Hiding Out At The Circle C

Chapter 12

Running wasn't easy in the dark, but having been shot at was great motivation. Within a few seconds, the woods had completely swallowed up Haley and Cam, surrounding them in an eerie, echoing darkness.

Though he couldn't hear signs they'd been followed, Cam forced them to keep moving, knowing they shouldn't stop.

Deeper and deeper they went, up the mountain. "Hurry." Mercilessly, he tugged the panting Haley over rocks and branches, through trees, farther into the black woods. "Come on."

When she fell suddenly, she nearly tore his arm out of its socket. He dropped to his knees, groping for her. "Haley?" he whispered, frantic.

"I'm okay."

She didn't sound it, but he knew it was too soon to slow down. The sudden rustling of bushes from where they'd just come reinforced that feeling. "Can you walk?"

She surged to her knees, bumping her head on his chin so hard he saw stars. "Oh, Cam, I'm sorry!" She reached for him with chilled hands.

He took them in his, gritted his teeth against the pain in his chin and pulled her to her feet. "Farther."

She groaned but moved, and they continued on. The sounds of their ragged breathing seemed loud to Cam's ears, but he couldn't control it. He could hardly see in the moonless night but he could hear the running water of the creek. The tall trees blocked any light the stars would have afforded. Twice he stopped to listen, pulling Haley close while he concentrated. A haunting silence filled the air; the kind of unworldly quiet that precedes a storm-just what they didn't need.

But finally there was no sign that they were being followed. Still, they ran. Near the creek, they stopped for a third time. Haley bumped into him from behind, gasping for breath. Turning, he held her tightly, alarmed by how cold she was, how she shivered despite their exertion.

"I think we've lost him." She nodded and pulled closer, burrowing her face and icy nose into his neck.

And right there in the dark, in the most dangerous situation of his life, his heart swelled with such an overwhelming protectiveness, it took his breath away.

"He couldn't have followed us this far without a light, could he?" she asked.

"No." He hugged her close for a moment, then made them go a little farther to a small clearing that was lined with sharp, jutting rocks. "We can't go back," he said. "Not until the sun comes up. It isn't safe." He pointed to the rocky side of a ravine close to them. "See over there? Some of those rocks cover shallow caves. We'll rest there."

He helped Haley climb up the rocks-not an easy feat in the dark. Several times he caught her as she slipped, saving her from a nasty fall. Finally, at the top, they settled with their backs against the sheer granite, covered overhead by an outreach of stone. Darkness loomed around them, so complete that Cam couldn't ascertain exactly how big an area their small cave afforded them. But if they didn't light a fire and they kept their voices down, no one could see them, even if someone passed directly beneath them in the bush.

Pulling Haley into the crook of his arm, Cam stared at the opening of their cave, his heart still thundering from their escape. When he could breathe normally again, he gave Haley a slight squeeze. "You okay?"

He felt her nod against his shoulder and he wished it weren't so damn dark. "We're safe enough for now." She shivered and he ran his hand up and down her arm, pulling her closer.

"He'll find us in the morning."

"Haley-"

She jerked back from him. "You're still mad at me, I suppose. I'm sorry, Cam. I know I deserve this, but you don't."

"You don't deserve- Come back here." His stretching fingers couldn't find her. "Where are you, dammit?" He crawled forward, found her huddled against the back wall. On his knees before her, he cursed the dark that made it impossible to see her expression clearly. "What the hell did you mean you deserve this? No one deserves to be chased with a gun through the wilderness, hunted down like an animal."

"I brought this on you," she said softly. "When all I ever wanted was to protect you. And the others. Where're Nellie and Jason? And Zach, Cam. Where are they?"

"They're safe. We heard your phone conversation. Jason took Nellie into town. And Zach was supposed to get help and be at the airport-"

"To arrest me."

"To protect you."

"You were going to turn me in."

"I wanted you safe, dammit."

"It doesn't matter. I would have turned myself in long ago, if it was that simple. I'm afraid for you. I wanted to draw him away from Colorado." Her voice sounded bitter. "But now we won't know if Zach, Jason and Nellie are safe, really safe, until we get back there. God, if something happened to them, any of them, it'll be all my fault."

