Run Wild (Escape with a Scoundrel) - By Shelly Thacker Page 0,23

he hadn’t hurt her.

At least, not yet.

Taking shallow gulps of air, she did her best to quell her terror. She had seen lust glowing in a man’s eyes enough times to recognize it... and she didn’t see it now, in his.

“That’s better,” he said in a low rumble when she let her muscles go limp.

She tried to ignore the fact that she could feel as well as hear his deep voice.

“Now, your ladyship, I want you to listen and listen well, because I’m not going to say this again—”

“I-I don’t care what you have to say.”

“Well, that’s too damned bad. Because you and I are stuck with one another.” He grimaced. “You don’t like it and I don’t like it, but we’re stuck. So until I find some way to break this blasted chain, you’re going to go where I say and do what I say and you’re going to—”

“I don’t follow anyone’s orders but my own.” Her indignant retort surprised her as much as it apparently did him. But she couldn’t help herself. Despite the fact that her voice trembled as badly as her body was trembling, she meant every word.

“You do now. Because if you try any more tricks like the one you just pulled, one of us is going to end up with a broken leg or a broken neck—”

“I go where I want and I do what I want and I’m not going to let you order me around.” She immediately felt foolish for blurting that out. She sounded childish. They were chained together. How could she exert her independence when they couldn’t even get far enough apart to argue at a respectable distance? Her anger bubbled over. “I didn’t ask to be dragged along on your mad escape! I had a perfectly good plan of my own.”

“Seducing that freckle-faced, craven-hearted boy? You call that a plan?”

She gasped. “I had no intention of... is that what you thought?”

“Any man with eyes could see that you were offering your favors in exchange for whatever he might care to do for you.”

She gaped at him in shock. “That’s not true! I was merely going to... to encourage him to take pity on me and help me.”

“Oh, aye, now there’s a plan.” He laughed. “You’d make him feel such sympathy that he would set you free? And the other guards would do what? Sit idly by and let you walk away? Brilliant.” He couldn’t stop chuckling. “If it weren’t for me, lady, you’d have been swinging from a rope in London by week’s end.”

His biting laughter made her cheeks burn all over again. Made her feel foolish. She hated the way he kept mocking her, as if she were some weak, witless, helpless female. “I didn’t ask for your opinion, you black-hearted brigand! I can take care of myself. I don’t need anyone’s help. Not yours and not anyone’s!”

“Fine. Because I have no intention of offering you any.” He closed his eyes for a second, still breathing hard. Despite all his strength and stamina, he was obviously in pain. “We aren’t going to get anywhere if you try to go your way and I try to go my way. So we’ll both go my way. As long as you follow orders, we’ll get along just fine.”

“Then I’m afraid we’re not going to get along at all.”

He opened his eyes and she saw a spark of something dangerous there. “It’s not up for discussion, angel. There’s only room for one of us to be in charge here—and you’re looking at him.”

Not giving her any chance for further argument, he stood up, pulling her to her feet with the same effortless strength he had used to keep her pinned. She was struck by the way he towered over her. In gaol, he had been forced to stoop down by the low ceiling. Standing at his full height, he loomed above her.

She barely came up to his chin, her eyes level with the second button on his shirt—which gave her a rather daunting view of his chest and shoulders. He was all hard planes, bronzed skin and rugged muscles.

Her heart kept pounding a fast, uneven beat.

“This time, your ladyship,” he said in a commanding tone, “I suggest you keep those pretty little slippers of yours moving.”

With one last stern look of warning, he turned and led her into the forest once more.

An hour later, they had ventured deep into the heart of the Chase. After some awkward stumbles and a lot of