Rescuing A Runaway Bride Page 3

  Then the cool morning air hit her and she shivered down to her toenails realizing with bemused wonder that she was naked. It had happened, she really did seduce Ramsey, hired him to be her sex instructor. So where was he? Throwing on her nightgown, she stumbled into the kitchen in search of her erotic arts teacher.

  The heady aroma of coffee brewing drew her like a beacon to the kitchen. Jake must have gotten up to make her breakfast¼maybe with him as desert. But that didn’t tell her why he hadn’t even had the decency to take her to bed properly. She’d find out as soon as she had a little of his brew. Grabbing a mug off the drainboard, she poured herself a cup and leaned back against the counter as she took a sip. Then a noise made her turn toward the dining room. Jake was sitting at the chipped old dinette set watching her and the cautious look in his granite gray gave her pause.

  She felt Ramsey’s inquisitive gaze rake over her and froze. Had something happened that changed his mind about letting her stay, being her sex instructor? Well, she had kicked his sexy ass before taking him. That could be the reason he was so wary. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I don’t normally resort to physical violence.”

  “Tell that to the next guy you flip,” he said, the corners of his hard mouth kicking up in a tight smile.

  At least he was dressed today so she wouldn’t have to worry about where to look. But the way his gray tee shirt clung to his toned body reminded her of all his yummy charms. She reluctantly pulled her gaze off his hot body to look at his eyes and got lost again. He had nice eyes, eyes a woman could get lost in. You jumped his bones in the moonlight. It doesn’t mean he’s going to beg you to stay. “I get it you’re rough and tough and no girl is going to get the better of you.”

  “I’ve had worse,” he said.

  She felt Ramsey’s inquisitive gaze rake over her body like a caress and looked away. She probably looked a mess, her dark hair tangled around her shoulders, and her skin rosy with her blush. She’d never been able to hide anything from him before, so why should now be any different? It was time to make a strategic retreat. He hadn’t even had the manners to take her to bed. That more than anything should tell her that this was only a one-night stand for him.

  She set down her cup with a sigh of regret and turned to stalk toward the downstairs bathroom. She knew when to back away. As she locked the door she wondered who she was trying to block¼him from touching her¼or her from flipping him to the floor again and doing him. “Don’t be an idiot,” she said out loud.

  “You say something?” Jake called from the other room.

  Twenty minutes later she dressed in the rayon sundress she’d tossed in her bag for her seduction mission and more new undies. These were cocoa brown with white lace trim. Why hadn’t she stuffed anything sensible into her bag? She gazed at her provocative reflection in the mirror. The dress did just what it was designed to do. Highlight her curves. With Ramsey’s about-face this morning, it was the last thing she wanted to do but she’d just have to brazen it out. She cruised out of the bathroom past the ladder to the loft then came to a screeching halt gazing up at the forbidden zone. What the hell is he hiding up there?

  She ought to find out especially if she was seriously considering hiring him on as her love lesson instructor. Besides, it really was her duty as the owner’s daughter to find out what he was up to. Her mind made up, she started to climb. If she was going to do this, she had to be quick. It was a good thing her fear of heights was a thing of the past.

  At the top, she stopped to peer around and sighed with relief when she saw there was no sign of another woman. She could now admit it had been her biggest fear. So why was this forbidden territory to her? Then she noticed some items he must have brought with him, a laptop computer, and a telescope on a tripod. The scope was matt black and kind of funny looking reminding her of something a sniper used in the movies. What might that scope be homed in on? The knowledge she would be invading his privacy by peeking made her hesitate.

  She was probably jumping to wild conclusions. At least a big part of her hoped so. She’d have to face the consequences if he found out. An outraged growl from below made her freeze. Damn caught in the act. She looked down and went still seeing Jake at the bottom of the ladder glowering up at her.

  “You just couldn’t resist sticking your pretty little nose in where it doesn’t belong, could you, brat?” Ramsey gritted out. “Damn it all, I really am going to take you over my knee for this.”

