One to Keep, Page 2

  best that you take that up with Mr. Talbot.”

  “Just tell me. I can handle it.” It was a lie, but one that came easily to her. She’d spent a good portion of her life handling things she

  shouldn’t have.

  “Uhm, I believe Mr. Talbot hired a private investigator to find

  you. Once he tracked you to Dallas, he contacted my partner, and

  Julian kept track of you. Julian has some very interesting contacts.

  When he was told you had been arrested, he immediately called Mr.

  Talbot and got in contact with the district attorney. Your arraignment has been scheduled. Mr. Lodge will pay your bail, and you’ll be

  released to his custody.”

  “Doesn’t a judge have to decide that?”

  A smirk crossed the lawyer’s face. “Mr. Lodge can be persuasive

  when he wants to be. Trust me, I’ll have you out of here in a few

  hours. I’ll take the lead on your case, but I’ll consult with the best criminal defense attorneys. I already have a private firm researching

  Renard. If he’s behind this, we’ll string his ass up. I promise, it’s

  going to be okay.”

  “Why would he lie?”

  “My guess? He knows more than he’s telling us. That painting is

  very expensive. Maybe he’s selling it on the black market.”

  Jen shook her head. “Why that one? We had a Dutch master in the

  studio last month. It was worth millions. Before that he worked on

  restoring a Renaissance painting that’s considered priceless. It doesn’t make any sense. He can’t get more than a half a million for that one

  on the black market, if he can sell it at all.”

  “A half a million is more than enough to tempt a lot of people. It’s

  a lot of motive.”

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  “He’s independently wealthy.” At least, as far as Jen knew, he

  was. His house was in the best part of Dallas. He drove a Jag.

  “I’ll have someone look into his finances.” He glanced down at

  his watch. “It shouldn’t be long now. When we get the judge to

  release you, I’ll personally take you to your place so you can pick up some things.”

  “Why do I need to pick up my things?”

  The door to the office opened, and Jen looked up in shock.

  “Don’t worry about your things. You won’t be going back to your

  apartment, Jennifer.” Stefan Talbot stood in the doorway. He was lean

  and tall. His suit was immaculate, but his black hair fell over his eyes.

  The slight messiness did nothing to distract from his overwhelming

  presence.

  Jen got to her very shaky feet. The need to throw herself in his

  arms was almost overwhelming. He was solid and seemed like the

  safest thing she’d seen in forever. It was an illusion. Stef Talbot was dangerous. He’d already broken her heart once. Damn if she was

  going to give him a second shot at it. Before she could manage to

  speak, he was walking into the room, making a straight line toward

  her.

  “Everything’s been arranged, Finn. The paperwork is done. Julian

  can work miracles when he wants to. I can’t tell you how much I

  appreciate this. We’ll be in close contact as this matter moves

  forward. I’ve left notes with your secretary on how I want to proceed.

  The first thing I want is every bit of information you can dig up on

  that fucker Renard.”

  “Excellent.” Finn Taylor was the only one in the room who

  looked satisfied. He stood and collected his things. “I already have a team working on Renard. We’ll know something soon, Sir.”

  That Sir grated on Jen’s nerves. So did the deferential way Finn Taylor nodded at Stef. It was more than the polite acknowledgement

  of a lawyer to his client. Finn wasn’t being polite to his client. He was honoring a Dom.

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  Sophie Oak

  “Your work is impeccable, Finn. You honor your Master. Tell

  Julian I’ll be in touch with him.” He turned back to Jen. “Let’s move, Jennifer. I have a plane ready. We need to be at Love Field in an hour.

  I have a guard waiting to process you out.”

  Jen’s head whirled. “Plane?”

  “Yes, plane. We’re going back to Bliss.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Cool, gray eyes slitted, and she could practically feel the will

  rolling off him. Stef was tense, and Jen knew it was a bad idea to push him, but she couldn’t help it.

  “I’m serious, Stef. I’m not going anywhere with you.” She heard

  the will in her voice. She couldn’t go back to Bliss. Panic threatened to swamp her. He was here. He was right here in front of her, and her

  heart didn’t give a damn that he was a bastard. For the first time in

  months, she felt desire for something besides her art. She couldn’t,

  wouldn’t, go down that path again.

  He got into her space, a move he’d perfected seemingly long

  before he met her. Jen held her ground. Even though he didn’t touch

  her physically, he seemed to surround her. Suddenly her whole world

  was Stef, his gray eyes, the heat of his body, his masculine, clean

  scent. He filled her every sense.

  “I’m not going home with you.” She forced herself to say the

  words.

  His lips hitched up. “At least you admit Bliss is your home.”

  That wasn’t what she’d meant. Bliss, Colorado, had felt like home

  when she’d been there, but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that

  Bliss wasn’t big enough for the two of them. “It’s your home. Hell,

  Stef, it’s your little kingdom, and you like to play the king, don’t

  you?”

