“I can take him.” His smile was tight, hard. He would relish it.

“You can’t fight a bullet, Rowdy,” she argued desperately. “What if he doesn’t fight fair?”

“What if you try dropping any idea you have of leaving me,” he growled. “It’s not going to happen. I didn’t go through hell for the past eight years to give you a chance to be certain you want me, just to have some sick bastard fuck it up. You’re mine, Kelly.”

And if his words didn’t convince her, then his cock better, because it was stiff as steel and throbbing with a life of its own.

Her gaze flickered down again, a bit of color flushing her pale cheeks as she licked her lips nervously.

“Put your pants on.”

“Why? I’ll just have to take them right back off,” he promised her. “Take the shirt off.”

“No.” She crossed her arms over her breasts again. “We’re not finished talking.”

“Of course we are.” He moved closer. “The only thing left is your decision. Do we stay or do we leave? Because whichever, Kelly, we do together.”

Before she could evade him he had her in his arms again, ignoring the sharp little nails that pressed into his shoulders as he pulled her hips in against his and pressed his cock against her lower stomach.

“Feel how hard I am, Kelly.” He nipped at her ear as she trembled in his arms. “Do you really want to leave me like this? Hot and hard for you? Aching for you every night that you’re gone? Like I’ve ached for the past eight years.”

“You survived,” she moaned.

“But I hadn’t had you then.” He licked the shell of her ear before trailing his lips to her throat. “I hadn’t felt your hot little pussy wrapped around my cock, milking me dry. I’ve had that now. I don’t think I can live without it.”

He watched as heat began to fill her eyes, as the anger in her expression softened, just a little.

“I don’t want you hurt,” she whispered breathlessly. “He’s crazy—”

“Damn right he is,” Rowdy bit off the fury that would have filled his voice, barely managing just anger. “He touched you, Kelly. He made the mistake of taking from you, of hurting you. Do you think I’ll ever forget that? That he won’t pay for it if I ever manage to find out who he is? The son of a bitch would have served himself better to run as hard and as far as he could from me, rather than stalking you. Because I won’t rest until I find him.”

Kelly opened her lips to speak, to argue he was certain, only to be interrupted by a less than polite pounding on the side of the houseboat.

“Open up, cuz,” Dawg called through the sliding doors. “We have trouble, man.”

Kelly’s eyes widened in alarm as Rowdy stalked to the back of the houseboat, grabbed a pair of shorts, and jerked them on before stalking back to the door.

Dawg and Natches stepped into the room seconds later, their expressions dark, cold.

“He hit the house while we were on the hill, Rowdy,” Dawg growled as he glanced over at Kelly. “Kelly’s room. He trashed it.”

He was going to kill the motherfucker. The minute Rowdy walked into Kelly’s room, he made that vow. This wasn’t like the promises he had made before to kill a son of a bitch. This was a vow, a soul-deep pledge to kill the sleazy, fucking bastard crazy enough to do this to his woman.

Her room was destroyed. Everything she had was destroyed.

Bits of lace and silk that had once been a treasure trove of frilly feminine panties and bras were scattered on the floor. Her hair bows were broken, ripped, cut. Her bedspread was slashed to ribbons as were her clothes.

Rowdy knelt in front of the closet and picked up the tatters of what had once been a pretty scarlet sundress. Beside it lay a shoe, the heel broken off, the red leather hacked at.

Makeup was smeared, swiped, and dumped over her dresser. Jeans were shredded, frothy nightgowns were unrecognizable, and more than a dozen pair of lace and silk stockings were destroyed.

The feathers from the pillows drifted along the floor, the dresser mirror was smashed, and the padding in the chair had been ripped out.

Kelly was still waiting downstairs to come up and see if anything was missing. The sheriff and his boys had finished dusting for prints, but nothing had been found.

“Someone was pissed.” Deputy Carlyle stood in the doorway, his expression curious as he stared around the wreckage.

Rowdy lifted his gaze and stared back at the younger man. Carlyle was new on the force. An unfamiliar face and therefore suspicious as far as Rowdy was concerned.

And Rowdy didn’t like the way he was staring around Kelly’s room. Curious. A little too interested in the bits of fluff that had once been her clothes.

Carlyle was young, maybe in his early twenties, definitely not long out of the Police Academy, with an ego that showed clearly on his handsome face.

“Did you get any prints?” Rowdy raised slowly, his eyes narrowed as he stared at the deputy.

“Nothin’.” Carlyle leaned against the door, his too lean body rangy, his brown eyes surveying the room again. “No prints on the door either. He slid right by the security system, came straight up here, and sliced and diced. Good thing Kelly wasn’t here.”

Rowdy restrained a growl. Bastard had no right to act so familiar with Kelly.

“Yeah. Good thing,” he retorted instead.

“Sheriff contacted your parents, they’ll be here soon.” Carlyle smiled. “They were upset of course.”

His parents? Rowdy frowned at the hint of condemnation in the deputy’s voice. As if Kelly were his sister, or some blood relation. The judgment set his teeth on edge.

“Are you finished here?” Rowdy asked tightly. “Anything else you need, Deputy?”

