To Tempt a Wilde (14 page)

A
lthea beat her hands against the steering wheel, cursing a blue streak that would make a drunken soldier on R-and-R blush when she saw the red arrow on her gas indicator point to red: empty.

Since her arrival at the ranch she'd driven her car twice. Both times had been for a quick trip to town to get personal items, and she'd had nearly a full tank when she parked it in the small
garage.

How could it be on empty, she thought, again cursing. She
always
had a full tank of gas, as she never knew when she'd have to make a quick break and hit the road.

“Damn it!” she cried one final time before leaning back against the cracked old leather upholstery of her beat-up Toyota, wasted tears falling from her cheeks.

She squinted her eyes, leaning forward to scan the road, looking
for a station. The rain was coming down
so hard it was near impossible for her to drive at a rate much faster than thirty miles per hour.

She slowly crept along the deserted back road, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw a service station coming up on her right.

She pulled into the deserted, covered station, hoping it was open.

Jumping out of the car, she glanced around, hoping someone
actually was working the station. She never used debit or credit cards for fear of Reggie tracing her. Cash was the way she'd bought anything she needed. If no one was there, she was up that creek without a paddle in sight. With relief she saw the open sign on the old building and quickly opened her gas cap.

It was then that she looked down on the driver's side at her tire and frowned. Placing
the cap to the side, she ran her fingers over a long, jagged rip in the tire. Within a few miles it would be totally flat.

“God!” she cried, fighting back tears of frustration.

Again, she felt hopelessness begin to rear its ugly head, fear and loathing at the man she knew was responsible pelting down on her as much as the rain now fell in wild torrents from the sky.

A crack of thunder, coupled
with a man's voice directly behind her, had Althea turning, crouching and assuming a fighting position that would make any world-wrestling athlete proud.

“Hey, hey, Miss Althea, it's just me!”

Relief swept over her when she looked up to see Joe, the young man who'd helped Lilly earlier in the kitchen, frowning down at her, his hands out and up, as though in surrender.

“I'm sorry, Joe. I'm
just a little on edge,” she said, quickly rising. Hearing the shakiness in her own voice, she cleared her throat.

“Is everything okay, Miss Althea?” he asked, his young face earnest.

She swiftly nodded her head. “Yes, I'm fine. Just need some gas. And this patched,” she said, motioning toward her tire.

“I didn't know you worked here,” she went on, trying to bring normalcy to her situation,
her glance sliding away from his when she noticed how intently he was looking at her.

“Yeah, me and my brother bought the place a few months back. Worked like a mother fu—uh, worked real hard,” he said, his face turning three distinct degrees of red as he corrected his language, temporarily placing a small, genuine smile on Althea's face for his efforts. “Saved for three years…but it was worth
it,” he finished, his face beaming with pride.

“So, what do ya need? Just gas? I can pump it for you. We're one of the last full-service stations—” As he spoke, she caught the way he was trying to peep into her backseat, where she had all of her possessions. She subtly readjusted her body to block his view.

“I also need to get this fixed,” she broke in, tempering down her impatience as she motioned
toward her tire. “Think you can help me out?”

“Shouldn't be too hard. Let me take a look.” He walked around her to hunch down, check out the tire. Again, she caught him trying to peer inside her car after he'd risen.

Althea moved, situating her body again against his prying eyes. Finally he got the hint and moved away.

“Come on inside. I'll have this fixed for you in a jiffy. Should just be
a patch job. There's some coffee in the lobby, help yourself, Miss Althea. I'll just need your keys.”

With a grateful nod, she'd handed him the keys and walked inside the “lobby,” which was giving the small, dingy area way too much credit.

“Beggars can't be choosy,” she said, thankful to be out of the rain and cold.

After taking longer than she wanted, Joe came back to tell her his brother
had to get the type she needed in town.

“The
type
I need?” she asked, confused. “Aren't they pretty much standard?” she'd questioned him.

