“Shhh, Sophie, it’s Sam. I’m here. Nothing’s going to hurt you. I swear. Your baby is fine. I’m fine. Do you understand?”
“Sam,” she slurred out. “Have to warn Sam. No longer safe. I stayed away but now they found me. Sam has to know.”
A single tear trailed down her cheek, and Sam kissed it away, savoring the contact after so many months. He didn’t care what Van thought. Didn’t care what he saw or that he’d tell Garrett and they’d both be on his ass. Right now this was his woman in his arms. His child. And he wanted to know who the hell had threatened her. Who she was so afraid of. And why she thought she had to protect him.
It made him furious.
“Aren’t you finished yet?” Sam hissed.
“Almost,” Donovan muttered.
Donovan set the needle to her flesh to do the last two stitches. Sam just prayed he’d hurry the fuck up.
Again Sophie tensed and let out a low sob. Sam wanted to moan with her.
“He’ll be so angry,” she said in a broken voice.
She was babbling now, flinching with each stitch, though she didn’t struggle. She seemed to have resigned herself to the hell she was enduring. Sam only wished he knew what was going on inside her fevered mind.
“He’ll hate me. He’ll never understand. Have to tell him the truth.”
Donovan tied off the last suture and cast a worried glance in Sam’s direction. Sam didn’t need Donovan to tell him this was crazy. It went beyond bizarre. There was some seriously weird shit going on.
The question was, how was Sophie involved? And if she was in trouble, why the hell hadn’t she come to him before now?
His hand slid down to palm her belly, and he felt the reassuring little wiggle of the baby inside her womb.
And if this was his child, what the hell did that mean for him and Sophie now?
CHAPTER 6
SOPHIE was finally warm. There wasn’t a part of her body that didn’t hurt, but she was warm. It took her a moment in her befuddlement to realize that the source of her warmth came from another person.
She studied the feel of the body against hers without opening her eyes. Hard. Muscled. Definitely male. And familiar.
She snuggled deeper into the wall of his chest and inhaled deeply. She knew that scent. She’d know it anywhere.
Sam.
His arm tightened around her waist, forcing her belly into his groin. It was then she felt the light flutter of her baby. Gasping, she bolted upright, nearly screaming in agony when her arm protested. But she didn’t care. Her baby had moved.
She sat up in the bed, both her hands splayed over her belly, as she willed her little one to move again. She nearly came undone when the reassuring pitter-patter tapped a rhythm against her palms.
“Oh, thank God,” she whispered.
Relief staggered her and made her weak. She sagged precariously, and strong arms caught her, easing her back down on the pillow. She stared up into Sam’s blue eyes, and she forgot to breathe.
She reached up to touch his cheek, needing proof that he was really here. “Sam. It’s you.”
She’d made it. She didn’t know how. She didn’t care. But she was here and safe with Sam. He’d protect her and their child. He had to.
He studied her intently. His expression was guarded, and his lips were in a firm line, neither smiling nor frowning.
“Yes, it’s me, Sophie. How are you feeling? Are you in a lot of pain?”
She was too shocked to register how she felt. She was so relieved that her baby was moving, but she was flabbergasted that she was lying in Sam’s bed, in his arms. How many nights had she lain alone, dreaming of being back in his arms?
Then fear rolled through her. The rush of memories, everything that had happened in the last few days, came at her, reminding her that her child’s life wasn’t worth a damn at the moment.
“How long have I been here?” she asked as she struggled to remove herself from Sam’s grip.
Pain shot up her arm and left her gasping for breath. He let her go but assisted her in sitting up. His gaze dropped to her belly, and she swallowed nervously. He wasn’t stupid. He’d put it together. He probably already had. But there was so much more he didn’t know.
“A few hours,” he said in a low voice. “I fished you out of the lake. You’ve drifted in and out of consciousness ever since. You freaked when I told my brother to call for an ambulance. You specifically didn’t want a hospital or the police. Care to tell me why?”
She glanced away, but he nudged her chin back with insistent fingers.
“Oh no, Sophie. You and I have a lot to talk about. Starting with what the hell happened to you. Where the hell you disappeared to five months ago. How you knew where to find me and who I was. Why you feel the need to warn me. And most importantly. The most important issue of all. Are you pregnant with my child?”
The blood rushed from her face. He certainly hadn’t pulled any punches. But then he deserved answers. He’d hate her, but he deserved to know the truth. About everything.
She swallowed nervously and stared at him with dread weighing down on her like two tons of bricks.
His eyes narrowed, and he brushed his thumb over her cheek. She should have found the gesture comforting, but it was more prompting than affectionate.
She licked her lips, then opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She stared at him in horror as hot tears rolled down her cheeks. Now that she was finally in front of him, was so close she could feel his warmth wrapping around her, she couldn’t say anything at all.
His expression softened and his fingers eased around her jaw. “Don’t be afraid of me, Sophie. I won’t ever hurt you. I’m in uncharted territory here, so bear with me, okay? I need to know if you’re carrying my child.”
As he spoke, his other hand dropped to her belly, and he cupped the rounded curve. The baby fluttered and bumped in response, and she caught her breath at the wonder of feeling her move after being still for so long.
“She’s yours,” Sophie said around a chest so tight she could barely breathe.
His pupils flared and his nostrils quivered. For a moment he stared at her in silence, as if digesting the declaration.
“She?” he finally said.
Sophie flushed. “I call it ‘her.’ I don’t know for sure. Just a feeling. I don’t like saying ‘it.’ ”
“But you can tell at this stage, right? I mean, you’ve had a sonogram. Couldn’t they tell you the sex?”
