Chapter Five
Thomas looked up when someone knocked on his open office door.
“Come in, Todd. Thanks for coming.”
The ranch hand stood in front of him with his hat in his hands.
“How did it go last night?” Thomas asked.
“You were right. Those men did try to get to the girl, but Ray and I beat the tar out of them and threw them over the fence. They took off in their truck.”
Thomas sat back. Dammit. He was glad he’d made the decision to have his men watch over her, but he wondered how many times she’d been threatened in the past.
“Was there anything else?” he asked.
Todd nodded. “We heard the girl talking to her animals. It was the saddest thing I’d ever heard.
She called them her family, the only one she’d ever had.
She told them she was giving them up so they could have a good life because she loved them, but she would miss them, and then she cried for a long time. ”
That made his stomach twist painfully. “Thank you, guys, for protecting her. She’ll be living here now, so she’ll be taken care of.”
“Good. She seems like a sweet person, and she’s too tiny to be on her own.”
Thomas nodded. “Yes, she is.”
Thomas watched Todd walk out of the room before he stood. He had the sudden urge to see her, and it had been a few hours already, so he hoped she’d gotten some sleep.
He knocked on the bedroom door but heard nothing. When he opened it, the first thing he saw was the empty bed, and then her on the floor beside it.
He quietly shut the door and studied Angel. Her face was turned away from him, but he saw that the towel she used on her hair had come undone. He noticed her hair was blonde and not the brown he’d caught a glimpse of before. It was also longer than he had thought.
He walked into the bathroom to see several pieces of clothing draped in the shower. Two pairs of jeans, three shirts, four pairs of panties, and two bras, plus several pairs of socks, none of which matched.
He caught sight of the garbage bag in which she carried her things. She had neatly folded it and set it on the counter, as if she were going to use it again. Additionally, there was a clear baggie containing small bottles of shampoo, soap, and several other small items.
Jesus, was this everything she owned? How had she made it on her own, and for how long? Everything in her life was about to change. He’d make sure she had everything she needed or wanted. He planned to spoil her because she deserved it.
He walked back into the bedroom and crouched next to her. He lightly set his hand on her shoulder.
“Wake up, Angel.”
She jerked, screamed, and tried to roll away from him.
“Easy, Sweetheart. It’s me, Thomas. No one is going to hurt you here.”
She stared at him for a long moment before she tried to sit up, but the blanket was tangled around her.
Thomas tried to help her, but then noticed she was only wearing a towel, and it had come loose and was showing part of her torso.
He didn’t want to freak her out more, so he stood and turned his back.
“I’m going to get you something to wear. I’ll be right back.”
When he walked back into her room, she was tightly clutching the blanket around her.
“I’m going to put you in one of my shirts until we get you more clothing.”
“I don’t need anything, and some of my clothes are probably already dry, so I can wear them,” she said.
“They’re still really wet, Sweetheart. Wear this right now.”
He handed it to her. She reluctantly took it and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
His breath caught in his throat when the door opened, and she walked out in just his shirt.
It was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
She was so tiny that his shirt hung down past her knees.
She had tried to roll up the sleeves, but they were already coming loose.
Her hair was free around her shoulders, and he saw the blush that covered her face.
“I can’t just wear this.” She pinched the fabric.
“How about I throw your clothes in the dryer?” he asked.
She nodded and relaxed. “Yes, please.”
He walked past her into the bathroom and scooped up her clothing. He could tell she was embarrassed by his handling of her panties and bras, but she stayed quiet.
“I’ll be right back.”
She nodded.
In the laundry room off the kitchen, he began placing her clothes in the dryer, and that’s when he noticed everything had holes in it, and most had stains. He planned to get her clothes as soon as possible and throw them away.
When he got back to the room, she was sitting on the floor, covered by the blanket, and trying to comb through her hair.
“Didn’t you use the conditioner in the shower?”
She looked away. “I ... I didn’t use the shower.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know how to work it,” she whispered.
Fuck. “Have you ever used a shower before?” he asked.
She nodded. “I’ve used one in a gas station that truckers use, but they were very basic, and I had a waitress help me turn it on.”
“So, how do you stay clean?”
“I use the sink and the soap I carry.”
How the hell was she able to live like this?
“Tonight, I’ll show you how to use it. Right now, let me help you with your hair.”
Angel tried to clutch the comb in her hands, but he gently took it from her. He sat on the edge of the mattress. “Come here and stand in front of me.”
She awkwardly stood clutching the blanket. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I want to.”
She sighed and turned her back to him.
He carefully started from the bottom of her hair and worked his way up until all the tangles were gone.
“You have beautiful hair, Sweetheart.”
“Thank you.”
He set the comb on the nightstand and turned her to face him. He gripped her hips when she tried to move away.
“Can you answer some questions for me?”
She nodded, but he could tell she was reluctant.
“How long have you been on your own?” he asked.
“I think about three or four years.”
“How the hell have you been able to take care of yourself?”
She looked down. “I got odd jobs.”
“Where did you sleep?”
“Anywhere I could find that felt safe enough.”
“You kept moving?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Did you have an idea of where you were going?”
She shook her head.
“Then why didn’t you stay in one place?” he asked.
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?”
He could tell she was getting upset, but he needed answers. “You can tell me anything.”
“When I turned eighteen, or rather when Mother Teresa deemed me old enough, I didn’t want to leave the convent.
I wanted to become a nun like them, but Mother Teresa told me I was not suited to be a nun.
It was the only thing I knew, and I was terrified to leave my home.
Mother made arrangements for me to marry a man. I didn’t want to, so I ran away.”
“Why?”
“Because he was a ... hard man. I didn’t like the way he looked at me. He terrified me. When I told Mother Teresa this, she told me I was imagining it. But Sister Sara saw it too. She was always nice to me, so she encouraged me to run and gave me everything she could.”
“Some of the nuns were mean to you?”
Angel nodded. “Most ignored me, but Sister Mary, who was in charge of me, was mean. She said she hated me from the start. I never knew why. She said I was a ruffian, garbage, and the spawn of Satan.”
That pissed him off. He thought nuns were supposed to be nice, especially to young children. Jesus, he hadn’t known her long, but he could tell she was the opposite of what the nun called her. In fact, she was a ray of sunshine in his otherwise mundane world.
“Why didn’t you tell whoever was in charge?”
“I tried to tell Mother, but Sister Mary found out. She acted nice in front of Mother, but when she got me alone, she made me repent.”
“How did she do that?” He was afraid to ask because of the desolate expression on her face.
“She made me kneel on rice as I repeated, ‘thou shalt not tell ever again or pay the price,’ a hundred times.”
Fucking bitch. If he could get his hands on the woman, he’d strangle her. He didn’t care whether she was a nun or not.
“I’ll go check and see if any of your clothes are dry enough to wear,” he said.
“Okay. Thank you.”
He shut her bedroom door behind him and then leaned against it.
This little bitty woman made him feel more than he ever had before, and it unsettled him.
The fact that his palms itched, wanting to touch her all the ways he thought about, made his body feel charged and his cock ache.
He knew it would take time for her to get used to him enough to trust him, and he wondered if his cock would ever soften enough for his comfort.
Fuck, he knew she would disrupt his life at least in the beginning, but he had a feeling she was going to change everything exponentially.