Page 16 of Clawed
“Mr.Lawes?”She despised the tremble in her voice as she searched the area she could see for evidence of him.“Sir?”
“No need to worry, little girl.”His voice carried from the rear of where she was bound.“I’ll be back with you in no time.”
She bit down on her lip at what she assumed was supposed to be a reassurance.The strange thing was that, however much she loathed him, she realized his words were consoling.She would rather know what the son of a bitch was up to.His absence surely only meant trouble for her.
“There.”He returned with what she recognized as a well-practiced smile, draping one arm over her bound body.“There’s no need for panic.”
Panic?Was he joking?
Yet reluctantly, she was forced to accept that she did feel calmer in his presence.Even though it was insane, and she would never admit it.She and Lawes had been through so much turmoil already.Could it be that, on some crude and ridiculous level, they understood each other?
Her gaze followed his hand, trailing along his skin to the bottom of his short-sleeved shirt.She was loathed to confess it, but his arm looked more muscular than she remembered it being, and on anyone who wasn’t intent on capturing her, she might even have said it was sexy.
Stop this!She squeezed her gaze closed for a moment, silently admonishing herself.He’s not sexy.Nothing about this ordeal is sexy!
“Can I ask a question, Mr.Lawes, sir?”
Compelling her concentration on the question seemed to help focus her mind.If she knew the bastard as well as she feared, he’d have something terrible planned for her.Best she speak while she could, and if that meant using his self-imposed honorific, then so be it.
“Well...”His brow rose as though she’d caught him off guard.“Okay, little girl, but don’t delay me for too long.”
Apprehension knotted in her belly, but she resolved herself to be brave.She might not get another chance to voice her queries.
“Were you Saul?”The pain in her head escalated, threatening to elevate the bile in her belly to her mouth.“Was I talking to you the entire time I thought I was getting to know someone new?”
A part of her didn’t want his answer because, on a subconscious level, she’d already acknowledged the probable truth.HewasSaul.But she needed to hear him say so, needed to know that the whole empire of romance she’d created in her head had been built on nothing but ash and dust.
“That was me.”Lawes’ tone was disturbingly matter-of-fact.“I wanted to thank you for that, actually.Becoming ‘Saul’ made this whole thing much easier.”
Itwashim!
She bit down on the swelling sickness as she grimly accepted his explanation.Shehadmade it easier for him by throwing herself into the flirtations with Saul.Hannah had been so desperate to believe in the possibility of a new love in her life, she’d been ready to overlook just about anything, including how well Saul had blended to her needs, liking what she liked, and pressing all of her buttons.
He’d seemed too good to be true because he was.
“I hadn’t expected you to be looking for a partner.”His smirk was unbearable, goading her with the unspoken recrimination—how badly could she have been affected by captivity if only a few years later she was ready to look for a kinky lover?
The accusation ripped at her soul, tearing at her values because she, too, had never been able to reconcile the query.
“But hey, it turns out, I was looking for one, too.”
“I didn’t mean it.”Hot tears slid down her face as she whispered the reply, shame mingling with her dread until her emotions were smothering.“I didn’t mean any of it.”
“The things you said to Saul?”He laughed dryly.“Oh, I think we both know that’s not true, little girl.I know you remember what we talked about....”His voice trailed away.“What youaskedfor.”
His hand fell to her left breast and traced the outline of her nipple.Beneath her blouse, her bud came to life at his touch, betraying her the way her body always did.Hannah ground her teeth together, fighting the urge to respond in any other meaningful way.It was awful enough that she couldn’t hide her attraction to the way he treated her, but she didn’t need an unsolicited mewl to escape as well.
Why did I put on such fancy lingerie for the date?
She turned her head toward the daylight spilling in through the net curtains at the bay window to her left.Even if Saul had been real, he wouldn’t have deserved the effort of such expensive underwear.It seemed that no man did.
“Look at me.”His voice commanded just enough gravity to order her compliance.
Slowly, she glanced his way, although the longing to look back at the light gnawed at her, along with the underlying question of her underwear.
“Do you deny the things you told Saul?”One of his dark eyebrows arched, daring her to defy him as his fingertip continued its feathery circuit of excruciating agony.
Of course, she’d said those things.They both knew she had.She’d told Saul some of the dirty things she wanted him to do to her.Some of the same things Lawes had coerced her into when he’d held her.As ever, his game—her current anguish—was only designed to torment her further.
