by S. E. Smith
“At least we’ll be safe here,” she comforted herself.
Climbing in the UTV, she pulled away from the yard and headed up the road. She glanced at Paul’s old house. Memories of Adalard standing on the steps caused her to linger while she looked at the house. She shook her head and pushed those memories away as well. It was hard to believe now that there had ever been any damage to the house. She pulled in front of the barn and parked the UTV.
“Remember, Samara, you promised yourself you’d let the past go. It’s time to start over,” she muttered as she turned off the motor and pushed open the door.
Four hours later, Samara helped Mason store the last of the hay he had brought up to the barn. The horses were settled in clean stalls. It would be a full house until after the storm passed. Already she could feel the wind picking up and shivered at the bite in the frigid air. She hoped that Bear didn’t keep Adaline out too much longer.
“It looks like we’re done,” Mason said. “I’m going to leave the truck and trailer here for Bear. He’s going to pick it up later when he drops Adaline off.”
“Sounds good. Did he give you an update about when they might be back?” she asked.
Mason chuckled. “He said to tell you not to worry. The storm has slowed down, so they are taking advantage of the lull and are doing a few extra chores before they head back. He said he would have Adaline back by six at the latest.”
“Six! I didn’t realize they would be out so long,” she hissed with dismay.
“He had to take some wire and fencing out to Shooter’s Pass. Some fence posts were in bad shape and had broken off. The crew wanted to get it fixed before the snow hits. Don’t want the damn cattle getting spooked and going over the ravine in the storm. Even so, some of the men are staying in the cabins out there, just in case. It’ll be faster and easier for them to get to the herds if something happens. Bear and Adaline are stocking the cabins with enough supplies to last a couple of weeks,” Mason added.
“Thanks for the update,” she said with a rueful smile.
Mason chuckled. “I take it you aren’t used to Adaline being away from you.”
Samara shook her head. “No, it… wasn’t wise to leave her with anyone else,” she softly admitted.
Mason’s expression softened, and he nodded. “You have one very special little girl, Samara. It would be best if she was with her own kind. Earth is not a very forgiving place for someone with Adaline’s abilities.”
“Well, there isn’t a lot I can do about that, so the ranch will have to be the next best thing,” she responded, trying to keep the tinge of bitterness from her voice.
The gnawing guilt that she had felt since shortly after Adaline’s birth flared. It was like the mythical hydra, every time she thought she had cut off the last ugly, guilt-poisoned head, another would take its place. She’d known the minute Adaline first displayed her unusual powers that she had sentenced her beautiful daughter to a life of imprisonment. Mason was right, their world was a very unforgiving place.
“What is it?” Mason asked.
She blinked and shook her head. Mason had already climbed into the UTV, and she realized that she was standing with the door open. She reminded herself that she was safe here at the ranch before she climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Nothing. I was just running through my list of chores to make sure I didn’t forget anything,” she lied.
“Well, now that you mentioned that, I do have one more item for you,” Mason said with an apologetic expression.
“What do you need?” she asked.
“Would you mind staying at the big house during the storm? I know you and Adaline are just getting settled in, but I’d feel a lot better if we lose power or get snowed in knowing you were there,” he said.
She looked at the house as she turned the UTV around. The last time she had been in there had been when Adalard… She started to shake her head to clear it and realized that Mason would probably take that as a no. She forced her head to move in the opposite direction.
“It’s no problem. We haven’t exactly settled yet,” she replied.
“I appreciate it. It sounds like it is going to be a bad storm. Ann Marie has some things for you to bring up with you. Last thing I want is for another tree to fall on the house and the damn thing to burn to the ground—or worse, that something happens to the barn with it full of horses,” he said.
“Alright. Adaline will love it. Plus, I won’t complain. If the storm is as bad as they are saying it is going to be, the big house has a generator and the apartment doesn’t,” she replied.
“Now why didn’t I think of that?” Mason teased.
They both laughed. She parked the UTV near the back door and stepped out. She would grab the items Ann Marie had for her before heading over and packing a suitcase for herself and Adaline. Her mind ran through what she would need to bring.
One good thing about Adaline’s gifts, she can entertain herself, she mused.
She pulled open the back door and entered the mud room. The sound of unfamiliar voices in the kitchen made her frown. Apprehension filled her at the thought of strangers at the ranch. She stepped into the room and stopped. A tsunami of feelings crashed over her: shock, disbelief, and dizziness.
Dark spots danced before her eyes, and she gripped the doorframe. It felt like every drop of blood in her body was now pooling around her ankles. A low, hissing curse slipped from her.
“Mason, your house is infested with aliens again,” Samara muttered, glancing at the other two people standing in the room with a scrutinizing look. “Well, at least with two. I think you’ll only need to exterminate one of them, though,” she added.
“Samara.”
The husky sound of Adalard speaking her name after so long sent her into a panic. She had to get out of the house, away from everyone where she could think.
“Who is it this time?” Mason asked, stepping up behind her and temporarily blocking her escape route.
