“You would like me to try to escape, wouldn’t you?”
“It might be interesting.”
“Well, I have no intention of providing amusement for you, Mr.…” Her voice trailed off.She had no idea what to call him.
“Youdolearn fast, Miss Randall,” he said.“I’m surprised.”
“It depends on what you want me to learn,” she said, unable to let him think he had cowed her altogether.“I know when to pick my opportunities, and I suspect now is not one of them.”
Something like appreciation crossed his face, but whatever it was, it lasted just a fraction of a second, and he was scowling at her again.
“There will be no opportunities, Miss Randall.I wasn’t just trying to scare you when I said these mountains are dangerous.I’m your only defense at the moment.”
“Is that supposed to reassure me?”
“No,” he said.His mouth quirked slightly, but it wasn’t a smile.She wondered if he was even capable of a smile.“Stay afraid of me, and we’ll do fine.”
“I don’t want to do fine.”
“I don’t give a damn what you want, Miss Randall.You can make this hard, or a little less hard.Those are your choices.”
“You’re a bastard,” she said, gritting her teeth.
“Remember that,” he said.“If you need to use those woods out there, do it now.And keep your head in sight.”
She blushed down to her toes.Bodily functions were something one didn’t discuss, particularly in such a cavalier fashion, and especially between a man and woman.
“You aren’t going to watch?”
That mouth quirked again.“Only your head, Miss Randall.I don’t trust your good sense quite yet.”
Sheer necessity quarreled with pride and modesty.Necessity won.
“I hope my father …” She stopped, not entirely sure what she wanted.
“Will kill me?”
“Sends you back to prison,” she said recklessly.
“You believe that’s preferable to dying?”he asked, a peculiar light in his eyes.
It should have warned her, but she plunged ahead.“Far better.”
“Perhaps a taste of it will change your mind,” he said bitterly.
Shea swallowed.“I haven’t done anything.”
“AndIhave?”he asked, that glint in his eyes even more ominous.
“I know you’ve been robbing payrolls here.”
“You know that, do you?”He was taunting her again.“And how do you know that?”
Shea started to answer, but she stopped.How did she know?Because he was a convicted thief?Because the clerk in Casey Springs had said there had been robberies in the area?Because he was holding her here against her will?But what if her captivity had nothing to do with the robberies?
She had leaped to conclusions.Had that happened to him before?Had he been innocent?Was he innocent now?
But then his mouth quirked again, and she knew better.He had played her for a fool.He had seen her doubts and led her right down the path she wanted to take.Now he was enjoying himself at her expense; now he was letting her see that he was every bit as bad as she had thought.
