Suz had been amazed that the young woman proved to be as proficient in dealing with wet, hungry, crying babies as she was driving a tractor, helping Liam with a difficult animal birth, or helping Penn out in his office. Sometimes Suz felt jealous of her diverse skill set.
“Dunna worry. We’ll be fine. The wee ones hae been scrubbed and fed and will be sleepin’ fer the next while. I plan on settin’ right here and readin’. Now hie yerself outta here and leave us be,” Jane said.
Suz took one last look at the two babies snuggled together in the playpen, which had become a mainstay in the living room. Angus and Bonnie would be fine with Jane, who was turning out to be quite an excellent nanny. If she needed backup, Jubilee was in the kitchen cooking something delicious.
Though the older woman had retired from working for Suz’s great-grandmother Ruth more than a year before, she had a hard time staying away from Dreamer’s Dell, the farm Suz had inherited from her great-grandmother. Since the babies had arrived, she showed up several times a week to clean the house, run a load or three of laundry, play with the babies, and boss everyone around like an honorary grandmother should.
Walking down the wide central hall toward the back door, Suz gasped as her jeans brushed against her swollen clit, sending painful shivers of need through her. She had to go commando these days since all her panties had disappeared and she had yet to get Liam to take her shopping for more. Her horniness had been getting worse by the day for the two weeks since the doctor had released her to full activities, especially since her men had yet to make a move to do anything about her perpetually aroused state even though she had done everything except tie them down and rape them.
That was going to change in the next hour or someone would die.
Stopping at the kitchen doorway, she poked just her head in to speak to the white-haired woman standing at the stove. “I’m going to the studio. Please don’t call unless death is imminent or the house has burnt down. Oh, and Liam and Penn will be busy as well.”
“Well it’s about damn time,” Jubilee responded with a knowing grin.
Without a grin of her own, Suz turned and headed to the back door. Stopping in the middle of the back porch, she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and hit the speed dial number for Liam.
“Aye, lass?” he answered on the first ring.
She was too close to the edge of her control to be polite. “How long will it take you to get to the studio?”
“Should be at the office in ten minutes or so. What’s going on?”
“I’ve got an emergency in the studio. Oh, and bring Penn with you.”
Suz was so lost in thought about the upcoming afternoon with her men, it did not register that the alarm system screen was blank. Opening the door, she stepped inside and flipped the switch, then swore when the lights did not come on.
As she turned to close the door, pain exploded at the side of her head just before everything went black.
* * * *
“What’s wrong, lass?” Liam asked before he realized the connection had been cut.
Suddenly fearful for their woman, Liam’s foot pressed the gas pedal to the floor. He bypassed the driveway that led to the parking lot for Dreamer’s Dell, Inc. where he usually parked his truck. Instead, he squealed tires, turning down the next drive and racing down the lane, ending in jamming his brakes to stop in front of the three-car garage with the apartment on the second floor and next to the biggest SUV on the market they now used as a family car.
He was out of the truck before the engine fully silenced. As he quick-marched around the front of the truck, he slapped at his clothes, leaving clouds of dust in his wake from wrestling with sheep all morning. He wished he had time for a shower, but it would wait until after they dealt with whatever Suz’s emergency was.
Heading down the path to the yellow building painted the same as the main house, he looked around the yard. Once again, he made a mental note to either buy some chickens for the coop or tear the damn thing down. Maybe in a month when Suz was more settled into a routine with work and the babies he would bring up the question of whether or not she really had been serious about expanding their farming interests.
“Wait up, brother,” Penn called just as Liam reached the three steps that led to the front door of the studio.
Anxious to know what the emergency was, though he had a fair idea, he waited for Penn to cross the grass from the barns and main offices of Dreamer’s Dell.
“She tell you what the emergency is?” his brother asked, keeping his voice soft.
Chapter 6
“Nae, but we both ken exactly what her problem is. It’s the same one that near about killed me these past two weeks.”
“Me, too. I sure as hell it is, ’cause I dunno how much longer I can go on without tyin’ her down and fuckin’ her through the mattress,” Liam said, his always half-hard cock jumping to diamond-hard attention in the space of three heartbeats at just the thought of finally, finally, making love with their woman again.
“I ken what ye mean, brother. Keepin’ me hands off her has been harder than tryin’ ta lead a herd o’ sheep.”
Liam could not help but laugh at the accurate visual his brother painted. He sobered quickly. “So how do we handle this?” he asked, waving to the studio door.
“We give our Dream Weaver whatever she asks for, just like we vowed to do when we were six and she was but a bairn no’ much older than the twins,” Penn said with a slow smile that told Liam they would not be leaving the studio any time soon.
“Good thing we moved that futon into the storeroom.” Liam chuckled. “’Cause I have a feeling she’s goin’ ta be needin’ a nap when we’re done with her.”
“Hell, man, the way she’s been acting these last few weeks, we may be the ones in need of a nap.”
“True enough,” Liam said.
He followed Penn up the three steps to the small porch that shaded the front door. Checking the outside of the security system they had installed after Suz’s ex-husband had flipped out and vandalized the studio the year before, he frowned when he saw the screen was blank.
