She blushed as she confessed this to Denver, sure that now he knew how shallow she was, he’d want nothing further to do with her.
“Go on,” was all he said when she paused.
She sighed.
“So, then Papa racked up a big gambling debt. He lost his job and couldn’t pay it back. Mr. Avery sent his thugs around, but Papa had no money to pay him. Then Mr. Avery, who is a disgusting old pig, who’s been trying to get into my pants forever, said he’d wipe the debt if I married him or he’d take out a contract on Papa. Papa said I’d marry him and told me I had to go through with it. That’s why I ran away. I didn’t know what else to do. I don’t want them to hurt Papa, I love him, even though I hate him for telling Mr. Avery he could marry me, but I couldn’t bear the thought of marrying Mr. Avery and having to have sex with him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?” Denver asked curtly, not even trying to hide his contempt at the story she was telling him and ignoring the tears pouring down her face.
Rudi’s heart sank. Now he knew the truth, he’d want nothing more to do with her.
“I knew that if I told you, you’d throw me out like a piece of garbage.” She shrugged.
“You knew that, did you?” he asked darkly.
“Isn’t that what you’re going to do now?”
He ignored her question.
“So, what was your plan today then? I emptied your backpack. Clothes and my watch. I guess you were going to pawn that, eh? Didn’t I pay you enough? You didn’t look like you wanted to go with that creep, so I’m guessing you were just planning to run away back onto the streets somewhere?”
He looked so hurt, her heart broke.
“I had to. I knew they’d found me. I’d seen Lenny hanging around and knew he was just waiting for his chance. I had to try and run away.”
“So, who are you?”
“Grazia Aldruda Li Fonti.” She blushed at the mouthful. “Grace Ruth,” she added quickly. “I wasn’t lying when I told you that and that most people call me Ruthie.”
“Did you live in Sydney?”
“All my life,” she said simply. “I’d only been in Melbourne for a few weeks when we met.”
“That’s why you were living on the street?”
She nodded. “I didn’t have much money. It ran out fast, and I don’t know anyone in Melbourne. I had nowhere to go.”
“Your mother? Where’s she?”
“She died when I was a baby. Papa raised me.” She grinned sadly. “He wasn’t exactly a natural father.”
He nodded, but then his face darkened again.
“You told me you weren’t a thief, but you stole my watch.”
“I would have sent it back, honest,” she pleaded with him to understand. “I wanted you to think I was a thief, so you would hate me and not come looking for me. I thought you would be in danger from Mr. Avery and his goons. I wanted to protect you.”
He started as though she’d slapped him.
“Is that true?”
She nodded, tears running down her cheeks.
“I didn’t know what else to do except run away again. Besides, even if you weren’t in danger, I thought if you knew what sort of family I came from and that I’ve done nothing for most of my life except hang around in a sleazy nightclub doing bar work, you’d want me out as quick as you could get rid of me.”
“And what did you want to do?” Denver asked grimly.
“I wanted to stay here with you,” she answered, simply and honestly.
“Why?” he pressed her.
“Because I love you,” she said, tears filling her eyes.
She saw a flash of pain cross his face, and his eyes dart away from her as though he couldn’t bear the sight of her.
“Do you, though? Really? Knowing everything you know about me?”
What? His guilt about his wife’s death? His kinks? His bag in the wardrobe with lotions and spanking implements?
She smiled up at him and nodded. “Yes, knowing everything about you, I love you even more. I didn’t want to leave, honest. I want to stay here with you forever, but I didn’t want to be responsible for you getting hurt by those horrible thugs. I couldn’t risk that. Or you not wanting me when you found out the truth. How could you want someone like me?”
“You should have told me,” he said coldly, getting up and walking away from her, leaving her scared and alone. He turned back and she shrank away from the look in his eyes. “I told you I wouldn’t pry into your past, but you had no right to keep it from me when it might have put me in danger.”
“I know,” she cried, jumping up and running to him. “I’m sorry, Denver. I was so afraid you’d send me away. And I thought it was a good hiding place and they’d never find me, and I just wanted to be able to stay long enough for you to fall in love with me and want me to stay too. Then I fell in love with you, but you just kept talking about getting me a job and a place to live and moving me out, so I couldn’t tell you the truth, and then Lenny turned up and I got scared, and…” her voice trailed off miserably. “Please don’t be mad at me, Denver,” she begged tearfully. “Please. I love you.”
“Go to your room,” he said, his expression impassive, his voice cold. “And stay there. I need to think.”
Curled up on her bed, her heart barely daring to beat, her lungs barely daring to breathe, Rudi waited to find out her fate.
She could hear Denver walking in the hall, going to his room, back to the kitchen and back to his room. She could hear him talking on the phone but couldn’t make out what he was saying.
At last her door opened and he walked in.
“Get your backpack. I’m taking you home,” he said.
“No, Denver, please,” Rudi cried.
“Do as you are told,” he ordered her coldly, turning on his heel and leaving her to follow him miserably out of the very place she now thought of as home.
