Sam’s Creed (23 page)

She jerked back. “
O Dios,
no.” She yanked at her arms, twisted to the side, fought her bonds. “
Por favor,
do not look at me.”

“Of course I’m looking at you.” Tejala jabbed back with his elbow. Sam clamped down with his forearm, kicking Tejala’s leg out from under him. The man’s gasps turned to gurgles.

Sam didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was Bella. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Here, ma’am.” Tucker came forward, shrugging out of his shirt and draping it around her. Bella continued to struggle. Blood showed at the edges of her bonds. Tucker pressed her shoulders to the floor,
“Cálmate, pequeña.”

She bucked once, twice and then shuddered into a collapse. “Tucker?”

“Yes.”

Even from where he stood, Sam could see the devastation in her expression. “Do not let him see me like this.”

Tucker glanced at him. Sam nodded. Tucker could do whatever it took to get her to settle.

“He can’t see you now.” Tucker cut through her bonds, wincing when Bella cried out.

“But he saw, didn’t he?” she asked as she curled onto her side in a ball. She was tearing his heart out. “He saw me dirty with that man—”

With a shake of his head, Tucker cut her off as he guided Bella’s limp arm into the sleeve. “Do not worry about Sam,” he crooned in that calming way of his while shooting a look at the outlaw Sam held. “He is too busy killing Tejala to notice much.”

Sam blinked. He
was
killing Tejala and not even getting to enjoy it. Loosening his hold slightly, Sam drew in raw, ragged breaths, rage and sorrow threatening his stability. It came to him as she got a lungful of air that he didn’t want to kill Tejala as much as he needed to hold Bella. “Tucker!” Sam shoved Tejala toward Tucker who caught him easily, his big bowie knife pressed to the outlaw’s throat. Tejala stood very still, his chest laboring, his now flaccid cock hanging out of his pants.

Tucker smiled his easy death-is-coming smile down at Tejala. “Give me a reason to twitch, you bastard.”

Sam knelt beside Bella, reeling slightly as agony shot up from his abdomen. Reaching out carefully, he placed his hand against the side of her head, catching her hair with his thumb and pulling it aside so he could see her profile. “Duchess?”

“Do not look at me!”

He’d do more than look at her. He bent, nearly passing out from the pain, and gently kissed the one un-bruised spot along her jaw. “My Bella, are you thinking a few bruises could make you ugly to me?”

Her breath shuddered in, stuttered out. Her fist pressed into her mouth, reopening the cut on her lip. “I am not yours anymore.”

“Ah, duchess, you’ll always be mine.”

“Not like before. He tore my clothes off, tore—”

He slid his arm under her shoulders, not letting her finish. “Just like before.”

“You saw—”

“I saw my Bella getting the best of the bastard that tried to break her.”

He angled her up. Torch light illuminated her face. Her poor little face.

“You have to say that.”

Feathering a kiss across her hairline, he glared at Tejala. “I don’t have to do anything.”

The sounds of fighting outside picked up. Tejala’s men were getting desperate. Probably running out of ammunition. The Montoyas didn’t have an unlimited supply either. They didn’t have time to discuss this now. “Can you stand up?”

“Of course.”

“Of course, like our first night riding together or, of course, for sure?”

“I do not know.” Tucking her feet under her, she struggled to stand up. Tucker’s shirt flapped around her knees as she wobbled. Sam caught her arm, supporting her as she found her center. She stumbled as her ankles took her weight. He didn’t let go of her arm when she steadied. She looked incredibly fragile. “Maybe not so ‘of course.’”

He held her a few heartbeats longer before, asking. “Are you okay, now?”

“Sí.”

It was a bald-faced lie, but he didn’t call her on it.

Across the room Tucker swore. “She’s bleeding, Sam.”

Bella clutched the shirt closer and sobbed. Sam followed the trajectory of Tucker’s gaze. Blood dripped in small rivulets over the inside of her knee to her calf.

He let go of Bella and advanced on Tejala. “You tore her?”

Tejala spat at him. “She was a good fuck. Tight. She screamed as she came around me.”

“I did not. He did not—”

“Stay out of it, Bella.”

“You tell me how to do this!”

“Soon she will be big with my baby.”

“He lies!” She lurched toward him, her eyes watering a stream of tears. Sam spun around, catching her before she fell. She clutched at his chest. “He lies.”

