Shotgun Bride [Tasty Treats 12] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Polyromance) Page 3

  And unfortunately, two of the richest.

  However, their money came only because they were willing to skirt the law if not break it outright to build their disreputable, immoral businesses. They’d been bare-knuckle brawlers in their youth. Then they’d moved on to managing other fighters, for a price, all the while skimming most of the gambling profits for themselves after each bout. She’d heard they quit that lucrative occupation only after an unexplained death had occurred. Whether it was true or not, they likely believed they were above the law.

  Her father didn’t give her any more explanation than that for how he thought he’d be able to force her to make this vile selection. She knew there were ways to get around brides having their choice.

  Suddenly, her father took another step backward.

  Her time was up. She squeezed her face against the door, her eye square in the small hole watching him prepare to leave.

  “Please,” she said once more in as pitiful a tone as she could muster. But she knew the moment her fight was lost.

  Her father spun around, turning his back to her, and walked away from her prison door. He retreated up the stairs and out of her sight even as she screamed for him to release her. She did this until her voice was hoarse to no avail.

  Once her father had closed the outer porch door, the light extinguished. She stopped yelling for him. Dusk was coming soon. She turned and noticed for the first time since entering the room that her father had left her a jug of drinking water on a cheap plastic lawn chair in the corner.

  Next to the jug rested a bag of pork rinds, a package of beef jerky, and dual pack of Twinkies. “Dinner of champions,” she said under her breath without enthusiasm. There were also two plastic pails in the corner next to an ancient, dusty sump pump. One empty. One filled with water. The facilities, she supposed with growing horror nestling deep in her belly.

  Ella closed her eyes in memory of the moment she realized how fully and completely she’d been betrayed. She ran her hands along the crudely uneven cement walls of the room once more as if a magic door would suddenly appear to allow her narrow escape from the horrid life she faced. Tracing her palms along every inch of the wall space, she soon realized she was trapped until her father came back to release her. But by then it would be too late for escape.

  Ella spent the night curled in the center of the floor in the pitch black, spun up with equal amount of fear and fury. Daylight broke very slowly after a seemingly endless and very sleepless night.

  Dread filled Ella’s soul as the light in the room brightened. Her father would arrive soon and transform her life into hell because today was her twenty-fifth birthday.

  * * * *

  Colton rode hell-bent for leather toward the cabin in the distance once they crossed into Parker land. The good news was, there was shelter ahead. The bad news, it might not afford them the best protection. He guessed any cover was better than none with the fierce thunderstorm bearing down on them.

  Matt pointed to a small barn set apart from the cabin. They found the inside intact and left their horses inside what looked like a fairly sturdy structure. There was even fresh hay available. No horses, but there had been horses here recently.

  “Someone must be here,” Matt said as he moved his horse into one of six stalls.

  “Or has been here recently.”

  Colton could see sheets of rain coming ever closer to their location. The edge of the storm was about a mile away and coming fast. Big, fat drops already fell outside as they contemplated whether or not to head to the cabin.

  “So do we stay out here or try to get into the cabin?” Colton asked.

  “I say we try the cabin.” Wind already whipped through the cracks in the barn wall, stirring up the hay and dust.

  “Good call. I’ll follow you.” Colton exited last and secured the bar across the outer barn doors. He then turned and sprinted across the yard, leaping onto the front porch as Matt pounded on the front door.

  “Hello! Anyone home?” A sudden crack of lightning lit the dark sky, followed immediately by a loud boom of thunder. If anyone was inside, likely they hadn’t heard his shout or his hammering knock.

  Colton made a command decision, reaching for the handle and turning the knob. It was unlocked. The door opened without problem. They both stumbled inside and slammed the door behind them.

  The wind whistled and howled around the cabin, rattling the already-rain-spattered windowpanes in their frames. Colton took a deep breath as he leaned against the front door. He smelled pine-scented clean instead of the expected dusty, musty, stagnant air.

  The living space inside the cabin was fairly small, but it was clear someone had been here recently. There was not a spot of dust, and the clean smell made him glad they’d abandoned the barn.

  “Hello?” Matt called to the loft above. “Anyone here?”

  Outside the rain had begun to come down in earnest. The sky was as dark as dusk. Sheets of rain pummeled the outside of the cabin, but Colton didn’t see a single leak from the roof, amazingly enough.

  “Surprisingly clean and sound in here,” he said under his breath.

  “Yep. Someone has definitely been here very recently.”

  They both saw the archway beneath the loft at the same time. There was a large wooden door about a foot past the opening. “Think that’s a bedroom behind the door there?”

  “Probably,” Matt said.

  “Want to go check it out?”

  “Not really. I’m not convinced we’re alone. And we weren’t invited in.”

  “Fine. Then I’ll go take a look.”

  “Better you than me. I’ll just wait here. Hopefully no one is waiting behind the door to clock you one over the head with a big meaty fist for trespassing.”

  Colton was only worried about some member of the Parker family waiting behind the door with a weapon waiting to shoot unwelcome intruders. He pounded on the door. “Hello? Anyone in there?”

