AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Not a single other human’s touch has affected me the way Marcus’s does now— dominating and commanding.
As quickly as his anger flared, it’s now contained, tucked neatly behind a tight-lipped smirk. “Ernesto won’t be escorting you out this evening.”
The heat between us evaporates in a snap. “What did you do?”
“Me?” Batting his eyes in mock innocence, he says, “Why, I out-bought you, of course.”
My vision blurs red at his overinflated ego as he backs down the stairs, one step at a time.
“I didn’t pay him.” Chasing him to the center of the living room, I sputter, “T-that’s ridiculous.”
“Oh, but you did.” Marcus taps the tip of my nose, angering me further. “And I’m not leaving until you tell me your motive.”
He stares through me as if he wasn’t ready to eat me alive mere moments ago.
“Why would a beautiful woman like you need to pay a man for his company?”
Excuses jam in my throat. More shocking than his spot-on suspicion is the fact that he thinks I’m beautiful.
“Silence won’t do you any favors here,” he says snidely. “Were you hoping he would share something with you? Information, perhaps?”
My fevered skin tingles when he reaches for a curled lock, twisting it around his finger thoughtfully. “Maybe you hoped to record him. Share whatever secrets you think he may hold with your blog or the media.”
He can’t know how close he is to the truth.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. He was just taking me to dinner, Marcus.” At his skeptical glare, I whisper, “You’re scaring me.”
His hand freezes beside my ear, that kissable mouth forming a deepening frown.
Guilt rots my gut at the innocent girl act, but I’m seconds from losing everything I’ve worked so hard for, and I’ll do anything to keep that from happening.
As soon as his arm drops, we hear a loudthud, followed by cracking, splintering wood.
Despite his irritation, Marcus shoves me behind his back with a sweep of his forearm before swiveling for the door.
“Stay here, Heather,” he warns. “I mean it.”
The only reason I don’t pursue him is to give myself a moment to recoup.
“Fuck,” I breathe, holding my hand over my racing heart.
I’m getting sloppy, that has to be it. Tailing him to Pearl Beach and paying off Ernesto has made Marcus distrustful of me, and rightfully so.
As I’m mulling over ways to fix this sticky situation, he clomps back up the front porch steps. “Get your shoes on. We gotta go.”
It must be the worry lines tugging at his eyes and mouth, but I grab my dirty boots from beside the door and slip them on without argument.
“We’re not finished,” he says from beside me.
In my line of work, intimidation tactics like these are a dime a dozen. Child’s play, really. And if Marcus thinks I’ll respond to empty threats, then he has certainly underestimated me.
“What happened?” I ask as he leads me around the east side of the house.
Pointing to a thicket that’s been trampled through by something large enough to break the surrounding fence, he says, “Sparrow.”
“She did this?” I turn in shock, but he’s already walking toward the hole she’s made.
“When my uncle first brought Sparrow to the ranch, she was a loner. None of the other horses took to her, and she was constantly breaking through the fence in the pasture to get to the river.”
