Surviving Seduction (38 page)

Selena squinted up at him. Something was wrong.

Loraine climbed on Jack’s second horse and quickly urged the animal in front of her brother.

“It seems there’s some objection to you kil ing me Dan,” Jack pointed out with amusement before wincing again. He was in pain; more than the wound on his hand accounted for.

Selena felt Dan behind her, and he moved her firmly aside now, but he couldn’t move Loraine and her horse.

“I’m sorry, Dan,” she whispered down at him. “But if you want Jack, you’l have to kil me first. We’re going to leave now.” Her gaze shifted to Amy, who shook her head stubbornly. Loraine eyed her with disappointment, the hurt clear on her face. “I have to take care of him,” she finished.

“Later, little sis,” Jack told Amy with a salute. His eyes were glazed as he smiled back at Dan. “You’d better take care of that shoulder. You’re gonna bleed to death.”

He leaned back to reach into his saddlebags with a grimace. “Almost forgot.” He tossed something into the air.

The sunlight caught it with a golden shimmer against the sky’s deep blue, and it arced high before coming toward the earth before Selena. She reached her hand out and its finely wrought chain fel against her fingers. She held it up, and from the chain hung the compass.

Selena glanced up at Jack, who’d been waiting for her eyes. He gazed back in a strangely intimate way that flooded her senses with al their moments. His face broke into a conspiratorial grin and he winked from under his hat.

“Adios,” he whispered, reining his mount around.

It was only then that they saw the red blood that covered the back of his shirt. He slumped forward on his horse and slid to the ground.

“Jack!” Loraine cried, jumping off her mount to stumble down to him. “Somebody help! Oh, God!”

Amy dashed to the place where he lay face down on the ground and turned his head to put her ear to his mouth.

“He’s breathing,” she shouted, her voice trembling. She tugged up his shirt to reveal a gash in his lower back.

Selena couldn’t move. She stood paralyzed with uncertainty. Bear had been stabbed in the side. Dan was stil losing blood, and now Jack had col apsed. She couldn’t help them al at once. Dan and Bear had to come first. But Jack was in the greatest peril. She didn’t even know if he
could
be saved.

“Can you help, Selena?” Amy whispered, turning to face her while Loraine tried to put pressure on the wound. “I know it’s a lot to ask after everything that’s happened, but I’m asking you. Please.”

Selena’s mouth opened but nothing came out.

“This happened because he was protecting you,”

she pressed.

“B-Bear and Dan—” Selena stammered, casting her wide eyes over her shoulder at the blood that had run down his arm. His discipline was so ingrained he’d die standing.

“I have to help them first.”

“Jack needs help now,” Loraine told her with a sob.

Selena felt frantic. She couldn’t say yes, but she couldn’t tel them no, so she said nothing, even though every second that passed put them al in greater danger.

“Aw, hel ,” Josie said, striding purposeful y to her med box. “I’l do it. I’ve got a fair bit of experience patchin’

people up.”

Selena heaved a sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” Jack’s sisters breathed at the same time.

“Thank you,” Jack’s sisters breathed at the same time.

“Bil , help us lift him. Cal? Shane? Would you mind?

Dan, I’m gonna need to borrow one of your dining tables.”

The men gathered around Jack, but Dan didn’t answer.

“Is that okay?” she pressed.

“It’s fine,” Cal answered.

Josie hesitated, wanting the go-ahead from Dan.

“Let’s go,” Cal was tel ing the men. “One, two, three!”

They lifted him as careful y as they could manage and were soon carrying him up the dining hal stairs.

“Gina? Would you mind helping me?” Josie asked as she fol owed.

“Fine. Why not? I can’t make anything worse,” she muttered, shrugging. “Crazy ass got himself into this. No one to blame but himself if he dies.”

Selena watched them as they made their way inside, the women bringing up the rear, with Ben fol owing after them.

Dan and Selena were the only ones left outside, and when she turned to face him, she found a pleading expression in his eyes. It was not what she expected to see.

She wrapped an arm around him and urged him to fol ow the others. They walked toward the dining hal , but when he reached the foot of the stairs, he stopped and turned to face her, reaching his arm around her and clutching her close to him.

