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  YOU ARE MINE

  LISA G. RILEY

  lisagriley.wordpress.com

  lisagriley.com

  You are Mine

  Lisa G. Riley

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright © January 2013 by Lisa Geneva Riley

  All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this e-book only. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from Lisa Geneva Riley.

  Cover Artist: Whitney Holcomb

  This e-book is a work of fiction. While it might refer to historical events and actual places might be mentioned, the names, characters, places and incidents are either made up by the author or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you.

  DEDICATION

  To all the readers who have been asking (begging, screaming, howling) for this book: thank you. Thank you so much for wanting it, thank you for your patience, and thank you for being such awesome fans.

  Chapter One

  Mackinac Island, Michigan, May, 2003

  She ran. Ran until she was out of breath, and continued to run after that. Panic was neck and neck with determination to get out alive.

  BAM!

  The gun’s blast was like a cannon exploding and made her jerk in fear and freeze for a second before the sound propelled her into a directionless, panicked rush through thickets of brambles. Flight trumped fight and she continued to run heedlessly, despite distant warnings coming from her brain telling her to slow down and take notice of her surroundings.

  BAM!

  The second shot shocked her as much as the first and she kept running, and tried to go even faster when she heard an imperious voice -- his voice -- demand angrily that the gunman stop shooting. Knowing that he was so close terrified her and sent her crashing prey-like even more carelessly and deeper into the forest.

  Long after she couldn’t hear anything behind her, she ran.

  Her breaths were explosive little bursts of fire as they blew through her lungs and her legs felt as if they had no muscle tone left, but she took deep breaths and clutched her own gun tighter.

  And…

  She ran.

  CHICAGO, two weeks earlier…

  “Love me, Brian, love me,” Caroline Singleton breathed huskily from beneath him as she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist and continued to match her movements to his.

  At the urging of her fingers that went from gripping his hair to pressing into the back of his neck, Brian Keenan bent his head until his lips touched hers. “Oh, I do, baby,” he whispered against his wife’s mouth. “Madly and absolutely,” he promised before taking her lips in a kiss that had her whimpering into his mouth and digging her nails into his shoulders.

  “But I want you to…could you…?”

  Brian grinned at her hesitation. After nearly two years together, she was sometimes still a little shy about sex. “You were saying?” he asked against her lips.

  “Don’t tease me,” she murmured as she held on tighter to him and kissed him again. “I want it faster and a little, well…harder.”

  He chuckled and gave her a deep kiss that made her arch her smooth brown neck in passion. When she bit his lip and sucked his tongue into her mouth he reached down and took hold of her behind, lifting her into his strokes. He plunged deeper and she clenched tighter around him, driving him to the brink of losing control. He moaned and broke from the kiss. “Not yet.”

  He dropped his forehead onto the pillow beside her head, burying his face in her thick aromatic hair. He breathed deep and shuddered. Sometimes the very scent of her, the mere thought of her, nearly drove him wild. She was the perfect fit for him, and much more than he could have ever hoped for. As he thought about how lucky he was to have her in his life, he slowed his strokes into her body even more, not wanting the connection to end. Even as he thought this, she took her hands up his back and buried her fingers in his hair. He felt a slight, but warning tug and chuckling at her impatience, lifted his head to look down at her. My wife. They’d been married for seven months and he still found himself marveling over the fact whenever it flooded his mind, which was quite often.

  “Darling,” she said in voice that was husky with arousal, but still quite firm, “You’re over-thinking our marriage again.”

  “Am I?” he asked with another grin. A grin she didn’t see because she kept her eyes closed. “Think you know me so well, do you?”

  “Mm,” she murmured in confirmation and after catching her breath when he gently tweaked her nipples, continued, “the thought of it distracts you and deters you from …” she paused in thought and then with a crooked, mischievous smile said, “the most pressing goal of the moment, so to speak.”

  Brian chuckled. “Bad girl,” he chided.

  “Am not,” she purred and smiling fully now, wrapped her arms around his neck and urged his head down so she could deliver brief, delicate bites to his mouth. The little nips were designed to drive him a little wild and she was rewarded for her efforts when he executed a series of powerful thrusts. “I just…oh!”

  “That’s right, sweetheart,” Brian growled hungrily when the high-pitched sounds he adored started building in the back of her throat and he felt her fingers digging into his waist. Helpless to resist the maelstrom now, he once again lifted her and greedily plunged into her body.

  She buried her face in his neck as she found her release, making him feel both protective and powerful. “I love you, Brian…so much!”

  As always, Brian felt love overwhelm him at her words and that spurred him to orgasm. Forcefully, he drove into her one last time before he howled her name as he followed her over the edge. And knowing his wife as he did, five minutes later, roused himself to carry her into the bathroom for a shower.

  ***

  “THERE’S more to me than my stomach, you know,” Caroline said sleepily and around a yawn a few hours later. Intent on chastising him, she reached down to cup Brian’s head where it lightly rested on her stomach. He lifted his head to look at her and she smiled when he smiled. And the all-encompassing love mixed with just a hint of fear that she saw in his gray eyes made her relent and gently cup her hand under his chin and stroke his cheek.

