Untamed (20 page)

“I didn’t ask. And besides, if the cops scream up in front of the house, those guys are liable to fire on them.”

“What does that have to do with you going?”

“I
do
have skills,” she pointed out. “And we don’t go by road. We take the horses and come in from the back.”

Cam looked at Clint, Clint cocked an eyebrow at him. “She makes a good point.”

“Damn sure does. Let’s do it.”

Without another word, they set to saddling the horses.

Chapter Twelve

Ellie stumbled from the shove the man gave her when she got out of the car. “Okay, where is it?” he demanded.

There was no way in hell Ellie was going to take them to the secret house. But she could only lead them through the woods for so long. Unless she could lose them. She considered that option for a moment and made up her mind. It was the only chance she had.

“This way.”

She took off at a brisk pace and was twenty feet ahead of them by the time she reached the wall of palmetto and bramble of vines and underbrush that bordered the back yard. She’d purposely taken a route that would lead through the worst of it, something that gave her a major case of the creeping willies.

Praying that she wouldn’t step on a snake, she plowed into the tangle of sharp edged fronds and tangled vines.

She heard the men behind her. “Hold up!” one of them yelled, followed closely by the sound of the other.

“Slow down!”

Ellie did just the opposite. She took off running, heedless of the pointed tips of the palmettos that stabbed into her or the sharp edges that sliced at her arms, neck, and face. This was her chance to escape.

She made it through the worst of it and took off at a run, headed for the stream. Her lungs burned from keeping up the pace and her legs and arms stung from the cuts, but she wouldn’t slow down. She could hear the men behind her. She had a good lead but if she slowed, they might catch up. She had to keep going as fast as she could.

When she reached the creek, she stopped. She was panting, every breath coming harder than the last one. Ellie reached up to wipe her face and her hand came away stained with blood. She wiped her hands on her pants, looked left, and then right.

She didn’t want to take a chance on anyone finding out about the secret house so she had to follow the stream in the opposite direction. Cam had said that was the direction to his place.

Hoping that she could indeed find her way onto Cam’s land, she took off. Ellie didn’t know how long she had been running along the side of the stream when it suddenly stopped. Just stopped.

The stream dumped into a big hole. It must be deep because it sounded like a waterfall.
Now what?

East. Cam’s place was to the east. She checked the sky and looked around, trying to determine the direction of the sun by the shadows of the trees. Hoping she was headed in the right direction, she set off again, but at a slower pace. Her energy was running low.

Suddenly she froze. What was that noise? She stood very still and listened. It came from in front of her. Was someone coming?

Ellie looked around and spotted an old oak off to the right of where she stood. She raced for it and plastered her back against it, peeking out in the direction of the sound she’d heard.

A few seconds later, she heard it again. What the heck was that? Almost as soon as she’d had the thought, the answer was revealed. A horse. And on its back was Cam.

“Oh thank god!” She ran out in front of the horse and it pranced in surprise.

“Whoa,” Cam steadied it. “Ellie? God almighty, what happened?”

She ran to him and held up her hand. “We need to go. They’re looking for me.”

Cam pulled her up behind him. Ellie wrapped her arms around his waist and hung on as he turned the horse. Clint and Lily fell in behind them.

Ellie had never seen such a welcome sight as the barns and buildings on the Marsh ranch. Cam stopped at the barn and she slid off the horse. He dismounted and took her by the shoulders. “Did they do this to you?”

“What? Oh!” She realized her arms were scratched and cut. “No. I did that getting away. I took them through all that crap in the back yard.”

“Smart,” Clint said from behind her. “But you need to get cleaned up. Go with Lily to the house. Cam and I will take care of the horses.”

“And call the department,” Cam added and pulled out his phone.

“Come on, Ellie,” Lily put her hand on Ellie’s back. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“I have stuff in the apartment,” Ellie replied.

“Fine. Let’s go there.”

Ellie let Lily take her to the apartment above the garage. “Go get in the shower,” Lily recommended. “It’s gonna sting but you need to clean those cuts.”

Ellie nodded and headed for the bathroom. She got one look at herself in the mirror and gasped. She looked like she’d run through a briar patch. Her forehead had three long scratches, her chin was cut, and there were numerous scratches and cuts on her neck. Her arms and hands were the worst. She hadn’t realized she had cut herself in so many places..

Hurriedly she turned on the water, stripped, and got into the shower. The water ran red and brown from the blood and dirt and as Lily had warned, it stung like holy hell. But she stood under the spray until the water ran clear.

Just as she reached for the soap, the shower curtain jerked open. “Christ.” Cam grumbled as he looked at her.

“I’m okay. I’m okay.”

His response was to start peeling off his clothes. Ellie just stood there gaping. What the hell was he doing? And why the hell were her thoughts turning to sex at this moment? Something was wrong with her. She shouldn’t be thinking about sex at a time like this.

But a naked Cam was a remarkable sight and a woman would have to be either blind or dead not to be turned on at the sight.

He stepped into the shower with her and picked up the soap. “I can do that,” she protested.

“You’ve got to make sure to get the scratches clean so they don’t get infected. A lot of plants have poisonous properties. They won’t kill you but they can cause infections. “

“I can still bathe myself.”

“Just be quiet, Ellie.”

She closed her mouth and submitted. There was nothing sexual in his touch. He was apparently fully intent on getting her clean and did just that. Finally sure he’d washed all the poison away, he put the soap onto the soap holder and rinsed his hands. Ellie turned to face him.

“You came for me.”             

“Of course I did.”

“Cam.”

Cam had heard her say his name a hundred times, but he’d never heard it emerge from her lips in that way. It sent something scalding through his mind and then his body.

