Golden Binds

Garret looked over at the female sitting huddled against the wall. He felt a stab of longing. And a strange sense of possessiveness.

“What if she’s the one?”

The other two turned to look at her. Sawyer shook his head. “You’re just horny. She can’t be ours or she would have brought forth our bears.”

?

?Mine is closer to the surface,” Garret told them.

There was silence for a long moment as they thought that through.

Joe ran his hand over his face. “All right. Let’s just figure out who this female is and what she wants, then we can work out what to do with her. Garret, go and ask her who she works for. It should be easy enough to verify if she’s telling the truth.”

5

She startled as the door crashed open, and Mr. Hottie strolled in.

She watched him warily as he shut the door behind him then leaned against it. He folded his arms across his chest and just watched her.

She stared back at him. Gone was the seething male who’d stomped out of here earlier. Also gone was the irreverent playboy. This guy was thoughtful and serious, and she wasn’t certain she liked it.

Gigi had to force herself not to fidget. Hard to do when she felt like a bug caught under a microscope. What the hell did he find so interesting?

Don’t react. Don’t say anything. Sweat it out.

“Trying to count my freckles?” Drat. So much for keeping quiet.

“You don’t have any freckles. Unless they’re somewhere I have yet to see.” His gaze moved over her body, and, to her horror, she found herself reacting. What was it about these guys that made her want to undress them and lick every delicious inch one moment then bash them over the head with a big stick the next?

She’d never reacted to any male like this before. Having sex had just never interested her all that much. Probably because any man who touched her was going to face her brother’s wrath if he ever discovered what had gone on. And she didn’t want that on her conscience.

So, did that mean she didn’t care if her brother stuck concrete shoes on these guys and threw them in the ocean?

Or was it that she thought they might be the only men she’d ever met with a chance against her brother? Shit. What was she thinking? Carlin had several hundred men working for him, all of them as cut-throat and unburdened by morals as the next. Three guys living in a castle weren’t a match for her brother.

She didn’t know why, but the thought of something happening to these guys made her feel ill. She should hate them. She did hate them. They were scumsucking jackasses. They’d locked her up, stripped her of her clothes, made her believe she was going to have to pee in a bucket, all because she’d broken into their house and helped herself to some food.

Yeah, so maybe she’d deserved to be locked up. But even prisoners got clothes and a toilet.

And haven’t they given you that?

Yeah. But it took them a while.

Okay, so she was having to work hard to hold on to her anger. And that annoyed her. She might have been in the wrong—all right, so she’d broken the law—but so had they. It wasn’t legal to detain her like this.

“You’ve seen everything you’re going to,” she snapped at him.

“Oh, I don’t think so.” He winked at her and her insides turned to mush. She folded her arms across her chest to hide the hardening of her nipples. He was a player. He was used to getting anyone he wanted. He was just fooling around with her. He didn’t actually desire her.

“Then you’re planning on raping me?”

His eyes widened. He just stared at her for a few long heartbeats. Then he shook his head. “I don’t rape women.”

“Then there’s no way you’re ever seeing if I have any freckles on my . . . private areas.”

“Challenge accepted.” He grinned at her.

Then it was her turn to gape at him. Then she shook her head. “No. There is no challenge.”