by Jerri Hines
She closed her eyes. He touched her, kissed her, prodded her body until she responded in the manner he wanted, until she cried out…not to stop…she cried out his name. He climbed on top of her on the utterance. She could feel him thrust into her again and again. She could hear a cry. Was it hers? She didn’t know. She felt as if she had fallen into an abyss.
Through the window, sunlight edged through brightly on their bare bodies. She stared at him. With the sun streaming down she could see clearly the scars on his back—horribly scarred, so many marks. His broad muscular shoulders had borne the brunt of his torture. What he must have endured!
At the moment, though, he seemed content with all around him and she was in a strange mood of shock and bewilderment. He ran his hand through her loosened hair as she wiped back tears.
He took his hand to the back of her neck; bending, he kissed her lips softly, gently. Her hands pressed against his chest.
"I..." she began, but her voice faded.
"Ssh," he said. His hand wiped back her tears. "There is no need for tears." He laid back. Taking her in his arms, he stared out the window. "I love this...being here. Free...It is what you need to do. Take life one day at a time, Rebekah. There is no other way to do so. If we took a moment of pleasure in this harsh world, so be it."
"Is this what you think I wanted?" she whispered. "Why do you do this? Take what you want without thought of another."
"I have learned to do so. If you expect me to tell you I'm sorry and it will not happen again, I'm afraid you will be sadly disappointed. I know now that you didn't lie that you were a virgin, but..." He paused and pulled her chin up to look into her eyes. "Tell me, Rebekah. Tell me that you..."
"Wanted this?" she questioned. Her voice rose angrily. Then as suddenly, she turned her face away from him. "How...how am I supposed to know how I feel? Everything I have known is no more. And here I lay..." She pushed up from him, glancing back at him. "With you, Black Rory..."
"Ah, yes, ruthless and cruel Tory raider," he finished her sentence. "And yet, you are not afraid of me. You lie here in my arms and don't recoil."
"How do you know what I feel?"
"One does not fall asleep in the arms of someone they are deadly afraid of, my dear."
“You saved me,” she said. “I would have been dead. Tell me whether I should have thought differently. Should I have swooned?”
“No,” he laughed. He caressed her cheek. "My confused sweet one." He ran his hand down her neck to her bare arm, taking her hand to his lips. "My innocent, thrown so cruelly into my arms." He kissed her fingers. "You are mine now."
His lips slowly moved up her arm, finding her lips. She drew in a breath as he began to touch her again. In the far reaching of her mind, she had dreamed of what a love would bring. That dream died, replaced with an uncanny instinct to survive. The rumors abounded of this man's cruelty, relentless mercilessness to his victims. But he had saved her. She was at his mercy. There was always a price to be paid. Did not her uncle tell her there was always a price?
Chapter Five
Midmorning found Rebekah finishing the clean-up after breakfast. With a ragged sigh, Rebekah wiped back fallen tresses from her face. The house was quiet, almost hushed. Annie had yet to make an appearance.
Rory had left directly after he ate without a word to her. Angry. With her or the world, she wasn’t sure. In the time she had lived under this roof, he had never spoken an ill word to her until last night.
Her stomach churned. With her hand over her mouth, she clung to the table top. Faint, she fought back the urge to submit to the darkness. She sank into the chair and held her head in her hands. A minute later, she felt a wet tongue lick her hand.
“I’m fine, boy.”
She reached over and patted Barney’s head. Looking down, the marks had deepened and left bruises around her wrist. She pulled back her hand and stared at the contusions. Her cries echoed in her.
“Rory, stop. Please. I love you. Don’t do this.”
He stopped then and released her. His contorted face eased. He gazed at her with a blank look and sat up. She pressed up against his back; gently she touched his shoulder. “Tell me, Rory. What is wrong? I can see well that something is gnawing within you.”
He sat unmoving, still as a statue; only his chest heaved with each breath he took. She moved around to face him. She reached up to his face and caressed it tenderly.
