Beast Untamed: Beasts of Bodmin Moor, Book 3 (15 page)

Then he would leave.

Her heart squeezed at the thought, but she stepped back and held open the door.

In the kitchen, Willa greeted Nathan like a long-lost friend, and after dumping the flowers on the counter, he hunkered down and administered the proverbial belly rub.

Warmth trickled through Erin’s chilled bones as she watched the two loves of her life enjoying a rekindling of their unexpected friendship. It was everything Erin had dreamed of but something she’d never dared hope for, and the impossibility of its survival made her ache so badly, she wanted to drop to her knees and wail.

Afraid her legs wouldn’t hold her steady, she leaned back against the counter and crossed her arms.

Nathan straightened up, his jaw tight and his nostrils flaring. “Are you leaving because of me? Because of us?”

His direct question floored her, and for a moment, she didn’t have an answer. While she’d been planning to leave Bodmin earlier than she’d originally anticipated because of her feelings for Nathan, technically she was leaving right this moment because of Justin. What did she say?

“It was a consideration,” she said after a moment. “But not the whole reason.”

He folded his arms across his chest, mirroring her. “And you’re not about to tell me the whole reason.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. You just have to understand that I need to leave.”

“You’re not leaving, Erin. You’re running. There’s a difference.”

He planted his feet, a silent signal that he was settling in for the duration, and he wasn’t budging until she talked. She could feel an anger buzzing off him, a rage that seemed to surround him like an aura.

Oh hell. What was she to do? The clock was ticking, and there didn’t seem any way she could get Nathan to leave. There were no explanations her muddled brain could come up with that would make him accept she had to go.

She raised her hands, closed her eyes and pressed her fingers to her temples. It felt like the walls were closing in on her.

She jerked when Nathan’s hands came gently around her wrists. He drew her hands down, and she opened her eyes.

“Talk to me,” he said softly. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

She shook her head, uncertain how much longer she could hold it together.

“Are you in trouble, Erin? Is someone after you?”

Her breath hitched, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

“Is it that guy?” Nathan’s tone sharpened. “The one you ended it with?”

Oh God. She couldn’t open her eyes. She couldn’t bear to see the look on Nathan’s face. But she had to deal with this. She needed to make Nathan realize that it was her problem to solve and she didn’t want him involved in her troubles.

She willed the strength from somewhere and looked at him. “This is nothing to do with you, Nathan. It’s for me to deal with, for me to resolve.”

“You expect me to stand back and watch you suffer at the hands of this asshole? You think I’m going to let him intimidate you, make you run?”

“You don’t understand.”

“Damn right I don’t.” He held her chin when she went to turn away. “You don’t have to run, sweetheart. What you have to do is tell me everything, then let me help you. I care for you, Erin. I—”

The sound of the front door slamming jerked Erin from Nathan’s hold. Panic washed through her, moments before Justin stormed into the kitchen.

Nathan turned and stepped in front of Erin, effectively blocking her view of the doorway and Justin. “Who the fuck are you?” Nathan demanded, his words like knives hurtling through the air. “How did you get in here?”

“I could ask who the fuck you are?” Justin said. “But seeing as I can already guess, I warn you to get the hell away from my fiancée.”

Erin tried to step around Nathan, but he held out his arm, blocking her. “She isn’t your fiancée, dickhead. And if you don’t get the hell out of this house and out of Erin’s life, I’ll make sure you don’t get to be anyone else’s.”

“Your threats don’t work with me,” Justin said, but from her viewpoint around Nathan’s shoulder, Erin noticed that he hadn’t moved an inch.

She tried again to sidestep Nathan, intending to defuse the rapidly escalating tension in the room and the threats that she knew would intensify if one of them didn’t stand down. From her experience with both men, she wouldn’t put bets on either of them backing off first.

Willa crept to Nathan’s other side and pressed close to his leg, watching Justin as intently as Erin was doing.

“Why don’t you do yourself a favor, asshole,” Nathan said. “Nobody around here wants you, so back off.”

“She’s coming with me,” Justin said. He hesitated briefly and caught Erin’s gaze. “Tell him.”

With her hand on Nathan’s arm, she stepped to his side. “No, Justin. I’m not.”

