Captive (Eve Duncan #29)

“I’m not forgetting about him. I’m going to call Palik right away and get him to send a team to explore how we can find him.” Caleb kissed her forehead. “But there’s nothing you can do right now. Go to sleep, Jane…”

***

The first thing Jane was aware of when she woke the next morning was the scent of bacon and pancakes.

“It’s about time you stirred.” Rodland turned away from the fire as he picked bacon out of the skillet and put it on a plate. “You were sleeping hard, and I thought I was going to have to wake you. I hate the idea of serving cold bacon. It offends my culinary expertise. Go down to the creek and take a quick bath but be back in fifteen minutes.”

She sat up and looked around. “Where’s Caleb?”

“He’s on the phone with MacDuff. He talked to Palik last night after I came back to camp.” He saw her frown and said, “It’s not as if he’s getting ahead of you. He didn’t want me to wake you because he thought you needed the rest.” He suddenly grinned. “A baby, Jane? Not anything I expected. You could have given me a hint.”

“Why should I? It wasn’t your business.” She made a face. “And look at the way you’re behaving now. Just what I didn’t want to happen. I’m very strong, and having this child shouldn’t make any difference to my general good health. I remember Eve was as strong as a horse all through most of her pregnancy with Michael. I’ll exercise and make sure that nothing gets in the way of my keeping my baby well.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rodland said. “Caleb did warn me. I’ll watch myself from now on. I only meant that Caleb wanted to put Palik and MacDuff in place right away in case he decided to bring them into going after your Dr. Campbell.” He added, “Which you should be thinking about yourself. You know Caleb is unique. Take advantage of him.”

“I will.” She got to her feet and grabbed her clothes, towel, and soap. “But our agreement is that we take advantage of each other for the greater good. I prefer that philosophy.”

“Very concise, but a little puritanical. Caleb is a loner. You might have trouble keeping him in line.”

“Not if we work at it.” She took off in the direction of the creek.

“Fifteen minutes,” he called after her. “And don’t try to keep me in line. I’m the cook.”

She was chuckling as she reached the creek. But the smile faded as she waded into the cold water. She had no desire to keep Caleb in line. They had a long way to go, and she had no idea how it was going to end. She instantly rejected the thought. It had to end well because she wouldn’t accept anything else. She had Caleb, and now she had a child, and she would work and do everything to make them happy.

“You have five more minutes.” She turned to see Caleb speaking from the bank. “Rodland said to remind you that he was the cook.” He shook out the towel and held it out to her. “I told him that I wasn’t the one to send after you.”

“Yes, you are. Because Rodland told me how unique you are and that I should take advantage of you.” She stood there looking at him and could sense the sheer arousal enveloping him. It was electric, almost as if he were outlined in fire. Every muscle was poised and ready as his gaze ran over her naked body. How many times had she seen him like this? Yet it was always new and created an instant response. She could feel the muscles of her abdomen clench and her breasts swell. She knew what was coming, and good heavens how shewantedit.

She walked over to him, and he wrapped her in the towel and then slowly began rubbing her down. The sensation was excruciatingly intimate as the soft roughness of the towel left her breasts and the friction became lower, hotter. “Though I’m not sure this is what he meant. I still believe I should follow his advice. What do you think that—”

He was stripping off his clothes.

He was inside her! His hands were on her buttocks, lifting her, and her thighs went around his hips. Then she was on her back on the creek bank, and he was moving, lifting, pushing inside.

Deep.

Deeper.

Deep. Deep. Deep.

Hot. Filling. Too full…

She couldn’t breathe.

She didn’t want to breathe.

More. More.

Then he rolled her over and she was on top, taking all of him, his lips on her breasts, pulling at her nipples.

She gasped, moaned.

She couldn’t stand the intensity.

She opened her lips to scream but it was too primal even to permit that release.

Then the explosion came with the same fiery power that he’d shown from the instant she’d seen him standing on the bank.