Bound by Honor (15 page)

She caught up with Jess, who was feeling her way along the wall. Taking her by the arm, with Stevie close, she propelled them to the front door, unlocked it, and rushed out onto the porch.

Eb was running toward them, but an Eb that Sally didn't recognize at first. He was dressed completely in black with a face mask on, carrying a small automatic weapon. Other men, similarly dressed, were already going around the back of the house.

“Come with me,” Eb called, herding them into the forest and into a four-wheel-drive vehicle. “Lock the doors and stay put until we check out the house,” he said.

He was gone even as the words died on the air. Stevie huddled close to his mother while Sally watched Eb's stealthy but rapid approach toward the house, her heart racing madly. Even though the attack had been expected, it was frightening.

A tap on the window next to Jessica on the passenger side made them all jump. Dallas pulled off his face mask, smiling as he replaced a walkie-talkie in his belt. “Open the window,” he said.

Sally fumbled with the key in the ignition and powered the passenger side window down.

“We got the chopper,” he said. “But it's only a smoke bomb in the house, irritating but not deadly. Lopez is a man of his word. He did attack at midnight. Pity about the chopper,” he added with glittery eyes. “That will set him back a little small change.”

Sally didn't ask the obvious question, but she knew that somebody had to be piloting that helicopter. She felt sick inside, now that the danger was past.

“Is everyone all right?” Jessica asked. “We heard shots.”

“The chopper was well-equipped with weapons,” Dallas said. “But he wasn't a very good shot.”

“Thank God,” Jessica said heavily.

Dallas reached in and touched her face gently, pausing to run a rough hand over Stevie's tousled hair. “Don't be afraid,” he said softly. “I won't let anything happen to you.”

Jessica held his hand to her cheek and choked back a sob. Dallas bent to touch his mouth to her wet eyes.

Impulsively Stevie leaned across his mother to hug the big blond man, too. Watching them, Sally felt empty and alone. They were already a family, even if they hadn't realized it.

Dallas's walkie-talkie erupted in a burst of static. “All clear,” Eb's voice came back to them. “I'm phoning the sheriff while the others open the windows and turn on the attic fan to get this smoke out of here. Then I'll lock up.”

“What about…” Dallas began.

“We'll take the women and Stevie home with us,” he
said. “No sense in leaving them here for the rest of the night. Sally?”

Dallas moved the walkie-talkie to her mouth. “Yes?” she said, shaken.

“Come in and help me find what you need in the way of clothes for all three of you. Dallas, take Jess and Stevie back to the house. We'll catch up.”

“Sure thing.”

Sally got out of the vehicle, still in her jeans and sneakers and sweatshirt, her long hair falling out of its braid. Dallas got in under the wheel as she walked back to the house. She heard the engine roar and glanced back to see the utility vehicle pull out of the yard. At least Jess and Stevie were safe. But she felt shaken to the soles of her sneakers.

Eb was in the smoky living room, having just hung up the phone. His mask was in one hand, dangling along with the small machine gun. He looked tough and angry as he glanced at Sally's white face. He didn't say a word. He just held out his arm.

Sally ran to him, and he gathered her up in his arms and held her tight while she shivered from the shock of it all.

“I'm no wimp, honest,” she whispered in a choked attempt at humor. “But I'm not used to people bombing my house.”

He chuckled deeply and hugged her close. “Only a smoke bomb, baby,” he said gently. “Noisy and frightening, but not dangerous unless it set fire to something. He had to make a statement, you see. Lopez is a man of his word.”

“Damn Lopez,” she muttered.

“Amen.”

Around them, men were pouring over the house. Eb escorted Sally down the hall to her bedroom.

“Get what you need together,” he said, “but only essentials. I'd like to get you out of here very soon after the sheriff arrives.”

“The sheriff…?”

“It's his jurisdiction,” he told her. “I'm sanctioned, if that's what the worried look is about,” he added when he saw her face. He smiled. “I wouldn't take the law into my own hands. Not in this country, anyway,” he added with a grin.

“Thank goodness,” she said heavily. “I had visions of trying to bail you out of jail.”

“Would you?” he teased.

“Of course.”

She looked so solemn that the smile faded from his lips. He gathered a handful of her thick blond hair and pulled her wan face under his. His grip was a little tight, and the look in his green eyes was glittery. “Danger is an aphrodisiac, did you know?” he whispered roughly, and bent to her mouth.