Whether it was Nathan’s reassuring presence or the fact that she’d just about had enough of Justin’s intimidation, Erin knew then that she had reached her breaking point.

“I was going to run,” she told Justin firmly. “But now I’m not. I’m staying here. In Bodmin. You’re not taking Willa away from me. She might be legally yours, but I doubt the authorities would look kindly on what you did to her. They might not believe me, and I’m sure you’ve got a point when you say that I’d find it hard to prove. But I’ve got the vet’s report for one, and the fact that Willa recoils from you every time you’re within spitting distance of her. I’ll get animal welfare involved, and…I’ll get the police involved.”

Surprise flashed in his eyes, but Erin knew she’d hit the target. They both knew what she was talking about. The police didn’t take assault charges lightly, and while they might be difficult to prove, they stuck. It didn’t matter what a man’s relationship was to a woman, he didn’t get to force her to have sex with him.

“Just what the fuck has this prick done?” Nathan demanded, taking a step toward Justin. It was only Erin’s firm grip on his arm that held him back.

“Nathan, please just leave this to me.”

“Fuck that. What’s he done?” He shrugged off Erin’s hold, and at the door, Justin took a step back, his face paling a little. “I swear to God, if you’ve hurt her…”

“It wasn’t like that,” Erin said, reaching for Nathan again, and this time managing to get in front of him.

Nathan glared at Justin, and Erin noticed a flicker of that gold she’d seen before rim around his irises. Beneath her restraining hand, she felt the tension in his big body, the muscles ripple and harden. She tightened her hold until he looked at her.

“Justin’s leaving now,” she told Nathan, hoping to heaven Justin knew what was good for him. She had the distinct impression that, given the chance and the motive, Nathan was capable of tearing Justin limb from limb.

She shuddered at the thought and pressed her fingers into Nathan’s tense muscles.

“You’ll fucking regret this,” Justin said. “Both of you.”

“Yeah, well. If anyone’s going to regret anything, it’ll be you setting foot in Bodmin, creep.” Nathan raised a hand and stabbed a finger at Justin. “It’ll be you watching over your shoulder for me coming for you when you least expect it.”

“Nathan, please.”

Erin knew that Justin was on the verge of leaving, and she didn’t want Nathan poking at him any more in case Justin decided to stay and retaliate.

“You haven’t heard the last of this.”

“Believe me, pal,” Nathan said with ominous intent, “neither have you.”

Erin kept her attention on Nathan and closed her eyes briefly when, moments later, the front door slammed. It was only then that she realized she’d been holding her breath, and she exhaled deeply.

She released her grip on Nathan’s arm and reached for the edge of the counter. She had the awful feeling she was about to collapse.

Nathan grabbed her waist and led her to the nearest chair. He poured water and brought it to her, then hunkered down. “Drink it. And breathe, sweetheart.”

She did as he said, soothed more by his term of endearment than the cool water slipping down her throat and the life-affirming oxygen at which she grabbed.

Nathan waited, stroking his hand reassuringly along her thigh.

“He tied Willa in the yard with a piece of rope,” she said, snatching breaths. “He muzzled her.”

“It’s okay.”

“He hurt her before,” Erin said, knowing she owed Nathan an explanation and wanting him to understand her need to run from Justin. “He hated that I loved her so much, and he wanted to hurt me. He came home one night and told me he’d arranged to sell her to someone else. That they were coming the next day to collect her.”

The words, the pain of memories, tightened her throat, and she had to gulp down more water. Only the stroke of Nathan’s hand gave her strength to go on.

“I was powerless to do anything. He was right when he said that Willa is legally his. He gave her to me, but he was her owner. I didn’t have a leg to stand on if push came to shove. When the people he’d arranged to sell her to called that night and said they’d changed their mind, that they wanted a younger puppy, Justin went crazy. He said he wasn’t going to spend another day watching me moon over Willa.”

Erin looked down at her dog, currently lying in her bed but watching them curiously.

