by Gigi Moore
“You haven’t seen rough,” Prentice murmured.
She raised her head then, staring him straight in the eyes. “Actually, I have.”
Knowing Rance as he did, he was sure that she had.
Prentice sighed and made his way over to the large, four-poster, canopied bed.
It was fancily dressed in flower-patterned, lace-and-satin bedcovers with mounds of matching pillows. The bed gave the impression of an elegant boudoir where men’s fantasies were regularly realized.
He didn’t sit down but pointed to the bed with his chin and directed Lucy to. When she didn’t move from her spot in the middle of the floor, Prentice said, “Please.”
“Very well.” She made her way across the room, shoulders straight, chin lifted, head tilted slightly back. Gone was the shy country mouse from downstairs. In her place stood a young, regal beauty suitable for courting by a proper, well-heeled gentleman.
Did Rance know exactly who he left behind every night for his pedophiliac dalliances?
Prentice wondered how long the pair had been together. More than likely Rance had plucked Lucy from her family when she was in her prime, a little past “bleeding age” maybe, enjoying her pubescence until she wasn’t youthful enough to satisfy his deviant urges.
He guessed Lucy had no relatives, much less male ones. He was almost a hundred percent sure, too, that the ones she had probably sold her to Rance to pay off a debt of some kind. He couldn’t see a caring, loving father or older brother turning Lucy over to Rance except out of sheer desperation or ignorance.
Prentice could have easily slid into her mind to confirm his suspicions and find out for sure what Lucy’s story was, but he didn’t want to violate her any more than Rance already had.
What has gotten into me?
Prentice shook his head at the idea that he was growing a conscience at his age. Either that or the ghosts of Aura and his parents haunted him.
“You’re not what I expected.”
Lucy’s whispered words rang out like a shot in the quiet room, and Prentice pulled himself from his brown study to look at her.
How, exactly, did she know what she was getting when they hadn’t even done anything yet, when he had yet to remove anything except his hat? “Really?”
“You look…younger with your hat off.”
He knew she referred to his curly blond hair. It tended to take ten or fifteen years off his face. Prentice kept it trimmed the way he did because people were more likely to underestimate him when they saw it and his wide hazel eyes.
“Take off your clothes,” he said.
Lucy didn’t hesitate. She stood from the bed and reached behind her to begin the painstaking process of unbuttoning her dress.
When Prentice realized the buttons were in back of the dress, he approached, taking her by the shoulders and turning her around to undo the rest of the dress’s buttons.
Despite his impatience to see her, he took his time. Bending his head, he nuzzled her throat and deeply inhaled, fascinated with the softness of her skin and her lavender scent. She was miles away from other women he had taken to bed—sweet, pure, and untouched. How this was possible living the life she did, living the life Rance forced her to, was a mystery.
She shuddered once the buttons were all undone, and Prentice took special pleasure in sliding the sleeves off her shoulders and down her arms.
He stepped back an inch, watching as the cotton dress slid to the floor and pooled around her small feet. He looked at the old-fashioned undergarments she had on beneath, the white camisole and matching petticoat. The female carnality hidden under the plain, unassuming lingerie transfixed him. She couldn’t have been sexier had she been in a Victoria’s Secret push-up bra and matching thong.
Prentice’s cock pressed against the wool crotch of his pants, painfully hard, his sudden arousal surprising him.
Unlike with Amy, his interest in Lucy had started out purely protective. He hadn’t had a carnal interest in her at all before now.
This was not good, so not good.
Prentice, however, wasn’t one to deny his desires. He wasn’t going to start now and decided he might as well get his money’s worth. If he was lucky, he would get a much-needed energy boost from the encounter. This was, after all, his interim goal—obtaining power and maintaining his reserves. He needed to be in top form when he finally confronted the trio, because taking them down was his primary objective. It was why he had come back in time in the first place.
No one could ever question his determination, but he knew for sure that his therapist would think him obsessed. He didn’t mind, since his obsession had served him well so far.
Prentice refused, however, to allow Lucy to become an obsession.
She was just a woman, a sexy little piece he sorely wanted, but he had never let his dick control him. He wouldn’t start now.
He took Lucy by the shoulders again and turned her around to face him. He leaned in again, breathing in her scent and nestling his nose in the space where her neck and her shoulder met. It was a particularly sensitive patch of skin if Lucy’s quivering was anything to go by.
“Any way I desire?” Prentice murmured.
She sighed and after a long pause said, “Of course.”
Prentice lifted his head to look at her. That sigh hadn’t had anything to do with ecstasy but everything to do with resignation. “You had to think about that.”
“Of course not. I’m here for your pleasure.”
“You don’t have to feed me the party line. You’re here because your husband is a fat, greedy prick who doesn’t have a qualm pimping his own wife out to strange men.”
“Uh…um…” Lucy spluttered, and Prentice decided to save her the trouble of answering.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It’s the first honest reaction I’ve heard or seen from you all day.”
