“Tess?” Glancing up, she meet Levi’s concerned gaze. As he grew nearer, his frown deepened. “What is it?”
She swiped at her eyes. “They think it’s Clancy’s mother.”
“But I thought—”
“I know. Until identification is made we won’t know, but Clancy is sure the jewelry found is hers.”
“Holy crap. Is he okay?”
She shook her head, and then started for the door.
“Is there anything I can do? Maybe help with the stock?”
“That’s very kind, Levi. I think what he needs now is some space.”
“Yeah. Of course.” When he opened the door and stepped aside to allow her entrance, he released the air in his lungs. “That’s pretty screwed up, sis.”
Weariness seeped into her bones and she collapsed upon the couch. “I can’t imagine what he’s going through. To think his father killed her.”
“What?”
Tess closed her eyes. That was one detail her brother hadn’t been privy to, until now. “Levi, you can’t say anything. Please keep this just between us because it isn’t ours to tell, but Clancy told me that his father was abusive. That’s the reason his mother left.”
He plopped down on the sofa beside her. “You mean he used to beat her up?” Her brother’s innocence was endearing.
Their father had never raised his voice, much less his hand to their mother. He’d cherished her, loved her more than life itself. So it didn’t surprise her that Levi found it inconceivable that a man would violently strike a woman, especially someone he was supposed to care about.
“Yes, but I don’t think the fact is well-known.”
“So what happens now?” he asked.
“My guess is there will be an autopsy to determine cause of death. But being buried out in the middle of someone else’s property is pretty telling. Since she’s from this area, they can probably use hospital and dental records to identify her. Then there is the jewelry that might be able to be identified through pictures.” Now that she recalled, she didn’t remember seeing any pictures of Clancy’s mother or father in the house.
When the door swung open, slamming against the wall, Rose and Rachel both pushed through it at once. Their eyes were as big as saucers.
Rachel tripped over her feet, nearly falling, while Rose beat a path straight to them. “There’s a police car at Clancy’s.” She took one look at Tess’s swollen, red face and paused before asking, “What’s going on?”
Rachel sidled up to her twin. “Tess?”
“A body was uncovered on the Jensen property.”
Both girls drifted slowly into the same chair, half sitting on each other in the process, except this time there was no pushing and shoving. Instead they silently made room for the other, hanging on every word as Tess explained the situation.
Rachel eyes were moist when she finished. “We have to do something. Bake something.”
Rose pushed to her feet. “We should go over there.”
“No, Rose. He has enough to deal with. I think Rachel made a lovely suggestion. Why don’t the two of you bake something for Clancy? I think he’d like that.”
“Then can we take it to him?” Rose asked.
“I’ll take it over.”
“But, Tess—”
“Give it a rest, Rose.” Levi narrowed his sight on her. “Tess will handle it.” He got to his feet. “I better finish feeding and locking up the barn.” He bent down and lightly kissed Tess on the forehead. “If you need me, I’ll be outside.”
“Thank you. I think I’ll take a shower.” Try to wash away the overwhelming helplessness that gripped her like a sharp pair of talons. And maybe when she got out, she’d give Clancy a call.
Sheriff McGrath stared at him across the kitchen table. “So you’re saying that your mother was in and out of hospitals due to your father’s abuse?”
Clancy felt whipped. How many times would he have to answer the same questions?
“You’ll find all her medical records and X-rays at Southwest General. That I remember, she had a broken jaw and collarbone when I was around twelve. He broke her right wrist and one of the bones in the same arm days before she left.” Dammit. He had to stop thinking that way. She hadn’t left.
Mixed emotions assailed him, making him lightheaded. He tightened his grip on the glass in his hand. Guilt shuddered through him. All these years he had hated her for leaving him with that bastard, only to discover she hadn’t.
He threw back a shot of whiskey, relishing the burn before he slammed the tumbler on the table and reached for the bottle. As he poured, he continued.
