Nomad's Bride

by Rachel Cade

The last thing she would ever do in her life again was fawn over Will Durand.

  She told him she didn’t want him, and she meant every word.

  “I need to pick up Max.”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Ash is having a party for her niece. She wants Max to be there.”

  Lyndie’s brow furrowed as she passed him to get to her driver’s side door.

  “Well you can tell Ash I said no.” She kept her voice as calm as God would allow. Max was two months old. What did he know about parties? What did he know about his father’s mistress? Nothing. And she planned to keep it that way as long as possible.

  Will didn’t want anything to do with his own child and only asked for him at his girlfriend’s request? Ashley Langley was used to getting everything she wanted, but she’d be damned if she got her son.

  “It’s just a party, Lyndie.”

  “The last time you talked to me, you called Max a trap. You’ve only seen him once since he came home from the hospital, on the sidewalk downtown.” Her voice was raising, and she began stabbing her key toward the car lock.

  “All this fucking drama.” He rounded the car and pushed her hand away from the key, leaving it to dangle.

  “You know what I like about Ashley besides her being thin and sexy as hell?” He closed the space between them, leaving less than a foot of distance. “She knows how to treat a man. And she’s got more ambition than just being a broke waitress for the rest of her life.”

  Lyndie felt her eyes water at his words. They cut so quick and deep she couldn’t catch herself. If she blinked, she knew they would spill.

  Her teeth grated before she spoke.“She’s treated a lot of men over the years. But everyone looks the other way because she’s a Langley. Including y-”

  Will yanked her arm hard, dragging her to his squad car.

  Lyndie couldn’t catch her breath to scream when she was pushed against the passenger door.

  She whirled around to face him, expecting a slap.

  Will’s jaw was tight. “Apologize.”

  The tears running down her cheeks were cold. Her side stung where she’d hit the car door. The humiliation was almost worse. Will probably thought she was crying over him. The truth was she was crying for choosing a man that would hurt her so much.

  She spoke in an attempt to hurt him back. He just brought out an ugly side of her, a person she didn’t even recognize.

  “I just want you-” She began to straighten. “I just want you to leave me alone. Go be with Ashley.” She was breathless. “Go be with her.”

  “I don’t need your permission.” His voice was sharp, yet smugness bled some of the anger from his face.

  She pulled herself away from the door, but he blocked the path to her car.

  “It wasn’t a request, Lyndie. Apologize.” His teeth flashed as he spoke through them.

  Disrespect was one of his pet peeves. Everyone in town bowed to him except Langley. He expected it from her, too, despite not deserving it. He didn’t care.

  Will hadn’t always been this way. But his appointment to Sheriff had spun his ego out of control.

  Lyndie held onto the elbow that had crashed against the car window.

  She just wanted to get home to Max and couldn’t take any more chances.

  “I’m sorry.” The phrase was like a knife in her throat.

  His short step to the side after a moment was his only acknowledgement of her words.

  Slowly, she walked to her hatchback.

  His hand landed on the top of her car as she touched her key. And his closeness at her side made her want to shrink back.

  “I’ll tell Ash it’s a no for the party, alright?” His voice softened, coming close to sounding like actual compassion.

  She shut her eyes as relief took some of her tension away. At least he would leave her alone about that.

  Then she felt something.

  His hand was on her breast.

  Gasping, Lyndie jerked away, moving to the headlights of her car.

  Will brought his finger to his mouth and sucked on the tip. “Wouldn’t want to get in the way of that motherly instinct.”

  He got in his squad car and began backing out.

  When Lyndie looked down, she saw two wet spots on her uniform where her milk had leaked through the pads.

  She wiped her eyes as Will drove away, leaving her in the parking lot alone.

  Chapter Five:

  Skorpio

  It was a weekend night and Noa was in his room at the Lil’ Apple, reading instead of fucking it up somewhere.

  This was what it meant to keep his nose clean.

  His lip curled. His bike was cold and so was half his bed.

  It was so unnatural.

  Instead of a woman, blueprints were spread over his bed.

  A couple towns over, there were still public libraries that allowed access to this shit and had a working printer. He was half expecting stone tablets.

  Every morning started with having breakfast with Lyndie, and he didn’t give a damn about the walk; it was the best way to start his day.

  Just getting her to smile for a few minutes to wipe the sadness out of her eyes gave him a thrill usually reserved for speeding along a long stretch of highway. It was often followed by thoughts of caressing his finger down her dimple or worse, pressing her full mouth to his and finally tasting it.

  Worse because the thought never failed to tighten his pants.

  Just the thought of kissing her. Nothing else.

  And for now, it had to stay as simple as a kiss, otherwise Skorpio would rear his head, and he doubted she was ready for any of that.

  Lyndie was a sweet, small-town girl. A genuine one.

  She didn’t know anything about being tied up and fucked into submission.

  But Noa wanted her to know every bit of it.

  “Every bit,” he said aloud to no one.

  The wooden headboard that pressed against his back had perfectly separated columns he could easily tie her wrists to. She could just be naked and open to whatever he wanted.

