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“We’ll
manage.”
“I’m sure you and I can survive.” He turned on the blanket so he faced her fully.
“Seeing the Savages with their babies made me think about some things. I’ve been selfish and careless.”
“What are you talking about?” His worried frown made her nervous.
“We’ve been making … love and not taking any precautions. You could get pregnant.”
“Pregnant?” Her throat closed around the word. Ice spread through her middle to her hands. His skin was warm against her fingers but not enough to thaw the frost in her heart. Her earlier thoughts came back to her. She’d been wrong. Things broken badly enough could never be repaired.
“You’re so tiny, Cara, I’d be scared to death to have you deliver our child here away from all help. And then the cold of winter; and it will be tough to feed ourselves let alone keep a little one alive. We need to be careful. I have to stop spilling my seed inside of you. I should have taken care from the start, but I couldn’t think of anything but having you.”
“So you don’t want to have sex with me anymore?”
Under other circumstances the horror of his face might have been comical. She was too far from amusement to even smile.
“How the hell did you come up with that question? I want to have you all the time. I had trouble walking today I was so hard.”
“I don’t understand then.”
“We can’t let you get pregnant. I have to pull out of you before I come.”
“Brady, have you noticed I haven’t had my woman’s monthly flow since we’ve been here?” She should be embarrassed by having this conversation with a man, but she wasn’t. Not with Brady who had more intimate knowledge of her than anyone.
“I know. We’ve only been here fourteen days, but I’m worried it’s too late already.
Seeing that Savage give birth and all that … stuff is what started me thinking.”
“And
worrying?”
“Of
course.”
She looked away from him. Bitter sweet surety swept over her. She loved him. Loved him more than her life. More than anything. Even her loyalty to Juston Steele and his family was as nothing to this wrenching emotion twisting her insides with despair. She blinked a few times, but her eyes were dry as always.
“Cara?” He moved closer but she scooted away. She couldn’t tell him if they were touching. She was too much a coward.
“You don’t have to worry about me getting pregnant. You know what happened to me.
The Savages … damaged me. I haven’t had a monthly flow since that time. I’m sterile.”
He didn’t look away. His blue eyes warmed as much as such a cool color could. He gently cradled her face between his palms. Holding her gaze, he leaned slowly toward her until ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 79
their lips touched. She closed her eyes against the emotions in his. The kiss was tender and brief.
“I’m sorry, Cara. You would be a terrific mother.”
Damn him. Was he trying to make her cry? She pushed him away and frowned at him.
“I’ll never know.”
He shrugged. “I guess we won’t.”
Her heart did a funny little leap when he said we. “So you don’t have to worry about having another mouth to feed.”
“I was worried about you.” He leaned in for another kiss and ran his hand along her thigh. “So I guess the only way to fatten you up is to feed you more.”
She slapped his hands away with half a laugh. “If you want more heft in your women, maybe you better consider Rena or Bab.”
He laughed and went back to his exploration of her thigh. “You would be so jealous.”
She pulled his head down and captured his smiling lips with hers. How could he so easily lift her spirits? How did he render her ghosts so powerless?
Telling him had lifted a burden of guilt she hadn’t even been aware weighed on her. The secret of her barrenness no longer hung between them. Though it wasn’t as if he’d asked her to marry him or be his lifelong mate. Certainly she would be his for life if they never found their way home, but it would be different if they did. He would want a wife to carry on his family name not an infertile, damaged warrior.
His clever hands and lips distracted the last of her regrets. Her shirt came off and then his. For a moment she wondered what he’d meant about fattening her up, but he seemed to enjoy the sight, feel and taste of her small breasts and prominent ribs. She hadn’t always been so lean, but her appetite was one of the things she’d lost at the hands of the Savages along with her innocence.
As usual, her hands found his wild mop of hair and indulged in the erotic silkiness of it sliding through her fingers. He went willingly to his back and pulled her down to sprawl half on top of him.
His fingers teased the waistband of her pants while she tugged on the laces to his. It was so nice to be alone and away from the disturbing presence of the female Savages and the conundrum they presented. Admitting to her love, even if only to herself, had freed her body to enjoy him even more than before. She intended to love him with all her heart through all the hours of the night.
* * * *
Bab wrapped Angel snuggly in her hide sling and set her against the wide trunk of a tree.
She set her small bag of food beside the baby to further protect her from the wind.
The twilight thickened to full dark beneath the trees where she crouched. Brady and Cara had set their fire not far from the cover of the woods and near the river. Delicious cooking scents drifted toward her as well as the comforting scent of burning wood. But she was not comfortable.
