Marly took a deep breath as she and Dillon both turned back to face Cade.
“Yeah, Cade?” he asked warily.
Cade’s gaze flickered to Marly, hot and furious.
“Marly better come home in the same shape she’s left in. You understand me?” There was a deadly, hard edge to Cade’s voice.
Marly watched tensely as Dillon’s eyes narrowed, his expression becoming blank as he watched Cade.
“She’ll return in whatever shape she wants to Cade,” he finally said softly. “She’s a woman, not a child for you to watch over.”
“Dillon—”
“Cade, don’t you dare start this ‘he-man’ stuff.” Marly narrowed her eyes on him warningly. “I won’t tolerate it. At least try to be nice.”
“Oh, I am being nice, honey.” He smiled, all teeth. It was a frightening sight. “And I will be waiting up for you, Marly.”
“Damn, he acts more like your lover than your uncle.” Dillon chuckled, taking his life in his own hands. “Come on, Marly, before he sprouts horns and starts breathing fire.”
Dillon placed his hand in the small of Marly’s back and escorted her from the house. Marly could feel Cade’s gaze on her back, burning past Dillon’s hand into the flesh below. Singeing her flesh, making her skin itch. She was starting to wonder at the wisdom of pushing him like this. Maybe Brock had been right.
“Damn,” he muttered as the door closed behind him. “I’ll have to talk to Sam about combat pay.”
Marly muffled her laughter as he laid his hand at her back once again and led her to the huge motorcycle.
“How did he talk you into this anyway?” she asked him softly as he helped her onto the back of the machine.
“Don’t ask.” Dillon laughed, shaking his head. “It’s too strange, and it would likely get us both killed. Now stay still while I do this right. Sam was pretty specific about what to do before leaving.”
Marly smiled up at him, sitting still as he lifted the helmet and fitted it over her head, then adjusted and buckled the strap slowly. His fingers trailed over her cheek in a parody of affection. It was all Marly could do to keep from checking to see if Cade was watching from the front room window. Then Dillon was pulling his own helmet on and straddling the beast beneath them.
The motor revved, hummed, vibrating between Marly’s thighs as he lifted the kick stand and headed down the ranch road.
“Hang onto me.” His voice came through the small speakers at her ears.
Leaning forward, Marly wrapped her arms around his waist, the added height at the back of the seat allowing her to prop her chin on his shoulder.
“Do you do this often?” She asked with a smile, glad that the small mic at her mouth made speaking possible.
“What? Take out the nieces of my friends to piss their adoptive uncle off?” He laughed, glancing back at her. “Naw, I gotta admit, this is a first for me. But the least of the sins added to my name.”
Marly laughed at this. She was well aware of the list of sins added to his name.
“So, wanna tell me the game, Marly-love?” he asked her with a thick thread of amusement. “I can be a hell of a team player if the rules are right.”
* * * * *
Cade paced the floor. He growled when he spoke to anyone and drank too much liquor for his state of mind. He had drunk more whisky in the past few days than he had drank in the past few years. Marly was driving him crazy.
How could she leave the house with that orgy-loving pervert? How could she even consider being with another man? Because he told her he couldn’t take her. Because his guilt was so deep that he refused her. If he didn’t have the guts to take what he wanted, then another man would do it for him. He growled harshly as he stood in the front door, his body tense, tight. Fury, complete and overwhelming surged through his body. She was his, and when she returned, he would show her she was his.
He closed his eyes, imagining how tight her body would grip him, how hot and sweet she would be as the velvet walls of her vagina clenched and soaked him with her release. She would scream when he took her anally, beg for more, cry out with the pleasure of it. He fisted his hands, fighting the need to go after her now. He was going to make her pay for tonight. When he took her, she would scream in need, the sound echoing around the house until everyone around it knew who possessed her. He’d make her beg for release. He would show her who had the upper hand, and who would submit.
He walked out on the porch, his whisky glass in hand, and sat down on the porch steps. Night was crowding in, and she had been gone for several hours with the debauched playboy of Madison County. The self-proclaimed heartbreaker was late bringing her home too. They were most likely parked along the bluffs, Marly’s hair blowing in the wind as she sat on the back of that damned Harley, Dillon turning to her—
Cade took a deep, fortifying breath as he plowed the fingers of one hand through his hair. Then he sipped at the whisky and wanted to hit something. Someone. Preferably that darkly handsome bastard out with his Marly.
He closed his eyes. She was making him crazy. He knew he was in trouble when he started drinking again. At this rate, he would get drunk before midnight. Hell, no he wouldn’t. If Marly wasn’t home in the next hour then he would collect his rifle and go hunting for her. And he would take Sam, just to show him how he dealt with the bastards who wanted to hurt Marly. Touch her. Take her.