckled. The stench was horrifyingly familiar, even after a year. Suddenly she was in the airport parking lot all over again, shrouded in darkness and at the mercy of monsters.

Another hot breath ruffled her hair. A scream welled in her throat, but terror had frozen her ability to let it out.

Please, no. Not again
. She’d barely survived the first demon attack. She couldn’t live through another.

But she also wouldn’t die like a coward.

In a jerky, slow movement, she turned. Nothing. She swayed in relief. There was nothing but empty space. But how could that be? She could still smell the demon’s breath lingering in the air.

She was losing it. Losing it badly. Maybe Stacey was right. Maybe she shouldn’t be alone right now.

She bolted the remaining distance to the truck, but when she was a few steps away, a shape emerged from the darkness. A demon.

Holy shit, it was a demon.

She glanced around in desperation. The barn and the
house were equal distances away. Firearms in both. But the figure was coming up the drive between them.

Hands shaking, she lunged for the truck’s door handle.

“Jillian.”

Reseph. Oh, thank God
. At that moment, Reseph’s voice was the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard. Relief sapped her strength, and she sagged against the truck. He materialized from out of the shadows, his huge body throwing a menacing silhouette, his incredible eyes glowing like lasers, the department store bag dangling from one hand.

Even the foul stench of demon breath fizzled away, leaving her to wonder if she’d imagined the whole thing.

“What…” She swallowed against her dry throat, her heart lurching spastically in her chest, her palms sweating. “What are you doing here? How did you get here?”

“Some guy let me ride in the back of his pickup part of the way. I walked the last eight miles.”

She pushed away from the truck. “Why?”

He sauntered closer, his shoulders rolling, his gaze holding her frozen. “Because the demons aren’t gone, are they, Jillian?”

Her entire body jerked in shock. “You… you saw it?”

“Saw what?”

Great. He was going to think she was nuts. “Nothing. I… don’t know what demons you’re talking about.”

“Yeah,” he said, “you do.” When he got close and it was clear he wasn’t going to stop, she stepped backward until her spine slammed against the pickup cab. He dropped the bag at his feet. “And I’m not leaving you alone to deal with them by yourself.”

“I’ve been dealing with them just fine.” Until tonight.

One hand slapped down on the truck roof to her left.

Thump
.

His other hand came down to her right.

Thump
.

She was caged in by his arms and his body.

“I’m sure you have. But now you don’t have to do it by yourself. We both have demons, Jillian. I just don’t know what mine are yet.” He dipped his head a little, getting even closer, and her heart beat faster. “I’ll earn my keep while I work on finding out who I am. You won’t think of me as a stray, I promise.”

“I shouldn’t have said that,” she said, hating herself for the tremor in her voice. “I was upset.”

“And now? Are you upset that I’m here?”

She should be. She’d been so careful to carve out an independent life far away from the demons—both literal and figurative—of her past. She didn’t want to rely on anyone, didn’t want to
need
to rely on anyone. But the truth was that something had just frightened her out of her mind, and whether the demon was real or imagined, Reseph’s arrival had sent it scurrying.

“Well?” he prompted. “Are you upset that I’m here?”

“No,” she admitted, a little breathlessly.

His smile was pure male triumph. Arrogant. Cocky. Sexy as hell. “I didn’t think so.”

He brushed his lips over hers, and she didn’t even bother with a token protest. She was too glad to see him.

His mouth opened, and she met his kiss boldly, going up on her toes as she clung to his shoulders. He leaned in, pinning her against the vehicle. Her breasts rubbed against his hard chest, becoming suddenly sensitive. The temperature outside had to be below zero, but her body burned with need.

Inhaling a ragged breath, she slid her hands up to his neck, and when she scraped her nails over his skin, he let out a throaty, encouraging growl. His kiss became urgent, possessive. His tongue slipped inside her mouth to meet hers in a fierce, wet tangle.

She’d imagined him to be a playful lover, but right now, she could also picture him being raw and rough, the kind of man who lost all pretense of civility and higher thought as he tore clothes, popped buttons, and fucked his woman against a tree or into the ground.

Yes
. She’d been that kind of woman once. Adventurous and intense. Hard-edged and a risk-taker. Something about Reseph made her body remember. Made it crave. Made it feel like it had been deprived of food and was starving.

She arched into him, and he hissed as her hips rolled against the ridge of his erection at the fly of his jeans. No underwear. He didn’t wear underwear.

“You are so damned beautiful,” he murmured against her lips. “I didn’t come here for this, but with every step closer to your house, I imagined kissing you again.”

She moaned as he dragged his lips along her jaw to her ear. His hot breath was a caress, his teeth instruments of pleasure as he nipped her earlobe.

“Yes,” she breathed, not caring if she sounded desperately horny. She hadn’t been with a man in more than a year, and Reseph was like no man she
had
ever been with.

Thinking this was crazy, she slid one hand down his throat, to his chest, intent on going lower… when she realized he’d gone deadly still. So still he didn’t even seem to be breathing.

“Reseph?”

“Shh,” he whispered into her ear. “Where’s your rifle?”

She blinked, her lust-soaked brain not understanding the question. “What?”

“Your rifle. Where is it?”

“In the barn. Why?”

“I want you to get inside the house.” His voice was calm, quiet, and so cold it chilled her to her marrow. “Right now. Something is watching us.”