  His tongue ring hit the roof of his mouth at the sound of his phone.

  “Quick check in. How goes it?” Tin’s voice was bright on the other line.

  “Alright.” Noa tried to will down his erection and get his thoughts back from a nude Lyndie ass up in his bed. “The only problem I ran into so far is the Sheriff out here. A guy named Durand. You know his type: big fish in a small pond.”

  Tin scoffed. “Yeah. Anything else?”

  “There’s a guy out here named Langley. Guess he owns most of the shit up here except for a few places.”

  “You check ‘em out?”

  “Yeah. I got some prints from the library I’m gonna snap some photos to send you.”

  “An efficient nomad is a good nomad.”

  At least he’d be spared another speech about wandering. There was nothing wrong with it. He could still be a part of the MC without tying himself to a specific chapter.

  Noa grinned. “So when are you guys coming out?”

  “Who said all that?”

  Noa grabbed a Dorito from the bag off the nightstand as his eyes rolled.

  “Like you didn’t send me out here for a reason.” He popped it into his mouth. “You just wanted me to take a ride?”

  “Partly. You seemed to be getting antsy; I figured a change of scenery would do you some good.”

  Noa continued chewing before washing it down with a swig of crap gas station beer.

  “What’s your opinion on little Amber Falls?”

  Noa stared at the red rose he’d made out of construction paper as it rested on top of the plans.

  “It’s small – but it’s got potential.”

  *

  Will sat in Hugh Langley’s drawing room, annoyed by the smell of cigar ingrained in the wood. He couldn’t get Lyndie out of his head. Just about everyone in this town showed him the respect he deserved, except for her.

&nbs
p; The mother of his child.

  That had never been his intention.

  All the while he was with Lyndie, he knew it was temporary. She should have too.

  Now there was a kid he didn’t want and everything was so damn complicated.

  Too complicated, to be honest, with the potential to fuck up his plans.

  Lyndie made him volatile.

  She just fucking made him that way.

  Will knew that it was over, but there was a tiny part of him that wanted her one more time just to prove that he could completely possess her. That she couldn’t say no to him.

  And that tiny part was growing.

  The feel of her breast weighed his palm still and it bothered him. He never should have touched her.

  Giving birth had expanded her chest twice over; he noticed but never said anything about it.

  I’m sorry.

  She was.

  Will clenched his hand into a fist.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting, my boy.”

  Hugh’s lean suited form casually walked in and grabbed a chair across from him.

  “Can I get you a drink?” The white-haired man crossed his legs.

  “No, sir. I’m on duty.”

  “What’s a little rule break here and there to you?” His smile was slight and shrewd.

  Hugh Langley was old money, and he dressed like a Colonel to remind everyone of it.

  He lived a few miles out of town, but from his huge hill house, he could look down from any of his windows and survey the whole town.

  “You called me to come up.” Will calmly eyed the only man who had more power than him in Amber Falls.

  “I did. I was wondering how my sons were able to come to me and let me know a man on a motorcycle has been staying in town for close to a week and you don’t know anything about it. I say you don’t know anything, because if you did, you would have come to me.”

  Man on a motorcycle?

  Not that same guy he stopped. The tattooed pompous prick he specifically let know wasn’t welcome?

  Fuck.

  “The look on your face says enough.” Hugh straightened in the high back chair, petting his thigh softly. “I realize you have your own little business venture in town, but I don’t need you distracted. Your primary job is to keep Amber Falls quiet and lawful.”

  Will kept himself from tightening his jaw. “I’m aware of that, sir. That’s exactly what Amber Falls is.”

  A god damn biker. The thought made him seethe.

  How the hell did this shit pass by him undetected?

  “I hope you’re not threatening him.” Ashley walked in like the whirlwind she usually was and kissed her dad’s raisin cheek before standing by the opposite chair next to Will.

  “I’m not threatening,” Hugh said with a laugh. “Will is the town Sheriff. I trust him with the town, and with you.”

  Ashley’s coy laugh bubbled in the drawing room.

  It was the first time Noa didn’t show up to breakfast.

  The back of Lyndie’s mind told her that was it. That he was done.

  Done and gone.

  Max cooed, lifting his hand up from his blanket in the car seat.

  Lyndie smiled down at him before placing some canned food in her carriage.

  “I haven’t seen anyone. I haven’t even heard a bike around here.”

  “No one rides bikes in Amber Falls.”

  “Craig’s probably been drinking too much again.”

  “What else has he got better to do?”

  The two women snickered as she pulled her carriage up to the register.

  Vicki and Mary Lee, sisters, devout church women and the town’s biggest gossips.

  “Morning, ladies.”

  “Morning, Lyndie.” Their voices leapt over one another.

  Sarah said nothing but made it her business to look pointedly at the cash as she accepted it. Lyndie knew the gas station incident had spread to more than Will’s ears. That was one of the downsides to being in a small town: gossip, not football, was the number one sport.

  Jeff would never wait for her.

