We left the doors open so they could get outside. We couldn’t take them with us. When we got home, we found Ann in the bed. Nothing but a pile of ashes beneath the covers. She was probably taking an afternoon nap. She did that sometimes after working in the vegetable garden. We buried her out back and tried to make do the best we could.”
“And your daughters?” she asked softly as they turned and headed back to her farmhouse.
“I made the mistake of leaving them home alone one day while I went foraging at some neighboring homes for more food. When I came back, they were both dead. Hung themselves in the basement.”
Shock sliced through her. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
He cleared his throat, and it sounded thick with emotion. Understandably. She felt her own emotions welling too at the thought of how horribly shocking it would have been to find his two children hanging. It must have been so devastating.
“They wanted to be with their mother. Besides, I wouldn’t want them growing up in this world. It’s an evil, dark land now. Every person for themselves. They would have grown into desperate human beings, doing things that they would normally never have had to do in the old world, just to survive. Just like the rest of us.”
Just like the rest of us. Meaning he was doing something he would never have done in his life. Just as she was doing.
They both fell silent again as they walked. The glow lacing the sky lit their way, giving an eerie, greenish view of her farmhouse and the outer buildings in the distance. She realized now that there really wasn’t anything to be afraid of out here. Just her vivid imagination. She smiled at that thought, and to her surprise, Logan’s hand laced with hers. He squeezed her fingers gently, as if telling her everything was going to be all right, and for the first time in a long time, she actually felt that, yeah, maybe things might work out okay.
Chapter Five
“Do you think it’ll ever go back to normal?”
Logan heard the hopefulness in her question. Knew she was talking about the cold weather. He also knew he should sugarcoat what he’d heard. Protect her from the truth. It would be better if someone else dashed her hopes. But maybe the truth would be better if it came from him.
“Nothing will ever be the same,” he answered. May as well let her know what he’d heard. “They’re saying it will probably take hundreds of years before the weather returns to normal. But look at the bright side; you’ll have vegetables from your greenhouse, so you’ll never starve.”
She chuckled in agreement. It was a nice, sweet, innocent sound he would like to hear more of.
“So you enjoyed supper?” she asked timidly as they walked into the yard.
“Definitely. And I’m really going to love dessert.”
She smiled shyly, and his heart did a really neat flip. Yeah, he liked her. Liked her a lot.
“I thought the peaches were dessert,” she replied. He could hear her voice was a little husky. He knew she was teasing about the peaches because he also knew she understood what he was talking about. That he wanted more sex from her. She was dessert. He realized he probably would never get tired of her. She was way too refreshing a woman for a man to tire of her.
“I haven’t had dessert yet,” he replied.
He saw the little shiver of anticipation rock through her. Felt it simmering inside him, too. Like a volcano ready to erupt.
Touching her breasts and cuddling with her earlier while she’d prepared supper had only stoked the fires within. He’d wanted to take her right then, but he knew he’d probably come across as a sex-starved, crazed lunatic. He certainly didn’t want her to think that about him. Okay, so he was sex-starved, but a lunatic? Well, maybe. Any man who rode for the Durango gang had to have some loose screws. They were a Robin Hood type gang. Steal from the rich and give to the poor. Give to themselves first, as well as their own selected charities. The best part of his job was when they’d ride by a derelict house with bawling, hungry babies and people living there wearing nothing but soiled clothing. They’d drop off some money on the porch or one of them would ride up to the lady of the house and hand her the money, telling her to buy milk for the kids.
The women appreciated that, especially if they were alone with kids. Perhaps giving to the poor was to ease their conscience? Hell, he didn’t care. Just as long as those rich bastards got screwed for taking advantage of people. He stifled the threat of the familiar red-hot anger that always came when he thought of those so-called capitalists who were jacking up the prices unnecessarily and refocused his attention on Teyla.
“I haven’t seen any signs of hired hands. Do you run your greenhouse and the land by yourself?” He didn’t notice any tilled land, so he already knew the answer. But he just wanted to make sure she really was all alone out here.
“I run this place myself. I did have a horse until recently, but he died. Buried him over there on that hill beside my husband.”
He followed to where she pointed off to the south and noticed a pond and behind it, a small hill. Yeah, that would be the hubby who turned to ash. Just like millions of others during the Catastrophe.
He caught some tears sparkling in her eyes, and he resisted the urge to put a comforting arm across her shoulders. No emotions, my man. Those are the rules. He would be here for only another day and a night, and then he’d be gone, rejoining with the Durango Gang and taking from the rich to give to the poor.
Yeah, he knew he was doing wrong. But hell, so were the rich guys. And he also knew two wrongs didn’t make it right. One day he’d have to quit and make amends, but maybe not for a very long time.
They walked up the stairs, and she unlocked the door in silence. He resisted the urge to check around her home, just to make sure no one had slipped inside while they’d been out. Man, he needed to shrug off this feeling of being hunted or he wouldn’t enjoy the rest of his time here with her. Making a conscious effort to pretend life was normal, he helped her off with her cardigan. Hanging it up on a nearby hook, he got rid of his jacket, too.
It was nice and warm in here compared to outside, and as she walked toward the sink, he realized he didn’t want her washing the dishes or doing any type of work, except being with him. He wanted her now. Bad.
Reaching out, he grabbed her arm and twirled her around. Her sweet mouth went into an “O” shape of surprise and he just couldn’t resist her any longer. The minute he melted his mouth over hers, the intense need sliced through his system like an explosion. Since he’d touched her earlier, his cock had remained heavy and swollen, painfully erect, pressing way too insistently against the tight prison of his jeans. Now all he wanted to do was get his clothes off and sink his aching cock deep inside her warmth.
As he kissed her deeper, he felt her palms slip against the back of his neck, pressing him harder against her mouth.
Oh, yeah, he liked this woman.
He plundered her lips. They were cool from outside, and he tasted their dewy freshness. He drove his tongue into her willing mouth and loved the fact she accepted him with ease and eagerness. She moaned softly, the sound sexy and sultry, filled with need. He growled as her cool hands slid from his neck, her palms sliding erotically over his chest down to the clasp on his jeans. She popped it open and he heard the zipper lowering. His knees weakened with the fierce need rushing through his bloodstream, but he forced himself to grab her wrists. To stop her.
She whimpered as he broke the kiss and appreciation slammed through him at the pink pleasure washing her face. Her lips were red and swollen from his kiss, her eyes glazed with sexual heat. He saw the question in her look. The one that asked if she’d done something wrong.
“Not yet. I need to prepare you before we go any further. Prepare you for the others. For tomorrow.”
Fear and excitement flared in her eyes. They warred for a few seconds but the excitement won.
“Go into the bedroom and get naked on the bed. I’ll join you in a few minutes.”
“You’re torturing me here,” she breathed, reluctantly leaving his arms and doing as he instructed. He liked that she followed his orders. Liked that she was so eager to climb into bed with him again.
Logan grinned. “That makes two of us.”
When she entered the other room, he sighed heavily as the yearning to take her raged through him. Strolling to the woodstove, he seized a couple of split logs from the pile, opened the cast-iron door, and shoved the wood inside onto the flickering fire. Then he grabbed what he needed from his saddlebag, pocketing it before he lifted the
