Taming the Lone Wolff (18 page)

He tried to wrap his brain around the story she was telling. But he felt sick and guilty. “How did he find her?”

Winnie slung an arm over her face, covering her eyes. “He broke out of jail. Tortured the grandmother until she gave him a cell number. After killing the grandmother, he called Esteban’s mom. Begged for forgiveness. Asked to talk, just talk. She told him where to meet her…thank God, not at the actual address. Then she left my property and walked two miles down the road. A car pulled up. He got out. Gunned her down. Put the gun in his mouth. There were witnesses.”

Winnie rolled to her belly as a fresh wave of sobs threatened to tear her in half. Larkin sat like stone, his mind barely functioning as he remembered Esteban’s oddly adult eyes but unquenchable cheer.

Suddenly Larkin was back in his childhood. He heard Devlyn cry out once. It was never more than once. She would take him by surprise and get that one shout of pain. After that, silence. Larkin huddled in a closet, Annalise in his arms. Her young voice was high-pitched, too loud.
Hush, sis. We don’t have to stay here long. Let me braid your hair. Lean on me and fall asleep….

“I have to go.”

He snapped back to the present at the sound of Winnie’s voice, his senses befuddled. “Go where?”

“Home.” She climbed out of bed and started dressing. “Esteban is asking for me. They were going to take him into protective custody, but he begged to stay at the safe house. He has a support system there, so they allowed it. For the moment.”

He rolled to the edge of the mattress and stood up, struggling for composure. Winnie had weathered the storm and was visibly pulling herself together with a strength of will Larkin admired deeply. “We’ll take the jet,” he said gruffly. “Once you’re ready, we can be at the airstrip in forty-five minutes.”

Winnie whirled to look at him. Her hair was a mess. Dark smudges underscored her eyes. “You are not going,” she said flatly. “Your family needs you here today. They deserve that.”

Fury rushed over him with the heat of a thousand suns. “And what do
you
deserve, Winnie? You hired me to keep your little enclave safe.”

“And you did. Admirably. But one of my women broke the rules and paid for it with her life. Any way you slice it, it’s not your battle.”

“This isn’t up for discussion.” He reached around her and turned on the lamp. He was still nude, but he didn’t care.

Winnie glared at him. “Your entire family, every one of them, is gathered here to celebrate your brother-in-law’s birthday. It would be unforgivable of you to disappoint them.”

His fists clenched to keep from pulling her into his arms. “You need someone, Winnie. Someone to stand beside you during all of this.”

She froze, her arms holding a stack of clothes to be tucked into her suitcase. “Don’t say that. This is my problem, my responsibility. I can handle it.”

“I know you can
handle
it, damn it. But you’re not going to. We’re in this together.”

“No, I…” Her chin wobbled. She didn’t have it in her to fight him. No reserves left at all. Which, he surmised, was the only reason he won the argument.

“Finish getting ready. I’ll call the pilot and get dressed. I’ll be back in less than ten minutes.”

* * *

They left the house in silence, and silence reigned for the entire trip from Wolff Castle to the airstrip. Larkin drove. It meant he had to keep his attention on the road. He wanted badly to comfort Winnie in the only way he knew how, but this was neither the time nor the place for what he had in mind.

On the jet, he thought she would immediately fall asleep. Instead, she kicked off her shoes and tucked her legs beneath her, choosing a seat opposite his. They were served a small snack during preflight checks and taxiing. Once they were airborne, Larkin requested pillows and blankets from the attendant and then asked not to be disturbed.

Winnie was a broken flower stem, her head drooping with fatigue. He didn’t know what to say to her. Even now, his
wanting
to help was not enough. It never had been.

She stared at him, her gold-and-green eyes hazed with grief. “I don’t think you should be here. But I’m selfish enough to be glad you are.”

His hands clenched the armrests. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. My sister and all the rest of them will understand.”

“I hope so. You’ve been more than good to me, Larkin. Don’t ever think differently. And though you don’t realize it, you’ve brought me out of a long, deep freeze. You asked me why I do what I do. I think you deserve to know.”

Shock immobilized him for the tick of several seconds. Then he pulled up the two armrests and beckoned her. “Come sit with me, Winnie. You’re too far away.”

