by Lora Leigh
Summer was in full swing, and the East Texas weather was damned hot. It was a dry heat, though, one that warmed the bones and made her think of the sultry night to come. There was no doubt in her mind that as long as she shared Luc’s bed, there would be no lack of physical exertion. The man had enough testosterone for three men.
Turning back into the house, she entered the kitchen, determined to get the dishes done quickly so she could get the rest of the house cleaned. Luc had mentioned taking a few of the horses out later if she felt up to it. It had been years since she had ridden, and never an animal as large and graceful as the Clydesdales he so loved.
It was easy to convince herself that the situation could continue indefinitely. Easy to let her heart and mind push back the problems that would await her when she returned home.
Her parents had disowned her. She likely didn’t have an apartment now and she definitely didn’t have a job. All she had was a fat cat, a fairly nice car, and a nursing certificate that she hadn’t used in two years.
But when Luc’s arms went around her, when his lips touched hers, none of those problems existed. There was only here and now, his touch, the heat, and the hard wash of pleasure that surged through her body. It was becoming harder, daily, to imagine being without him. A sigh of longing escaped her at that thought. She didn’t want to be without him—that was her problem.
“Why the sigh, little sis, missing home?” The voice from the doorway made Melina freeze in shock. She stood still before the sink, desperately trying to convince herself she hadn’t heard that voice.
“Maybe missing me.” The coarse roughness of the other female voice had Melina swinging around in fear.
Melina blinked warily, certain it wasn’t possible that the two women she was staring at were actually there.
“Oh look, Bertha, we surprised her. Doesn’t she look so cute when she goes all pale like that?” Maria clapped her hands together like a child, an expression of malicious amusement twisting her face.
“Yeah, just makes the juices flow.” Bertha smiled in anticipation, her dark eyes glittering with an unnatural lust. “Wonder if she’ll be as hot as you are, Maria? I bet once she gets worked up, she’ll be better.”
Maria grimaced distastefully as the back door opened and two unfamiliar men entered. For a moment, just a moment, she had hoped it was Luc, until she saw the men. There was no doubt these were friends of Maria’s. They had eyes like snakes, cold and devoid of emotion as they stared at her.
“These are friends of mine, Mellie,” Maria told her cheerfully. “You don’t need to know their names, but they’ve come to help me take you home. Poor baby. I’m sorry you were kidnapped in my stead, but I’m sure I can take care of your big old cowboy.
“Besides”—she glanced at Bertha—“your good friend Bertha has really missed you. I think she’s looking forward to greeting you properly.”
Maria was high; her eyes were glazed, the unnatural smile on her face too wide.
“God, Maria.” Melina shook her head as she faced the sad waste of the sister she had once loved. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Maria frowned back at her, a flicker of anger in her gaze. “You refused Papa’s plan, Melina. You aren’t supposed to do that. I came to bring you back so you could reconsider.” She smiled like a child proposing some wonderful adventure. “Papa has it all worked out this time, honey. And Bertha here…” She motioned to the large-boned woman lazily. “She came along with us to remind you of what happens when you refuse to do what she wants. And she really wants you to help me.” The beatific smile that filled Maria’s face shouldn’t have looked so twisted and sinister, but it did. It terrified Melina.
“I nearly died last time, Maria,” she reminded her, fighting to remain calm as Bertha’s eyes traveled over her body. “Do you really want to see me dead?”
There was no compassion, no hesitation in her sister. “Better you than me, sweetie. You know I’m the favorite. The best. Papa wouldn’t want to lose me, Mellie, you know this. And it would break Momma’s heart. They don’t love you nearly as well as they do me, so you’re really protecting all of us.”
It was no more than the truth, but it sliced across her soul like the sharpest blade.
“I won’t do it, Maria.” Melina breathed in roughly. She wasn’t alone, she reminded herself. Luc and Jack were at the barn; they would be back soon. Luc wouldn’t let Maria take her. He couldn’t.