  Lyndie barely cleaned as she quickly moved to close up. She checked all sides of the diner to make sure she didn’t see Will’s car outside. She kept telling herself he wouldn’t be back, but it was still night and she was still alone. Aside from a bat behind the counter, she had nothing to defend herself.

  Imagine living in a quiet small town and the person you feared the most was the Sheriff.

  A god damned mess.

  Lyndie parked her car as close to the building as possible.

  The last thing she did was shut off the open sign before she locked up the diner.

  The parking lot was partially lit, and empty.

  It never usually bothered her leaving late at night. Amber Falls was safe.

  But then Will had to come along harassing her. Now she was hyper aware at night. She couldn’t even switch shifts to do doubles to lessen her evening hours because she wouldn’t have a sitter.

  “I was trying to catch you before you closed.”

  Lyndie turned to the voice behind her, almost tripping on the step.

  She caught herself, holding her chest.

  “Shit, I’m sorry. I scared you.” Noa’s hair was completely windblown, looking wilder than usual. But she barely noticed it over the concern in his eyes.

  He was wearing the sheer top again, but he had on a silver necklace and thick leather bracelets on his wrists. He looked like a member of a vampire gang, and she’d never been so happy to see a man in her life.

  Lyndie pulled away from the door.

  “I thought you were gone.” Her voice was light as she tried to catch her breath.

  “I had to go out of town. A bit impromptu and that’s why I missed breakfast. You okay?”

  She heard him speaking, but Lyndie felt like she was in a haze; emotion just wanted to bust free and her chest was a weakening dam trying to hold it back.

  She shook her head despite herself.

  Then she started moving toward him and he stepped forward.

  Instinct took over and she hugged him.

  “Lyndie.” His arms wrapped around her back and she thought her knees slacked.

  His tight hold wouldn’t let her fall though, and her body weight rested against him. She relaxed in the embrace of this huge tattooed stranger that had shown up in her life and offered her more kindness than just about anyone.

  “What’s wrong, babygirl?” he asked against her scalp. She could feel his goatee tickling her forehead. It made her laugh, but it came out a sad sound.

  “I just-” She stopped herself. It felt too good being in his arms – all she wanted to do was stand there and feel his warmth while listening to his strong heartbeat under her ear.

  “I missed you,” she finished.

  Lyndie pulled away slightly to look up at him.

  In a blue rush, she was reminded that he was dangerous too. But in a different way than Will.

  He stared down at her, and it was so consuming, she felt as if she was drowning.

  “Likewise.” That large hand was on the side of her face, she welcomed the rough softness she remembered from the first time they shook hands.

  When her hand covered his wrist, the leather was softer than she expected, tempting her to caress it.

  This was different from eating together and talking; the warmth swirling over her. All of it was different.

  Her mouth had gone dry.

  “People in town are starting to talk about you.”

  Noa shrugged his huge shoulders. “Let ‘em talk.”

  “Noa, this isn’t good.”

  He was staring down at her mouth now; that also wasn’t good.

  Noa possessed a kindness, she was sure of that, but there was also something else in him. The sight of his teeth flashing livened her body in a way that forced her to step out of his hold.

  The separation didn’t stop the fact that her body was waking up.
/>   For him.

  He rested his hands on his hips, and some of the intensity relaxed from his eyes. “Let them have something to talk about while they’re watching The Blob.”

  Lyndie couldn’t help but chuckle.

  Noa reached in his back pocket and pulled out a flyer.

  “I saw this on a stand on my way back. The next town over.”

  Lyndie recognized the lettering. “Bailey’s Carnival.”

  “Why don’t you go with me? You can ride Deathstalker.”

  Lyndie’s brow raised. “They have a ride called Deathstalker?”

  “No.” Noa’s chin shifted down a bit. “Deathstalker’s my bike.”

  Lyndie was sure her face said the holy shit she couldn’t mouth.

  “You met her at the gas station,” he quickly added.

  “Deathstalker,” she repeated.

  He nodded once.

  Lyndie had never been asked out in her life. Will never asked her… they just did things together.

  Why couldn’t he have come to town a year earlier?

  “Noa.” She smiled. “I’m a mom.”

  He lowered the flyer, staying quiet.

  “I can’t.”

  “Because… you’re a mom?” He questioned her as if he didn’t understand it.

  She tightened her hand on the strap of her purse.

  “It doesn’t bother me that you have a kid, Lyndie. I just wanted to take you out, get you away from the diner.”

  “It should bother you though, Noa. It’s not that simple.”

  “I like you and you like me. That’s simple.”

  Damn he was quick.

  Lyndie had no experience in this, attempting to let someone down gently. It might have been easier if she wasn’t letting herself down too.

  “Noa.” She clenched her teeth before speaking. “Don’t try to make something simple when it’s hard.”

  Lyndie couldn’t look at him again as she went to her car.

  *

  Being turned down by a woman was something that never happened to him, and being turned down by one he actually liked…

  There wasn’t enough beer in three towns to drown that shit in.

  He jumped the gun… maybe if he’d taken it slower.

  Then again maybe it was him. Maybe she thought it was okay to have breakfast and chat but anything beyond that was a no. And she threw her baby up as an excuse.