Queen (21 page)

Sounds of approaching motors broke the moment, and minutes later four snowmobiles burst into the clearing, matching red-and-black steeds of motors and steel. Each carried two riders, who came with guns aimed toward the pair enfolded in each other's arms in the center of the clearing. In the blinding storm they were unable to tell who was holding whom.

Abel Miller was afraid to look. If he had a hostage situation, that meant Cody Bonner either didn't make it through the snow or was already dead. And then he saw broad shoulders and black hair and knew that for once the good guys had won. The right man was still standing.

He remembered Patrick Mooney's body and the state of the Bonner household, which he'd seen before starting up the mountain, and he shuddered. It was a justified, bona fide miracle.

"Bonner! Is she alive?" Abel Miller shouted.

Cody looked down at the woman cradled in his arms, at Queen's bruised and battered face, saw her trying to smile around the cuts on her lips, and wrapped his hands in her hair, pulling her head closer against his chest before answering. He still needed to feel her just to know that the nightmare was over.

"Yes, she's alive," he said as Abel knelt at their feet. He pointed toward a snowdrift and the body that was quickly disappearing beneath the falling snow. "But he's not."

"Fine by me," Abel said, and touched Queen's arm in a silent gesture of thanksgiving.

She shuddered and turned away, hiding her face against Cody's coat, for the time being unable to face any more of the world than what she'd already seen.

Abel's eyes narrowed, and he resisted the urge to curse as he saw the extent of her suffering at Virgil Stratton's hands; yet thanks to Cody, it was minor compared to Patrick Mooney's suffering. He sighed. Her body would heal long before her mind. For the victim it was always so.

"Radio the men at base," he called to the others. "Tell them to tell Bonner's boys we found their daddy… and we found their Queenie. You be sure to tell them that they're both fine… just fine."

Cody's heart quickened. In that moment he realized that he'd completely forgotten about everything and everyone in the world except the lady lying in his arms… his lady.

"Come on, Bonner. We'd better get you two off this mountain. Snow's coming down right nice. It'll be good skiing when this one is over, I betcha, or I don't know my mountains."

Cody nodded, understanding Abel's offhand remark about the weather. It was time to put the horror behind them and get on with the business of living.

"Baby, can you stand?" he whispered, and cradled her face in his hands, unwilling to turn loose of her yet aware that they needed to get to shelter fast.

Queen nodded and then bit her lip and groaned in pain as she began to stagger to her feet, aided by Abel Miller on one side and Cody on the other.

Cody cursed the dead man's soul to hell as he watched her trying to walk. In one angry motion he scooped her off her feet, ignoring the fact that minutes ago his own legs had felt like lead, and began carrying her toward one of the snowmobiles.

"Cody… you came," Queen said, and started to shake at the onset of intruding reality. "I didn't think you'd find me. I thought I was going to die."

"I will always find you, lady," he said, whispering against her cheek in short, angry breaths. "I don't give up what's mine."

She sighed and relaxed against him, too sore and weary to get past the exultation of being alive. There would be time later to think of the fact that Cody had laid claim to something she had yet to offer.

Hours had come and gone since the time they'd returned to the house to be reunited with three very frightened boys.

Cody had talked to them, but to no avail. The boys weren't convinced that their Queenie was truly all right until she'd told them so herself.

Upon her arrival she'd been whisked away to her bedroom and examined by waiting paramedics who'd been summoned by Abel Miller and his search team. Although exhausted beyond belief, she'd suffered no lasting trauma to her body beyond that of severe bruises from his beatings, scratches from their trek through the forest, and some minor frostbite.

Statements had been given and Cody had suffered handshakes all around from the authorities assembled as they'd praised him for what he'd done. He had a hard time accepting praise for killing a man but had no problem with the fact that it was Virgil Stratton, not Queen Houston, who was dead.

He prowled the hallway outside his bedroom, listening for her voice should she call out in need, and then saw Donny slip out of the boys' bedroom and come toward him.

"I thought you guys were asleep," Cody said.

"I just couldn't, not yet. Dad, are you sure she's going to be okay?" Donny's voice cracked on the question, and he stuffed his hands in his pockets and tried not to cry.

Cody pulled his son into his arms and hugged him. Somehow, tonight, he'd been unable to stop holding the ones he loved, because for a time today he'd been uncertain of ever getting another chance to do so.

"I'm sure," he said. "Physically she's in good shape for what she went through. But I have to be honest with you… and I think you're old enough to understand. Mentally it was hell, son. You guys are going to have to be real understanding and not give her any grief for a while. Do you know what I mean?"

Donny bit his lip and nodded, then shuffled his feet before continuing. "Dad?"

Cody waited. He could tell there was more to Donny's concern.

"Did he… did the man… uh… did he…"

"She wasn't raped," Cody said.

