Chapter Fourteen
Boyd dismounted and went back to check on Tessa. He threw the blanket off of her and saw that she was conscious. He smiled, quite satisfied with himself.
“Well, honey, it looks like you’re back among the living. How’d you like to sit up and ride normal-like?” he asked with a menacing chuckle.
Tessa nodded, not trusting her voice. She suffered in silence as he untied the ropes that had held her bound on the horse’s back and then dragged her off the mount. Boyd knelt down and untied her legs. He ran a hand familiarly up her calf, toying with her, then stood up and loomed threateningly over her.
“I got a lot I want to teach you, woman, but this ain’t the time right now. Though, I tell you, I am tempted to take the time.” He leered down at her.
Tessa looked up at him without flinching. She was careful to keep her expression blank.
“Why ain’t you talking? A cat got your tongue?”
She only stared at him in defiant silence.
“Get on the horse. We got some miles to go yet, before I can get my enjoyment outta you.”
Tessa turned to her horse. Though her hands were still bound, she managed to mount up astride. It wasn’t easy because she was wearing a dress, but she did it.
Boyd came to stand next to her. He lifted her skirt and ran a hand up underneath it, kneading her thigh. He smiled when he felt her tense against his touch.
“Yeah, we got a lot to look forward to tonight. We should be at the line shack in another hour or two, so I want you to start thinking about how you’re going to pleasure me. I can almost feel your hands on me. . . .”
She almost gagged as he continued his explicit talk, telling her in detail what he wanted her to do. Of all the men in the world she’d ever longed to touch or kiss, Boyd would be dead last on the list. Tessa listened to his rantings, and she wondered how Sarah had managed to stay with him for as long as she had. Her heart went out to the other woman—wherever she was—and more than ever, even in spite of her own dangerous situation, Tessa was glad that she’d helped her to get away.
Boyd left her, then took up her reins and mounted his own horse. He started off again, leading her horse.
Tessa looked back the way they’d come, desperately hoping to see some sign that someone was tracking them, but she saw only the dark emptiness of the night.
They rode on for what seemed like endless miles. Boyd fell silent only a few times during the trek. Mostly he entertained Tessa with stories of what he was going to do to Sarah once he finally got his hands on her. It wasn’t pretty.
With every passing mile and threat, Tessa’s conviction to fight him tooth and nail hardened. She would not—could not—give in to this man without a fight. Boyd was basically a coward. He only picked on women he could overpower. Sarah hadn’t put up much of a fight, but he’d never dealt with Tessa Sinclair before. She was girding herself, preparing for the horrible confrontation she knew was to come.
“Here we are, sweetheart,” Boyd called back to Tessa as he turned his horse up a narrow, rocky path. “There ain’t nobody ever gonna find us up here, and that’s just the way I want it. I want to be all alone with you.”
Tessa had no idea where they were as they started up the road. When the trail ended, she could see in the moonlight a small shack that must have been a line cabin.
“Where are we?” she finally asked.
“Don’t you worry about that none. There ain’t a soul within miles of this place. I made sure of that when I decided to bring you here. I got us supplies in and everything. We ain’t going anywhere until I get tired of you.” He reined in and dismounted. He dropped the reins to her horse as he walked toward her.
It was then that Tessa made her first daring move. The moment she realized Boyd was no longer holding her reins, she kneed her horse with all her might and leaned low over its neck to try to grab the reins herself.
“You little bitch!” Boyd roared as the horse half reared and threatened to bolt.
Tessa tried to turn her mount using only her knees. She was desperate to make her escape on horseback, but Boyd moved too quickly for her. He snared her still-dangling reins and brought the horse quickly under control. Angered by her escape attempt, he pulled her from her horses back.
“I’d hate like hell for anything to happen to you just yet!”
“Don’t touch me!” Tessa jerked free of his hold.
Boyd only laughed as he pulled her back against him. He lifted one hand to touch her cheek. “Pretty soon you’re going to be begging me to touch you. Just wait.”
“I can wait, believe me!” She squirmed against him, hating being this close to him. He reeked of body odor and liquor, and she almost gagged.
Her words made him even angrier. He took her arm in a viselike grip and started toward the cabin.
“If you hadn’t helped Sarah, you wouldn’t be here right now!” he said in a snarl as he forced her along with him. “Maybe by the time I’m done with you, you’ll have learned to mind your own business!”
