Free Warning Wendy by Kim Dare Page B

mentioned it in passing.” This time, her glance toward the gate was far less subtle.
    Lucas watched her ride through an archway and out of sight, wondering what Wendy had told her about him. The girl didn’t strike him as someone who’d leave any dom she didn’t trust alone with a sub.
    Harmless.
    That one word probably summed up everything Wendy had said about him in one neat little nutshell. He chafed against it the moment it entered his head.
    No. Patience.
    That was the word he needed to keep in the forefront of his mind. He gritted his teeth and repeated the same advice he’d been giving himself for the last six months.
    Give her time. Let her get to know you as a person. She might think leather was the be all and end all, but if he gave her time, and she’d realize that he could offer her things that were far more important than a quick game of tie up and tease.
    Patience.
    He muttered a curse under his breath. Being patient sucked. Taking a deep breath, he steeled his resolve and took a step in Wendy’s direction.
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
    Wendy crouched down and peeked through a small gap between two fence boards. One by one the men she was supposed to run away from filed past her little hidey hole. Not one of them glanced in her direction, but from their profiles, she knew that they weren’t men she knew from the clubs. Every one of them was a stranger to her.
    As adrenaline pumped through her veins and her heart raced faster, she almost wished one of them would look in her direction. Maybe one of them would be a close enough approximation of Lucas. Maybe there was someone she could use to force Lucas out of her fantasies once and for all.
    She cursed beneath her breath as another group of men walked past.
    None of them felt right. None screamed his natural inclination toward dominance at her the way Lucas always did. She shifted her position. This was a stupid idea. If she had any sense she’d back out now, take off the bright blue tabard she’d chosen and be done with it. She closed her eyes for a moment.
    No, anything was better than walking away from, well, from what felt increasingly like her last chance of preserving her sanity. Perhaps if she at least received a sound paddling from someone then—
    Wendy tensed. The back of her neck prickled. Someone was watching her. Looking over her shoulder, she peered around the little garden she’d found to hide in. Nobody was there.
    Pushing her hair back from her face, she caught the long brown strands up in a high ponytail and secured them in place. If she was going to be chased, it wouldn’t do to let her hair get in her eyes and slow her down.
    She spun around and glared suspiciously into every corner of the garden. The gate leading back into the stable yard was wedged open, but no one was there. She was completely alone. Bloody great. As if she didn’t already have enough problems, now she was imagining things, too.
    Making her way along the fence, dipping her head as if the fence panels weren’t already a foot taller than her, she crept toward another gate, close to the one where she’d entered the garden.
    This one swung open without so much as a creak revealing a small strip of open ground between her and the woodland all the other women had run into earlier. If she timed it right, she could probably make it without being seen. Then, all she would have to do is skirt around the edge and—
    Without any warning, a hand clamped down over her mouth. An arm slid around her, pulling her back against a strong, hard body. She tried to scream. The sound died before it ever reached the open air. She kicked, only to be lifted off her feet and carried back toward the stables.
    Bucking and squirming, she clawed at the man’s arm and hand and flailed back with her other arm, hoping her elbow might connect with some tender part of him. Suddenly, the sun disappeared. She caught a brief glimpse of the stable roof before that vanished, too.
    The air