“Ellie.”

“Cam.”

Christ on a crutch.
There it was again. His name falling from her lips like a prayer. It undid him. Made him forget his concern over her injuries, his anger at the men who’d taken her. All he could think about was wanting her.

When he reached for her she came to him, her arms working up around his neck, fingers fisting his hair as her breasts crushed against his chest. Their mouths met in a clash of lips and tongues.

The collision of their bodies did not remain static. They waltzed against the wall a foot back and thudded against it into a tangle of limbs. Ellie’s hands reached for purchase as he pinned her against the wall, pulling the shower curtain loose from its rings on the bar holding it.

She groaned and grabbed his arms, fingers digging in as she tried to turn him against the wall. Her foot slid on a slick spot on the shower floor.  If he hadn’t wrapped his arms around her she’d have fallen.  He held on, marched her out of the shower and to the bathroom vanity.

When he lifted her up on the counter she wound her legs around him. He reached between them to move himself into position then angled and slid inside her.

Ellie moaned and wound her arms around his neck, claiming his lips. He couldn’t think of a damn thing but Ellie and his raging need

* * * * *

Simon Dansforth filled his glass more than halfway with the single malt Scotch and downed the entire thing. He was furious that his men had failed. Elana Whitehorse had managed to escape them, and now three of them were in custody.

Simon had informed his attorney to pay their bail and to make sure that none of them dared breathe a word about Simon’s involvement. Once they were free, he’d assign them to security at the phosphate mine he owned farther south and they would conveniently disappear.

But that did not take care of what was uppermost in his mind, namely getting his hands on Michael Whitehorse’s treasure. The more he thought about it the angrier he became. After another couple of drinks, he was furious and a little drunk.

He staggered through the mansion to the suite housing his prisoner. Once inside he found her standing in front of the window, gazing out. She didn’t even bother to turn and look at him. That made him angrier.

Simon walked to her and grabbed the hair on the back of her head to wrench her around to face him. She didn’t fight, nor did she cooperate. She simply became like an immobile sack of flesh.

“Tell me where it is,” he hissed.

Her eyes met his and he saw the defiance in them. “Tell me if you want to live.”

Still she remained silent. “Tell me!” He screamed in her face.

And she spit in his.

There was no conscious decision on his part to act. He simply reacted. With his hand still gripping her hair, he shoved her at the window. Her head shattered the glass, flesh ripping. She threw up her hands to try to stop herself from going through the window but to no avail.

Blood splattered the window, the woman, and him. And the sight of it woke something dark inside him. Over and over, he beat her head into the window. Initially, she tried to pry his hand from her hair but his strength was greater than hers. At length her efforts weakened until her body slumped.

It was at that point Simon realized she was nearly dead. He caught her limp body as she started to fall, gripping her upper arms and staring into her ruined face.

“Tell me!”

Her mouth moved for several seconds before a sound emerged. “Rot in hell.”

Those were her final words. A moment later her body flared with a blue light that propelled Simon backward. She slumped to the floor, lifeless. Simon didn’t give much thought to the dead body on his floor or the blood that covered him, or what he had done. He could only think of that blue light.

What was it, and how could he find another of her kind from which to extract the answers he sought?

* * * * *

Ellie had just started to drift off to sleep when a surge of energy had her body stiffening. Cam sat straight up in bed beside her. Blue light enveloped her for a split second then faded.

“Ellie!

When she opened her eyes , he saw the strange blue light glowing in them. “What the hell? Are you okay?”

Ellie pushed up on her elbows. “Yeah but...”

“But what?”

She came to a sitting position. “I know this will sound crazy but something—some kind of energy kind of zapped me and I heard—no, heard isn’t really right but I don’t know how else to explain it. There was a thought that appeared in my mind.”

“What kind of thought?”

“That I had to lift the veil or all was lost.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I wish I knew. I told you it would sound crazy.”

“No crazier than anything else.” He picked up his phone from the nightstand. “There was a message from the Department. I need to call in.”

She nodded and lay back down as he placed a call to the Sheriff’s Department. “Three men were picked up trying to leave your place.” He said when the call ended. “They’re in custody. We need to go make an ID on them.”

“Now?”

“Yeah, Clint and Lily too.”

“Okay. She started to get up but he pulled her back onto the bed and into his arms. “One day, when all of this is done, you and I are gonna need some serious alone time.”

“Amen,” she agreed with a smile.

“I love you, Elli.”

“And I love you more.”

He grinned, gave her a kiss and then released her, admiring the view as she got up from the bed and started to dress. Cam called his brother to tell him the news and then dressed. Twenty minutes later, they were on their way to the sheriff’s department.

It was dark by the time they arrived back at the Marsh ranch. Ellie offered to help Lily prepare dinner. Clint checked the voice mail on the home phone while Cam took on the task of setting the table.

“Colton called,” Clint announced. “He talked to Jed Nash. Jed said for Cam to bring Ellie to Jed’s place in North Carolina to meet his wife and her sisters and they’d see if they could help.

Ellie turned from where she stood at the counter, slicing potatoes. “That’s an awful long drive and Cam’s already taken off way too much time at work. Maybe I should just go by myself.”

“Not a chance in hell,” Cam argued.

“Cam.”

“Ellie, no.”

“I have a suggestion,” Lily spoke up. “How about we charter a plane? That way you could go up and back in one day?”

“Are you serious?” Ellie asked. “I don’t have that kind of money.”

“Well, I do,” Lily replied.

Elli knew that Lily had inherited some coins from her father that ended up being worth a fortune but she wasn’t about to take money from her friend. “No. No, you can’t do that.”