No one could doubt that we’re together when we’re dressed like this.” He finished braiding my hair, using a hair tie from his wrist to tie it off.

He fingered my thick metal collar, his eyes soft. He surprised my by pulling a small box from his pocket. It looked like a small ring box.

My breath caught, my mind going a little panicky at what it might contain. I was almost relieved when he revealed the large, square cut, light blue gem stud earrings. They were beautiful and unexpected, and I was stunned enough to let him put them on me without protest. Foolishly, I’d had a horrifying moment where I thought he might be trying to give me a ring of some kind. I was relieved but baffled that it was something else entirely.

“It’s too much, James. You don’t need to shower me with gifts. It’s really not my thing.”

He touched my ear lightly. “No, it’s not your thing. It’s my thing, so humor me. And they match your eyes. I knew they would.”

“What happened to the other ones? The ones I wore last night? I hope I didn’t lose them.”

He just smiled at me. “You didn’t. I packed them. When will you learn that I’m a man who thinks of everything?”

I sighed at his description of himself, oddly resentful at the aptness of it.

He kissed my forehead, grabbing my hand and leading me from the plane.

Helene nodded at us as we left, calling out a polite good-day. I nodded back, uncomfortable but civil.

We emerged into a landscape of rolling green hills, surrounding a tiny landing strip that I doubted anyone could call an airport. It was an instant, pleasant change from Vegas.

“How pretty,” I said, as he led me to a sleek silver convertible sports car. Two black SUV’s were parked behind it, and I saw Clark getting behind the wheel of one of them.

The convertible’s leather seats were a bright blue that contrasted with the gunmetal color of the car. The emblem was a crown, and I had no idea what brand it was, but I knew nothing about cars, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was a given that the brand was out of my price range.

He opened the passenger side for me, handing me in, and even buckling my seat belt. I gave him a wry look as he did so.

“I could never pass up an opportunity to restrain you,” he said softly, as he ran his hand along the belt.

He got into the driver’s seat, reaching into the glove box and taking out two pairs of sunglasses. I took my pair, thanking him.

“You thought of everything,” I said, reaffirming his own words from a few minutes ago.

His right hand, which had been gripping my knee, went to my wrist. The marks there were harsh and red, the skin raw in places.

“Not everything, apparently. This went too far.” He started the car, signaling the SUV’s. Clark’s car went in front of us, the other falling into place behind.

Clark sped ahead in a hurry. He had to be speeding as he drove almost out of our sight on the two lane highway. I watched the lovely rolling hills pass us as James handled the sports car, as he did all things, with consummate skill.

The rolling hills quickly turned into pine covered foothills and plateaus. It was a lovely, pleasant drive. Even the weather was perfect. We had been transported from the desert and into a green haven.

James kept his hand on my thigh, rubbing and squeezing as he drove, only lifting it to shift when necessary.

I shifted slightly in my seat, already a little sore from our activities of the night before.

James noticed immediately. “You sore?” he asked me. He had to raise his voice a little to be heard above the sound of the car and the wind.

I gave a little shrug. “Nothing that I mind,” I answered. “Certainly nothing that would make me want to keep from doing it again.”

“How about a half a dozen times?” he asked me with a warm smile, his eyes hidden behind dark shades.

I couldn’t keep from responding with my own soft smile.

Less than twenty-four hours with him, and he already had me wrapped around his little finger again.

It was hard to stay away from him, even while he was driving. A rather obtrusive console separated us.

I slid my hand over to his waist, pressing my hand over the bulge in his jeans.

His hand covered my own and he shot me a rather surprised look.

I checked the SUVs escorting us. They both seemed safely out of sight for the moment.

I fumbled with the button on his jeans, finally unbuckling to use both hands. I uncovered his growing erection, and he sucked in a breath as the air hit him. I arranged myself over the console, taking him into my mouth before he could protest. The console dug into my ribs a little painfully, but it wasn’t enough pain to stop me.

His hand gripped my hair roughly. “Fuck.” His curse was low and hoarse. “That’s not safe, Bianca,”

he said, but he didn’t stop me.

I lifted my head briefly to say, “So come fast, and we’ll be out of danger quickly.” I took him back into my mouth, stroking his base hard with both hands. His grip on my hair grew painful as I bobbed my mouth up and down on his cock relentlessly.

He was coming in my mouth in under two minutes. I hadn’t even known he was capable of coming so fast. He cursed and moaned as I swallowed his hot cum.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck. Bianca, you’re too much. I almost went off the road. My vision got way too fuzzy there.”

I sat up, buckling in. I smiled at him, a wicked smile, my lids heavy but hidden.

He stared, mesmerized. “You’re going to be the death of me, aren’t you?”

