Surviving Seduction (31 page)

Wherever his father was, he assumed authority over the people around him with the ease of the high-ranking officer he had been prior to the Crash. Dan realized early that it was the unyielding confidence in his father’s body language that kept most people from even questioning him.

That didn’t mean his actions didn’t create a stir. Dan stood behind him every day, watching the subtle reactions of the people who dealt with him.

To his knowledge, the only person Dan had ever misread was Clint, the son of his father’s murderer. Only after Selena courageously kil ed him did Dan understand the man wasn’t right in the head, and that element of chaos had made his actions impossible to anticipate. Human insanity, it seemed, had turned out to be his Achil es’ heel.

Fortunately, everyone here was sane, including Victor, who was merely twisted.

Dan was bitterly consumed with the need to torture the man, whether his offense could be considered mild or not. This desire was clouding his mind with dangerous persistence. His thoughts returned to Selena and his chest ached for her. When they first met, she’d been wary, yet stil so innocent. Al he wanted was to keep her close and protect her, but it was her contact with him that had continued to put her in harm’s way, which was exactly contrary to his purpose. He wondered miserably if she had been right to resist him al along. She shouldn’t have had to kil anyone for his mistakes, not like that. He knew she would never be free from the foul memory of Clint. Deeds that grisly should be his burden alone.

For the rest of the journey, Dan watched, listened and found it impossible not to devise his plans for Victor.

As occupied as he was, it felt like forever before he was home, and he wished he was riding in under better circumstances.

It was late afternoon when they made their way down the winding trail into the bowl of Brian’s Crater. Dan was in the front of the line again, but Josie was close behind.

Tim wasn’t there to offer to take their horses. In fact, he couldn’t see anyone outside yet. They remained mounted and rode to the fire pit. That was when he saw Bear’s wife, Susan, making her way from Blaire’s cook-fire behind the dining hal toward her cabin with a steaming kettle.

He hailed her.

She turned to face him in surprise, pressing her hand tightly to her chest when she saw him. “Dan!”

hand tightly to her chest when she saw him. “Dan!”

“Wait here,” he ordered the others automatical y. He dismounted to meet her as she took in the sight of Josie and her men behind him. Her eyes widened with surprise.

She looked terrible. Her pale blonde hair was disheveled and her face was marked with dark circles and deep frown lines.

“Hel o Josie,” she cal ed out weakly, setting the kettle down in the dirt.

When he drew near, she reached out and wrapped her arms around him tightly. “I’m so glad you’re back,” she whispered in a trembling voice.

Dan was caught off guard. He frowned and returned her hug, rubbing her back reassuringly. Things had been even worse here than he’d expected. He closed his eyes and sighed.

“Talk to me, Susan,” he said.

She drew away, wiping the tears from her pale blue eyes.

“Star is back but Selena is stil gone.”

As he’d suspected, the medicine was likely here, and whoever planted it had brought the mare to implicate Selena.

“It’s been awful, just awful,” she went on, shaking her head. “Becky is so sick. She just isn’t turning this thing around. Shane beat it, and Blaire and Sara and I never got it. Little Jay suffered terribly but he’s recovering. Thank God or Sara would have kil ed herself. Could you imagine her losing Jimmy and their only child next? Tim’s sick too, but his symptoms are mild. Oh Dan, I’m afraid for my little girl!”

She tried to hide her face in her hands as her composure broke. “She’s been in a fever for days, she can’t eat and her head hurts. I think it’s a real y bad flu, but her immunity is too weak.”

He wrapped his arms around her again. Witnessing her suffer so deeply was intolerable.

“I wish Selena was here,” she whispered, pul ing back to look up into his face. “Are you okay?”

He stared back at her, dumbfounded by the question at first. Tenderness this profound was such a rare thing for him to experience, it took time for him to comprehend it.

When he final y did, his face contorted for a moment. He found himself incapable of answering her question, so she spared him the effort and resumed her hug.

Dan breathed slowly and deeply, clenching his jaw.

There was so much he had to fix.