Donny's mouth curved into a slight smile and he looked away. "Good. I would hate to think of our Queenie going through anything like that. I was afraid if she had been, that she would hate us."

"Why on earth would she hate us, son?"

Donny shrugged. "You know… because we're men… like him."

"Hell no, we're not like him," Cody said, and then swallowed his rage. It did no good being mad at his son. Donny was as innocent as Queen. "That wasn't a man who killed Mr. Mooney and kidnapped Queen, it was an animal… and don't you forget it."

"Yes, sir," Donny said. He looked at the closed door to his father's bedroom, then sighed. "I think I'll be able to sleep now."

"Good night, son," Cody said, and then added before Donny disappeared, "I love you."

Donny grinned and gave his dad a thumbs-up sign. Right now, answering him back might have made him cry, and Donny had seen enough tears tonight to last him a good long while.

Cody watched him until the door was shut, and then he turned to his own bedroom door, contemplating only a moment before opening and entering.

She was still in the bath. He could hear her moving around. "Are you okay?" he called, and listened when everything went quiet. Finally she answered.

"Yes. I'll be down in a minute."

"Right, just checking." Cody started out the door.

"Cody!"

Her voice was just the least bit frantic and stopped his progress instantly. He ran toward the bathroom door and stopped just outside. "I'm right here."

"Would you wait for me until I'm through? I don't want to be in here alone."

"Take your time, honey," he said quietly. "I'll be here when you get out. We'll go downstairs together, okay?"

"Okay."

The single word came on a sigh and a sob, and Cody spread his hand across the outside surface of the door, wanting to touch yet unable to reach the woman behind it who was in need. He shook his head at the futile gesture and then dropped onto the corner of his bed, trying valiantly to quell the rage that swept over him. But it was no use. His lady had been hurt, and if he had the chance, at that moment he'd have killed Virgil Stratton all over again.

Queen stared at herself in the mirror, tracing the bruise below her eye with the tip of her finger and then jerking back at the sudden pain, sending a hairbrush flying to the floor. It clattered on the tiles, and moments later Cody burst through the door.

"Are you all right?"

The fear in his voice was all it took to keep her from being angry that he'd come in without knocking. Too many things had happened today for her to worry about propriety.

She sighed and picked up the brush with a rueful smile. "Just clumsy." She turned too fast and winced, grabbing her side as she carefully laid the brush back on the vanity. "And a little bit sore."

Cody's gaze went from her face to her near bare body, concealed only by the bath towel she'd wrapped around herself. But it wasn't desire that made him look, it was the size of the bruise on her thigh and the ones across her back and down the side of her arm. He got sick just thinking of what she'd endured at Stratton's hands, then worried about what he couldn't see concealed beneath the towel.

He reached out a hand and then yanked it back, needing to hold her but afraid to touch her. Rage shattered his control.

"The sonofabitch."

Cody spun around and stalked out of the bathroom, coming to a halt at the edge of his bed, unable to stop the venomous flow of curses coming out of his throat.

Queen followed him to the bedroom. Before she thought, before she knew it, she'd wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head against the middle of his back, holding on to him in a futile effort to stop the flow of his anger.

"Don't, Cody, don't," she whispered, and held him tight.

His body shook from the emotional outburst. She closed her eyes and in that moment let herself imagine they were about to make love. Her bare breasts flattened against his shoulder blades as her hands slid around his chest, unable to clasp across the widest breadth of him.

Cody got hard, instantly, and with an ache he knew wasn't going away, as her breasts crushed against his back and her body aligned itself with his. Her touch sent his imagination into overdrive, letting him think how it would be if they were about to make love, not peace.

Jesus Christ, lady. Either stop or never let go…

He covered the back of her hands with the palms of his own, pressing them against his chest, letting her feel the thunder of his heartbeat, wanting more from her than he knew he was going to get.

"Stop it. Don't let what happened today do this to you," she pleaded. "That man wasn't worth it."

"That man… as you call him… wouldn't have hurt you if I'd been here."

There. He'd finally said aloud what he'd been thinking ever since he'd driven up and found the front door open and his house in shambles. He didn't have the nerve to look up and see the agreement on her face.

"If you'd been here, we'd probably both be dead."

Her rebuttal shocked him. He spun around, pinning her to the spot with a look she couldn't ignore.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean… I don't think Virgil Stratton was looking for hostages, Cody. I was an afterthought. If I hadn't been alone, he probably wouldn't have bothered."

It was hard to hear, yet he realized that for the most part she might be right. It just didn't make it any easier for him to accept the fact that he'd left her alone when his conscience had told him not to.

"Still…" He couldn't give up the guilt so easily. The need to protect was ingrained within him. It was part of who he was and why he'd entered the military.