Once he glanced away, she spoke.“They tried to talk me out of it,” she whispered.
He turned back.Loula and Tracker were giving her chiding looks.They didn’t need nor want her protection.But it did help to soothe some of his anger toward them.
But not toward her.“Why?”he snarled.“Why would you do this to yourself?”
“B-because I n-need the money,” she said.Her eyes welled with tears as she spoke.
He cursed under his breath.He didn’t want her tears.
He couldn’t abide them.“Don’t cry,” he snarled.
Loula gave a soft snort of rueful amusement, which, he had to admit, was warranted.His snarl only made Kitty’s lower lip quiver.
He thrust both hands into his hair but he tried his best to keep the anger from his voice as he spoke to Kitty.“You shouldn’t have done that.”
She blinked wide, watery eyes.“I couldn’t think of any other way.”
“You could have come to me,” he said.
Kitty’s gaze was fixed on his and he felt her stare as surely as a touch.He felt the weight of her gaze cutting into his chest, chiseling a crack to a place that hadn’t seen sunlight in a decade.
Loula’s laugh cut into the intimacy of the moment.“She should have come to you?For what?Charity?”
The words mocked him, and he cut her a sharp look, though he understood her point.
He didn’t do charity.Everyone knew that.
King didn’t miss the way Tracker shifted closer to Loula—a bloody guard dog.Maybe he’d forgotten who paid him.
Neither of them so much as flinched under his glare.
And now all three of them were staring at him.Waiting for his final judgment.And what was he supposed to do with the girl?
Well, he knew what hecoulddo with her.He knew what he wanted to do to her.
Loula shifted her weight.“King, if you’re not going to pay for the girl, there are plenty of men out there—”
“No.”
Kitty froze, her eyes wide.
He couldn’t look away from her.“The girl is too young to be handed over to one of those savages.”He cast a glance at Loula.“You know what they’ll do to her.”
She didn’t respond.But she knew, all right.
The silence stretched and finally he ran a hand over his face with a sigh.“Take her to my place.The girl is mine.”