“I have been here for almost three months. I lay with you and deny you nothing.” Water welled in her eyes. “We have been content. You have not been displeased with me. Have you?”
Through the blur of tears, she saw him open his mouth and then he closed it. She pressed on. “Why don’t we leave? You and I. Far from here. We could…”
He pushed her back and rose from the bed. He reached for his pants and boots and walked out the door without looking back. An ominous feeling entrenched her on the remembrance.
Her stomach calmed. She swallowed hard and rubbed the back of her neck. For the last few months, she lived only day to day. She didn’t think of the future. She accepted Rory’s protection, if only for a brief moment in time. Her mind told her he was a man to be feared, but if she was truthful to herself, she felt for him emotions she should have never allowed.
Reasoning with herself, she had no choice in accepting what he offered, but…her heart held no reasoning. He touched her and she shivered, unleashing within her emotions she had never known existed.
Without question, the man enjoyed the power he wielded over her. When his arms rounded her, he had complete power over her and reveled in the fact. Never, though, did he utter any words of endearment; he talked only of the present.
The present…She stood. She had to find Annie. Annie might not hold to her, but she abided Rebekah. Rebekah discovered that Annie dealt with the past with a jug in her hand. Rebekah did not judge, for Tobias told the tale of her daughter, her only child, dying in her arms in the most unimaginable scene. That alone would change any person.
Strange. Rebekah searched the house without a sign of Annie. With Barney by her side, she walked the farm from the barn and the sheds. Nothing. Not another living soul…not even the wagon…or the horses. Oh, my God! She glanced frantically around. There wasn’t a sign of anyone. I’m alone!
Rebekah sat in the drawing room with Barney at her feet. A storm loomed on the horizon. She smelled it in the air. Clouds darkened the sky, giving to all a semblance of night before her time. Thunder roared and lightning flashed in the distance. She sat, staring out a hole through the boarded window. She waited. For what—she didn’t know, but she knew it was coming.
Night crept in with its stealthy cloak of darkness. Rebekah sat in a black haze, remembering the last time she sat in this room. The room had been lit brightly. She sat playing cards with Tobias when he insisted on teaching her to dance, unbelieving she had been kept from the activity. That was until she stepped on his foot one too many times.
“Practice, Rebekah, with music,” Tobias said, smiling ruefully. “And perhaps with Rory.”
“It is a challenge I accept,” Rory answered.
Rebekah glanced over her shoulder. In the doorway, Rory leaned against it, seemingly enjoying himself. The moment etched in her heart as he took her hand. With elegance she had not expected, Rory stepped in rhythm to an imaginary beat, but one she seemed to hear herself.
“You need only the right teacher.”
In that moment, Rebekah glimpsed another person—a person from another time. A time before the scars and pain that sent him spirally down the road he now walked. Handsome and dignified presence, Rebekah thought, if not for the scars.
He had shown he once was a gentleman…once…before the demons tormented him. She had seen those demons emerge last night.
A clasp of thunder rocked the house; the wind howled; the rain poured. Rebekah sprang to the window as Barney began barking wildly. The distinct sound of horses riding at a fast pace resonated in the room. Lightning
flashed. She saw a gang of riders descending on the house.
She waited in breathless silence as the sound of men reining their horses in front of the house grew louder. Footsteps resounded on the porch.
“Can’t go in! Rory said wait.”
“It’s pouring. What harm can come…”
“Rory said wait!” A voice shouted over the wind. Tobias—it was Tobias’s voice.
Fear gripped her. She froze. Barney barked madly at the door. Abruptly, she turned. A light caught her sight. Someone had lit a lantern from the back of the house. She eyed the stairs. A split second later, she bolted.
A strong hand seized her and spun her back to him. Drenched, his hat dripped rain on the floor. Muttering under his breath, Tobias asked, “What the hell are you still doing here?”
“I…I…” She found she had lost her voice. She breathed in. “I don’t…know what you are talking of.”
“Annie didn’t tell you to leave?” he asked in a low whisper.
