I made it to the front porch before a heavy rain began to fall. Then came the hail. Good thing I’d parked in the garage. Once inside, I pulled my coat off and handed it to Farns before loosening my tie.

“She in the library?” I asked.

“No, Mr. Sinclair. I believe she and Teddy went out for a ride.”

“Not smart.” Teddy would take care of her, at least. An image of Stella in a wet t-shirt floated through my mind. The thought of her with Teddy was no longer so palatable. “I guess I’ll go see if they made it out of the rain.”

“Very good, sir.” Farns smiled.

I climbed the stairs two at a time to my room. I stripped out of my suit and dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. I was ripping a raincoat from its hanger when a rhythmic banging wafted to my ears.

Lucius was still at the plant. I’d spoken to him on the phone, so no one else should have been in our wing of the house. I yanked on some boots and headed down the hall, creeping along the runner so my steps were silent.

The closer I got to Teddy’s room, the louder the sound grew, and it was interspersed with grunts and feminine moans. My hands clenched. Fire laced around my heart, squeezing like a lasso of flames, drawing me inexorably closer to his door. The image of Stella was back, but this time she was beneath Teddy, writhing in pleasure as he fucked her. I had to lean a hand on the wall as my sight grew hazy, rage coloring everything a shade darker.

No. Well, Farns did say they’d gone for a ride. I would have laughed if anything were funny. Nothing was. Murder might be entertaining, but definitely not amusing. I gripped the door handle, steeling myself for what I was about to see. The cries grew louder and beneath them was the sound of skin slapping on skin.

I flung the door open. Teddy was on top of the maid from the kitchen, Laura. He rolled off her when he saw me.

“Sin!” Teddy threw his blanket across her naked body.

I let out a pent up breath. Relief washed through me, replacing the bitter taste of hate and rage.

“Don’t you fucking knock anymore?”

“Fuck, Teddy. I thought you were…” I shook my head.

“With Stella?” Teddy asked.

“I should go.” Laura’s voice quavered.

“No, stay.” Teddy smoothed a hand over her knee.

Her face looked pinched as she stared up at me.

I sighed. “I’m not going to fire you, Laura.” Though I should.

I should have ordered her to pack up and leave then and there. Instead, my mind was whirring away with where Stella was, what she was doing. Teddy’s discipline could wait.

She let out a pent up breath, the blood returning to her face with a vengeance.

“Of course he’s not going to fire you.” Teddy glared at me.

“Teddy. We’ve talked about this. You can’t fuck the help.”

“Just like you can’t fuck the Acquisition?”

I returned his glare. “Stella is none of your business. I told you to stay out of it.”

“It’s kind of hard for me to stay out of it when you force her to stand naked on the table or whip her so badly—”

“Teddy!” I barked. I glanced to Laura. She looked away, pretending to be deaf.

He shrugged and dropped his gaze. “You know what I mean.”

“Teddy, please believe me when I tell you that you don’t know shit about any of it. Not the Acquisition, and definitely not Stella.” I regretted the words as soon as they were out. Teddy looked stung. Lucius was fair game, but Teddy—he wasn’t like us. He had a good heart.

I balled my anger up and pushed it down before resuming in an even tone. “I’m sorry, Teddy. I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I’d know more about it if you’d tell me. Maybe I could help.” He stood and ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t seem to notice his half-mast dick was waving around.

“You don’t need to know. It’s only for the firstborn.” I’d had this conversation about six times with him ever since Stella arrived.

“Then why does Lucius know?”

“Lucius just thinks he knows. He doesn’t. Trust me. When you’re older and if you have to deal with this shit, you’ll know. And you’ll regret it, okay?”

He grumbled and sat back down. He shot a glance to Laura and his demeanor brightened the slightest bit.

The silence became more than awkward. Laura coughed.

“So, where’s Stella?” The question that had been on my lips from the moment I walked in the door finally broke free.

“She went for a ride.” Teddy turned to look out the window. “Shit. I didn’t realize that was thunder I was hearing. I thought it was—”

“Your bed busting through the wall, stallion?” I needed to break the tension. Teddy was worth protecting and I didn’t want him to feel like I did—caught in an unfair trap.

He smiled, blushing. “Something like that.”

I followed his gaze out into the downpour.

Fuck. If Stella was out in this, she’d be soaked through and lucky if she avoided the hail. The temperature was dropping now that the cold front was moving through. I needed to find her. Fast.

“She was heading to the levee, if that helps,” Teddy said.

“It does. Thanks, Ted. Sorry for the interruption.”