“He grabbed Willa by her neck and pulled her out onto the balcony. I remember screaming at him, begging him.” Erin stopped to drink again. “He yanked her up by the scruff of her neck and dragged her to the railing. I grabbed for her, clawed at him. Told him I’d do anything, as long as he didn’t hurt her. He glared at me, and, God, I’ll never forget the look in his eyes. Then he flung Willa back onto the balcony floor and kicked her. He kicked her so hard…”

Erin pressed her fingers to her eyes, trying to block out the images that had played in her nightmares for too long. Trying to forget Willa’s painful cry, and the sound of boot leather colliding with precious muscle and bone.

“That’s when I knew I had to leave.” She dropped her hands down and took a deep breath in. “That’s when I came here.”

Nathan took her hands in his. The raw emotion she glimpsed in his green eyes made her breath catch and her heart stumble.

“Did he ever hurt you, Erin?”

She wasn’t going to insult them both by lying to him. She nodded.

“Tell me what happened.”

Erin slipped one hand from beneath Nathan’s but kept the other one in his tight grip. She rubbed her free hand over her neck and collarbone. “The night before I left, the night he hurt Willa, he…” She rubbed her hand over her neck again. “I… I told him I didn’t want him anywhere near me. It was a stupid thing to say, because I knew he’d see that as…as…”

Nathan’s fingers tightened around hers. She looked at his big hand, so steady and supportive. She knew without a single doubt that he would never raise it in anger or use it to hurt her. He was tough, uncompromising. But he was a good man. Reassured by that thought, she felt the strength to continue, to tell him all of it.

“He reminded me of what I’d said on the balcony, that I’d do anything… He kicked the door in.”

Nathan hissed in a breath, his hand holding hers so tightly, she felt her knuckles crunch. He must have realized, because he loosened his hold and reached for her other hand again.

“Afterwards, he left. And I packed up our things and ran. My friend Kay, she helped me. She’d helped me once before, when I walked out on him one evening and said I wasn’t coming back. When I went to Kay’s apartment, he came after me. Tom, the man Kay was living with at the time, told Justin to leave. The next day, Tom was mugged and beaten up badly. He said he didn’t see who’d done it, that it was likely some random thing, but I knew Justin was behind it. Can I have some more water?”

Nathan stared at her so hard, she wondered if he’d heard her. Then he got up and went to the sink. Seconds later, he was back and, after handing her the glass, pulled up a chair in front of her.

He took her hand again. “Go on.”

“Justin was involved in property development and land regeneration, but I knew he had dealings in other things. That he knew people…” She sipped the water. “He told me if I didn’t come back to him, he’d arrange for worse to happen than having Tom beaten up. I didn’t feel I had any option but to go back to him.”

Nathan’s dark look was almost more forbidding than what she was telling him. And it was strange, but in the telling of it, it seemed like a weight had been lifted and she could see things more clearly. The fear had dissipated, and after the confrontation with Justin, she felt lighter somehow, more able to deal with him and what the future might bring. It was like throwing light on a darkened shadow lurking in the corner of a room, and seeing only a bundle of dirty laundry.

“I didn’t want anything more to happen to Kay, didn’t want her involved, so I told her we needed to end our friendship. She’d already finished with Tom, and I still wonder if that had something to do with what happened, but Kay wouldn’t hear of it. She did agree, after much pleading from me, that it was best to let Justin think that was the case. So I told him that after what had happened, she didn’t want anything more to do with me. He must have accepted it, because he didn’t go near Kay when I ran this time. He didn’t know that Kay helped me, that she’d let me use her car, arranged for me to live in her aunt’s holiday rental for a few months. She’s even helping me apply for a new identity.”

“She’s a good friend,” Nathan said.

Erin smiled. “I couldn’t have come this far without her.”

Nathan stroked his thumb over the back of her hand. “Did you mean what you said? About staying?”

Erin drew in a breath, watching that slow, steady slide of his thumb. “Yes.” She brought her gaze to his. “I’m tired of being scared. Of looking over my shoulder. I need to prove to myself that I’m strong and capable of handling things head-on. I’m not going to run anymore.”

Nathan shifted forward, raised her hands to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. “You know something?”

She shook her head.

“I’m not going to run either.” He turned one of her hands and pressed his mouth to her palm. “As long as you’re planning to stick around, why don’t we see where this goes, Erin? You and me.”

Her heart fluttered so sweetly, spreading a delicious warmth through her chest. She extricated her hands from his to slide them up his forearms. “I’d like that.”