Dangerous (The Complete Erotic Romance Novel) (52 page)

He stared at her in dismay, not understanding. “A kidnapping? What are you talking about? What happened to you?”

“How dare you pretend you don’t know!”

“Kendra! Who hurt you?” Reid roared.

“Besides you?” She nearly spit sparks. “That’s just too good that you’ve forgotten already! Who you sent to play your game was that irrelevant to you.
I’m
that irrelevant to you!”

“No!”

“I’m just a toy, and you can do what you want with me,” Kendra cried, flinging out her hands. “Even throw me away!”

“No, Kendra! No!” Reid found himself shouting, but didn’t care.

“Were you even going to check whether he hurt me?”

“Who?” Reid roared.

“Ethan!” Kendra roared back at him. “You had the balls to give me away to him, to arrange for him to kidnap me, and you ensured that there was no way I could protest.”

Ethan?

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

She ripped open the tote bag she was carrying and dumped its contents on the floor. Lengths of rope, leather manacles, a corset and a gag fell to the floor, all of which Reid knew he’d purchased.

“You promised to protect me,” she said bitterly, giving the pile of toys a savage kick. “You gave me a safe word.” She pulled a document from her purse which was of a familiar shape and size, then shook it at him. “You
signed
that you would ensure my welfare, and it was all a big fat fucking lie.” She tore the contract in half right before his eyes and threw the pieces on the floor.

Reid barely stopped himself from dropping to his knees to pick it up.

He saw the tears rise in her eyes as she continued to berate him. “Now I know why you didn’t terminate the agreement earlier today.” The scorn in her voice tore him in two. “You had one last present for me. Well, you can think again about knowing what’s best for me. No one will ever treat me like that again, especially not you.”

She pivoted to leave, her fury exhausted.

“Kendra,” Reid said with quiet force.

She stopped but didn’t turn.

“I didn’t arrange anything with Ethan.”

She spun, her eyes wide.

Reid saw her wariness and her distrust, saw both warring with her desire to trust him. He’d introduced this doubt. He’d failed to anticipate that Ethan would be a problem, and in that, he’d failed her. “I would never orchestrate a new scene without giving you the opportunity to say it was too much. I would never willingly hurt you.”

She stared at him in silence, and he was glad she at least stayed.

It gave him a chance to convince her.

The fact was that he could say anything: the proof would lie in his deeds. He would show her. “All the same, I have hurt you. You’ve been hurt because of my failure. Believe that I never wanted this to happen.”

Kendra took a shaking breath and folded her arms across her chest. She looked younger and more vulnerable, fragile, but hoping he’d prove himself.

Reid would. He walked toward her slowly, knowing if she left now, he’d never see her again. “I keep my promises. I have no interest in violence or in nonconsensual acts. I’ve tried to fulfill your fantasies, but there are boundaries.” He touched her shoulder, then lifted her chin. He felt her trembling and knew how frightened she’d been. “There have to be boundaries, Kendra. No one should be a master who won’t ensure the safety of his slave.”

She swallowed and averted her gaze. At least she didn’t argue.

“What makes the game work, Kendra, is mutual pleasure and excitement. Fear is a game-changer.” He looked into her eyes. “I would never put you in jeopardy like that.” He brushed his lips across that new bruise, deliberately denying his own anger. He tasted a tear on her cheek and knew that for all of her anger, Kendra had been terrified.

She needed solace.

She needed to feel safe again.

He knew exactly how to start that process. He slid his fingers into her hair, turned her face toward his, then bent slowly and claimed her lips with a kiss.

* * *

Chapter Twenty

Kendra’s anger abandoned her so quickly that she was left weak in the knees.

At least, she told herself, that was why she melted into Reid’s arms. He felt so good. He kissed so well. His fingers speared into her hair, cradling and caressing her, holding her close and safe. His kiss was deep and sweet, so potent that she felt her tears rise.

There was something about this man that got to her. He was strong and decisive, but not as invulnerable as he wanted everyone to believe. He’d told her that this was just a transaction, an arrangement, a contract for sex with no emotional bonds.

She’d seen the truth in his eyes when she’d accused him of arranging for her to be kidnapped. He’d been shocked. He’d been horrified. And she had the sense that he was simmering with fury.

Because he’d pledged to protect her, and Reid Stirling was a man who kept his promises. He’d called her Kendra for the first time, he’d been that shocked.

That and his insistence that he hadn’t been involved was almost enough to make her trust him all over again.

His kiss cajoled her, teased her, pleased her and lit a new fire within her. She wanted him all over again, repeatedly, and wanted to feel his hands on her. She wanted to feel treasured and safe, but still she was shaking inside.

Reid broke his kiss and cupped her face in his hand. He smiled at her, but she saw the determination in his gaze. “I have something to do,” he murmured. “I’d like you to stay here so that I know you’re safe.”

Kendra nodded, knowing that she wasn’t ready to go anywhere just yet.

“Have you eaten anything today?”

She was surprised to realize that she just might be hungry. “Not since this morning,” she admitted, amazed by how long ago that seemed. “I just grabbed something from the vending machines at lunch.”

Reid shook his head with affection, and captured her hand in his. “Come on.” He led her to a stainless steel kitchen that was generous in its proportions. The man who had opened the door was sitting at the table, reading a book and drinking a cup of tea. An older woman was wiping down the counter, although she turned with a smile when Reid ushered Kendra into the room. He put his arm around her shoulders.

“Kendra, this is Henry Jackson and his wife, Louise. They run my household for me and have quarters here in the house. Jackson, this is Kendra Jones. I have to go out to take care of some business.” Kendra heard the hard note in Reid’s tone and wondered just what he intended to do. Jackson flicked a glance at his employer, as if he understood. “Miss Jones hasn’t eaten all day.”

