Chapter Three

A scream ripped from Isabella’s lips as her feet lifted from the ground. Just as quickly as it had been in her bedroom, a warm, large hand clamped down on her lips. But this time it wasn’t as firmly placed and she immediately reacted, clamping her teeth into the man’s flesh.

He let out a groan as he jerked his hand away, his arm squeezing her middle as a curse escaped his lips. She thrashed her body against him, knowing the entire time there was little to no chance of getting away. She wasn’t ready to give up the fight though, even if the odds were against her.

She planned on circling back to the boat and pushing it into the water if need be. She’d simply float until she was rescued. It was the only plan she’d managed to come up with. She, for dang sure, wasn’t being held captive by this man, no matter how good-looking he was.

“What if there had been a pirate out here who’d grabbed you?” the man asked with a gasp at the end as her elbow connected in a perfect spot just between his ribs. Her arm felt as if it were on fire, but causing him even a little bit of damage made her own pain well worth it.

Showing a weakness gave her a whole new rush of adrenaline, and she kicked and yelled as she tried to pull away from him. Her foot slid between his legs and caught at the back of his knee and suddenly the two of them were moving.

The ground quickly arose and Isabella knew she was about to get crushed between her large captor and a giant rock. If she wasn’t knocked out cold by the fall, she’d surely have some nasty injuries. But shockingly he managed to twist their bodies at the last second and instead of her head slamming into the hard ground, he took the brunt of the fall, and she hit him.

He was nearly as hard as a boulder, but her head had been protected and though her breath had been taken, she took this new opportunity to slam her knee into his leg. He let out a growl of frustration before she felt the two of them moving again.

Before she had time to think about stopping what he had planned, he rolled her over, pinning her between the ground and his large body. Her struggles slowed when she found she could barely move with him on top of her.

Her hands were free, but the minute she slapped his face, wiping the smug look from his lips, he captured her wrists in both hands and held them high above her head, stretching her body fully against his solidness.

Isabella wasn’t ready to give up, but her struggles were futile. She glared into his frustrated eyes, trying once more to kick him. He sighed as if he was dealing with a child, and that only served to tick her off all that much more.

“Enough!” he thundered when she managed to free one foot enough to dig her heel into his calf muscle.

With the opening of her legs, she realized all she’d managed to do was sink him farther against her, making her less able to get away. Not only that, but she also realized he was aligned perfectly with her, and he was obviously turned on by all of this wrestling. She gulped and instantly stopped wiggling.

Isabella’s eyes met this man’s intense gaze, and she opened her mouth to speak. No words came out as she tried to figure out what it was she was feeling. There was certainly fear inside her, but something new was also beginning to seep through her blood. She didn’t have time to figure it out.

“Let me up,” she said, wanting the words to come out forcefully. They were little more than a squeak though.

“I’m finding it’s dangerous to allow you freedom,” he said. It almost sounded like amusement in his tone. She was unsure what to think of that.

His amusement seemed to die quickly as his gaze caressed her face, resting on her parted lips. An unfamiliar feeling of hunger coursed through her body as he pressed a little more tightly against her, his eyes narrowing.

It took a few more seconds for her to realize it was desire blazing in his eyes, and about a second longer to understand her body was reacting to that desire in a way that was foreign to her. Though he’d taken her from her room in the middle of the night, there was something about this man that spoke of honor. Maybe she was going about this the wrong way. Maybe he could be reasoned with. She had nothing to lose by trying.

“I’m not consenting to what you’re thinking,” she said, emotion lodged in her throat. “If you’re a gentleman of any kind you’ll release me.”

His eyes snapped back to hers as he looked slightly horrified. He released her hands, and she felt relief as she pulled them to her sides, allowing blood to flow through her tingling hands. The man had a strong grip, that was for sure. Everything about him was massive and solid. She had never been so intimately pressed against any man, and hadn’t imagined ever lying this way with someone so . . . she couldn’t complete the thought. He was just so . . . so everything.

Her heart thundered as he looked at her lips again, and she was fighting a panic attack as she found it difficult to breathe. She wasn’t sure if it was the weight of him or if these odd feelings running through her system caused a total system failure.

“I can’t breathe,” she said, her voice conveying the urgency of the situation.

His expression remained suspicious, but he rose up, keeping his knees tightly pressed against the outside of her thighs and sat down against her hips, keeping her pinned to the ground.

“I’ve enjoyed the chase, Izzy, but I can’t have you running off every five minutes. There are things that go bump in the night even on an island, and I don’t want anything to happen to you,” he told her.

“What?” she squeaked. “Are you going to pretend to be worried about me?” The thought was ridiculous.

“I’m responsible for you until I figure out what I will do next,” he told her.

Fury rushed through her. “You will let me go. That’s what you will do,” she said. She barely refrained from reaching up and slapping him again. All that would lead to was being fully pinned down. She had to be smarter than that.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said after a slight pause as if he had to think about that.

“You will stop touching me,” she said again. Although she knew this man was dangerous, there was something in his expression that told her he wasn’t a typical thug wandering the streets in the night. There was something that assured he wouldn’t hurt her. She was pretty damn naïve though, and she might be completely misreading the situation.

He quickly leaned down, his hands on either side of her face as he lowered his head so he was only a few inches from her mouth. His hot breath caressed her lips as his eyes darkened.

“I will bite off your tongue if you dare to put it in my mouth,” she threatened.

He looked surprised for a moment and then that earlier sparkle she’d witnessed in him flashed through his eyes again before the corner of his lip turned up. He rose a brow at her, and she desperately wanted to smack the smugness right out of him.

“I mean it,” she said, just in case he wasn’t taking her seriously enough.

Quickly he swooped in and captured her bottom lip between his teeth, gently biting down before releasing her, not giving her enough time to do anything about the action. He pulled back then jumped to his feet. She lay there a moment longer, in shock at all that had happened in such a short period of time.

“I bite too,” he smugly said as he held out a hand to help her up.

With a glare, she ignored the hand and ungracefully struggled to her feet. She took one step away from him, and then another. She had no idea where she was going, but she didn’t struggle when he physically turned her body and pointed in a different direction from where she’d been headed.

Her chin pointing upward, she marched forward, not knowing what the rest of this day would bring. She felt she was in a dangerous situation, but there were other emotions stirring inside of her she had no chance of understanding.

“I’m Robert, by the way,” he said. He was close enough to her she could practically feel the vibration from his body as he spoke.

“It’s definitely not a pleasure to meet you,” she told him, refusing to look his way.

When she heard him chuckle at her words, her fingers clenched into fists. It appeared there wasn’t much she could do about her situation, but being a dancing clown for this man was the last thing she wanted to do.

She decided she’d obey as best she could until she figured out how to get away. In the meantime she was going to refuse to speak to him. She didn’t know what good that would do, but it was all she could come up with.

This man — this Robert — wasn’t getting the best of her. Not on this day, not on any day.