Chapter 11
In the cold darkness beneath the swinging boughs of wind-caressed trees, a soft glow emanated from a patch of wet leaves and fallen needles. Blanketed by discarded clothing and accessories, the entity concealed within the gold pocket watch reached out, calling for the warm, passionate hand of the companion who held it only hours before.
Despite their disastrous meeting, they were inexplicably bound. One destiny foreordained to change the other.
A translucent, formless wisp rose skyward, drifting with purpose and intelligence, floating into the crisp night air. Searching. Desperate.
***
Logan paced before the roaring fire in his bedroom.
Who is this woman? What the hell am I supposed to do with her?
The questions did nothing to settle the battle raging within him. The more he thought about her, the more he wanted to run to her room, throw open the doors, and demand she tell him all he wanted to know-like why she seemed so achingly familiar.
He groaned. Her eyes would undo him. During their frustrating encounter, a jade flame ignited in her glare.
He'd never encountered a woman quite as stunning as her. True, he had met and even bedded his fair share of beauties, but none had the same impassioned, sensual energy bursting from their every pore. She was like a blazing fire burning everything in her path, and he was a parched wilderness, waiting to be immolated. How could one woman affect him so quickly?
He bit back a groan, and downed a glass of brandy. As he shucked his jacket, he pictured the woman in the bed five rooms away.
What was he to make of her? Her coloring and clothing said Roma, but her denials and heated rebuttals gave him pause. Could she be telling the truth? Could it be coincidence?
No!
There were no coincidences. She might not have stolen the sheep, but she knew who did. She could sleep safely now, but tomorrow morning his generosity would end, and she would know the searing sting of his wrath.
***
Haven didn't want to stay in bed. Her fingers wouldn't stop trembling, her legs wouldn't stop twitching, her jaw ached from the grinding, and her heart wouldn't stop pounding.
How dare he make assumptions based only on what he's seen? Where's the proof? I'd just landed there-hell, I was spit out by a freaking StarGate.
She had to figure out where she was, and then she had to find the watch. Maybe then, she'd get some straight answers.
When she turned to the matronly woman in the corner, she smiled, but the gorgon continued to glare at her from over the edge of her embroidery hoop. Didn't the dragon lady have something better to do?
Sighing with annoyance, she inspected her surroundings. The room was beautiful. She reclined on a large bed with four posts and a cream canopy. The deep red comforter contrasted gloriously with the cream sheets. The pillows behind her were the same crimson color, but graced with a pattern of cream flowers. The material was coarser than the 600 thread count sheets and hand-stitched down comforter on her bed back home, but it did the job.
An enormous armoire took up most of the space along the wall. Made from a light-colored wood, it boasted two tall doors and six drawers.
A long dressing table sat to the right of the door. The top held a jewelry box, a pitcher and basin, and a white towel. A small oval mirror framed with the same wood as the armoire hung above it. She liked the prison cell she'd been given, but it was still a cell.
Swallowing tears of frustration, she tried to breathe evenly. Her whole world turned upside down, and she didn't know what to think, feel, or believe about anything. Her body ached, and her head throbbed. She wanted to close her eyes, fall asleep, and wake up in her own bed. Biting her lip, she barely prevented a moan from escaping.
Crying wouldn't help. She'd only gain a wet face, and a bigger headache.
***
In the night outside, an invisible observer hovered in the soft light from a bedroom window. Gleeful in its discovery, it floated toward the pane of glass to find a point of entry, a crack in the frame where it could push its way through. Drifting along, it found what it was looking for, and slipped inside unnoticed. Brushing past the curtains, it made its way toward the familiar figure in the large bed.
***
Haven's breath froze in her chest when a familiar warm tingle slid over her. Goosebumps rose unbidden, and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck followed suit. Something unseen invaded her space, and she had a pretty good idea what it was.
The watch had found her, and touched her with its power. Despite the warmth radiating across her, her bones thrilled with shivers, and the blood slowed in her veins.
A soft, unintelligible whispering rose to her ears, tickling her lobes like prickling exhalations. Tilting her head, she struggled to understand the words.
"I don't understand you." she whispered, and flinched when she remembered she wasn't alone in the room. She glanced to the door, and found Mrs. Roomer asleep at her post.
She lowered her shoulders, and she sighed. "What the hell did you do to me? Where am I?" She swallowed and just stopped herself from rubbing her forehead.
God damn wound.
Her eyes burned with unshed tears, and her throat with unspoken profanities.
The whispers murmured into her ear again, but this time she could make out a single word. "Come..."
"Come? Come where? How? I'm stuck here."
Once the words left her mouth, the whispers faded until the only sounds left in the room were the crackling and popping of the fire, and the rhythmic snoring of the housekeeper.
The longer she lay in the bed, the more comfortable she felt. Her eyes were like arid desert wastelands in her sockets. She needed sleep. Too much had happened, and she just wanted to sink into night-night land, and forget everything.
Settling into the pillows, she pulled the comforter up to her chin, and closed her eyes. She tried not to think, but still struggled to shut down her brain.
As she listened to the sounds of the dying fire, her battered body grew heavy, her breathing slowed, and she slept.
***
From its perch on the mantle, the spirit from within the golden watch peered at its sleeping pawn, watching until they could move forward along the path destiny paved for them. May the Three Goddesses be pleased with his choices, and may they grant him mercy. The days ahead offered none.