Holding her against his chest, he rocked her gently. “Jaimie and Flame have been monitoring Whitney’s computer as often as they dare. There’s been no mention that any of the women who escaped with you have been recaptured. I think he concentrated mainly on you because he suspected you were pregnant. Mari found her sister, Briony. They’re both married to GhostWalkers, who just happen to be twin brothers as well. I believe Mari’s sister just had twins.”

He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin. “When we’re out of this, I’ll take you to see her. They’re very well protected where they are.”

“But they still have to live in a virtual prison to stay that way, don’t they?” Rose said. She burrowed closer to him, as if trying to hide from the truth of their lives.

“He made certain it would never be easy to live on the outside for any of you,” Kane replied, choosing his words carefully. What she’d said was the truth. The women—and any children they had—would always have to look over their shoulders. There was no entirely safe place, but there was safety in numbers and preparation. “We’re banding together, Rose, the four teams, finding places we can protect so our women and children can lead as normal a life as possible.”

“We don’t even know what normal is,” she pointed out, closing her eyes as another wave rolled over her body, tightening her belly and pressing down hard on the baby. She took long, slow breaths like the books told her, trying to get on top of the contraction.

Kane tried not to swear. He held her, automatically breathing with her. He felt the way her belly was gripped with a tight band. There was no ordering her to stop. No logic was going to dictate when the baby was coming. He tried to push down his own mounting fear. There was no doctor and no way to get her to a doctor. He’d thrown their link to his team down into the ravine. He couldn’t leave her to go try to find it, which would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. But they would come. His team would come for them. He had absolute faith in them.

When the contraction had let up, he set her on her feet. “Let’s get you back in bed.”

“Would you get me a glass of water?”

He didn’t know if she was getting rid of him so she could cry while she undressed, or if she really wanted the water, but he obediently went into the kitchen to get her a drink. He leaned for a moment against the sink, head down, breathing deeply, trying to steel himself for the possibility of delivering a baby. He’d never really considered that he might have no choice.

Not one for inactivity, he went through to the pantry, grateful she had stored books on actual delivery. He thumbed through a book to see what to do with a baby once it was born. The more he read, the more alarmed he became. He had no business trying to deliver his own baby. His blood roared in his ears, his heart hammered hard. If he could have, he would have just hyperventilated and gotten it over with, but his body refused to panic. His lungs kept breathing and his head kept assessing the information, even when his mind screamed at him that he was insane to try something like delivering a baby.

“Kane, where are you?”

It was a good thing he wasn’t panicking, because she sounded like she was. “I’ll be right there,” he called.

“Well, you might want to hurry. My water just broke.”

Chapter 6

Kane took a deep breath and went into the room. Rose was dressed in a long shirt she’d found in the closet and was trying to clean up the floor. He could hear her softly weeping, and it nearly broke his heart. “Rose. Come here, sweetheart. This isn’t the end of the world. The baby’s going to be fine.” He injected as much firm belief as possible into his tone as he reached down to lift her to her feet.

Rose leaned into him, trembling, her arms sliding around his waist. “I’m so scared, Kane.”

“I know. But we’re in this together, and we make a great team. You were smart and provided all the right books for us. You’ve read them and I’ve skimmed them. Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

Still clinging to him, she lifted her head and met his eyes, a small, wan smile on her face. “According to the books, once my water breaks, I have to deliver, and it should speed up the procedure. Staying on my feet as long as possible should help cut down the time. I don’t want to be doing this one moment longer than I have to.”

“I’ll get the floor and then while you’re resting in between—um—you know—I’ll make something to keep the baby warm once he’s born.”

Rose didn’t let go of his solid strength. There was something about Kane, something steady and absolute and calming. He wouldn’t desert her. Her mouth was dry, her heart pounding, and she’d never been so scared in her life, but she wasn’t alone.

At first, she had to admit, she had idiot girl feelings, not wanting to look like an elephant in front of him and certainly not wanting him to see her in such a vulnerable messy situation. Okay, maybe she still did have a little of that vanity, but it was only a tiny impractical part of her; the rest of her was so happy he was with her she wanted to weep forever. “I don’t want the baby to die, Kane,” she admitted in a low voice. “Do you think I aggravated the situation by climbing on the chair?”

His fingers were soothing on the nape of her neck. It seemed every time he touched her, he brought her calm. She could fall in love with him for that alone.

“Of course not. I think you’ve been having the real thing all along, and we’re just getting to the good part. We’ll do this, Rose. You have to believe that.”

She looked up at him. Looked into his eyes, searching for—yes—there it was. This man would stand with her no matter how bad it got. She let out her breath, relaxing just a little. “I believe in you, Kane.”

“All right, let’s get this room prepared. We’ll need towels and water and especially something to keep the baby warm. Are you always so organized?” He took the old T-shirt she was using to clean the floor and crouched low to finish the job, sending her a little grin over his shoulder.

