“They smelled plenty decayed to me. When you’re ready to leave, your evidence is right here. Top step,” Jude tapped where he meant.
“Thanks again,” she murmured. “It’s a different dead smell. Think about it. The ones I touched were just lying there. Nobody was bloated, gooey or—”
“Okay. You can stop now. I get the picture.”
“You understand what I’m asking though, right? Decaying bodies reek and fall apart. These don’t smell, and they’re not squishy.”
“Maybe Cain’s trying to make mummies.”
“Embalming would keep the odor and decay down.”
“It would also keep the bugs away. Nobody would ask questions.”
She shivered at all that creepiness just down the tunnel from where she’d napped. “I really need my cell phone, but Greg has it.”
“Well, then that’s out, isn’t it?” Jude asked. “They’re looking for you. It’s only a matter of time before they check down here.”
She blew out a deep breath, rubbing the knot on the back of her head in reminder of her last encounter with Cain and his buddies. “If they’re so smart, why don’t they already know you’re down here with me?”
“I guess they aren’t watching me right now.”
“Why not?”
“Because. I needed a distraction to get you out of the barn, so I started a fire. Long story short, when I went back to help put it out, Cain thought I was some kind of hero.”
“He didn’t know you started it?”
“Guess not. All of a sudden, I’m good enough for everyone to associate with. Crazy damned church.”
She heard an undertone to his answer that she couldn’t identify, but it had to wait. She had a plan, and it needed immediate execution. “You need to leave, Jude. Unlatch the door and go back to your dormitory, or wherever you sleep, while I—”
“No. I will not leave you again. No way. Whatever you’ve got planned, count me in.”
She heard the steel in his voice. “Okay, then. We go together, but once I hit the compound wall, you need to get back here, find your daughter, and stay out of trouble until I get back.”
“There’s a trail behind the willows we can use. It runs along the wall. It’s safe.”
“Are you sure?” This wasn’t a time for heroics. She had to know he wouldn’t do anything foolish until she returned with reinforcements.
Out of the dark, his hands reached for her and she found herself tucked under his chin. His next words cut her to the quick. “I promise, Cassidy. I promise with all my heart.”
“Ready?”
Cassidy’s answer beside him was a quick and definite “yes.”
Whoosh. The cool night dropped into the root cellar when he lifted the door, bringing silvery moonlight with it. But sunrise was close. Jude needed to get Cassidy to safety before she lost her only chance to bring help.
Standing beside him, she took a deep breath while he held the door above his head with one hand. He flinched when her palm skimmed his ribcage for support. A feminine touch wasn’t what he needed on a daring night like this. As if his nerves weren’t already strung tight—just the close proximity of this woman elicited immediate masculine reactions, some he wasn’t exactly proud of.
This touch felt more intimate, as if she knew him and his body better than she did. It was done in innocence, but he liked it. A lot. He just couldn’t concentrate. She hadn’t even handled him like he wished she had, and he’d turned into a fifteen-year-old boy with raging hormones and a flag at half-staff. Make that full-staff.
He forced his mind to concentrate. With the limited viewing at ground level, the way appeared clear, but something felt amiss. Why weren’t the prowling Elite making rounds like they usually did? Jude expected more surveillance now that Cassidy had escaped. Where was it?
“Anything?” she asked.
“No,” Jude whispered back, fighting the acid unease in his gut. “Something’s wrong. I don’t like it. Maybe they’re waiting us out.”
“Let me see.” She brushed against him, straining her neck to peer into the yard.
Looking down, he blinked twice. The sight of her so close to his side stopped his brain in its tracks. Moonlight turned her hair silver. Excitement danced in her sharp eyes as she scanned the yard while her hand rested comfortably on his left pectoral muscle. Tingling warmth radiated from those slender fingertips all the way to his groin.
She glanced up at him, a shy smile in her eyes. “It’s nice to finally see you, Mr. Cannon.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he mumbled. “Good to, umm, see you, too.” Man, is it ever good to see you. You’re beautiful.