  A faint noise like a cat shrieking came forth. He put his head against the wood and listened, but there was nothing more except the wind outside.

  Carefully, Colton twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open. He chanced a quick glance inside, finally registering that there was no one in there. He checked the good-size room, glanced under the large bed, looked in the wardrobe and finally the bathroom. No one.

  “It’s safe, Matt,” he called out. “No one with fists or weapons.”

  Matt joined him just as the shrieking-cat sound came again. The sound of something crashing was barely heard over the din of the storm outside.

  “Did you hear that?” Colton asked.

  Matt nodded. “The wail and whatever the specter ensconced below threw at the wall? Yes, I heard that.”

  “I don’t believe in ghosts,” Colton said emphatically. “And neither do you.” But the unearthly sounds of the wind outside howling as the rain suddenly dumped buckets of water on the land around them made that sentiment more difficult to trust. Perhaps the gates of Hell had opened up and unleashed this bad weather along with a few spirits spawned from its depths.

  Matt didn’t answer. He walked toward the kitchen, his head tilting as if listening hard for the noise again. Colton followed

  Once in the kitchen area, they heard the noise a little better. Colton peeked out of the back door window and noticed a small porch with another wooden door on the opposite side. Matt looked out as well.

  “Should we go outside and take a look?”

  “In this weather? No thanks. It’s probably just an animal trapped beneath the foundation. I’d really rather not wrestle with a cougar in the middle of the storm of the century, if you don’t mind.” Matt backed away from the window.

  Colton laughed. “Good point.” He looked out at the rain pelting the small side porch and decided against opening the door. Beneath the wooden floorboards outside, Colton could see what looked like a river of water rushing against the house. In fact, a large pool of water draining off the roof landed
at the base of the wooden door. He could already see water disappearing beneath the door’s bottom edge.

  He turned to Matt. “Think maybe there’s a pet trapped behind that door?”

  Matt peeked out the window again. “I hope not. If there is a cellar, I’ll bet water is spilling in below like crazy.”

  Another shrieking wail of panic sounded during a lull in the wind. Colton sighed. “If we wait and discover a drowned house pet later on, I won’t be able to forgive myself.”

  “Shit. Me neither.” Matt looked out the window again. “So…rock, paper, scissors or do we both go?”

  “Let’s both go. No sense in only one of us having dry clothing for the duration of this day.”

  “Very funny. Just make sure the kitchen door doesn’t lock behind us on the way out.” The door could only be locked from the inside.

  Colton hesitated, but then another shriek came and he resigned himself to spending the rest of the day trying to get his clothing dry after this foolish plan. If there was a trapped wild animal behind the door, he hoped it had the good sense to run into the rain and not attack its human rescuers. On the wall to the left of the door hung a flashlight. He grabbed it before opening the kitchen door.

  He went outside, bringing one arm up to protect his face from the onslaught of stinging rain pelting his face once he cleared the protection of the kitchen. Matt was on his heels as they crossed the small porch flooded with water pouring off the roof and blowing back at them. Colton grabbed the knob, expecting it to be locked.

  But it wasn’t. He pulled the door open, half closing his eyes, waiting for a lion, tiger, or bear to knock him to the sodden ground and rip his throat out in a fear-induced panic. The wind caught the door and practically stripped it off its hinges, but the only thing behind it was a long flight of stairs leading to a hallway to the left and beneath the house.

  The two of them crowded into the small space to get out of the rain. They stood on a small landing leading to the stairs, which descended into darkness. Looking at the yawning abyss, Colton again tested the wisdom of this venture. Another small unearthly shriek from below pushed him forward.

  Colton pushed the button and flipped the flashlight on. He trained it on the descending stairwell. Water leaked in from not only the door they’d opened but also a few gapped places in the planked walls surrounding the cement staircase to below. There was also water standing at the bottom of the steps. It was hard to tell how deep it was, but probably at least a foot or so. He directed the light to the left doorway but only saw cement walls leading to the left and further under the cabin.

  “Hello?” He then whistled as if a pet beagle might come romping through the door or perhaps doing the dogpaddle in the water from the left. “Anyone down here?” he called out, listening intently for another noise.

  There was a pause of about ten seconds before the very distinct sound of a woman shrieked quite clearly, “Help me! Please! Get me out of here! I’m going to drown!”

  Chapter Three

  The beam of a flashlight from the outer staircase moved around the lower steps after Ella heard the stranger’s voice call out. She could barely see out the hole in the door. Then he whistled. Was it Otis or Owen? Would they be calling her like one of their fight dogs from this day forward? She tamped down her anger and focused on getting out of this death trap of a basement room.

  If they’d taken much longer to arrive, she had no doubt she would have drowned down here. She didn’t want to marry the Stevenson brothers, but she found as the water climbed up her legs higher and higher that she wanted to live more than she wanted to avoid marriage by dying. She could always try to escape later on. But not if she drowned down in the cellar.

  Ella stuck her face up against the three-inch hole in the door again to peer out. The flashlight was gone. Without any light, she couldn’t see very well, but she could hear that water continued to pour in from the leaky windows and also steadily beneath the door of her prison. She could feel the water level rising.