I swung the door closed. As I hit the stairs, the rhythm began wafting from his room again.

I dashed to the garage and started my car. The rain was a milky barrier and the hail pinged off the luxury vehicle. It was painful hearing the damage, but I was too worried to care. I broke through the sheets of opaque water and raced down the slick drive into the back part of the estate. I contemplated driving down toward the levee, but realized if I did and she’d gone off in the woods, I wouldn’t be able to find her. I pulled up into the stables and killed the engine.

I hoped she was inside, warm and dry, waiting for the rain to stop. I ran down the stalls, looking for her. She wasn’t there, and the mare Gloria was gone. Something unsettling and queasy swirled in my stomach. It was a feeling I wasn’t very familiar with, not anymore. Fear.

Shadow whinnied at a particularly loud blast of thunder and stomped his disapproval. The tack room door was open and a saddle was missing. I wasted no time getting my horse saddled and ready. He stood calmly as the thunder rumbled, as if desperate to get out for a ride, storm be damned.

“It’s going to be a wet trip.” I climbed into the saddle and spurred him out of the stables and into the rain. At least the hail had stopped.

The droplets stung as I urged Shadow into the deluge. We set a hellish pace. It wasn’t simply raining, the sky was jettisoning the water, throwing it forcefully earthward. Lightning split the sky above us, the flash and resulting sound making Shadow rear.

“Steady. Steady, boy.” I held onto the reins for dear life and eased him back down. “Keep it together.” I ran my hand along his nape, smoothing his mane as the rain soaked through me, the jacket doing nothing against the onslaught.

He resumed a moderate gallop, and I guided him onto the road as the grass along the sides became muck. It was harder on his hooves, but made it easier for him to maneuver, so he picked up his pace. I felt as if I were racing the clock—a burning need to get to Stella had settled deep in my gut.

What was she thinking going for a ride alone? If she wanted to ride she should have asked me. I would have taken her. Now, she’d gotten herself into a mess. Even as I silently berated her, that same queasy fear overcame my ire.

I saw movement in the gloomy sheets of rain ahead. A horse. My heart rose. I pulled back on the reins. I could lead Stella back to the stables and get her warmed up in no time. I ignored the intense relief that settled over me and squinted against the wall of water. A gust of wind pushed the watery curtain aside for a split second. My heart sank.

Fuck.

Gloria emerged from the downpour and flew past us, back toward the stables. She was riderless and beyond spooked. My momentary reprieve sent me into an even deeper state of panic once I realized it was nothing more than a mirage. Stella was somewhere out in the storm.

My thoughts came in a torrent to match the deluge all around me. Teddy said she went toward the levee. Where would she have wandered?

“Faster, Shadow.” I dug my heels in and he shot forward.

I ignored the bite of the water droplets lashing my face. The cold was seeping into my pores, leeching away my body heat as I urged Shadow forward. The streaking lightning and rolling thunder became just another part of the blur of scenery. We were full gallop, a breakneck pace, racing into the heart of the raging storm.

We crossed the narrow bridge leading to the levee. I pulled him to the left, up to the top of the knoll where I felt Stella may have tarried. We slowed and turned in a circle around the area. She must have been here. I could barely see, but the grass had been chewed, and some of the blades were smoothed down, as if someone had lain there recently. She’d been here. Where did she go?

Though I couldn’t see it, I knew the old hunting camp was nearby. She may have tried to make it to the log cabin. I spurred Shadow up and around the edge of the lake and into the pine woods. I kept a tight hold on the reins. Shadow was spooked, ready to bolt. I kept his gait slow. If Stella were trying to shelter under the branches, I couldn’t afford to miss her. Shadow’s feet were sinking in the muddy ground beneath the trees and he kept trying to move faster.

“Easy boy. Slow. Keep it slow.” The roar of the rain hitting every surface stifled my voice, but Shadow obeyed.

I angled him toward where I knew the log cabin sat in the woods. We’d gone about a hundred yards before the smell of ozone overcame the fresh scent of water in the air. A blackened tree, scarred and hewn in two lay to our right. It must have been struck recently.

Shit. Where is she?

We cantered a little further before I saw her. She lay in a crumpled mass on the ground. My heart, already racing, felt like it could have stopped altogether, never to beat again. I jumped from Shadow, keeping a hard grip on the reins as I dragged him to her.

“Stella!” I yelled against the rain, my voice barely carrying above the howling wind.

She didn’t move. Blood streamed from a wound along her brow and she was pale, far too white. I scooped her into my arms, the fear in my soul real, almost palpable.

