REILLY'S RETURN

by Amelia Autin

  She ran her hand down his chest and lower. He was already half-aroused, and it didn't take much to bring him to full readiness. But when she would have taken him into her body he stopped her.

  "Not this time," he said in a husky voice that was far from steady. He slid from the bed and padded across the room to his knapsack. When he returned, he'd protected her, just as he'd promised.

  He had no way of knowing that protection was the last thing she wanted now.

  * * *

  Chapter 10

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  Mandy woke with a start, her heart pounding. She didn't know what had awakened her, but the minute she opened her eyes in the darkness she knew something wasn't right.

  Where was Reilly?

  She turned sharply, seeking him, and a hand covered her mouth. "Shh." The sibilance was pressed against her ear. "Don't move. There's someone out there."

  Seconds later Reilly slipped from her side, and Mandy watched in terrified silence as he crept across the floor, keeping well below the line of sight of the windows. The fire had died down to glowing embers, and Reilly was little more than a shadow in the watery moonlight filtering through the kitchen window. He crouched by the chair where he'd slung his shoulder holster earlier and slid the .45 out, chambering a round with deadly ease.

  The sounds outside were louder now, more distinct, and Reilly froze, his head turned to one side as if he were gauging the direction the sounds had come from. Then he backed toward the bed, gun raised, grabbing his clothes from the floor on the way.

  When he reached the bed he lowered the .45 and reversed his grip, holding the gun out to Mandy, saying, "Hold this for a second." She sat up to take it, but he snagged her around the waist and lifted her to the floor, whispering a fierce "Stay down!" before turning the .45 over to her.

  This gun was much heavier than the one he'd given her yesterday, and she wrapped both hands around the stock for a more secure grip, then curled a forefinger around the trigger, wondering if she'd have the strength, and the nerve, to fire it if she had to.

  Reilly had already tugged his jeans on and shrugged into his shirt by the time she glanced his way again. His zipper rasped shut, the small sound magnified in the stillness of the room.

  He transferred the .45 back into his possession and mouthed, "Stay here."

  She blinked and he was gone, melting into the shadows and slipping out the back door with scarcely a sound.

  Her heart jolted as the door closed behind him. She remembered Reilly's earlier statement that he'd kill anyone who tried to hurt her, and finally understood. Her teeth clenched as anger surged through her body, breaking terror's hold on her. I won't let them hurt you either, Reilly.

  She scrambled around the bed to the other side and reached for the dresser drawer, pulling out the first clothes that came to hand and jerking them on. She didn't bother tucking her shirt in or looking for her shoes—she didn't have the time to waste. She needed to find Reilly's other gun.

  On hands and knees she crawled across the floor toward the kitchen counter, expecting any moment to hear gunfire or the now-too-familiar whoosh of explosives, but none came. Without raising her head above the counter, she reached up and felt around until her fingers brushed against cold steel.

  Shaking, she closed her hand around the semiautomatic's grip, brought it down and checked it over frantically. She couldn't see very well in the dark, and was grateful Reilly had warned her there was a round already chambered. She fingered the safety and clicked it off, then lurched toward the back door.

  Reilly had closed the door behind him, making it safer for her but more dangerous for him should he suddenly need the shelter of the cabin. Mandy eased the door open a little way, peering out into the night.

  Moonlight cast an eerie glow over the landscape, illuminating the empty clearing behind the cabin. No intruders. No Reilly. She ignored the small, scared voice inside her that said, You're not cut out for this, just as she ignored the blood pounding in her ears and her suddenly dry mouth. Maybe the voice was right, she thought, but Reilly was out there somewhere. She had to keep going.

  She gripped the gun tighter and stepped outside, expecting the worst. No gunfire greeted her. Relieved, she sagged against the wall for a second, then straightened with a jerk, angry at herself for the momentary weakness.

  She crept through the shadows cast by the generator shed. At the edge of the cabin wall she paused and took a deep breath. Then she darted around the corner, moving into a two-handed firing stance.

  Nothing confronted her.