"No." He believed, had to believe, that Zach had gotten out. "Zach will be all right. He knows how to take care of himself."

"You have every right to hate me."

He touched her, found her sitting cross-legged, her head in her hands. "Hate you?" He slid his fingers into her hair and held her face, trying to blink away the darkness, struggling to see more than just her outline. "For someone so smart, Haley, you can be incredibly slow-witted. I told you how I felt about you."

She shoved his hands away. "You can't still mean it."

Flowing adrenaline had his usually nonexistent temper kicking in. "Stop it." Again he reached for her, but she'd started to scramble away. "Come back here."

"Too bad we don't have the cell phone. You could call the cops on me from here." He lunged after her but she evaded him. "I should leave, Cam. Now. It would keep the others safe if I did."

"No." One last tug and her heel clipped him hard on the chin. "Dammit, Haley." She rose. He yanked, pulling her down to the hard, gritty floor, ignoring the fight she put up-until she managed to knee him.

He sucked in a sharp breath of air and lost his grip on her.

Haley surged up to her knees, preparing to worm away from him, but he let out a pained breath and flattened her down with his hands. By the time he flipped her onto her back, they were both panting and furious. The dark prevented him from seeing her face clearly, but he had no trouble tasting her frustration.

"Let me go," she choked out.

"You're not going anywhere without me tonight, Haley. Not until this thing is over." Crawling up the length of her, he held her prisoner, but she renewed the fight. A flailing hand hit his chin, the chin she'd already bruised. Swearing, he gathered her hands together, then yanked her wrists over her head, anchoring them there. She squirmed and struggled beneath him, to no avail.

"Hold still a minute, would you?" he panted, resting his forehead on the ground beside her. "Please, don't scream." Who would have thought such a tiny thing could fight so nasty?

"I'm not a complete idiot," she retorted, giving up bitterly.

Beneath him, her chest rose and fell harshly, her breathing uneven and raspy. Warmed from their wrestling, she no longer shivered. But now that she'd stopped fighting him, her body became soft and pliant under his, and he had to quell the urge to turn their position into something sexual.

He must not have been entirely successful.

"Dammit." Her hands flexed in his as their hips slid together. "Let me go."

He lifted his head, but could still see nothing of her expression. "Not until you stop this. I told you, I would have used the police's help, yes, I'd do anything-anything-to keep you safe."

"Why?"

He sighed. "Because I love you, Haley. Someday you're going to believe that."

She fell silent, though he could almost hear the wheels of her brain spinning. Finally she said, "It's just… new for me. All these feelings. I… I still have things to tell you."

"Well, at the moment," he said, irony heavy in his voice, "I have nothing but time to listen."

She made a noise that might have been a laugh. "The man chasing us is Lloyd Branson. My ex-boss. I thought he was dead, but he's not. He's the one killing my team."

"Why does he need you?"

She wiggled her wrists entrapped in his hands. "You're hurting me, Cameron."

He loosened his grip, but didn't let go, still afraid she'd take off to surrender herself to save him. Beneath him, he could feel her every line, her every torturous curve.

"Branson needs me to go back because he can't re-create the system, only I can. He doesn't know how. I've studied earth movement, both above and below sea level, for years now. He was just a businessman, though a damn shrewd one."

"What, exactly, was this system?"

"It predicts earth movements."

"Earthquakes?"

"And volcanic eruptions."

He let that soak in. A cold breeze brushed over his skin, but he barely felt it. "I thought your system monitored earth movement."

"I never said that."

She hadn't, he realized. He'd just assumed, because in his wildest dreams, he hadn't imagined this. "A system like that would save a lot of lives."

The sound that escaped her was more like a choked laugh than an agreement. He let go of her, then eased up to cup her face. Concentrating hard, he found that he could just barely make out the outline of her features. He didn't know if it was because he could actually see, or if he was just incredibly in tune with her, but her pain and suffering became his own. "What happened to you down there, Haley?"

"My dream came true."

But it was bitterness and defeat he heard, not joy. "The system worked? You can predict?"

His fingers holding her face became wet. With her tears, he realized with great dismay, and his stomach tightened.