Tessa dug her heels in and refused to move.
Cursing, Boyd was forced to bodily drag her along with him.
“Come on, honey. We’re going to have us some fun!”
“No!” she screamed.
The forlorn sound of her cry echoed through the night.
Tessa knew that once he got her inside the cabin, any chance of escape would be gone. She continued to try to tear herself away from him, but he only laughed at her struggles.
“I do love feisty women. Sarah wasn’t like you. She’d fight me a little bit, but then she’d just lie there and let me hit her. You’re going to be much more fun,” he said, his breath hot on her neck as he leaned toward her.
Boyd opened the door and shoved her inside the shack ahead of him. He quickly lit a lamp and stood back to look at her as she stood before him.
“You know, missy, you and me—we could have fun tonight. What do you say? This can be easy or this can be a fight. Either way I’m going to have you, so you might as well lie down on that bed and spread your legs. I’ve waited about as long as I can. I’ve been thinking about this and planning this, and I’m ready for you now.”
Boyd advanced on her.
Tessa backed away. She nervously let her gaze dart about the small one-room cabin, searching for an escape route or some kind of weapon she could use to defend herself. Her hands were still bound, but she knew that if she could get hold of a revolver or a knife she might be able to stop him. The shack was sparsely furnished, though, with only the cot and a table and chairs. There was nothing she could use to save herself.
“Stay away from me, Boyd Wilson. Marshal Trent is coming after us, and it won’t be pretty once he catches up with you.”
Boyd only laughed again. “Trent doesn’t even know you’re gone yet. I sent him on a wild-goose chase while I was trapping you. It’ll be dawn before he can even get out of town with a posse, and by then I’ll have had my fill of you.”
His statement terrified her. She remembered how Jared had left her side so quickly at the dance, and she feared that what Boyd was saying was true. Jared hadn’t even been there when she’d been kidnapped; it was possible no one would even notice she was missing until morning.
“You’re wrong!” she argued. “Jared knows all about you! He’ll come after me!”
“Oh, it’s ‘Jared,’ is it?” he said in a sneer, closing in on her. “You know him real good, do you?”
“Yes, and when he gets here, he’s going to—”
“Give up your dreaming, bitch. There ain’t nobody who knows where we are. It’s just you and me, alone in this here line shack. I planned it this way, so we wouldn’t be interrupted.”
He advanced on her threateningly, his eyes aglow with his lecherous intent.
“Stay away from me, Boyd Wilson! Don’t you even think about touching me!”
“Oh, I’m more than thinking about it. I’m looking forward to it!” He came even nearer.
Tessa made her move. In a last, frantic, desperate attempt to flee, she shoved a chair at him and made a run for the door. She managed to throw the door wide, but she never made it outside. Boyd caught up with her and grabbed her from behind. He slammed her back against his chest.
Tessa cried out in true horror and pain. Her worst nightmare was coming true. She twisted in his arms, trying to break free. She couldn’t get away, but in a stroke of pure luck, her struggles allowed her to grab his sidearm.
Boyd realized instantly what she’d done, and he snared her wrist, trying to strip the gun from her hand. He was shocked by the strength and fury of her fight. Sarah had never resisted him this much. It only made him madder and even more determined to force her to obey him and to submit to him.
They continued the savage battle over the gun. He finally managed to force Tessa’s hand up so the revolver was pointed away from them both.
The sound of a gunshot exploded the stillness.
Jared was growing frustrated. He had stayed on Boyd’s trail for hours now, but the going had been slow, even with the brightness of the nearly full moon. Its muted light had helped him with the tracking, but he still felt he wasn’t gaining on them fast enough. He feared he wouldn’t catch up with them in time to save Tessa from whatever torture Boyd had planned for her.
Reining his mount in, Jared sat in silence and studied the rocky landscape around him. They had to be somewhere close—but where? He dismounted to check the tracks. They had passed this way. He climbed back in the saddle and urged his horse on at a slow, measured gait.
Jared hoped Boyd didn’t realize that he was this close on his trail. If the man felt overconfident, he might make a mistake.
It was then, in the silence of the night, that the sound of Tessa’s cry came to Jared.
“No!”
The desperate sound pierced him to the very depths of his soul. He tensed, waiting, listening, hoping for another clue to her whereabouts. Her cry had been distant, but had not seemed too far off. When all remained quiet, he kneed his mount forward again.
