She was as loving and trusting as a small kitten, Sam decided, holding her gently. If ever a woman had needed a thorough switching, it was Miss Zoe Rathbourne. She was starved for affection, and he was going to be the man to take care of her from now on. He was determined to let nothing, nor anyone, hurt her.
Zoe was shocked when she woke up and found herself curled into a ball on Sam's lap. She looked up at him, and then said, "You switched me, Sam Ross! And it really, really hurt!"
"Not going to kidnap yourself again, are you?" he inquired.
"Not very likely," she admitted, smiling in spite of herself. "I should be mad at you, plotting your demise, and figuring out how to pull it off."
"But you're not?"
"No... Why is that?"
"Because if you'll be honest with yourself, you know you earned that switching," he told her firmly.
"You make it sound so simple. I'm an adult."
"An adult who acted like a spoiled, bratty, unthinking child."
"I am sorry," she whispered, genuinely meaning the words.
"I know you are," he hugged her, and then put her on her feet. "Want to bake some cookies?" he asked hopefully.
"Sure, why not? I certainly don't want to sit right now!" Zoe took charge and soon the first batch was in the oven.
They talked nonstop, and Zoe was surprised at how comfortable she felt with Sam. She learned he was raised by his Gramma, and that this cabin was where she was raised, and she and Sam spent most of their summers living up here, and enjoying nature. Sam was thirty-one years old, and he'd spent seven years as a policeman in Chicago, until he saw another officer commit a crime, and refused to lie for him. He'd left the force, and returned home, opening his own Investigation Service. He told Zoe that it was rough going getting started.
"Is there something else you'd rather do?" she asked.
"Like what?" he grinned.
"Well, maybe open a club? Or a store of some kind? Maybe you'd like to be a lawyer?" she suggested a few different things, and then shook her head. "Nope, you aren't a 'suit'," she argued with herself. "I can't picture you being a doctor of any kind... Do you like computers?" she wanted to know.
"They have their purpose, but I'm not interested in what makes them work," he grinned. "What's wrong with being a PI?" he demanded.
"It's sneaky," she promptly replied.
"Most of it is fairly routine work, Zoe. Finding missing persons, checking out insurance claims. A lot of it done right on the computer."
"How often do you accept an offer like my father's?" she asked without a smile.
"Only when the bills pile up and I need a way to pay them," he admitted without a bit of shame. "I'm not a bodyguard."
"No... I'd spot one of those in a second. Daddy picked you because you look normal."
"Thanks, I think," he chuckled.
"It wasn't an insult, Sam," she said softly, then took out the first batch of cookies, and removed them from the cookie sheet. "He hired protection one other time... when I was in high school, and he was involved in a nasty take-over. Threats were made against me, and Daddy hired a firm... Those men were burly, mean-looking, and I was so embarrassed. They followed me everywhere, even to class. Can you imagine having a friend try to slip you a note to tell you that she had major cramps and was going to skip gym class, and having the body guard intercept it and read it out loud, like he was trying to decipher a hidden message! I will never forget that as long as I live!!!" she giggled.
Sam joined in her laughter.
"Poor Elizabeth wanted to die of mortification, and Miss Abbot assigned her an extra book report for passing a note!"
Sam enjoyed watching Zoe laugh. She had a sense of humor, and it was hard to picture the young woman dancing half-naked in the clubs she frequented. He was beginning to suspect that the girl Zoe presented herself as in those clubs was her complete opposite. Still, there was the matter of her disappearing for weeks at a time without a word to anyone. He debated on coming right out and asking her about it, but sensed it wasn't the right time. He hadn't earned her complete trust yet, and he was pretty sure she would refuse to tell him.
Zoe finished baking the cookies, and she even fixed a nice dinner for the two of them. It pained her to sit throughout the meal, but she kept her complaints to herself. She merely ate her meal quickly, and then jumped up to attend to the clean-up. Sitting any time soon was going to be an uncomfortable proposition, and while she didn't feel like riding in the car, she needed to talk Sam into taking her home. She decided to wait until morning, and hoped that by then he would see that she wasn't going to give him another reason to punish her. She wanted to go home... and disappear. Zoe Rathbourne was going to cease to exist once and for all. She wanted nothing further to do with her father. Nothing.