“Now, see, sweet thing, there’s where you’re wrong,” Bertha spoke as Maria giggled gaily. “You will come back, and you will stand in her stead and pray to God you do it right. Otherwise, the rape you would have gotten at my hands will look like a Sunday picnic when I get finished with you.”
Her arm went around Maria. Melina watched in sick fascination as Bertha’s head bent, her lips covering Maria’s as her sister responded with such unrestrained passion that Melina wondered if this wasn’t another nightmare rather than reality.
“Cut it out, Maria,” the bigger of the two men on the other side of room ordered her harshly. “We need to get the hell out of here before those two head back. We don’t need any trouble here.”
The two women disengaged slowly. Maria cuddled against Bertha’s breasts as the other woman smiled over at Melina viciously. “Ready to go, sweet thing?”
Melina stared at her sister. In that moment she realized that there would be no saving her twin. She was horribly thin, her skin pasty, her mind so corrupted by the drugs that there was likely no hope of ever bringing her back.
“I love you, Maria,” she said softly as she watched her pitifully. “I hope you always know that I love you.”
Maria blinked, her gaze flickering before going dull and cold again. “Then you’ll have no problems going to prison for me.” She reached up and fondled one of Bertha’s breasts, humming in approval as the other woman’s nipple hardened.
*
Melina shuddered in revulsion.
“I’m not going anywhere.” She stood still, her hands gripping the counter behind her as all eyes turned to her.
“Sorry, lady, but you are coming,” the bigger man sighed roughly. “Sucks, huh? Having a sister like that? But she’s pretty damned useful to me. You aren’t, so you lose.”
He wasn’t a handsome man; he was cold and she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to kill.
The gun he pulled from beneath his jacket proved that.
“Let’s go.”
She gripped the counter harder. “Once I start screaming, Luc and his men will be here. They won’t come unarmed.”
A flicker of unease passed across his expression.
“Then we’ll just have to make sure you don’t scream.” Bertha pushed Maria aside and jumped toward Melina.
She did scream. Luc’s name reverberated through the house, but she knew he would never hear her at the barn. A second later a hard blow landed against her head as she attempted to shove past the larger woman.
Melina could hear her sister’s laughter as she fell to the floor.
“Luc!” she screamed again as she scrambled beneath the table, kicking out at Bertha and the man who grabbed her legs.
A hard blow went into her kidneys a second before a savage howl sounded and the sound of breaking glass over the table was heard. Screams, curses, and feminine laughter echoed around Melina as she fought the pain sweeping through her body. As always, Bertha knew exactly where to aim when she used those brutal fists.
Lobo’s snarling growls were followed by the sound of Luc and Jack. Melina struggled to regain her breathing to see more than the dim, blurry shapes struggling across the kitchen. But Maria was no longer laughing, and if she wasn’t wrong, the still form lying across the room was Bertha.
“You killed her,” Maria suddenly shrieked. “You killed her, you bastard.”
Melina cleared her vision in time to see her sister dragging the gun from her purse and pulling it up. Luc was struggling across the room with one of the men; Jack had the other on
the floor, and the gun was pointing at Luc’s head.
“No…” Gathering the last bit of her strength Melina threw herself at her sister, her hand gripping Maria’s wrists as she fought to take the weapon.
“Damn you, Mellie.” Maria’s knees went into her ribs, sending pain exploding through her body as she went to her back. “You can die first.”
The gun turned on Melina; her sister’s eyes were cold, hard, as her finger tightened on the trigger. Then Maria jerked, shuddered, the gun dropping from her hand as red began to bloom across her chest. Melina watched the horrible stain in shock as silence seemed to fill the room.
“Joey?” Maria whispered bleakly. “Joey, you hurt me. You hurt me…”
She toppled across the fallen figure of her lover, a last gasp heaving from her chest as she stilled.
“Melina.” Luc lowered himself beside her, his hands going over her ribs as she cried out weakly.
The pain was terrible, just breathing was agony.
