now that his passion was finally spent , there was no barrier between his brain and his conscience , and as he stared into the fire , he began to see all his actions and motives of the past three days in the light of glaring truth : the truth was that he had taken a defenseless woman as a hostage at gunpoint ; he had blackmailed her into believing he would let her go if she took him to colorado ; he had threatened her with physical violence if she tried to escape , and when she defied him anyway , he forced her to kiss him in front of a witness , so that now the national press was crucifying her by intimating she was an accomplice .