When You Dare. Lori Foster

      “I will be. I promise.”

      Lots of promises, Dare thought. He glanced down at his bloodied, ruined shirt, and tossed it toward an overflowing garbage container in the parking lot. Intending to find a new shirt, he reached around her for his overnight bag.

      Gasping, she covered her face and scuttled back into the corner of the seat. But she almost immediately caught herself and sat up again as if in challenge.

      Unwilling to press her, Dare paused. “We’re on the same side, remember?”

      Pained, she closed her eyes and nodded.

      Gutsy little thing, he decided. He pulled on the fresh shirt and then waited, arms crossed. If she didn’t want to pass out in the van, she’d have to hurry it up and make a decision. Already she looked on the verge of keeling over.

      After swaying from what looked like a wave of dizziness, she cleared her throat. “If you could arrange for a room tonight, I’d be really, really grateful.”

      “I could do that.” Her continued formality confounded him. Most women would be babbling and crying for their mommy or daddy, or maybe a husband. Did Molly have a husband, a significant other?

      Avoiding his gaze, she rolled her lips in again, took a few deep breaths and then whispered, “One room please, but perhaps with two beds.” Tears welled, and she blinked them away before saying in a voice broken by fear, “God’s truth, I don’t want to be alone right now.”

      NOW THAT SHE WAS safely inside a small but clean motel room, Molly tried to organize her thoughts. In order to keep from collapsing, she had to prioritize her most immediate needs, which were food, clothes, sleep, shower …

      One glance down at herself, and she shuddered. Shower first, definitely. Now that she was free, she wasn’t about to spend even one more night sleeping in her own filth. And as hungry as she was, she refused to eat with such dirty hands.

      Mustering her flagging courage, she turned to Dare. He was so damn big, and very gruff. Seeing him without his shirt when they were still in the parking lot should have alarmed her; even in the moonlight, she’d detected several scars over his chest, rib cage and shoulders that looked like healed knife and bullet wounds. Even now that he was dressed again, doing no more than settling into the room, he looked powerful, with noticeable strength.

      But after being threatened endlessly for nine days by the most corrupt animals imaginable, Molly knew foul intent when she saw it.

      Dare wasn’t foul. She had the feeling he used his incredible strength to protect, not to inflict pain. Though he hadn’t been sent for her, had no promises of payment for his efforts, he’d rescued her rather than leave her behind.

      And now, whether he realized it yet or not, he was stuck with her.

      She would pay him—once she got his agreement to keep her safe. “Excuse me, please, but if I could impose further …”

      “Look.” The big man turned away from the twin bed where he’d set a battered leather overnight bag. “Enough with the proper bullshit. You’ve been through hell, yes?”

      Blue eyes, fringed by the thickest lashes, took her measure. The pulling of his black brows drove home just how disgusting her physical state was right now.

      Molly nodded. “Absolutely.” Hell times ten. Never in her wildest imagination—and as many could attest, her imagination could be pretty wild at times—had she envisioned the awful scenario she’d survived.

      But she had survived it. And now she had to figure out how to proceed while still protecting herself.

      “I don’t need you to be formal.” He set the bottle of water on the nightstand by her. “I don’t need you to put on a good front, either. You’re a small woman, probably not weighing more than a buck ten.”

      Molly glanced down at herself. She’d always weighed one twenty-five, but now … she just didn’t know. She had lost weight. But that much?

      “You’re hurt,” Dare continued, “and hungry, tired, dehydrated and pretty damn dirty.”

      Absurdly close to tears again, Molly scowled. “Your point?”

      “If you want to fall apart, feel free. I sure as hell won’t judge you, and it’ll stay between us.”

      How kind that Dare would offer to keep her confidences for her. “No, thank you.” She hadn’t survived that hell just to crumple up now. “I’ll be fine.”

      He folded muscled arms over an equally muscled chest. Beard shadow roughened his jaw. His knuckles looked as if they’d recently struck something—or someone.

      She sincerely hoped it was one of the pigs who’d treated her so badly.

      “Suit yourself,” he said. “But I need you to drink that bottle of water, and then another after that. Slowly.”

      Right. Water would be good—if only her stomach weren’t so jumpy.

      “And the phony, unaffected act has got to go.”

      Fresh anger wrung through her already aching muscles. “Look, buster, I’m not going to lose it now, got that?” She chugged a few sips of water and returned the bottle to the small table between the beds. Then she clutched it for support. Her knees wobbled; her voice went husky. “I’ve held it together this long, and not for you, not for anyone, am I going to let those miserable bastards break me down.”

      One brow lifted in surprise as Dare studied her for long, silent moments, and then he shook his head with annoyance. “Sit down before you fall down.”

      She didn’t take orders well, but this time she gladly sat. It required all her willpower not to sprawl back on the bed and just fade into oblivion. But if she did that, she’d wake just as dirty, and it turned her stomach to even think it.

      Dare stopped in front of her. He examined the bottle of water and must have been satisfied—so far. “What do you want to do first?”

      “Shower.” She needed to be clean again. “Oh, God, I want a shower.”

      “I’ll get it started for you.” He hesitated. “Can you manage on your own?”

      Her heart almost stopped. “Yes, of course.”

      Still he didn’t move away. He crouched down in front of her, and his powerful thighs strained the material of faded denim. Those blue eyes were eerily intense as he studied her face. “You’re safe with me, Molly.”

      “I … I know.” She sensed that much. She just didn’t have the wherewithal to start asking questions yet. Priorities, priorities.

      “If you need help—”

      “I’d stay dirty first.” She was quite certain about that. No way would she invite a man to bathe her. She shuddered at the thought.

      His mouth flattened. “Suit yourself.” He straightened and started toward the tiny bathroom. “While you’re in there, I’m going to run across the street to grab you something to wear. I’m guessing a size six?”

      Something to wear. Like her own personal angel, he would buy her clean clothes to put on after her shower.

      God bless the man.

      Those blasted tears threatened again, clogging Molly’s throat, making her nose feel stuffy. “Yes,” she croaked out around a giant lump of emotion. “Anything simple would be … wonderful. Something for my feet, too, please. Size seven. I’m not picky.”

      She heard the water start, and through the open door she saw Dare set out towels, open the packaged soap, the shampoo and conditioner.

      So remarkably considerate.

      Her empty stomach cramped and recoiled, but she couldn’t think of food just yet. She tried a little more water, knowing he