She did as he asked. In moments her head was in his lap, the rest of her curled like a child in the cramped length of the two extra seats. He stroked her hair, torn between wanting her to rest and the need to hear the secret she had been unable or unwilling to share before now.

So he waited.

When he put his right arm around her waist, she linked her fingers with his. “It happened when my parents died,” she said, her words drowsy and slow. “Our family lawyer was a man in his early forties. He was so kind to me, so helpful after the tsunami. There were arrangements to be made, decisions to wade through. I wanted to jump on a plane and go there. He convinced me that it would be best to stay home. After photos and videos began to pour in, I knew he was right.”

“But you said the bodies were recovered?”

“Eventually. I had known the lawyer for years as Mr. Parker. He now insisted I call him Mike. And during the funerals, everything…he was right there, holding my hand…literally. I don’t know what I would have done without him.”

Larkin’s left hand fisted at his side. This wasn’t going to be good. “And afterward?”

“He came around a lot. Sometimes even spent the night, always with an excuse about it being too late to drive back into town. I didn’t think a thing about it.”

“But something changed.” Hearing her recitation was tearing him asunder, because he had a fair guess as to what was coming.

“Yes,” she said. “Something changed. One night after dinner, after the housekeeper left, Mike sat down with me in the living room. Told me he wanted to talk about my future. I told him what I was thinking. That I wanted to travel a bit…perhaps get an advanced degree. Then he…”

“Then he what?”

“I had been crying. About my parents. So he kissed me. At first I thought he was just being nice. Trying to make me feel better. But he put his hand on my breast.”

“Goddamn it to hell.” Even forewarned, Larkin wasn’t able to mask his reaction.

Winnie’s whole body tensed beneath his hand. His instinctive outburst had upset her. He clenched his jaw, his breathing shallow.

“I’m sorry, love.” He touched her cheek. “Go on.” If he had to bite off his own tongue, he would listen impassively.

“I didn’t know what to do. It made me uneasy. He was younger than my father, but still old enough to be my parent. It was weird.”

“Did you ask him to stop?”

“I was confused and upset. Maybe I was overreacting. I knew absolutely zero about boys and even less about men. He—”

She stopped short, and Larkin saw that she was blushing, this time not from any kind of sexual pleasure…but from shame. He sat in silence, his heart in shreds, refusing to react so she could finish. But if he’d had his way, the man would be neutered by now.

He squeezed her hand. “It’s okay, Winnie. You don’t have to go through all the details.”

She nodded against his leg. “Well, anyway, that went on for a long time—the touching, I mean—and then he undressed me. I know it makes me sound like the worst kind of ignorant fool, but I didn’t realize what was going to happen. He had taken care of my every need for weeks. It was hard to believe that he would hurt me.”

“But he did.”

Another nod. “He took my virginity against my will. By the time I put up a serious protest, I couldn’t make him stop. It wasn’t particularly violent, just painful and terrifying.”

Larkin shuddered, tears of fury in his eyes. He wiped them with the back of his hand. “I am so sorry.” He could barely get out the words. The unimaginable horror of what she
wasn’t
saying tormented him. And his brain filled in the rest.

When he thought he could speak calmly, he touched her eyelids, her nose, her soft, perfect lips. “Then what happened?”

“He went home. Said he would be back in the morning to talk. I found out later that he had a wife and kids waiting for him. I went upstairs and cried myself to sleep. I thought about calling the police, but I knew instinctively that he would deny anything had happened, or that he would spin the story and make me the supplicant. So I rested. And I waited.”

“And in the morning?”

“He came back with legal papers. Told me that it would be in my best interests to let him control my money. That it was clear I was too young to make informed decisions. And that since we were now lovers, he would look out for me.”

“What did you say?”

Winnie sat up, shoving her hair from her face with two hands. A tiny poignant smile brought back a fleeting hint of sunshine to her face. “I said no. He couldn’t believe it. I accused him of raping me. Even in the state I was in, I had enough sense not to let him rationalize what had happened. I was in shock, I know. Too muddled to realize that I should have called the authorities even knowing it would be my word against his. But I told him to leave and never come back. I don’t know where I found the courage, but I think I surprised him.”