He hadn't kissed her that way before. His mouth was hard and demanding on her lips, parting them ruthlessly as his body shifted and one arm pushed her hips deliberately into the changing contours of his own.

She felt helpless. Her mouth opened for him. Her body arched up, taut and hot, in the grip of madness. She returned his kiss ardently, moaning when his legs parted
so that he could maneuver her hips between them, letting her feel the power of his arousal.

His tall, fit body shuddered and she could feel the sharp indrawn breath he took.

After a few wild seconds, he dragged his mouth away from hers without letting her move away even a fraction of an inch. He looked down at her with intent, searching her wide, soft gray eyes hungrily. The arm that was holding her was like a steel rod at her back, but against her legs, she felt the faintest tremor in his.

“I've gone hungry for a long time,” he whispered gruffly.

She didn't know how to reply to such a blatant statement. Her eyes searched his in an odd silence, broken only by the whir of the attic fan in the hall and the muffled sound of voices as Eb's men searched the house. She reached up and touched his hard mouth tenderly, loving the immediate response of his lips to the caress.

He bent, nuzzling his face against hers to find her mouth. He kissed her urgently, but with restraint, nibbling her lower lip sensuously. Both arms went around her, riveting her to him. Her own slid under his arms and around his hard waist, holding him close. She closed her eyes, savoring the wondrous contact. The fierce hunger he felt was quite obvious in the embrace, but it didn't frighten her. She wanted him, too.

“When I heard the explosion,” he said at her ear, his voice tight with tension, “I didn't know what we were going to find when I ran toward the house. We'd planned for any eventuality, but the chopper came in under radar.
We didn't even hear the damned thing until we could see it, and then the launcher jammed…!”

She hadn't imagined that Eb would be afraid for her. It was wonderful. She hugged him closer and felt him shiver.

“We were a little shaken,” Sally whispered. “But we're all okay.”

“I didn't expect to feel like this,” he said through his teeth.

She lifted her head and looked up at his strained face. “Like…this?”

His green gaze met her soft gray one and then fell to her mouth, to her soft breasts flattened against him. “Like this,” he whispered and moved deliberately against her while he held her eyes.

She blushed, because it was blatant.

But he didn't smile. “I knew you were going to be trouble six years ago,” he said through his teeth. He bent and kissed her again, fiercely, before he put her away from him and stood trying to get his breath.

She was shivering a little in the aftermath of the most explosive sensuality she'd ever felt. She searched his face quietly, despite the turmoil inside her awakened body.

“You've never felt like that before, have you?” he asked in a hushed tone.

She shook her head, still too shaken for words.

“If it's any consolation, it gets steadily worse,” he continued. “Think about that.”

He turned and went out into the hall with her puzzled eyes following him. She touched her swollen lips gingerly and wondered what he meant.

 

T
HE SHERIFF
, B
ILL
E
LLIOTT
, and two deputies pulled up in the yard, took statements and looked around with Eb and the other men. Sally was questioned briefly, and when the house was secure, Eb drove her back to his house with the rest of his men remaining in the woods.

“I don't think Lopez has any idea of trying again tonight,” he said, “but I'm not taking any chances. I've already underestimated him once.”

“He does keep his word,” she said huskily.

“Yes.”

“What do we do now?”

“I take you and Stevie to school and Jess stays at my house. In fact, you all stay at my house,” he said curtly. “I'm not putting you at risk a second time.”

She was stunned at the emotion in his voice. He was really concerned about her. She felt a warm glow all the way to her toes.

He glanced at her with slow, sensuous eyes. “At least at my own house, I can find one room with no bugs.” His eyes went to her breasts and back to her face. “I'm starving.”

She knew he wasn't talking about food, and her heart began racing madly.

He caught her hand in his free one and worked his fingers slowly between hers, pressing her palm to his. “Don't worry. I won't let things go too far, Sally.”

She wasn't worried about that. She was wondering how she was going to go on living if he made love to her and then walked away.

 

W
HEN THEY GOT TO THE HOUSE
, Jessica and Dallas were in the small bedroom Eb's male housekeeper had given Stevie, tucking him in.

Eb had his housekeeper show the others to their rooms and he excused himself, tugging Sally along with him, to Dallas's obvious amusement.

“Where are we going?” Sally asked.

“To bed. I'm tired. Aren't you?”

“Yes.”

