She shook her head. “No way. I’m not letting you watch me.”
He needed to be on his way. He’d humor her—this time. He tipped his head toward the bathroom door. “Go ahead.”
As soon as she went into the room and started to close the door, he caught up with her and shoved it open. No window inside, just glass blocks to let in light. “Hurry up.” Stepping back he allowed her to close the door.
Minutes passed. When she didn’t come out soon enough, his temper started to rise. He’d give her a little longer, then kick the door open and drag her out.
The knob turned and Lisa walked into the bedroom. In the moonlight, her face was nearly as pale as her silver-blond hair.
“Put on some shoes,” he said.
Eyeing the bedroom door, which he stood in front of, she sat on the edge of the mattress and put on her sneakers, then got up and faced him.
“I’m dressed, Damon. Now finish whatever you have planned and get out of my house.”
“Oh, I’m getting out.” A cold smile curved his lips. “The thing is, you’re coming with me.”
She cried out as the stun gun hit her in the chest. Another hit and she collapsed bonelessly to the floor. The lesson Victoria had taught him worked perfectly. Lisa’s body jerked a few times, her eyes and mouth open, but she didn’t move.
Damon stunned her again, then hauled her up and tossed her over his shoulder, using a fireman’s carry to get her out of the house.
Once he reached the alley, he opened the trunk of the rental car and dumped her inside, used the plastic ties he’d brought with him to bind her hands and feet, stuffed a gag in her mouth and tied it in place with a scarf. Then he got into the plain white, four-door rented Toyota and started the engine.
As he drove away, the thrill was nearly overwhelming. He’d had no idea how good it would feel to have someone completely at his mercy.
The possibilities were endless.
And he finally had a way to reach Tory. She would call sooner or later. He didn’t like waiting, but he could be a patient man. Especially when he had a pretty blonde to keep him entertained. Damon turned the corner and drove off down the street.
* * *
Days passed. The gray mare had her foal, a beautiful little black filly, the cutest thing Tory had ever seen. Ivy could sit in front of the stall for hours just watching her.
Instead of watching the foal, Tory had started the annoying habit of watching Josh through the window above the kitchen sink. Lately everything about him seemed to intrigue her—the way he moved, his almost soundless footsteps, the way he appeared in one place then seemed to disappear without ever actually walking away.
Sometimes when he rode one of the horses out of the barn, he looked so good she could barely tear her eyes away. On a warm day, he worked with his shirt off, putting all those glorious muscles on display. She wanted to touch him, run her fingers over all that hard male flesh.
It was insane. She didn’t understand it.
In the beginning, before Damon had turned into a monster, the sex had been good. She had enjoyed the closeness, the intimacy, but she hadn’t lusted after him. She hadn’t thought about what it would be like to kiss him, how his hands would feel on her body. What he might do to her in bed.
Until Josh, she had never lusted after a man before. Jamie had been her high school sweetheart, neither of them sexually experienced. After the beating Damon had inflicted, she’d been afraid she might never want to go out with a man again, certainly would never feel the kind of hungry need she felt for Joshua Cain.
Maybe it was his protective nature, the way he was putting himself out there to help her. Maybe it was the way Ivy had put her trust in him when the little girl had been so afraid of men before.
Whatever it was, Tory did everything in her power not to let him know how strongly he affected her. She didn’t want to be the woman the sheriff and the fire chief thought she was, a kept woman Josh paid for the use of her body.
She didn’t want him to sleep with her and have him think of her that way, too.
Instead, she stayed away from him as much as she could and he seemed to do his best to stay away from her. If it weren’t for Star, she would barely have to see him at all, except at supper.
But Josh refused to let her anywhere near the stallion unless he was close by. He didn’t want her going into the pasture, always made sure she remained on the other side of the fence.
Josh stayed far enough away not to upset the horse, but near enough to guide her or step in if something went wrong. So far that hadn’t happened.
They’d set up a schedule. Josh had officially hired Mrs. Thompson to come over and stay with Ivy for a couple of hours in the afternoon so he and Tory could work with Star. She had bought carrots and apples at the store and the stallion loved them.
Now she also grained him. At first he hadn’t liked the feed bag she eased over his head, snorting and dancing and backing away. But little by little, his curiosity got the better of him and he returned to the fence to explore the object in her hand.
