Prescribed for Love (4 page)

Catriona woke
much later
to complete
darkness.
What a strange dream…
too bad nothing ever ca
me of it.
While she did not really feel like getting up yet because it was still dark, she was incredibly thirsty and her tongue felt like sandpaper.
Intending to get a glass of water, she reached for her bedside lamp.
Finding no lamp within reach, Cat got out of her bed and walked in the direction of the light switch.
“Son of a!” she
rasped
through gritted teeth
.
She had walked directly into a wall
.
The pain in her nose made her eyes water.
With her vision
almost completely obscured
by her tears, she tried to
feel her way back to the bed,
but only succeeded in stubbing
her toe on a piece of
furniture.
“Mother fffff
…
”
she yelped as she then tried to hobble back to the bed. But, she stopped cold when she realized the orientation of the bed in relation to the wall was completely off
;
a
nd,
she definitely did not remember having something so hard so close to the bed.
And where was her throw rug?
My
g
od
, I’m still in the castle!
Her
mind
began to
reel
as
the unlikely truth
set in
.

I must have been kidnapped
.
But
then
why is everyone dressed
all crazy
?
Is this some kind of crazy cult
of historical reenactment
?
Re
calling
she
had been locked in this room as a supposed prisoner
,
Catriona tip-toed over to the bedroom
door, intending to discover if
the guards were still outside. Sure enough, she heard the rustling of someone
’s
clothing.
Knowing
there was no way she could
escape through both a locked door
and
an
armored
guard
, she ventured over to the window.
There is no way I am stayi
ng here with these
nut
-
jobs
!
It
was too dark to accurately judge the height, but
Cat’s
current location appeared to
be about three stories high.
Deciding the window was
her best
option
, she
started
to tear
the sheets
on the bed
into
strips to make a rope.
Cat
also
tore
her graduation gown
in the hopes of
providing
a
dditional
length and strength
. It was a good thi
ng
Keith
had been in the B
oy
Scouts; otherwise she may
never have
learned the knots she was currently using.
Too bad I don’t have my purse;
I’m pretty sure I had a carabiner in there
somewhere
.

After completing the rope, Catriona
tied one end to the bed
before
lifting
herself
onto the window ledge
.
Feeling
an
adrenaline rush as she looked over the edge, Cat
did
what a
ny
red-blooded American
would do—she
started to hum
the Mission Impossible
theme song
.
Before any doubts could
send her scurrying back into the room
,
Cat
lowered
her body over the edge.

Amazingly
, e
verything
went
as
smoothly
as it could—especially considering the fact she was wearing a short dress and heels. Once she hiked the dress up to above mid-thigh,
her legs had almost a full range of movement; and the stilettos allowed her to grip the wall almost like a pickaxe. Her progress continued
until she
was
about ten feet from the
ground—
this
was the
point at which she ran out of
rope. Catriona
braced herself against the wall
for a few
m
oments
debating
the
best way to
descend the last few feet
.
But, w
hile
she was
contemplating
, she s
uddenly
dropped
another foot
or so
—the makeshift
rope was beginning to tear
.
With no time
for further analysi
s
, Cat lowered herself down the rope until her hands were only a couple inches from the end.
She
then fully extended her arms and
le
t go,
dropping
into a roll as she hit the ground.

Cat toppled head over heels a couple times before coming to a full stop.
Lying on her back to catc
h
her breath, she began to take
inventory
of her body
. S
he found a lot
o
f
aches and pains, but
nothing that would cause any lasting damage
.
She had somehow managed to survive intact.
I can’t believe I didn’t
freakin’
kill myself!

Catriona
wobbled to her feet
to get
a better look at her
surroundings
and orient herself
; s
he knew she had to leave quickly before her escape was discovered
.
Since
the
castle stood on a cliff
overlooking water;
her direction of travel was rather limited
.
With the sky beginning to show the smallest sliver of pink
,
she
was once again forced to make a quick decision.
Wanting
to be well away from th
e castle before daylight,
she
decided
to
head back to the hut
where
Alasdair
had originally found her.
While she did not particularly like the idea, Cat hoped
she might be able t
o
garner some useful information. Like, where in the hell was she and how in the hell was she going to get home?
With any luck she would run in
to a police officer or someone
helpful
along the way.

***

Keith
pulled into the parking lot of Cat’s new apartment
later than he had intended—even in his rush to leave he had not managed to avoid the traffic
.
Taking in the quaint structure, h
e had to admit the place looked pretty nice
. Wh
ile it was not too far
from the city,
the location was still far enough to be comfortably nestled within the suburbs
. The area
provided plenty
of
trees for
privacy, along with
hiking
trails that would be beautiful in the fall.
Too bad Cat will never really take advantage of them. Speaking of which…Where is that lazy-ass?
Keith tried calling his sister again, but her p
hone went straight to voicemail.
Huh, s
he must have forgotten to charge her
cell
…typical.

***