"Could. Before it was destroyed in the bomb blast."

"Oh, darlin', I'm sorry." He pushed up on his arms and knelt over her, awed by what she had accomplished. "Branson got greedy."

"We weren't allowed to go public and make the announcement. I didn't understand then." She sat up and covered her face with her hands. "I can't believe I didn't see it. But we were so high on our discovery…"

"Didn't see what?" he asked gently, holding her shoulders. More wind blew in and this time, he felt it. The chill seeped deep. "Haley, what didn't you see?"

She drew a shaky breath. "He killed them, my whole team. Alda must have suffered so-the others certainly did. I'd gone home to warn them, but was too late." Her voice came muffled in the dark and he knew she'd covered her face again. "There was blood everywhere-smeared on the walls, coating the floors… I was so scared, Cam."

He let out a violent oath, rage boiling so quick and strong he shook with it. He held her close, despite her brief struggle to move away. "Haley, I'm so sorry." Now he understood the mindless terror in which he'd found her that first night.

"Finding uranium was coincidental, but it made it better for him. Now he has the money once he sells the stuff, to stay hidden forever. He can just wait me out."

"Why did he bomb EVS?"

"So there wouldn't be any evidence. He didn't know my notes were there, or that I wasn't in our substation on the water as he'd planned for me to be. He'd flown me there earlier-he's a pilot, you see. But I'd left by boat. He must have thought he'd make me work with him after he'd killed everyone that had knowledge of it. But I saw our apartment-" She took a deep breath. "I had nowhere to go. I panicked. I hardly remembering getting to the airport, but I got on an airplane, the first one I could, and it took me to L.A. But I knew he could trace me there because I'd used my own name and passport, so I hopped on again, and came to Colorado Springs."

Thank God, he thought, squeezing her closer.

"Nellie was so kind to me. Cam, if anything has happened to her-"

"Nothing did," he promised, praying with all his heart that he was right. "She's safe. So's Jason." He couldn't think about Zach or he'd lose it. He could only hope that his brother had gotten out of the house. "Haley, darlin'… Branson thinks you can reproduce the system?"

"Yes, it would take months, maybe more. My notes were all destroyed. The U.S. government would probably pay him for it, but he won't give them the chance. Not now that he's discovered that by finding the weakest points and placing a certain type and amount of explosive there, he can create earthquakes as well as predict them."

Cam leaned closer, unable to believe what he'd just heard. "What?"

"He can cause earthquakes. He can, in fact, hold the entire world for ransom. Blackmail whole governments. Or if he chose, destroy as much or as little land as pleased him."

He sat back, stunned. "My God."

"He had a grand time in South America creating that 7.0. So many died. An entire village was wiped from the face of this earth." She stood abruptly, facing away from him. "I won't make that system again, Cam. I won't. He'll have to kill me. But I wanted to get him away from you and the others first."

He rose to stand behind her. A woman like Haley wouldn't take the loss of one life lightly, much less the thousands she'd talked about. No wonder she'd been in such a state of mind, he thought, aching for her. No wonder she hadn't cared if she'd lived or died-Branson had taken everything from her.

Cam could kill him for that alone, and this time the violent thought didn't give him pause. "I told you. I'm not going to die. And neither are you."

She sighed. "I nearly had a heart attack when I saw you at the airport," she whispered. "I knew if he saw you, he'd-I thought I was going to have to watch you die right in front of me."

He closed his eyes. She loved him, he thought, his heart going a little crazy with relief. She did love him. "We're going to get out of this. Alive."

She let out a little disbelieving laugh. "The optimistic cowboy. We're barricaded in a dark cave in the freezing mountains of Colorado, being hunted down by a psycho, and you tell me we'll get out. Only you, Cam. Only you."

"Actually, you're the genius, here. So technically, you should be able to come up with something better. But seeing as you're distressed and not quite yourself… I'll let you slide."

"This isn't funny."

"If you give up on me now," he said lightly, "I'll have to get tough." He stepped closer and dropped the teasing. "At least we're together." He heard her breath catch. "I thought I'd die, Haley, when I realized you'd left me. Don't do that again."

