Page 20 of Captive of Outlaws

I jump back like he’s brandished the crossbow at me, holding my hands up to keep him at arm’s length. “No. Please. I don’t want trouble, I just—”

“Rob,” Will cuts me off. “What exactly—”

“We’ve got the space, now don’t we?” Now Rob interrupts Will. Will grimaces.

“That’s not the point, Rob,” he says. “We can’t just have some...woman staying here with us.” He casts a sidelong glance at me, and I bristle in spite of myself. Would I really be so terrible as a houseguest? “That’syourrule, remember? Not ours.”

“The rule is more a guideline,” Rob says. “Jealousy’s a slow poison. I don’t want a woman coming between me and my men, you know?” This, he says to me. I give him a bewildered look.

“No,” I say flatly.

Will rubs his forehead. “Rob, please, what would we even—”

“I don’t know yet, exactly,” Rob says, surveying me again. “But from the sounds of it, she might be worth something to have around. A bargaining chip.”

A chill runs down my spine. Shit. Maybe my hyping up how much my nonexistent family missed me backfired.

“I’m only going to say this one more time,” I declare. “They’re looking for me, and—”

“And if they find you, they find you,” Rob finishes for me, like it’s just a statement of fact—which I guess it is. “Cross that bridge when we come to it, I say. In the meantime, I have much more space here than I need, and from what it sounds like, you don’t have a proper place to sleep. So your staying here seems like a fairly logical course of action.”

Except for the part where you’re four strange guys involved in some kind of shady operation that clearly involves ungodly amounts of money, I think. I cross my arms.

“So you’re, what, kidnapping me?”

I realize how ridiculous it sounds as soon as the words are out of my mouth—too late to take them back. Rob laughs, a rich, warm sound, and shakes his head at me.

“I wouldn’t put it that way.” He folds his arms, nodding at the trees around us. “You’re free to go, if you really want to. The forest is wonderful if you like camping. Although it doesn’t sound like you came prepared.”

I glower at him. “Yeah, well, left my tent at home, unfortunately.”

Rob chuckles. “Maren, look. Ideally, you’d recognize that it’s in your best interest to stay here, where—and I promise you this—you’ll be safe.”

“Safe?” At that, I have to laugh. “You’re kidnapping me, and want to tell me I’msafe?”

Will spreads his hands in the air in awhoa whoa whoakind of way. “Seriously, Rob, kidnapping? Because—”

Rob waves him off. “Y’all two need to calm down. First off, yes, safe. Because what would we gain from hurting her?” He throws a meaningful look at Will. “Second, kidnapping is such an ugly word. Can we not?”

“I...” I give my head a little shake. “Okay, so what, you’re holding me prisoner?”

Rob blinks. “I really wouldn’t call this place comparable to a prison.”

“Like you would know,” I mutter.

“I would.” The words are harsh, clipped, and I’m stunned into silence.

“Sorry,” I say, for some reason feeling like I should apologize. So he’s an ex-con.

“Like I said,” Rob goes on. “You were out there, sleeping in your car, with no food or water or real bed, all of which I have here. So if you have any kind of head on your shoulders, Miss Maren, you’d realize you really should stay here. But if you resist, then I’m going to have to insist. Because now that you’re here, I’m not letting you leave us.”

His green eyes are hard on mine as he speaks, the joking tone dissolved into something firm and unyielding. I swallow against the dryness in my throat, suddenly and acutely awareof how close he is to me, the warmth of his muscled body and the light, spicy scent of him.

“I guess...I just...” I look from Rob to Will to Rob again, searching for an answer I have a sinking feeling isn’t forthcoming. “What are you going to do with me?”

Will looks at Rob. “I’m wondering the same myself.”

Rob, though, looks at me. “Nothing you don’t agree to.” The corner of his mouth twitches. “And if the price is right, we’ll probably let you free. Probably.”

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