Sam sensed the shift in Zoe's mood. "Are you pouting over your sore butt?" he asked her in a quiet voice as he picked up a dish towel and dried the dishes.
"No, Sam. It hurts, but I'm not pouting."
"That's good. The cure for pouting is another spanking, and I'm not sure I'm up to giving you another one right now..."
"Well, I'm sure I'm not up to another one," she told him solemnly, and then noticed his eyes were twinkling. She smiled, and then said softly, "Sam, I'm really not a brat... I was just upset with my father, and did something stupid out of anger. It won't happen again, and I hope you will tell Daddy to stick his job when we get back. It bothers me to have you following me, and I don't think it's legal. Daddy doesn't have the right to have me followed..."
"Sure he does. Especially if he's worried about you."
"If I tell you to stop following me, then you have to do it," she insisted.
"Nope. I was hired by your Dad; he's the only one who can fire me."
"You could quit, Sam," she told him.
"I don't want to quit. I don't want you getting in over your head again, little girl. And I'm not convinced that you won't."
"I give you my word that I won't pull any more kidnapping stunts," she smiled as convincingly as possible.
"Good. Then you have no reason to worry about me watching over you," Sam said calmly.
Zoe felt her temper slipping. She stomped her foot. "I don't want you following me around, Sam. I want you to stop!"
"Why? What are you afraid I'll find out?" he asked, hoping she would open up and tell him where she was going for weeks at a time.
"I'm not afraid of anything," she lied.
"Why don't I believe that?" he asked. "One of the reasons your Dad hired me was to find out where you are disappearing to every few weeks." He watched her eyes and wasn't surprised when he saw the anger reflected there. The feisty redhead wasn't about to make this easy. She intended to keep her secret, and now that she knew he was attempting to discover her secret ventures, she would take greater pains to hide them. It wasn't smart to reveal his hand so soon. "So what are you doing that you are so ashamed of that you have to hide it from your father?" he hoped to make her defensive enough to tell him what he wanted to know.
"Nothing. Hell will freeze over first before I tell you anything else," she dropped the skillet into the dishpan, not caring that she splattered water everywhere."
"Your temper is showing, little girl," he stated. "Are you wanting another spanking so soon?"
"You spank me again, and I'll have you arrested!" Zoe forgot all about her vow to behave. The man was infuriating, and a bully!
Sam looked at her for a full minute, and when the brown eyes refused to lower and continued to challenge him, he draped the towel over the washed dishes, then took her arm and pulled her along with him to the bedroom.
"What are you doing?" Zoe asked in alarm.
"I'm going to reheat your sassy tail and put you to bed early," Sam replied. "Maybe some extra sleep will teach you to control that temper.
"Oh no! Sam, no! Please, don't! I can't stand another spanking! Really... Please don't! I'm sorry!" she tugged on her arm, trying to get free of his grip, but he e
asily held her. "Sam, let me go!" she insisted, and when he pulled her closer to the bed, she dug in her heels and refused to move.
"You are making it worse, Zoe," he told her. "I'm stronger than you are," he said, then let out a yelp when she suddenly leaned forward and kicked him as hard as she could. He released her immediately, grabbed his injured leg, and hopped about as she ran for the door. "Zoe, don't you dare leave this cabin! You'll get lost!" he yelled, then went after her.
Zoe wasn't about to let him spank her again! She flew out the door and took off running. With any luck at all, he wouldn't find her, and she could make her way down off this mountain and find her way home... to her home, and he would never, ever find her! She wasn't sharing that part of her life with her Father, not ever! And Sam Ross could go to the devil!