She twisted and desperately pushed past him when her stomach threatened to revolt. “Don’t ask me. I prefer to keep my distance from the lot of them. I’ve got horses to bring in. Let me know when they are gone,” she said, ignoring the fact that she had already completed that chore.
“Samara,” Adalard growled.
Samara raised her right hand and lifted her middle finger as she departed. Adalard stiffened and grimaced when he realized that his shock at seeing her and her cool reception might have caused him to have a little edge to his tone that she could have misconstrued as disapproval. It was just that none of the scenarios that he imagined had prepared him for the reality of seeing her again, nor the impact of his aura greedily seeking her calming touch.
“So, I recognize two of you – you’re Jaguin, correct?” Mason was saying.
“Yes. This is my mate, Sara Wilson,” Jaguin replied.
“Ah, the mysterious Sara Wilson,” Mason murmured.
“You’ve heard of me?” Sara asked with a startled look.
Adalard distractedly listened as Mason explained about a woman named Delilah who recently visited the ranch looking for Sara. The news was obviously a shock to Sara. Mason’s description of Barrack and Brogan visiting earlier explained their disappearance from the ship.
“So, what should we do now?” Adalard absently asked. His companions’ plans would affect his own, after all.
Jaguin sighed and shook his head in frustration. “We have to go after them.”
Mason frowned. “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t be in too big a hurry. The East Coast is about to get slammed with a Nor’easter that they are calling the new hundred-year storm. They are expecting up to fifty inches of snow in some parts with temperatures dropping well below freezing and winds in excess of one hundred miles an hour. We’ve got our own storm heading this way. It is supposed to hit this afternoon. We’ve been rounding up all the horses and trying to get the place ready to be snowed in for up to a week,” he cautioned.
“Did Barra
ck and Brogan know about this?” Jaguin asked.
Mason nodded. “I told them, but they didn’t care. I’m guessing maybe you aliens can handle this kind of extreme weather better than we can. Whether you can or not, they are still in for a rough journey,” he said before his expression changed. “I have to admit, I’m glad you’re here. We could use some extra help. We only have a skeleton crew on the ranch at the moment. The few hands we have are working our Northwest range. That is where most of the cattle are, but that still leaves this section. With the weather, I can’t safely take the helicopter up. There is only Samara, Bear, Ann Marie, and me to handle things on this end of the ranch. We’ve got five thousand head of livestock that will need to be taken care of. We’ve already moved them to more sheltered pastures, but they’ll have to be fed,” Mason said, shoving his hands in his front pockets.
Determination flared inside Adalard and he answered before Jaguin or Sara could.
“We will stay,” he stated in a firm tone.
“Thank you. Whatever you do, though, just make sure that you stay away from Samara. I’ll let Ann Marie know,” Mason ordered.
Adalard didn’t answer. He had stayed away for seven years. That might be a blink of an eye in the grand scheme of the universe, but for him it had seemed forever. Samara’s warm touch and shimmering eyes had kept him going and he wasn’t about to stay away from her a second longer now that they were together again.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Samara leaned back against the door of her small loft apartment and raised a shaking hand to her throat. Her heart was thundering in her chest. She bowed her head and closed her eyes. Adalard was back.
She drew in deep breaths, trying to calm her shaking body. The shock of seeing him hit her hard. The colors surrounding him and the sudden connection between them had struck her like a blast of super-heated air.
Seven years and twenty-eight days, and he suddenly comes back, she thought.
She jumped when there was a knock on the door behind her. Adalard had found her. She knew it from the way her heart was banging against her chest, the warmth surrounding her, and the nudge of awareness pushing against her mind. She ran her shaking hands down her thighs before lifting them to her tangled hair.
At least I don’t have hay in it, she hoped.
Taking another deep breath, she pulled open the door. The breath she had inhaled whooshed out when he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her against him, and captured her parted lips. A low groan rumbled between them. She didn’t know if it was from her or from him.
She returned his kiss with a fiery passion mingled with a tang of salt. It took her a moment to realize that she was crying. She tangled her hands in his hair and twisted their position around until he was pressed against the wall. Her booted foot caught the door and she slammed it shut.
“You…,” she tried to say between kisses.
“I’ve missed you,” he muttered, his hands cupping her buttocks and pressing her against him.
She swept her tongue inside his mouth. He returned the gesture and sucked on it. His deep, throaty groan resonated through her. Cool air touched her overheated skin. She continued kissing his lips, his jaw, his face, as he lifted her into his arms. The cool touch of the bedspread under her naked back and his warm bare chest against her aching breasts made her arch into him.
“I forgot how easily you could do things like make our clothes disappear,” she breathed as he dipped his head and captured one of her taut nipples between his lips.
Adalard caressed Samara’s hip as she tenderly stroked the hair on his chest. The colors of their auras mixed, flowing in an elegant dance all around them. He kept his eyes on the twirling colors as he bent his head and kissed the top of her head. She ran her bare leg along his.
“If you keep doing that, it will lead to something else,” he teased.
“Mm, something that has to do with this?” she murmured, tilting her head back and looking into his eyes as she slid her hand down his chest and wrapped her fingers around his cock.