“Fuck, they broke her rib, possibly two. Jack…”
“Calling the sheriff and ambulance now,” Jack called back, though the words barely penetrated the shock in Melina’s mind.
Maria was dead. Melina stared up past Luc, seeing her brother’s tear-ravaged face as he gazed down at Maria. In his hand he carried a gun. The gun he had used to kill his sister.
“She wouldn’t have stopped,” he said wearily, his voice tear-choked as he knelt beside his dead sister. “She would have never stopped.”
“Easy.” Luc eased her against him as she fought to sit up, pain streaking through her. “Lie still, Cat. The ambulance will be here…”
“No. I’m not Maria.” He called her Cat. Surely he didn’t think she was Maria now.
“No, baby, you’re not.” He kissed her forehead gently. “You’re my little Cat, though. That won’t change.”
“You hate cats.” She stared up at him miserably.
“I love you. I’ve always loved you.
“But you hate cats.”
“I’ve learned to tolerate one in particular.” He smiled then, a weary curve of his lips as he smoothed her hair back. “The other, I can’t live without. I love you, Cat. Now rest easy. Everything’s going to be okay. It’s all going to be okay.”
But would it? She gazed over at her brother, his lowered head, the stoop to his shoulders, then stared back up at Luc. His faced was creased with concern, his eyes black, his shirt torn.
“I love you,” she whispered again.
Gently he smoothed the tears that fell from her eyes, from her cheek. His touch was gentle, tender, but his gaze was fierce.
“No more than I love you, little Cat. Never more than I love you.”
TWENTY-TWO
Maria’s funeral was a small, quiet affair. Melina had been forced to miss it. Two broken ribs and a bruised kidney canceled any flight plans she might have wanted to make. She knew Joe had gone, despite her parents’ formal request that he not attend.
The media circus had nearly destroyed the family.
Her father’s brief visit to the hospital had resolved nothing. His grief and the clear indication that they blamed her for their favored daughter’s death had been abundantly easy to see.
All she needed was your love, Melina. You never understood, Maria just needed more love and never received it. She only had her family to understand and lean on … It made no sense, but then, it never had.
Joe, as always, was enduring most of the anger, though. He had been formally disowned rather than verbally. Had he not suspected Maria had learned where Melina was, then Maria wouldn’t have been killed. She wouldn’t have been lost to them forever. It hadn’t seemed to sink into them yet that Maria would have gladly killed Melina. They refused to accept it.
Luc brought her home after a small stay in the hospital. Their home. And there he had kept her, pampering her, caring for her until her ribs had healed completely. She still had nightmares sometimes, visions of her sister taunting and laughing as she pointed the gun in her direction. But Luc was always there. His arms surrounded her, holding her close, whispering his love to her. And throughout the night he would pleasure her, driving all thoughts of nightmares, death, or sadness from her mind.
Three months later, after just such a night, he surprised her by going to his dresser, pulling a small velvet box from a drawer, and nearing the bed. There he dropped to one knee, took her hand, and pushed an outrageously expensive diamond on her finger. The engagement ring glistened with shards of color and heat as she stared down at it for long minutes.
Then she looked up at Luc in surprise as he rose to his feet. “No proposal?” she asked him archly.
He stared down at her arrogantly, though the effect was spoiled somewhat by the glint of amusement in his eyes.
“Captives are not given a choice. Remember, Cat? I decide, you follow.”
She arched a brow as she allowed her hand to trail slowly up her silk-covered stomach before circling her swollen breasts. She sighed deeply.
“Is that how it works now?” she asked him huskily as her thighs shifted to allow him a glimpse of the plump, bare curves of her pussy. His cock responded immediately.
“Some captives get stubborn, you know? They do all sorts of things to get back at their captors. Things like finding another bedroom to sleep in.”
And she wasn’t joking. She’d be damned if she would wait that long for a proper proposal just to have him try to slide out of it.
He stared down at her for long seconds before sighing roughly. He went to one knee once again, took her hand, and stared back at her.
