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the dirt floor.  
    Something tugged at her dress. Jacqueline lifted her head and waited. Another tug, this one accompanied by the unmistakable squeak of a rat.
    Jacqueline shrieked, kicking out with her feet and shuffling backward.
    A low chuckle of amusement filled the small room.
    Jacqueline came up against the wall, heart pounding.
    “Scared of a little rat?” Carver stepped out from a corner. He’d been watching the rat’s progress as it made its way across the room to investigate.  
    Jacqueline froze. She’d forgotten about the man with the dead voice. For some reason, she had assumed it would be one of the others that would come to check on her.
    Carver stood over the girl, watching her head turn from side to side as she searched the dark for him. His cock stirred at the sight of her tied up and helpless. The bitch had broken his nose, and his face throbbed in time to his heartbeat. It would be his pleasure to make her pay for the injury.
    Carver squatted down on his haunches next to her. Leaving her hood in place, he slid his knife from his boot, caressing her cheek with the blade.
    Jacqueline jerked and tried to press herself more firmly against the wall. There was nowhere for her to go.  
    Carver laughed. “You and I are going to have a good time.” He paused. “Well, at least I am.”
    “You were told not to touch me,” Jacqueline said, her voice quivering. Please let someone else show up to check on me!
    “I don’t take orders from anyone,” Carver sneered. “Not even the devil himself.”
    There was a world of pain promised in that voice. Jacqueline pulled on her restraints. The rope dug into her wrists but remained taut. “Please just let me go.”
    “Oh no,” Carver said, reaching for the rope. “We’re just getting started.”
    Jacqueline felt the rope go slack, her arms dropping to her lap like lead weight. Before she had the chance to do anything, she was yanked across the dirt floor. “NO!”
    Carver retied the rope, grabbing her as she rolled over onto her hands and knees and tried crawling away. Flipping her onto her back, he pulled her beneath him, eyeing the long legs that were bared as her skirts bunched up around her thighs.  
    “You’re going to pay for what you did to me,” Carver hissed.  
    Straddling the girl’s hips, his cock hard and throbbing, he took a moment to appreciate his luck. Devil had sent him on his way, never once thinking he might consider circling back around.  
    Earlier, Carver had garnered enough information to know that the girl was to be kept for the night and returned to her family unharmed the next day. He didn’t know what Devil hoped to get out of the deal. He didn’t care, however, that the bitch had humiliated him, the wound to his pride greater than the injury to his face.
    “Get off me!” Jacqueline struggled. Digging her heels into the ground, she twisted, trying to dislodge the weight pinning her down. “Do you know who my father is?”
    “Don’t know,” Carver laughed as the bitch bucked beneath him. “Don’t care.”
    “You’ll pay for this!” Jacqueline cried, yanking again on her restraints. Pain sliced down her arms as the rope cut deeper into her wrists. “My father will hunt you down and kill you himself!”
    Carver bent down, planting his hands on either side of the girl’s head. “I invite him to try,” he said, his cock throbbing at the idea. “I look forward to gutting him, but not before I tell him just how much I enjoyed getting to know his little girl.”
    Jacqueline could feel the man’s breath, hot and rank through the hood. He was close, too close. The first time had been an accident, a lucky strike in a moment of panic. This time, when she lifted her head, Jacqueline aimed for his face, driving her forehead into the man’s nose.  
    Carver roared as she connected with his already broken nose. Rearing back, he backhanded her across the face, knocking her head sideways and momentarily stilling her