She wrapped her arms around her middle, bending slightly at the waist. "You hurt," he said in an unintentionally accusing voice, grabbing her shoulders. "Your ulcer?"

"Yes," she whispered.

He could feel her trembling. "Do you have your medicine?"

"It's in my purse. In the truck."

He pushed her gently to the floor. "I'll be right back. Stay here."

He was totally unprepared for her reaction. "No!" she cried, grabbing his arms and yanking hard. He stumbled forward, landing on her. She held him with the tenacious hold of a pit bull. "You're not going back to the truck. He'll kill you. Do you hear me, Cameron Reeves? You're not going!"

He lay sprawled on top of her, probably hurting her as he pressed her into the hard ground. He tried to lift his weight off, but she only held him tighter.

"No!"

With a sound of frustration, he stopped fighting and lowered his forehead to hers. "You're in pain, Haley."

"I'm fine."

He propped himself up on his elbows, searching her face in the dark. "No more lies, Haley. Ever. You're too good at it-it scares me. Promise."

"Will you believe me?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation.

"Then I won't lie to you again."

"Thank you." He ran a hand down between them, and touched her stomach lightly. His own body tightened as he felt her soft, giving curves. "Does it still hurt?"

He could barely see her face. She'd closed her eyes. Her breathing hitched, but he didn't know if it was her fear or his touch that had altered it. "Does it?" he asked again.

"Just a little. I'll be fine without the medicine. Don't go."

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised, moving so his face hovered over hers. "Look at me, Haley." When her eyes fluttered open, squinting to see him, he said, "I think you're the bravest, most incredible woman I've ever met."

Her eyes shone brilliantly in the dark with unshed tears, and she tried to turn away, but he trapped her head between his hands. "I mean it," he told her, stroking her jaw with the pads of his thumbs. "We're going to get out of here alive. And then…" He bent to softly kiss her stiff, cold lips. "There's only going to be us, Haley. No more Branson, no more terror. Just us."

"I can't believe you're here, with me." She hesitated, then ran her hands over his shoulders, her voice suddenly shy. "I'm so glad you are. Cam… kiss me again."

"Kiss me."

She did, deeply and sexily enough to have him letting out an involuntary moan. "Haley-" He stopped for another drugging kiss, then nuzzled her jaw, her throat. "Why did you make love to me before you left?"

She ran her cool hands down his arms. "It's… silly."

"Tell me."

"I've never experienced lust before, not really. Not until I came to Colorado and met three of the sexiest men on earth-"

"Three?" Not one, three?

"Mm-hmm."

He squeezed her, growling deep in his throat, and she laughed. "But only you did something to my insides, Cameron. I know it sounds ridiculous, but you look at me and my knees go weak. You touch me and I want more. I didn't recognize it at first, but then I knew. I had to be with you that way, even if only once. It was my greatest fantasy." She sobered and gripped his arms tightly. "I never thought I'd get to touch you again."

"Touch me now," he commanded softly. The memory of her-wet, wild and wrapped around him, first in his tub, then his bed-had him fully aroused in the blink of an eye.

Her arms wound around his neck and she pressed her body upward, arching into him. Hungrily, he took her mouth again, thinking she felt so good, so right. The relief that they both were safe for now made him dizzy. So did her kisses, and the choppy little whimpers that came from deep in her throat. He slipped his jacket from her, helping her pull out her arms and spread it beneath them as he lavished hot, open-mouthed kisses over her throat and shoulder, working his way down. Through the thin material of her blouse, he kissed her breast.

"Cam!" She sounded shocked, yet she pushed upward, thrusting herself into his mouth. "Here?"

In answer, he kissed a path to her other breast, gently nipping the hard tip with his teeth. The fabric between his mouth and her sweet skin became wet, sheer.

"Cam…" She clung to him. "We shouldn't."

He slid his arousal over the sweet hollow between her thighs.

"Okay. Here," she decided breathlessly. "Now."

Impatiently, he unbuttoned her, shoving silk aside. A lacy bra hid her from him until he tore that away, too, baring her to the night and his hungry gaze. Then she was inside his mouth, against his tongue, and he revisited heaven.

