Her eyes raked over him and he had the impression she was
mentally undressing him as thoroughly as he’d undressed her
in his mind. Something about her perusal made him want to
squirm, but he held still. "Do you always wear black?"
"Yes, Mistress." Yeah, he could play this game. She
jumped off the high stool she’d been sitting on, and walked
around the worktable. He followed her with his eyes,
admiring the curve of her legs and the fine bones in her
feet and ankles. She stopped and dug around in a large pink
canvas bag that sat on the end of the flower-print covered
sofa along the long wall opposite the door. His heart almost
stopped beating when she pulled out a serious looking set
of leather handcuffs and a length of chain. Whoa there!
Where the hell did she get those? All the fight went out of
him.
"Hold out your hands."
Hud allowed her to fasten the cuffs around his wrists.
She hooked them together with a short length of chain that
looked like it came from a hardware store. If he twisted his
hands around, he’d be able to unfasten the cuffs, he
reasoned, as panic threatened to set in. He was momentarily
distracted by the sweet curves of her ass as she walked away
from him. She picked up a step stool and dropped it next to
his feet. "Take your shoes off."
He toed his shoes off and kicked them to the side. When
he looked up from his task, Mary Beth was on the step stool,
a head above him. In one hand, she held an S hook attached
to a chain and pulley, the other she reached down to him.
"Give me your hands."
Hud swallowed hard and lifted his shackled hands. For the
first time, he thought he might have underestimated Mary
Beth Winters. She looped the chain at his wrists through the
hook, and with a hand on the pulley chain, she jumped off
the stool. Hud watched in dawning horror as she pulled the
chain tight enough to make his shoulders burn and secured
the pulley chain to a hook on the wall, well out of his
reach even if he had his hands free. He cursed under his
breath. How had he missed the chain pulley overhead? If he’d
been on a mission, a mistake like that would mean he’d be
dead.