  Relief washed through her again. Her knees quivered like gelatin and her brain registered that her already injured left foot was standing on a jagged rock. She shifted the bruised foot and gulped air, trying to control the shakes. It didn't help.

  Voices broke the silence, deep male voices carrying clearly in the stillness of the night. She gasped as she recognized both—one angry, the other deadly in intent. She bolted toward them, heedless of the cold, damp ground beneath her bare feet.

  * * *

  "Damn you, O'Neill, I said cut me down!"

  For a moment, Reilly contemplated the man in front of him. Suspended upside down from one booted foot at the end of a rope noose, the intruder swung helplessly to and fro a few feet off the ground.

  Reilly lowered his gun hand to his side. "First tell me what you're doing here, Walker."

  A stream of curses exploded from the trapped man, followed by a fruitless attempt to right himself and free his foot.

  "Thrashing around like that only makes things worse," Reilly observed dispassionately. More invectives were hurled at him, but the struggles ceased. "That's better," he approved. "Now, what are you doing here?"

  Walker visibly gritted his teeth. "You seem to forget that this is my land you're standing on, damn it. Now cut me loose!"

  "Let him go, Reilly."

  Reilly swung around, stifling a curse of his own. He should have known better, should have heard the approach, but he'd relaxed his guard when he'd found Walker in the trap. Lucky for him the gun-toting woman confronting him at the edge of the clearing was his own.

  "What the hell are you doing out here?" he demanded. "I told you to stay inside."

  Mandy didn't answer. "Let him go," she repeated. "Cody's a friend."

  He didn't like the way she said that. All his primitive instincts went on the alert, his nostrils flaring as if he scented danger. After a tense few seconds he conceded that there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. Not now, anyway.

  He turned back to Walker and assessed the situation. The trap had worked better than he'd expected. He'd had to use more weight than usual to force the branch down in order to set the trap, and he hadn't been sure that the trip wire would release it. Also, because the surrounding vegetation was relatively sparse, he'd worried that this particular trap would be too easily spotted. But then, darkness hid a lot of faults.

  It was too bad that the fastest way to free Walker was to cut him down. A shorter rope meant changing the angle of the trap when he reset it, and it might not work as well. Reilly hated to do it, but he didn't see much of a choice.

  "We'll need a knife," he told Mandy, glad of the excuse to get her out of the way for a couple of minutes. He had a few things he wanted to say to Walker he didn't want her overhearing.

  "There's a hunting knife in my boot," Walker volunteered. "But I can't reach it."

  Reilly cast him an acerbic look, then shoved his .45 into the waistband of his jeans and reluctantly moved toward Walker. He had no other option, not with Mandy looking on.

  "I'll take this first," he said, relieving the sheriff of the revolver in his gun belt and tossing it safely to one side.

  "That's two I owe you," Walker said for Reilly's ears only. The men's eyes met, both acknowledging that payback time would come for this second disarming.

  Reilly located the concealed knife and drew out six inches of wicked steel. He hefted it in his hand for a moment, grudgingly a
pproving the weight and balance of it. This was no ordinary hunting knife. This was a weapon of attack as well as defense.

  Mandy laid her gun down and stepped forward to help. "Hurry up," she urged. "Can't you see Cody's in pain?"

  Reilly bit back a growl, but complied. He reached up with his left arm and wrapped it around Walker's bound leg, using his weight to pull the other man down to the ground. Then he sliced through the taut rope with one swift, efficient stroke.

  The free end of the rope hissed into the air, then danced and bobbed along with the swaying branch it was attached to, before eventually settling into a still, black line against the night sky.

  Reilly grimaced and rubbed his face, thinking about how much work it was going to be to reset this trap. For a few seconds he considered using something else this time, then decided against it.

  He turned at a sound from behind him, and forgot all about the trap. Grimly he noted that Mandy was kneeling at Walker's feet, tugging futilely at the hemp noose still bound around Walker's ankle.

  "Here, I'll do it," Reilly said, kneeling beside her. He slid the knife between rope and boot, and sliced upward, then jerked the rope free and tossed it to one side.

