“Look at me.” He wandered toward her. Eyes narrowed and head angled as if in scrutiny. She could smell him and the scent was warm and rich and male. It scattered what remained of her wits.
“Roslyn, promise me you will not try anything.”
Her mouth opened but nothing came out. She hadn’t thought of escaping him. Instead she’d been all over the idea of blue sky and fresh air. And the chance to watch him at work. It was entirely possible she was the worst hostage ever.
“I’m serious, Ros. You stay where I put you and you do not pull any shit. Understood?”
She nodded furiously. “Yes.”
“Do you see this?” He got right in her face, finger pointed straight at Exhibit A, the big gray lump and long crusted cut on his forehead. “This says I shouldn’t trust you, loud and clear. Doesn’t matter why you did it. You did it. To me. Didn’t you?”
No denying the evidence. She nodded again, fingers twined tight. Bone-breakingly so. It lay on the tip of her tongue to say sorry. But it would be a lie. Deep down where it really counted it would be a big, fat whopper because he had deserved it, and eleven times out of ten she would do it all over again.
“Because it really f**king hurt, sweet,” he said. A muscle in his jaw danced.
Another nod. She tried for contrite, really and truly tried with sad puppy eyes and everything, but she struggled to hold back an ecstatic grin at the idea of heading outside. Damn her lack of acting ability.
He scowled so hard that little wrinkles appeared beside his nose. “Okay. You break our deal, I’m going to take a belt to your ass. Hard. You will not sit for days.” He dropped to his knees and dark eyes glared up at her. “Understood?”
A belt? Like hell. She’d kill him first. Kill him painfully, via the soup spoon.
“I understand,” she said.
Rough hands got busy with the padlock and the chain fell free, clattering onto the hardwood floor. Her heart beat so fast as if it would explode out of her chest, like a bird taking flight. Free. She’d be free.
Warmth swelled inside of her. She could have clapped her hands for glee. Jumped around. Sung. Made clothes out of curtains or recited a sonnet. Nick would probably just look at her funny and slap the chain back on. So she kept it all inside, not wanting to spook him, delicate creature that he was.
“Come on.” He stuck his hand out to her, face not particularly happy. Who cared? His eyelids were at half mast, dark eyes dangerously bright. There were lots of sidelong glances of the suspicious sort. So giggling was right out.
She clasped his warm, calloused hand and he led her out into the sunshine. Open air. Blue sky. Gum trees waved high above her in welcome. Her head spun with delight.
He set a cracking pace, leading her across the gravel parking lot. Sharp stones hurt her socked feet, but she ignored them. His hand tugged at hers, hurrying her along. Ah, the breeze on her face. She bit back a sigh of pure pleasure. They stopped a few meters out from the tree stump and he pointed at a patch of grass. “Sit. Please.”
Due to the please, she sat cross-legged on the straggly bit of lawn. Once upon a time, the resort would have had nicely manicured native gardens, but they were reverting to wilderness now.
“Stay,” he said.
With a parting, hard-faced look, Nick meandered back to the tree stump. She sat out of range of any flying wood chips while remaining firmly at the edge of his field of vision. Never did the man fully take his eyes off her. When she leant over to snag a dandelion his head snapped round at light speed.
“Just making wishes,” she said cheerily, waving the dandelion in his general direction.
He grunted and set up a big chunk of wood. Raised the axe, then swung it.
Thunk.
The log split straight down the middle. It was kind of impressive. The poetry of all that lean, hard muscle being put to work made her want to fan her face. Much safer to concentrate on the view, what little of it there was from her vantage point behind the buildings. The nearest cabin sat about seven or eight meters away from theirs.
Not theirs. “Theirs” indicated some sort of coupledom.
“What’s wrong?” he demanded.
“Nothing.”
“You were frowning.”
“I was thinking of you.”
His chin rose, but he said naught. The man turned back to his wood chopping.
Maybe she should make a run for it. Now, while his back was turned. Where would she go? The driveway led straight back out to the road, but there wasn’t much out there. He’d taken some sort of higgledy piggledy route to get them here, but the truth was, there was little out here. They were a good twenty minutes drive from town. Doubtless he could run pretty damn fast. Faster than her. She could hide in one of the nearby sheds and play cat and mouse with him. Hope to find a vehicle to get her the hell out. It was worth a try.
Thunk. Thunk.
She rubbed her socked foot against the ground, flattening some long blades of grass. No shoes. It could be a problem. Had he thought of her lack of footwear when he brought her out here? It would slow her down.
Roslyn took a deep breath.
Gravel crunched beneath Nick’s boots as he paced toward her. The noise snapped her straight out of her daydreams. He hunkered down, much closer than he needed to be, as was his want. Again, the smell of him infected her. Highly unwelcome, clogging up her brain.
Sweat dripped from his brow and trailed down the side of his face. “You’re thinking bad thoughts.”
She tensed. “No, I’m not.”
“What did I say about lying?”
“You’re not a mind reader, Nick. Don’t pretend. You’re simply not that special.”
“Ouch,” he mumbled, shuffling closer. “I’ve decided what I want for letting you come outside without the chain on.”
“What!”
“You know me, Roslyn. I don’t do things for free.” His smile was hard and his eyes intent. It was his bastard face. Long, thick, dirty fingers splayed out over his jean-clad thigh. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I want?”
“No.”
“Come on, you’re curious about everything. Aren’t you dying to know what’s on my mind?”
“I don’t need to be a mind reader to figure that one out.”
He snorted. “Why don’t I save you the trouble and tell you. I want a kiss.”
Her eyebrows felt ready to part from her face. “NO.”
“Yes.” He stared at her, his jaw set. “Just one kiss. Pretty reasonable of me, really.”