She supposed he was giving her a room further down the hall, but he didn't stop at any of the closed doors. He led her around a corner and through two double doors into a huge room with Mediterranean furnishings and green and gold and brown accessories. He closed the double doors, locking them, before he turned to the dresser and pulled out a pair of blue silk pajamas.

“You can wear the pajama top and I'll wear the bottoms,” he said matter-of-factly.

Her breath escaped in a rush. “Eb…”

He drew her into his arms and kissed her slowly, with deliberate sensuality, making nonsense of her protests with his hands as they skimmed under the sweatshirt and up to find her taut breasts.

She moaned, feeling the fever rise in her as he unfastened the bra and touched her hungrily. Her body arched, helping him, inviting him. Her hands gripped hard against the powerful muscles of his upper arms, drowning in waves of pleasure.

His mouth lifted fractionally. “I won't hurt you,” he breathed. “Not in any way. But you're sleeping in my arms tonight.”

She started to protest, but his mouth was already covering hers, muffling the words, muffling her brain.

His hands removed the sweatshirt and the bra and he looked at her with quiet, possessive eyes, drinking in the soft textures, the smooth skin, the beauty of her. He touched her gently, smiling as her body reacted to his skilled hands.

His mouth slid down to her breasts and kissed them slowly, each caress more ardent than the one before. He had her out of her jeans and sneakers and down to her briefs before she realized what was happening.

He moved away just long enough to pick up the pajama top and slip it over her head, still buttoned. He lifted her, dazed, in his arms and paused, balancing her on one knee, to pull the covers back so that he could tuck her into bed. He leaned over her, balancing on his hands, and searched her flushed, fascinated face.

“I'll be in after I've talked to Dallas and reset the monitors.”

She didn't bother to protest. Her gray eyes searched his and she sighed a little unsteadily. “All right.”

His eyes kindled with pleasure. He smiled, because he knew she was accepting anything he proposed. It was humbling. He kissed her eyelids closed. “Sleep well.”

She watched him go, uncertain if that meant he was sleeping elsewhere. She was so tired that she fell asleep almost as soon as the doors closed behind him, wrapped in sensuous dreams.

S
ALLY HAD VIOLENT, PASSIONATE DREAMS
that night. She moved helplessly under invisible caressing hands, moaning, arching up to prolong their warm, sweet contact. Her body burned, swelled, ached. She whispered to some faceless phantom, pleading with it not to stop.

There was soft, deep laughter at her ear and the rough warmth of an unshaven face moving against her skin, where her heart beat frantically. Slowly it occurred to her that it felt just a little too vivid to be a dream…

Her eyes flew open and blond-streaked brown hair came into focus under them in the pale dawn light filtering in through the window curtains. Her hands were enmeshed in its thick, cool strands and when she looked down, she realized that her pajama top was open, baring her to a marauding mouth.

“Eb!” she exclaimed huskily.

“It's all right. You're only dreaming,” he whispered, and his mouth slid up to cover her lips as the hair-roughened skin of his muscular chest slid over her bare breasts. She felt his legs entwining with her own, felt the throb of his body, the tenderness of his hands, his mouth, as he learned her by touch and taste.

“Dreaming?”

“That's right.” He lifted his lips from hers and looked down into misty gray eyes. He smiled. “And a lovely dream it is,” he added in a whisper as he lifted away enough to give his eyes a stark view of everything the pajama top no longer covered. “Lovelier than I ever imagined.”

“What time is it?” she asked, dazed.

“Dawn,” he told her, smoothing her long hair back away from her flushed face. “Everyone else is still asleep. And there are no bugs, of any sort, in here with us,” he added meaningfully.

She touched his rough cheek gently, studying him as he'd studied her. He was still wearing the pajama trousers, but his broad chest was bare. Like her own.

He rolled over onto his back, taking her with him. He guided her hands to his chest with a quiet smile. “I was going to let you wake up alone,” he murmured. “But I didn't have enough willpower. There you lay, blond hair scattered over my pillows, the pajama top half off.” He shook his head. “You can't imagine how lovely you look in the dawn light. Like a fairy, all creamy and gold. Irresistible,” he added, “to a man who's abstained as long as I have.”

She traced the pattern of hair over his breastbone. “How long have you abstained?”

“Years too long,” he whispered, searching her eyes. “And that's why I set the alarm in Dallas's room to go off five minutes from now. It will wake him and he'll wake Jess and Stevie. Stevie will come looking for you.”
He grinned. “See how carefully I look after your virtue, Miss Johnson?”