  Walker drew his knees up and hunched over them, rubbing the circulation back into his legs, and Mandy scooted closer, making soft, sympathetic sounds. Walker gingerly removed his boot, testing his ankle for injuries, and Mandy helped. But when her slender hands moved from Walker's ankle to his knee, Reilly told himself enough was enough.

  He lifted her out of the way and knelt in her place. He'd had first-aid training as a cop back in New York, and after handing Walker's knife back to him, he ran his hands over the other man's knee with impersonal professionalism. "Anything broken?"

  Walker flashed him a look that would have torn strips off Reilly's hide if he'd been thin-skinned, but shook his head. "No thanks to you," the sheriff snapped, tugging his boot back on and returning his knife to its sheath.

  Reilly picked up Mandy's gun from where it lay, forgotten, beside Walker. He slipped the safety back on and stood, tucking the gun into the back of his jeans. He hesitated a moment, then held out a hand to the other man. Walker stared at it, obviously debating with himself, then grasped it and let Reilly pull him to his feet. The sheriff brushed himself off, then walked around a bit, scowling, favoring one knee.

  When he finally halted, Reilly asked silkily, "What are you doing here?"

  Walker sputtered. "Isn't that supposed to be my question?" He glanced at Mandy, but Reilly moved, partially blocking her from view. "I take it the two of you have been hiding out in my cabin?"

  Reilly started to answer, but Mandy stepped around him and said, "I told him you wouldn't mind, Cody." Exasperation edged her voice, and Reilly knew it was aimed at him.

  He couldn't help his response, though. Something was raising his hackles, and that something was Cody Walker. He shot a belligerent look at Walker that said the other man better not mind.

  Walker's speculative gaze wandered from Reilly to Mandy, and Reilly's gaze followed, his eyes narrowing. When he'd left the cabin, Mandy had been wearing nothing but a sheet and moonlight. Now she was dressed in clothes that shouted they'd been donned in haste and in the dark. Her blouse hung loose, the front misaligned and only partly buttoned, as if she hadn't taken the time to worry about getting it right. Her nipples' reaction to the cold air made it plain she wasn't wearing anything under the blouse, either. Her hair was tousled, too, and hung in a pale gold cloud around her face, and the feet peeping out from beneath her jeans were as bare as his own. She looked exactly like a woman who'd just tumbled out of a man's bed.

  Reilly's gaze snapped back to Walker, daring the other man to say a word. A word. The two men exchanged speaking glances, and the line was drawn between them as clearly as if they'd scratched it into the dirt.

  Mandy intervened when she crossed her arms and began rubbing them against the cold. Both men turned at the movement, concern for her taking precedence over their private quarrel.

  "Go back to the cabin," Reilly told her, then could have kicked himself when she just raised her stubborn chin at him in response. Mandy never had taken well to orders. He should have remembered that.

  "It's damn cold out here, honey," Cody interjected. "You really shouldn't be outside dressed like that. You'll catch your death."

  Reilly was pleased to see that Mandy ignored Cody's instructions too although he wasn't pleased with the endearment the other man had slipped in.

  "I'm not going anywhere until the two of you cut it out," Mandy said firmly.

  Reilly raised his eyebrows in an innocent "Who, me?" gesture, then glanced over at Walker and caught him doing the same. "What are you talking about?"

  Mandy's eyes glinted. "You're acting like a couple of prizefighters about to go at it for a few rounds."

  Although she didn't add and I'm the prize, Reilly heard the words inside his head. And in his heart.

  "I'm cold and I'm tired," she said in a flat voice, "but I'm not leaving until you both get it through your thick skulls that we've got more important things to worry about."

  She glared at them. "Now, I'm going inside. If there's any other baggage you two are carrying, I suggest you leave it at the door." She turned on her heel and started for the cabin.

  Reilly watched her for a few seconds, then realized Walker was doing the same. He bristled before he was aware of it, then put a curb on his emotions. Mandy was right. It galled him to admit it, but they needed Walker's help. He had to put personal animosity aside for now.