  “Yes, because everyone does what I say.” Stef’s low growl made

  her breath speed up. “Everyone in Bliss just bows down to me. Have

  you really been gone for so long that you forget Max regularly kicks

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  my ass? And Nell and Henry are currently protesting my gardening

  practices.”

  He was too close for comfort. She gave in and took a step back.

  She could see plainly that he was satisfied with her discomfort.

  “Don’t try to play the poor little rich boy with me, Stef. You’re a

  puppet master. You like to pull the strings and see how people dance.

  Well, I’m not in your kingdom anymore, and there’s no way you can

  get me there again. So you can take your money and go back to

  Colorado.”

  It was stupid. Even as she said the words, she wanted to take them

  back. She had spent the last twenty-four hours terrified in a jail cell.

  She would have to be the stupidest woman in the world to turn him

  down, but she’d never thought around Stef. Since the moment she’d

  met him, she’d been a quivering mass of emotion and desire every

  time he entered a room.

  “Stubborn thing. I’ll make it easy on you.” His hands caught hers,

  and before she could think she felt cold metal surrounding her wrists.

  He flicked the cuffs on with the cool precision of a man who often

  cuffed the women in his life.

  “What are you doing?” Jen stared at her hands. At least this time

  they were in front of her. She preferred it that way. Damn, her life had taken a wrong turn when she could compare and contrast her

  experiences with men who handcuffed her.

  “Taking you home, Jennifer. Whether you like it or not.”

  He leaned down and picked her up. She was in his arms, nestled

  close to his chest. She looked up at the square, inflexible line of his jaw. His arms tightened around her, and she was caged more closely

  than she’d been in the holding cell. She had the suspicion that this

  time Stef would be harder to escape from than before. He kicked open

  the door and started down the hall.

  Yep, like it or not, she was going back to Bliss.

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  Sophie Oak

  Chapter Two

  Stefan Talbot kicked open the door to the interrogation room and

  strode down the hall. Jen’s slender body finally relaxed in his arms as she obviously figured out he wasn’t letting her go. He stared straight ahead, unwilling to look down at her. If he looked at her he might

  falter, and he couldn’t risk it. Six months, and all he’d had was a

  bunch of photos taken by a private investigator. He’d stared at them every day. It made him feel like a complete pervert every time he

  looked at them. Luckily, he was comfortable with his perversity since

  he couldn’t seem to help himself.

  Trouble. She’d always been trouble. When he’d met her two years

  before, his first thought was to run for the hills. No. That hadn’t been his first thought at all. His first thought had been to snap a collar on her and chain her to his side. He’d decided to run for the hills when

  he’d come to his senses.

  “Why are you doing this?” Her voice was quiet, almost as though

  she was asking herself the question, or didn’t really want to know the answer.

  He stopped right there in the middle of the bustling hall and

  finally looked down at her face. Golden brown hair and large green

  eyes stared up at him. Her skin was like porcelain, but there was a

  smattering of freckles that crossed her nose and made him want to run

  his lips across her face to kiss each and every one. Why? Why did it

  have to be this woman?

  “Because you need me.” He kept his answer short. If he didn’t, he

  would end up a blathering idiot.

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  There was a sheen of tears in her eyes that told Stef he’d fucked

  up. He always managed to with her. He was a Dom of the first order,

  known for taking care of his subs, but he fumbled the minute she

  batted those eyes at him. There was nothing to do about it now. He

  simply continued down the hall. He would fix her when they got back

  to Bliss.

  Now that he thought about it, he should have expected this

  greeting. The entire plane trip here, he’d had all sorts of fantasies

  about being her hero. In his fantasies, she’d cried prettily and thrown herself into his arms. He’d gotten her out of this current scrape and

  then protected her. He’d set her up in a nice studio in Bliss, and she’d be waiting for him when she was old enough to know what she

  wanted.

  Twenty-three. She was fucking twenty-three years old. He was a thirty-two-year-old man in love with a girl barely out of college. She had no idea who she was, and she’d proven it by running away. She

  was just a kid, and he’d done all sorts of nasty, dirty, glorious things to her.

  Maybe he wasn’t so comfortable with his perversity.

  He turned down the main hall. Nate Wright, his old friend and the

  current sheriff of Bliss, Colorado, stood talking to the district attorney and the chief of police. Lucky for him both men belonged to a very

  private BDSM club and both wanted to be in the debt of very wealthy

  men. They had streamlined the process of getting Jennifer out on

  bond, going so far as to wake a judge to do the paperwork. It wasn’t

  exactly procedure, but otherwise, Jen would still have hours in a cell, and he couldn’t even consider that.

  “Damn, I hope I can keep the press off this.” The chief shook his

  head as he signed the paperwork releasing Jennifer Waters to the

  custody of Stef and Sheriff Wright.

