“Stop! You’re going to regret—”
“No, regret is the very last thing I will ever feel about this.”
He actually did it. He placed his hand firmly over one of her breasts and left it there far too long as he gently squeezed it to make sure she had no weapon tucked in that area. Then he did the same with her other breast! She understood he was obligated to confiscate her weapons, but not like this!
She struggled to push him off her. She’d known that wasn’t going to happen. She closed her eyes, too embarrassed to feel anything but fury that his brute strength kept her from stopping him.
“It’s good you are cooperating, eh?”
She heard the laughter in his tone and her eyes snapped open to glare at him. “Is that what I’m doing? I could have sworn I said ‘stop.’ ”
He ignored that bit of dryness to say, “I wonder where else you would hide weapons.”
She tried to tell him, “In my—”
“Shh.” He put a finger to her lips. “You could give up all your hiding places, but, you understand, I would still have to see for myself.”
He might as well have just called her a liar. That was what he was implying, that he couldn’t trust her to be truthful about it. And he might even be right—when it came to her weapons. But what he was doing was so outrageous, this couldn’t be normal procedure in situations like this.
“You could have found a woman to search me,” she pointed out indignantly.
“And shirk my duty?”
His expression suddenly turned distinctly sensual. She was actually arrested, fascinated for the briefest moment. But then he moved to the side, just far enough to yank her skirt and petticoats up so high, one of her legs was completely exposed. She shrieked in outrage.
“Ah, the boot, of course,” he said, staring at another one of her weapons.
He bent her leg so he could reach her boot without moving too much. She tried to knee him. All that did was bring her boot closer to his hand so he could take the dagger and toss it aside. Then he ran his hand up her leg, around it, and under it, when he could see she had no other weapons strapped there.
“I’m going to scream, and you’re going to lose your job,” she warned him.
“If you scream, I might have to kiss you to silence you. Not that anyone would dare enter my quarters to investigate, so all it will get you is a kiss. Are you asking me to kiss you?”
“No!”
“You’re sure?”
“You’re despicable!” she hissed.
“You didn’t think so earlier when you melted on me.”
Her blush was instant, and something sweet stirred inside her with the memory of that kiss, but it quickly soured when he flipped her over and ran his hands down her back and her sides, over her derriere, then slowly down her other leg. At least that one wasn’t exposed. He chuckled when he came to her other boot.
“Another one?” He tossed the second dagger aside. “Any more?” She clamped her mouth shut, making him add, “That probably means yes.”
Her hands were free. She pulled back her sleeve and removed the poniard strapped to her wrist and threw it toward the other weapons. “Are you satisfied now, you contemptible brute?” she said scathingly. “You could have just asked for them! I wouldn’t have tried to retain them to protect myself if I had your protection instead. But this isn’t my idea of protection.”
He stood up abruptly and yanked her up with him. She only caught a glimpse of the furious expression on his face before he tossed her over his shoulder like a sack. His anger frightened her more than his manhandling, and she couldn’t imagine what had brought it forth so quickly. Had she merely struck a nerve? Or was it because that last weapon was so well concealed, he probably wouldn’t have found it? But she didn’t want him to know he was intimidating her.
“You’ve already behaved like a barbarian. Must you prove it beyond a doubt now? Put me down!”
He didn’t. He toted her like that across the parlor and deeper into his quarters. They passed two other rooms in that newer building, then they were inside the old fortress walls and crossing through a long, rectangular storage room that also contained a few cots for sleeping. The meager light came from numerous high windows on the inner wall facing the ward. The outer wall had no openings at all.
The next room they entered was also long, but rows of barred doors were on either side. A place to keep prisoners obviously. It was quiet, so possibly no one was currently being detained. And more fool her to think they would pass through this area as well. . . .
Chapter Fifteen
ALANA WAS SET DOWN in the center of a large cell. The wide, barred door was left open, but the captain stood firmly in front of it. His expression was under control, stoic, but she didn’t doubt the anger was still there. Why else would he bring her to a prison cell?