“I know.”

“Tell him how you begged for it, Isabella. Tell him how you—”

Sam motioned to Tucker. “Give him something else to think about.”

His eyes eerily cold, Tucker asked, “You want him for barter later?”

“No.”

The bowie knife whipped down. Tejala screamed an unholy sound and clutched at his privates.

“Sam?” Bella cried, looking right and left. “What happened?”

Tucker shoved the outlaw forward. “Nothing unexpected.”

Tejala fell to his knees, still screaming.

Looking at Bella’s poor battered body, the blood on her legs, Sam wished the hell he had been the one wielding the knife. He scooped her up in his arms. The pain in his gut was getting too strong to ignore. “Let’s go home, duchess.”

“I cannot go home.”

Because of how she now saw herself. Dirty. Damn, she was ripping him apart one syllable at a time. Blood dripped into his boot. Arguing was pointless. “Then how about just get out of here, all right? Just out of this dark cave?”

Her arms came around his neck with a tentativeness that made him want to rage anew.

“
Sí.
Leaving this place would be good.”

“Then that’s what we will do.”

“What do you want to do with him?” Tucker asked from behind Tejala.

Gut him. Cut off his eyelids so he couldn’t look away. Stake him in the sun and let the buzzards feast on his intestines while he watched.
“Leave him to bleed to death.”

Tucker grunted and sheathed his knife. “You’re too damn soft.”

“I’ll work on it.”

Tucker came up beside him. “While you’re working on it, I’ll carry her.”

Bella stirred against him in the same instinctive protest that shot through him. No one but he should touch her now.

“No.” It came out sharper than he intended. Forcing the tightness from his throat, he clarified. “She’s comfortable.”

Tucker looked at the blood soaking his shirt and pant leg. “You going to make it?”

He had Bella in his arms and she was alive. He’d make it. “Yes.”

He no sooner cleared the corner when there was a commotion behind them. Men’s voices. Running feet. A lot of running feet. Tejala screamed, “My men come, Ranger! You are trapped! Do you hear me, Ranger? She’ll never be yours. As long as I’m alive, she’ll be mine!”

“He is right, you must leave me and go.”

“Bella?”

“What?”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“He’s got to be crazy,” Tucker sighed.

“Yeah.” But he was also right. In Bella’s mind, he would always own a part of her.

Bella wiggled against him. He stumbled as she bumped his wound.

“Can you not shoot him?”

Leaning back against the wall, he took three steadying breaths as the room spun. He could, but the risk would be that the whole cave would come down, taking all of them with it. “It’s good to see your bloodthirsty side perking up.”

“That would be no, yes?”

He nodded, forgetting. “There’s too many for bullets, but I was thinking dynamite would do the trick.”

“We have dynamite?”

“In my belt.”

She reached between them again, pulling out a stick with a small screech. “This is dynamite!”

“It’s not dangerous unless it’s lit.” Normally.

Tucker took the dynamite from her hand before she could throw it. “Blowing the place up is dangerous.”

“That’s why I’m going to do it.”

“Like hell.”

“Someone has to get Bella out.”

Tucker glanced down at his side. “You’d better run fast.”

“Or what?”

His gaze met Sam’s. “Or I’ll come in after you.”

“No.”

Bella’s nails sank into the back of his neck. “I do not want you to do this, Sam.”

“You don’t even know what this is.”

“I can tell from Tucker’s tone, it is not good.”

“Tucker’s a worrier.”

“You take too many chances.”

“Duchess?”

“Do not tell me not to worry, Sam. I may not see well, but I hear trouble in your voice.”

“You always hear trouble in my voice.”

“Not like this.”

From the sound of things, the men were almost upon them.

“Look at me, duchess.”

She tipped her face back, wincing as she frowned. The touch of her fingertips on his whiskered cheek was a rasp of regret. “You are all fuzzy.”

“I can work with this.” He kissed her with infinite care, a bare brushing of lips. “I love you, Bella. Don’t ever forget that.”

Her gasp buffeted his guilt. “You will not tell me this this way!”

It was the only way he had. This might be the last chance he had. Sam shoved Bella into Tucker’s arms. “Get her out of here.”

The other man took her, frowning. “What the hell are you doing?”

Grabbing the dynamite out of his hand, Sam smiled, blinking against the dizziness. “Getting rid of vermin.”

