Page 57 of Suspicion

She was still his.

“Careful.” He lurched for her, catching her arm before she stumbled into the flowing torrent and maneuvering her back toward him. Her eyes fluttered as their bodies collided. He noticed they closed at the same moment her knees buckled beneath her. He caught her before she hit the ground, laying her gently on the grass and checking her pulse.

Thank God. She’s still alive.

Seemingly, the bear adventure had been one step too far for poor Ella. Her head had refused to accept the trauma was possible, sending her into rapid unconsciousness.

“Never mind.” Leaning down, he planted a kiss on her forehead.

By the time she roused again, he’d have her back where she belonged.

Chapter Three

Rag Doll

Tucker

Trudging the arduous route back to the cabin, Tucker brooded on recent events. Yes, he’d got her back, but in some ways, that was more by luck than judgment. He just happened to have spotted her earring and ascertained her likely destination, and he managed to get there in time and intercept the potential encounter between Ella and the bear.

Looking at her in his arms as he hiked back up the incline toward his home, her expression was the epitome of tranquility. He would never have known that she sped away from him for a second time nor that she was still refusing to see sense even as she provoked the bear.

“Little girl…” He sighed, caught between his conflicting emotions.

He was pleased to have intervened and seen off any potential harm, but he didn’t appreciate having to take more time out of his day to carry her all the way back to the cabin—again.

“This has to stop.”

The instruction was a message to himself as he hoisted Ella higher in his arms. She was like a rag doll in his arms, beautiful and entirely vulnerable. He could do anything he wanted to her while she was unconscious.

Anything.

He pulled in a sharp breath at the perturbing thought. He wasn’t that man, was he? The things he’d done, both before Ella and since she’d been in his clutches, were bad enough, but he wouldn’t consider ripping through any more boundaries, would he?

If only she wasn’t such a challenge…

When he’d agreed to take Alexander’s child as collateral, he’d gotten a lot more than he’d bargained for—more sass, more intelligence, and more rebellion—but he’d also received a woman who’d piqued more than only his interest.

He wanted Ella, and the more time he spent around her, the more he was starting to crave her.

It wasn’t logical. In his past and murky experience, these things rarely were, but this woman was something else. For a start, she was someone he should never have met. Her father should never have offered her to him, and he should never have accepted.

But more than that, everything about her was wrong. She was wrong for him—too young, too indulged, and too feisty. Definitely not the kind of woman he wanted.

I didn’t want anyone at all.

Until her.

Fuck.

He blew out another breath, ignoring his protesting biceps as he held her close. Even from this distance, he could detect the sweet scent of her skin.

I can’t have her. His jaw tightened at the dose of reality. I won’t.

Yet even as he accepted the thought, he doubted it.

Who was going to stop him from taking her? Not Ella. For all her mouth, she wasn’t strong enough to fend him off, and there was nobody else around to save her. It was all down to him, his willpower and his determination. Based on the tightening at his core and the heat rising at her proximity, they were going to have a big problem.

“I have to be sensible.” He declared it to a nearby bird as it hopped in the leaves, no doubt looking for its next meal. “I can’t have her.” As if the bird disagreed, it turned in his direction, bobbing its tiny head from left to right before taking flight and vanishing through the trees. “I can’t.”

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