“Suz?” Penn said after pushing the door open and stepping through the door.
Liam pushed past his brother and entered the room, the niggling fear that something was wrong growing stronger with every heartbeat. “Suz? Where are ye, lass?”
But there was no response. He raced across the room and searched the storeroom and small bathroom, but these rooms were also empty. Returning to the main room, he looked at his brother, who was on the phone. When Penn looked at him, he shook his head.
“Yes, Jubilee, I understand. Thanks.”
A cold shiver of dread snaked its way down Liam’s spine at his brother’s tone. He watched as Penn broke the connection and then immediately scrolled through his contact list for another number and called it. “Roane? We need ye at the studio. Now. Right now. Suz has disappeared.”
Only after his brother hung up did Liam speak. “Who?” His heart began pounding and his hands fisted as he waited for the answer.
“Dunno, but the only person I can think of that might want to take her from us is that wanker ex of hers,” Penn said.
Liam looked around, but nothing seemed out of place. The shelves of colorful yarns she used to weave, Ruth’s extensive notebooks, and the boxes and baskets of other crafty supplies she used to make amazing things from had not been touched.
The Dream Weaver’s loom, which had passed down through Suz’s family from woman to woman for more than three hundred years, appeared untouched. He walked around the loom to make sure, looking it over carefully for any signs of damage. Four-inch logs formed a cube of nearly six feet. The frame was crude and held together with wooden pegs, but Ruth had confessed to have updated the inner workings about thirty years ago. Thankfully it had not affected the magic of the loom or the beauty of the shawls that had been made. Her latest creation of golds, browns, and greens looked about halfway finished.
“So what do we do?”
“We wait fer Roane. We do what we’re told. How did we miss seeing her leave? We were here only a few minutes after she called.”
Liam nodded then walked to the door anxious for Roane to arrive. Looking across the yard to the house, he was not surprised to see Jubilee marching toward them with fire in her eyes. “What the hell is going on out here? Why did you call looking for Suz? Isn’t she out here?”
* * * *
Landing hard on her shoulder and hip jarred Suz to a fuzzy semiconscious state though the pain in her head and body disoriented her. She jumped when a car door slammed right beside her. A few minutes later whatever she was lying on shifted and another car door slammed just before an engine started and they began to move.
She drifted for a few minutes before the fog cleared.
Pulling on her arms, she found her hands secured together behind her back with what felt like tape. Shifting her legs proved her ankles were fastened together as well. When she opened her eyes, she found she could not raise her eyelids. Moving the muscles of her face, she determined a piece of tape had been plastered across her face from temple to temple. Trying to open her mouth proved that another piece stretched from cheek to cheek. Shifting slowly, she determined that except for her head, shoulder, and hip she was unharmed.
What the hell had happened?
Though she really wanted to panic, she took deep breaths and forced herself to remain calm. She needed to think. Her thoughts remained fuzzy due to the pain in her head as she thought back to what she last remembered.
She had walked to the studio after calling Penn and Liam and demanding they join her. She had planned to coerce an afternoon of hard, rocking sex from them. Not sure how long she had been unconscious, she wondered if her men realized she was missing.
Concern for the babies was her next thought. She knew Angus and Bonnie were safe in the house with Jane and Jubilee.
Finally, her thoughts turned to the predicament in which she now found herself. Why would anyone want to steal her away from her family? Who could possibly be responsible?
The only person who came to mind was Lucas Black, her ex-husband. But Luke had been sent to a state hospital for the criminally insane months before. He had harassed her, demanding half of her great-grandmother’s inheritance, and when she refused to give it to him, he vandalized the weaving studio and tried to ruin the Dream Weaver’s loom. After being arrested, he had flipped out, proving he was crazier than even she had thought.
But if Luke was not involved, who else could it be?
She slammed back and forth in the trunk as the car tore around corners, slowed and sped up again, and bumped along what had to be an unpaved road or across a field or something. She fought back tears as her head bounced off one thing after another, just adding to the pains she already suffered.
By the time the engine died, she felt nauseous and prayed she did not throw up. She tensed when a car door opened and the car shifted as the driver climbed out and then opened the trunk. Taking several deep breaths of fresh air, Suz tried to prepare herself for anything, though she was afraid to even consider what it might be.
“Wakey, wakey,” a road as rough as gravel said as the tape was ripped from around her ankles.
She could not hold back the squeal of pain as the tape tore off the top layer of her skin. As soon as they were free, she tried to kick out, but he grabbed her bare foot and squeezed his fingers around it tight enough for her to suck air at the pain.
“None of that or I’ll leave your trashy ass here in the trunk to roast while I deal with those foreign bastards who call themselves your husbands.”
Taking a deep breath, Suz tried to relax as he reached in and lifted her out, setting her on her feet. With the only thing touching her being the ground under her feet, Suz suddenly felt lost and out of balance, like she was floating in air. She listened, but heard nothing. No cars, no dogs barking, no wind blowing.
