“There’s some scotch on the dresser in my room.”
Flex returned, glass of scotch in hand, to find Ellie tucked securely between the sheets, her head propped up with pillows.
“Drink this,” Clay ordered, handing her the glass. “Slowly.”
Still holding Clay’s hand, she sipped the scotch and grimaced. “I’m sorry to cause so much trouble.”
“Believe me, love. You’re no trouble at all.”
“What if….” She nervously licked her lips. “What if he comes back?”
“If he comes back,” Clay said, suddenly angry again, “he’ll get another dose of what he got before.” Unconsciously he flexed his knuckles, surprised to find them skinned and bleeding. “I’m not leaving, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Me, either,” Flex agreed, and Clay scowled. Flex just grinned. “I’ll take the floor. You can have the other half of the bed. But you’d better behave yourself.”
“Even I’m not that big a bastard.”
Flex grinned even wider. “Get some sleep, Ellie. You’ll feel better in the morning. Tomorrow we’ll decide what to do.” Flex left them long enough to return to his room for a blanket and pillows then made himself a pallet on the floor.
Fully clothed, lying on top of the covers, Clay stretched out full-length beside Ellie. He smoothed her hair away from her cheeks, and she finally drifted to sleep.
Sometime later, he drew a blanket he’d found in the closet over himself and closed his eyes. Flex’s gentle snoring was the last thing he remembered.
At three-thirty in the morning, Clay awoke from what started as a nightmare about Ellie being raped and ended with him saving her and Ellie being a willing partner. It left him edgy and hard. Ellie lay curled against him, her thick mahogany hair falling across his arm. He hoped she couldn’t feel his arousal.
After the attack, he didn’t want her to discover her shepherd was really a wolf in disguise.
When he smoothed her hair, she turned to face him, and he realized she wasn’t asleep.
“Hi,” she said, easing away from him. She flushed a little, as if sleeping curled against him was something she shouldn’t be doing.
“How long have you been awake?” he asked.
“A while. I couldn’t sleep.”
“Feeling any better?”
“I’ll be all right. I just never expected…. I’ve never been around people like that. I guess I’ve been pretty sheltered all my life.”
“I’ve been sheltered, but I know lots of rotten people.”
“Rapists?” she asked, incredulous.
“Maybe not the same kind, but certainly men and women who rape and plunder what others treasure. Crooked businessmen, scheming executives. They aren’t much different from the man who attacked you.”
“Why do you think he picked me?”
“Probably been watching several hotels, looking for a woman alone.”
When Ellie shuddered, Clay pulled her into the circle of his arms. “Go back to sleep. You need your beauty rest.”
Ellie lay quiet for a while. She could feel Clay’s even breathing, his heart beating softly. He smelled…masculinewas the word that came to mind. The evening had been a nightmare of violence and terror, yet she lay next to Clay, feeling safe and protected, as if she were exactly where she belonged.
She’d been awake an hour, pretending to be asleep because it felt so good to lie beside him. What was there about him she found so attractive?
She had always considered herself a good judge of people. She didn’t see Clay the way others did, and yet she was surely wrong. The other riders knew him far better than she did.
“You aren’t sleeping,” said Clay’s deep voice.