“Because he was expecting you to fall in line.”

Winnie grimaced. “Yes.”

“Damn,” Larkin said gruffly. “You are one amazing woman. But I’m guessing he didn’t take that well.” He let her see his admiration, but not his loathing for her attacker. She had refused to be a victim and he would do all in his power to protect that heartbreaking dignity.

“He did not. First, he tried to undress me again. I kneed him in the groin. Then he tried threats. I laughed at him.”

“Ouch.”

“He said some pretty awful things about how no man would ever want me after what had happened and that I was hopeless when it came to sex. For a long time afterward, I believed him.”

“Bastard…”

“Then he threw me into a wall and broke my jaw.”

“Jesus.”

They stared at each other, Winnie’s gaze wary, her arms wrapped around her waist. She shrugged. “He stormed out. I think the blood scared him. I called an ambulance and ended up having surgery. When it was all over, I found a decent lawyer and filed charges. Mike is now serving an extended sentence in a federal pen.”

“I wish I believed in the death penalty,” Larkin growled, meaning every word. The thought of a young, defenseless Winnie being sexually assaulted and abused shoved his anger to catatonic levels.

“The point is,” she said quietly, “that because I was reared in a good family, well educated and left with plenty of money, I had the self-confidence to do what I did. And the courage to do so, because I had options. Choices. The women I work with have none of that. So they stay in abusive relationships longer than they should…sometimes far too long. So now you see why I have to help.”

He bowed his head momentarily, feeling something that was far stronger than pity, much deeper than compassion.

“Thank you for telling me,” he said quietly. “We have about a half hour before we land. Why don’t you lie back down and try to sleep.”

When Winnie closed her eyes, he heard her breathing grow deep and steady in moments. He knew that telling him her deepest secret had exhausted her emotionally. And coming on the heels of what had happened to Esteban’s mother, he suspected the recounting of her own experience of violence had drained her to the point of collapse.

His reaction to the truth was a physical pain that permeated every cell of his being. Though it made no sense, he felt guilty that he had been unable to save her. And what about now? Who would be there to keep her from harm in the years ahead? He couldn’t, wouldn’t answer the question. Not if he wanted to survive.

* * *

When Winnie walked into the safe house a couple of hours later, the women encircled her, their faces filled with relief. Despite the elaborate security precautions put in place by Larkin and his team, these vulnerable, terrified wives and girlfriends and mothers found solace in Winnie’s presence.

She had made Larkin promise to stay outside until she summoned him.

The crowd parted and Esteban stepped forward. “
Hola,
Miss Winnie. I missed you.” He burst into tears as she knelt and gathered him into her arms. Every set of eyes in the room was wet.

Winnie rocked him in a tight embrace as she whispered to him. “Everything will be okay, my sweet boy. Don’t you worry.”

At last he pulled away, wiped his face on his sleeve and looked at her. “Señor Lobo?” he asked hopefully.

Winnie smiled. “Right outside. You want to go with me to see him?”

“Sí, sí…”

In the yard, Winnie stood back, unable to stem more tears, as Larkin swooped up the child and held him in strong arms. The two males carried on a low-voiced conversation she couldn’t hear, but something Larkin said actually coaxed a laugh from Esteban.

Larkin smiled. “I explained to Esteban that you’ve been awake all night and need to sleep. He’s going to play here today with his friends, and I promised you’d be back to see him this evening.”

Winnie nodded, barely able to stand. “Sounds good to me.”

* * *

At the house, she allowed Larkin to pamper her. He carried her up to her bedroom and set her on her feet. “A shower?”

She nodded. “But with you.”

The conflict on his face was unmistakable. “I don’t want to—”

She put a hand over his mouth. “Do this for me. Please. Wash me. Make love to me. Sleep with me.”

But despite her begging, Larkin had his own agenda. He touched her as if she were a priceless, fragile treasure. As he bathed her in the shower, his sex was erect and demanding. Larkin, however, paid no attention to anything but her comfort. When she swayed with exhaustion, he dried her off, sat her on a low stool and combed her hair, blow-drying it as he went, until her unruly tresses lay docile on her shoulders.