Chapter Twenty-Eight

Brody jumped off the horse and hitched it at the hotel before turning back to Elizabeth and reaching up for her. She didn't fight or try to be independent and claim she could get herself off the horse. She wanted to feel Brody's hands on her.

She put her hands on his shoulders and he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down, sliding her body along his own. Once she was on the ground, he tilted her chin up and kissed her softly before turning and walking into the hotel with her following behind him.

He paid for a room and then to her surprise he picked her up. He cradled her in his arms and began to carry her up the stairs, "What are you doing?" she demanded. "You'll break your back for sure!"

Brody looked down at her and raised his brow and she nearly burst out laughing because she had missed that simple action so much, "The day I can't carry my damn wife up the stairs and lay her down in bed, is the day that it's time to just send me out to pasture."

"I love you, Brody,"

Brody smiled as he opened the door to their room and then used his heel to close it behind them, "I love you too, Elizabeth. More than you will ever know."

He stood her on her feet and slipped off her heavy wool coat. There was a bit of a chill in the air, despite the fire in the fireplace but neither was too concerned about it. They knew they'd heat the room up soon enough.

He pressed his lips to hers and then moved them along her jaw and down the hollow of her throat, causing a raging fire to grow deep inside of her and she felt her knees grow weak. His lips moved to her ear and his warm breath washed over her skin.

"We should talk..." he said as her hands quickly shoved the duster coat from his shoulders and began to undo the buttons of his shirt.

"Later," she replied and he moaned her name as her fingertips danced across his chest and left fiery paths in their wake, just the way he'd been dreaming of them doing for months. He undid her shirt and pushed it to the floor as he kissed her hungrily and he felt her stiffen.

"What?" he asked, as he took a ragged breath and pulled away just enough to look into her eyes.

Elizabeth blushed and tried to hide her swollen belly with her arms, "I don't look the same." She was so afraid that he would be disgusted by how large her belly had become.

His lips formed a firm hard line and his eyes flashed with anger, "Perfect." he growled. "You are perfect."

He pressed his lips to her neck and she forgot all about being shy as he moved his lips to her breasts and sucked each nipple in turn until they were hard peaks, beneath his hungry mouth.

Brody dropped to his knees and kissed her belly as he lifted her feet one at a time and removed her boots. He undid her pants and slid them down her long, lean legs, taking the time to let his fingertips run across her pale, creamy skin before standing back up and crushing her lips with his own.

Elizabeth felt as if she was in a dream as his lips devoured her own. Her body was burning hotter than the logs in the fire. Only Brody could do this. Only Brody could give her this heat and bring out this desire and passion. She buried her hands in his hair and pressed her mouth against his trembling throat, teasing his soap scented skin with her tongue and lips.

"I've missed you so much," she breathed into his ear.

"Not as much as I've missed you," he moaned as his hands gripped her backside and pulled her close.

She could feel his bulging desire for her pressing against her belly, "Make love to me Brody."

"Is that an order, boss?" he asked as he nipped at her neck and felt her tremble.

"Yes," she whispered breathlessly.

Brody smiled against her skin, "Well then, yes ma'am."

He laid her gently on the bed. The room itself could have caught fire and burned to the ground and neither of them would have noticed as they made love long and slow. Both of them healing and feeling restored as their bodies came together as one.

When Elizabeth cried out from the force of her release, Brody closed his mouth over hers to catch the sound and taste the sweetness of her tongue as his own release took him over.

He collapsed on the mattress beside her and she curled up on her side against him, laying her head on his chest and listening to the thundering of his heart beat beneath her ear. He grabbed the blanket and pulled it over them before kissing her tangled hair.

He felt her running her fingers over his chest and then he felt them touch the raised circle of scarred tissue on his ribs. Her fingers moved from there and brushed over the matching scar on his shoulder and then moved down to his thigh and the scar that marred his muscular leg.

Brody wondered what was going through her mind and then he heard her sniff and he realized she was crying as her hot tears struck his skin and seemed to burn him like liquid fire.

"Please, don't cry," he begged as he grabbed her chin and brought her face up to his so he could kiss her softly, "I'm here. I'm alive. No amount of bullets could ever take me away from you."

Elizabeth bit her lip and fought back the tears, ashamed that she was so weak, but unable to do anything about it, "When I saw those bullets tear through you, I felt so scared and helpless.... I know you wanted me to run, Brody, but I couldn't... I couldn't just leave you."

Brody smiled against her lips as he kissed her again and he cleared away her tears with his thumbs, "I should have known better than to tell a stubborn woman like you to run. Maybe I should have told you to stay and then you'd have took off just to prove you didn't have to do what I said." She smiled and laughed lightly even as she slapped his stomach gently, "You're not funny."

"No, but you're laughing so you must be easily amused."

"Only when I'm with you, Brody. The last few months have been the hardest I've ever lived through. I wasn't sure how to carry on with my life but I knew I had to for our baby."

