Free Shades of Ménage : A Dystopian Romance Ménage & Post Catastrophic Romance Ménage Boxed Set Series - Ultimate Four-Book Collection by Jan Springer

they can figure out why you never got the X-virus.” Hiccup. “Yet, here you are…hiding in what would have been our…home,” he frowned. “And as healthy, and prettier than I remember you…” Hiccup. “As if you never even left. As if you’d never been taken away all those years ago. As if you’re a dream.”
    Concern rushed her senses. The preacher had said Luke had been shot. How serious was the injury? It couldn’t be that bad if he was still standing, could it?
    He swayed dangerously, his eyes narrowing with anger.
    “ Are you a dream, Callie?”
    “ Luke, please sit down before you fall.” She stepped toward him and froze as Luke shot a bullet into the ceiling.
    “ Not so fast, honey.” He blinked rapidly as if trying to clear his vision. Perspiration peppered his forehead and pain etched the shadows of his face. In the darkness, she saw a dark patch staining his white T-shirt in the area of his left shoulder.
    Blood.
    Anxiety for his health swarmed her. She turned to the preacher, who cowered with fear.
    “ How bad is he hurt?” she asked him.
    “ Bad enough,” the preacher said. “He mumbled something about the Barlows shooting him. The bullet went clean through his shoulder. The only medicine I had was painkillers. He wouldn’t take them. So I gave him a bottle of whiskey that one of my parishioners gave me a long time ago.”
    “ Even if you’re a dream,” Luke sang out waving the gun at her as if it were an admonishing finger, “you’re not getting away from me this time. Light some candles, woman. I want to get a good look at my wife-to-be.”
    Callie stiffened.
    It had always irritated her on the odd occasion when he’d tried to order her around. He was doing it now. And he was pissing her off.
    “ Do as he says, Callie. Alcohol doesn’t seem to mix well with his mood. He might shoot off another round and there’s no telling where the next bullet might hit or if there’s someone out in the woods who might hear the commotion.”
    Callie nodded.
    The preacher was right. The last thing she needed was for anyone to hear gunshots out this way.
    Her hands trembled as she searched for the matchbox on the counter. It took her several attempts before she had a candle glowing. Setting it in the middle of the kitchen table, she turned around and found Luke now sitting on her bed and the buttery candle glow had chased away the shadows to his face.
    She almost wished he’d stayed in the darkness of the room.
    Maybe then her heart wouldn’t have tightened so hard at the sight of the rough stubble on his face, the strong column to his tanned throat, the wide shoulders and the strong chest muscles straining against his T-shirt.
    Sexual awareness glittered in his dark brown eyes as he stared at her in an intoxicating way that made heat spread through her pussy. Warm cream seeped past her plump folds to wet her panties.
    Sexual tension thickened the air around them.
    Callie swallowed tightly.
    “ How…how bad are you wounded?” She admonished herself for this overwhelming concern for a man she thought she’d forced out of her heart. She stepped toward him.
    “ That’s far enough, Callie. Stop right there. Let me take a look at you.” The steely cold in his voice made her halt.
    She tried hard not to shiver at the erotic way his heated gaze roved along the fullness of her breasts.
    “ Very nice,” he whispered. “Very nice indeed.”
    She followed to where he was looking and noted how her nipples were poking proudly against the thin material.
    Inhaling softly, she watched his eyes travel over her curvy breasts, down her belly to the area between her legs.
    Her pussy quivered with excitement against her tight jeans.
    Thank God, the preacher was behind her and he couldn’t see her responding to the scorching way Luke was looking at her.
    “ I’ve come to claim you, Callie,” he said softly.
    Claim her?
    “ That’s not possible, Mr. Outlaw.” The preacher echoed her thoughts. “I