“Well, I thought you looked like you needed a cup of tea, my dear,” Louise said crisply. She filled the kettle and put it on the stove. “If you have a seat in the dining room, I’ll get something for you. Any preferences?”

The last thing Kendra wanted was to be alone. She looked up at Reid, not certain of the protocol of having staff. His hand tightened on her shoulder. “Perhaps it would be easier if Miss Jones stayed here in the kitchen,” he suggested smoothly.

Louise smiled at Kendra. “If you don’t mind sitting with us, we’d be glad of your company,” she said, gesturing to a chair at the breakfast buffet. “Come and sit down, dear, and let me see what I have in the fridge.”

Reid turned her to face him and looked into her eyes. His own were brilliantly blue. “Tell me exactly where,” he said with quiet heat and Kendra knew where he was going. Her heart skipped, but she knew she wouldn’t change his mind.

And she was glad, no matter what he intended to do.

She gave him directions as well as she could remember, then he kissed her again, right in front of his staff. They pretended not to notice, but Kendra found herself blushing as she took her seat.

“It’s about time Mr. Stirling met a nice girl,” Louise confided before her husband cleared his throat pointedly. She smiled impishly, as if she’d been caught doing something wrong, and Kendra liked her for it. “Now then, we aren’t fully provisioned yet, seeing as Mr. Stirling has only just moved in. I have some roast chicken and grilled vegetables, or I could make you an omelet...”

* * *

Reid was still seething when he left the house. In fact, stepping away from Kendra allowed him to let his anger blossom, as it would have if he hadn’t been so concerned about frightening her. His fury filled him once he let it loose, giving him a cold determination to see that bruise avenged.

The kid had struck Kendra.

He’d
marked
her, on her face.

Reid was going to make sure Ethan never did anything like that again. Whether Kendra chose to be with him or not, she wasn’t going to live in fear of this loser.

Or anyone else, so long as Reid could ensure it.

When he was backing out of the driveway and steering around Kendra’s car, Reid noticed that the same car was still parked across the street as had been there the day before. No one parked on the street for long in this neighborhood. He remembered the car that had followed him before and had his suspicions.

When he saw a shadow move inside the car, Reid was sure.

He pulled onto the street as if disinterested in the parked car but watched his rear view mirror carefully. Sure enough, he saw headlights just as he rounded the corner at the end of the street. At the first traffic light, there was no car behind him, but there was one at the second traffic light.

The same model, in the same dark hue.

As impatient as he was to see Kendra avenged, he couldn’t let anyone follow him to Ethan’s cottage.

Since he was pretty sure it was a cop following him, he couldn’t give the pursuer any legitimate reason to stop him either. It would have been tempting to put the accelerator to the floor and let this car do what it did best, but the cops would just call ahead to a cruiser and have him stopped for speeding.

No, he’d have to be elusive.

Reid spent an hour pretending to be looking for entertainment. It felt like half of eternity. The only good thing was that he knew Kendra was in good care. She was safe. He cruised past a number of late night bars, got caught in a crush of traffic leaving the theater district, bought a coffee at a busy cafe. He acted as if he weren’t in a hurry to get anywhere, but was bored in the middle of the night. The following car stuck with him all the while. He’d lose him for maybe a block, then the sedan would slide into position behind him once more.

Finally, Reid returned to the hotel where he’d been staying. He drove very slowly past the bar that faced the street, as if checking for someone. He opened his window and waved, being sure his hand was over the roof of the car, as if he’d spied his friend. Then he pulled into the hotel’s large parking garage. He parked far from the other vehicles and parked diagonally across two spots, as if worried about his car.

He was, but he also wanted the cop following him to be compelled to park far away. He watched the headlights of the other car and noted its position. Only then did he get out of his own car. He hit the button for the power locks twice—so that he was actually leaving the car unlocked—as he sauntered toward the hotel entrance. Instead of going inside, he ducked around a pillar and began to work his way back to his car. By the time the cop stepped into the hotel, Reid was crouched down beside his car, out of the cop’s view.

The cop went into the hotel.

Reid got into his car, started it and left by another exit, without turning on his headlights. He wouldn’t have long until the cop caught up with him again, but it might be enough.

* * *

Reid followed Kendra’s directions, driving for as far as he could. When the road became too rough for him to trust his car to it, he parked his car at the side of the road, under the growth of some shrubbery. It wouldn’t hide the car’s expensive silver gleam fully, but it might take the cop longer to see it.

Reid locked it and strode down the hill, looking for the turn Kendra had described. Her directions were good, and the Jeep tracks in the muck helped as well. He recognized the isolated cabin for what it had to be as soon as he saw it.

He smiled when he heard the muffled sound of Ethan’s shouting.

The kid was lucky that Reid wasn’t violent.

But he didn’t have to rush to let Ethan know that. All Reid wanted was a guarantee Ethan would never come near Kendra again, and he didn’t care what he had to do or say to make that happen.

He kicked open the door to the cabin and Ethan made a sound like a yelp.

“Who’s there?” the kid cried. “Help me!”

Reid walked steadily into the cabin, checking it out, making sure his boot treads sounded loud. The fire had burned down low and it was chilly in the cabin. There was a metal cot on its side, and if Ethan was tied to it as Kendra had said, his back would be to Reid. Reid saw Ethan’s cell phone on the counter—out of the kid’s reach—and turned it off.

“Who’s there?” Ethan demanded again after hearing the phone’s sequence of notes. The cot bounced against the floor, so he was still tied to it.

Reid stepped into the light and looked down at the shipping clerk.

“Oh fuck,” Ethan whispered.