They were doing it again. Only mutual pleasure could account for Cara’s eager participation. The couple’s bare skin gleamed in the golden light of the fire. Again the hairless, smooth look of Brady’s skin drew her. She edged closer. The noise of the water covered the sound of her approach though she doubted the mating couple would hear her anyway, so intent were they on each other. They went about it so slowly, so gracefully, so cleanly. Brady’s gentle way of mating could not be denied.
ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 80
Hot wetness swelled her woman hole, and her heavy breasts tingled as milk dripped from her nipples. Brady lay on his back as before. Cara rubbed herself against him, bare chest to bare chest.
Bab was close enough to see Cara’s hand dip into Brady’s clothing and touch his man rod. Her heart pounded in her chest and her breath came in short pants. The ache in her hard little nub spread to a pleasant tingling across her entire bottom. By the end of the next cold time, she would have another lovely child but this time the babe would have dark hair.
She undid her skirt and let it fall to the ground. Men could only mate one time before they had to rest, sometimes for most of a day. She couldn’t let Brady waste his seed on Cara. It wasn’t her turn, it was Bab’s turn. There was no way she could wait half the night for Brady to recover. She jumped up and ran at them.
Bab hit Cara with her hip. The little, skinny woman flew off Brady’s hips and landed with a grunt in the dirt.
Brady sat up with a speed to belie his distracted, aroused state. He reached for the shiny bent stick thing he always carried at his side. But Bab was on top of him by then, straddling his hips. She pressed his shoulders down before he could reach the thing.
She ground her hips against his, spreading her wetness and scent on him. His hands grabbed her hips much as he had touched Cara. For having such thin fingers, his hands were surprisingly strong as they squeezed and tried to move her. She knew what he wanted so eagerly, but she wanted to take her time with him.
She moved her hands into his hair. It was as soft and fine as the rare, colorful feathers they sometimes found at the base of the mountain. His bright eyes flashed at her, and his pretty mouth shouted words at her that had no meaning.
Cara came back at her and tried to unseat her, but one sharp swing of her arm sent the sk
inny one tumbling away.
Brady swung at Bab’s head then, surprising her with the force of his blow. She shook her head. So he was much like the other males and liked to rough up his women. Though his lean body held more strength than suggested, his punch was nothing compared to Jak and Hop.
“Get off of him, you crazy bitch,” Cara shouted, her jealousy not unexpected and easy to ignore.
Bab pressed her mouth to Brady’s, but he twisted away. She ran her mouth along his neck and shoulder as she’d seen Cara do. He tasted clean so she nibbled on him, little snips that sent him squirming with lust.
She could wait no longer. She needed to have his man rod inside her. Never had she been so ready and wanting. She reached between her legs to find him and guide him inside her.
But his thing was limp and spent. Had her attempt at playful mating sent him to his pleasures too soon? No, there was no stickiness of his spilled seed between them, only her heat and wetness.
“Get off, Bab.” Brady’s words finally made sense. “Get the hell off of me.”
She slid off of him in disappointment. Her own desires cooled and dried. Brady scrambled sideways away from her and picked up his shiny stick. He pointed it at her and crawled on his knees to Cara.
Cara sat up, her hair tangled around her face and a large bruise growing on her cheek.
“You all right?”
Brady nodded. “You?”
“I will be when we kill her.” Cara stood up on unsteady legs and pulled a long, thin branch from her belongings.
ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 81
Bab had seen the shiny branch before, it was brighter even than the thing Brady held, but only now did she understand it was a bad thing. Its edge looked sharp like one of the stones they used to scrap and shape their hides. It looked like it could kill like Cara wanted.
Bab choked back a sob and looked toward her bundle of belongings and poor little Angel.
Why was Cara going to kill her? She dropped flat on the ground and put her face in the dirt.
The sobs bunched in the back of her throat burst free. “I’m sorry. I should have known I wasn’t worthy to have your seed. Please don’t kill my baby. Angel didn’t do anything wrong. Forgive me for being so stupid. I was selfish and thought only of my own pleasure. Your beauty blinded me to everything else. Forgive me.”
Despite the noisy water on two sides of them and her racing heart, she heard Brady’s ragged panting.
“Hell! The bitch bit you!” Cara spat out some of those coarse, meaningless words like Brady had used earlier.
No longer caught up in her rapture, Bab realized the words were curses of a sort, angry words directed at her. She peeked up from under her brow.
Brady still held his strange stick pointed at her, but Cara had let hers sag to the ground.
She touched his shoulder. A thick, dark line of blood oozed from where she’d nibbled on his shoulder.
Bab looked back down at the ground. She’d injured him. No wonder his body had lost its desire for her. She’d hated when Jak or Hop hurt her. Why would Brady not feel the same?
Shame heated her face but left her insides cold. She deserved to die. After running away to escape the abuse from the men in her village and protect her daughter from it, she’d rendered the same treatment on a man she loved.