  There will be a reckoning, though, he promised himself. When this is all over, I'll find a quiet spot and have an out with Walker. That's for damn sure.

  Walker had other plans. He waited only until Mandy was out of sight, then said bitterly, "It didn't take you long."

  The muscles bunched in Reilly's arms. "Just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

  Walker threw him a burning look. "I'm not blind, O'Neill."

  "What's between Mandy and me is none of your business," Reilly warned. "You'd better remember that."

  "And if I make it my business?"

  Reilly's adrenaline level shot up at the challenge, and he edged his weight onto the balls of his feet, alert to the changes in Walker's stance, too, watching for any sudden movement. "Don't try it," he advised.

  A twig snapped about thirty feet away, and both men whirled toward the sound. Walker hit the ground in a controlled roll, and bounced up, armed with his knife. Gun already drawn, Reilly dropped to one knee and took aim, balancing his shooting hand on his other forearm for greater accuracy.

  A scurrying sound was followed by a disappointed yelp as some small creature evaded a night predator, and the two men heaved sighs of relief. They looked at each other. Words weren't necessary as they acknowledged how careless they'd been. If the sound that interrupted their confrontation had been caused by a human predator, they might both be dead by now.

  Reilly tucked the .45 back into his waistband, then searched the clearing until he found Walker's revolver. "Here," he said, handing it to him. "You're pretty fast with that knife, but if something really goes down you'll need this, too."

  "Yeah." Walker holstered the gun, then caught Reilly's arm when he turned away. "This doesn't change anything, you know."

  Reilly's glance at the hand on his arm was an implacable demand, and Walker released him, but didn't back away. Their eyes met, steel clashing against steel, then Reilly nodded. "I know."

  "If you break her heart again, you won't get another chance. I'll make sure of it. The next time you leave her will be the last."

  "There won't be a next time, Walker. When I leave, I'm taking her with me." Reilly shouldered past the other man and headed for the cabin.

  He'd taken only a few steps before Walker called after him. "Are you so sure she'll go with you?"

  Reilly stopped short. No, he realized, with something akin to shock, he wasn't sure. Not completely.


  But he'd be damned before he let Walker know it.

  * * *

  Mandy put a pot of coffee on the stove while she waited for the men to come to their senses and join her. She didn't know which man she was more upset with. Reilly, she decided after a moment, as she rebuttoned her blouse and tucked it snugly in her jeans. He should have known better, should have realized Cody was no competition. Not after what they'd shared tonight.

  She turned around and her eyes were drawn to the spot in front of the fireplace where she and Reilly had made love earlier. Her pulse quickened. No, Reilly had nothing to worry about where she was concerned. She'd given him ample proof.

  Her gaze slid away, and she surveyed the bed in the corner, its rumpled condition mute testimony to the fact that two people had shared it recently. She made an indecisive face, then straightened the bedding with brisk motions, all the while telling herself it was a waste of time. Cody wouldn't be fooled. He knew her too well, and he'd probably already guessed that she and Reilly were lovers again. Still, she'd been raised in Black Rock, with its small-town values and standards. She'd never flaunted her physical relationship with Reilly before, and she wasn't about to start now.

  Her hands trembled as she smoothed out the indentations on the pillows, then tugged the blanket over them. It's just delayed reaction, she reassured herself. All that adrenaline her body had pumped out earlier had sapped her strength, leaving her weak as a baby. Lack of sleep over the past two nights didn't help either, and her body ached in places she didn't care to think about right now. She didn't know what time it was, but judging by the position of the moon, she and Reilly couldn't have been sleeping for very long before Cody's arrival.

  What if Cody hadn't been caught in that snare? she thought. What if he'd arrived while Reilly and I were making love? Her cheeks grew warm just thinking about it.

  The front door opened suddenly. Startled out of her thoughts, Mandy swung around and bolted away from the bed as a cold gust of air ushered Reilly in, followed closely by Cody. She studied both men and saw little of their earlier hostility towards each other reflected in their faces, but she was still wary. She wasn't going to let them make her the cause of trouble between them, not if she could help it. If they started up again, she'd set them straight pretty darn quick.