She knew they didn’t have time for this, but her emotions overwhelmed her sense in that moment, and she hugged him back tightly. Things had wound up uglier than she’d ever imagined. If Victor’s knife had landed anywhere else in his torso, he would probably be dead. And if Jack hadn’t blocked Victor’s first throw, she certainly would be.

Dan tried to squeeze her, but she felt his strain. His good arm was stil pressed firmly against his wound. He was holding her with the injured one.

“You have to let me fix that,” Selena whispered, blinking back tears and pul ing away, but he stopped her and held his breath at the pain his resistance caused.

“I didn’t understand fear until I met you, Selena,” he told her, his voice shaking. “Now it’s suffocating.” He drew a shuddering breath. “God I love you. I love you so much, it’s torture, even when you’re safe.” He let go of his wound in frustration, wrapping his good arm around her and crushing her against him.

Selena’s tears came back quickly. “Don’t let go!”

she gasped in alarm. “You’re bleeding!” She struggled against him and wormed her arm up between them to press her hand tightly against his shoulder.

“I couldn’t find you,” he whispered. “I couldn’t find your trail. When I saw Victor, I knew.” He squeezed her harder stil , as though she might disappear again at any moment. “I failed you again.”

“That wasn’t how it was!” her trembling voice insisted. “I shouldn’t have run without thinking. I’m the only one to blame for what happened.”

“That’s a kindness,” he answered, “but there’s nothing you can say to convince me otherwise. I scared you off and then I wasn't there to protect you.”

“Dan,” Selena whispered. She wanted to argue, but couldn’t find the words, and shook her head instead.

“Promise you’l never leave me,” he whispered, pressing his cheek against her hair. “I want you to promise me. No matter what happens! Promise me you’l stay with me. I swear that I wil find a way to make things easier. I’l do whatever I have to do. Please.”

For a moment her throat was too tight to speak. “I wil ,” her strangled voice answered. “I promise. I love you too.”

He let out a long breath, rocking her where they stood. He tipped up her chin and looked sincerely into her eyes. “I may not be able to keep you safe, Selena, but I wil die trying.”

She knew it was true. He had proved it. Her eyes spil ed tears of terrible guilt for ever letting herself think, even for a moment, that she should leave him. As her hand slowed his blood, she felt more certain than she’d ever been. She held him close, final y and ful y surrendering to a love too deep to be denied by any force on earth.

It was clear that Jack had tempted her with the easy road, and if she had chosen him, it would have been the biggest mistake of her life. She knew now that she would rather die at Dan’s side tomorrow than live at Jack’s side forever.

The knowledge made her calm. Despite his wounded, vulnerable state, she could feel Dan’s strength and warmth radiating from him. Life was perilous, and Selena had seen more than her share of terrible things.

She knew that finding love in this world was difficult, but loving a man who could be trusted to the end was nothing short of a miracle. Dan was that man, and she would never stray from her promise. Only now did she truly understand how much he needed her, and how much she needed him.

Selena drew his face down careful y and pressed her lips to his, wil ing him to feel her resolve in her kiss. He deserved more than words, and when he was safely healed, she would make good on her promise and prove her devotion every day that passed. His mouth moved against hers earnestly, as though he too were wil ing her to feel the truth of his love. Relief flooded her senses at the intimacy of their kiss, but despite the tenderness of the moment, a spark of urgency flickered between them, as it always did. She needed to see to his wound, but found herself incapable of breaking away, as helpless to resist him as to wake up from a dream.

As with dreams, it was a sound that final y restored Selena’s awareness of the rest of the world around her.

She reluctantly broke their kiss.

“You have to let me go now,” she whispered. “Please. I have to fix this.”

He nodded, but his arms stil encircled her tightly.

“Bear needs my help,” she reminded him.

He released her, his eyes ful of surprise that he’d forgotten. “I’m sorry,” he said, and put his hand back on his shoulder, striding right up the stairs and into the dining hal .

She fol owed, wiping the moisture from her eyes and struggling to clear her head. She stopped at the door and lifted her hand. The compass was stil clenched in her fingers. She had forgotten it, and cupped it in her palm, watching the arrow steady its direction to the north. She placed it careful y in the pouch on her belt. It would be her reminder and her guide. She didn’t intend to get lost again.