Prentice arched a brow, admiring her perceptiveness. Still, he needed to put her in her place as much as possible. “Don’t presume to know me.”
“I don’t!”
He watched her eyes widen, betraying her innocence and turning his cock diamond hard in his pants.
This girl could really be a game changer if he allowed it.
Prentice couldn’t allow it. “How old are you?” he demanded.
“Twenty-two.”
She was barely legal, just as he’d thought. Not that it mattered, especially in this day and age. He had just let his curiosity get the best of him.
Lucy reached out a hand to touch his arm, her fingers tentative and timid on his biceps. “And you?”
“Old enough to know better,” he grumbled, angry with himself for letting this slip of a girl—woman, he reminded himself—get to him.
“I’m sure you know how to treat a woman better than Rance.”
“Don’t bet on it.”
She chuckled.
Prentice glared at her. “What is funny?”
“I don’t believe you’re as ornery as you make yourself out to be.”
Was she making fun of him?
Prentice grabbed her by the arm, dragged her to the bed, and shoved her down onto the bedcovers. He stalked her, creeping across the mattress, watching her watch him.
Lucy crawled backward on her heels and elbows. “I’m not afraid of you, Mr. Teague.”
“I bet I could change your mind.”
“Do your worst.”
He enjoyed a good confrontation. It kept him on his toes, but Lucy’s defiance was…exhilarating. His heart thundered painfully in his chest, making his entire body shake. He hadn’t been this excited since facing off with Aura in her kitchen.
“Are you challenging me?” He waited for her answer with bated breath, his cock growing harder at the mere idea of her insolence.
“I…I believe I am.”
He grinned as she lifted her chin a notch.
Stubborn, naïve little chit!
He swooped on her then, roughly draggin
g her undergarments from her until she lay beneath him in just her camisole.
“Please…”
“Please stop?” He stared at her, admiring the vivid blush to her creamy skin.
“Yes. You’re scaring me.”
Prentice froze. For the first time in his memory, those words deflated rather than stirred him. He didn’t want Lucy to be afraid of him, dammit. He wanted her to want him. He…needed her, and that was the worst drawback of all, needing someone. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d needed anyone apart from when he’d been a boy, and even then he’d made do. He hadn’t had a choice. He hadn’t had anyone else to count on except himself.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“For what? Being yourself?”
“I…I don’t know what came over me.”
“The question is what keeps the Lucy I know in check when she’s dealing with Rance.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand perfectly.” He caressed the insides of her thighs, mapping a path to her pussy with his fingers and tongue.
Lucy gasped as she sat up on her elbows and stared at him. “What are you doing?”
“What does it look like?”
“You still want me?”
“Why shouldn’t I?’
“I talked back. I mouthed off.”
“And that’s bad for Rance’s business, I take it.”
“Of course. Men don’t like their women to be independent. Men don’t like their women to talk back. Everyone knows that.”
Normally, he might have agreed with her, but Prentice couldn’t deny just how enjoyable he had found Lucy’s backtalk and her backbone. He couldn’t imagine regularly bedding someone like, say, an Amy, so willing to please she put his needs, wants, even his well-being before her own. He couldn’t imagine respecting anyone like that.
Lucy had an excuse for her obedience and submissiveness. Still, she hadn’t allowed Rance to smother her spirit altogether.
God, he was finding more and more things about her to admire the longer he was around her, and he didn’t want to admire her. Admiring Lucy was too close to liking her. Liking Lucy could only lead to trouble, trouble he could not afford.
She was taking him out of his comfort zone. He needed to get back his edge.
“I could take care of him for you.” Prentice peeked up at her from between her bent knees, trying to gauge her reaction, a difficult feat since her eyes were glazed over from what he was doing to her with his hands and mouth. “Lucy?”
“Mmm.”
Prentice grinned and spread her pussy lips with his thumbs, experimentally stroking her vulva with his tongue. Her piquant scent and flavor called to him, made him dip his tongue deeper. She tasted so good the line between her pleasure and his pleasure blurred.
“Oh…that feels…so good…” She raked her fingers through his hair, fisting a hank at his nape as she drew him closer.
He let her hold him in place for a moment before he pulled free and lifted his head to look up at her again. “Lucy?”
“Huh?”
He laughed at her dazed expression. “Did you hear what I said?”
“You can take care of Rance for me,” she said, sounding as hypnotized as she looked.
“Do you know what that means?”
She shook herself as if coming out of a trance and finally opened her eyes to stare at him.
“I can make it so you never have to sleep with another man again, unless you wanted to.”
“I don’t know.”
“You want to be free, don’t you?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure I know what that means.”
“You will.”
Chapter 23
“I’d like to go with you to the Coles’ place,” Cade said.
Thayne looked up from packing his black bag and shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“What? You think I’m going to cause a ruckus?”
“To tell you the truth, Cade, I don’t know what you’re going to do. You haven’t exactly been stable these last couple of weeks.”