* * *
Four hours later, once they were settled and room service had delivered a plate of mixed sandwiches, Denver left Rudi in their Sydney hotel room after telling her she was not, under any circumstances, to go anywhere, or answer the door or talk to anyone on her phone until he returned.
On her own, back in the city in which she’d lived all her life until only a couple of months before, Rudi looked out her window at the city lights and sadly yearned for the quiet peace of Emerald not knowing if she would ever go back.
With a heavy heart, she showered and got ready for bed, ate a sandwich and then set about raiding the mini bar. Fast asleep in one of the twin beds, she didn’t hear Denver come back in the wee small hours of the morning and didn’t realise it until he was shaking her awake next morning.
“Come on,” he was saying. “It’s time to get up. Judging by the empty bottles, I’m guessing you are at least in need of a coffee if not a nice big fried breakfast. Dress and pack first, and then we shan’t need to come back up.”
“Ooh,” Rudi moaned as she struggled out of bed. Her head hurt and she didn’t feel well.
Fifteen minutes later, they were in the hotel dining room. Breakfast was a quiet affair. Denver was playing the strong, silent type and Rudi’s head hurt too much to think, at least until the painkillers she swallowed with her first mouthful of coffee started to take effect.
After checking out, they returned to the car Denver had hired at the airport.
“Where are we going?” Rudi asked as she got in and put on her seatbelt.
“I’m taking you home.”
“To Papa’s? But…”
“No, buts.”
“But how do you even know…”
“Mysteries and research are my thing, remember?” Denver allowed himself the smallest smile before assuming a much more serious expression.
“You should probably prepare yourself though. I think your father has had a pretty rough time over the last couple of months not knowing what happened to you, where you were, if you were safe or not.”
“He’s
had a rough time?” Rudi snorted.
“There there,” Denver soothed her, then grinned. “Your life hasn’t been so bad recently, has it?”
Rudi blushed. No, it hadn’t. Not recently. No, it had been perfect.
* * *
And now it was perfect again. She was back in Emerald, and this time she even had a suitcase full of her clothes, although she wasn’t sure yet how Denver would feel about her wearing most of them.
She was finally at peace and the horrors of the last few months were no more than a memory.
She had been shocked when she’d seen her father. He looked much older, thinner and quite unwell.
“Oh, Ruthie, Ruthie, my little Ruthie, thank God, you are safe!” He’d hugged her tightly, tears of joy and remorse running down his cheeks. “I’m sorry, my poor little girl. I am a bad man. I don’t deserve a daughter such as you. But you are safe now.”
“What’s going on?” Rudi had cried, hugging him back. “What’s happening with Mr. Avery and your debt and everything?”
“Lenny came this morning and told me I have forty-eight hours to leave Sydney and Mr. Avery won’t come after you or the money. But I think it’s mostly bluff. They know the cops are watching them. Still best I go for a while anyway, though it might take a few days to organise.”
“But why? Where will you go?”
“I called your Uncle Sevvy. He’s giving me a job in the vineyard for a while. It’ll be good to go home and see the family.”
“Italy, Papa! What about me?”
“You can come if you want, little chicken. Of course, you can. Family is family. But what about Denver? He’s a good man, Grace,” Mr. Li Fonti had said, wiping his eyes, and looking sternly at Rudi. “He’s asked for my permission to look after you. I, of course, said yes. I’m not going to speak on your behalf again, my little Ruthie, but why would you not accept him? I think he’ll take better care of you than I did.”
“What?” Rudi had looked past her father to the gorgeous silver fox watching them. Denver had nodded in answer to her unspoken question, and she’d thought she would burst with happiness.
“Oh, Papa,” Rudi had cried, throwing her arms around her father, her heart filling with joy. “You did your best, I know that. And I do love you. And, yes, Denver is a good man.”
* * *
A very good man, she smiled to herself as she nestled across his naked lap, her scrupulously clean bottom, also naked as was she, perched high and expectant.
Nearby, the spanking table was set up. Before they’d left Sydney, Denver had warned her that she had some serious punishments due if she returned with him, not necessarily harder spankings, but as he’d told her before, he had other ways of focusing her attention.
“I’ll do whatever you say and accept whatever punishment you want to give me,” she’d promised.
True to his word, there were two new additions to the table, and true to her word she was ready to submit to what she knew was in store.
“Spank me, Denver, my love,” she whispered happily to herself as she felt him raise his hand to begin.
The End
Polly Carter
Polly Carter has been writing in one form or another most of her life. With more time on her hands after her children had left home, she was finally able to realise her long-held desire to write romance novels.
“I’ve always loved the idea of being a writer and taking my work with me wherever I go. I hate being stuck in an office, and being able to travel and work at the same time seems like the perfect life. And, of course, I love, love, and love writing about it.”
Polly has four children and four grandchildren. She lives in Western Australia where she has spent most of her life. Her other passions include dogs, travel, reading (quantum physics, I know!) and occasionally painting.
You can email her here: [email protected]
Find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PollyCarterRomance
Or follow her on Twitter: @Polly_Carter1
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Danny’s Secret Desire
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