Rude Awakening Read Free Page B

slumping, and Harry wondered what the bloody hell had happened to make her so skittish, so obviously afraid of something.
    “I’ll need to call you something while you’re here,” he said.
    “Anything. Call me anything you like.” Her voice was so thin, so…quiet.
    He regarded her for a moment, seeing her as he’d found her—asleep in the snow, her mouth blue, legs so red.
    “Ruby,” he said. “That all right?”
    “Yes,” she said, her smile growing a little wider. “That’ll do just fine.”

Chapter Two

    What the fuck have I just done?
    Ruby—she liked the sound of that—closed her eyes and sipped her coffee, loving the hot liquid rushing down her throat. Running out in the snow had been a really fucking stupid idea, but at a time like that, the weather hadn’t been on her mind. Not only had it been bloody stupid, now she was trapped with another man and there was no way on this earth she was going back outside and freezing her tits off. It was not happening, not today.
    “Once you’ve finished your coffee, I’ll show you to the spare room, then you can take a bath. I’ll get your clothes laundered.”
    The hot guy in front of her kept trying to reassure her, but no matter how strong she tried to be, her attention kept straying to the kitchen door, with her expecting to see him.
    She touched the collar at her neck and a shiver ran through her body. What would happen if he found her? No, she couldn’t think like that. Against all odds, she was free…and intended to stay that way.
    “What’s your name?” she asked.
    The man who’d taken her in stood and moved out of her space but within distance—she suspected in case she suffered with any after-effects of the cold. A really sweet gesture, and one Ruby would keep in her heart always.
    Ruby. It was a rather fitting name and one she was going to keep for a while. Her real name, Margaret Savage, left a lot to be desired. A horrible thing to have lied about her memory, but the less he thought she knew about herself, the less it was likely he’d go running to the police. Keeping a low profile was all that mattered at the moment.
    “Harry.” His voice was direct and left no room for argument every time he spoke.
    Ruby sipped from her cup and took the time to look at him.
    Harry, her protector, was a tall and striking man. ‘Built like a brick shit house’, her mum would say, but to her, Harry was sex on legs. Top notch, the dog’s bollocks.
    He stared down at her as if commanding her to his will, and from years of abuse—sorry, training—she averted her eyes and drank the rest of her coffee. The liquid burnt another welcome path. Although his gaze didn’t unnerve her like his had, she needed to get away from this stranger and have a shower. Touching the collar again from months of habit, she waited for the usual commands of her body. Then, realising her Master was no longer with her, Ruby lifted her head and smiled at the man before her.
    No longer a dog to be kept and ordered around, she was free to live her life.
    Unless he found her.
    “Do you have a last name?” she asked.
    “Not one I’m willing to divulge at the moment, no.”
    His voice, for some unknown reason, made her feel protected. And wow, was he ever posh. He must be one of those toffs working in a high-end job. With a house like this, and the obviously well-cut clothes he wore, he inhabited a world she’d only ever seen on TV. The type of person who looked down on the likes of her, unless they wanted a bit of rough with a common girl from a council estate.
    Ruby cursed her life and her upbringing. A standard education, and brought up in an area considered ‘rough’, Ruby believed she’d made a decent way in her life despite the pitfalls. Long before meeting the bastard, devil incarnate, that was. A library assistant didn’t pay very well, but she loved her job. Though, the library had been the place the bastard had found her.
    More than five years had passed since