  Samantha scowled down at him even as her knees wobbled because of her fear of heights. She wasn’t scared of him because he would never really hurt her.

  A nerve pulsed in Jake’s jaw. “In that case, why don’t you come on down from there?”

  She met his eyes and thought she saw a glimmer of understanding dawn there. “I don’t think I can.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t tell me you’re still scared of heights?”

  “I thought I was over it, but I guess I’m not. No thanks to you.” Through clenched teeth, she muttered, “Get me down from here, Ramsey.”

  He grinned back. “Hold still and I’ll take care of you.”

  She wanted to clobber him for finding this situation amusing. Instead, she conjured up a picture of a dewy meadow filled with wild flowers and changed her mantra to I hate Jake.

  Jake scaled up the ladder, coming to stand with his feet on the rung below hers. The ladder swayed, and she screamed, closing her eyes, sure they were going to fall.

  “You’re not going to fall.” Jake’s voice was soft and reassuring. “Can you step down with me?”

  She gave a tiny shake of her head.

  “Yes, you can,” he said. “I’ll never forget you going down on me.”

  Hearing his seductive tone, she flashed back to licking every salty sexy inch of his cock last night and forgot all about her fear for a moment. “You won’t?” she asked, wanting to believe him but she knew how unstudied she was at it.

  “Abso¼fucking¼lutely,” he said, pressing against her. “Blew my mind while you blew me.”

  She heard the teasing lilt of his voice and relaxed a little more. Then she felt his hand smoothing her hair back and melted securely pinned between him and the ladder. He let her feel his heat, his arousal, as he pressed tight to her ass and placed a warm kiss on her exposed nape. She gasped. Her knees wobbled again, but not from fear this time.

  “Feel good?” he asked suggestively. “Come on, baby, let’s go down.”

  “Oh yeah,” she murmured at his coaxing provocative tone, automatically moving with him. At last, her feet touched the floor, and she slumped against the ladder, trembling from a combination of relief and excitement.

  Jake’s hands clasped her shoulders in a firm grip making her shudder. Then he spun her around and she saw a heady mix of emotions flash in his gray eyes before his mouth came down to claim hers.An excited languor surged through her as she kissed him back. Her lips parted under his letting him claim her mouth the way she wanted to claim his body.

  He pressed her back against the ladder and she reveled in the sexy contact, her thin dress leaving her in no doubt of his arousal. His hard cock practically throbbed against her and she couldn’t resist rocking her pussy against him teasing them both. She swallowed his fierce growl of reaction dragging her tingling nipples against him as they beaded into aching hard points. He pushed between her open legs forcefully rocking against her sending a spark through her clit that almost made her come and she clung to him. Just one touch, one bump and she was his for the taking. It wasn’t fair that she didn’t make him feel the same but she was through fighting it. She rubbed against him and shivered, sucking at his tongue, as a pressure built up inside her. This was what she ached for. Waves of anger, fear, and betrayal washed away under his ministrations. He groaned into her mouth and pressed tighter.

  Then he put his foot on one of the ladders rungs, and draped her over his knee, in a sneaky move so swift it made her head spin. Stunned she could only gasp in surprise as he casually flipp
ed up her skirt baring her panty-covered bottom. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded with a shriek and then gasped when his big hand landed in a splat against her bottom. She gasped as heat went through her. “Stop that.”

  “Make me,” he said then chuckled.

  She groaned mortified as he parroted her words back at her. Damn the man he knew just how to push her buttons. Then he drew back his hand to spank her other cheek and she gasped letting out a moan as her clit bumped against his hard thigh sending out sparks of pleasure through her and making her wet.

  “Better,” he said, rubbing a hand over her panties.

  She bit back a sigh of pleasure as he rubbed her hot bottom. God she couldn’t let him know she was getting off on this. Then he drew back his hand and she shuddered with anticipation.

  “Five more and you’ll count them for me, sugar,” he demanded.

