Free Lone Rider by B.J. Daniels

The tracks were man-size, large, moving in a scraping manner that dislodged a lot of dirt.
    What caught his eye, though, was the fact that the tracks
crossed
Bo’s horseshoe prints. Someone had walked past after she’d ridden up into the mountains.
    Swinging out of the saddle, he studied them in the waning light. Seeing the man’s boot prints in the dirt, he decided he wouldn’t build a fire tonight. He staked his horse some distance away from where he’d rolled out his sleeping bag.
    The last thing he wanted was to become the hunted, because if he was right, Bo Hamilton was on the run—and she wasn’t alone.
    * * *
    W HEN R AY FINALLY quit dragging Bo up the mountainside in the dark, she collapsed on the ground in tears. Her wrists were rubbed raw from the rope cutting through the duct tape he’d bound her with. The fabric of her shirt was torn at both elbows, the skin beneath it scraped and bleeding.
    â€œGet up,” Ray ordered as he swung down from her horse. “And stop yer blubberin’ or I’ll give ya somethin’ to cry about.”
    She couldn’t move, couldn’t walk another step. Nor could she stop crying. The sobs racked her body, generated by fear and exhaustion and the bitter taste of defeat. She was at this man’s mercy, and he had proven he was merciless.
    He took an intimidating step toward her. She closed her eyes and curled into a tight ball, bracing herself for the kick. To her surprise, he bent down close to her.
    â€œYa done good,” he said, his voice sounding both surprised and pleased. “Yer tougher than ya look.”
    She didn’t feel tough as he dragged her to her feet. As he untied the rope from her wrists and peeled off what was left of the duct tape, she flinched at the damage that had been done.
    â€œThere’s water in that creek over there. It’ll make ya feel better if ya clean up.” The tenderness in his voice suddenly frightened her more than the gruff ruthlessness she had come to associate with him.
    Before she could protest, he swept her up in his arms and carried her over to the water. It was full dark now, the sky overhead lit with stars and the gleam of a full moon as it rose up behind the pines to the east. The creek’s surface shimmered in the silken light.
    Easing her down on the creek bank, he pulled off her boots and her socks. When he reached for the buttons on her jeans, she tried to pull away.
    He slapped her hard enough to snap her head back. “Don’t fight me. Don’t ever fight me.”
    She swallowed, her skin stinging from the slap. Closing her eyes, she felt him fumble with the buttons of her jeans before he jerked them down to her ankles, then off. She pressed her eyes closed more tightly, expecting him to remove her panties, as well. Tears leaked from beneath her lashes, but she was sobbed out.
    Instead, she felt his fingers on her shirt. The snaps loudly
clacked
as he jerked her shirt open then eased it off one shoulder, then the other. She hugged herself, praying he wouldn’t try to remove her bra.
    â€œI’ll help ya into the water,” he said next to her ear a moment before he lifted her into his arms again. Wading out into the creek, he lowered her slowly into the icy water.
    The cold took her breath away as she balanced precariously on the smooth silken surface of the rocks beneath her, the water up to her thighs. He let go of her. She wobbled there in the middle of the stream, water rushing around her. The freezing water made her lower body ache.
    â€œWash yerself,” he ordered, taking a step back, but not so far that he couldn’t reach her if she tried to scramble out of the creek and up the adjacent bank.
    * * *
    R AY FELT DESIRE curl in his belly as he watched her. He didn’t know how much longer he could contain himself. He wanted her, and it didn’t help that he could take her so easily. There was no one around to hear her