Page 26 of Suspicion

But as Tucker lifted the dim light and she caught sight of how it illuminated his face, the bundle of nerves in her stomach knotted. The light cast an eerie gleam over his visage, morphing a man—who in another context might have been handsome—into a menacing monster.

“Better?” He grinned, revealing a row of near-perfect teeth.

Odd. The thought bandied around her head. Why would a man living in a cabin have such wonderful dental work?

But then why would he be owed so much money? Evidently, Tucker’s lifestyle didn’t equate to his bank balance.

“Thanks.” She swallowed, lubricating her dry throat, all too aware of how he’d noticed the gesture.

A sinister smile spread on his lips as he replied. “Don’t worry, Ella. You’ll get your water.”

Part Two

Escalation

Chapter One

Pointed

Tucker

“Thanks.” Her gaze fell to the cup of water he’d brought straight from the outside tap, her breaths coming faster as she waited, presumably, for him to offer it to her.

He hesitated intentionally, enjoying the flicker of desperation in her delightful eyes. As her focus flitted back to him, the question she wanted to ask was obvious. It was there on the tip of her tongue, but she never articulated it.

Are you going to make me beg?

The non-vocalized query raised an interesting point. Ella had been far more compliant since he’d attached her ropes to the overhead hooks, but the smokescreen of calm barely shielded the wildcat inside her.

Beneath the surface of her fear, he saw the animal pacing, waiting for its chance. Once it was unleashed, he had little doubt it would savage him.

He couldn’t let that happen, wouldn’t allow it. Having wrestled her to this juncture, he couldn’t let her seize back even the semblance of control.

Until Bennett paid up, Ella was his.

His property.

The sooner she accepted that, the better it would be for them both.

“Please, may I have some water?” Exasperated anguish crackled in her voice. He’d brought her the drink, but with her body so effectively bound and immobilized, there was no way she could help herself.

She had to ask for his help.

“Here.”

Suppressing the urge to chuckle at her discomfit, Tucker reached for the cup. Ella was clearly not the type of woman who was used to having to seek help, let alone beg for it. Her plaintive performance was divine.

He couldn’t recall a more scintillating vision than the woman trussed up in his barn. Once again, he was goaded by the thought that perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad being responsible for her after all. He could keep her there, bound and pliant as his own little distraction…

Buoyed by the depraved notion, he lifted the cup to her full lips.

“Open.” He waited as her mouth parted, those gorgeous green eyes huge as he tipped a little of the liquid past them. “Good?”

A line appeared on her brow as he shifted the cup a few inches away. “Is it clean?”

“Is what clean?”

That was not the response he’d been expecting. He hadn’t envisioned that the refreshment would inspire ecstasy, but a little thankfulness for his effort wouldn’t have gone amiss.

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