She looked down. “I haven’t had a sonogram.”
He nudged her chin up again, and he frowned at her. “But you’ve been to the doctor.”
She shook her head. “Too dangerous.”
His mouth screwed up into a pinched bow. He continued staring at her with those intense blue eyes.
“But she’s mine.”
“Yes. She’s yours. No doubt about it.”
“I see.”
He seemed calm enough, but she could sense the turmoil beneath the deceptively calm expression.
“And you’re just now getting around to telling me.”
She almost laughed. She would have if she hadn’t been so sure it would end up in a fit of hysteria. Tell him. As if it was the easiest thing in the world. Bitterness, sharp and quick, welled in her chest.
“Tell you?” She did laugh then. She simply couldn’t hold it back. As predicted, it ended in a high, shrill sound that was anything but pleasant. “Just how was I supposed to tell you, Sam? You walked out of that hotel room after you told me I wouldn’t see you again.”
His eyes narrowed again, and they glittered dangerously.
“And yet you had no problem finding me. You obviously knew where I was all along, which is more than I can say I knew about you. How is that, Sophie? Just who the hell are you and what are you playing at?”
How quickly his questions turned into accusations.
She rolled, bracing herself for when her injured arm took the brunt of her weight. She struggled to get her feet over the edge of the bed and onto the floor. She stood, and the flannel shirt fell to her knees. Just as well since she was butt naked underneath.
She looked around for clothing, even as her mind rolled with just how to relate everything she needed to say.
“I’ll make this quick and easy,” she said in a bitter voice. “Someone wants me dead, or they will as soon as they get what they want from me. They probably want you dead too, but you’ve been kept alive because you’re the bait. I stayed away for that reason. But they got too close, and I couldn’t take a chance on staying ahead of them any longer. I’m certainly not as fast or as bright as I used to be.”
She gestured down at her belly in disgust. “Not only does pregnancy make me slower, but I swear it sucks all the brain cells.”
“Sophie, you need to calm down,” Sam said as he put his hands out in a placating manner. “Come back and sit down. You shouldn’t be up.”
“Where are my clothes?” she demanded as she looked around. “I need my clothes.” She knew she sounded desperate and irrational. But damn it, she needed something to wear, and she needed to get the hell out of here. Sam said she’d been here several hours. Tomas and company would know exactly where to look for her.
Her gaze lighted on a pair of sweatpants in the corner, and she bent down to pick them up. When she stood back up, pain splintered down her arm, and she bobbled like a drunken party girl wearing stilettos. Sam was there to catch her, but she yanked herself away and edged toward the bed so she could pull the pants on.
They were way too big, but she didn’t care. They were warm and dry. As soon as she got them on, she stood again and reached for Sam, tugging on his arm. He looked at her in disbelief, like he’d look at a crazy woman.
“Come on, Sam. We have to go. We can’t stay here. They’ll come. They’ll kill you. And your brothers. I didn’t know you had brothers. Sorry. I didn’t realize. I thought it was just you and your men.”
Her pulse thudded painfully at her temples, and her chin wobbled as she chattered out the rest. She didn’t make any sense whatsoever, and Sam just stood there staring at her like she’d lost her mind.
She reached again and this time took his hand between hers. She pulled until his palm rested on her belly.
“They were going to kill her, Sam. He had a knife. He said he’d slice me open and let her spill out. I can’t let that happen. I need your help. Please. You have to help me.”
Sam stared at her in horror, then his gaze dropped to where his hand was splayed across her abdomen. He looked so appalled that she stopped for a moment and wrapped her arms around her stomach, trapping his hand there.
“Sweet mother of God,” Sam muttered. He pulled his hand away and then yanked her into his arms.
It hurt like hell, but she didn’t care. She didn’t protest and she didn’t try to pull away. She wanted to absorb him right into her soul. Finally she felt safe. Like maybe she wasn’t so alone.
For just a moment she stood there, but reality crept in despite her wanting to indulge in the fantasy.
“We have to go,” she whispered.
She pulled away, but he held her firm.
“Let me go,” she protested. “We have to get out of here, Sam. Your brothers. They have to go too. They’ll kill them.”
He grasped her good arm, and with his other hand he gripped her chin and held her so that she was forced to stare back at him.
“Let’s get a few things straight here, okay? One, you’re not going anywhere. Period. Two, I need answers, Sophie. A lot of damn answers. Three, no one is going to hurt you or my child. Four, if you knew where I’ve been all this time, you damn well should have come to me the moment you knew you were in danger.”
She stared at him in disbelief. Then she laughed. It was all she could do. He was so determined, and how like a man to try and simplify matters.
“You don’t get it, Sam. I can’t stay. I won’t put my baby in danger,” she said fiercely. “I barely managed to escape the bastard last night. He shot me. He would have killed my baby. I’m not giving him a second chance. I’ve stayed ahead of him for the last five months.”
“And now he’s caught up to you,” Sam said calmly. “Sit down, Sophie. You and I have a hell of a lot to talk about. I want to get the personal stuff out of the way first. Because then I want my brothers here when you tell me all this other shit.”
The fight left her and the pain overwhelmed her senses. She sagged onto the edge of the bed and dropped her head in defeat.
Sam knelt in front of her and carefully placed his hand on her belly.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She glared at him again. “You didn’t act like a man who wanted to know. You lied to me about everything from the moment we met.”
“And yet you know everything about me. How is that, Sophie?” he asked in a dangerously low voice.
She stared stubbornly back at him.