Rafe got up, walked over to the coffee pot and refilled his cup. “More?”
Danger held up his cup and Rafe topped it off.
“By the way,” Rafe said, replacing the pot on the burner. “The description Miss Weston gave you is wrong. He doesn’t look anything like you, so you can put the idea aside.”
“But she’s so sure.”
“And she’s right in what she saw, just not right in what she saw.”
Danger arched a brow. “That take’s some explaining.”
“The perp killed your deputy and scalped him. The long hair Miss Weston saw on the perp was the scalp hair. We found it in the cave, hidden in a niche and the deputy’s shirt and badge.”
“Jesus, no wonder Lacey kept saying there was something wrong about his hair.”
“In the dark, wearing the hair and a badge, it isn’t any wonder your lady thought it was you. We can at least be pretty sure he’s a man your size, build and coloring, but that’s about it.”
Rafe eyed Danger. The man still looked washed-out, his right arm in a sling, but from the steady look on his pale face, he intended to remain on the job. He couldn’t help but admire a man with that much grit.
“We removed the last body from the cave this morning. I have to hit the road. I want to be in Helena when they start the autopsies.” Rafe stood up and pulled a business card from his shirt pocket. He scribbled down a number and gave the card to Danger. “My cell phone number, in case you need me for any reason. I’ll see you get a copy of all the autopsy reports.”
Danger frowned. “I was a little out of it when Lacey and I discovered the bodies. I wasn’t sure what was real and what I imagined once I got to feeling better. Did he actually bite off their nipples?”
“Yeah. You didn’t imagine a damned thing. Everything’s as bad as you remember, probably worse. The good thing is, the past winter and frigid interior of the cave helped preserve the bodies, makes it a whole hell of a lot easier to identify.”
Rafe shook hands with Danger. “Thanks for the coffee. I’ll be in touch.”
In The Arms Of Danger
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.
G. W. F. Hegel
Rimrock Sheriff’s Dept. One week later, 10:00 p.m.
Lacey stepped inside the sheriff’s office, closed the door behind her and leaned back against it. She trailed her gaze over Danger’s pale face. At least he was beginning to get his color back and he’d stopped wearing the sling this morning.
“You about ready to go home? Your grandmother has been cooking all morning.”
Danger glanced up from the report Rafe had sent him and frowned. His eyes widened at the white, low-cut blouse knotted beneath her breasts and the pale pink shorts that fit high up on her tanned legs. He swallowed hard. “You pregnant yet?”
“Uh, have you been working on getting that done?”
Danger grinned and stood up. “Not lately, but you keep dressing like that and anything’s possible.”
Lacey laughed. “According to your grandfather, you’ve already accomplished the deed, but I think practice makes perfect. Whadda you think?”
“Absolutely.”
Lacey drew in a deep breath and absorbed the manly smell of Danger as he drew near her. He reached behind her and she heard the bolt in the lock on the door snick in place. “I’ve had fantasies about you, me and that big desk ever since the first time I saw you.”
“Have you now?” Lacey toyed with a button on his shirt. “Do tell.”
“How about I show you instead?”
Lacey gave a startled squeak as he pulled her arms in front of her and snapped handcuffs around her wrists. “I’ve been dying to do that, too.”
His mouth hovered mere inches from hers. “Lady, I’ve waited too damned long to do this to you.”
“What?” she whispered and groaned as he trailed moist kisses down her throat.
His teeth closed around the single button on her blouse and he worked it open. “Fuck you while you’re wearing nothing but my cuffs.”
Slowly, he slid the blouse over her head and slid his arms around her bare waist. He stared hungrily at the flesh colored bra cupping her breasts. “Damn woman, you wear the sexiest underwear.”
“Wait til you get a load of my panties.”
He arched a brow.
“Crotch less, and the sides held in place with nothing but two tiny bows.”
He growled and had her stripped in nothing flat. Lacey gasped. “What if someone wants in?”
“I’ll shoot em.”
He backed her slowly toward the desk. His mouth swooped down, claiming hers, warm silk, passionate, and oh, so persuasive. Against her stomach, Lacey felt the hard ridge of his arousal. A current of exquisite sensation flowed through her, centering at the core of her womanhood. She gasped at the unexpected urge to crawl inside his skin and mingle her soul with his. Her body arched wantonly against his erection.
He leaned around and swept everything on the desk to one end, then he lifted her onto the edge and fumbled with the button on his jeans. His erection sprang free. She broke away from the kiss to look down in anticipation, saw the pearly drop of fluid. She wanted this man, as much as he wanted her, wanted every hot, scalding inch of him inside her. If she belonged to him, then he belonged to her, too. Her need matched his in every way.