Cassidy scanned the yard again. “You’re right, though. It’s awful quiet. I wonder where that creep Greg is.”
Jude was ready to tell her to stand back so he could think with his brain, when he thought of a diversion, this one not as dramatic as the inferno he’d started earlier. “Listen. I’ll be right back. Step back inside so I can close the door.”
He didn’t wait for her concurrence as he lifted the door to clear the cellar. Closing her in ensured her safety but mostly, he needed her out of sight so he could concentrate. Strolling over to the trough at the corner of the garden, he cranked the pump handle just enough to cup a splash of water in his hands. Pushing the coolness of it over his face and into his hair helped clear his mind. He needed help again, this time from some of the livestock.
Jude glanced at the dormitories as he made his way past them, sure to keep to the shadows of the windbreak of poplars between the yard and the buildings. There were three, each nothing more than remodeled one-story barns. In the center stood the couples’ dorm, where the obedient husbands and wives were allowed to live together. The one to the north housed single woman, single men resided in the dorm to the south. Jude lived there now, in a cell-like room with nothing more than a narrow bunk bed and a metal footlocker to his name. He’d worked long hours in the field to earn the right to sleep indoors.
Several dozen cabin-type homes lined the outer perimeter. Only the Elite and the wealthier converts lived there. All children were kept separate in the schoolhouse dorm where the teachers lived. That building lay a good distance to the south of the others close to the prophet’s home. The predator.
Jude stared at Cain’s home. Why were all the lower level lights on? Electrical lights, not the propane or kerosene lighting everyone else endured. What was so important that it kept Cain up until all hours?
Despite the commandment that unmarried men and women were not to mingle in private, Cain was seldom alone. Jude had taken enough rambling midnight walks in his quest to locate Judith to know that Jerusha visited Lucien regularly. Other women, too.
In the last month, an army of teenage boys had been tasked to clear the meadow east of the prophet’s home for a temple. He’d already bequeathed the proposed monument with a pretentious name—Sanctuary. Another lie. The cult had nothing to do with worship or holiness. Certainly not refuge from any personal storm. If anything, the Church of the Palma Christi was the storm. Jude couldn’t help but wonder if Cain’s perversion had turned to young men. Or had they always been on his menu, and Jude had been so consumed with finding Judith that he’d not thought of the others in Cain’s reach?
Only one place was worse. The place of the blessing, the cult’s tent in the grove of scraggly pines and pinions where the so-called ‘man of god’ blessed young women. Jude tamped his father’s rage down to manageable. There would be no such blessing for Judith.
Stopping in the garden, Jude pulled a few turnips for his next trick. Time for another show. Cain kept more than fifty pigs, all in ramshackle wooden pens known to buckle or break when one of the bigger boars used enough muscle. It didn’t happen often, but it was going to happen tonight.
Soft grunts met his approach. Lobbing the turnips into the middle of the herd of bristling pork ribs on hooves caused the stir Jude wanted. Next he eased a loose upright support up and out of its hole enough
that it sagged. He loosened two more uprights and the hungry pigs took over. Once they were happily rooting around in the garden, Jude high tailed it back to the cellar and slid down the stairs to Cassidy.
“Come on. Let’s move.” He pushed the cellar door open wider, still watching the living quarters for any sign of increased activity. A light flickered on in the closest private home. Jerusha was up. Time to hurry.
He blocked the view of Cassidy’s departure with his body. Only after she was safely north of the granary and out of sight, did he lower the door into place. Time to run.
Grabbing her hand, he pulled her into a jog through the orchard. The pigs would find this wonderland of littered green apples soon enough. At the other side of the orchard, Jude paused to listen. Pigs squealed behind him. Men shouted. Good job, Cannon.
“I think we’re safe,” he muttered quietly.
“Which way?”
He pointed west. To the wall.
She turned without hesitation, and before he knew it, he was telling her which landmarks and trails to take while he stayed close behind. Until they’d stepped out of the root cellar, he hadn’t realized how bossy she was. She actually led the way, and like a gentleman, he let her. He didn’t mind. It gave him a pleasant view of her backside swaying beneath that ratty old dress. She wasn’t a tall woman by any means, but she was athletic.
