Springer, Jan - Be My Dream Tonight [The Desperadoes 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (19 page)

“Glad you’re finally awake. You gave me a scare, Eve.” The woman had called her Eve, and it was obvious to Eve the woman was heavy with child. Probably seven or eight months along. Was this guy seriously going to eat this woman’s child, too? Or her own child? Was she herself pregnant? She didn’t have a clue. And how did this woman know? Were they friends?

Eve cried out in surprise and horror as Wolfe backhanded the woman across her face, sending her flying onto her ass, her outstretched hands narrowly missing the crackling fire at the mouth of the cave.

“Shut up, bitch! I asked her. You know better than to speak when I haven’t asked you to.”

Eve scrambled to help the woman up, but Wolfe grabbed Eve by the arm and yanked at her. She couldn’t stop her cry as pain cracked through her shoulders as he then grabbed the rope dangling from between her tied wrists. He pulled so hard she feared her shoulders had popped out of their sockets.

“What the fuck is your problem?” she snapped and tried to wrench from his tight grasp. This son of a bitch was seriously pissing her off.

“My problem is you. I want to send you back to them pregnant with my seed. A message to the
Durango
Gang that this is now my territory, and their bitch was under me. But instead I’ll eat their kin and then send you back swollen with my babe.”

“Let me go and I will relay the message that you want them out of your um…territory. I’m sure something can be mutually arranged between you gentlemen—” Not that she could remember who the hell he was talking about—

Pain slashed her right cheek. The sound was sharp and raw as his powerful palm contacted with her flesh. Well, she had her answer, didn’t she? A backhand that thankfully didn’t make her fall, but the blow was enough to make her realize this guy wasn’t in the mood for conversation, and he definitely wasn’t a gentleman.

“Shut up! Speak to me only when spoken to!” He glared at Eve, and suddenly she realized that if she cowered as C.J. did, he would take immense satisfaction in her fear. She didn’t want the bastard satisfied, and she glared right back at him.

He raised a hand to strike her again, and she braced herself for impact. But nothing happened. He lowered his hand and chuckled.

“Feisty one, aren’t you? C.J. was like that in the beginning. Now she knows her place. Prepare her, C.J. I will take both of you to my bed tonight.”

“Over my dead body, you son of a bitch,” Eve snapped, her bound hands tightening into fists. She would do battle to the death with this guy. He wouldn’t touch her.

“Your dead body can be easily arranged, bitch. Take her, C.J., before I decide to kill both of you right now and send her head back to the
Durango
Gang. Your head, C.J., I can use as an ornament on the cave door, but not before my child has been ripped from your tummy.”

Sweet mercy, but this guy was insane.

With the evil flash of hatred in his eyes and in the cold, emotionless tone he’d issued his threat, Eve had no doubt he would do exactly what he’d just said.

Shivers of revulsion made her bite back a curse of disgust. She would have to make her escape at her first opportunity. There was no way she would let this creep bed her. Ever!

He turned from C.J. to focus on Eve again. This time she couldn’t stop the shiver of dread from visibly coursing through her. His cold eyes seemed to grin at her with some sort of superior power that implied whatever he said would go without question. “And when you near the end of your pregnancy, I’ll cut that babe from your belly and eat it. Then I’ll make sure I send you back to them impregnated with my seed. Rest assured, I have said it, and thus it will happen.”

Eve swallowed the bitter bile when all she wanted to do was puke it into his face. From beside her, C.J. sprang to her feet, grabbed Eve’s hand, and yanked her further into the cave.

She pulled her quickly and remained silent as they followed a line of lit torches. It was cold in here, and the deeper they went into the belly of the cave, the colder it got, and the more desperate Eve became. She wanted to rip her grasp from the woman. Wanted to run out of the cave and just keep running, but she needed to make sure no one saw her leave. By all the bedding and gear stocked up along the walls of that outer cave, she knew this Wolfe creep had tons of company somewhere. Most likely just outside the cave. If she left without a plan, people would run her down in a flash.