“Sam!”

He ignored Bella’s call. “Don’t let her do anything stupid, Tucker. Now or later.”

“Hell, that’s your job.”

Probably not for much longer. “You’ve got to the count of twenty to get clear. Give the signal to the others when you do.”

Bella struck at Tucker’s chest, fighting to get down, to get to him. “I do not want this sacrifice, Sam!”

But he wanted it. He wanted her to live. He wanted to imagine her happy, growing old with a family. For that the men had to be stopped and Tejala had to die.

Tucker pinned her to his chest with a flex of muscle, his expression as solemn as his gaze. “Remember to run.”

He nodded and pulled out a sulphur. “Remember to take care of Bella.”

Tejala was standing when Sam reentered the cavern, fastening his pants with an eerie calm as if his genitals weren’t on the ground, as if there wasn’t blood soaking the front. Through the back tunnel, the first of the reinforcements arrived. Sam struck the sulphur and touched it to the fuse.

“Welcome to the party, boys.”

The boys stopped dead so abruptly the ones behind knocked them into the room. He tossed the first stick. Men swore and scrambled back toward the tunnel. The dynamite rolled across the floor toward the back, driving men back with its hiss of death.

“What are you doing?” Tejala screamed as if they all weren’t going up in a big bang in a few seconds. “Shoot him.”

The son of a bitch really was crazy. A couple men reached for their guns. Sam lit the second stick. “This one’s got a short fuse, folks.”

He tossed it, too dizzy to worry about accuracy. Besides, with dynamite accuracy wasn’t a must. The fuse sputtered a warning. He had one stick left. He looked at the front of Tejala’s pants. That would be a good place to drop it.

I do not want this sacrifice, Sam.

Hell. He swayed. Neither did he, now that he thought about it. He met Tejala’s gaze and tossed the stick, letting Fate decide the outcome. “I’ve got better things waiting for me.”

Turning on his heel, he ran for the far side of the cave knowing there was no hope, but trying for it anyway. Fresh air blew across his face. His muscles ached with the effort. The cave exploded. Reaching deep for one last burst of speed, he dove for the safety of the night. The percussion slammed into his back, sending him flying through the air. He hit the ground, momentum keeping him rolling. The ledge came up fast. He dug in his nails. They scraped across the ground, tore. On the next roll, his hand found only air.

He heard a scream. A man’s shout. “Isabella!”

And then small, strong hands latched onto his arm, jerking the momentum out of his spin, slowing it to an inevitable slide toward the bottom.

“Santa María, Madre de Dios—”

“Bella!” Dear God, it was Bella that held him, head arched down, neck muscles straining.

“Let go.”

“Do not interrupt!” she snapped out in a hoarse growl, before continuing in staccato gasps.
“Ruega por…nosotros…pecadores, ahora—”

His weight drew her further forward. Her chest appeared over the edge. Soon it would be too late. He wedged his boot in a crevice, taking some pressure off her arms. Where the hell was Tucker? “Let me go, Bella.”

“No!” She continued to pray even as her fingers began to slip.
“Y en la hora…de nuestra muerte.”

He twisted his arm, breaking the grip of her right hand. She lunged forward and dug her nails back in. Jesus, a half an inch more and she’d be overbalanced. He softened his voice, trying reason. “You can’t save me, Bella.”

She lifted her head. Her eyes glittered behind the slits of her swollen lids in her battered face. “It is my choice to fight.”

Her body jerked. An arm extended past hers. A dark hand snapped around his forearm below her hand. He recognized the scars across the knuckles. “Zacharias, get her out of here.”

“In a minute.”

“Now.” If the ledge crumbled, nothing could save her.

Bella turned her head and snarled at the ranch hand. “If you touch me, I will geld you.”

Zacharias didn’t even blink. “I am sorry,
patron.
I have a fondness for my man parts. Up you will come.” He barked an order to those above.
“Ahora, tírenos hacia arriba!”

And suddenly there were a lot more hands pulling and hauling them up. Amid the shouts of determination, there came the periodic shots from the sharpshooters, keeping the area clear. And then he was on solid ground, propped against the wall, Bella in his arms, clinging to him. He didn’t mind. She could cling all she wanted. Zacharias collapsed beside him. It took everything he had to turn his head. “Thank you.”