His cock responded immediately, swelling with need. He chuckled and rolled, keeping her caged within his arms as he settled on top of her. She spread her legs for him so that his cock rested against her love-swollen mound. He watched her face as he pushed past her soft folds and into her wet and ready channel.
Her eyelashes fluttered half closed, and she moaned as he slowly slid into her. He could watch her forever. He rocked with slow, even movements, drawing out and savoring each delicious stroke.
“I plan to do this all night,” he murmured.
She groaned, arched against him, and shuddered as she came. “You… we can’t,” she breathed.
He slid his arms under her, holding her tighter, and began to rock faster. He thrust his hips forward one last time before the familiar tingling in his spine shot outward through his nerve endings, encompassing every inch of his body. The burst of his hot seed filled her womb.
“Goddess, I’ll never get enough of you,” he mumbled.
The power of his release, the relief of having Samara back in his arms, and the years of living on little sleep swept through him. For the first time in his life, he felt as if he were actually crashing—in a very good way. The exhaustion that he had pushed aside caught up with him as the last of his orgasm spilled into Samara’s warm haven. In the last few seconds of consciousness, he rolled until Samara was on top.
“Sleep… I need… sleep. I haven’t slept well since the last time I held you,” he muttered before a warm and deliciously fuzzy darkness pulled him into a deep slumber.
“Adalard… Adalard?” Samara’s warm voice called from the far end of the dark tunnel.
A pleased and contented smile curved his lips. The universe may still be crazy, but for the moment, it was everything he wanted it to be. He couldn’t imagine anything that could change that now.
The Loft Casino and Hotel
Las Vegas, Nevada
Alberto Frank Armeni Campeau looked up from his desk when his Head of Security, Jack DeSimone, quietly entered the room. He glanced at Jack’s expressionless face before returning his attention to the view outside the penthouse windows of his luxury apartment. Jack walked over to the windows and stared out.
“Such a serious expression, Jack. Has someone tried scamming the tables again?” Alberto inquired.
Jack turned and faced him. “No, sir. You requested that I keep you updated on any developments with Ms. Lee-Stephens and her… daughter.”
“And…” he demanded.
“Three days ago, she suddenly vanished. No one at the track knew she was planning on leaving, the people I hired to monitor her didn’t suspect anything. Josephine confirmed that her apartment was cleaned out,” Jack explained.
“Do you know where she went?” he asked.
“Yes, she has returned to Casper,” Jack responded.
Alberto swirled the wine in his glass. “Any sign of the man?” he asked.
“No, sir. There is no indication that he has returned. The private detective states that she was alone with the little girl,” Jack said.
“Have a team retrieve the girl,” he ordered, looking at Jack.
“Yes, sir. What do you want them to do about the mother?” Jack quietly asked.
Alberto looked down at the red wine in his hand. “Make it look like she met with an untimely accident. I don’t want to take any chance that her maternal instincts will kick in. The last thing any of us needs is Adalard Ha’darra discovering that he has a daughter.”
“I’ll oversee the project myself,” Jack replied with a bow of his head.
Alberto waited until Jack exited his suite before he rose to his feet and looked out over the busy streets of the city known as the Entertainment City of the World. He slid his hand into the pocket of his trousers and wrapped his fingers around the unusual jewel he had carried for the last seven and a half years. The renowned gemologist, Johan Kevlar, confirmed that the diamond was exactly as the mysteri
ous Prince Adalard Ha’darra had stated: he would never find a diamond as pure as this anywhere on this planet.
At the time, Alberto had waved away the unusual comment. By the end of the most memorable night of poker he had ever played, he was very aware that he was dealing with someone who was as unusual as the diamond that he held in his possession. He had lost every single hand played that night. Memories flooded his mind, and he tightened his grip around the stem of his wine glass until he was amazed it didn’t shatter under the pressure.
“Stay away from Samara’s brothers. Their debt to you is settled,” Ha’darra stated.
“Who are you?” he remembered demanding.
“Someone you don’t want to cross,” Ha’darra replied, tossing the gem to him.
He had automatically caught the gem and watched as Ha’darra turned and walked out. Alberto stood in shocked disbelief when he saw all of his men, including Jack, unconscious in the other room. Jack remembered very little when he finally roused. He said that Samara Lee-Stephens had stunned him with a strange Taser-like device that looked like something out of a science fiction story.
Curiosity was an interesting thing for a very rich man. In his life, he had seen and done many things. When you could buy anything you wanted, life could get boring. Gambling helped, in some ways, to relieve the boredom. His stop in Casper, while seemingly inconsequential at the time, had ended up changing his life.
After that fateful night, he had researched Prince Adalard Ha’darra, only to discover that there was no evidence that he existed. There were no fingerprints on the glass he had carefully pocketed before leaving the bar either. He was positive Ha’darra had not wiped it clean.
Money gave him opportunities and connections the average person didn’t have. A few calls to the right people and the exchange of money could smooth the path to getting what he wanted—and he had wanted information. Out of the four brothers, only Jerry had the information he was seeking.