Neither said a word for several miles, but finally, he couldn’t take it. “Hold up,” he said, knowing she’d turn around. He got what he asked for. The minute she pivoted, he saw the spark of impatience in her eyes. It mellowed into something else he couldn’t identify, or maybe, he didn’t want to admit to. Or believe. Not yet.
He’d been so focused on his ruined marriage and then his missing child that he’d ignored women in general. Standing in the ambient light of the moon, her blonde hair tousled and framing her face, his heart stuttered to a thumping halt. There would be no ignoring this goddess at the edge of the trees.
“Your mouth is open,” she said shyly.
He couldn’t help it. His heart felt wide open, too, like a fool who should be kneeling, maybe even groveling to this petite woman who’d already changed his world. “Cassidy.”
“Yes?” She took a step back toward him.
Recovering some semblance of brainpower, he could only nod in reply.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” she said. “What did you want?”
He knew exactly what he wanted. With two steps, he was at her side. Dark eyes smiled up at him. She reached one hand to brush her fingers through his sideburn while her other hand rested on his shoulder. “You okay?” she asked. “Am I going the right way?”
Oh, honey. Are you ever going the right way. He caressed her cheek, speechless on a night finally filled with hope.
“Remember your promise?” she asked, her fingers working magic through the scalp around his ear. It tickled in a most erotic way. She had him in the palm of her hand.
“Uh-huh.”
“You and me are going to get to know each other?” she prompted.
“Right. I knew that,” he said quickly. Really. He did.
She stepped into his arms and waited, her eyes bright with promise. Hesitantly, he lowered his head to hers, searching for any hint of rejection. Their kiss in the cellar had been a delightful surprise he hadn’t seen coming. This one, he wanted to watch unfold.
She lifted her chin with her tongue skating over her lower lip, and that was his undoing. Dipping lower, he saw the moment she closed her eyes and lifted her mouth. When his lips touched hers, she sighed a breathy, feminine sigh. Framed in a tangle of curls, he watched the sigh blossom on her face. The delicate arches of her brows lifted. Every muscle on her face seemed to follow suit.
It might have only been a trick of the moon’s lighting, but a more radiant being he’d never held before. Her eyelashes settled like tiny angel wings over her cheeks, the crinkles at the corners of her eyes turned up. Soft lips melted against his. The ache in his heart exploded. He didn’t even know this woman, yet she’d reached a place deep inside of him that hadn’t been alive in years, a place where he wasn’t a failure or a coward, a place where he was very much still a man to be reckoned with. She pulled him closer, and he wanted every last piece of her.
Unfortunately, logic re-engaged. Stick to your promise, Cannon.
He eased back, breaking the luscious contact between heaven and earth. This wasn’t about him. Only Judith. With another sigh, Cassidy nestled under his chin, and he held her to him, kissing the top of her head.
“I want to stay with you,” she whispered as she pushed away from him, “but I have to leave.”
He nodded quickly, summoning courage he didn’t feel. With the proverbial stiff upper lip, he could only say, “Right. Let’s do this.”
They made it to the wall in record time. They had to, or he would’ve changed his mind. His protective instincts had risen to the surface the closer it came to her leaving. There’d be no way to help Cassidy once she left his side, and it galled him that she’d soon leave him behind. How could he let her go and keep her safe at the same time?
“We’re here. Boost me up,” she commanded, her eyes aglitter in the darkness.
He went to one knee, interlocked his fingers, and made a step for her to slide her boot into.
“Wait.” She stopped short. With a determined gleam in her eye, she pulled the dress up to her knee, and his heart stopped. His mouth dropped open again. Damn. He had little restraint left.
One look at her naked body under the moonlight, and they wouldn’t accomplish what they’d set out to do. Thank heavens. She’d only ripped the lower part of her long dress and transformed it into a really mini, umm, thing. She had long legs. Strong calves, too. He took a half-step back to take in the luscious view. This woman was an athlete from head to toe. A sexy athlete.