  “Hi, sleepy-head,” he said to her. “You okay, sweetheart? You need anything?”

  Caroline bit her lip to keep from chuckling. He wouldn’t appreciate her humor at his concern or his efforts to help, but his appreciation and excitement were making him go overboard with attentiveness. By now she was hearing him ask those questions and others like them at least a dozen times a day. He was just so cute. “I’m fine, baby, and you’re going to spoil us. You have to stop worrying so much.”

  Brian just lifted a brow, kissed the palm of her hand and then went back to pressing his ear to her stomach and massaging her hip bones with his thumbs while his hands palmed her satin-covered butt.

  Caroline sighed and ran her fingers soothingly through his silky, black hair. He had been like this for weeks. “How much sleep have you had?”

  “I just woke up a few minutes ago,” he told her and lifted his head again. His eyes were tinged with wonder now. “You know, despite a couple hundred millennia of evidence, I still c
an’t believe another life can grow so successfully in there,” he said as his gaze went back to her stomach. “You can’t even tell.”

  Caroline chuckled. Her stomach was still flat. “We’re only about eight weeks along, Brian. Give us time.”

  Brian kissed her stomach and then addressed it, “What does she know, hmm?” he said in a sing-song voice. “After all, she’s just the one carrying you in there, the one responsible for all your sustenance over the next seven months. Her knowledge on the subject is woefully lacking, don’t you think?”

  Laughing, Caroline sputtered, “Hey!”

  “Sure, she’s the future milk machine, the mommy, but what does that really mean? You and me? We’re gonna turn this mother out.” Caroline’s amusement was at its height now, and throwing her head back, she let loose several throaty chuckles. Finally settling down long enough to wipe tears from her eyes, she looked at her husband again. The laughter died in her throat. He was looking at her breasts and the glint in his eyes made everything within her freeze in anticipation.

  “When I think about it, though…” he began contemplatively as he gently cupped her breasts. “I have to admit, just from where you’ll get your milk are things of beauty -- just wait ‘til you see ‘em.”

  Caroline closed her eyes, moaned and arched her back. “You know they’re overly sensitive now, Bri. And you know that the pregnancy has made me more…more…”

  Brian smiled when she broke off in embarrassment. “Horny? Hot to trot? A-mo-rous?” He chuckled in further amusement of her embarrassment before kissing her stomach one last time and making his way to the head of the bed.

  Sighing, Caroline turned so that she was lying in his arms with her arm around his waist and her head on his chest. She took his hand in hers and laced their fingers together. When she finally settled, he said, “Everything good? You comfortable? Need anything?”

  Caroline let the affection she felt show in her smile, and nuzzled his neck. “I’m fine, darling, really. You’re going to turn me into a pampered princess if you keep this up.”

  “You were already that when I met you,” he said matter-of-factly.

  Not believing he was serious, Caroline balanced her torso on his chest to look down at him. When he only stared passively back at her, she objected. “I was not!” He only lifted a skeptical brow. “What?” she protested. She lovingly kissed the smirk off his mouth before lying back down. “I demand proof.”

  “All right. We’ll start with the fact that you’ll only sleep on fancy French sheets flown in special from Paris.”

  Caroline shrugged. “Mom started buying Porthault sheets when I was a teenager and she thought I was at the right age to appreciate a good thread count. I just continued the tradition, and we get them from New York. Besides, you’re exaggerating. I don’t only sleep on those sheets; it’s just that I prefer them.”

  “Oh, yes, the thread count. What was it? Two-thousand-five-hundred-ninety-eight, right?”

  She chuckled and shook her head. “Stop exaggerating! And it’s not just the thread count. The designs are pretty darned awesome and the quality of the work is great, which if you weren’t such a philistine, you’d know already,” she teased with a sniff. “But our child will know -- I’ve already picked out a couple of outfits. Wait until you see; they’re just adora--”

  “Not so fast; don’t change the subject. Just how many sets of those sheets do you own?”

  She shrugged again, and still amused, said, “I don’t know. What does it matter? And it’s we. We own the few sheet sets and the coverlets and the quilts.”

  “That’s right: we,” Brian said teasingly. “I stand corrected. Back to your being pampered, though. Weekly hair appointments, monthly spa visits --”

  Caroline snuggled against him as he ran his finger through said hair. “I do that for the baby, your child. I’m not putting relaxers in my hair anymore because I don’t think it would be good for the baby, so I go to the salon so that my hair remains healthy while I go through the process.”

  “Uh-huh. And the spa appointments? The ones you’ve been taking monthly since I’ve known you?”

  “Well, those I just like and I find they help me because I’m on my feet so much painting or sculpting.”

  “Didn’t your mother introduce you to the spa as well?”