“We always used Dr. Tadwell as our dentist. You should find evidence of an upper bridge, since the sonofabitch knocked several of her teeth out.” That was one night Clancy would never forget. There had been so much blood. “I tried to help, but—” He had been helpless against his father’s anger and strength.
As his mother lay broken on the floor, his father had taken Clancy to an urgent care unit. Baseball to the face was the lie. When they returned home, his mother was gone. She had been missing for three days before his father discovered she had taken refuge in a battered woman’s shelter. He had been furious. They both had paid when she returned home.
The sheriff scanned the kitchen. “I noticed when I walked through the house that there are no pictures of your parents. Do you have any photographs?”
“They’re in the attic.”
McGrath made a tsking noise.
Clancy raised his sight to meet McGrath’s. “If you’re asking whether I killed her? No.” He picked up his glass and chugged the contents.
“Maybe you should slow down, Wiseman.”
“And maybe you should get the hell out of my house. I’ve told you all I know. Nothing I say will change things.” The burst of laughter that spilled from his mouth sounded scary even to him. “They’re both gone. You can’t even punish him for what he’s done.” He poured another drink.
McGrath stared at him across the table. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
He raised the tumbler to his lips. “Should I?” He took a swig and swallowed.
“I responded to a call at this location by an anonymous caller twelve years ago. When I arrived, your mother was alone. Evidence pointed to abuse, but she refused to tell me what happened.”
Clancy had made that call while his father had filled out the required paperwork at the urgent care facility. Judging by the keen look in the sheriff’s eyes, he knew it.
“I suggested that she get in touch with someone—get some help.”
Again sarcasm pushed between Clancy’s lips in the form of laughter. “And she did just that, but he ended up finding her.”
“I’m afraid that’s my fault too.”
Seeing red, he clenched his jaws.
“I was wet behind the ears, didn’t know that ’ol Sheriff Davis was your father’s friend and drinking buddy until it was too late. When he read my report, he questioned me about the two shelters I recommended.” McGrath ran his hand over his head. “Davis was as crooked as a second-hand nail. I never heard anything more about your mother’s case. Probably because the sheriff insisted that all calls go through him.”
“You’re fuckin’ kidding me?” This time he tipped the bottle to his lips and took a long pull from it. When he set the bottle down, he shook his head.
“We run things a little differently now that Davis is dead and I’m in charge. I know this doesn’t help, but I’m sorry.”
The doorbell rang, but Clancy ignored it, choosing to stare at his half-empty bottle of whiskey. “He didn’t even have the balls to bury her on our own land.” No coffin. No headstone. Just a large oak tree to mark the spot where his mother lay.
When the bell chimed again, the sheriff got up from his chair. “I’ll get it on my way out.”
“No need. Just tell whoever it is to go away.”
McGrath stopped in the doorway. “Those pictures?”
“Yeah. I’ll get them to you tomorrow.” But tonight he planned to get shitfaced. He poured himself another drink.
“Clancy?”
When he heard Tess’s sweet voice, every muscle and tendon in his body tensed. Studying the amber liquid in his tumbler, he didn’t bother looking up. Maybe she would get the hint. Instead her boots clicked across the kitchen floor.
“Go away, Tess.”
“You don’t mean that.”
Slowly he raised his head and glared her way. Several food storage containers filled her arms. The scent of garlic touched his nose, but the smell only served to churn his stomach.
Why the hell did people think food helped during times like these? Any cowboy worth his weight knew only whiskey eased the pain. He picked up his glass and tossed the alcohol down.
“Clancy, maybe you should eat something.”
He harrumphed. “I haven’t had a mother for over twelve years. I don’t need one now.”
Ignoring him, she moved farther into the room, placed the containers on the table, and went to the cabinet to retrieve a plate. He heard one of the drawers open and silverware clink. When she set everything down, she took a seat across from him.
“What do you want, Tess?”