“Oh, hell,” she muttered, as she looked up at him, a crooked smile on her lips. “I ripped it too short, huh?”
He tilted backward to admire the shorter-than-short mini-dress, her black bra beneath it and white cotton bloomers showing at her new hemline. Her tangled bangs hung into her eyes. What little blood might have been in his brain migrated lower. “Cassidy,” he growled. “Not now.”
She grinned and threw herself in his arms, damned near bowling him. Ahh! This woman drove him crazy. Him—a boring, mild-mannered accountant. He couldn’t remember being this desired or overheated before. This virile. The blood in his veins burned in a really good way. He wanted her, every last tantalizing part of her. Now. Of all times.
Cassidy pushed herself into his face again. Jude couldn’t stop the kisses raining over his mouth, cheeks, and chin. Didn’t want to. Her mouth on his sparked playful desires. Holding her was like holding a puppy and a little girl at the same time, all wiggles and kisses, filled with a contagious zest for life. Every atom in his body ached to lay her on the ground and make love to her.
But he couldn’t. Jude set Cassidy’s feet to earth. The moment she stepped out of his arms, she took her energy with her. His heart dropped. An odd ache sprang up within; a nagging hunger mixed with the fear he could lose her before he ever had her.
“Okay now,” she whispered softly, “when I come back tomorrow, be ready. I’ll be bringing some heavy firepower with me.”
He stood there, dazed. She’d turned from a tempting vixen into his warrior goddess in the blink of an eye. “Tomorrow? You mean today, right?”
“Yes. Sorry. It’s already tomorrow.” She glanced over her shoulder at the eight-foot high concrete block wall. “Get Judith to a safe place. Don’t worry about me. I’ll find you.”
Jude brushed an anxious hand through his hair. This seemed backwards. He should be the one saving her, not the other way around. He should be the knight in shining armor wielding all that firepower, not her, a diminutive lady with grit in her eye. In a way, this whole mixed up thing made him the princess, and it galled him. He might not be the bravest guy on the planet, but h
e was damned sure not a princess.
“Jude.” She latched onto the side of his head and pulled his face to her level. “Stop thinking so hard. I will find you.”
All he saw were sparkling brown eyes, an upturned nose, and the most gorgeous woman in the world. He forgot his stupid, egotistical rant. “Where should we wait?”
A crooked smile tweaked her sassy lips. “How about in the barn? They’ll never look for you and Judith there.”
“Okay,” he whispered, as he kissed her mouth, wanting with all his heart to savor the taste of this gentle creature for more than just seconds at a time. Eternity wouldn’t be enough for the famished man he’d become over the years. Breathing hard, he disengaged. “We’ll be waiting for you.”
He crouched and clasped his hands, forming a launch pad for her boot. With hardly any effort at all, he boosted her high enough that she could grip the edge of the wall. Even with her so far above, all he noticed was her backside. His index finger automatically stabbed his glasses up high on his nose for a better view. With her hiking boots kicking for contact while she climbed the wall, and her white bloomers waving goodbye, it was a sweet sight on such a tenuous night. It dawned on him then. She was ten times the athlete he was. Doubt assailed him. What in God’s name does she see in me?
“Tomorrow,” she whispered from her perch high above him. “I will be back.”
“Tomorrow,” he echoed, hopeful yet achingly depressed at the same time. “I’ll be waiting.”
Cassidy dropped out of sight, just as gone as Judith.
Chapter Nine
Cassidy made quick time. Once she had her bearings, she bee-lined for the camp she and Rourke had established days earlier. Jude’s kiss burned pleasantly into her lips as well as her mind. She rubbed her chin where his stubble had left a tingle. Ah, the feel of a good man.
Early morning light glimmered faintly on the horizon. With every step she took, her determination increased. Even knowing she still had to face Rourke’s ire didn’t flag her resolve. Jude needed help, and he was going to get it.
Cassidy Page 9