Surviving Passion (3 page)

“Selena ... Cartwright,” she said grudgingly. This was fine. It was best to act casual, despite her roiling fear and anger. When he said nothing, she prompted dryly, “Are you going to share your name?”

“Dan. Dan Flynt.”

“Well Dan, what are you going to do? Tie me up and drag me to wherever it is that you’re going?”

“If I have to. What you’re trying to do is stupid and crazy.”

“Living on my own? “

“Yes.”

“You think I’m better off in a place that’s short on women? Don’t pretend.”

“It’s not like that where I live. We’re civil.”

Selena laughed, not bothering to spare him the insult of it.

If he was bothered, he didn’t show it.

“You have no right,” Selena pointed out when she had sobered.

“It’s a duty,” he answered.

Selena could not understand that, so she took an aggressive bite out of the dried meat he’d given her and sat back down on the floor, resolving to wait.

This time Selena managed to stay awake. When there was no trace of sunlight left in the darkening sky, she listened carefully to his breathing and tried to make her own sound relaxed. It was difficult to be still. Dan was alarmingly perceptive, both physically and mentally. That much was obvious already, but where this had only frustrated her before, it terrified her now.

She had to act before her nerve failed. He had no right to decide her fate. The idea of trusting him in any way was completely insane. She only hoped that he wouldn’t expect what was coming. Glancing over silently in the darkness, she could see the length of him stretched out alongside the door. His fingers laced together over his muscled stomach and his breathing was quiet and steady.
He has to weigh twice what I do
, she thought, working hard to keep calm.

Gathering her resolve, Selena sat up very slowly, not making any noise. She reached over her shoulder to grasp her small dagger from its secret pocket and slid it from its leather sheath. She paused to watch him and listen for any hint of awareness over the pounding of her own heart, but as far as she could tell, he was out. Now she crept towards him on her hands and knees with agonizing slowness, praying all the while that the floor wouldn’t creak. Thankfully, no sound betrayed her and she continued her trek across the room. He stirred. She froze, but she was halfway to him. She could feel the sweat beading on her skin. When he settled down, she steeled herself and made her way behind where his head lay.
I have to do this
, she told herself resolutely.
It has to be a quick slash
. She reached her dagger slowly toward his throat. Her hand jerked quickly. After a confusing moment, she was on her back with her wrists pinned above her head and her dagger gone from her hand. His weight pressed her bodily into the floor as he lay atop her, his face inches from hers. Several moments of alarming silence passed before he spoke.

“Do we need to talk about this?” he asked coolly.

Selena was too stunned to respond. She couldn’t figure out how he’d done it, or
what
he’d done for that matter. She began to seethe as she stared helplessly back at him in the dimness. There was an angled handsomeness to his face, which was undeniable and only magnified by his immovable dominance and the resolute set of his jaw.

Her shock wore off quickly and a barrage of emotions tumbled in her chest. She was resentful that he was capable of controlling her, and with it, a strange seed of attraction had planted itself. Selena felt angry with herself for being careless enough to end up in this situation. Finally, fear took its proper place at the front of the line, drowning out everything else.

With every drawn-out moment, she became more acutely aware of the sensation of his powerful frame pressing down on her. She knew that how she felt didn’t matter. She was completely at his mercy and completely aware of it. Her self-control cracked under the pressure and she began to struggle beneath him.

In response, he abruptly switched to a one-handed grasp on her wrists and reached into his pack, pulling out a thin rope. She tried to wrench a hand away with all her strength, but it was no use. He deftly flipped her onto her stomach, and swiftly tied her wrists together. Despite her struggles it took him only a few short moments to finish with her bonds. Her futile attempts to writhe out of his hold only prompted him to lay more of his weight atop her. When she paused to catch her breath, he leaned closer.

“No more fighting, Selena,” came the low warning, inches from her ear.

Her stomach plummeted. It was becoming rapidly clear how much trouble she was in. This man was serious.