“I want to help you.”
“Why? You’ve seen with your own eyes what becomes of the women who set out to help a Wiseman.”
She reached across the table and laid her hand over his. “That’s not you, Clancy.”
“Really?” He twisted his hand to grab her wrist.
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t speak.
He stood up, dragged her around the table until she slammed against his body. “Do you want to see the real me?”
“I see the real you.”
“You foolish woman. You see what I allow you to see.”
“Then show me, Clancy. Show me who you really are.” A dare hung in her shaky words.
He lowered his mouth and kissed her hard, forcing her lips apart with his tongue. She whimpered, her body dissolving into his. Taking what he wanted, he sucked and nipped, loving her cries. When her hands slid up his shirt, her warm palms stroking skin, he softened his caress, losing himself in her. Only when she reached for his belt and tugged, did he realize this wasn’t going exactly how he had planned it. Releasing her, he stepped away.
Her chest rose and fell in rapid succession. The pupils of her eyes widened, almost overtaking the soft blue irises. “If you’re trying to scare me, you’ll have to do better than that.”
“Damn you, Tess.” He ran his fingers through his mussed hair. “Why can’t you just walk away?”
“Because you’re worth fighting for.”
“Damn you.” Unable to help himself, he dragged her back into his embrace and ravished her once more.
When her hand slipped beyond the waistband of his jeans, a tremor raced up his spine. Like a manacle, her fingers closed around his dick and she squeezed. The exquisite pressure made his breath catch. As she slid her hand up and down, he fumbled with the buttons of her shirt. But the damn things never slipped through their holes. Frustrated and beyond aroused, he pulled at each ends of her blouse. Material ripped and buttons flew in every direction. He didn’t even try to unfasten the clasps of her bra. Instead he pushed the silk upward to bare her delicious breasts, and watched them rise and fall with each shuddering breath.
Clancy slid one hand down to cup her ass and pull her to him. She hissed as he leaned into her breasts and felt her nipples beading against him. Lifting her slightly, he nudged his cock between her thighs. And damned if she didn’t press her hips into him, rubbing and undulating over his now raging erection.
She was testing him, teasing and pushing him to the brink of his limits. Before he did something he’d regret, he plunged his tongue back into her mouth, darting back and forth. If he couldn’t have her, he would damn well mimic what he wanted to do to her.
“Clancy,” she whispered. “Fuck me. Take me the way you want. Show me everything you think I should be afraid of.”
He eased back and looked steadily at her. Tess had no idea what she asked of him. What kind of man he really was.
“Please, Clancy.”
Maybe it was the only way. Give her a taste of his deviant appetite.
“Strip. Lay with your chest on the table, your legs spread apart. And Tess—”
Her large doe-eyes stared back at him. “Yes.”
“Don’t move.”
Chapter Nineteen
By the time she heard Clancy re-enter the kitchen, she lay facedown on the table, with her feet on the floor, her legs spread shoulder-width as he had directed. He shuffled his feet behind her. She heard him set several things down with a clunk and her pulse leaped to life. Not being able to see him, not knowing what he was up to, was disconcerting, but no matter what he said, he wouldn’t hurt her. She knew he wouldn’t. Still, tiny footsteps of anxiety danced across her chilled skin. The awkward position made her feel vulnerable and exposed and yes, aroused. Circulating air teased her wet pussy, while her nipples rubbed against the cold wood surface.
When he nipped an ass cheek, she gasped and jumped. But a palm against her back pushed her back down. “Don’t move.” Then with his tongue, his teeth and his lips, he nibbled, licked and sucked.
It felt so good, she pressed up into his touch with a soft sigh of pleasure and widened her thighs, needing him to take the party down south, but he never did. Instead, he stepped away. When he returned, something snapped through the air and came down on the table with a thump.
Tess cried out in surprise. Turning her head, she saw a riding crop in his hands with a dozen or so cowhide leather strips on the end.
