Romance Novel Reviews

Page 175

With a deft move, he swiftly flipped her face-first over his lap and anchored her there, tossing her full skirts over her head. As he jerked her pantalettes down to her ankles, Tori regained her breath. "Jacob! No! You can't!"

"Oh, yes, I can!" he ground out, administering a sound whack with the flat of his hand. Her muffled shriek of pain and outrage barely fazed him as he released his pent-up emotions on her bared bottom. "You are never... never to leave the house alone again unless I say you can! Is that understood?" Another whack followed the first.

Through her skirts, Tori was yelping, "Stop! Jacob, please! I'll never be able to ride home!"

The punishing hand ceased smacking her bare flesh. "Do you understand that you are not to go off by yourself again?" he repeated.

"No!" she sobbed. Then as his hand came down hard a third time, she shrieked, "Yes! Yes!"

Page 382

Red drew the horse to a halt in the midst of a small copse of pine trees, dismounting and pulling Tori down after him. Her legs, numb after many hours of riding, collapsed beneath her, and she fell into a heap at his feet. He laughed, an ugly, evil laugh that sent fear facing down Tori's spine. "That's where I like my women," he sneered down at her. "On their knees."

Reaching down, he grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her head up painfully, forcing her to look at him. "You're gonna be real nice for old Red, aren't you, missy?"

She glared up at him. "What's the matter, girl?" he taunted. "Cat got your tongue? Here, mebbe this'll help." With his other hand he pulled the cloth from over her mouth. "Can't kiss you with that thing coverin' those sweet lips, can I?"

His grip tightened on her hair, bringing a moan of pain as he pulled her to her feet. His lips, open and wet, ground down on hers. His tongue pushed its way into her mouth, making her gag. She held her breath against the stink of his, crying out when she felt her tender lip split beneath his brutal mouth. His hand, like a huge paw, came up to grab her breast, tearing the bodice of her dress as he fumbled for her pink flesh. She tried to hit him with hands still bound before her. "Go ahead and fight me, girlie," he laughed, at last pulling his mouth from hers. "I always liked a good tussle, myself!"

With a strength born of fear, Tori wrenched away from him, leaving a good portion of her bodice still clutched in his hand. She ran, stumbling and gasping for breath, toward the cover of the trees. Almost there, she screamed and leaped aside as a shot rang out and a bullet kicked up the dirt at her feet. Whirling about, she faced him, panting, giving no thought to her exposed breasts.

Red walked slowly toward her, a leer twisting his lips, his gun drawn and pointed directly at her. "Now, that wasn't real smart, missy. You don't want to make me shoot you before we've had our fun."

Tori backed slowly away from him, almost crying out again as her retreat was suddenly halted by a tree at her back.

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