Captive Heart Read Online Free Page B

the small cab of the battered truck. After their little incident, Rollie didn’t look at him at all. She’d curled up under his jacket as though it were some sort of armor. Armor to keep him away.
    She needn’t have bothered. Day kept his attention solely on the road, his gaze fixed unwaveringly on the road stretching out in front of them. The scene at the rest stop had rocked him. He’d never felt instant lust, such need, for a woman. Not in all his years. The desire to pull her into his arms and silence her incessant nagging with a kiss, keeping that sassy mouth occupied in far more interesting ways than sniping at him, had totally blindsided him.
    His jaw worked. He was used to being the one in control, the one calling the shots—even over his own body. Especially over his own body. When in the service, he’d never joined in the trips into whatever town they were stationed near to pick up women. He’d always waited for his leave, getting far away from it all and, if necessary, paying for his women. Generally, that hadn’t been necessary. All he had to do was sit in a bar long enough, and he could count on being approached.
    He lifted a hand and rubbed the stubble forming over his jaw. He’d been told he was good looking, fit…and that was before he took his shirt off and they copped a load of the scars scattered over his torso.
    Chicks seemed to dig scars, and he had a lot. Scars that told a tale of life in the darker areas of military service and beyond, places that didn’t really bear thinking about. Places the government would never admit to sending soldiers to. He snorted. Plausible deniability . It was a wonderful phrase used to cover all sorts of dodgy activities.
    The turn for the cabin came into view, and within a few seconds, they were turning off the road. Not a moment too soon for Day. The sky had been gradually getting lighter, and he knew he had to get them off the road and out of sight before dawn broke.
    They were almost home free. The thick branches overhead blotted out the paling sky as he entered the wood surrounding the cabin. Situated halfway up the hill and enclosed by dense forest, it was the perfect place to hunker down for a while. As they pulled up, he noted that she hadn’t moved other than a slight raise of her head to see around the bend. Otherwise, she kept her gaze away from him and stayed firmly planted on the other side of the cab. Her silence was a wall that made approaching her seem like a delicate situation.
    He’d tied her hands again with a new set of flex cuffs. Normally, after a mark tried to get away, binding and gagging would have been called for. But, aside from some mandatory resistance when he was cuffing her hands, she obliged him all the way. As if she were looking forward to getting the whole thing over with.
    Grimly, Day bit down the guilt that surged through him for frightening her. Where the hell had that come from? She was a job, nothing more. He’d done a hell of a lot worse in his time. She was getting the VIP treatment by comparison.
    “We’re here,” he grunted, quite unnecessarily as he’d just shut the engine off.
    She shrugged but said nothing. Opening the door, she stepped out of the warm enclosure of the truck, shivering slightly as the morning cold hit her full on. That strappy top would have been better left for sleepwear than actual work clothes.
    “Come on. Last thing I want is you catching a cold and then I’ll have to look after you for days.” He rounded the truck and looped a hand under her upper arm. As he did, he gazed around them, checking the woods.
    “Let’s get inside,” he murmured, urging her forward, his attention still on the forest that surrounded them.
    “Yeah, good idea. I’m pretty sure my germs are lethal to single-celled organisms like you,” she retorted, but bit the end off abruptly. Despite the fact that he’d bound her, she was still a handful, and as he led her forward, she shoved her arm back, trying to make