His Abductor's Desire Read Online Free Page A

James is expecting me with this gold by the end of the week.” Elle held up the small pouch.
    “Surely you don’t mean to leave now?” Their group never traveled alone. If Elle was leaving, Dew would go with her.
    “That was the plan, day after tomorrow. The horses need their rest.”
    “We didn’t have Davenport when we made that plan.”
    “We’ll move him in here before we go. Dew thinks the first snow will come by the end of the week, so we need to be down the mountain before that. You’ll be fine.” She winked.
    Charity felt her cheeks flush. Being alone with Brent in the cabin was not what she had in mind when she’d kidnapped him, but then she had already decided that that had been a bad decision. Whether she admitted it to Elle or not.
    “How do you know he won’t kill me?”
    Elle laughed. “Killing you isn’t what he wants to do. Beside, he’ll be chained unless you choose otherwise.” She raised an innocent eyebrow. “How would he harm you?”
    “I hate you right now, Elle Stanton.”
    The woman only laughed again and Charity stormed off to her bed in the cabin’s loft, too exhausted to argue anymore.
    * * *
    By some unspoken decree, it was decided that Charity would be in charge of caring for the captive. Charity accepted this, but that didn’t stop her from grumbling to herself as she stood outside the barn and mentally prepared herself for the imminent confrontation. Brent unsettled her so easily but she vowed to keep her cool this time.
    He was sitting on the floor of the stall with one knee up, arms resting at his sides. It looked like a natural repose if you didn’t look too closely at the iron rings in the wall, used to keep an animal immobile for gelding or the occasional stitching, and the chains that led down to his wrists. Even in captivity, Brent managed to exude a lackadaisical grace and charm that suggested the chains were completely under his control.
    “Hello, Miss Blake.” He smiled. “I wondered when I’d see you again.” They could have been meeting again at a party back in Boston.
    “Davenport.” And damn it if he didn’t almost look like he could be attending a party in Boston. His clothes were a little dusty but his hair had been smoothed into order and the slight growth of beard only enhanced the white of his smile and the perfectly chiseled planes of his face. The effect made him more obnoxious.
    “I’ve brought food.” Simple statements. It was best not to engage in conversation with him.
    “Have you thought about my offer?”
    Charity refused to rise to the bait and set the tin plate filled with fried cornbread and elk stew on the hard-packed ground. “Do you mind? I need to refill your water.”
    Dew had shown her how far the chains would go, so she set his food just at the invisible line. She dared not cross it. Unfortunately, that meant she needed Brent’s assistance in reaching his water bucket. She hoped he would oblige her and push it over.
    He did her one better. With slow, deliberate movements he stood and walked the few feet that separated them.
    Immediately Charity felt a fluttering of nerves in her stomach and wondered if she’d been foolhardy by leaving her gun hanging outside the stall door. At the time it had seemed wiser than allowing him the chance to take it from her, but now she wasn’t so sure. Her heart raced as he approached and she could feel a familiar heat rising in her body. It was the same reaction she experienced every time she was around him, only more powerful. Whether that was due to the small space or the intensity of the situation she did not care to ponder.
    He stopped in front of her, a mere two feet between them. But his arms were taut at his sides, having reached the end of the chains. His gaze never left hers.
    “You’ll have to take it from here. I seem to have run out of chain.”
    She cautiously reached down, without looking away from him, and took the bucket.
    “How long will you keep me?”
    “As long as it