“I can’t stay here,” Eve finally confessed as panic stabbed through her like a painful arrow and they entered another area which opened into a small-sized room. Numerous torches flashed butter-yellow light against the dark walls, but it was far from homey in here.

“You must do as I say and when I say,” the woman whispered, her dark, almost-black eyes glittered with anxiety. “I can get you out of here, but you must keep your mouth shut and follow my every command at a second’s notice. Is that understood? Because if you don’t, you’ll end up with a face like mine and a belly just as big when he passes you around to his men.”

In this brighter-lit part of the cave, Eve detected faded slice scars on the woman’s face amidst the black-and-blue bruises. She’d been a beautiful woman at one point, Eve could tell. Truth be told, even with the pink scars, she still looked quite beautiful. She had pretty dark eyes, too.

“Why can’t I remember who I am?” Eve quickly asked as another bout of desperation sizzled through her. “Do you know me? Earlier you told me my name is Eve. Is that really my name? If you can get me out of here, why haven’t you gotten yourself out of here before—” She stopped herself short.

She’d wanted to tell the woman that if she could get Eve out, then why in the world had she stayed long enough for this guy named Wolfe to beat her, slash her face, and knock her up? But she decided to leave those points unsaid.

“Wolfe will kill your baby,” the woman snapped angrily. “Have no doubt about that. He will also decapitate me as he said, but not until after the child is born. But rest assured, my days are numbered. Once the child is born, I’m dead. So are you if you act up again. Now, come close to the fire. I must prepare you as he said or he will become suspicious.”

“Suspicious? You don’t think he’ll be suspicious a couple of months down the road when he discovers I’m not pregnant?” Eve prodded. She couldn’t be pregnant. She, herself, would
know
if she were pregnant, wouldn’t she? Even if she couldn’t seem to remember who she was?

The woman grinned but didn’t say a word as she neared the fire and reached for what appeared to be an iron rod sticking out from the depths of the ashes. Eve noticed something attached to the rod and it was glowing orange. Her heart sunk.

Oh God. A branding iron. In a sudden burst of panic, she barely saw the letter W, and this time she couldn’t stop the vomit from escaping her.

* * * *

“You were pregnant? Did you know before you were kidnapped?” Kayne’s gentle voice snapped through Eve’s memory like the branding iron that C.J. had been so close to using on her.

She hadn’t even realized she’d been talking out loud and telling them what she’d remembered. She hadn’t wanted to tell them this way. She’d wanted some more time with the three men to break this news to them when they had the gold. But she may as well tell them everything. She wouldn’t keep them in the dark any longer.

“I was pregnant at that time, before I was taken away from you guys, but I had only suspected it. My periods were always irregular so I wasn’t sure.” Eve shrugged her shoulders.

Devastation crashed over all three men’s faces, and Eve instantly realized how intense their feelings were for a baby they’d just learned about.

“But I had the baby,” she added quickly, reassuring them. “A girl.”

All three men cursed softly. Their gazes were full of curiosity, of hope and despair.

“She lived?” Maddox asked quietly. She could see in their faces they were afraid of what her answer might be. That she would tell them the baby had died.

But her daughter hadn’t died, and Eve missed her like crazy. Missed the way her skin smelled so clean and fresh. Missed how her little girl swept her chubby little arms around her neck and hugged her whenever Eve carried her to bed or when she carried her around outside showing her daughter the deer loping in the meadows or the fish swimming in the rivers. Most of all, she ached to hear her sweet little girl’s lighthearted laughter as she was chased around their cozy little cabin by C.J.’s playful son.

Oh yeah, she was really missing them. Until now, she had kept her emotions to herself. Had tried hard not to think about her baby and being away from her. But knowing her daughter was being taken care of by some trusted women who loved Kaylynn dearly had made it easier to leave her for the length of time she had, so she could come and find Kayne, Riley, and Mad.

Warmth and a yearning to have her daughter back in her arms made Eve eager to return to her, but she knew it was imperative to get that gold for their security.

