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“Are you saying that I . . . am . . . a captive?” Hannah said, paling.
“If I must hold you as ransom, to get assurances from your brother that are true, yes, for now you are my captive,” Strong Wolf said, disbelieving that he had actually said that.
Never before had he done this.
But never before had he felt the need to. He was afraid that if he did nothing to make the rancher realize the true importance of keeping the water running free, then another dam would appear across the stream before there was another sunrise.
Hannah stared up at him for a moment, seeing in him so much that made her insides melt. Even though he was treating her wrong today, she could still feel something special flow between them.
It was in his eyes that his words betrayed his heart!
He wanted her. She could tell it. She could feel it.
And, oh, she so badly wanted him. It would be heaven to be held by him. His muscled arms could make her feel so protected, so loved!
But at this moment, they were enemies. And she would fight for her freedom!
Wrenching her wrist free, Hannah turned and ran. “My father imprisoned me at the convent!” she shouted over her shoulder. “No one will imprison me ever again!”
Strong Wolf was again in awe of Hannah’s spirit, of her will to fight for her rights! He admired this in her, and he wanted her even more than before. She would be a challenge for any man. And he had always enjoyed challenges of all kinds!
He ran after her.
When he caught up with her, he swung an arm around her waist and wrestl
ed her to the ground until she lay flat on her back. Straddling her, holding her wrists to the ground over her head, he watched her breasts heaving beneath the thin fabric of her cotton dress, then looked into her eyes that were filled with the fire of defiance.
“You are even more beautiful when you are angry,” he said, then crushed her lips beneath his as he gave her a frenzied, passion-filled kiss.
His loins flamed.
Her head spun.
Both were startled by the intensity of their feelings for one another.
Her heart pounding, dizzied by the rapturous, heady sensations whirling within her, Hannah wrenched her lips free.
“Please don’t,” she whispered, her eyes pleading with his. “I . . .”
Before she could say any more, Strong Wolf was on his feet. His one hand still on one of her wrists, he yanked her up from the ground.
His jaw tight, Strong Wolf forced Hannah to walk toward his horse. When they reached his steed, he placed his hands at her waist and lifted her into the saddle. He then swung himself into the saddle behind her and held her in place as he locked an arm firmly around her waist.
“You can’t do this!” Hannah cried, trying to pull his arm away from her waist as he urged his horse into a fast gallop. “Let . . . me . . . go!”
Strong Wolf ignored her as best he could, all the while still feeling the taste of her on his lips and seeing the heaving of her well-rounded breasts.
If he continued this plan of taking her captive, she might end up hating him forever. He could not force her to love him. Those things had to come naturally, from true feelings.
As she had returned his kiss, he knew that she had not yet grown to hate him. There had been feelings in the kiss. Passion had been exchanged between them. He did not want it to be short-lived, yet he would look the fool now if he released her.
And he would not let himself look less a man to her, ever!
Yes, he had started something that he would have to finish, no matter the end result. He had lived without her until now. So could he the rest of his life, if forced to.
“Strong Wolf, I must be set free,” Hannah cried as she looked over her shoulder at him. “My brother is almost blind. I have come to the Kansas Territory for the sole purpose of being his eyes, to look after him and help him with his decisions. Don’t you see? I can’t leave him at the mercy of men like Tiny Sharp! He disobeyed my brother! I must return to the ranch and tell my brother! Who knows what Tiny will do next? I must be there to make sure he doesn’t do anything else that can cause harm to my brother!”
Strong Wolf heard the true pleading in Hannah’s voice, and listened hard to what she said, yet could not alter his plans.
