by Kim Dare
Warning Wendy
An A - Z Story
By Kim Dare
Resplendence Publishing, LLC
http://www.resplendencepublishing.com
Warning Wendy
Copyright © 2012 Kim Dare
Edited by Christine Allen-Riley
Cover art by Les Byerley, www.les3photo8.com
Published by Resplendence Publishing, LLC
2665 N Atlantic Avenue, #349
Daytona Beach, FL 32118
Electronic format ISBN: 978-1-60735-576-2
Warning: All rights reserved. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
Electronic Release: August 2012
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and occurrences are a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, places or occurrences, is purely coincidental.
To the thrill of the chase.
Chapter One
“What the hell are you thinking?”
Wendy Jenkins glanced away from her computer monitor for a moment.
Lucas Stone was tall. Meeting his eyes required her to drag her gaze up a considerable distance. Along the way, there were lots of very nice lines of muscle to be distracted by. After a few seconds, her gaze finally made it to its intended destination.
“Right now, I’m thinking that it would be very nice if our boss spontaneously combusted,” she said. “Have you heard what his latest great idea is?”
“Don’t try to change the subject,” Lucas snapped.
Wendy twirled her computer chair around to face him. “I don’t know what the subject is.”
He glowered. It was a good expression on him. She instantly decided that her normally mellow colleague should get grumpy far more often. It was hot as hell.
Suddenly, he leaned forward, dipped his head and brought his lips close to her ear. “The subject is you signing up to run around the forest being chased by a gang of deranged perverts.”
“It is?” she asked, as innocently as she could manage. “That’s strange, because I don’t remember having any intention of talking to you about it.”
She knew then that she’d have to kill her friend Ben. It was the only sensible course of action. Part of her wanted to think that Ben wouldn’t rat her out to Lucas, but it was only too easy to believe the little sod would do it.
She should never have agreed to work at the same place as her best friend from the local kinky scene. It was just too much damn trouble. And, as for finding out she’d also be working damn near nose-to-nose with the hottest guy she’d ever seen—a guy who would make a bloody good dom if he wasn’t such an unflinching prude…
Wendy shook her head and turned her chair back toward her desk. It spun all of two inches before it came to a sudden stop. Lucas’ grip on the hard plastic arms of the chair was white-knuckled.
“You are going to talk to me about it,” he said. “Then, you’re going to get in touch with the organizers and tell them to take your name off the list of prey—”
“No, I’m not,” she cut in. Folding her arms to disguise the way her nipples peaked and showed through her blouse whenever he got too close to her, she leaned back in her chair and did her damnedest to look complete unaffected.
His aftershave was subtle. It only just teased her senses, but there was a hint of another scent too—one that was all Lucas, all alpha male.
She shifted in her chair and flicked her hair back over her shoulder.
“If you don’t take your name off the list, I will,” he warned.
“You don’t have the right.” Only her master would have that right, and she was well aware that Lucas didn’t have the least bit of interest in becoming any such thing, more’s the pity.
He jerked back to his full height and glared down at her. “You can’t for a moment think this is a good idea.”
She turned back to her desk, successfully this time. “Actually, I think it’s a bloody fantastic idea.”
Lucas huffed and stormed off. She didn’t peer over her shoulder and watch him go. She already knew he had a fantastic arse. She also knew that if she looked in the reflection in the window on the far side of her desk and just to the left, there was no need to be so obvious as to twist around whenever she wanted to check him out.
As he marched out of sight, Wendy sighed and directed her gaze heavenward. She really hoped this game of dominant hunters and submissive human prey managed to take her mind off him, because God knew she’d tried everything else, and she’d be damned if she’d moon over him for another six months.
Chapter Two
Lucas tapped his foot against the rough concrete covering the floor of the barn and studiously ignored the dozen or so other men congregating there.
“Gentlemen your attention, please.” The dom organizing the event stepped up onto an overturned wooden crate.
Finally! Lucas pushed himself away from the wall. The longest half an hour in the history of the universe was almost over.
“Is everyone clear on the rules?” the organizer asked.
A chorus of affirmative answers rang out. Perhaps if Wendy hadn’t been one of the submissives who’d set off twenty-eight minutes ago, Lucas would have been more inclined to believe them.
But Wendy… He ground his teeth together. She should never be in the same room as another dom, let alone chased by a gang of them.
He looked toward the big barn doors, impatient for the whole charade to be over so he could take her safely home.
The organizer checked his stopwatch. The barn fell eerily silent as he counted down the final seconds. “Happy hunting, gentlemen!”
Some idiot let out a whoop. Guys clapped each other on the back. Jokes hit the air. Lucas didn’t stick around to hear the punch lines.
Bright sunlight momentarily blinded him as he rushed out of the barn. Lifting one hand to shield his eyes, he forced himself to pause and consider his options; certain that Wendy would have done the same.
Two big open gates stood directly in front of him. It was the obvious escape route. Men strode past him, each one carrying a paintball rifle. Every one of them left through those big open gates. They may as well have had a flashing neon sign above them.
He turned away from it. Wendy wasn’t the kind of woman who did the obvious thing. Before he was even aware he’d made a decision, he found himself striding toward another much smaller gate, tucked away in one corner of the yard.
There were no protruding nails on the gate where a piece of her clothing might have been conveniently snagged to let him know that he was going in the right direction. There were no Hollywood style footprints for him to follow. All he had to go on was blind instinct.
Transferring his paintball gun to his other hand, he cautiously opened the gate. He looked into another yard, flanked on all sides by stables and barns. There was no sign of life in there, let alone of Wendy.