The satin-like, yet grainy stroking of his tongue as he took her nipple in his mouth sent her senses into a whirl. Slowly, his hand slid down her belly and reached the place his fingers sought. He inserted first one finger, then two inside her and parted the dewy folds, preparing her for the hard length and broad head of his cock.
Danger shifted and slid a hand to cup her delicious derriere and lifted her against his rigid shaft. “I’ll go slowly,” he whispered and eased the head of his cock inside her. “God, you feel good. It’s been too damned long since I felt you around me.”
Lacey looped her arms over his neck and wiggled her hips in an attempt to take him deeper. “Easy, baby,” he whispered. “I plan on giving you all of it.”
Danger pushed a little deeper, gained scant entry, then he thrust deep and buried his cock to the hilt, at last seated inside her exactly where he wanted to be. He lifted his head to stare down at her. Promise and need were reflected back at her in the pewter sheen of his eyes. “I love you, Princess,” he whispered softly. “I loved you from the moment I saw you.”
A hint of tears sparkled in Lacey’s eyes.
“Will you marry me?” he whispered shakily.
Lacey had never felt so loved or needed. He was the only man who had ever created this fiery need, the only man who could burn her with his kiss, with his possession of her body.
Did she love him? Yes! There was no doubt in her mind or heart. And like him, she held onto what was hers. Lacey found herself looking into gray eyes, eyes that were soft, light, and filled with warmth and all things good.
Danger hesitated, searching her face. “Will you marry me?” he repeated. “Yes.”
He gave one slow nod, then set a steady rhythm that had Lacey gasping and begging for mercy. She clawed his back, leaving her mark as she reached instant climax. Danger gritted his teeth and flung back his head, his body trembling as he joined her with his own fierce release. Panting, he lifted his head and placed a hand to her cheek. “You all right?”
She nodded and wiggled her hips. “I’m very all right.”
For a moment his eyes were so solemn, so very serious, then he grinned, a slightly raffish smile that quickened her heart as she felt him begin to harden inside her.
“Again?” he whispered. “Can you take me again?”
“Again,” she agreed. “But this time, you get to wear the cuffs.”
He removed the cuffs from her and allowed her to snap them on his wrists. She licked her lips. “Before this night is done, I’ve had my own fantasy about the cell over there and you and me.”
&
nbsp; He grinned and thrust his hips, moving slowly in and out of her. “Oh?” His voice sounded strained. “One fantasy at a time sweetheart, I’m a long way from finished with you and this desk. I’m in no hurry. I intend to make very good use of it.”
In The Arms Of Danger
Epilogue
Certain things catch your eye, but pursue only those that capture your heart.
Old Indian saying.
Rimrock Courthouse Fri. 10:00 a.m.
Four months later
“Kiss your lovely bride, Sheriff.”
To the sound of applause and wolf whistles from Jace, Duel and Coe,
Danger smiled at his bride and did exactly as Judge Robert Hastings ordered. “Say, old friend, as best man, do I get to kiss the bride?” Jace pulled Lacey
from Danger and made as if to kiss her.
Lacey giggled when Danger tugged her against his chest. “Not this bride, old
friend.” His hand rested possessively on the small mound of her stomach. “It’s
taken me four months to get her in front of a judge, go find your own woman.” Lacey looked around the judge’s chambers and felt nothing but happiness.
Danger’s grandparents were seated in chairs and both grinned and shook their
heads at the younger men’s foolish antics. Her heart felt full. She’d never had a
family. Now, she did.
She’d just returned to Rimrock the day before after being gone for the past
four months. It had taken two of those months to find a suitable manager for her
plantation, then she’d had to pack the things she wanted shipped here. After that,
she’d had to complete an assignment in India involving a man-eating tiger. An
assignment Danger had moaned over and pleaded with her to be the last
dangerous one she accepted. After all, she was pregnant. He wanted her with him
and not working again, at least, not until the baby was born. They had some
things to work out yet about her chosen career, but she knew they were both
willing to make sacrifices to make their life together work.
When Danger had been shot, she’d thought he would die. She would have lost
this chance at happiness with a man she adored, so she was willing to do
whatever was necessary to make him happy. If that meant giving up her career,
staying home and raising his babies, then so be it. She’d had enough excitement
in her life to last a lifetime, yeah, she’d definitely become the barefoot, pregnant,
stay in the kitchen, woman.
Danger took her hand and pressed his mouth close to her ear. “Any regrets?” “Not a one.”