“I’ve been as stable as anyone who’s been yanked back in time can expect to be.”
“I’m not going to argue with you on this.” Thayne looked at his brother. He felt Cade’s pain and was tempted to delve below the surface and see exactly what his brother was thinking. He didn’t, however, want to stoop to the methods of their enemy.
These last couple of weeks had been relatively peaceful and productive. The three of them had managed to settle into something of a routine, assimilating to their roles at the boarding house and in the town with relative ease.
Thayne didn’t know if it was all divine providence or just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. He was just glad they were all able to find some way to put their talents to good use and earn a living doing it.
He had to admit, despite having directly benefitted from the recent demise of the town’s doctor—an elderly gentleman who had still held bloodletting in high regard—even he thought Doctor Hopwood’s death looked suspicious.
Once he’d established there hadn’t been any foul play afoot and that the good doctor had died of natural causes, Thayne breathed a little easier, convinced that the madman hadn’t yet located them back in time.
Thayne had, however, resisted stepping into the late doctor’s shoes as long as possible. He enjoyed his leisure, riding horses and exploring his new surroundings when he wasn’t helping Sabrina and Maia at the boarding house setting up their new business venture as the town’s latest health and beauty aids source.
Only when a woman from a neighboring farm went into labor and a desperate call went out from her family for anyone with medical training was Thayne able to put aside his reluctance and answer the call.
Taking Hopwood’s horse and buggy out to the farm at least thirty miles from town reinvigorated Thayne’s passion for his profession and reaffirmed his reasons for becoming a doctor in the first place.
Like his mother and father, Thayne knew he was born to help people, and remembering his vow to use his talents to do just that had made answering the call easy.
“Do you really think keeping me away from the families is going to stop me from looking into those missing boys?”
“Cade—”
“I don’t need your permission, Thayne.”
He sighed and gave his brother a dirty look as he snapped closed his doctor’s bag. It was a legacy from Hopwood that Maia and Sabrina helped him keep well stocked with their herbs and homemade remedies in addition to the pharmaceuticals that Thayne had been able to acquire and make on his own. These, along with his own ingrained abilities, made him a potent weapon in the fight against injury and disease to the good people of Elk Creek.
“I know you don’t need my permission, but I’d like to think that you’d put the family’s needs before your own and stop this crazy mission of yours.”
“So you’re the only one who’s allowed to pursue a crazy mission?”
Thayne met his brother’s glare but didn’t answer. Admittedly, he couldn’t come up with a logical response, at least not one that would mollify Cade’s ego.
“Why is it so hard for you to believe that you’re not the only one with the compassion and ability to help the world’s masses? I’m our mother and father’s son, too.”
It wasn’t until he looked into Cade’s eyes, so like his own, that he realized how heavy a burden keeping their silence weighed on his brother.
He should have realized after Cade’s experiences in Los Angeles that he’d eventually want to get back into the thick of things and help any way he could. Cade may not have had Thayne’s focus, and he got bored easily, but he had never been one to sit back on the sidelines once he put his mind to something and knew what needed to be done.
Thayne argued with himself about how much to tell Cade. He didn’t want to alarm his brother or Maia by telling them that Prentice had arrived, but
he knew he couldn’t keep the information to himself for too much longer.
Prentice would be making his move soon. For all Thayne knew, he might have already.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” Cade said.
Thayne gave him a regretful grin. His brother was much more perceptive than he gave himself credit for. Maybe Thayne should let him come to the Coles’. “I think he’s close.”
Cade peered at him. “You think?” He shook his head, chuckling. “If you’re saying so, that means he’s already here.”
“Then you know it’s a dangerous time for us now.”
“We knew it was just a matter of time before he tracked us down. What does that have to do with the missing boys?”
“Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.”
“Stop speaking in riddles, Thayne.”
“Yes, Thayne. Stop speaking in riddles.” Maia came into their bedroom from the hallway, closing the door behind herself.
“How long have you been out there eavesdropping?” Thayne asked.
Maia crossed the floor to stand in front of him. “Long enough.” She placed a hand on his chest, her touch speeding his heartbeat as she stood on her toes and leaned in.
Thayne bent his head to take her mouth with his, savoring the taste of her for a long moment before lifting his head to stare down at her. He cupped her face with one hand, caressing her cheekbone with his thumb, wondering how much to tell her and Cade.
“You don’t have to spare us. I know he’s here. I saw him in a vision,” Maia murmured.
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“I was waiting for the right time.”
“We’re all so busy trying to protect each other that we’re losing sight of what’s really important,” Cade said.
“And what’s that?”
“Finding out what happened to those kids.”
Thayne closed his eyes. He didn’t need to be a psychic to know what had happened to the kids missing from those other townships and Elk Creek. Serial killers were not a twenty-first-century phenomenon. He just didn’t know how to go about telling the sheriff that they might possibly have a serial killer on the loose.
