Shadows Rise

by Denise A. Agnew

  Cade paced. “Damn, damn, damn.”

  Cade’s murmur made Annabelle’s nerves tighten. “The question is, what do we do to help Ziggy and everyone else at the asylum?”

  “We have to go back, but you should stay here and get well,” Margaret said.

  Annabelle sat up straighter. “You can’t go back. Who knows what could happen?”

  Penelope patted her friend’s hand. “We can see you’re safe here with Cade. If you come back to the asylum you’ll just be caught up in the mayhem. We can’t allow that to happen.”

  Margaret added to the argument. “We’re healthy. We can take care of this.”

  “Nurse Summit is a real soldier,” Hemmings said. “She’s keeping people as calm as she can.”

  “But if there are several soldiers ill that means several more might be shortly. You need all the nursing help you can get.” Charged with sudden energy, Annabelle started to shift off the couch.

  “Wait,” Cade said, holding his hands up. “No, you aren’t going.”

  “You are not my employer, Captain Hale. I do not take orders from you,” Annabelle said matter-of-factly.

  He placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed. “I’m asking you as a man who cares what happens to you. You aren’t well yet.” Annabelle’s cheeks flushed, but not from fever. As heat washed over her, she smiled. Embarrassment mixed with relief that they wouldn’t have to hide feelings any longer.

  “Putting aside feelings,” Cade said, “we need to make decisions.”

  “Such as?” Hemmings asked as he put his tin cup on a table.

  Cade walked around the couch, and his expression was devoid of amusement. “I’m not allowing Annabelle, no matter what she says, to go back to the asylum. It’s too dangerous.”

  Annabelle could have objected to his high-handedness, but her friends didn’t give her a chance. Penelope and Margaret stood as if one.

  “You should stay here and recuperate,” Margaret said. “You’re not strong enough, Annabelle.”

  Penelope adjusted the wool hat sitting on her curls. “We’ll go back now that we know you’re safe. We brought more supplies, so you’ll be all right here for at least a few more days. Don’t come back until you feel much better.”

  Both women hugged Annabelle. Tears filled her eyes but she didn’t allow them to fall. She’d shed enough tears lately. Margaret and Penelope clung to her for quite some time.

  “You take care of yourself, you hear?” Penelope brushed a tendril of hair back from Annabelle’s face.

  Annabelle smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Don’t come back for a while,” Margaret said. “We don’t know how long this situation is going to last.”

  “Even after the disease runs its course, the darkness in the asylum will still be there. Something has to be done to rid the place of evil,” Cade said.

  Margaret gave him a strange, disbelieving look. “I’m still not convinced. Other than things feeling creepy and the weather acting strange.”

  “What we don’t know is the most dangerous,” Cade said.

  Hemmings promised to keep the nurses safe on the way back to the asylum. After the door closed, Annabelle sighed and tried to control her worry. Her silence brought Cade to her side. He settled on the couch beside her. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. A little tired.”

  He slipped his arm around her and brought her against his body. “You’re worried about them. So am I.”

  Annabelle gazed up at him. “They’re in so much danger.”

  “I know. But they’re intelligent people. They’ll stay safe.”

  She hated weakness in herself, but the tears came as she buried her face against his shoulder. She knew as well as he did that fate would decide who lived or died.

  Chapter 17

  A song repeated in Annabelle’s head. She heard each word, and it made her want to smile as awareness came to her in the morning. She’d moved to the bed yesterday, and Cade had insisted on her staying put. She couldn’t help him with cooking or anything because he wouldn’t allow it, not because she didn’t feel strong enough. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She didn’t feel as strong as she would if well. The annoying headache she’d endured for days—six days to be precise—had disappeared. Her appetite hadn’t returned, but she made certain to eat each meal Cade prepared. In total they’d stayed in this cabin seven days, four of those after Margaret, Penelope, and Hemmings had left. She worried about them, and hoped they faired better than she suspected. She watched Cade with concern every day, beyond grateful that he hadn’t contracted enza.