  Incensed by the order she snorted. “Not bloody likely, Ramsey.” Then his palm landed splat against the bottom curve of her ass making her shriek and go on tiptoe again and she found herself saying, “O-one”

  “Good girl,” he praised.

  “Bastard,” she bit back then ruined her complaint by moaning when his hand smacked her left cheek. “T-two.”

  He spanked her again cupping her other cheek with his hot palm and she quivered, crying out, “T-three.”

  “Nice panties,” he said, rubbing her ass.

  She pushed back arching against his hot hand wanting more. Did he really think them nice and her sexy? Then he raised his hand to smack her bottom and she whimpered holding still for it. Crying out in pleasure when heat bloomed through her. “F-Four,” she whimpered beside herself.

  “Excellent,” he praised.

  She noticed his husky tone and felt his growing bulge against her belly and knew he was just as turned on. Then his hand smacked down splayed open covering her ass and she cried out her pussy clenching as the move drove her clit against him hard. And then he cupped her heat in his hand, his fingers sliding along her wet heat over her silky panties to hone in on her stiff little clit and pinch it and she came with a shout as he held her safe.

  Her eyes were still closed, her toes still curled when he whirled her around to sit her astride his thigh. She gasped at the pressure against her still quivering pussy feeling oh-so vulnerable and at the same time powerful. One look at the storm clouds in Jake’s gunmetal gray eyes told her he was just as involved. Hell this was no way to set boundaries for a possible affair.

  She felt her cheeks flame, gazing into the smoky depths of his eyes. Good grief, she’d come from a spanking. He’d probably think she was the sex-starved princess Grayson called her while he was screwing the blonde bimbo but even so there was no way she’d take what just happened back.

  Jake frowned. “Get in your car and leave while you still can.”

  The pain of rejection that caused would have made her crumble if he wasn’t still holding her fast. That was until she saw the banked heat in his eyes. He said go away but he held her fast. Something weird was going on here and she couldn’t figure it out when he had her tied up in sensual knots. “And how am I supposed to do that?” She looked pointedly at his big hands currently clamped on her arms holding her fast. She saw the flash of self-disgust that went through him and knew exactly how conflicted he probably felt. Then in the next instant he was setting her down, catching her when she might have fallen until her wobbly legs could hold her.

  Hell she didn’t want his pity. She jerked away from him knowing how wrong he was and how close she’d come to surrender. That was what it’d be like with him, absolute surrender. At least she had the power to turn on one man, Jake. She had his hard-on for proof.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t jump your bones again.”

  “Some other place, some other time,” he said regretfully, reaching out to trace the curve of her bottom lip, brushing it softly with his index finger.

  Samantha felt like she’d been pole-axed. Knowing when to retreat she grabbed her bag and keys heading for the door. She had to get away before he clouded her mind with lusty thoughts. But she wouldn’t run away for good. A trip into town and a conference with Kathy would put things right. “Don’t think this means you won. I’ll be back.”

  “It isn’t going to be that easy, sugar. Not easy at all.”

  Chapter 4

  Jake watched Samantha drive away and cursed himself for the ham-fisted way he’d handled things. It was only her ability to twist him that made him decide in the cold light of day that he had to make her leave.

  He did the one thing he’d vowed not to do, he picked up his SAT phone and punched in Samuel Logan’s private number on speed dial. He paced the confines of the room while he waited for his boss to pick up. No doubt, big Sam was in a foul temper by now with the wedding canceled.

  “Logan here. This better be important.”

  Jake stifled a grin at his gruff tone. “It’s Ramsey.”

  “God damn, Ramsey, you must be psychic!” big Sam shouted into the phone. “I was just about to call you. You’ve got to drop that fool stake-out you’re on and hunt down my runaway daughter. She jilted Grayson and took off.”

  “Leave her alone. There’s no need to hunt her down. She’s here at the cabin.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Samuel said after a shocked moment. “Do you mean to tell me that she ran off to meet you of her own free will? The girl can’t stand you.”