She did not even feel the sun on her face. The air swirling around her was cool, but smelled stale and dusty and vaguely like the barns she had visited with Liam, only the animal smell was more distant somehow. It was as if they were inside someplace that had been closed up for a long time, but it felt much bigger than a garage.
Her captor wrapped his hand around her arm painfully tight and jerked her along behind him. She stumbled, but some fast footwork kept her from falling. Their steps seemed to echo in the big silence, and then he stopped and she walked into him.
He took her shoulders and moved her around to stand in front of him. “Sit down,” he ordered gruffly, pushing hard on her shoulders.
Forced down, she found herself in a chair of some sort. With her hands secured as they were, she could not get too comfortable, but at least she was out of the car’s trunk.
The man wrapped a rope around her chest and arms several times, and she realized he was tying her to a chair. Once he finished, he grabbed her tits and pinched the nipples tightly.
“Now just sit there like a good bitch.” He slapped one cheek and then the other, bringing tears to her eyes, tears she refused to let loose. “I’ve got some errands to run and a couple of phone calls to make.”
* * * *
It had been hours since they discovered Suz was missing, and Penn was ready to tear the state apart until he found her. Looking at his brother, he knew Liam felt the same way. Only Roane, their cousin whom they had hired to head up security for Dreamer’s Dell, Inc., looked calm.
The local police had been notified but refused to become involved since there were no overt signs of foul play or any other indication that Suz had been taken from her studio by force. The two officers who had replied to the call tried to gently suggest that maybe Suz had run away voluntarily. Liam had grabbed him before he had attacked the man. Thankfully the officers did not respond to either his physical or verbal threats. They just turned and left as quickly as they could.
The sun was going down as he, Roane, and Liam sat in the kitchen watching Jubilee fix bottles for the babies while trying to come up with a plan of some sort. Though they had activated the GPS on Suz’s phone the minute they realized she was gone, they still could not find her, which meant that her phone had either been turned off or destroyed. But Roane had the computer program running, just in case.
He also had a network of friends from both sides of the legal fence in a four-county area ready and waiting to step in and help as soon as they figured out where she was. So for now, all they could do was wait and hope that she got in touch.
Penn jerked in his chair when his cell phone sang out with the special ringtone assigned only to Suz’s phone. He looked from Liam to Roane before picking the phone up and confirming that it was Suz calling. He waited another few seconds as Roane touched the screen on his tablet then nodded that he was tracking the GPS signal.
Hoping he had not waited too long, Penn hit the “connect” button. “Suz? Luv, where are ye?”
“Three million dollars by noon tomorrow. I’ll call then about where to bring it,” the rough-as-pine-bark voice at the other end said without preamble.
“I want to talk to Suz. Now,” Penn demanded, adding the steel to his tone that caused anyone who heard it to shake in their boots as they raced to meet his demands with all due speed.
“After I get the three million. Then you can talk to her all you want.”
“How do I know you really have her? Unless I talk to her, you won’t get a cent.”
The voice went silent.
Chapter 7
Suz sat uncomfortably counting to sixty over and over again, wondering if the man who had taken her would ever come back. She wished he had taken the tape off her mouth and eyes, but understood why he had left her trussed up as he had.
If she had use of her eyes, she could identify him. If her mouth was free, she could scream for help. Though her legs were unrestricted, she could not stand up and move around. Besides, where would she go? With her luck, she would end up in
the middle of a busy road, getting run down and smooshed flat by an eighteen-wheeler.
For now, she was better off to sit and wait even though it ticked her off not to be able to do anything.
She tried to get the tape off her face, but no amount of facial contortions would loosen the tape. She fought to hold onto her anger instead of letting fear and despair overwhelm her. If she cried then her nose would clog up, and she would not be able to breathe. She could well be dead before her captor returned.
Or not. Her heart froze and then began to race as a door opened with the same squeal as it had when her captor had left an eternity ago.
He did not speak to her but stopped when he reached her. Then fingers picked at the edge of the tape covering her mouth. When he ripped it from her face, leaving painfully burning skin behind, she screamed.
“What the fuck? That hurt, dammit.”
* * * *
“There, you’ve heard her voice. Noon tomorrow.” Before Penn could say anything else, the caller cut the connection.
“Well?” Liam asked, looking like he was ready to tear the town apart building by building.
“He wants three million at noon tomorrow.”
“Got it,” Roane broke in before Liam could reply. The brothers watched as he reached for his cell phone that was on the table next to his computer. “Calum, I’ve tracked the GPS on her phone and she’s in yer neighborhood. I’ll text ye the address. Aye, if ye can. Cutoff is noon tomorrow. I’ll try ta keep them here and outta yer way, but canna promise anythin’.”
Penn looked at his cousin in disbelief. Yeah, right, like they were going to sit here on their asses and wait for someone else to rescue their woman.
His brother must have felt the same way. “Come on, I’ll drive,” Liam said, pushing up from the table.
“Nay, laddies, yer no’ goin’ anywhere,” Roane said in the commanding tone he had used to keep them in line back when they were in the military and he had been promoted to squad leader.
Babying Their Dream Weaver [Their Dream Weaver 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 4