The idea to run away from the road was a good one. Sam's voice was fading away the farther she went, and she was convinced he'd gone in the opposite direction. She stopped running, and paused to catch her breath. When she looked about, she was shocked to realize it was already growing dark. She didn't have a flashlight... and it wouldn't be long before she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. Sam had warned her that she could get lost... She decided to keep right on going. She had no choice. If she went back, the beastly man would have her hide... again. At least this way she would escape a spanking! And once she was off this mountain, she would never have to see her father, or Sam Ross again. She didn't care about her father, not at all, but if the circumstances had been different, Sam would have made a good friend.
********************
Sam couldn't believe he'd let Zoe pull a stunt like that on him. As little as she was, she'd knocked him for a loop, and he had the knot on his leg to prove it. Now she was missing, and it was growing dark. Even worse, he'd come across an SUV parked behind a cluster of trees. Probably someone doing some illegal hunting... He didn't want them shooting Zoe by mistake. He kept walking, hoping he knew the mountain as well as he thought he did. He needed to find Zoe... and when he did, she was going to wish he hadn't.
********************
From the frying pan and into the fire! Zoe looked at the three men in disgust. They'd been drinking, and she was pretty darn sure she was in danger. She'd tried to get up and walk away twice now since stumbling on their camp, and each time they'd blocked her in and insisted she keep them company. The looks they were giving each other were full of meaning, and unless Sam found her soon, she was going to be raped. She'd long since decided a spanking was preferable to that, and prayed that she would be given one more chance to prove she wasn't as foolish as she appeared to be... even in her own eyes!
"You're awful purty, girl," one man slurred. "We'd sure like to party with you."
"No. I'm not interested," she said firmly. "I'm with someone," she added. Please, Sam, come and help me! she added silently.
"His loss," another man laughed. "We want to party, and you got two choices. Go with it and have fun, or fight us and we party anyway."
"I said NO," Zoe got to her feet. "You're all drunk, and acting like pigs. I'm going home now."
"You ain't going anywhere," the first man said, his voice hard and ugly. "Take them clothes off now. We're through talkin'."
Zoe shook her head. "No." She wouldn't make it easy for them. She was a fighter, and they were going to have scars to prove it, she vowed.
The man got up and raised his hand to strike her, but the blow never landed. Sam came out of the darkness and decked the guy, then turned to the other two. Zoe watched in disbelief as he laid out the second man. The third held up his hands. "I don't want to fight, mister. Just get her out of here."
"You take these two and get off my property. Next time I catch you up here I'll cuff you and slap you in jail for trespassing. Got it?"
"Whatever you say, Mister. We're going right now," he promised.
Sam turned to Zoe and took her arm. "Sam, I..."
"Not one word, Zoe. Not one word." His voice was tight with anger, and he marched her away from the make-shift camp and toward the cabin. He needed time to calm down, and at the moment he didn't know who he was angrier with, those three drunks, or the infuriating redhead for putting herself in danger... again. That switching hadn't made a very lasting impression, but he was damn well going to see to it that she learned her lesson this time!
Chapter Five
Zoe was in tears by the time they reached the cabin. Mostly tears of relief, even though she was shaking a bit from a combination of fear and the chill in the air.
"You take yourself into the bedroom and get to bed, Zoe, and don't argue with me right now unless you want to lose every bit of skin on your ass. I'm mad at you, too goddamned mad to be reasonable, so go to bed." Sam didn't trust himself, not at all. Morning would be soon enough to give her the punishment she'd earned. Let her dread it all night. It would serve her right, he decided.
Zoe wasn't stupid. She went into the other room, slipped off her clothes and put on the dorm shirt he'd purchased for her to sleep in. She crawled into bed, and then let herself have a good cry. She'd earned the right. When she finally quieted, she realized she simply had to go to the bathroom. She wished the bathroom was off the bedroom, but it wasn't, and the only way to it was to go through the kitchen and hope Sam was in the living room and didn't see her.
She got up and opened the door a crack. Sam was sitting at the table, nursing a cup of coffee, and he looked mad as hell.
"Go on to the bathroom, girl, and then get your fanny back to bed," he growled.
