THE THOUSAND DOLLAR HUNT: Colt Ryder is Back in Action! by J.T. Brannan Page B

was waiting for me in my new room when I arrived, already naked in my bed.
    I dropped my things on the floor and looked at her. She was stunning, there was no doubt about it; olive skin and deep green eyes framed by curls of dark hair that fell to her smooth-skinned shoulders.
    But I looked at her differently now, knowing what I knew.
    ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ I asked her.
    ‘Tell you what?’ she purred softly, eyes questioning.
    ‘That you’re the general’s daughter.’
    ‘Would it have made a difference?’ she asked, her expression unchanged.
    It was a good question. ‘It might have,’ I said.
    ‘Why?’
    Damn – another good question. Her blasé attitude about what she’d been made to do by her father left me confused, not knowing how to carry on the conversation. It was unlikely I’d been the first person she’d been asked to ‘entertain’. What effect would that have on a person?
    But then again, she was an adult. Didn’t she have a choice in the matter? And if she did, and she chose to do it anyway, then what did that say about her?
    But then again, I knew firsthand how convincing her father could be. How much would a lifetime of brainwashing affect someone? Would she really have had any choice? After being under his influence for so long, was it possible for her to make her own mind up?
    And even if he hadn’t completely dominated her mentally, there were always the physical threats the man could make. How free was I to leave this place? If I tried anything, I’d have fifty ex-military killers on my tail; I didn’t imagine that Talia would have it any easier.
    ‘It might have made a difference,’ I answered her finally, ‘if I’d known you were being forced into it.’
    ‘But you must have assumed I was a hooker the first time, or at least something similar, you must have assumed I was being paid for my services.’
    ‘I guess so,’ I replied weakly.
    ‘And that was okay with you.’ It was a statement more than a question.
    ‘I didn’t really think about it at the time,’ I answered, and it was the truth too. The furthest my brain had got was never look a gift horse in the mouth . Shallow? Perhaps; but then again, I’d never claimed to be anything else.
    I spotted a fridge in the corner of the room and walked over to it, hoping the general had stocked it properly. I wasn’t disappointed as I opened the door, and pulled out a bottle of Bud. ‘Want one?’ I asked, holding a bottle up for her to see.
    ‘Why not?’ she said with a smile, and I bit off the cap, moved across to the bed and passed it to her.
    I sat on the edge of the bed as I opened my own and took a large, satisfying gulp.
    I turned back to her, her supple naked body propped up on the pillows, sheets resting in a silken pool at her lap. ‘I’m sorry,’ I told her.
    ‘Sorry?’ she asked with surprise as she sipped her beer. ‘Sorry for what?’
    ‘I’m sorry that your father’s been using you. Sorry you’ve had to do . . . the things you’ve done.’
    Talia regarded me coolly for a few moments, then burst out laughing. I was caught off-guard; the laugher seemed quite genuine.
    ‘You think he makes me do this?’ she asked, before putting the bottle back to her lips. ‘I’m twenty-two years old, you think he can keep me here?’
    I looked in her eyes, trying hard to read her. ‘Yes,’ I said eventually, keeping my gaze on her. ‘Yes, I think he can.’
    She opened her mouth to say something else, then seemed to think better of it, drinking more of the beer instead. She tried to speak again, but the words wouldn’t come.
    I walked back to the fridge, pulled out two more Buds. ‘Fancy another?’ I asked her.
    She nodded her head, and I passed her one, noting that the sheets were now pulled up to her shoulders, her body covered.
    I sat on the bed next to her, reclined back on the pillows and enjoyed my second bottle of beer, giving Talia some time to get her words out, not wanting to pressure her