She was breathing. When her chest moved against me, I carefully draped her limp body across Shadow’s back. With one hand holding her secure and the other still squeezing the reins, I led Shadow through the trees, the rumbles of thunder no match for the booming beat of my heart. I pushed forward, ripping my boots from the soaked and muddy ground again and again. After a while, my legs burned from the effort. I ignored the pain. Nothing would stop me from getting her to safety. I kept pushing until the cabin came into view.

I pulled Shadow up onto the wide porch and fastened his reins to the railing. “You’ll be safe here.” I hoisted Stella from his back and carried her inside.

The cabin was old, but we kept it up. Recently remodeled with modern amenities, it was much more than a usual hunting camp. I tracked mud onto the Carrera marble floors and laid Stella, dirty and bloody, onto the leather sofa. The storm still raged outside, but the cabin was like a cocoon, muffling the raw fury of the elements.

We were soaked. I brushed matted hair from her face and examined the cut along her temple. It was shallow, but bleeding like a son of a bitch. I felt around through her hair and discovered a golf ball sized knot on the side of her head. Fuck.

“Stella, wake up for me. Stella?”

She shivered. I set to work stripping her, yanking her boots off first before getting her down to her bra and panties. I checked her over, looking for blood or any broken bones. The dread left me incrementally, each piece of her that was intact wicked it away.

She seemed fine except for her head. Which was the exact opposite of fine, really. More than anything, I needed to get her warm. I picked her up and lay her down on the fluffy rug in front of the fireplace. I grabbed the remote from the mantle and clicked on the flames, forcing them higher and higher until warmth rushed forward and onto us.

I hurriedly stripped my clothes and pulled her close, her back to my front as we lay in front of the roaring fire. I pulled her hair away from her face and smoothed it down.

“Stella, I need you to wake up for me.” I ran my hand down her side. Her skin was clammy and cold despite the blast of heat.

I grabbed the edge of the rug and flung it over us. We were wrapped in sheepskin and directly in front of the fire. We would either warm up or burn to death.

“Come on, Stella.” I needed her to be all right. I told myself it was because I needed her for the Acquisition. It was a lie. I wanted her. I cared for her. And wasn’t that just a fucking problem of epic proportions.

I kept rubbing my hand down her side, willing my heat into her. Slowly, her skin warmed under my touch. She shifted, her eyelids fluttering, and I breathed a sigh that carried more angst than I knew I was capable of holding.

“Sinclair?”

“Yes. I’m here.”

“What happened?”

“You’ll have to tell me. I found you in the woods. How’s your head?”

“It hurts.” Her voice was small.

I put my hands on her shoulders and turned her around so she faced me. The cut had stopped bleeding, but red still remained along the edges of her hair and in her eyebrow. I ran my hand over the bump on her head. It seemed to have shrunk a bit. I tilted her chin up so I could look into her eyes. The pupils appeared to match. No concussion. Maybe.

I shook my head and pulled her closer to me so her head fell into the crook of my neck. “You are a mess.”

“You should see the other guy.”

I laughed. I hadn’t actually laughed from pure amusement at anyone except for my brothers in so long it felt odd, but also right.

“Mmm, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh. Well, maybe you do whenever you’re drowning puppies or something. I’ve just never heard it.”

I nuzzled into her wet hair. “Puppy drowning is every Thursday. You’ll just have to catch me at the right time.”

She giggled and draped an arm over me. The air between us expanded, somehow becoming bigger, fuller; maybe even a little expectant. We were lying on a rug in front of a fire while the storm raged outside. We should be drinking wine and laughing and fucking. But this wasn’t a romance or a fairy tale. She was my Acquisition.

“Stop thinking.” She lifted her lips to mine and brushed against them softly. A delicious tease.

“I don’t know if I can.”

“If I can then you can. After all, I’m the captive, the slave, the Acquisition, the one you whip and humili—”

I claimed her mouth because, fuck, I wanted to and to shut her up. Hearing her recite my long list of sins was too much truth. At that moment in front of the fire, I wanted the fairy tale. I wanted to be her knight instead of her demon. I kissed her like I meant it, like I felt something more for her than ownership. I let myself go. Just this one time.

She answered with more verve than I had any right to deserve or expect. She had surprised me so many times over the past weeks that I should have been accustomed to it. I wasn’t. When she brought her hand to my cheek and caressed it lovingly, I was caught up in her more than I could stand. I threw the rug from us and pulled her on top of me, never breaking our desperate kiss.