“Uh, I'm afraid there's a…uh, nail in it. Patch won't do. Gotta replace the tire,” he replied, his face reddening.

“How much will that cost?”

“Not much. I'll get you fixed up. Just gonna take a little longer. We ain't got the new shipment of tires yet. My
brother's already in town, he can pick one up and bring it on in.” He palmed the back of his neck and rubbed it, glancing away from her, both actions telling.

Something wasn't right. Yes, she knew paranoia was her new best friend, but still…

“Look, maybe I can just go a little farther with it on a patch. Make it to one of the stations in town—”

“No, Miss Althea. I got this. Let me take care
of it for you. Please.” He reached out to place a hand on her
arm as she turned to go. “I promise it won't be long and you can be on your way. I don't want you driving any farther with that busted tire,” he said, his voice almost pleading.

After he'd assured her they'd have her car fixed as soon as possible, she relented and went back inside the lobby.

After nearly an hour, he finally came back
inside and handed her the keys. When she asked for the bill he shook his head. “Don't worry about it. It's on the house.”

“I couldn't—”

“Please. Don't worry about it,” he replied, his eyes searching hers. “Just promise me you'll head back to the ranch. It's getting really bad out there.”

From his expression she knew that he'd contacted someone from the ranch, and she needed to do the complete
and utter opposite.

Mentally crossing her fingers, she promised him she would.

 

“Where is she?”

Joe turned from beneath the hood of the car he was attending to, facing Nate as he burst into the station, his eyes wild. Dropping the dirty rag in his hand, he hurried to turn down the music blasting from inside the truck.

“I tried to keep her here as long as I could, boss, but—”

“How long ago
did she go?” Nate cut in, past the young man's stammering.

“'Bout thirty minutes ago. Ain't no way she coulda got far in this rain—”

Before he could end his sentence, Nate was back inside his truck, peeling out of the station.

After leaving the house, he'd made record speed, adrenaline strumming, fighting like hell to ignore the fissure of raw fear that he wouldn't arrive in time to find her.

But still, he'd arrived too late and she was gone, out of his life.

No, he couldn't think that. He drew in a deep breath, even as his heart continued to race. As he drove the deserted road, his eyes constantly scanned the side in case she'd had to pull over.

She'd told him she didn't love him in the note she left. Told him that it was time to move on, she no longer wanted to stay and was growing
restless. That ranch life wasn't for her and she needed something new.

His first instinct had been to put his fist into the nearest wall, had it not been for the memory of her dark, chocolate-brown eyes as he stroked into her, her soft cries…the way she called out her love for him.

His mouth tightened.

Hell, no. She loved him. If he had to drive to hell and back, he'd find her, force her to
admit the words she'd cried out had been true. Force her to tell him what had caused her flight.

He came to a fork in the road and stopped, slamming his hands against the steering wheel in frustration. She could have gone either way. Depending on which way she went, the road would take her to two different directions on interstate eighty.

He needed his brothers. He lifted his cell, and with
a curse remembered the battery was dead.

“No!” he bellowed, driving across the highway divide and stopping, debating which way to go, absently plugging his cell into the car's charger.

A flash of bright pink beneath the overpass caught his attention from his peripheral vision. He impatiently pressed the button to roll the window down, and less than a hundred yards away, he made out a small
figure in front of a car, hood raised. It was her.

Relief made his hands tremble as he made a sharp U-turn. Flipping around to reach her, he was out of the truck seconds after slamming the gear into Park.

 

Althea had little time to do anything besides release a loud yelp before thick, muscled arms wrapped around her.

She went into autodrive.

Violently twisting in his arms, with a strength
born of wild fear and desperation she managed to lift her arms from the tight hold, clamp her fingers down onto the arms that held her at the same time that she gave a backward head butt. She heard the satisfying thump as her head made connection with his and redoubled her efforts to get away.