“I have to go,” she said, final y releasing him and bending down to pick up the stil -steaming kettle.

Susan smiled up at him weakly as she turned to go.

She’d chosen not to burden him with a plea for help, but he could see it in her eyes, and experienced a momentary déjà vu. She’d given him that look when he’d led her husband to war against Josie’s brother.

Dan turned on his heel and climbed into the saddle again. Buck had been waiting behind him. When they made their way back to the others, he could see that they had been talking amongst themselves. For now, he could only let things unfold.

“How do you want to do this?” he asked Josie brusquely, cutting off the conversation Roark had been having with her.

The other man glared at him fiercely, but Dan ignored him.

“We’l start our search outdoors,” Josie told him stonily. “And if we don’t find what we’re looking for, we’l search the common buildings and then the cabins.”

Her voice had taken on an almost imperceptibly higher pitch. She was treating him with a confidence she didn’t feel, especial y now that they were on his turf. Josie was intimidated. That was not a good thing. It meant she would be less likely to discern the truth and more likely to escalate the situation to a serious confrontation. Dan didn’t argue, and nodded in assent instead. It was in his best interest to keep her at her ease.

He spotted Cal making his way over, and when he took in the sight of Josie’s men, he scowled.

“What’s going on?” he asked Dan when he was near enough. At the same time, Josie began instructing her men.

“We’l split up and comb the place in pairs. Gary, you’re with me.”

Dan didn’t like this. If one of these men had planted the medication or knew where it was, they would find it again with suspicious ease. Of course, Josie wouldn’t notice this if they al split up.

Dan knew that the medication would be placed in a way that would implicate him directly. They would find it cleverly concealed in or near his cabin. He had to pretend he had no inkling as to where it was. He was okay with that.

This was just another opportunity to watch.

“If you find it, whistle,” she finished as the men paired off.

“That one is not al owed out of my sight,” Dan informed Josie, nodding at Victor.

“Fine. He’l stay with you,” she conceded, fixing him with a warning look.

“Don’t you fuck with our crops or animals,” Cal said, glowering at them. “This is such bul shit,” he muttered under his breath as they began to fan out in varying directions.

Dan didn’t fol ow.

“We know they planted it. What are we going to do when they find it?” Cal asked him, pacing.

Dan didn’t answer. His attention was fixed on Victor, who stared back at him in resentful submission.

“What’s the story with this guy?”

“He made a mistake.”

“Oh. Wel I told everyone Josie would be coming, but I’d better make sure they know she’s here now.” With that, he set off.

“What did you do to her?” Dan asked when Cal was gone.

Victor gestured to his throat and shrugged.

Dan said no more. If he got any information, he knew his restraint could never win out over his murderous fury. He passed the time watching Victor and listening to the distant voices of Josie’s men. Victor probably didn’t realize it, but Josie’s decision would have no influence over the outcome of his life. No matter what was going to transpire over the next twenty-four hours, Dan would take his vengeance.

The search went on into the evening. This was longer than he’d expected. When the sun had sunk beneath the rim of the Crater, they heard a whistle.

Dan gestured in the direction of his cabin, and Victor rode in front. They were the first to arrive. Roark stood over a hole and mound of disturbed earth in an inconspicuous spot a short way from Dan’s cabin. Bil was hunched down over a large plastic box with wel -organized bottles and packets of pil s. The size of their stockpile was incredible to behold.

Bil raised his eyes and looked at Dan careful y.

Roark favored him with a triumphant glare.

The others began to arrive pair by pair, and Josie was one of the last. She brushed past the others and stopped to stare at her precious supplies. Everyone was silent. She sighed heavily and signaled Bil to hand her the container. He closed it securely and passed it up into her arms. She took it as if it were a living child.

“How did you find it?” she inquired quietly.

“The ground just didn’t look right,” he answered.

Josie dragged her gaze slowly to Dan.

Josie dragged her gaze slowly to Dan.