Carlyle lifted a brow. “Nothing, Mr. Mackay. We have everything.” He smiled confidently.

“Then maybe you should leave.” Rowdy smiled back, all teeth.

“I will.” Carlyle nodded. “As soon as we get Kelly up here to see if anything is missing. I need that before I leave. The sheriff insisted.”

Assaulting an officer of the law was a very bad thing, Rowdy reminded himself. Kelly would be upset. She wouldn’t be happy with him at all.

“She can give her statement tomorrow afternoon, Deputy,” he all but barked. “She won’t be able to tell you shit tonight.”

Carlyle smiled again as he lowered his head and shook it slowly.

“I heard you were a real tough guy,” he commented, his voice on the wrong side of mocking. “I’d rein that in if I were you, boy.”

Boy? Rowdy narrowed his eyes slowly.

“Get the fuck out of my house,” Rowdy growled. “Don’t piss me off any further, boy. And before you get on your high horse maybe you should call your boss and ask him just how far back we go together. You’re risking more than my fist in that smirking face of yours.”

Beating around the bush wasn’t his style, and he’d just had enough of this little dweeb’s sneer.

“Dawg and Natches are still downstairs, Mackay,” the deputy said.

“So?” Rowdy snapped.

“Last I heard, there isn’t much you boys don’t do together. Don’t tell me you’d actually fight without them.”

Rowdy smiled at that one. The kid was a punk, and he was about to learn a lesson he didn’t want right now. “I managed to kill just fine without them for four years, Deputy. Want to test it?”

Carlyle’s smirk was going to get him killed for sure.

“I’ll just leave you to your business here then,” he chuckled. “Bring Kelly into the office in the morning. I’m looking forward to talking to her.”

Carlyle turned then and ambled down the hall as Rowdy reminded himself that killing outside the Marines was a bad thing. Very bad. Especially smart-mouthed deputies.

Son of a bitch, when had kids like that decided the job was a power trip? Rowdy had half a mind to follow him outside and show him what real power was. The kind of power that slipped up on you in the dark and left you bleeding.

And he could have, hell, he would have taken him out while he was standing there in the doorway with that sneer, but all he saw was Kelly. She would have been horrified if he had actually hurt that little punk while she was around.

Shaking his head he moved downstairs, mentally gearing himself up to face Kelly. Every little treasure she possessed had been in that room. The teddy bear he won for her at a fair when she was just a kid. The porcelain doll one of her friends had gotten her for a birthday. Her frilly hair bows and her silky clothes.

He stepped into the living room, his gaze connecting with Dawg and Natches as Kelly jumped to her feet from the chair she had been sitting in.

“How bad is it?” Her fingers were twisting together in front of her, her face pale.

Damn, he hated this.

“It’s pretty bad, baby,” he sighed, moving to her and pulling her into his arms.

She fit against him perfectly. A warm weight he hadn’t known was missing in his life until now.

“I’m okay.” She shook her head against his chest. “I need to go up there, though. I have to see what’s left. The sheriff wants a statement.”

And he couldn’t keep her from going up there, despite the fact that it was killing him.

He stared at Dawg and Natches over her head and with a small movement of his head indicated that he wanted the area outside of the house checked. The sheriff’s boys could have missed something. Something his cousins might identify quicker than the investigative team that had come out could have.

Dawg nodded as he and Natches moved from the room.

“Come on,” Rowdy sighed, keeping his arm around her. “Let’s go check it out.”

There was nothing left, just as Rowdy had warned her. Kelly stared at the mess silently from the doorway and fought back her tears. Even the jewelry box had been destroyed.

“How am I supposed to tell if anything is missing?” The destruction was complete.

“We’ll get it cleaned up.” Rowdy’s arms were wrapped around her from behind, his presence sheltering her. “I’m sorry, baby.”

“It’s not your fault.” Kelly shook her head, trying to hold back the fear growing inside her. “He’s angry now, isn’t he?”

Always be my good girl. You’ll always be my good girl.

“Yeah, he’s angry now,” Rowdy admitted. “But he’s not the only one. Do you want to go through the room now or wait till morning? It might be better to wait.”

She had been violated again. Kelly could feel the pervasive knowledge that even though the attacker hadn’t touched her again, he had still violated her. He had taken something else from her.

She shook her head. “I need to get this cleaned up. I can’t stand knowing it’s destroyed like this.”

She had to force back her tears. It broke her heart, seeing her treasures destroyed as they were, knowing there was nothing she could do to bring them back. But wasn’t that the purpose behind this sort of attack? To take her mementos, the things she loved away from her?

She moved into the bedroom, staring around at the destruction, and wanted to scream. This was her room. She had had all her treasures here. Her jewelry, her stuffed animals, her dolls. And her hair bows. For once Rowdy hadn’t been able to save her hair bows.

She bent down and picked up the pieces of a hair comb. The small fake pearls were crushed, the little crystals shattered. It had been one of her favorites.

“We’ll replace them, Kelly,” Rowdy promised behind her. “All of them.”

She cradled the bit of plastic that was left in her palm. They could replace the hair bows, but nothing could replace the sense of security that had been stolen from her.