Moaning, squirming, she tugged him close as he sucked. He lifted his head, just to shift to her other breast, but she made a protesting sound and yanked him back by the hair. Grinning against her, he thought that at this rate, he might be a bald man by the time he hit thirty-five.

He could care less.

She made him ache, unbearably, and he pressed her against his hips to show her exactly how much. She sighed and angled upward, trying to get closer still.

"The bath and candles were for me," she whispered. "It's your turn to pick a fantasy."

"You're it."

She ran restless hands over him, pulling at his shirt. Surging above her, he stripped off the rest of her clothes, then his shirt, but she quickly yanked him back down, pressing her lips all over his face.

The icy wind vanished. So did the hard, ungiving ground and their fear. The horror. He wanted, needed, to plunge in and ride deep. "Are you sore, Haley?"

"No. Now, Cain." She tried to wrap her legs around him to bring him closer, but with a little laugh at the wildcat he'd created, he held her off for a moment. He rose up on his elbows to see her better, wanting to feast his eyes on the delectable sight she made, stretched out before him, but he could barely see. Still, his blood surged hot and thick, centering between his legs. This frenzied need for her went beyond lust, far beyond mere wanting. "You take my breath away."

She reached for the snap on his jeans, then hesitated, suddenly shy. His fingers closed over hers, guiding them back. "If you don't free me soon," he said a little desperately, "it'll be too late, darlin'."

She laughed breathlessly, then slowly worked the soft denim open. He nearly died of pleasure when she took him in her hands. With a hum of approval, she stroked him and he just about erupted in her hands like a novice.

"Oh!" she gasped, yanking her hands back when his hips jerked. "Did I hurt you?"

He could still laugh. "Not quite." Striving for some semblance of control, he bent to her mouth.

Her tongue touched his. Her perfect body pressed up against him, and he lost himself in the emotions she created, in how she made him feel. He kissed her for all he was worth, on the edge already, and from just touching her. As if wanting her as desperately as he was, his fingers slid down over her, sinking into the silken curls between her thighs. She let out a surprised, thrilled moan, and pushed against his fingers for more.

So very wet. The discovery made his head swim with desire. Exploring, he found the tiny nub that drove her and gently, so gently, squeezed. She shrieked, and the sound echoed in the cave. More than satisfied by her response, he covered her mouth with one hand, while the other feathered and teased mercilessly. Whimpering and panting, she thrust her hips against his fingers. When her muscles clenched, caught in the torturous slice of time before climax, he stopped. "Wait," he murmured, sliding down her body slowly. "Wait a sec."

She moaned, sounding dazed, bewildered. Desperate.

He pressed her legs wide-open with his palms, brushed a kiss against her inner thigh. Then the other.

She stiffened. "Cam," she whispered, sounding a little panicked. "Stop. I don't think-"

"Just for a minute, darlin'." He reached up, took her hand and set it over her own mouth. "Hush now, okay?" He nuzzled, kissed her center softly, then lightly grazed her with his tongue. He expected the brutal grip on his hair this time, and he licked at her as if she were his last supper.

His sweet, modest Haley shucked all inhibition and went crazy beneath him.

He lifted his head. "You still want me to stop?"

In answer, she yanked on his hair, pressing his mouth back to her.

He laughed softly and used his teeth until she was sobbing his name behind her hand, and her thighs were trembling violently around him. Still, he stroked and laved and suckled until she all but shattered beneath him and was left quivering, dazed and sated.

He rose above her, shaken and needy, stunned by what she did to him.

"I want you inside me," she said, her voice thick and emotional, and she reached to guide him to her.

"Oh, yes." He barely held on as he sank into her slowly, gradually, deeper and deeper, until he had nothing left to give. She arched her hips to meet him, reaching blindly up for him, and he responded, bending over her for a long scorching kiss. He started to move, his firm, fluid thrusts matching the greedy, eager motion of her hips.

Whispering her name hoarsely, he surrendered to the ecstasy only she could create. She held him as he hovered at the brink, struggling to hold back a little longer. But then she shuddered-close, so very close. He rode her off the edge of sanity as his release pounded through him, rocking his body, his world.

"Wow," Haley said shakily into the dark cave, some time later. "That gets better and better."

