Page 73 of Daddy’s Hunted Bride

If that happens I’ll call Sheriff Donnelly myself and have her come rescue me. There’s no way I can live like this forever.

That thought sparks something in my mind. Maybe I should try to run away again. Then Daddy would have no choice but to chase me.

Slipping out of his bed, I creep over to his window and flip the locks at the top of the glass pane. But when I try to shove it open, it sticks. Annoyed, I move to my nursery—which is sadly no longer a giant blanket fort—and try all of those windows as well.

Stuck. All of them. Or, more likely, there’s another locking mechanism, one that’s hidden from naughty Little girls.

Dammit.

I’m in the process of carefully running my hands over the edges of the window, looking for some other lock when a voice from behind me makes me jump and spin around.

“What do you think you’re doing, little girl?”

Shoving my hands behind me, despite knowing I’m safe from a spanking, I glance around to see if there’s any possible escape route. But Daddy is blocking the door and I’ve already figured out the windows don’t open.

Leaving me trapped, with no way out.

Fuck yes.

My heartbeat kicks up as I force my gaze back to his handsome face. “Nothin’,” I lie, torn between hoping it sounds believable and praying he sees right through me.

“Nothin’, huh?” he asks as he steps into the room, slowly prowling toward me. “So you weren’t just checking the windows to see if you could sneak outside without Daddy’s permission?”

Another lie trembles on my tongue, but my stubbornness kicks in and I jerk my chin up instead. “What if I was? What are you gonna do about it?”

I’m playing with fire. It doesn’t matter that he hasn’t spanked me since my fall or that he’s been treating me like a freaking china doll who might break if you look at her too hard. All of a sudden, I am intensely aware that I am trapped in a room with a very dangerous man who possesses a seemingly endless well of creativity when it comes to punishing his naughty girl.

But he doesn’t reach for me. Doesn’t scoop me up and carry me to the bathroom to wash the lies out of my mouth. No, he only continues his slow stalking across the nursery until he’s standing directly in front of me.

It feels as though my heart might actually leap out of my chest when he leans down and speaks in my ear, his voice a low, dangerous rumble.

“The question isn't what I am going to do, little fox.” He chuckles, and I have to roll my lips together against the whimper that threatens to escape. “It’s what you need to do that should concern you.”

“Wh-what do I need to do?”

When he speaks again, the single word he utters is little more than a growl.

“Run.”

Dane

A heartbeat of silence follows my command. But then Vanessa ducks under my arm and races for the door of the nursery. Turning, I watch her flee, listening to the sound of her frantic footsteps on the stairs.

My siblings were right. It’s well past time for me to let my little fox run free.

At least until I catch her.

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out the mask I’d purchased in town the day Vanessa had her fall and slip it over my head. It mimics her favorite horror movie villain. My knife is already strapped to my belt, along with a length of rope she may or may not have spotted when I was stalking her around her nursery.

Either way, I’m prepared for an afternoon of fun chasing my little fox through the woods.

Ready or not, here I come.

CHAPTER 31

NESSIE

Exhilaration floods my veins as I run, my legs pumping for all they’re worth as I race toward the edge of the woods. Since I was supposed to stay inside all day, I’m wearing one of the fancy dresses our extended family on the island sent over, and somehow that makes the chase all the more exciting. Like I really am some damsel in distress, fleeing a dragon intent on capturing me and devouring me whole.