“Shut up.” She tagged him in the arm as she spotted the wine bottle on its side across the room under one of the boarded windows. Thankfully, Marcus had wedged the cork into the top so it wasn’t leaking precious Merlot into the cracks in the floor. “Found it.”

She crawled off the mattress, and he wolf whistled. She’d expected him to. Her butt was in the air, and she’d been waggling it pretty good for him. Shooting him a deviant smile over her shoulder, she waggled it again.

“Don’t tempt me, woman. I had one condom.” He held up a finger. “One.”

She snagged the bottle, smiling to herself. He hadn’t had enough of her, and even though she shouldn’t, she liked that. Maybe because after sleeping with him, she’d found she wanted more. To learn he was as insatiable as she was a huge turn on.

When she turned to tell him that there were plenty of condom-less pastimes they could explore, a bang! against the board next to her head startled a shriek from her instead.

Before she’d seen him move, Marcus was at her side, helping her scramble to her feet and positioning his body between hers and the window. She had upended the wine bottle, holding it by the neck to wield as a weapon.

“Tree?” she asked. Desperately.

“I don’t think so.” The foreboding in his tone didn’t make her feel any better. Neither did the fact that he shushed her when she started to speak again.

Another muffled bang sounded, this time from the other side of the house. “I think something’s outside,” came his husky whisper.

“Like what?” she asked, her voice strangled.

“I hope not people.”

Her stomach lurched. Where she’d felt warm and safe in his arms a moment ago, now Lily felt exposed, vulnerable. And foolish. They were in the middle of nowhere. The danger lurking outside the walls may not have been from some silly urban legend, but from someone made of flesh and bone who intended to do them bodily harm.

He extinguished the lantern, leaving them in the pale orange glow of the heater. He faced her, staying her shoulders with his hands. “Wait here.”

“Are you crazy?” She clasped his arms, keeping her voice as low as she could while feeling hysterical. “Don’t leave me alone! What if they have guns?”

She couldn’t make out his expression in the dim light, but she felt his patient smile all the way down to the soles of her shoes. He opened her palm with rough fingers and dropped a metal cylinder into her hand. The flashlight.

He lowered his head and whispered against the top of her ear. “Lil,” he started, and already the fear in her stomach was receding, being replaced by lust.

Jeez. The man was a drug.

“I doubt whoever’s out there is carrying a gun,” he said.

Oh, hello, Fear. Welcome back.

“Probably just some kids daring each other to run up and knock on the door,” he continued. “Ridiculous.” He kissed her temple lightly. “Who would come up here on a dare?”

She tried to smile, but she was too afraid.

“I’ll only be a sec. Find your keys.” Then he turned and walked into the kitchen, lantern in hand. She followed as far as the doorway and watched him fuss with the back door until the windowpane rattled and the door popped open with a squeak. Moonlight streamed through the gap.

He gave her a brief nod over his shoulder and walked outside.

Lily shielded the narrow beam of light as best she could while Marcus did a preliminary investigation of the mansion’s grounds.

She’d overturned her purse (again) and emptied out the grocery bags as quietly as possible. Although if there were people out there, it wouldn’t matter how much noise she made. They’d no doubt seen her car out front. But if it was mischievous raccoons or hungry coyotes, there was no sense in broadcasting her whereabouts.

She held the flashlight between her teeth and folded the last of the sheets and pillowcases, repacking as she went. The keys weren’t under the mattress, which was on its way to deflating thanks to the workout she and Marcus had on top of it. The recent memory would have made her smile if she wasn’t so disappointed to find nothing beneath it but the leaf-strewn floor.

Stomach clenching, she looked at her phone, noticing the battery icon blinking at three percent with no signal inside the house. Daylight wasn’t far ahead, but it was still dark outside and would be for a while. And Marcus was out in it. Worry crept in, but she pushed it aside. He was beyond capable of taking care of himself.

She scrunched the pockets of her hoodie uselessly. Even if the keys had been in her jacket, she was sure they would have fallen out when Marcus took it off her earlier. She turned to the kitchen next, on the off off chance she’d overlooked them when she’d investigated earlier. She didn’t make it a single step before she heard a familiar jingle coming from upstairs. A jolly sound anywhere else…but behind these walls, it was anything but.

She had two keys. A house key. A car key. Because of her minimalist keychain, she’d needed a bauble large enough to help her locate it in her oversize purse. Last Christmas she’d found just the thing to tie to the ring—a pair of large jingle bells only better suited to Rudolph himself.

She went back into the living room, her steps slow and purposeful, her heart thundering. The bells jangled again and a rash of goose bumps leaped to the surface of her arms. The sound hadn’t come from her purse. Or this room. Or even downstairs. It’d come from the murky blackness at the top of the staircase. Real, ice-cold fear snaked down her spine, turning every brave part of her body yellow. How on earth…?

“Find them?”

She spun toward the voice behind her, her open palm landing over her tortured heart. Marcus stood at the front door, his hand resting on the knob. He lowered the lantern and shut the door behind him.

“Must have been animals. I didn’t see anyone out there.” His brow creased with concern the longer he looked at her. “You okay? What happened?”

Unable to explain yet another mysterious sound behind these walls, she shook her head.

“Enough.” He advanced on her, his steps firm, his voice an angry echo. She might have flinched if not for the unveiled concern in his eyes. “Enough of this stupid bet. We can walk to the road and call Clive from there.” Snagging her hand with his, he started for the door. “Let’s not push our luck.”

His palm warming hers, and the fading fringes of their time together, almost made her compliant enough to follow his lead. Almost. She stopped, planting her feet.

He stopped, too, and turned his confusion on her. “What?”

The voice. The bells. He hadn’t been around for either occurrence. “Where were you just now?”

“Outside.” The confusion morphed into anger. His mouth flattened into a line. “You know that.”

“Do I?” She thought back to the mask incident. The way he’d been trying to get her to call off this bet from the beginning. The memory of how another man had taken advantage of her threaded into her brain and sewed itself to this patch of time.

Granted, Marcus was not Emmett, but she wouldn’t be played twice. She tugged her hand from his. He had been by her side when they’d heard the crash in the kitchen, but maybe he’d somehow caused that sound, too. Maybe he’d planned to get her good and scared. Maybe…she thought with sinking dread…he’d planned all of it. Including the part where he got into her pants.

Panic radiated from her limbs. Surely he wouldn’t…would he? She searched his face, growing angrier by the moment. Having been a sucker in the past for men with knee-weakening charm, she knew she could easily be taken advantage of again.

“It was you,” she said numbly. “Upstairs.”

It was the only explanation. He’d vanished outside and demanded she stay in here, which made no sense when she thought about it. And now he’d waltzed through the front door and suggested they leave. Coincidentally, just a few hours shy of meeting her goal.