“Sssh, stop fighting me, damn it! Baby, stop, it's me… God, baby it's me!”

It took a several moments
more before realization dawned on who held her and her body went weak. Spinning around, she looked into Nate's furious face.

A cry fell from her lips before they were covered with his.

Gathering her into his arms, he held on tightly, his hold on her punishing as he ravished her mouth.

Desperately she clung to him, standing on tiptoe as she clutched at his shoulders, never wanting to let him
go. Finally he released her, pulling away, his eyes gleaming with an emotion so intense it reached out and nearly suffocated her.

“I—I…” She stopped, not sure what to say.

He didn't give her the opportunity. He had her bundled and beneath his arms, guiding her to his truck before she could protest. “One of my brothers will come back in the morning and get it,” he said when he saw her look back
at her car.

“Where…where are you taking me?” Althea finally spoke, once they'd been driving for several miles.

“I know a place not far away. We can settle there for the night.”

He didn't even turn to look at her when he answered, his profile stern, his full, sensual mouth set in a straight line. When he said nothing more, she sighed and turned back around to stare out into the jet-black night,
the moon's glow the only illumination.

The rain had begun to ease, but a lot of damage had already been done to the area. Several lights had been blown and many of the lighting posts that peppered the two-lane back road had been uprooted from the ground.

After what seemed like hours but had probably only been twenty minutes or so, he turned into a gravel lane and cut the engine.

Althea looked
out into the nearly pitch-black night, unable to see much beyond the window.

“Stay there, I'll come and get you.” He jumped out of the truck, slammed the door and seconds later was
opening the passenger side, placing his hand beneath her elbow to guide her out.

The rain and wind had died out to a quiet whisper, leaving that strange, eerie quiet that always came after a storm.

Althea suppressed
a shiver and held on tightly to Nate, barely able to see a foot in front of her, but trusting that he knew where they were going.

She heard the creaking steps beneath them moan under their feet when they reached a small cabin. No sooner than he had her safely inside, Nate turned to her and stripped her out of her coat, quickly followed by the thin, damp T-shirt she wore underneath it, and went
to work on her jeans.

They were also soon tossed on the floor beside them. She stood before him wearing nothing but bra and panties, the cool cabin air penetrating her wet skin, her body shivering, the drama of the day, the damp feeling of her skin finally catching up to her, making her body shake violently as she stood before him.

Although the cabin was dark, the moon's glow lit the naked windows,
and Althea drew in a deep breath when she saw the angry, smoldering look in his light brown eyes.

“Nate…” She tried to turn away from him, tried wrapping her arms around her body to protect herself from the cold…and him.

He advanced on her, pinning her to the wall, bracing his arms on either side of her body, effectively caging her in.

When she tried to move her head to the side, again wanting
to avoid his eyes, he removed his hand from the
wall and grasped her firmly beneath the chin, forcing her to look at him.

Unable to prevent it, she flinched.

When his jaw tightened her eyes were drawn with a fatal fascination to the small tic in the corner of his sensual mouth.

“You ran from me. And now you're afraid of me as well, Thea?” His tone was frigid; so sharp it felt colder, sharper
than the frigid wet weather she'd just come from, cutting deep into her flesh.

“No…I, I…” she stammered, and stopped. His angry stare, his very presence, took away her ability to move.

She swallowed, her heart now thudding like a master drum against her chest.

He pulled away enough so that he could see her. His hot stare glided over her body, the heat reaching out to smother her in its intensity.

“And then you leave me nothing but some bullshit note telling me it was just a fling…that what we had wasn't special and that it was time to move on? I meant so little to you that you couldn't even wait around to tell me in person?” Although his voice was low, each word stabbed at her heart like a well-slung dart.

He moved his hand, ran his fingers down the side of her face, and again she flinched,
the action nowhere near the sweet, hot and loving caresses she'd grown to expect…ones she'd become addicted to.