  Now, waking up with Shine On Harvest Moon in her mind, she savored the sensation of his arms around her. Spooned behind her, he cuddled her into his body. That’s when she realized his right hand cupped her right breast and the thick length of his manhood pressed against her buttocks. A sweet, heady thrill pulsed inside her, and she savored this sign of enjoyment, health, and life. Her body must be healing, or she wouldn’t have felt this strong a reaction. She gloried in it, wanting whatever sensual pleasure they found together. She squirmed back against Cade’s solid form.

  He shifted, moaning softly. “If you don’t stop ....”

  “What?”

  She rolled onto her back. He propped up on one elbow and looked down on her. His gaze filled with a heat she couldn’t deny, but concern kept her from reaching up and pulling him down for a kiss. His right palm cupped her waist, and the big, long length of his muscular body reminded her that a potent male lay next to her. At the same time, she couldn’t forget the barriers still between them. There were things she had to know and to say.

  “Do you ..." She didn’t know how to word it. “Do you still blame me for Velia’s death?”

  He frowned, his rugged face contemplative. He stared into the distance, then met her gaze again. “No.”

  Relief spilled through her like a huge wave. “Thank God.”

  He brushed a tendril of hair back from her face as it lay around her shoulders. “She loved you like a sister, you know.”

  She sighed. “And I loved her like a sister, too.” She couldn’t resist reaching up to touch his cheek and feel the bristly beard along his jaw line. “What did you say in the last letter you sent to her? It upset her so much.”

  Cade swallowed convulsively, and once more he stared off into space. “I told her she was foolish for staying in the field hospital. That Mother and Father worried about her and I worried. I told her if she didn’t quit working with the Red Cross and go back to the United States, I’d find a way to make her leave.” He closed his eyes. “When I learned that she’d died, it was if I’d know ahead of time that she’d die in the hospital if I didn’t make her leave.”

  “You know you couldn’t make Velia do anything.”

  “No. I couldn’t.” He returned his attention to her. “You don’t forgive yourself for what happened either.”

  “I am, day by day. Meeting you actually made me realize there wasn’t anything I could’ve done. It was fate. Or God. Or whatever you want to label it. Velia was dear to us both. But she volunteered to take my place that day, and I was falling on my face I was so tired.” She brushed her fingers over his chin. “When I woke up and learned my leg was horribly burned and that she’d died ... the pain was overwhelming both physically and mentally.”

  “God, Annabelle.” He kissed her nose.

  “We have to move on. To make peace with ourselves.”

  “I should never have pushed her so hard.”

  “You did the best a big brother could.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t let me off so easily. I lorded it over her when I shouldn’t have.”

  “And I told Velia she should tell you to jump in a lake.”

  A sad smile touched his mouth. “She told me that in one letter.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “No. It’s what I should have done.”

  She put one finger over his lips. “Stop. Let’s start new. Here an
d now, let’s discover a beginning instead of thinking about her end.”

  “I didn’t tell her how much I loved her. I’ve never told anyone I loved them.”

  “Never?” She whispered the question, as if it was a secret that must be kept at all costs.

  He nodded, his eyes filling with tears. She saw the struggle on his tough face. A man like this didn’t cry easily. He leaned into her, nuzzling her ear. Annabelle shivered with sweet delight as his lips singed her with sensual heat.

  His mouth found hers, a gentle, protective kiss that built moment by moment until the sensuality of it swept her over the edge. Restraint fell away under his attention and the joy of living. She clutched at his shoulders and held on to his power. She allowed the sexual fever to sweep her under. Whatever lay in wait for them outside this cabin, she wanted these moments with this man. His kisses touched her ear, cheek, and jaw line. His touch smoothed downward over her hip. He searched under the hem of her dress until he cupped her left leg.

  She gasped, mortified. “Wait. That’s my leg. The leg I injured.”