“Do you know what this is?”
“A whip.”
“It’s an Egyptian flogger.” He dragged the soft straps down her spine and goose bumps rose across her skin. The tickle made her squirm.
“If you move you’ll be punished.” He retraced the path, but this time the soft hide fell along her side. And, of course, she writhed from the titillation. “You’ve earned your first punishment.”
Punishment? Holy shit!
Tess silently prayed she knew what she had gotten herself into.
What was once gentle and sensual cracked down hard on the top of her thigh, leaving a sting that left her gasping and clawing for the edges of the table. Clancy laved the fiery area with his tongue, slowly easing the pain. As he kissed her skin, his callused hands turned to silk and stroked her body. His touch was just what she needed.
“My mark on your skin is so purtttty.” His warm breath brushed her ass as he slurred his last word. Whiskey had taken hold of him, which slightly upped her trepidation.
Would he be able to stop if things got out of control? She trembled, but then calmed. She believed in him.
“Are you frightened, Tess?”
“No.” He wouldn’t scare her away. But when she heard the sharp tear of paper, goose bumps rose. It’s only the package of a condom, she reassured herself.
“Pick a safe word, a word that tells me you can’t take any more.”
“I don’t need a safe word. I trust you.”
He eased the long flails along her moist sex to create an entirely different sensation that made her pussy contract. “Choose a word, Tess.” When the crop slid between her folds, moving along so that the leather caressed her clit, she raised her hips to meet it.
“You moved. Now choose a word,” he growled.
“Trust,” she breathed in anticipation. “Trust means everything.”
“Fuck.” Mumbling something unintelligible beneath his breath, he snarled, “Don’t speak. D-don’t say another damn word unless I grant you permission.” It wasn’t hard to hear the frustration in his voice.
This time she was prepared for the lash that bit into her ass, but she wasn’t for the other five that followed. By the time he finished, tears dampened her eyes from the pain, but more so from the sweet, sweet way her body felt.
Every nerve ending tingled, her senses heightened to the point she swore she knew exactly where he was in the room even if she couldn’t see him. Not to mention, she could smell whiskey, cologne, perfume and her own desire fill the room. And then there was the weeping between her thighs. She couldn’t remember ever being this wet or feeling this alive.
Gliding a finger along her swollen slit, he cursed as she moaned and closed her eyes. When something clinked across the table, she raised her eyelids to see four sets of leather and metal manacles. An itch of anxiety skittered across her flesh. He didn’t speak, but the scowl on his face spoke loudly. He was bound and determined to frighten her.
Circling her wrist with one of the handcuffs, he fastened it high to the back of a chair and clicked it shut before he reached for her other hand. After he had her bound, he eyed her as if looking for a reaction she didn’t give him the pleasure of receiving. Tess knew that if she wanted to get loose, all she had to do was jerk and the chairs would fall over. Plus, her blood simmered with the need to know just where this scenario would lead.
Then he shifted her legs farther apart and shackled her ankles to the table legs. Her heart started to pound and her lips went dry. Her tongue flicked out to moisten them.
“You’re beautiful bound. Helpless.” Something eerie rose in the way he said that last word.
For the first time since they started this mind game, Tess felt defenseless. Yet instead of fear, a rush of excitement flooded her as she realized she really would be at his mercy. Prove that she trusted him with her body and her love, because she had fallen for him. She wanted to be with this man. Not just an hour here and there, but wake up each morning in his arms. Never had she imagined it was possible to want a man as much as she did at this moment.
“You’re mine to do whatever I want with.” It wasn’t a question but a statement.
Yes. God. Yes.
Then his palm caressed her calf to her knee and smoothed up the inside of her thigh. Light fingertips swept across her heated center and her body came alive. As her pussy spasmed, the need to close her legs became so overpowering, she whimpered, moving her lower half in an attempt to find a way to ease the pulsing ache between her thighs.
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