“Kill her,” Cara snarled. “If you don’t do it, I will.”
Bab made no attempt to defend herself, disgusting thing that she was. Angel suddenly wailed from where Bab had hid her. She couldn’t let her death be that of her child also. “Please take care of Angel for me. She can be a better person than her mother. Raise her gentle, I beg you.”
ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 82
Chapter Fifteen
Brady held his pistol steady in his right hand but didn’t point it at Bab. The Savage crouched on the other side of the fire in as small of a heap as she could and still feed her baby.
“Damn. Are you using your sword to clean it?”
Cara answered him by scrubbing even harder at the bite on his shoulder. She’d cut a piece of his second shirt off and heated water. Now she dipped the cloth in the steaming water and attacked his injuries. He didn’t want to get an infection, but he wanted to keep some of his skin.
Bab looked over at him and then quickly looked back down at Angel. He wouldn’t have killed her even if the baby hadn’t howled, but he wasn’t sure Cara would have let the Savage live.
“Ouch!”
Bab’s dirty nails and teeth had opened his skin in a number of places. Though the hot water stung, as did Cara’s less than gentle techniques, it was necessary.
“Shoot her after she feeds the baby,” Cara muttered loud enough for Bab to hear. The Savage whimpered as she did each time one of them looked at her. At least she’d stopped her bawling and apologies.
“Do you want me to shoot the baby too, or are we going to let her starve to death?”
“Shut up,” Cara growled and found another abrasion on his neck to attack.
“Finish up so we can eat our dinner before it falls off the bone and into the fire.”
She glared at him and scrubbed at the bite on his shoulder some more. His entire body felt bruised and battered. Bab was deceptively strong and heavy. He hadn’t been able to budge her, and she shook off his punches as if he hit her with a feather pillow instead of his fist. No doubt she was used to rougher handling.
He shivered at the remembered touch of her thick fingers on his body. His stomach tightened and sickness rose in the back of his throat. Never had he imagined the female Savages might think of him in a carnal way. He didn’t even think of Bab as a woman but rather as a different species. He hadn’t considered she might be sexually attracted to him anymore than he expected his horse would be.
But hadn’t male Savages ravished Cara? Why wouldn’t the females think the same way?
The turn of events was so strange, he couldn’t quite get his thoughts to put it in sensible order.
Cara threw the piece of shirt into the water simmering in their old cooking shell. “Put your shirt on before your girlfriend loses control again.”
He tugged his shirt on over his head, taking care not to grimace though his scrapes and bruises throbbed and burned. The last thing he needed was for Cara to see him acting injured.
Her temper simmered hotter than the water.
A nagging sensation of being watched drew his gaze to Bab. She stared at him with a hunger that had him taking up his gun again. He would never feel safe in her company again.
Actually, he preferred to not be in her company at all.
Cara used her knife to stab at the spitted bird. She slapped a portion onto Brady’s metal plate and handed it to him. Despite the discomfort in his stomach, he was voraciously hungry.
ONE GOOD WOMAN SUSAN KELLEY 83
He set his gun on his thigh and used his fingers to eat the meat. Cara put a few tubers on his plate also, the roots dried and crumbly from overcooking. They ate in silence, both of them watching Bab.
The Savage’s attention finally focused on something new. Her tear-reddened gaze tracked each bite he took. She licked her lips and even with the roar of the falls, he heard her stomach growl.
“Hell.” Cara added more curses. She took the new cooking shell and slid it toward the Savage. Half the tubers were left.
Bab stared at her with wide, scared eyes, but she set Angel down and reached for the food. She glanced at Brady with a desperate question in her dark eyes. He nodded. She grabbed the shell though it must have been very hot and held it close to her mouth. She jammed a handful of the sliced roots into her mouth and chewed only twice before swallowing. Another handful followed.
Brady looked away, his own appetite gone. But he took another small bite of meat. Cara did the same and with as little enthusiasm. But they were both warriors and understood the need to keep up their strength. They had to eat when they could and as much as they could.
Bab finished the tubers long b
efore they finished the bird. Cara drank a cup full of water and then refilled it before handing the dented tin to him.
“One of us is going to have to stay awake at all times,” she said without trying to speak quietly.
“I’ll behave,” Bab said. “I’ll leave and go back to Rena.”
“Have you been following us and watching us since we left your cave?” Brady thought back over the last day. How many times had they been careless and unaware of their surroundings?
“I wanted to make sure you weren’t leaving.” Bab picked up Angel and held her close.
“I want my baby to grow up with you and learn to be clean and pretty.”
“How were you going to keep us from leaving?” Cara glared at Bab with the merciless stare that could make a grown man tremble. “Did you intend to beat us and keep us captive?”