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She yelped with pain as his shoulder slammed into her burned side and she begged him to put her down.
    Dominic ignored her. He had not meant to hurt her, but the wench would not stop kicking and screaming. He just wanted to get her to the wagon as quickly as possible so she could continue to rest and recover, but she was preventing this at every turn. At that moment she hit him again, called him some foul name he had never heard before and began punching him in the back.
    He cursed softly and in a flash he swung her back down and pushed her to the ground, pinning her with the weight of his body. She was strong for a woman, but she was no match for his speed and strength. The blanket which covered her had flown somewhere off to the side of them and she lay there squirming beneath him almost completely stark naked. He looked down at her bare breasts, rising and falling rapidly from exertion and the temptation to taste her flesh against his tongue almost drove him to insanity.
    For a moment, he just lay there on top of her trying to slow his ragged breathing. He knew he had to regain control over himself. He looked away from her for a moment, sucked in a deep breath and then spoke.
    “Demoiselle, I am going to get off of you now. You are going to stand next to me and walk down this hill and you are going to keep your mouth shut. You will not hit me, scratch me or spew forth any more vile names from that shrewish tongue of yours.”
    She became very still and just stared at him for a moment before reluctantly nodding her head in assent. He got up slowly, retrieved the blanket and threw it over her and stood, offering his hand to help her to her feet. His expression softened and he reached out and gently wiped an errant tear from her cheek as he spoke again.
    “I am sorry if I hurt you. I know the situation seems quite bad, but it will be much worse if you arouse my men with your unholy screeching. They will be inclined to slake their lust if given the opportunity. I have been known to be of no better nature, mind you, but in this case as their leader I will do what is right and we shall have our gold. You will need to contain yourself if you are to remain safe in my care until your family can retrieve you.”
    Safe in his care ? This guy was unbelievable! She wanted to utter the words aloud but she didn’t dare. She wanted to knee him in the crotch and take off running until she dropped. But where would she go? They were out in the middle of nowhere in an untamed countryside, in a century where women were nothing but chattel to be bought, sold, traded or ransomed . Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes.
    God, she hated him at this moment! But his belief that money could be obtained for her safe return to her home and family was her only hope of survival and she knew she’d better not blow it.
    She remained silent as he marched her down to the bottom of the hill to a clump of bushes to relieve herself. She opened her palm and stared at the medallion. She must hold on to it at all costs because it might be her only hope of ever finding her way home.
    She closed her fingers around it tightly. She would slip it up under her sleeping palette as soon as she got back into the wagon and hopefully he wouldn’t see it. She must avoid arousing any kind of suspicions in him until she could get safely away from here.
    She emerged from the privacy of the bushes where he quickly joined her and they walked in silence back to the wagon. He carefully lifted her up and helped her in. She lay back down in the place where she had slept through the night and did nothing as he pulled back the blanket to check on her bandage.
    She looked down to see it was intact and exhaled softly. It was just a blessed relief to lie down! He helped her sit back up and offered her some water from a filthy looking ladle. She eyed it warily then taking a deep breath she closed her eyes and swallowed, praying silently that she wouldn’t regret it. The water