Selena resolved to save her fury for a time when it would serve her more effectively, and it took all of her willpower to submit to his control.

I will get out of this,
she promised herself silently.

The dawn found Selena indignant, but no less resolute. Dan was at the window as soon as the light began to creep into the sky. He stood with his back to her as he scanned the town below. Clearly he didn’t need to be looking at her to know what she was doing, so Selena didn’t try anything. The last thing she wanted was to give him an excuse to touch her again, but she knew that if he’d wanted to take her by force, he would have done so the night before. For now, Selena planned to keep her head down and be extremely grateful that he was not an animal like she’d assumed most men were. For the time being, she would do exactly as he said until the right moment presented itself.

The rope around her wrists was actually a length of leather, and there was no way she could chew through it. Dan had taken her dagger and put it in his pack. She would have to retrieve it before her escape.

When they set off from their hiding place that evening, he held the end of her bonds, pulling her behind him. They left the same way she’d come in the night before. Once out the door in the glaring evening light, Dan led her right down the broken street in a northerly direction.
What happened to stealth
? The men from the other day must have all moved on. Selena already knew he was very cautious and alert. He wouldn’t walk around in the open like this unless he was completely sure there was no one around, or at least no one who worried him. She wondered how he could be so certain, but she wasn’t about to ask.

The road wound around large buildings and houses for a long while until finally, they became fewer and farther between as they left the ghost town. Selena’s eyes scanned the hills sharply as Dan brought her further out into the open. Leading her down a paved road that was cracked and full of invading weeds, he made his way to a large barn. Selena tried to imagine how it looked two decades past and decided that it couldn’t have changed much, aside from the black smoke streaks along its western side. Its tin walls glinted brightly against the setting sun.

When they finally reached the building, Dan hauled the heavy door open and strode right on in as if he owned the place. Selena’s eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness as she was pulled in after. He let go of her and set about organizing a few bulging sacks in a corner. Selena’s eyes narrowed at his back and she bristled that he was so sure she wouldn’t try to run. Pushing these feelings aside, she eyed the bags, wondering what was inside them. Dan wouldn’t be in this town unless he was doing some sort of salvage, which was the same reason she had come.

Out of the corner of Selena’s eye, she saw something big moving and jumped to face it. There were two horses standing in the corner of the barn and one of them whickered softly. She glanced over her shoulder at Dan who was looking back with bemusement as he stood tying one of the bags. She had hoped he hadn’t seen that.

“That’s Buck and Star, don’t worry, they won’t eat you,” he said sardonically. As an afterthought, he added, “Don’t try anything when they’re around though. They’re trained to kill.”

Selena didn’t laugh. She’d heard a story or two about horses fighting for their riders, and thought she might like to see that someday-as long as their aggression wasn’t directed at her, of course.

Selena suddenly realized that Dan was taking things surprisingly well. After all, she
had
tried to murder him in his sleep.
He must have no fear of me whatsoever,
she realized suddenly. Just when she thought she’d felt as trapped as she possibly could, this revelation managed to compound her feeling of doom. Needing to think about something else, she strode over to the horses and carefully gave the grey mare a pat on the nose. The other was a big, black male with white socks, and certainly one of the largest horses she had seen. He wasn’t too hefty, but he was tall.
He found the only horse that wouldn’t look small under him
. Selena’s eyes narrowed again and she turned to Dan.

“That’s a stallion,” she stated with incredulity.

He went on about his business and didn’t respond, perhaps because it hadn’t been a question. Selena turned away from him again, bringing her hands to her forehead. Of course he could control a stallion. Why not?
When does it stop getting worse?
Selena asked herself, almost feeling like giving up altogether. Almost.