“She’s fine. She’s with some reliable women that C.J. and I know. The baby’s name is Kaylynn, and she is with C.J.’s son. They’re close in age, only a few months apart, and he’s like a big brother to her.”

“Kaylynn?” Kayne whispered. His eyes were glazed with appreciation for the name. Maddox and Riley seemed stunned, their eyes blinking wildly, and their mouths had dropped open in shock.

“I didn’t know who the father could be,” she admitted. “I couldn’t remember who you guys were. That one time when we met in
Hell
City
shortly after I got my amnesia, I had no idea who you were. You three were so excited to see me, and then you tried to take me away from C.J. and I was so scared. But I remembered your names when you gave them to me then, and I remembered how you all looked from that one meeting. After Kaylynn was born I thought about the three of you. That one of you must be the father. She looks so much like you, Kayne,” Eve admitted.

“Shit! We’re uncles, Mad!” Riley suddenly laughed and slapped Maddox on the back so hard Maddox almost took a swing at him. “We’re freaking uncles!”

“Eve, I want to see my daughter as soon as possible.” Kayne’s voice was barely a whisper of awe. “But I want to kill Wolfe first. That bastard wanted to kill my kid and—”

The muscles in Kayne’s cheeks spasmed as he obviously fought to control his anger. “How did you escape? She obviously didn’t brand you.” His gaze zeroed in on her like a missile.

“C.J. and a member of the Wolfe Gang got me out. C.J. and he were secretly involved. But he was deep undercover. He was a mercenary. He’d been hired by someone out of
Hell
City
to infiltrate the Wolfe Gang and pinpoint the whereabouts of one of Wolfe’s elusive allies, but he’d fallen in love with C.J. He couldn’t stand watching her get beaten by Wolfe, and he wanted to break her out. When he told her the truth about himself, she begged him to stay and take out Wolfe and the man he’d come to assassinate. He didn’t like the idea of waiting. Apparently he was so in love with C.J. he listened to her and stayed in an effort to carry out his assignment. The man he’d come to kill was supposed to come the day after I’d arrived there, but when I was brought there, C.J. decided it was time for them to leave,” Eve explained, her voice cracking with emotion. “She didn’t want me to end up like her.”

“Well, hell, I knew she couldn’t have been all that bad.” Riley grinned.

“So how come she’s running around on her own, acting like a man-hater? Where’s the man who went goo-goo eyes on her and allowed her to continue to be beaten?” Maddox growled with such an intensity, Eve noticed that Kayne and Riley had become very aware of his anger.

“Easy, Mad. She’s not our business.” Kayne’s voice held a warning tone.

“He was gunned down in
Hell
City
by an unknown assailant,” Eve acknowledged, still feeling the raw pain and desperation bursting through her when he hadn’t returned to the cabin he’d secured for them. She’d been so frightened when C.J., nine months pregnant and ready to have her baby, had disappeared from the cabin one night, only to return the next evening to tell Eve of what she’d learned about her man.

Maddox frowned. “The guy was an idiot for leaving you two alone. A freaking idiot.”

“Mad,” Kayne warned again.

“I want Wolfe’s ass for beating her. I want his ass for what he did to Eve.” Riley growled.

Oh great, now she had three angry men on her hands again. All three of them suddenly moved toward the cabin like a well-oiled machine, and Eve had to run to keep up with their long, livid strides.

“Does that mean I’m coming along on the gold heist? I mean, I am the only one who knows where his hideout is and—”

“You’re coming but only to show us the way,” Kayne commanded. “But you’re staying the hell out of harm’s way while we go in, Eve. There’s no way my kid is going to end up without her mother. There’s no room for argument on this one.”

Eve rolled her eyes as she fell behind them. Men. Would they ever learn that they couldn’t order her around?

Chapter Eight

He was a father
. He couldn’t believe it, yet when she admitted that fact, he realized he must somehow have known she was already pregnant their last time together. When she’d come to him clad only in a blanket and boots, there had been a certain sparkle in her step, yet also an odd sadness in her eyes. He’d noticed her slightly plump tummy when he’d palmed her belly, but wrote it off to her eating healthy.