She cried out as the stun gun hit her in the chest. Another hit and she collapsed bonelessly to the floor. The lesson Victoria had taught him worked perfectly. Lisa’s body jerked a few times, her eyes and mouth open, but she didn’t move.
Damon stunned her again, then hauled her up and tossed her over his shoulder, using a fireman’s carry to get her out of the house.
Once he reached the alley, he opened the trunk of the rental car and dumped her inside, used the plastic ties he’d brought with him to bind her hands and feet, stuffed a gag in her mouth and tied it in place with a scarf. Then he got into the plain white, four-door rented Toyota and started the engine.
As he drove away, the thrill was nearly overwhelming. He’d had no idea how good it would feel to have someone completely at his mercy.
The possibilities were endless.
And he finally had a way to reach Tory. She would call sooner or later. He didn’t like waiting, but he could be a patient man. Especially when he had a pretty blonde to keep him entertained. Damon turned the corner and drove off down the street.
*
Days passed. The gray mare had her foal, a beautiful little black filly, the cutest thing Tory had ever seen. Ivy could sit in front of the stall for hours just watching her.
Instead of watching the foal, Tory had started the annoying habit of watching Josh through the window above the kitchen sink. Lately everything about him seemed to intrigue her—the way he moved, his almost soundless footsteps, the way he appeared in one place then seemed to disappear without ever actually walking away.
Sometimes when he rode one of the horses out of the barn, he looked so good she could barely tear her eyes away. On a warm day, he worked with his shirt off, putting all those glorious muscles on display. She wanted to touch him, run her fingers over all that hard male flesh.
It was insane. She didn’t understand it.
In the beginning, before Damon had turned into a monster, the sex had been good. She had enjoyed the closeness, the intimacy, but she hadn’t lusted after him. She hadn’t thought about what it would be like to kiss him, how his hands would feel on her body. What he might do to her in bed.
Until Josh, she had never lusted after a man before. Jamie had been her high school sweetheart, neither of them sexually experienced. After the beating Damon had inflicted, she’d been afraid she might never want to go out with a man again, certainly would never feel the kind of hungry need she felt for Joshua Cain.
Maybe it was his protective nature, the way he was putting himself out there to help her. Maybe it was the way Ivy had put her trust in him when the little girl had been so afraid of men before.
Whatever it was, Tory did everything in her power not to let him know how strongly he affected her. She didn’t want to be the woman the sheriff and the fire chief thought she was, a kept woman Josh paid for the use of her body.
She didn’t want him to sleep with her and have him think of her that way, too.
Instead, she stayed away from him as much as she could and he seemed to do his best to stay away from her. If it weren’t for Star, she would barely have to see him at all, except at supper.
But Josh refused to let her anywhere near the stallion unless he was close by. He didn’t want her going into the pasture, always made sure she remained on the other side of the fence.
Josh stayed far enough away not to upset the horse, but near enough to guide her or step in if something went wrong. So far that hadn’t happened.
They’d set up a schedule. Josh had officially hired Mrs. Thompson to come over and stay with Ivy for a couple of hours in the afternoon so he and Tory could work with Star. She had bought carrots and apples at the store and the stallion loved them.
Now she also grained him. At first he hadn’t liked the feed bag she eased over his head, snorting and dancing and backing away. But little by little, his curiosity got the better of him and he returned to the fence to explore the object in her hand.
“It’s all right, Star. This silly bag won’t hurt you. And wait till you taste what’s inside.”
The molasses-covered grain was a special treat, which the animal quickly discovered when she held the bag up to give him a taste.
Eventually, he allowed her to ease the strap over his head. Tory rubbed his ears and played with his topknot while he ate. When the grain was gone, she walked back over to where Josh stood by the fence.
“I want to go into the pasture. He’s never tried to hurt me. I don’t think he will.”
“Not yet,” Josh said. “I’ve got a call in to the man who owned the ranch before I bought it. I know he wasn’t the stallion’s original owner. I’m hoping he can tell me who was. I want to know as much as I can about Satan—”
“Star,” she corrected.
“Fine. I want to know as much about Star as I can before you get close enough for him to hurt you.”
She sighed. Star tossed his head and nickered. She thought of his sleek black coat and long-lashed dark brown eyes. “I wonder if he’d ever let me ride him.”
Josh’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you kidding me? You don’t know how to ride and this sure as hell isn’t the horse for you to learn on.”
She told herself not to say it, but the words spilled out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Maybe you could teach me.”
Something hot and glittering flashed in his eyes, then it was gone. “You want me to teach you to ride,” he said darkly.
“Why not? This is a ranch, isn’t it? You have a whole bunch of horses. Surely one of them is tame enough for me to handle.”
He shoved his hat back with the tip of his finger, then tugged it into place again. “I don’t have time. I’ve got to rebuild the barn.”
It was true, but she didn’t think that was the reason. “You’re right. You’ve got a lot to do. It’s no big deal.”
Those incredible blue eyes slid over her body in a way that made her nipples peak beneath her cotton blouse. For a moment he closed his eyes as if he were in pain.
“Fine, I’ll teach you to ride. I’ll pick a horse and starting tomorrow, we’ll ask Mrs. T. to stay an extra hour in the afternoon. That suit you?”
Excited, she nodded. “I’m a quick learner. With any luck it won’t take too long.”
“Yeah, with any luck,” he grumbled. He turned toward the pile of black rubble that once was a barn. “I’m heading into town. So far the sheriff hasn’t done squat. I want to talk to Randy Stevens.”
Since the night of the fire, there hadn’t been any more trouble. Tory thought that if Damon had burned down the barn, he would have done something else by now. But the sheriff hadn’t made an arrest yet, so everyone on the ranch stayed wary.
“You don’t have to worry about supper,” Josh said, surprising her. “I won’t be home.”
She wanted to ask him why, but she had a hunch she didn’t want to know. “All right.”
“In the meantime, stay away from Satan.”
“His name is Star.”
He made no reply, just shook his head, turned and strode away. She watched the movement of his muscular behind and tried to ignore the hot tug low in her belly.
She wished she had a disposable phone so she could call Lisa. Her best friend was an expert on men. Surely she could suggest a way to deal with the situation Tory found herself in.
She thought about catching up to Josh, asking him to buy her a cheap disposable phone, but she didn’t want to inconvenience him.
She thought about tomorrow and the riding lesson he had promised to give her. Images arose of a different sort of riding, and heat scorched her face. Tory shoved away her embarrassing thoughts and headed for the house.
Chapter Eleven
Josh pulled his white Ford F-150 up in front of Jim Stevens’s house, a nice brick ranch-style not too far from town. Randy was out of high school but as far as Josh knew, the kid still lived at home.
Josh hadn’t lived in Iron Springs that long, but the town was small enough he already knew a lot of people. The story written about his career as a marine sniper had made him a local celebrity.