  “Yes, but that’s only because she loves her daughter,” she said with a sniff and smiled when he chuckled. “Whatever. I had my first appointment at twelve after a particularly grueling track meet. Ever since then I’ve tried to keep a monthly appointment.” Brian’s silence was so pregnant with meaning that she had to stop and think about what she’d just said. While she hadn’t exactly been spoiled growing up, she had had a good life where she’d wanted for almost nothing. “I was well taken care of; not pampered, and I admit to liking and being accustomed to a certain lifestyle…” she paused, recognizing the trap she’d set for herself. When he laughed, she sighed philosophically and said a little sulkily, “Okay, so maybe I am pampered.” She lifted herself up again to look into his laughing eyes, and raising her hand up with her thumb and forefinger held about a centimeter apart, said sheepishly with a teasing smile, “but only a teeny-tiny, infinitesimal bit -- so negligible, in fact,” she continued as she lay back down, “ it’s barely worth mentioning. And besides, whenever you change the linen you always seem to manage to find the Porthault.”

  Brian was silent for a moment and then in a low, embarrassed voice, “Well, they are pretty amazing.” Caroline burst out laughing before planting a kiss in the dip in his neck. As their laughter wound down and she settled against him again, she felt happiness course through her for at least the tenth time that day. It happened every time she thought about him and her life with him. She loved him more than she’d ever loved anyone or anything before, and couldn’t imagine her life without him.

  And because she couldn’t, rapidly on the heels of that thought, another one intruded, causing a sudden shiver. Alexander Brickman, a man obsessed with her, was determined to change that, and it frightened her that despite all their efforts, he could still ruin their lives. She tried to expel the feeling, knowing that when she worried, Brian worried, and she didn’t want him to get caught up in her fears once again. She willed her muscles to stay relaxed and not give away her sudden anxiety.

  “Hey, you’re tensing up,” Brian said in a husky, concerned voice as he rubbed her back. “What’s the matter, baby? The usual?”

  “No, it’s nothing. I’m fine,” she tried to assure him and hastily changed the subject, “Ready for our trip?” There was nothing but silence for a moment, and she knew that she hadn’t fooled him. A moment later she knew he’d decided to go along with her because he sighed as he began to rub her back again.

  “Of course I’m ready. I’m not the one who takes five days to pack for a week-long trip.”

  “Lies, all lies,” she said in relief as she traced circles on his skin with the tip of her finger. “The honeymoon doesn’t count. I mean really, Brian, it was our honeymoon. Besides, we were gone for two weeks, not one.”

  “True enough. Hard to believe it’s already been seven months since our time in Napa.”

  “Yeah,” Caroline said contemplatively. So much had happened in such a short span of time that when she thought about everything, she sometimes imagined that she was still spinning in the whirlwind. In nearly two years, she’d met and married Brian, finally found success as an artist; been stalked by a maniac, and narrowly avoided being kidnapped by same. Well, can’t say I’ve been bored, she thought now as Brian tunneled his fingers through her hair. “I really loved Napa. Didn’t you?”

  “Yeah, it was awesome. I hear Mackinac Island is just as beautiful,” he said, pronouncing the vacation spot “Mackinaw”.

  “I’ve heard of the island and the wonderful Grand Hotel before, of course, but I’m so glad you heard about that cottage. It sounds heavenly. What’s the name of it again?”

  “Masco Cottage, though I
don’t know how anyone could call a four bedroom home a mere cottage.”

  Caroline squeezed him. “Ooh, I’m so excited to go,” she said with a huge smile. “Tell me all about it again.”

  “The cottage is owned by the Grand Hotel, and it’s on hotel property. The hotel sits on a bluff overlooking Lake Huron, and from what I’ve seen -- what we’ve both seen -- it’s gorgeous. We can look at the brochure again later. Anyway, the food is supposed to be superb, full breakfasts, five-course dinners. Apparently, we have to dress for dinner if we eat in the hotel. As part of our rental, though, we can have a personal chef from the hotel come to the cottage, or we can cook ourselves. I figured we might want to do both and sometimes even eat at the hotel if we’d like.”

  She nodded. “I’ll have to think about that last one. It will be nice not to be around people for a while. I can’t wait. In another week, we’ll be away from everything -- your crazy job; the manic city; loving, but interfering, family and friends; impossible deadlines, and just everything! I’ll have you all to myself.”

  Brian continued to take his fingers through her hair. “Not quite,” he reminded her. “Don’t forget that Jae will be coming along, too.”

  Caroline felt her tension return in full measure.

  “You’re the one insisting that he comes,” Brian said after she’d been silent for a while. “I think we’d be fine with just the two of us.”

  She sighed. “It’s not the fact that he’s coming; it’s the idea that he’s needed at all. And I know his coming was my idea. He’s a bodyguard -- he should be guarding bodies.” After they’d returned from their honeymoon, Brian had insisted that they hire a bodyguard, and considering how close her stalker had gotten, she hadn’t tried to dissuade him from his decision. She’d known she wouldn’t have been able to change his mind so she didn’t waste time and energy trying.