It was more than that though. She’d had some strange effect on himself and his brother right from the start. He couldn’t explain it exactly, but he never once doubted how she would be kept. He did not hide from his own dark nature, nor was he ashamed of it. Evangeline would be theirs to keep, to punish and to protect, depending, but she would be theirs.#p#分页标题#e#
If he believed in fate, perhaps understanding how things had happened would have been easier — but he didn’t believe in fate. Neither that nor destiny. He believed in a world filled with cruelty which took from the innocent in as equal measure as the wicked, if not more. And as he looked on the face of the frightened girl, a strange anger crept along his thoughts, making him question what he was about to do. He knew where that anger stemmed from. He had felt it toward Laney too at one point, even as she’d lain there unconscious and helpless. Laney had put herself in harm’s way. Had Evangeline done the same?
He forced himself to shift his thoughts to the man who carried the most guilt: Arthur Gallaston. What could have motivated the man to place his own fiancée on a truck to be sold like a piece of meat?
The hour for that evaluation would come later. Now was the time to learn the truth and to teach the girl before him a lesson.
“Over to the post, Evangeline. You’re due a whipping.”
Her eyes widened impossibly and she turned to look at the lone post standing at the edge of the camp, a set of leather handcuffs hanging from the top.
“Please,” she whispered, beginning to tremble.
He gestured to the post again.
“I was just afraid. I’m sorry, please don’t do this.” She touched her hand to the arm that held the strap, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Please don’t punish me.”
“I need some questions answered and I know one sure way to force the truth out of you. You’ll be taking the strokes on your ass and thighs, unless you fight me. I’m giving you one chance to walk over to that post and surrender to your punishment. I can make you do it, easily, but if I have to do that, then I’ll whip you from the tops of your shoulders down to the backs of your ankles before I start asking the questions. I can promise you, you do not want that, but I’ll leave it up to you to decide. What’s it going to be?”
She nodded miserably, placing both her hands behind her head. “Please.” Tears fell from her eyes now as she physically shook. “I’m telling you the truth! I was just scared.”
“As were the others, but you’re the only one who lied. You have a choice to make. Are you walking or am I taking you to the post?” He wouldn’t be swayed, not now, no matter how much his gut twisted inside him, telling him she was a victim, not a perpetrator of this crime.
He watched her throat work as she swallowed and she sent a pleading look to Syn. Was she hoping he would save her? Gabriel shook his head.
“Take her to the post,” he said to a guard, his tone sharp.
The guard moved, but before he’d taken two steps, Evangeline jumped.
“No. I’ll go. I’ll walk. Please.” She didn’t wait, but turned and walked to the post. Gabriel halted the guard, taking in the sway of her hips as she moved, at the slight trembling of each cheek with every step. The lines from her birching had faded somewhat, but the three cane strokes still flushed a fresh red. He liked the look of it, of a woman’s punished ass, and as much as he knew it was wrong, he knew himself well enough to admit he’d enjoy strapping her bottom now. And soon, he’d enjoy fucking it too. He’d already decided it would be him to claim her ass first. Syn would have her pussy.
Syn unlocked the cuffs on the post. He waited for her to come closer, watched her struggle to contain her tears. As hot as a woman’s submission made him, Eva’s vulnerability added an edge to that submission. It spoke to a different part of him, a part he’d managed to suppress for a very long time.
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“Give me your hands, Eva,” he said, keeping his tone gentle.
She held them out to him and he took them, turning them palms up to take in the delicacy of her small, pale wrists. Without thinking, he traced the fine blue line of a vein there.
So fragile, so… breakable.
He brought that wrist to his mouth and kissed it. Eva gasped but she didn’t pull away. She couldn’t have known his action surprised him as much as it did her, and when he returned his gaze to hers, he saw uncertainty in her eyes, that uncertainty momentarily overshadowing her fear for what was about to come.
She confused him, made him want to understand her, comprehend the workings of her mind.