She glanced around the barn since there was nothing else for her to do. There was a big pile of dry grass along one wall and a couple of empty horse-size water skins hanging from a post.
Dan’s group must be pretty good about pooling resources,
she mused, keeping her distance as he began saddling up the horses. Their gear was in surprisingly nice shape. The metal parts had clearly been used a long time, but the leather was in good repair. Functional tack was gradually becoming the most precious and rare resource when it came to keeping horses. Most people were already using all manner of substitutes for the metal pieces.

Fortunately when he was finished with his task, Dan was kind enough not to lift her onto her mount. Instead, he led the mare to a crate for Selena to stand on to get up on her own. Of course she wouldn’t have needed one if her hands weren’t bound.

He hitched a rope to the bridle and held it as he mounted up. A couple of the bags were tied behind her to the saddle, but otherwise, he left most of the others behind.

They rode out of the barn together and the town was behind them in minutes. Dan steered an oblique path towards the nearby hills that rose to the east. He seemed to be shooting for their northernmost expanse. Selena figured he was headed for the stream that lay in that direction, considering that the horses had been out of water. She had no idea how long it was since they had their last drink, but based on how implacably calculating Dan appeared so far, it probably hadn’t been long.

Sure enough, after an hour or so of easy riding they came upon the stream. After watering the horses and filling their skins, their trek continued to the northeast.

Riding proved a little more difficult with her hands tied, but whatever the distance ahead, she felt safer mounted, even if Star was tethered to Buck.

With Dan riding ahead of her for hours, it was impossible not to study him; the smooth, tan skin that made him look younger, the large strong hands that made him look older, how easily he moved. Even in the face of her incredibly frightening situation, she could not deny that he was easy on the eyes. Then again, according to everyone she had ever met, so was she.
Selena set her jaw grimly. He could be the most stunning man on the continent, but that would never change the dire threat that he posed to her safety. Her animosity towards him grew firmer with every passing moment. Her father had died trying to protect her from a situation like this. Selena sighed, feeling like a fool for literally being roped into this predicament. She had been doing so well.

Their trek continued through variable terrain; rocky, grassy, and spotted with the occasional oak tree. They made camp nearby and the evening passed without incident. It was painfully difficult to fall sleep. Selena’s mind churned as she schemed over escape plans. There was no good opportunity so far. He’d kept her on a tight leash. She was grateful, however, that his store of dried meat was enough to sustain her comfortably. When she finally managed to rest, her sleep was deep again.

The next morning, when they had finished eating, Dan brushed off his hands, walked over and knelt down in front of her.

Selena tried to scoot back instinctively, but he caught her hands.

“Relax,” he instructed, setting to work on the knots he’d tied around her wrists.

Selena held still and kept her face carefully blank. She wanted him to untie her, but he’d done a good enough job in the first place that it was taking him a while to loosen the knots. The consistent contact of his hands on her skin made her feel strange. His touch was neither particularly gentle nor rough, she observed. That same mix of emotions she’d felt those few nights ago began creeping up on her, except the fear was on the same footing with the rest instead of leading the charge. She suddenly felt embarrassed and had to look away from his hands.

After what felt like forever, he finished. Selena rubbed her wrists gratefully, but she wasn’t going to thank him for freeing them.

“Don’t try to run, Selena,” Dan warned as he stood. “There’s no way I won’t catch you.”

Selena didn’t respond. She had no intention of staying put, but perhaps she could hide the fact from him. What was the point of arguing? In fact, she even felt insulted that he was so confident of his dominion over her that he would dare to cut her loose.

By late afternoon the next day, they had begun their ascent into the hills and already the landscape was changing from dry and shrubby to well-treed and shady. They reached the summit by evening. From the top, Selena could see hills ranging on and on to the end of the horizon.

As they rode over hill after hill, Selena began wondering just how far away this place was that he was taking her to. She was beginning to worry that she wouldn’t be able to find her way back to the grassland through all these trees, seeing as she didn’t have much experience navigating through forests.

“How long until we get to this place?” Selena asked, when she was brave enough to break their customary silence.