Sam hurried to the bathroom, and soon felt a lot better. She washed her face, and brushed her hair, then took a deep breath. She was going to apologize and thank Sam for saving her, even if she did get spanked for it. It needed to be said.
She stood by the table and waited until the angry blue eyes rested on her. "I want to thank you for saving me tonight, Sam, and I want to tell you that I know I was very wrong to run out of here. I'm lucky you came with you did. It was about to get ugly." To her shock, she started crying again. "I was so scared," she whispered.
Sam's temper faded. He got up and took her in his strong arms and gave her a hug. "Shhh. You're safe now, honey."
"Only because you cared enough to look for me," she sounded so forlorn. "I can't think of one other person who would have done that, Sam."
"Then you aren't hanging out with a very good crowd," he scolded lightly.
"You're going to spank me again, aren't you?" she asked rhetorically.
"Within an inch of your life," he promised.
"I really hurt now. That's why I ran. I didn't mean to hurt you, just protect myself," she attempted to explain. "I know it was wrong. I wish I could take it all back... the temper, the kick, running off. I'd take the spanking and let you tuck me in, and skip all the rest..."
"I'll bet you would," he conceded, then led her into the bedroom.
Before Zoe could guess his intentions, he sat on the bed and took her over his knee. The gown was flipped up to reveal her striped backside, and his hard hand fell exactly ten times, five on each cheek. She yelped with each one, and then she found herself being lifted and put on the bed. He pulled up the sheet and blanket, and then leaned down with his hands on either side of her and his face mere inches from hers. "That, little girl, was the spanking you were going to get earlier. Now, was it worth kicking me, running away, getting lost, and nearly raped...?" he asked seriously.
"No, sir," she said meekly.
"Tomorrow you are going to be punished for each and every one of those things, and I'll bet my beat up hat that by tomorrow evening at this time, you are going to think you were crazy for pulling such a stupid, foolish stunt!"
"I already do," she whispered.
"Go to sleep, brat. Tomorrow isn't going to be fun for you." He shocked her by kissing the tip of her nose, and then he left the room.
Zoe flipped over on her tummy, and actually smiled. She felt safe.
Sam was pretty sure the three men
were long gone, but he wasn't taking any chances. He'd put his gun where he could get his hands on it in a big hurry, and kept a keen ear. The three were so drunk he knew they'd never be able to approach the cabin in anything resembling quiet, but he wasn't going to be caught unaware. He didn't bring Zoe up here to let anything happen to her. When the dark finally started to lift, he slipped out of the cabin, intending to go and check and see if the SUV was gone. It was, and he was relieved. It wasn't often anyone ventured up here.
He returned to the cabin, made sure the door was secured, then went to the sofa and slept soundly.
That is how Zoe found him a couple hours later. Sam was sleeping soundly, and she saw the gun lying on the floor by the sofa. She immediately realized he must have been protecting her all night long. She picked up an afghan from the rocking chair and put it over him, then went to the kitchen. She put on a fresh pot of coffee, and then started on breakfast. She wanted to fix something special, which was the very least she could do, she reasoned.
The odors drifting from the kitchen were tantalizing, and Sam opened his eyes. He was surprised to find the blanket covering him, and realized that Zoe must have slipped into the room earlier and put it over him. He smiled. It had been a very long time since anyone cared enough to do that. He picked up his gun, relieved she hadn't touched it. With her temper, he didn't want her anywhere near a gun!
He went into the kitchen. "Something smells wonderful," he smiled.
She turned around to look at him shyly. "It'll be ready in about ten more minutes."
"Time for a shower...?" he asked.
"Sure."
"Can I trust you not to leave this cabin, Zoe?" he asked pointedly.
"Yes, sir." She meant it, too. She'd learned her lesson last night.
He nodded, and then went to the bathroom. By the time he came out, she was taking food out of the oven and putting it on the table. She poured coffee for them both, and said, "Sit down and eat."
"You won't have to tell me twice," he grinned. "Cinnamon rolls, and what is this?"
Protecting Zoe Page 5