“It’s getting dark. We’l sleep somewhere else tonight,” she informed him pensively before closing her eyes for a few breaths. When she opened them again, her expression had morphed into one of ferocity. “There wil be a reckoning for this. We wil be back tomorrow.”

Sixteen

Selena covered her face with her hands, and turned her back to Jack.

“Hey,” he said, stepping around to stand in front of her again. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head and could hardly find her voice. “It was just a dream,” she whispered through her hands.

He pul ed them away and lifted her chin to look down at her face careful y. “What did you mean when you said

‘he saw us’?”

“Nothing,” she lied feebly, knowing he wouldn’t be satisfied.

He peered at her in the moonlight and his eyes ranged over her face. He brushed back her hair and his hand grazed against her neck, feeling her skin.

She trembled with tension and embarrassment as he examined her. The dream had been so real. He had been plundering her body just seconds ago, and now he was touching her again. She felt battered with waves of arousal for Jack and torturous guilt for Dan.

He focused on her eyes now, and his recently dour demeanor gave way for just a hint of that familiar roguish smile. He took her face in his hands.

“How was I?”

Selena let out a shuddering breath, her eyes sliding closed unbidden.

He put his arms around her and gently tugged her in against him. “That sounds about right,” he murmured, his lips against her ear. He swept her hair away from her neck, his warm breath caressing her skin, preparing her for the firm touch of his lips. This was not a tease. He held her securely as he kissed her neck in earnest.

She couldn’t think, too deeply drunk with the surging chemicals of lust and pleasure.

“You need me, Selena,” he breathed huskily, running his imploring hands everywhere along her face, her neck, her back, and her waist. “You need this, and I do too. I need you. Just say yes.”

He eased her to the ground and slid a hand beneath her shirt to squeeze her slender waist as he continued pressing his lips against her neck.

She groaned helplessly, too lost to say yes, much less to say no.

“You don’t need to fight this, Selena,” he coaxed in a soothing, gravel y voice. “Al you have to do is let go.” He positioned his mouth just above hers as she gasped for breath. “Let go,” he begged, his lips touching hers lightly as he spoke.

“Oh God,” she whispered, clutching his shoulders convulsively as she felt herself slipping into his irresistible seduction.

An image flashed into her mind of Dan bleeding on the ground, struggling to rise to his hands and knees. It wasn’t a dream, but something real that she’d seen with her own two eyes. Her stomach flipped and she felt the same shock as if she’d been plunged into cold water.

“No!” she cried. “No, Jack! I can’t! I love him!”

They rode through the peaceful y rustling trees, but Selena’s state of mind couldn’t have been in further contrast to her surroundings. Jack had honored her decision respectful y, and she felt terrible for it. To make matters worse, he wasn’t holding her decision against her.

He showed her no bitterness or resentment; although she felt sure she deserved them.

He talked with her throughout the day about people he’d met and places he’d been, with not a word about her choice between him and Dan or about the troubles she’d recently faced.

This went on until the late evening, when she found herself in a place she recognized. She should have realized where she was sooner, but her heightened emotions had driven her to distraction.

The image of Dan suffering haunted her mind, especial y now that she knew how close the Crater was.

Would he be there? Her apprehension grew as the distance closed. After what had happened to her, she was afraid of what else might have gone wrong while she was away. What if the il ness had taken the children?

The sun’s light was entirely gone from the sky by the time they reached the ridge, but the moonlight cast its bright blue glow over the dark landscape as they halted to gaze down into the Crater. A gentle breeze ruffled the grasses and treetops around the scattered roofs below.

There was tension in the air. Selena could feel it, and her hair stood on end. Jack was silent, and she wondered if he sensed it too.

She urged her borrowed mount forward uneasily, and led the way down.

When they reached the field where the horses were kept, she pressed on to the pond. They al owed the horses to drink their fil before returning to the tack room to stow the saddles and bridles. When she glanced out at the grass, she thought she saw Star resting with the other horses.

They made their way to the cabins silently, reaching first the one that had been Selena’s once upon a time.

She spotted Amy walking by in the darkness.

“Hey,” Jack cal ed softly, and his sister turned.