Pulling her close with the last of his energy, he nuzzled her hair. "Well, darlin', I have to agree there."

She held him tighter, as if she'd never let go.

"You're not going to pull my hair again, are you?" he joked, "because-"

"No," she whispered, kissing his jaw. "Oh, Cam. I'm so thankful to be with you. You saved my life tonight. I still can't get over that."

"Why not? I love you." Catching the telltale glint of tears in the dark, he tucked her against him, cradling her head in the crook of his arm. "I'm sorry. Pull my hair all you want. I won't complain."

She didn't laugh.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked her huskily. "Was I too rough?"

"No, God, no."

He tried to smile, there on the cold, hard floor of the cave, but it was difficult. "It could give a man a complex, Haley, if you cry every time he makes love to you."

"You love me," she said in a small, choked voice, curling into his arms. "I have a hard time dealing with that. Or the future at all, as a matter of fact."

"You'll have to get used to it. Do you love me, Haley?"

"I've never loved anyone before. I-" She lifted her hands from him in a helpless gesture. "I don't know."

"Sure, you do," he said mildly, though nerves raced through his body. "You just have to listen to your heart."

"I'm not ready," she whispered, and though he couldn't see for sure, he imagined her blue eyes wide with panic. "I told you, I can't face the future right now."

Ironic, he thought. His love scared her more than a gunshot missing her head by a scant fraction of an inch. "I can deal with you not being ready," he said, though it terrified him that she never would be. "What I can't deal with is knowing you still plan to go to Branson at the first opportunity. It's not an option, Haley. You're not going, even if I have to squire you away somewhere and hold you against your will." Gently he disentangled himself, sitting up to right first her clothes, then his, but when a little sob escaped her, he pulled her back to him. "Ah, Haley… it's going to be all right."

She shook her head, her swing of hair sliding over his face. "How, Cam? He won't stop hunting for us. In the morning-"

"We'll get out." Freezing night air blew in over them and he put his jacket back on her. Wishing they were warm and safe in his bed, he cursed the fates that had them in this cold, dark cave. "He works alone?"

"Yes."

"And no one else has a system like this?"

"No," she said firmly.

"We'll find a way to stop him."

"But how?" Sagging against him, she rubbed her face against his shirt sleepily. "I don't even know if our government will believe me." She yawned. "I'll rot in jail."

"No, you won't."

"Maybe the USGS will help." Again, she yawned. "But this is a pretty crazy story, and they're years behind where EVS was. Even if they believe me, they might want me to recreate the system, as well."

"Just tell them you can't."

"They'll know better than that." Her words had turned fuzzy, slurred with exhaustion. He rocked her against him. Amazement filled him over what this woman had accomplished, what she was capable of. Squeezing her close, he allowed his hands to sweep down her narrow back, over those slim limbs that drew him so. "Haley," he whispered, streaking his hands beneath her blouse just to feel her warm skin. Her body pressed heavily against his. "Haley?"

She'd become a dead weight against him. Knowing she was near complete and utter exhaustion, he tried to shift her to a more comfortable position.

She stirred. "Cam?"

"Shh," he whispered. "Sleep now."

"Can't… sleep," she mumbled, turning in his arms. "He might find us."

"I'll watch," he promised, lying on his side by her, still touching her. "Shh, now. Just sleep, Haley. Just sleep."

"Never had anyone… love me before," she murmured. "Never thought I needed it." She was silent for a long time. He thought she'd fallen asleep, but still he touched her, watched her, loving the luxury of having this unlimited access to her.

"It feels good, Cam."

"This does?" He continued to sweep his fingers down her arm.

One corner of her mouth curved drowsily. "Mmm. That, too." Her eyes remained closed. "But I meant… it feels good to have you love me… Why does it feel so good?" she wondered drowsily.

"Because it's right." He leaned over to kiss her.

"Never meant… to love you back. Didn't want to."

He froze. His hand tightened on her waist as he hovered over her, torn between shocked disbelief and joy. "Haley?"

But she didn't respond because she'd finally drifted off to sleep, and he wondered, as his heart threatened to burst, if she'd even realized she'd spoken out loud.