  Jake winced hearing his thoughts confirmed. He might be good for a tumble in the woods but he wasn’t the kind of man she’d keep. He thought back on her licking every inch of his body making him burn and then sinking into her hot pussy hard and deep enough to make them both gasp. Then her delighted shock when he put her over his knee this morning and spanked her sexy ass. The heat she’d given off threatened to burn them both alive. Body tightening he gritted his teeth fighting down his arousal. “She isn’t here for me,” he said bitterly even though the hidden Dom in him hated to admit it. “She’s here to hide out.”

  “Hide out, what the hell’s she hiding from?”

  “One guess.”

  “The grieving would-be bridegroom.”

  “Grieving?”

  “He was crying his ass off on the phone when I talked to him ten minutes ago.”

  “Let’s just say that Grayson St. James wasn’t the injured party, no matter what kind of sob story he tells you.” He scowled, thinking about the incident Samantha had described. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Sam about this incident and put out a BOLO, a Be On The Lookout order, on the slime but he’d promised Samantha he wouldn’t. Hell he wanted to keep at least one promise he made to her.

  “So, what happened? What did that boy do to my baby?”

  Jake hesitated. Samantha would never learn to trust him if he betrayed her confidences. He’d handle St. James personally when they returned and make sure he knew he was a dead man if he dared touch her again. Although he had to agree with Samantha’s assessment that Grayson was basically a coward. He was probably sweating though his three-piece suit right now wondering when he was going to be fired. Good, let the bastard suffer. “I can’t tell you. I gave her my word that I’d let her handle it. I promised.”

  “Promised?” Samuel shouted, adding sourly, “Damn it all, I’m your employer, and I’m ordering you to tell me.”

  “I can’t.” He patiently waited for his boss to finish sputtering. “But trust me, when I get back to town if she hasn’t taken care of him, the sleaze is toast.”

  “Well, I’ll be damned. She’s got you wrapped around her little finger.”

  Jake sighed, hearing the grudging amusement in Samuel’s voice. “Not true. I’m the one in charge around here.”

  “Right. Keep me apprised of the situation. That fool stake-out you insisted on come up with anything yet?”

  “No.” Jake relaxed, satisfied by his dismissive tone. Big Sam had enough to worry about without fretting over Tad’s involvement. He’d
just as soon downplay things until he knew the truth.

  “Told you it was all a mare’s nest. Wrap things up soon and bring my daughter back. And, Ramsey!”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “You take good care of my little girl. Let nature take its course.”

  Jake frowned into the phone. Cryptic messages weren’t usually his boss’ style. “What?”

  “Simple. I’m through playing Cupid, boy. One lesson I learned while I spent the morning canceling the wedding, calming down her mother and matchmaking uncle Delbert, and worrying about my daughter is that I’m lousy at it. From now on she can find her own beaus.”

  Chapter 5

  Samantha was still tingling when she reached the Sunrise Diner, her bottom still heated from the shockingly hot spanking Jake had given her. She noticed Kathy’s cruiser in the parking lot and turned in. Before she gave into her urge to make Ramsey make good on his sexual teasing, she needed answers. Why is he here all by his lonesome? Why are he and Kathy so chummy? What the hell is going on?

  The question succeeded in suppressing her tingles like nothing else could as she stepped into the half-full diner. She immediately picked out Kathy sitting alone at the counter and homed in on her. “Hey, girlfriend,” she said, popping onto the empty stool next to her.

  Kathy turned a surprised glance her way. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting to see you so early in the morning. Especially with Mister Sexy at your fingertips.”

  Samantha felt herself blush remembering how she’d done just that. Stroked her fingertips down his washboard abs to his thrusting cock. “Yeah well there’s a lot to be said for slowing things down.” She speared Kathy with a steady look. “Tell me why he’s here.”

  Kathy let out a sigh. “Well, you always were direct. But it’s on a need-to-know basis. And you, sister, don’t need¼”

  “The heck I don’t. Look at me, Kathy. You know this is important.” She weathered Kathy’s firm cop glance suddenly seeing the trained officer in her. “Please.”