We were on the highway for just over an hour before James began to slow down, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Clark had turned off of the road in front of us, I saw. James followed him, turning onto a well-paved but small road. We passed through heavy gates almost immediately after turning off of the main road. It was set up so that you couldn’t even use the road to turn your car around without the gate open.

We were on the small road a good twenty minutes, passing through rolling hills, then a forest of oaks, then between twin plateaus. The grassy hills were dotted with pine trees here. It was a mercurial, changing landscape. Land just like the man who owned it all.

“Almost there,” James said, his hand on my knee.

I saw the sprawled-out buildings minutes before we reached the ranch. It seemed almost unreal, this secluded compound in the middle of nowhere.

James pulled directly up to the main building. All of the buildings matched, built in an elegant dark brown wood in a modern log cabin style, with huge reflective windows. It looked like an ultra modern take on a cabin in the woods. It mixed the modern with nature, taking elements of the area and adding a stylish flair. It seemed to be the Cavendish designing trademark.

“It’s lovely,” I told him.

He smiled, pleased. “The stables are in back, but let me show you the house first.”

“I could see them from the road. What are all of the other buildings? The house seems so huge just by itself.”

“For staff,” he said, as he pulled me inside.

He showed me the house room by room. It was beautiful, of course.

“You decorated this,” I stated. I didn’t have to ask. I was starting to recognize his personal touch. The stark modern floors and walls mixed with rustic tables and furnishings that had an authentic Wyoming feel to them just had his stamp all over it.

He just nodded, leading me through the entryway and through a mammoth living room. He showed me each room of the main floor, pointing out details of the design.

“What? No antlers?” I asked him, as he led me around.

He gave me a mock glare.

I realized I needed a nap as he led me up the stairs. I tried to stifle a yawn.

He glanced back at me. “Nap-time,” he told me.

I just nodded, though it hadn’t been a question.

“We’ll finish the tour later,” he said.

He led me to what was obviously the master bedroom and into a ridiculously huge closet. Half of it held what were obviously women’s clothing. I shot him a look.

“Whose clothing is that?” I asked. I’d been going for a casual tone, but it came out stiff.

He gave me a censorious look. “Yours. I told you I had my shopper pick out a wardrobe for you. You can add whatever you like, but I thought it would be convenient, for the moment, to have at least the essentials available for you, so you don’t have to pack every time we want to go to one of my houses.”

“You said you had done that in New York. And I didn’t imagine it was anything like this. This is too much, James.”

“It’s nothing,” he said curtly, pulling a tiny transparent slip off of a hanger and thrusting it at me. “Put this on and get in bed,” he ordered, and started to strip.

“Do you always do this? Looking at this closet, you’d think you were living with a woman. Is this your usual…arrangement?”

“Of course not! I’ve never lived with a woman, never even considered it. You will be the first, when I’ve talked you into it,” he told me, pulling off his shirt.

“It will be an easy transition once I convince you,” he continued blandly, “since all of my properties have been stocked with your things. As I said, you can add whatever you like. And if there’s any decorating changes you’d like to make, please feel free to do so. I know I can be controlling and possessive about my things, but I want you to feel that what’s mine is yours.”

I froze in the act of unbuttoning my pants. The things he was saying, and in that dispassionate tone, just weren’t computing in my head.

“You can’t be serious,” I said softly.

“About what?”

“Living with me.”

“I see by the look on your face that you aren’t pleased with the notion, but I’m a very determined man.

Start getting accustomed to the idea.”

I went back to undressing, dismissing the notion. Maybe he was trying to say outrageous things just to get me to talk about the things I didn’t want to. I didn’t know. But, instead of feeling caged or trapped by the arrangement he was proposing, I felt…nothing. Denial was my reaction, and I welcomed it.

“You’re insane,” I told him lightly as I pulled on the tiny slip he’d handed me.

I crawled into the luxurious covers of yet another of his ridiculously oversized beds. I felt him hovering near my side, standing over the bed.

“Well, I suppose that’s not the worst reaction I could have gotten. I was scared you would run screaming from the house, so this is actually a positive, compared to that,” he told me, his voice still so dispassionate. I’d heard him use that tone on the phone before. I realized it was the one that he used for business transactions.

I heard him go into the bathroom, not shutting the door. The shower began to run. I was asleep before he joined me in bed.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

James was a hot weight enfolding me from behind when I awoke. The clock on the bedside table read 1:30 p.m. I’d slept at least four hours, and I desperately needed a shower. I slid out from under his heavy arm, going into the bathroom. I shut the door behind me as quietly as I could. The man seemed to get so little sleep. I’d feel bad if I woke him, when he seemed to be sleeping so deeply.