Her eyes wide with dread, she shook her head. “I have been alone since this morning when Rory left.”
“Goddammit.” He cursed under his breath. “She took off and left you here…”
“Tobias, what’s going on in there? She there?” a voice called from the porch.
“I’m looking!” Tobias shouted back.
“What are they talking about, Tobias? What’s going on? Where is Annie? Where’s Rory?” Rebekah asked in a low trembling tone.
His eyes slowly narrowed and snorted in disgust. “You haven’t a clue. Not an inkling of what Rory had planned? Nothing?”
“Rory? Planned…” Her voice faded off, not wanting to hear more.
His hold tightened on her arm and pulled her to his face. “Follow me. Then run. Into the woods. Hide. You don’t have much time. Rory’s coming.”
“Hide from what? What have I done?”
“Goddammit, woman. Don’t argue with me. It’s not about you. It’s never been about you.”
“Revenge,” she muttered as if to herself.
“We don’t have time,” Tobias uttered harshly. “His men wait outside. They want to see Rory enact his final act of retribution.”
She shook her head, incredulous. “Final act? What else has he done?”
“We don’t have time for this.”
He dragged her down the corridor. She jerked back her arm. She said plainly, “No.”
“You don’t understand,” he muttered. “I warned you from the beginning. Rory’s got no heart. Run, you Goddamn little fool.”
Rebekah slowly shook her head, vehemently resisting his reach to pull her with him. She stared at the man in front of her. Rory’s brother. Going against his own brother. It was bad. She could only imagine…then the thunder roared and lightning flashed.
“Tobias, what in the hell do you think you are doing?”
Rebekah looked up to see Rory blocking the corridor. Behind him, lanterns lit the kitchen to see it littered with Rory’s men. She had nowhere to run. Her heart stopped. Tobias turned, refusing to bulge from Rebekah.
“Ain’t right, Rory. You know it.”
“I know you have only a few seconds to step away from her.”
Feeling helpless in her plight, her eyes begged Tobias to leave. “Go, Tobias. Please.”
Releasing a heaved sigh, Tobias stepped back and shook his head in disgust. Rory immediately gripped tightly to his brother’s arm and pushed him so hard against the wall that it shook. Pulling him up to his face, he snarled, “Don’t ever go against me again. It will be your last, brother.”
Tobias jerked his arm back and pushed against Rory to be released. “I tried to do so for you, you fool. Go ahead. I can do nothing else.”
Rory’s eye was like cold stone. “Go,” he commanded. “They are up at Larkin’s Bank. They will be descending on us within the hour. The rain is breaking. Ride. I will catch up.”
Abruptly, Tobias spun on his heels. “I thought…”
“You thought wrong,” Rory jeeringly answered. “I have only to settle the matter before me. If you remember where we are set to meet?”
Tobias nodded, looking strangely at his brother. “I do. I will.” Tobias turned to the men and gestured for all to leave.
A shiver of dread crawled up Rebekah’s spine as she watched Tobias leave. She lowered her eyes from Rory’s gaze, trying desperately to hide the trepidation welling up in her. She could not contain herself when she heard the horses riding away.
“So this has been your plan from the beginning. Murdering me…,” she said. She could do little to control the quaver in her voice. “You know I…cared…I thought you did…”
Rory stared unashamedly at her, neither confirming nor denying her words. She stepped back from him. He matched her step. With trembling palpitation, she pushed back at him when he reached for her. No equal to his strength, he yanked her up to his face. In an ice-cold tone that sent her body aquiver, he uttered, “I didn’t ask you to care.”
“No, but you made love to me…held me in your arms. You knew well I would never have let you do so without feeling the way that I do.”
“You think that this is what I want now?”
“Want to do? Obviously it is what you have lived for.” She managed to say the words. She was beyond scared. She had never seen this side of her raider. Now, though, she stood before the man that with only the mention of his name spread terror. Hysterical emotions ran rampant. “Do it quickly if you must. I beg you only do not defile my body. If it is peace you seek, know you have your revenge with me.”