  He lifted the hem before she could stop him. She’d taken her shoes off days ago, but not her stockings.

  “I want to see,” he said.

  “It’s ... ugly.”

  “Nothing about you could ever be ugly,” he said softly.

  Shock rolled through her. She never imagined a man believing that or saying such a thing to her. Warmth filled her heart at his praise.

  With the utmost care, he rolled the stocking down to reveal her scarred skin. “Does it hurt?”

  “No. Not really. It aches sometimes. The doctors said it’s healed very fast for such an injury.”

  “I’ve seen you limp.”

  She licked her lips, concerned at his reaction and wondering if he’d think it was so ugly he’d turn away. He didn’t. “The doctors said that it will get better, although the skin won’t look much better than that.”

  He touched the twisted skin, the bumpy, ridged, deformed area where the large burn had done the damage. “God, Annabelle. You suffered so much.” His voice hushed to a husky rumble. “If I’d known about this, I never would have said the things I did when I first met you. I wouldn’t have yelled and accused you.”

  She tilted his chin up to look at her. “You didn’t know.”

  “Forgive me.”

  “There’s nothing to forgive.”

  With a soft groan, he drew her into his arms and tasted her lips. His strength and heat enveloped Annabelle, gave her comfort and strength. One kiss merged into another, the passion within her driving her to move against him, to seek and caress in ways she never imagined doing before.

  As the compelling desire rose higher and higher, she knew what she wanted more than anything. Him. Inside her. This moment of tenderness and desire meant too much to lose to doubt or caution. Who knew what time they had left or what would happen in the coming days. “Please, Cade. I want you inside me.”

  “Mmm.” His groan filled with husky desire. “Are you certain?”

  “I’ve never been more certain of anything.”

  “God, Annabelle. Have you ..."

  She nodded. “At a scandalous age. When I was seventeen. I thought I was in love with him. I wasn’t and it was awkward and awful. A summer romance, if you will.”

  He smiled, and the heat and welcome in his gaze set her alight. “Let’s erase him right from your mind, then.”

  “Yes. I don’t want to wait for you any longer. I don’t want to wait.”

  His touch moved under the waistband of her pantalets. She held her breath in anticipation. He eased his fingers between her legs and tenderly explored. She gasped as he gently caressed aroused, moist, warm flesh. Heat rose rapidly. Before she’d suffered with fever, but this time the heat came from the heartwarming affection he lavished on her.

  He touched her softness lightly and she gasped, moaned, and pushed upward against him. One touch led to another as his finger teased her until her aroused nub tingled with sweet need. Friction built until the fire built deep within her core. She ached inside, desiring warmth and delicious heat. How could she stand this torment? He drove her to the brink, each gentle movement designed to make her pulse throb and heartbeat pound. Sweet pleasure drove every thought from her mind. He slipped one finger inside her and the caress made her moan and writhe.

  She moaned. “Please. I need ..."

  She didn’t know. Anything to release this racing, soaring demand. Cade brought her higher as he thrust his finger in and out, then feathered over her feminine nub with the barest of touches. Deep inside her body the throb accelerated. She craved relief with a soul-stirring hunger. One more brush over her aroused flesh and the fire consumed her. She gasped, moaned, and wriggled as she ignited. Sweet pleasure drove her higher. When she came down from the mountain, he withdrew his fingers. He held her as she caught her breath.

  “You are so beautiful Annabelle.”

  With a low moan of satisfaction, he worked at his clothing, undoing his trousers, and she helped. There would be time later to strip naked. In this moment, it was cold and their desire urgent. Annabelle touched his cock, caressing his steel-hard length. She ached for him inside her, for the completion and togetherness it would give. He gasped as she caressed his length from root to tip.

  “Oh, my,” she said softly in astonishment.

  He moaned a command. “No. More later. If you touch me again I won’t be able to stand it.”

  She smiled, feeling wicked and wonderful and certain. “Then take me.”

