Later that night Robert showed her exactly how much he enjoyed a good chase when Veronica decided to wear her new leather jacket, a pair of black panties and nothing else. When he demanded she relinquish the coat, she refused and took off running. He had a foot of height on her, but Veronica had been running for years, so she wasn't easily caught. She ran through his massive home, laughing hysterically when he hit the bottom of the stairs and tripped over his own feet because he was too busy watching the curve of her ass."You're going to pay for that, woman!" he growled, righting himself."You'll have to catch me first!" she shrieked rounding the kitchen island and facing off with him as he stalked toward her.Her heart beat with adrenaline and anticipation. He looked so incredibly yummy as he strode toward her, sexual heat radiating from every line of his body. His dark brown-grey hair was wildly mussed and wet from the shower they just had. His strong jaw was hair roughened and h
Two years laterVeronica didn't have many things that belonged to her. Life had taught her too many hard lessons about broken toys. As a child, things that belonged to her got taken away. Either when she moved homes, or in the homes she was moved to. She learned not to care about things, because it hurt too much when she lost them. Sometimes she would be allowed to keep the things, but the other kids would break them. Then she didn't want them anymore.Veronica was a pretty child. It didn't take long before she became the toy. And it didn't take long after that before she became a broken toy. She stopped keeping things for herself. Until one day, a thing started growing inside her. A thing that she desperately wanted to protect, but knew she would never be allowed to keep. Unless a knight in shining armour came along and rescued her. So instead of allowing her new toy to be torn from her and broken, like all the other toys, like her, she'd screamed and cried and banged on the walls o
Book One: Because You're Mine"She's been hurt."The three simple words sent a chill through Jay's heart, dissolving his annoyance at the interruption. He dismissed the two men he'd been meeting with and turned to Greg with a raised brow. Words weren't necessary. Greg had been his right hand for nine years. He understood exactly how much Allie meant to Jay."Allison was taken to the hospital in an ambulance twenty minutes ago. Preliminary reports say a knife wound to the arm and across her side. The cuts don't appear to be life threatening, but deep enough to need stitches."Jay's fury rose with each word. Renowned as he was for icy calm and deliberate control, Allie was the only person that could draw this kind of feeling from him. He struggled to contain the rage so he could ask the requisite questions. It wasn't necessary. Greg knew exactly what he wanted."She was working in one of the addiction offices at the soup kitchen. Apparently a fight broke out among the clients being
Allie pulled her jacket tighter around her shoulders and tried to curl her legs into her chest without pulling on her fresh stitches. She tried to calm the shivers that wracked her body, but they kept coming. She was laying on a cot, tucked into the far corner of one of the wings of the emergency room in the Regina General Hospital. She wanted to ask for a blanket, but didn't want to disturb any of the busy staff that were rushing by her tiny curtained cubicle.She'd been in the hospital for nearly three hours. The first hour had been waiting to get into the cubicle, the next had been waiting to see a doctor and the third had been waiting for her doctor to sign the release forms. She wished she could say it was just an extra busy day at the hospital. She knew better. It was always like this. She'd accompanied people there on more than one occasion. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to suppress another shiver. Sighing she ran her hand lightly over her arm, avoiding the heavy banda
A few cold words to a rushing nurse promptly produced her doctor. Jay was able to ascertain the extent of her injuries and obtain her release. The doctor assumed Jay was her husband. Jay did not correct the man. Jay asked the doctor if Allie was well enough to fly, his hand tightening on her arm when she gasped in surprise. The doctor confirmed that her wounds weren't serious and would mend with a few weeks. The butterfly stitches could be removed in 10-14 days if they didn't come off on their own. Before Allie could protest his actions, Jay gathered her bag and the jacket that had slid from her shoulders during their prolonged hug. "Anything else?" he asked."I'm not going with you," Allie said, her voice higher than normal as he took her good arm and began steering her back through the busy corridors toward the emergency exit.Jay took a breath of fresh air once they were outside. He didn't like being cooped up in any building, but he especially hated hospitals. He led her towa
"Where are we?" Allie asked. Her voice sounded hoarse and dim to her ears after an hour and a half of flying noise droning in her head.The plane had landed on a private runway in the mountains. Jay took her good arm in a firm grip and helped her from the plane. Weariness settled over Allie as warm afternoon sun shone down on her dark head. She looked around her in tired curiosity as Jay ushered her into the back of a waiting vehicle. "We're just outside of Kelowna," he said."Near mom's place?" Allie asked in surprise.Jay smiled fondly. "I bought a small vineyard in the area not long after she married Rob. It's only a few hours from Vancouver making it an easy weekend home for me.""Why didn't she tell me?" Allie asked. He'd been in the area for years and she hadn't known."I asked her not to," he said, his eyes piercing hers. "I knew it would spook you to have me nearby when you visited. You might have come less often."Allie opened her mouth to deny his words, but then stop
Jay could hardly bring himself to believe that Allie was finally here with him, sleeping in his bed. If he was a better man he would have given her one of the other rooms until she was used to the idea of sharing his. He had spent a lifetime yearning for this woman. Even if her injuries ensured that he couldn't yet touch her, she would sleep in his bed from now on.Her beautiful silky hair, so dark it was almost black, spread across his pillow like a halo. It was much longer than the last time he'd seen her. Of course, he had seen photos, but the reality was even more lovely. The texture was incredibly soft to touch. Her skin was as soft and flawless as he remembered, darker than his. Her mother was Aboriginal and her father's ancestry wasn't known, though Jay had his suspicions given the majority of Vancouver's Eastside population. It didn't matter to him though. He'd always thought Allie was the sweetest, prettiest thing to come out of that cesspool.Allie had always been somewhat
Allie leaned back against the stone wall and glanced moodily at the approaching quad as it made its way over the dirt track toward her. She was hoping it would take longer for Greg to come pick her up this time. Digging her bare toes into the cool blades of grass under her feet, she plucked at the silver and gold cuff bracelet that had been attached to her wrist for the past three weeks. She had quickly deduced that it was used to track her whereabouts and there was no way to get it off.She hadn't seen Jay since she woke up from her doctor's exam. He had explained to a groggy Allie that he needed to tend to business in Vancouver and while he was away she could adjust to her new home. She had quickly discovered her new home was actually a charmingly impenetrable fortress with no way out except through the front gate, to which Allie was routinely denied access, though she tried on a semi regular basis. While she saw other guards on the estate, Allie's only regular companion was Greg.