She stepped inside the dining hal and saw that Josie was cleaning Jack’s wound. It seemed Blaire had provided her with the things she needed. The men watched the process with grim expressions.

“Let’s let them work,” Cal suggested to Loraine and Amy, clearly hoping to spare them. Amy hesitated and Loraine shook her head, wearing a stubborn expression.

“I’d rather you weren’t here,” Josie said absently, focusing on her task. “It’s distracting.”

They grudgingly made for the door.

“Cal,” Selena cal ed on her way to the kitchen. “One of the other men is stil alive.” The one that Blaire hit was only unconscious.

“Oh ... What do you want me to do with him?”

“Whatever Josie says, when she’s through here,” Dan answered before stepping into the kitchen.

answered before stepping into the kitchen.

Selena fol owed.

Blaire was already inside with supplies al laid out.

Bear sat awkwardly sideways in a chair while Susan held a towel against his wound.

Now it was Selena’s turn to work.

She sewed Bear’s wound careful y. It was a clean stab without much tearing, and she felt safer with access to Josie’s medical supplies. For once, she was working with a proper needle and decent thread. It looked as though she had been right to guess the knife hadn’t gone deep enough to reach his organs. Concentrating was difficult, only because they were ful of questions.

“We heard a shot and almost ran back out there,”

Blaire told them. She held Dan’s shoulder wound with clean gauze. “But from the window I could tel one of Josie’s men went down, or Roark’s men, I should say. Looked like Jack was the one doin’ the shootin’. That boy had a gun this whole time? And ammo to boot?”

“Almost didn’t believe what we heard,” Bear admitted in a tight voice.

“Just about done,” Selena told him quietly.

“Looked for a while there like you and Jack were going to fight,” Susan put in, studying Dan’s face.

“It’s a long story,” he told her. “But what it al comes down to is that Selena was kidnapped and Jack was behind it.”

Selena’s stomach tightened, and she was glad he didn’t go into any detail about why Jack shot Victor, although they must have heard Dan yel ing about her kidnappers putting their hands on her. The room was quiet, which validated her assumption. Al she could do was keep stitching, despite her discomfort.

“Done,” she announced, breaking the long silence.

“You are on bed rest, and that means no work until I say so.”

“Yes ma’am,” Bear answered with a bemused smile as he rose to his feet. “Thanks for patching me up.”

“Anytime. Now get some rest.”

Susan took his arm and led him out. Selena knew he was in good hands, albeit tired ones.

She had cleaned Dan’s wound and was already working on his stitches when Gina joined them.

Selena glanced at her hesitantly. Whether the news was good or bad, she knew she wasn’t ready for it.

“Josie did everything she could,” Gina told them.

“Jack’s alive, barely. She doesn’t know whether he’s gonna pul through or not. Guess it’s just up to time now.”

A stormy look passed over Dan’s features. “Gina, when you say someone ‘did everything they could’ it means the person is dead,” he explained irritably.

“Says who?” she snapped back. “I’l mean he’s dead when I say he’s dead.”

“Hush you two,” Blaire broke in before Dan could fire back a retort. “There’s been enough fighting for one day.

And for the record, Dan’s right, general y speaking.”

Gina rol ed her eyes and went out in a huff.

“I’l check on him later,” Selena cal ed after her.

“Disappointed?” Blaire asked Dan with a wry half-smile.

He looked back at her with a similar expression, shrugging with his good shoulder.

Thankful y, everything was quiet again. She was nearly finished when Ben wandered in.

“Wel , what do you think this time, Blaire?” he asked wearily. “The tomatoes?”

She paused her cleaning in surprise. “Are you on about that already?”

“They’ve got to get buried sometime,” he answered defensively. “Sooner is better than later. I told Josie they’d each get a tree, but I’m thinking they’l do the best for seasonal plants, since we have to grow them from seed over and over.”

“Jesus,” Selena muttered, focusing on her stitches.

“I’m sorry I have to hurt you,” she whispered to Dan, who hadn’t flinched, but she could almost feel his pain.

“I don’t care what you do to me,” he murmured back, smiling at her with his eyes.

“Ahem,” Ben cleared his throat pointedly, returning his attention to Blaire. “You think it should be the tomatoes?” When she didn’t answer, he went on. “You think it should be the tomatoes. Okay, it’l be the tomatoes.”