“Rebekah.” Her name echoed in the hollow hall.
“Don’t!” she screamed madly. “Don’t say my name.”
She pulled back and he released her. She ran to the back door, not to escape. Her stomach rumbled. Nausea swept through her. She reached up to cover her mouth, but it did no good. She reached the back porch before she began to throw up. He did nothing until she raised her head.
She heard his footsteps behind her. She didn’t turn around. In a hoarse voice, she cried, “Don’t touch me!”
Abruptly his arms rounded her and picked her up without a struggle. She had none left in her. From the quickness of his action she could not answer, but her head began to spin and darkness descended upon her.
* * * *
Rebekah opened her eyes. She held her breath as she strained to hear some sound. The rain pounding on the roof had ceased; no winds howled. Calm encompassed the house. The storm had broken.
Straightaway, she felt her body. She was alive. Where was Rory? Why had he laid her on the bed they had shared? She lifted her head and pulled herself upright. Oh, she was going to be sick again.
Suddenly, sounds resounded outside. Barney leaped up and began barking relentlessly at the closed door. Confusion reigned in her. Voices illuminated outside the house. Shouting and yelling. Was it for someone? She couldn’t make out what.
Baffled, her heart pounded loudly in her chest. Fear encompassed her to the point she made no movement. Boots pounded up the stairs and kicked in the door. Barney jumped up by Rebekah. Growling, his teeth blared.
“Rebekah!” A voice emerged in her consciousness. “Rebekah!”
“Daniel?” Disbelief and confusion was apparent in her voice. Her brother! She had to get to him. “Daniel!”
Commanding Barney to heel, she had no time to react. In the next instant, a young man broke past the others swarming the room and wrapped his arms around her. Holding her head against his chest, he soothed her.
“It’s over,” Daniel repeated over and over again. “You’re safe. Safe.”
Words resounded around her, ramblings. She tried desperately to make sense of all her brother was trying to tell her, but all she could do was cry. Men…there were so many men.
One…a tall, resplendent dressed man stepped into the room. His nose was thin, slightly aquiline. Long, light brown hair drawn back in a queue under his hat, he gazed sternly at her. She knew him. Pierce Cutler. A
man Ian held in high esteem: Ian’s father’s best friend and business partner.
“He’s not here, nor will we find him here,” Cutler declared. “Larry, mount up. Follow the creek’s edge. We’ll see to the girl. If by chance, she has any information…”
Rebekah gripped Daniel’s hand tightly as if he would leave her. Trembling uncontrollably, she whispered, “I don’t know anything. I’m so confused.”
“Miss Morse,” Cutler’s voice spoke softly. She felt his eyes on her arms…her bruises. “I know you have been through a great deal, but we need to know whether you have any information that could help in capturing your kidnapper.”
“Kidnapped? He saved me…” She gulped in air. “Oh, I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Rebekah, saved you? Saved you from what?”
Rebekah couldn’t say anymore as once more she felt her stomach rumble. The next moment she was throwing up again.
Rebekah stared pensively into space. Walking across the room, she straightened her skirt. Mrs. Daventry—no, Esther, Rebekah reminded herself. She wanted Rebekah to call her Esther. Esther had seen to her attire, a long-sleeve green day gown. The only words Cutler had uttered on their arrival were, “Cover her bruises before he sees.”
The room into which she had been ushered was quiet. She needed quiet; she needed to grasp the situation. Rory had deceived her…Ian was alive. Alive! At least for the moment. Daniel and Paul had searched endlessly for her. No one thought she had deserted them. Even Uncle Adam had participated in the search when all came to light…when it became apparent Ian’s brother was responsible for her abduction.
Numb to all around her, she understood none of it only…only all Rory had told her had been a lie. Daniel told her all he knew on their journey to Lyon’s Main. Rory had used her to blackmail, not only Layton Daventry, but Ian. He had ransomed her off to a dying man. Then Rory slit Daventry’s throat after taking his money. The one who wanted her dead was dead himself.