That grin made her stomach flutter. A slow, answering smile touched her mouth. “I really am glad you’re with me,” she said and had to turn away from those beautiful eyes. He was far too good-looking to ever really look at a woman like her—if the doctor hadn’t paired them.

He wrapped a hand around her bare calf, preventing her from moving away. He rubbed gently over her calf, down to the elegant rose tattoo circling her ankle and back up her calf. “What is it, Rose? Why look so sad? We’re about to have a baby.”

She closed her eyes briefly, savoring his words, the sound of his voice. What man would react like that? She’d trapped him, taken his honor, and yet he still treated her as if she mattered, as if she was someone special to him when he should despise her. She opened her mouth to tell him, but a swelling pain went from front to back, increasing in strength, holding her in its grip. She dropped one hand to his shoulder to steady herself and breathed through it, trying to imagine surfing a large wave.

Kane’s hand on her calf anchored her and kept her centered as she did her slow, even breathing. When the contraction eased, she took a deep breath and let it out and looked down at the man she was counting on to see her through this. He looked calm and steady. Her stomach settled and her heart took up a rhythmic beat.

Kane stood up, leaned down to brush a kiss on top of her head, and went out to collect the things they would need. How the hell had this happened? Rose should be safe in a hospital. He was no medic. He could sew up his own battle wounds, but this? He shook his head. This was one of those do-or-die situations, and he had no real choice. The baby was coming, and it was up to him to see Rose through it.

When she looked at him with her amazing dark eyes and told him she believed in him, he was a total goner. If he hadn’t been wrapped around her little finger before, he certainly was now. He had to make this happen, and make it as non-traumatic as possible—for both of them. He prepared the room as quickly as possible, bringing in the birthing kit with sanitized instruments as well as towels and blankets. He boiled water to sterilize it just to be safe, and then set about making a small incubator.

Rose had two more strong contractions while he was constructing the small, crude incubator, really just a box with a blanket protecting the sides and bottom, and a soft light to keep the temperature constant. Rose walked around the house with him for most of the night, stopping to breathe when the contractions came. They came more frequently and were of longer duration. Kane began to really pay attention to how long each lasted. At first he didn’t say much, just wrapped his fingers around her calf and breathed with her, but she was tiring, and the contractions reached a point where she could no longer stand. At times he traced the rose petals on her ankle, until he was familiar with each one of them.

He helped her onto the bed, where they’d laid one of the two plastic-backed sheets from the birthing kit, and arranged her in a semi-sitting position, trying to mimic the drawings in the book. Her breathing changed significantly, and after two contractions nearly on top of each other, obviously very strong, she looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes.

“I don’t know if I can do this anymore, Kane.”

He knew she was ashamed of the admission. Rose had remained stoic, which he was grateful for, but now she was on the edge of panic.

Kane pushed aside his own attack of nerves and brushed the damp hair from her face. “Remember what the book said, sweetheart. You must be in transition. This is the most difficult phase, but it won’t last long. You have to change your breathing to stay on top of the—er ...”

“Contractions,” she snapped. “Say it. Contractions. It isn’t a dirty word.”

Definitely transition. The book mentioned a woman in that particular stage might consider doing harm to her man. He should have searched the bed for weapons. He nodded his head and forced the word out. “Contractions. Of course. My mind went blank there for a moment.”

“I’m sorry.” She let her breath out; her eyes went wide, her gaze clinging to his.

He took the initiative this time, breathing in short “push out” breaths. She matched his breathing, never once looking away from him. The moment the contraction was over, he wiped her face with a cool cloth. “You’re doing great, Rose. You’re very close now.” He hoped he wasn’t full of bullshit and that his guesswork was right. He sent up a silent prayer, not that he was a praying man all that often, but certainly enough that it should count for something.

She never once screamed or cursed at him. She breathed with him, staring straight into his eyes until sometimes he thought he might be drowning in the intimacy of the moment. He hadn’t realized just how intimate something other than sex with a woman could truly be, but he actually felt closer to her than ever before. He couldn’t ever imagine forgetting these shared moments and knew, no matter the outcome, he would always treasure the way they shared faith in each other. He had thought it would be a terrible ordeal, but as bad as it was, there was something raw and beautiful about it.

She closed her eyes and lay back, looking as if she’d fallen asleep. Dawn was creeping into the room, and faint streaks of light illuminated her face. She looked exhausted but peaceful. He frowned and reached to feel her pulse. She was actually asleep. What the hell had happened to the contractions? He scrubbed his hand over his face, trying to clear the cobwebs. He felt drained himself. If he was tired, she had to be ten times more so, but to go to sleep?

He massaged the back of his neck, trying to think. Where the hell had he tossed the book? In the long hours of labor, he couldn’t remember where he’d put it. Be logical, Kane, he admonished himself. Transition, the book had said, and then what? Pushing came next. They were close. He took another deep breath and washed his hands one more time before pulling on sterile gloves. He very carefully laid out the various items from the kit, hoping when the time came, he’d know what to do.