  The DA seemed much more comfortable. “The girl’s never been

  in trouble before. It’s unusual, but we’re releasing her to law

  enforcement. Besides, I don’t know if I buy Renard’s story. He’s a

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  Sophie Oak

  shady fellow. If she stole the painting, then where is it? We’ve

  searched her place.”

  Jen’s head came up. “You did?”

  Nate never looked up from the paperwork he was now signing.

  “They didn’t find anything beyond your own work, and this afternoon

  the whole thing is being packed up and moved to Bliss. Stef packed

  your work himself this morning while we were waiting on the judge.”

  “I’ll make sure all of your work gets back home,” Stef said. He

  hadn’t been able to get her latest work out, but it appeared she had

  just finished it, possibly the night before her arrest. The oil was still wet. Renard, the fucker, had refused to release it, and no amount of

  intimidation had worked on him. At least the work in her apartment

  was properly packed and readied for transit.

  Her lips turned down, and she held her hands up for all to see.

  “And do you intend to keep me cuffed during my stay?”

  He’d love to. He’d love to bind her arms and legs and keep her

  tied to his bed. He’d let her out to paint. It was important, and she was far too talented to ignore, but other than that, she would be constantly spread for his pleasure. He shifted uncomfortably. His cock was hard

  as a rock.

  Nate’s eyes went straight to the handcuffs around Jen’s wrists.

  “Was that really necessary, Stef?”

  “She was being uncooperative.”

  “And he was being an asshole,” Jen shot back.

  At least she was getting her spirit back. It made Stef very happy

  that she was starting to fight again. He’d watched her in the interview room while she spoke to Finn Taylor, and everything about her had

  seemed dimmer than normal. Her eyes had been dull and downcast,

  her shoulders slumped. Now there was fire in them again, and it gave

  him hope.

  “No surprise there. He’s been a complete asshole for six months

  now,” Nate complained. He settled his hat on his head and looked

  every inch the small-town sheriff he was. “He’s giving Max a run for

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  his money. I swear if I catch the two of them pounding on each other

  again, I’m going to put them both in lockup.”

  Stef set her on her feet and hoped he didn’t have to chase her

  down. She immediately walked to Nate, holding out her cuffed hands

  in greeting.

  “It’s good to see you, Sheriff. How are Callie and Zane?” Jen’s

  face shone as she looked up at the sheriff.

  She hadn’t smiled once at him.

  “They’re fine. Zane opened a bar, and now he’s got Callie

  hopping. I had to hire a new admin because Callie’s having so much

  fun learning to bartend,” Nate explained. His face went a little bit

  hard. “She’s looking forward to seeing you again, Jen. She missed

  you.”

  Jen flushed. Her skin was so pale he never had trouble reading

  her.

  “I missed her, too.”

  “A letter would have been nice. It would have let her know you

  were alive.” Nate turned his stony face to Stef. “We should get going

  if we’re going to make the plane.”

  Jen’s smile fell, and Stef kind of wanted to put a fist through his

  friend’s face. He knew how Nate felt about Jennifer. Nate had made it

  entirely plain to him during the plane trip to Dallas. He was angry

  because his wife, Callie, had been very hurt by Jen’s sudden

  disappearance. Callie’s other husband, Zane, was a bit more

  forgiving. Zane understood the need to run. If Zane would have been

  a lick of help, Stef would have brought him instead of Nate.

  Unfortunately, Nate was the sheriff of Bliss, and there was just no

  substitute.

  “Come on.” Stef tried to soften the gruff command by placing a

  hand on her back.

  She stepped away. “You’re sure I can’t just stay here? My trial is

  going to be here. That lawyer person said I could stay with him.”

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  Stef’s heart plunged. She would rather stay with a complete

  stranger than come home. Maybe he should let her. Julian Lodge

  would make sure she was safe. Perhaps he should simply bow out. He

  never meant to come after her anyway. He should step back and allow

  her to live her own life.

  “You’re coming with me or you can go back to jail.” So much for

  stepping back. He just couldn’t. And Julian lived in one of the most

  notorious BDSM clubs in the world. No way was he going to allow

  Jennifer to live there. She’d be collared in a heartbeat. She’d belong to someone else. He couldn’t handle the thought.

  “See? Puppet master Stef is in the house. Fine. I’ll go back

  because Bliss is way better than the Dallas County Jail, but don’t

  think I’ll trade favors for my freedom.” She turned and walked out the door, her back regally straight as though she were a queen leaving her castle.

  “I wouldn’t dream of it, love.” Stef followed her quickly. He shed

  his own jacket because the little queen was going to be awfully cold.

  He caught up with her and settled the jacket around her shoulders. He

  thought briefly about uncuffing her, but decided he didn’t want to get slapped. He led her to the drive. “Wear it.”

  She smiled up at him, but there was no warmth in it. “Of course. I

  wouldn’t dream of refusing Master Stefan. Besides, I like the fact that you’re cold.”

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