“Marry me,” he whispered. It sounded more like an order than a proposal, but she had learned a lot about her cowboy, including his fierce arrogance, his determination, and his love for her. His love for her still amazed her.
“Of course I will.” She shrugged. She wasn’t finished with him yet. “Who’s going to explain to our son, though, when he asks why we’re sleeping in separate bedrooms?”
“Separate bedrooms? Dammit, Cat, I love you past hell, but if you think they’ll be separate…” He stopped. His eyes widened. “Son?”
Her hand smoothed over her still-flat abdomen. “It seems some of the scarring healed,” she said softly. “We’re pregnant, Luc.”
He trembled. She hadn’t seen him tremble since the day Maria had nearly shot her.
“Pregnant?” He licked his lips almost nervously, his hand moving to flatten on her stomach. “You’re sure?”
“Positive,” she said softly. “The doctor ran the tests twice just to be certain.”
He swallowed tightly, staring back at her, his eyes darkening like a summer storm as he watched her with such emotion it clenched her heart.
“You steal my breath,” he said simply. “You’re my heart, Melina Catarina Angeles. My heart and soul. Please say you’ll marry me.”
Melina blinked back her tears then.
“You’re my world,” she said tearfully. “My life. Of course I’ll marry you.”
He moved quickly, coming over her, his lips covering hers as he moved between her thighs, opening her, his cock sinking slowly, gently inside the sensitive depths of her pussy.
Melina’s breath caught at the pleasure. It always did. He was hers. Her heart and soul breathed for his touch, his kiss.
There were few preliminaries. Emotions seemed to strip Luc’s control as nothing else could. The depth of her love for him still seemed to amaze him, just as his amazed her.
Her legs clasped his hips as her lips moved hungrily beneath his. His thrusts were gentle, tender, but no less fierce than they ever had been. Within minutes her orgasm swept over her, shuddering through her body as she tore her lips from his, crying out his name as she felt him erupt inside her at the same moment.
“I love you, Cat.” She heard his gentle whisper as sleep began to overtake her.
“I love you, Luc. Forever…”
COWBOY AND THE THIEF
PROLOG
UE
Be watching for him, Joe. Our girl is dependin’ on ye now. Ye may not know fer sure when ye meet him. Ye may not know for a time after ye’ve known him. But the time will come when ye’ll talk to him and he’ll tell ye that love is but a fairy tale and a search fer fools. He’ll say he’s traveled this grand world and he’s found no lass that wasn’t easily forgotten. And then, my love, ye’ll remember my words …
Joseph Manning stared at the portrait of his wife where she looked down on him from her place above the fireplace and wondered that he hadn’t remembered her words before now.
How could he have forgotten even one precious memory from those final days with his beloved Megan? Especially one such as this? Now, as his gaze met her laughing violet eyes, he realized she had warned him that he would forget her words. And how right she had been.
He couldn’t help but grin at the thought. Fiery and strong-minded she’d been, that was for sure. And always so certain she knew the way of things, no matter how unbelievable he sometimes found it.
She was descended from a long line of powerful Druids, she’d laughingly tell him, didn’t he think she’d know these things? And what pride she found in that lineage, and rightfully so. The lass had always known things, things he could never explain. Things such as the call he’d taken this eve.
He frowned at her now though, because he wasn’t so sure of the lad who had him remembering the words he was told to wait for by his Megan.
“That one’s a charmer, he is, Meg,” he worried, slumping in his seat as he stared up at her, frowning. “A heartbreaker, he is. Our wee lass will take one look at him and those eyes of hers will blaze with violet flames, they will. The banshee from her youth will reemerge.” He shuddered at the thought.
But how often had Megan cried when their fiery, fightin’ lass had returned from that school, vanquished, no longer fiery, but so calm and quiet that even now, years later, her brothers would berate him for the change.
They’d done wrong by her, and they’d known it. Still, ah, how wild she had been. How wild she would be when she met Jack. She didn’t take much to charmers.