Damn! He turned back wondering how much time he had wasted checking out a dead end.
The sudden sound of footsteps on the cobblestones made him pause. A young woman backed out of one of the stables, leading a stallion that appeared far too big for her to handle safely. The horse looked straight at him. Apparently, it wasn’t impressed with what it saw. The horse tossed its head and tried to pull away from the girl. As if reading the animal’s mind, she glanced over her shoulder toward Lucas.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle him.” He was about to step back and leave her to get on with her work. Then he saw the knowing smile play around her lips.
The girl knew why he wa
s visiting the estate, knew what kind of hunt was taking place there. As he watched, she led the horse out, her every movement calm and confident despite the size of the animal and the fact she looked no more than twenty years old. She turned toward him, and the black leather collar around her throat became visible past the fabric of her coat.
Yes, she knew exactly what was going on.
“Aren’t you going to give chase, Lucas?” she asked.
“Yes, I am.” He cast one last frustrated glance around the yard, wondering how much of a lead the other men had on him by now. If one of them found Wendy first then—
Suddenly, something cut through his thoughts.
Lucas?
She knew his name.
“Wendy.” Lucas watched the girl’s face very closely as he said it.
The change in her expression was fleeting. So was her glance toward a gate at the far side of the stable yard. Bingo!
“I can neither confirm nor deny that any of the ladies taking part today is called Wendy. All the names of the participants are confidential.” Her lips quirked into a smile as she put her foot in one stirrup and easily mounted the giant beast.
“So how do you know my name?”
She laughed. “I guess someone must have 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 rushed out of her lungs as she was dumped unceremoniously in a pile of hay. She gasped for fresh air; all she got was a mouthful of fresh horse bedding and dust. Spluttering and coughing, Wendy twisted around to face her attacker.
“If you don’t let me go I’ll…”
The guy stood just inside the doorway. The sunlight behind him cast his face into shadow, but his outline was unmistakable.
“Lucas!” Any hint of fear she’d felt died to be quickly replaced by more anger than she had ever felt.
Scrabbling at the deep hay, she struggled to get to her feet. Before she was halfway there, Lucas lifted his right hand and flung something in her direction. Wendy didn’t have time to try to catch it. The thing collided against her tabard with a pop.
Red liquid splattered across the fabric.
A paint gun pellet.
Very slowly, she looked up. By the time she met Lucas’ gaze, her eyes had adjusted to the gloom of the stable.
Lucas. Paintball. Game. Hunt. Shot. Claimed. His.
It only took her mind a split second to get from one end of the equation to the other. She belonged to Lucas for the rest of the evening. She was his.
Except, she wasn’t, because he didn’t want her; he’d never wanted her. All he wanted to do was rescue her from the “perverts” who played the kind of games she loved with all her heart.
She finally pulled herself to her feet. He still stood in the doorway. She pushed at his shoulder, fully expecting him to step politely aside. He didn’t even flinch.
“You’ve made your point. You ruined my day,” Wendy snapped. “I’m not going to listen to a lecture, too.” She turned to one side and tried to squirm through the tiny gap between him and the doorframe.
Once more, his arm slid around her body. There was no shock now, no fear. All she felt was the stupid hope that he would hold her even tighter and refuse to let her go. And that made her mad.
She pushed at his chest, but he stubbornly held on to her. This time she faced him. That was a tactical error on his part. Her foot left the floor. Her knee came up. Lucas altered his grip and pushed her way from him just in time.
Her knee failed to connect with anything as she stumbled back to stand in the middle of the stable.
Wendy shoved her hair back off her face. Hay clung to her ponytail. The damn stuff stuck to the tabard too. Wendy automatically swiped at it. It was only when her hand came away streaked with red paint that she realized what it had really stuck to.
Tugging frantically at the fabric, unable to bear the reminder of a claiming that had been promised but that would never take place, she pulled the tabard over her head and tossed it aside.
“Does this mean you’re quitting the game?” he asked.
She glared at him. “Yes. Satisfied now. That’s what you’ve wanted from the start, isn’t it?”
“
No,” he said, with a flash of anger all of his own. “What I’ve wanted from the start is you. But if I need to stop you playing stupid games with strangers along the way, I will.”
“What?” She froze, halfway through pacing across the barn.
“You’re not a fool, Wendy,” he snapped. “You can tell when a dom is interested in you.”
All she could do was stare at him as if he’d grown not one more, but at least twenty more heads. “You’re not a dom.”
He blinked, apparently too shocked to be offended.
“I mean—you said kinky people were perverts.”
His gaze narrowed as if he had something to be annoyed about.
“And you’re not interested in me,” she went on. “You were very clear on that.”
“I’m not interested in a one night stand with you or a quick game of tie up and tease. I’m not interested in being just a dom and nothing else to you. I tried playing that way a long time ago and it’s not enough for me. I want more.” His eyes narrowed. “And I’ll call men who want to screw you without giving a damn about you whatever the hell I like.”
Wendy was aware of her mouth forming a shocked little “oh!” of realization. Apparently, she was far more a fool than he’d suspected. It really hadn’t occurred to her that he’d rejected all her invitations to play because he was…what exactly? Old fashioned? Gallant? Romantic?
“You want to be my boyfriend,” she blurted out.
His lips twitched slightly. “I’d prefer a term that didn’t make me sound like I was an eighteen-year-old schoolboy, but, yes.” He folded his arms across his chest and glared down at her as if daring her to have a problem with that.
She just stared at him. That was so…well, when she stopped and thought about it, it was so bloody like Lucas!