Jared knew Boyd had worked for the Rocking K Ranch for a while and that this was Rocking K land. There had to be a good reason he’d come this way, and Jared was convinced that the man believed he had a safe hideout somewhere close by. He planned on proving him wrong very shortly.
Jared hadn’t ridden too much farther when the sound of a gunshot rent the night. The explosion sent a chill through his very soul. Drawing his sidearm, he urged his horse to a gallop. There had been no mistaking the direction the shot had come from, and he feared for Tessa’s life.
The low glow of the lamplight from the rundown line shack’s window was a beacon. Jared knew he’d finally found them. Reining in a short distance away, he dismounted and, staying low, cautiously approached the cabin. He could see no movement inside the shack and feared he was too late.
Silently Jared offered up a prayer that the gunshot hadn’t harmed Tessa. Jared was reliving his worst nightmare as he moved ever nearer the cabin. He knew that if anything had happened to her he would never be able to forgive himself. He had watched his father die. He would not let it happen to Tessa.
Jared knew Tessa was everything that was good about people. She was generous and kind and loving, not to mention beautiful and intelligent. She didn’t deserve the savagery Boyd was trying to wreak upon her. He had to save her—now.
Reaching the side of the shack, Jared pressed himself close against it. He slowly rose to take a look in the window.
Tessa struggled against Boyd’s overwhelming strength as he dragged her across the cabin toward the bed.
“Get your hands off me, Boyd!”
“Hell, no, woman. I want my hands all over you!” he told her, laughing at her efforts to free herself.
He was able to control her, but he had to admit that she was a feisty female. Sarah had been easy to dominate. This one was going to be harder, but he knew that ultimately having her would be worth the fight. Just feeling her struggling against him as he forced her toward the bed was arousing him. He was on fire with wanting her, and it wouldn’t be long now.
“I’d rather die than let you touch me!” she swore.
“Don’t tempt me, sweetheart!” he said hotly in her ear as he pawed at her.
The heat of his breath on her neck made Tessa’s flesh crawl, and she could just imagine how horrible it was going to be to be forced to submit to him. Determined to save herself, she fought him even harder, twisting and turning with all her might.
To her misery, Boyd only laughed at her efforts. He lifted her and bodily threw her upon the bed. Tessa tried to get back up and get away, but he grabbed her by the bodice of her gown and shoved her back down. The material ripped in his hand, and he grinned evilly as her lacy chemise was revealed to him.
Boyd went still. Drool was gathering in the corner of his mouth as he stared down at her. She was his. Nothing was going to stop him from having her now—nothing.
Flaming heat settled low in his loins. This was the time. Boyd laid the revolver on the floor next to the bed and fell heavily upon Tessa, ready for her.
Tessa kicked at Boyd and tried to push him off her, but he was too heavy. He tried to kiss her, but she turned her head to avoid him.
Boyd gripped her chin and forced her to look at him. He could see the fear in her eyes, and he liked it. He felt a rush of power.
“You know what’s gonna happen next?” he asked as he leaned down to cover her mouth with his.
“No!” Tessa’s cry was smothered by his sloppy attack. She almost gagged as he thrust his tongue crudely into her mouth. She tried to tear herself free of him, but succeeded only in exciting him more with her movements.
“Yeah, darling. That’s how I like it. You move for me now.” He was growling as he pressed wet, disgusting kisses down her throat toward her breasts.
“Stop it! You’re an animal! Get off of me!”
“I ain’t getting off of you until I’m through!”
He pushed her skirts up and was reaching down to open his pants. He was not about to be deterred.
Tessa was experiencing true, helpless terror for the very first time in her life. In her heart, she’d been holding fast to the hope that Jared would rescue her. She’d believed that this couldn’t really be happening to her—that Jared would somehow find a way to get there in time, but now she realized that there would be no escaping Boyd. She was his prisoner, and helpless before his brute strength. She closed her eyes to the sight of him exposing himself, and she emotionally girded herself for the torment to come. There would be no escape now. There would be no—
In that instant the door of the cabin seemed to explode inward.
The resounding crash startled Boyd. He froze and looked back over his shoulder to see the lawman coming through the door, his gun in hand. The sight of Jared charging into the cabin spurred him to action. Boyd threw himself off the bed and made a grab for the revolver where he’d left it on the floor.