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I smiled “Yeah. I guess it does. How did you plan on getting me to Gideon?”
Her cheeks reddened. “I planned to play the seduction game. Get you in a public place and drug your drink. I was going to wait until you claimed you were heavy on your feet, lead you out to my truck, cuff you, then get you back to Idaho.”
I nodded, impressed. “That might have worked on some men. But not me.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Arrogant, much?”
I winked. “Nope. And you’ll understand why soon enough. So that’s why you knocked the beer out of my hand earlier?”
“Yeah. I couldn’t do it. I’d worked myself into a frenzy from the moment you arranged for us to go to the bar. But I had to numb myself to it. I couldn’t think of another way out, and I worried that if I told you the truth you’d kick me out on my ass, and then I’d have nothing. When you kissed me and told me about the drawing and what it meant, it made me come to my senses. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t serve you up that way. Not even when I’d planned to help you escape after delivering you to that asshole.”
“From what I’ve learned of you so far, I don’t doubt it. But Gideon is my problem now. I’ll sort it. And I’ll also do so without putting your uncle in danger. You should have come to me before.”
“Yeah, well,” she sighed. “I’ve dealt with shit on my own for long enough. Trust is a big deal to me. Especially with someone I’ve just met.”
“I didn’t kill his daughter.” That would have hung over her head, so I understood her resistance. “No matter what Gideon says.”
“Yeah. I figured that much out early on. I just had no clue how to deal with it all. Since I saw my uncle in Gideon’s office, looking so weak, so scared, I’ve put one foot in front of the other, hardening to all to get through it until I came here. Then I met Grace. And you. Then, for a while, I forgot myself, enjoying the breather.” She squeezed her eyes tight, then looked at me. “He wanted me to find you in two weeks or he’d put a bullet through Will’s brain. I negotiated for the month. I was on the road for ten days before getting here.”
“He might still put a bullet in your uncle’s brain anyway,” I told her, needing her to know the truth.
“I know. That’s why I needed leverage. The second I got an inch from Gideon, I planned on getting Will and me the hell out of Idaho.”
“You’re scared for him.”
“I’m angry at him,” she snapped. “For putting me in this position. He knows what Gideon is like. Yet he gambled there anyway. And not only that, he loaned money to gamble. Will probably came up with the idea of my services and told Gideon anything to get himself out of the hole he’d dug. He’s always done it—looked for ways to use me.” She leaned her head against the wooden logs of the cabin wall behind us. “But he took me in, Donovan. He took me in when no one else would, so I could stay out of the system. He fed me, put a roof over my head, and taught me to fight and fend for myself. I can’t just let him die.”
“Iwon’t let him die.” After putting my bottle on the deck, I plucked hers from her hand and brought her close, wrapping my arm around her shoulder. “There are people I need to meet with to discuss a few things. Will you give me time to do that?”
“You’re not risking yourself for me.”
“Gideon was my problem long before he was yours. If I’d dealt with him before now, you wouldn’t be in this mess. So you’ll stay here with me.”
She smiled. “Won’t people talk?”
“Let them talk. Aside from Grace, the people here think you’re a stranded stranger. Let them continue thinking that. Even if they think you’re a sexy slut for shacking up with the owner of their town.”
She snorted. “Sexy slut. Yeah, I can think of worse names than that.”
“You’ve already won half of them over, so don’t worry about it. Including Grace.”
Savannah sighed. “I need to talk to her.”
“She knows most of it. She had your corner from the start.”
“Really?”
“Yes. She also shouted at me for lying to you. That tiny woman has bite.”
She laughed. “Now I like her all the more. Thanks, Donovan.”
“Don’t thank me yet. There’s more to tell you. A lot more. But for now, we’ll sit out here, and you’re gonna let me hold you.”
She snuggled in. “Sure. Why not? It’s not like I have anywhere better to be.”
I lowered my voice, my cock stirring. “I’ll punish you for that later when I take you back to bed.”
“Is that right?”
“That’s right. You ooze sex appeal. In the way you talk, walk, move, eat. From the first touch, my skin burned for you, something on a deeper level I can’t even define. I want your pussy again so badly it fucking hurts. So go on, keep giving me reasons to punish you. I can’t wait.”
She snuggled in deeper. “Then I guess I’d better make a lot more trouble.”
I grinned, looking upon the moon with my woman in my arms. “You’d better make plenty, woman. My cock is one hungry beast.”