She gave her own bare torso a poignant glance and met his eyes again.

He lifted an eyebrow. “Virtue,” he emphasized, “not modesty. I don't seduce virgins, in case you forgot.”

She couldn't quite decide whether he was playing or serious.

He saw that in her face and smiled gently. “Sally, the hardest thing I ever did in my life was to push you away one spring afternoon six years ago,” he said softly. “I had passionate, vivid dreams about you in some of the wildest places on earth. I'm still having them.” His hand swept slowly down her body, watching it lift helplessly to his touch. “So are you, judging by the sounds you were making in your sleep when I came to bed about ten minutes ago. I crawled in beside you and you came right up against me and touched me in a way I won't tell you about.”

She searched his eyes blankly. “I did what?”

“Want to know?” he asked with an outrageous grin. “Okay.” He leaned close and whispered it in her ear and she cried out, horrified.

“No need to feel embarrassed,” he chided. “I loved it.”

She knew her face was scarlet, but he looked far more pleased than teasing.

He traced her lower lip lazily. “For a few tempestuous seconds I forgot Lopez and last night, and just about everything else of any immediate importance.” His eyes darkened as he held her poised above him. “I've lived on dreams for a long time. The reality is pretty shattering.”

“Dreams?”

He nodded. He wasn't smiling. “I wanted you six years ago. I still do, more than ever.” He brushed back her disheveled hair and looked at her with eyes that were tender and possessive. “I'm your home. Wherever I go, you go.”

She didn't understand what he meant. Her face was troubled.

He rolled her over onto her back and propped himself above her. “From what I know of you, my lifestyle isn't going to break you. You've got spirit and courage, and you're not afraid to speak your mind. I think you'll adjust very well, especially if I give up any work that takes me out of the country. I can still teach tactics, although I'll cut down my contract jobs when the babies start coming along.”

“Babies?” She looked completely blank.

“Listen, kid,” he murmured dryly, “what we're doing causes them.” He frowned. “Well, not exactly what we're doing. But if we were wearing less, and doing a little more than we're doing, we'd be causing them.”

Her whole body tingled. She searched his eyes with a feeling of unreality. “You want to have a child with me?” she asked, awed.

“Oh, yes. I want to have a lot of children with you,” he whispered solemnly.

She laid her hands flat on his broad chest, savoring its muscular warmth as she considered what he was saying. She frowned, because he hadn't mentioned love or marriage.

“What's missing?” he asked.

“I teach school,” she said worriedly. “My reputation…”

Now he was frowning. “God Almighty, do you think I'm asking you to live in sin with me, in Jacobsville, Texas?” he asked, with exaggerated horror.

“You didn't say anything about marriage,” she began defensively.

He grinned wickedly. “Do you really think I spent so much time on you just to give you karate lessons?” he drawled. “Darlin', it would take years of them to make you proficient enough to protect yourself from even a weak adversary. I brought you over here for practice so that I could get my arms around you.”

Her eyes brightened. “Did you, really?”

He chuckled. “See what depths I've sunk to?” he murmured. He shook his head. “I had to give you enough time to grow up. I didn't want a teenager who was hero worshiping me. I wanted a woman, a strong woman, who could stand up to me.”

She smoothed her hands up to his broad shoulders. “I think I can do that,” she mused.

He nodded. “I think you can, too. Can you live with what I do?”

She smiled. “Of course.”

He drew in a slow breath and his eyes were more possessive than ever. “Then we'll get Jess out of harm's way and then we'll get married.”

She pulled him down to her. “Yes,” she whispered against his hard mouth.

Seconds later, they were so close that she wasn't cer
tain he'd be able to draw back at all, when there was a loud knock at the door and the knob rattled.

“Aunt Sally!” came a plaintive little voice. “I want some cereal and they haven't got any that's in shapes and colors. It's such boring cereal!”

Sally laughed even as Eb managed to drag himself away from the tangle of their legs with a groan that was half amusement and half agony.

“I'll be right there, Stevie!”

“Why's the door locked?” he called loudly.

“Come on here, youngster, and let's see if we can find something you'd like to eat,” came a deep, amused adult voice.

“Okay, Dallas!”

The voices retreated. Eb lay shivering a little with reaction, but he grinned when Sally sat up and looked down at him with love glowing in her eyes.

“Close call,” he whispered.

“Very,” she agreed.

