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The trees passed by them in a blurred strip of green as they drove down back road after back road. She stared out the window. “You wouldn’t have to worry about me trying to escape if I wasn’t so afraid of you. I-I mean, I don’t hate the ranch completely.” She chanced a glance over to find a grin inching up his cheek, but his eyes were on the road. Smug, self-satisfied bastard.
It was hard to hate the ranch with the animals and the garden and open sky, and his nice house and good food. It was hard to hate sexual pleasure. It was hard to hate the little comforts he gifted her with even while he demanded so much from her.
A hand came to rest on her knee, pushing back the edges of the skirt to stroke her leg. “I told you the first week or so would be the hardest. You’ll settle in. You’ve already softened so much toward me. I don’t think you realize how much. You don’t complain about your chores anymore. When I come near you, you lean into my touch more times than you pull away. And your body is so soft and yielding.”
Her face heated at his words. She wanted to yell and fight, but the remote in his pocket made it safer to remain silent.Pretend that’s why, Ronnie.It was easier to tell herself that the stifling of her rebellion was because she was afraid he’d push the button, or because a man who would brand you like cattle even while you begged him not to might do anything.
His hand moved from her thigh, and then his fingers threaded through hers. He brought the back of her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her skin.
“I take care of what’s mine, princess.”
Somehow the derisive pet name had turned into an actual term of endearment over the course of the past few days. She tried not to respond to his lips against her hand or the words as they rumbled over her, but the fight was pointless. If he’d stopped the truck and taken her in a field somewhere, she’d be up for it. She’d be wet and pliable and yielding. She’d surrender to him out in some wheat field like a rutting animal. Veronica pressed her thighs together, trying to soothe the ache between them.
If he was so sure she was his, he wouldn’t have put a shock cuff around her ankle. If he wasn’t sure, then maybe she wasn’t his yet. Maybe she was still hers.
Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up to an old-fashioned drive-up restaurant that seemed to specialize in ice creams and milkshakes. A teenaged guy came up to the window as Luke rolled it down. “I just want a chocolate milkshake. And what do you want, sweetheart?”
“The same,” she said, not wanting to have to pick from the menu while her heart was fluttering in her chest so hard it made it difficult to think. Part of it was the sweet way he spoke to her in front of the teenager, like they were a couple on a normal Sunday afternoon jaunt. Part of it was over the introduction of a stranger who might help her if only he thought she needed it. And then part of it was the fear of Luke’s wrath coming down if she tried anything, angrily pressing that button until she went unconscious while he peeled rubber to get out of there.
He squeezed her knee while the guy went to get their shakes. “You could have had anything off the menu,” he said, still sounding like a boyfriend—doing funny things to her brain and heart.
“Nobody can screw up a chocolate shake,” she said, feeling awkward and weird like she was on a first date. Some insane part of her brain decided she was. But it wasn’t the kind of first date young girls giggled and daydreamed about.
The guy came back a few minutes later with their shakes, and Luke paid him then started the truck. She didn’t want to go back to the house yet. Even with the fresh air and people around her and plenty of chores to keep her busy, she missed being out.
“Are we going back home now?” Why had she called it home? If the look on his face could be trusted, Luke had caught the slip as well.
“Not just yet. I want to show you something first.” They drove for a long time in silence until he pulled onto a dirt road with a state park sign. They went down the road for a few more miles until they came upon a large lake.
For an insane minute she thought he was going to drown her. Maybe he worried the boy at the drive-in restaurant had been suspicious, and she’d proven too great a liability. She was about to beg and plead her case when he spoke.
“Don’t look so spooked. The weather’s about to get too cool for this. No one’s around. Let’s skinny dip while it’s still warm enough to enjoy it. He took a key from his pocket and bent to undo the cuff around her ankle, then he came around to the other side of the truck to let her out, peeling his clothes off along the way.
She tried not to drool over his physique, but every time she looked at him naked or half-naked, something low inside her responded in a primal sort of way she couldn’t deny. It was the kind of way that knew nothing of cell phones or television or takeout or society. That part of her wanted things to be simple in the way they weren’t in the city. The ranch was hard and at times scary, but it was simple. She’d yet to even see the computer he’d promised to show her. For all she knew it was just a laptop locked up in his safe. It seemed most likely at this point.
Veronica didn’t resist when he pulled her dress off and let it fall into the pile of clothing he’d created.
Her teeth chattered when they got into the water. Luke’s eyes went straight to her breasts as her nipples became hardened points.
“Give it a minute, you’ll get used to it,” he said, trailing his fingers over her breasts and moving in to kiss the side of her neck. It seemed to be Luke’s mantra about everything. If something was uncomfortable, she’d get used to it. This was the only way the female of the species ever could have survived... by getting used to everything.
He swam out a little way, and she followed him. When they were far from the shore, he said, “If you didn’t trust me, you would have gone for the shore and the keys in the truck, not followed me out here. Do you know how at my mercy you are right now?”
Her blood ran colder than the water, but she forced herself to hold onto her bravery. “I’ve been at your mercy since you took me.”
“Good answer. Now tell me you trust me.”
Veronica balked at the request. Of all the things he could have asked her for—all the dirty and degrading things—it was this thing, this small verbal acknowledgment that she couldn’t give him. It felt like losing everything—like selling her soul.
He raised an eyebrow and waited. “I haven’t drowned you, yet. We’re alone in the middle of nowhere. It would be easy. How long do you think it would take them to find you? From what you told me that first night, nobody would be looking. It could be years. Certainly long enough for that brand to decompose off your body. And then what link would there be to me?”
She started to swim at a feverish pace toward the shore, desperate to get away, to lock him out of his truck and just drive forever.
He easily caught up with her in a few short strokes. It was obvious he swam a lot when he could get away from the ranch. “Tell me.”
“Tell me you trustme,” she countered. He clearly didn’t. Men and their double standards.
“That’s different. You could send me to prison.”
