Chapter Eight

Thin Ice

Tucker

"Property?" Her voice was a low hiss, the crease appearing in her brow evidence of either her confusion or disgust.

Probably both.

He might have smiled at her expression had he not already been weary from carrying her for miles, hungry, and no closer to enjoying a meal.

I should have thought about this before I agreed to Bennett's terms.His fist tightened around the rope in his hands. Should have known she'd be more trouble than she was worth.

"Who the hell are you calling your property?"

"Let's not play this game." He was definitely too tired. "I guarantee you'll lose."

"Is that what this is to you?" Her breathing was erratic as she retreated to the door. "A game? This is my life, Tucker, and between you and my asshole father, you've reduced it to this!" She thrust her bound wrists in front of her face, anger radiating from her in waves so potent, he swore he could feel them.

"I don't want to talk now." He didn't want to talk at all. Tucker was used to a simple and solitary existence. The idea of making small talk in front of the fire was hideous.

"Nor do I." Her long eyelashes shielded what looked like angry tears. "I want to go home!"

"You will." Standing there, he couldn't wait for the day Bennett paid up, and he could release his wildcat daughter. "Once your father pays me what he owes."

"No." She blinked the water in her eyes away and pressed her back into the door.

"No?" He might have warmed to her petulant routine had he already enjoyed a hot meal and could relax by the fire with her at his feet. As it was, though, the pretty little blonde was skating on thin ice.

"No." Her tone was emphatic. "Not when it suits you. Now!"

"Now?" Blowing out a breath, his gaze flitted to the window and took in the encroaching darkness. Was the woman a moron? Couldn't she see that dusk was falling?

Even if he wanted rid of her, he wouldn't cast her out to the wilderness in the night. If exposure didn't provoke pneumonia, then one of the natives would finish her off. Either way, she'd be dead before dawn.

"You can't leave now." Why was he even discussing this? "I told you I'm going out for water, so you need to settle down."

"And I told you, no!" She leaned forward, jabbing one finger of her fettered wrists in his direction. "I've had enough, and you're going to let me go."

"Is that right?" Tucker had endured just about enough of this shit. He didn't like to harm women and hadn't planned to subjugate her quite so thoroughly on their first evening together, but she was leaving him little choice.

Clearly, she had itchy feet and would run at the first opportunity she got. He had to restrain her, and in doing so, he would reiterate the most valuable lesson she could learn while they were forced together—who was in charge.

"You want to leave?" He edged closer, using his height and body weight to push her gently against the wood. "Run out there into the night with your hands bound and never look back?"

"No, actually." Attempting to stand her ground, she tried to shove him back. "I'd rather you cut my binds first."

"Right." He had no choice but to laugh that time. He bet she'd like him to release her first… not that it would do much to increase her chances of staying alive out there.

"What's so funny?" Her gaze narrowed as she craned her head to see him.

"Nothing."

He was right. Ella wasn't funny. If she thought she could survive out there without him, she was delusional, and while he'd rather have the enormous wad of cash Bennett owed him, she was still the closest thing he had to his money.

She had to endure.

"If that's what you want." He shrugged, perhaps a little too theatrically, as he threw the ropes over his left shoulder and delved into his pocket for the key to the front door. "Then fine." Withdrawing, he ushered her to one side as he slid the key into the lock.

"What?" She glanced left and right, as though she thought the door unlocking was a trick, but she couldn't deny what her eyes and ears told her. Slipping the key back into his pocket, he reached for the bolt and moved it aside. "You're actually going to let me go?"

"I'm opening the door," he confirmed. "What you do next is up to you."

Although, as he creaked the wood open, it was obvious what she would do. The woman was hellbent on getting away, even though she had no idea what the consequences were.

"Fine." She rolled her shoulders back, although he noticed how she flinched as a gust of cold air from the gap in the door swept past her.

"Are you ready?"

Tucker had been right the first time. The longer the fa?ade went on, the more it resembled a game of cat and mouse. Needless to say, even though she'd been a wildcat, his surety with the fine ass was the cute rodent of the two of them.

"Yes." Her gaze scanned Tucker's for any sign that he was joking.

He wasn't, though. Tucker was going to open the door and let her have her way. Only then, once she was gone, would he react. Only then would he show her exactly how he felt about women who couldn't do as they were told.

He hadn't been unreasonable. He'd brought her somewhere safe, lit the fire to warm her, and offered her a seat. All he had asked in return was that she comply while he arranged the drink she'd requested. Yet still, the fire burning in her eyes insisted on defiance. Still, she assumed she knew better.

"Okay." Reaching for the flashlight he kept stowed on a hook by the door, he flicked on the illumination and thrust open the door.