  The rainwater had only begun to truly flow in at an alarming rate when she thought she heard boots on the floor above. She’d been shrieking until her voice was almost hoarse to try and get her father to come down and get her. Had he forgotten her already?

  She threw one of the buckets against the ceiling trying to get him to remember that he’d left her locked below. Hopefully he hadn’t been sampling the keg of celebratory liquor on the way home. Her only hope was that one of the other members of the wedding party might comment on where the future bride might be. Then if her father wasn’t too drunk, he could direct someone down here to release her.

  The water was already hip deep in this room and climbing fast when she heard the outside porch door above open. Salvation in that unexpected sound had stifled her screams and caused tears to flow in gratitude for a few seconds.

  “Please hurry!” she called out, realizing her voice—like her soul—sounded completely terrified. Death by drowning while trapped in this hellhole wasn’t the way she wanted to leave this world.

  While the prospect of speeding up this debacle of a marriage didn’t thrill her, Ella fought down the urge to panic and put that problem on the back burner of her mind. For now, she wanted out of this place, even if the deplorable Stevenson brothers were the ones saving her life.

  She had seen both Otis and Owen as teens because she went to school with them for a short time. In her memory, they were oversized, brutish, hulking beasts before ever reaching puberty. She expected them to be much the same as full-grown men, although she hadn’t actually seen them as adults.

  Ella only saw the blinding circle of light behind a large figure headed in her direction. He sloshed through the water.

  “Holy shit,” a voice with a deep timbre exclaimed. “It’s barred from the outside.” The flashlight then shone through the three-inch hole. Ella stepped to one side and saw the light cast a beam across the room in the direction of the useless sump pump. On the other wall, she suddenly noticed a dirty solid line two inches from the ceiling. Was that the water level of previous floods down here? Panic rose in her throat and she stifled the urge to scream her voice box raw.

  Another man’s voice said, “Hand me the flashlight.” The second voice, also deep toned, sounded kind and intelligent. Interesting. Had she misjudged the Stevenson boys? Had all those vile rumors about them been untrue?

  “Who put you in here?” the first voice asked.

  “What difference does it make? Get me out!” She pounded both of her fists against the door as if it would help. The water was at her waist. She was going to melt down and have a huge screaming hissy fit in about three seconds if she didn’t get free, and right now, this second.

  The first voice said, in an amused tone, “Well, if you’re a crazed ax murderer put down here to save innocent lives, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to let you go.”

  Ella heard the scrape of the thick board across the door being lifted. When the door moved outward a bit, she pushed with all her might against the wooden door keeping her prisoner. A rush of water poured into the room as she half ran, half swam out.

  She ran smack solidly into one of the men. Her inclination was to hang on and fight to the death anyone trying to put her back in the room she’d left. She grasped him to her frame and buried her face at his throat. Inhaling deeply, trying to calm her raveled nerves, Ella unexpectedly realized how nice he smelled. A faint remnant of rich cologne scent still clung to the rain-spattered skin along his jawline where her mouth now rested. Moving only two inches to the right, she encountered his lips. An electrical trickle of lust shot through her body the moment their lips met briefly.

  Ella was so grateful to finally be free, she kissed him again. Closing her lips over his seemed like the most natural thing to do. She wasn’t disappointed by the time she broke the spontaneous embrace.

  He exhaled as if surprised, handed off the flashlight to the other man, turned back, and kissed her in return. But only on her forehe
ad at first. He soon moved his lips to her cheek for a soft kiss. She lifted away from his body, wondering if he might kiss her mouth next.

  Suddenly, light shone in her face. She released the delectable man and put her hands up to shield her eyes. “Stop putting the light in my face.”

  “Sorry,” the other man replied. The light immediately lowered. The man she’d held put his arm around her shoulder gently. The man now holding the flashlight clamped his hand over her forearm in the next second and said, “Let’s go upstairs.” He pulled on her arm as they moved toward the stairs. “We can chat in the cabin.”

  Ella didn’t know who these men were, but she knew that they couldn’t be the Stevensons, her soon-to-be husbands. For one thing, they smelled too good. Even waist deep in water, she caught two distinct and very desirable scents. This was not an attribute she remembered from the Stevenson brothers long ago.

  For another thing, she didn’t expect them to be nice enough to let her out of her watery prison without wanting something for their trouble. She’d heard countless times over the years that the Stevenson boys didn’t lift a finger without securing a payoff for their efforts. Ever.

  Using both hands, Ella grasped onto the sizeable bicep attached to the hand lightly grasping her forearm, pulling her along to freedom from this horrible dungeon. She was truly ready to be above ground.

  Once they got to the stairs, she was pulled forward and sandwiched between the two men as they ascended the stairs. Looking down as they came out of the basement, Ella could see the nicely shaped ass of the man she followed up the stairs. Odd to even notice this attribute on a man or be so enamored of this part of his body, but perhaps it was because she was so grateful to be rescued.

  The door leading to the side porch was already open. It was a fast few steps from her former prison along the porch and into the kitchen of the cabin. But it didn’t keep her from getting the top half of her body also completely drenched as if she’d been submerged.