She straddled me, the fabric of her panties a maddening barrier between her delectable skin and mine. I unhooked her bra. She sat up and took it off, her nipples puckered and hard in the dancing firelight. I palmed her breasts, the weight of each perfect in my hands. She closed her eyes and dropped her head back as I touched and stroked and teased. I leaned up and caught one of the pearled tips in my mouth. She tasted like rain and sweat and sweetness. Perfection. I licked and sucked her in, rubbing the nub against my tongue. Her hips moved against my cock, giving me a glimpse of what awaited me beneath the fabric—hot, wet, and wanting.

I hooked my fingers in the side of her panties and ripped them. I did the same on the other side and yanked them from her. My cock jumped at the promise of euphoria her pussy offered. I knew it was tight, slick, perfect. She rubbed her needy clit over my shaft, giving herself a cheating pleasure just as she gave me the same. I wanted it all.

I gripped her hips and raised her. She wrapped her small hand around my cock. She’d gone from cold to scorching hot in moments, and her touch made me hiss.

“Fucking hell, Stella.” I could barely get the words out through my gritted teeth.

She teased me, rubbing my head against her clit as her hips rocked against me. I wasn’t waiting any more. I pulled her forward, positioning my head at her opening. When she slid down on my shaft, I groaned from the demanding need to thrust up into her. My fingertips dug into her soft hips. She gave me a sultry gaze, eyes green and partly hidden beneath her lashes. When she raised up and settled down again, pushing me as deeply as I could go, it took every ounce of willpower I had not to flip her over and fuck her hard and fast.

She leaned down over me, brushing her perfect tits against my chest. She set a slow rhythm, as if trying to get used to my length inside her. It wasn’t enough. I thrust up into her, meeting her strokes with pure animal lust to take everything she had. She was panting, each breath hot between her parted lips. I spread one palm over her ass and fisted her hair with the other.

I crushed our mouths together as our bodies melded into one. She moaned and sped her pace, gliding back and forth on my shaft and rubbing her clit against me. I wanted it in my mouth, but my cock wouldn’t relinquish her tight heat for anything. I was rough, claiming her mouth and pulling her hair. She dug her nails into my chest as she rode me, all reservations gone, surrendered to our mutual pleasure.

I couldn’t wait any longer. I flipped her onto her back and spread her legs wide beneath me. I sat back and fed each inch into her flushed pussy. It was the hottest thing I’d ever seen, making my balls pull up even tighter against me.

“Fucking beautiful, Stella.”

“Sin,” she breathed.

She’d never called me that. I would put that one rasping word on replay in my mind every time I stroked off to thoughts of her tight body.

I rammed myself home, all gentleness gone. I needed her, all of her. She gasped as I lay on top of her and pistoned into her. She grabbed tight onto my shoulders as I fastened my mouth to her neck, the slight salt of her sweat delicious on my tongue. She dug her heels into my back as I ground my cock into her softest skin.

Her hips were pinned, but she still managed to push against me, adding even more roughness to our frantic fucking.

“You like that, Stella? My cock deep inside you?”

“God, yes,” she cried.

“Not god, Stella.” I gave her some longer, harder strokes, and my cock demanded I explode inside her.

“Sin.” She arched her back, rubbing her tits against me.

“Better.” I bent my head down and pulled a stiff nipple into my mouth, sucking it as I pounded into her.

She scored her hands through my hair. “I’m so close.”

I grazed her nipple with my teeth before I raised my head up to meet her lusty gaze. “Yeah?”

I smoothed my hand down her stomach and leaned back, watching her tits bounce beautifully with each impact. I pulled her hips further up to me so I could stay just as deep. Because I was a selfish asshole.

I put one hand on her hip to keep her pinned beneath me then licked my other thumb and pressed the pad against her clit.

She bucked when I touched her sensitive nub.

“Look at me, Stella. I want you to tell me when you come, and I want you to tell me who made you come.”

She nodded and gasped when I increased the pressure on her clit, still fucking her hard. My cock demanded release. I wouldn’t give in, not until she was clamping around me.

Her gaze locked on mine as I swirled my thumb around her clit in small circles. Her pussy pulsed, and I knew she was near the edge. I pushed her over, rubbing her clit faster until her wet walls tensed and squeezed.

“Sin!” She came with crushing pressure on my cock.

Her pussy convulsed as she gripped the rug and repeated that one word. My cock couldn’t take any more, not when I had this beautiful sight before me and her cunt milking me. I gave a final hard thrust and groaned as I shot into her, deep and hard. I filled her, each hot kick of my cock a blissful release until I was spent.

I let myself fall on top of her, feeling her last shudders as I remained buried deep inside.