She was gone in seconds, squeezing past him and fleeing into the shadows before he even had time to direct the beam after her. He watched as she headed across the decking and down the slope the cabin had been built on, almost losing her footing on the way.

"Ella."

His voice was little more than a growl as, shoving the flashlight between his teeth, he started after her. His long strides brought him to the precipice of the incline quickly, and bounding down to where the land flattened out, he heard her dashing off to his right.

He was after her in a flash, grasping the rope from his shoulder and readying it in front of him. Ella was coming back home, and this time, he wouldn't be so accommodating about her living conditions.

"No!" Without a light, she tripped over one of the numerous creeping roots that had burst from the ground and landed with a thud on the cold, hard ground. "No, no!"

Scrambling to all fours as best as the ropes at her wrists allowed, she screeched the word as she tried to rise to her feet, but it was already too late. Tucker was on her, and by the time she was back on two legs, he struck. Throwing the rope around her body like a lasso, he yanked her backward until she landed against his body.

"Get off me!" Her instinct was to fight, her nails clawing at any part of his anatomy she could reach as he dragged her in the direction of the cabin. "Stop it!"

"Be quiet," he managed around the flashlight still guiding their path back to his home. Whatever she thought the discussion was, it was over. Tucker had heard enough of Ella to last him a lifetime.

"I will not!" she hollered, trying to resist the path he insisted she take before attempting to slide the rope up and over her head. "I'm not yours, and you can't—"

Bored with her continual rants, he scooped her up and back into position over his shoulder before she even realized what had happened.

"No!"

Squealing, her arms and feet began their relentless pursuit of hammering against his body in an attempt to break free, but all she was achieving in the task was amplifying his anger. He shouldn't be out there in the darkness—neither of them should. Tucker should be halfway toward a delicious meal by now before settling in for a decent night's sleep, but instead, he was saving her sorry ass from the forest.

He'd given her the chance to see sense and stay safe, and she'd thrown it in his face by sprinting off into danger. He'd wasted the entire day retrieving her, and now she was ruining his evening.

Ignoring her thrashing kicks and thumping fists, he carried the writhing and screaming woman back up the hillside, each fresh strike hardening his resolve.

Ella will learn.

He guided the flashlight toward the building beside his home. The barn was smaller than the cabin, but it was just as secure. Tucker had used it in the past to hold animals and keep them for slaughter. It would certainly suffice as a temporary pen for the wildcat.

Approaching the barn, he compelled her back to her feet but ensured he caught her bound hands with his fist before she could vanish into the trees again.

"Tucker, no!" She pulled against his grasp as he grabbed the rope still draped around his shoulders.

Snaking his rope around her existing binds, he jerked her forward and secured the end of the tether to his belt buckle. The wildcat wouldn't be going anywhere without him, although still, she pulled and kicked like an animal about to be caged.

"That's enough!" Grabbing the flashlight from his teeth, he dropped it to the decking and was finally able to vocalize his displeasure. "You'll be cooling off in here for a while."

"What?" Finally, she stopped fighting, her gaze widening as she took in the building they were standing in front of. "What is this place?"

"The barn." He started work on the chains securing the front door, unraveling them with the limited amount of light offered by the torch.

"Barn?" Her voice was a whimper. "You can't keep me in there!"

"I am," he clarified as the chain fell away to the ground. He kept the place locked so no unwelcome predators could make a home in it, although often at night, he heard their ominous howls. "I offered you a place in my cabin, yet you chose to leave. Now, the best you get is my barn."

He creaked open the door, shuffling the flashlight forward with his foot to illuminate some of the space. The outhouse was lined with hay, but it had been cleaned thoroughly after the last animal no longer required it. It was perfectly suitable for his visitor.

"In." Grabbing the length of rope between them, he yanked her forward, forcing her into the barn with his body weight.

"You can't do this!" The hot-headed woman sounded panic-stricken as he released the rope from his belt and heaved her inside. "You'll never get away with it!"

"I can, and I am." His lips curled with the assertion. "We're miles away from anything. You can scream all you like, but no one will hear you."

Glancing up to the rafters, the final part of his plan fell into place. The barn had been fitted with rigging and brackets to chain the animals in place. A number of large hooks were already waiting to house Ella's ropes and hold his wildcat in place.

Collateral or not, he wouldn't be treated with such flagrant disrespect, wouldn't be kicked and walloped by the woman who'd run off wildly into the shadows without a plan or a chance of making it through the night.

He'd gone easy on her when she'd kicked off on the way there, deciding to only spank her ass because there was little time, and frankly, he wanted an excuse to touch her, but Ella had crossed a line with her latest performance.

Her actions were hasty, unthinking, and hazardous.

It was time that she knew it.