  He slipped between her legs, his powerful thighs against hers, his body propped on his forearms to keep from smashing her.

  Moments later she felt the hot, undeniable bluntness of his cock head at her moist opening. Yes. Yes, this is it.

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, eyes blazing with intent.

  “You won’t. I trust you.”

  Cade moved into her tenderly. “All right?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  He eased within, parting her inch by inch. A small pinch and she gasped. “All right?” His voice was rough, concerned. “Am I hurting you.”

  “Don’t stop.” She couldn’t bear for him to end this connection.

  As he deepened the thrust, his thick presence spread her wide, so deep and tight. He moved slowly, so very slowly, pumping with a slow cadence that sent hot streaks of shocking pleasure along nerve endings she hadn’t known she possessed. His cock caressed her inside, his thrusts steady. The rhythm of lovemaking took her by surprise. When she was seventeen, it hadn’t been like this. The pleasure filling her inside made her moan again and again in desperation. There was magic in the way they moved together, the strength of their desire fierce, the growling hunger precluding any chance of interruption. She wouldn’t abandon the glorious sensations rising inside. Had she been told lovemaking could be like this, she wouldn’t have believed it. Her mother had once said lovemaking wasn’t much and certainly nothing more useful than for getting babies. She’d dreamed of something else, a less messy, less wild coming together. And while they were partially clothed, their joining was no less real. She’d heard it could be almost violent between men and women, knew that men could pound into a woman until she screamed in the purest ecstasy. She wanted that, too.

  She rose with the demand, her body reacting as all women’s bodies must to the ultimate in physical pleasure. His breathing came harder, his moans of pleasure rising. She heard the sounds coming from her own throat, and the beauty in the primitive act made the ecstasy that much more rich and pleasure-filled. She gave him everything, and a promise to herself she would never forsake him. He’d brought her the greatest gift a man could bestow: his unending love. She’d protect it with her all. He growled softly, writhing against her as his hips surged and broke apart her restraint.

  She flew into the unknown land, her body clamping convulsively around the cock moving within her slick channel. She throbbed around him, the first sparks of ple
asure starting as small waves until she broke apart. Deep within, the ecstasy threw her into the chaos. She was unfettered, sailing on a wildness that understood no restraint and brooked no argument. She wailed softly as she came around him, shaking and shivering with pleasure so profound she didn’t think she’d survive it. He groaned loudly, pushing hard and deep. He shook as well, panting loudly as his hot essence filled her. Annabelle knew their lovemaking, no matter how furtive and quick, had shown them a bridge to a deeper connection.

  “That was ... amazing.” She panted the words, the glow in her heart and body making her smile.

  He rolled off of Annabelle and lay beside her. She went into his arms, and he held her tight. He brushed his hands through her hair, down her cheek, over her shoulders, and down her back. “There’s more. What we did was so quick ... there’s much more.”

  She sighed, dreaming of a time when they could experience the length and breadth of it. “Then we’ll do it again and again.”

  He laughed, the sound joyous. For once, his smile was lighthearted, without the sorrow she’d seen etched into his eyes for so long.

  * * *

  Still a little weak, Annabelle stayed in the bed while Cade fixed her breakfast. He’d made some coffee, and it tasted like ambrosia. She sipped it, propped up against pillows and waiting for a basic meal of toast, bacon, and other dried meat. When he brought in the meal he held two plates.

  “I could have sat at the table,” she said.

  “Such as it is.” His smile held mischief and a sparkle in his eyes. He sat on the bed and handed her a plate. “Eat up. And I mean all of it.”

  “Of course. I’m starving.”

  “Thank God.” He leaned forward and gave her quick kiss on the nose. “I’m damned happy your appetite is growing stronger.”

  “I think I’m really on the mend. We can go back to the asylum soon.”

  She knew she’d said the wrong thing the moment he stopped eating his toast. His expression went grim. “No.”