Brody's eyes went to her stomach as he lowered his hand beneath the blanket and laid it over the stretched skin, "Our baby. I hope I'm cut out for this father stuff," he said with just a hint of nervousness in his voice. The nervousness surprised her because she'd never heard him sound nervous before.

"Susie and Sally seem to think it's twins."

Brody's eyes widened, "Shit."

"Good shit or bad shit?" she asked with a smile.

"I'm in trouble shit," Brody replied. "Two little girls with your stubborn chin and fiery temper.... I'll never last." Brody let out a gasp and jerked his hand away when he felt a hard jab hit his palm.

Elizabeth laughed, "I think you made her mad."

Brody sat there in amazement. He'd never in his life felt anything quite as amazing a child moving inside a woman's body. The fact that it was his wife's body and his child simply made it that much more memorable.

"Who found you, Brody?" Elizabeth asked suddenly as she traced patterns in the brown hair on his chest. Brody knew they'd have to talk about all of this eventually and he wanted to know how she had gotten away from Rene and Petey and ended up here in Virginia so he sighed and laid his head against the pillow.

"An old friend from the war named LeRoy. He's the one that gave me your necklace and told me he found it in a puddle of blood. The kind of puddle a dead person leaves behind."

"And so that's why you thought I was dead?" she asked as she snuggled as close to him as her large belly would allow. She couldn't seem to get close enough. She wanted to feel his body against her own forever. he never wanted to be away from him again.

"How did you get away?" Brody asked as he wrapped her hair around his fingers.

"I didn't. The blood was Petey's. I killed him," Elizabeth shivered as she remembered the way his blood had poured from his throat and the desperation in his eyes as he had grabbed the necklace and ripped it from her.

"You did?" Brody asked with surprise.

"Yes. Rene knocked me out after that. He kept me tied up, took me to town and used me to blackmail Braxton. Then he brought Grant back and Grant bought me from him. Grant said he was doing me a favor because Braxton had ordered Rene to kill me. Grant took me on the train to Virginia..."

"How? Did you keep you tied up the whole time?"

Elizabeth shook her head and felt shame from her head to her toes, "No. I never tried to escape. I could have at any time. He's not nearly as smart as he thinks he is..."

"As he thought he was, you mean," Brody amended and Elizabeth nodded.

"You really killed all of them?"

"Right now we're talking about you..." Brody grumbled. "Why didn't you get away from him sooner?"

Elizabeth bit her lip and kept her eyes on the tight, defined muscles of his stomach, "I had no reason to. My pa was gone. The ranch was gone. You were gone...." her voice broke but he heard her take a deep breath and knew that she had fought back the rise of emotions. "It wasn't until I realized I was pregnant with your child that I found the strength to get away and Thomas was waiting for me. He helped me get here and Jacob took us in."

"Did Grant hurt you?" Brody asked, as he made a mental note to thank his brother and wondered if the single shot to Grant's head had been a good enough punishment.

"He slapped me some and made fun of me but that's as far as it went. He kept me locked in a room for a month before I escaped."

Brody sighed and knew it was his turn, "It took two months for my injuries to heal. You don't want to know the detail of what I did after that. My soul was dead, it died with you, and all I wanted was vengeance. I wanted to kill every single one of them."

"You said something about Vincent... who was that?"

"The fourth man that helped abduct us from the ranch." Brody replied.

"You're right, I don't want details about what you did to them," Elizabeth said as the ice in his voice washed over her and caused goose bumps to form on her bare skin. "I'm not happy about what you did, Brody, but I understand why you did it."

"You do?" Brody asked with surprise. He had been so afraid for Elizabeth to know the man he had turned into after she had 'died'. He'd been afraid she wouldn't want to be with him anymore if she knew. Her acceptance was more than he could have ever hoped for.

"Yes. Why do you think I killed Petey? I would have killed Rene too if he hadn't overpowered me. I didn't kill him trying to save myself. I killed him to avenge you because I thought he'd killed you."

"Thank God we were both wrong and neither of us really died that day," Brody said as he gave her a squeeze and then he made a mental note to have a long hard talk with God later and pray to the big guy for forgiveness for telling him that he could rot in hell.

He heard Elizabeth yawn and he smiled, "Are you tired?"

"It's a nasty side effect of being as big as a house with a baby inside of you."

"You're not as big as a house," Brody shrugged. " A wood shed maybe," he added with a grin.

"Just as charming as always," she mumbled dryly.

He kissed her tangled hair, "Sleep."

"No... I don't want to miss a single second of you."

"I'll be right here Elizabeth. I ain't never letting you out of my sight again," he assured her.

She wanted to argue that she didn't need to sleep. That she wanted to stay awake and talk, but her heavy eyelids simply wouldn't be denied and she drifted off to sleep, listening to his heart beating beneath her.... She took comfort in knowing that this time when she woke up it wouldn't simply be a cold pillow she was laying against.. It would be her husband.