“Good, because this time next year, I plan on you being pregnant with baby
two.”
He grinned. “At least, I plan on working very hard on making baby two.” She giggled. “I think maybe that might be up for negotiation and a bit of
working on it together.”
“Yeah. We can negotiate, little cat.”
They waved their farewells to family and friends and Danger grabbed Lacey’s
hand and pushed his way past the small gathering. The sound of laughter
followed them out into the corridors and down the outside steps. There, they
paused beside Danger’s shiny, new black Jeep, her wedding gift to him. She’d
presented the Jeep to him yesterday upon her return from Atlanta. He’d looked
like a man pole-axed when she’d driven it up in the yard of his grandparent’s
farm.
Lacey’s jaw gaped at the sight of several condoms blown up and attached to
the radio antenna. “I think Coe has been up to his old tricks. He has a fixation
with those things.”
“I thought they ought to be used for something,” Coe said from the top of the
courthouse steps and loud enough for everyone to hear and draw their attention
to the Jeep.
Danger winced at the snickers and flipped his brother the bird. “So where ya goin’ for your honeymoon?” Coe shouted.
Danger ignored the question and helped Lacey inside the Jeep. “We better
lose that bunch fast or we won’t have a moment of privacy until tomorrow.” He tugged her seat belt across her shoulder. Their eyes met and he leaned in
and kissed her. “Save my place right here,” he whispered against her mouth. She nodded and caught her breath in anticipation.
Danger got in beside her and started the Jeep.
“So, where are we going for our honeymoon?” Lacey asked.
Danger took her hand and kissed the gold band that marked her as his. “I
have something to show you.”
Lacey leaned back and enjoyed the scenery as Danger whipped the Jeep down
the highway. About five miles east of Rimrock, he turned down a gravel road and
drove another mile then stopped. Lacey gasped as she eyed the stunning archway
to a ranch. It was breathtaking with the design of a painted horse standing in the
middle, wagon wheels at both ends and a two dimensional, mountainous
backdrop behind it. Overhead, she read aloud, “Blackstone’s Painted Ponies
Ranch.”
Danger restarted the Jeep and drove on down the road until he stopped in
front of the prettiest ranch house made of logs Lacey had ever seen. “This is your ranch? But, I thought you lived with your grandparents?” “No, little cat. I haven’t lived with Papa Joe and Grandma Shalene since I was
eighteen. Here lately, they’ve needed a little extra looking after. Coe, Anna Leigh
and I take turns staying with them.” He helped her out of the Jeep and they
strolled hand in hand to the front of the house. “Do you like it? I bought this place
back when I was eighteen and gradually built it into what it is today. I designed
the archway and cut out the iron. I raise some of the best paints in the West.
Yesterday, I closed the deal on another fifty thousand acres to add to the hundred I already owned. I signed the deed to everything over to you this morning, my
wedding gift to you.”
Lacey burst into tears.
Danger stared at her, slack-jawed as tears streamed down her face. Gently, he
drew her in his arms. “I thought you’d be pleased. Don’t cry sweetheart. Jesus, it
rips out my heart when you cry.”
“Oh, God, Danger, you can’t give me your home. It’s all you have.” “You’re all I have,” he whispered huskily and threaded trembling fingers
through her hair. “The ranch, land and horses, they’re just possessions that don’t
love me back. You, the baby, and any babies we have in the future, that’s what
matters to me. You’re my life. I love you, Lacey.”
He opened the door, lifted her in his arms and started across the threshold. “I
always intended to give this ranch to my bride. I hope you’ll be happy, little cat.” Lacey smiled through her tears, because she knew being in the arms of
Danger was all the happiness she’d ever need or want.
In The Arms Of Danger
About the Author
Jaydyn Chelcee is a native of Oklahoma who gives credit for her love for the western states her desire to write contemporary western romances. She is also the author of the Winslow Witches of Salem paranormal romance series, Witch’s Brew and Witch’s Heart written under the pen name Tabitha Shay. Witch’s Brew was nominated for the 2007 P.E.A.R.L Award for best new paranormal romance by a debut author. Witch’s Heart won first place in the OWFI contest in 2007. Both books are available in e-format from Eternal Press at www.eternalpress.ca. In the Arms of Danger is Book One in the Montana Men series. Watch for No Holds Barred coming in Dec. of 2008, a Jaydyn Chelcee novel. Jaydyn loves traveling, writi
ng, collecting coins, and hearing from her readers. Visit her website at www.tabithashay.com
Coming soon from Eternal Press
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