Simpson moved and grabbed hold of Julia, tugging her in front of him. It was a surprising move and very quick. I hadn't even had time to reach her first.
I tried to calm the panic I felt upon seeing Simpson's hands on Julia.
“Let her go, Simpson,” Hargraves told him.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I countered, moving to grab Julia away from him.
The man pulled a knife from his boot, all the while tugging Julia with him. This knife was large enough to hurt or even kill Julia. The fact that he kept something so lethal in his boot only confirmed the man was much more sinister than I expected, or that he ever let on. It was hard to remain calm when Julia was in such grave danger.
Her tears had dried up, but her eyes widened and she pinched her lips together until they turned white. Her hands pushed on the arm wrapped around her waist, but he was too strong.
“Garrett,” she whispered, her voice rough with fear when the tip of the knife grazed her neck.
“Easy, precious,” I soothed.
“Simpson, let her go. You don't want to make this harder on yourself,” Hargraves said, his gun trained on both Simpson and Julia. Shit, I didn't think the man would harm an innocent woman to capture his bounty, but seeing the weapon trained on Julia had me sweating beneath my heavy coat.
“Like you said, I'm already wanted for murder. What's another one?”
Simpson was insane. He didn't care one fucking bit about Julia and would kill her to spite Hargraves and to continue the feud with me. Having Simpson married to Julia was bad enough, but seeing her murdered would destroy me.
“Hargraves,” I said, my voice deep with warning.
?
?Put the knife down or I'm going to shoot you, Simpson,” Hargraves promised.
The bastard grinned, his hand shaking slightly and the knife nicked Julia's neck. She winced and I watched as her blood trickled down her neck.
“Easy, precious,” I said again, keeping my eyes on her. “Do you trust me?”
She looked at me, and then licked her lips. “Yes.”
“Good girl,” I replied.
“You're too much of a coward to fight like a man,” Hargraves told Simpson, taunting him and trying to turn his attentions away from Julia.
Simpson's eyes flared in renewed anger, but because of the bounty hunter instead of me. The knife moved away from Julia's throat. Hargraves' plan was working.
“Remember all the things you told me about, that we'd do together?” Julia asked me.
“Shut your mouth, bitch,” Simpson hissed. Julia winced as he tightened his arm about her.
I had to think about it for a moment, what I'd said to her. I tried to clear my mind of the scene before me, and I remembered. I'd stroked her cheek and whispered what I wanted to do to her, with her. I'd told her how I'd kiss her mouth, her breasts, her pussy; how my cock would fill her up, my seed marking her inside and out. I then told her how I wanted to see her wipe a drop of seed off the corner of her mouth, knowing she'd swallowed almost all of it down. She'd responded to my every word, her eyes brightening, her cheeks turning pink and her breathing becoming shallow. I'd wanted to kiss her then; she'd wanted it, too, but I vowed to protect her virtue until we were wed. In this moment, I didn't give a damn about her virtue or my honor.
I nodded. “Hell, yes.”
“I want...wanted to do all of that with you,” she admitted.
“I told you to shut your mouth!” Simpson shouted.
“You need to hide behind a weak woman?” Hargraves taunted, trying to turn Simpson away from Julia.
“We will. I promise. But listen to me,” I told her.
“You have no idea what I've done. I'm not weak,” Simpson hissed. Sweat dripped down his temples.
I kept my eyes squarely on Julia. “Listen,” I repeated. “Do exactly as I say.”