He took a long, hungry last look at her breasts and resolutely sat up and fastened her buttons again with a rueful smile. “Maybe food is a bearable substitute for what I really want,” he mused.

She leaned forward and kissed him gently. “I'll make you glad we waited,” she whispered against his mouth.

Several heated minutes later, they joined the others at the breakfast table, but Eb didn't mention future plans. He was laying down ground rules for the following week, starting with the very necessary trip Sally and Stevie must take to school the next day.

“We could keep him out of school until this is over,” Dallas said tersely, glancing at the child who was sitting between himself and Jessica. “I don't like having him at risk.”

“Neither do I,” Jessica said heavily. “But it's possible that he won't be. Lopez has a weakness for children,” she said. “It's the only virtue he possesses, but he's a maniac about abusive adults. He'd never hurt Stevie, no matter what.”

“I'd have to agree with that,” Eb said surprisingly.

“Then life goes on as usual,” Jessica said. “And maybe Lopez will make a mistake and we'll have him. Or at least,” she added, “a way of getting at him.”

“What about Rodrigo?” Dallas asked abruptly.

“He phoned me late last night,” Eb told him. “He's already in town, in place. Fast worker. It seems he has a relative, a ‘mule' who works for Lopez in Houston, a distant relative who doesn't know what Rodrigo really does for a living. He got Rodrigo a job driving a truck for the new operation here.” He let out a breath through his teeth. “Once we get Lopez's attention away from Jess,” he added, “that operation is going to be our next priority.”

“Can't you just send the sheriff over there to arrest them?” Sally asked.

“It's inside the city limits. Chief Chet Blake has jurisdiction there, and, of course, he'd help if he could,” Eb told her. “But so far, all we have on Lopez's employees is a distant connection to a drug lord. Unless we can catch them in the act of receiving or shipping cocaine, what would we charge them with? Building a ware
house is legal, especially when you have all the easements and permission from the planning commission.”

“That's why we're going to stake out the place, once this is over,” Dallas added. He glanced from Jessica to Stevie with worried eyes. “But first we have to solve the more immediate problem.”

Jess felt for his hand on the table beside her and tangled her fingers into it. “We'll get through this,” she said in a soft tone. “I can't cold-bloodedly give a human being's life up to Lopez, no matter what the cost. The person involved risked everything to put him away. And even then, his attorneys found a loophole.”

“Don't forget that it took them a couple of years to do that,” Eb reminded her. “He won't be easy to catch a second time. He has enough pull with the Mexican government to keep them from extraditing him back here for trial.”

“I hear DEA's going to put him on their top ten Most Wanted list,” Dallas said. “That will turn up the heat a little, especially with a fifty-thousand dollar reward to sweeten the deal.”

“Lopez would double their bounty out of his pocket change to get them off his tail, even if we could find someone crazy enough to go down to Cancún after him,” Eb said.

“Micah Steele would, in a second,” Dallas replied.

Eb chuckled. “I imagine he would. But he's been working on a case overseas with Cord Romero and Bojo Luciene.”

“Bojo, the Moroccan,” Dallas recalled. “Now there's a character.”

Eb was immediately somber. “Okay, tomorrow morning I'll follow Sally and Stevie in to school. Dallas can tail them on the way home. We'll stay in constant contact and hope for the best.”

“The best,” Dallas replied, “would be that Lopez would give up.”

“It won't happen,” Eb assured him.

“Have you considered contacting your informant?” Dallas asked Jessica. “If we could get him back to the States, we could arrange around-the-clock protection and get him into the witness protection program, where even Lopez couldn't find him.”

She grimaced. “I thought of that, but I honestly don't know how to locate my informant,” she said sadly. “The people who could have helped me do it are dead.”

Eb scowled. “All of them?”

Jessica nodded with a sigh. “All of them. About six months ago. Just before my accident.”

“Rodrigo might be able to dig something up,” Dallas said.

“That's very possible,” Eb agreed. “Jessica, you could trust him with the name. I know, you don't want to put your informant in danger. But if we can't find him, how can we protect him?”

She hesitated. Then she shifted in her chair, clinging even more tightly to Dallas's big hand. “Okay,” she said finally. “But he has to promise to keep the information to himself. Can I trust him to do that?”

“Yes,” Eb said with certainty.

“All right, then. When can we do it?”

“Tomorrow after school,” Eb said. “I'll get Cy Parks to run into him ‘accidentally' and slip him a note, so that Lopez won't get suspicious.”