Page 70 of Recurve Ridge

Or maybe that fantasy sated my crooked, desperate need for comfort. For some semblance of love.

He was scared; Alan had said that. Robe thought me too traumatized for any sort of sexual activity. In true fashion to himself, Alan blew that fallacy out of the proverbial water and terrified everybody, including me.

His little experiment made the memories trapped inside easier to deal with at night, locked in the dark with Robe’s fading presence to combat my fears. I closed one hand across the top of Will’s over my stomach, resting there in a sense of peace.Comfort.

Quiet without fear.

Will’s tongue flickered out against the corner of my mouth, tasting. I released a breath that shattered the moment I freed it. Arousal spiked through me as I stood stock-still, held in place by a warm hand that spoke of the quiet confidence of a man who rarely touched me.

The room spun with our resident bartender’s next words that removed the physical comfort of Will’s touch altogether.

“He’s more than doubled the bounty on you,” Alan said casually, as though he were talking about a Sunday picnic. “Four mil,” he added before anybody could ask.

Four? I thought they’d said it was one.

A few murmurs of appreciation filled my ears. Even Will laughed softly against my skin.

“Is that all?” Robe sounded insulted. “I could pay it off in triplicate from Knight & Watchman in half a week.”

My ears pricked up. That little tidbit almost sounded like information.

Will stiffened, pulling me back into his body. The playful, seductive touch disappeared. His lips drifted away from my mouth, leaving the cold kiss of empty air in his wake. I mourned the loss of contact as I settled against his hard frame of lean muscle.

“Forget everything you hear in this conversation, Mari,” he whispered, hauling me closer. “You don’t need to be any part of this.”

He tried to turn me away, but my feet were rooted to the floor. I refused to move. After a moment, he grazed his stubble over my cheek with a soft sigh and let me stay. A low rumble grew in his throat, voicing his opinion on the matter in his own way, but I ignored his protest and focused on what was happening in the other room.

“It’s not about the amount of money on your head, Robe,” Alan argued. “It’s the fact that it means men are out hunting you. And if they’re hunting you, they’ll come here.”

“We’re going around in circles. Again,” Jon groused.

“It’s not like we’re innocents,” Robe said dryly.

Something banged on the bar. “Jesus fucking Christ,” Alan shouted. “It’s not about you or us. You’ve got someone else in this house. She’s a little bit undefended, a little bit damaged, or don’t you remember what he’s already done to her?”

Air was ripped from my throat before either of us could move. Will’s hand clapped over my mouth, holding me back against him as he swore under his breath.

I didn’t have time to draw another lungful to replace the one I’d lost before the door was shoved inward from the other side. Miller stood in the patch of negative space between me and Will on one side and Robe on the other. Jon’s furrowed brow turned my stomach. For some reason, his distrustmattered.

Miller growled in my face, and I drew my attention back to the threat in front of me. The stocky man’s vicious gaze sang in victory. I couldn’t back away from him, couldn’t escape, trapped between the proverbial hard body and the rock of loyalty Miller provided.

Just not to me.

The way Robe inspired that sort of allegiance made me crave having someone in my corner, but I suspected I’d used up my goodwill with the stunt that got me caught a second time.

The stocky man’s gaze dripped over my body, his lip curled in a snarl. Dark eyes blazed with fury as he focused on me.

I looked closer, so used to his anger aimed my way that I pushed past it to see what else his gaze harbored, and realized how close fury and lust were when they manifested. Heat lanced into every place he looked as though he offered a physical touch. My chest rose as I gasped behind Will’s hand, fighting for air and security. The warmth of the man at my back who had teased me moments before turned cold and hard, offering no reprieve whatsoever.

No, I would face Miller’s wrath alone.

His gaze coasted over the swell of my breasts, lingering there and then on my lips as Will dropped his hand, letting me suck in much-needed air. Miller’s sharp mouth curled into a triumphant smile. His fingers grazed my wrist in an intimate connection before his touch roughened, slicing around my arm to yank me forward, out of Will’s safe hold.

I stumbled through the doorway in his wake and collided with a solid chest I knew all too well.

Hands crossed over my waist at the small of my back, preventing me from going anywhere and keeping me pinned to his front. Robe’s forest-dark eyes stared right through me, picking apart all my secrets until I stood bare before him, bereft of all that he’d stripped away from me in a single look.

Miller’s heavy footsteps retreated, his path muffled as I lost myself in Robe yet again, though I heard him as he said, “She’s making a habit of eavesdropping.”

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