The Great Escape (7 page)

It'll save you money if we don't stay at a motel tonight.' That last was

said sarcastically, and she knew that her dig about paying his wages

had hit a nerve. While she finished supper, he went to the living room

and used her phone, and over the noises she was making, she heard

him address her aunt directly. Her appetite was completely gone by

the time the meal was finished.

After their simple meal, she made coffee and they sat on her bed and

watched the movie. It was very good and so funny that she sometimes

had to hold her sides from laughing so much. Once her merry blue

eyes travelled to Mike's large frame beside her, and she caught him

watching her instead of the television, his gaze cloudy and troubled.

Her smile died as she was shocked into the awareness of the situation,

amazed at how she tended to forget. She shrank back, and the rest of

the movie was spent in unsmiling silence.

As she was putting away the dishes after they had drained dry, much

later, she opened and closed the few cupboards that she had over the

stove, shuffling things around. It was a real effort to get everything to

fit into the small space she had for storage, and the cupboards not

only held all of her dishware, but her canned goods and spices, along

with everything that should have gone in the medicine cabinet, if she

had had one. She impatiently thrust aside the aspirin and a small pill >

bottle that held only a few more pills, as she put away the salt and

pepper shaker—then she stopped dead, heart thumping madly and

throat constricting, staring at that little, nearly empty medicine bottle.

Then her gaze swivelled to the closed bathroom door where Mike was

washing up, her eyes wide and horrified at the audacity of the thought

that had struck her. The bottle held prescription sleeping pills, left

over from several months ago when the vivid, horrifying nightmare

of her parents' deaths had resurfaced because of the stress she had

been under to find a job and a place to live before her money ran out.

She hadn't wanted to throw away the leftover pills in case the

nightmare returned. She stared at that little white bottle, her blue eyes

narrowed and catlike, then her eyes flew to the closed bathroom door

again, from which she could hear water running and the sounds of

him moving around. It would be a terrible thing to do, but she was

going to try.

She wondered if she could pull it off.

When Mike emerged a few minutes later, he found her spooning in

fresh coffee grounds into a paper liner in her coffee-maker. He came

and peered over her shoulder for a moment, and she said briefly,

'Getting it ready for breakfast in the morning,' and held her breath.

Her hands were steady, though, as she slid the container into place on

the machine, and since he had said nothing, she turned to face

him.And she received a shock. The actual reality of him sleeping in

the same room with her had not really surfaced into her busy thoughts

until then, and she stared at him with wide eyes. He had on a light pair

of cotton pyjama bottoms and absolutely nothing else, his brown

smooth muscled chest bare, as were his feet. Her eyes bounced down

him and then away. His were trained on her face and he murmured

amusedly, 'Be thankful I've made the concession of wearing the

bottoms. I usually wear nothing.'

Dee didn't say anything. What was there to say? With an effort, she

tore her gaze away from that bare, surprisingly attractive chest and

walked determinedly over to her closet, drawing out two blankets and

throwing them at him. He caught them deftly. 'That's all I have,' she

said quickly. 'You'll have to make do with those.'

'I'll be fine.' He squatted down and began to lay them out, and for the

life of her she couldn't keep from staring at the smooth, graceful lines

of his body clearly revealed. The line of his powerful back curved

down to the leanness of his slim hips, and both legs looked

underneath the thin cloth to be well shaped, muscular. She knew from

experience how powerful those legs were. If he had been anywhere

near her, she knew she would never have had a prayer of outrunning

him, let alone getting as far as she did. He was so very quick, and that

was a lot of motive power, moving such bulk so swiftly. She turned

again, jerkily, and grabbed her own night clothes from her nearby

dresser, heading for the bathroom with a muffled, 'Excuse me.' He

had to stand to let her past.

In the privacy of the bathroom, she viciously brushed her small teeth

as she mentally cursed her wide eyes and nervous thumping heart.

Sure, she had no experience with living closely with a man, and she

had been sheltered during her upbringing and had rarely made friends

with the opposite sex, but that didn't account for the wild pounding of

her heart and the acute awareness that she was feeling for this man.

He was obviously a mature, fully grown male, and an attractive one at

that, and that was all. She could control herself better, she knew she

could. There was nothing special about this man. There was nothing

special at all.

Except for the fact that he was the most intelligent, intuitive, capable

man she had ever met. There were few people that Dee actually felt

intimidated by, but he was one of them, for he could out-think her,

and he could outwit her if she wasn't careful. She was beginning to

see that it was a compliment to her own intelligence that it had taken

him as long as nine months to find her, not a compliment to his that he

found her in only that amount of time.

She slid her long nightshirt over her slim shoulders and frowned

ferociously into the slightly distorted mirror on the wall. Well, all that

meant was that she was going to have to think harder, dig way down

and really use her brains for the first time in a long time. The only

reason why he had found her in the first place was because she had

underestimated him and relaxed her guard. She had slipped up.

And she wasn't going to slip up again.

The bathroom door opened slowly, and she stuck her head around it

hesitantly. There he was, reclining on the floor with his bare arms

flexed back and hands linked behind his dark head. He was resting on

one of the huge throw pillows that she used on her bed in the daytime,

and her bedcovers were pulled down for her. The late news was on

the television, but he was watching her instead, unwaveringly. A

fresh wave of nervousness hit her in the region of her stomach and it

showed. Her big blue eyes were nearly black, they were dilated so,

and her thin face was very pale. She came out of the bathroom slowly,

looking as if she might bolt at the first sudden movement.

Mike Carridine said calmly, running his unfathomable gaze down her

slim body, 'I was beginning to get worried for a minute. I don't trust

you in that bathroom for any length of time and I would hate to have

to chase you in my pyjamas.'

Dee had to smile at that, reluctantly, and felt comfortable enough to

walk closer. The room was so small that he had to lay down his

blankets by necessity right beside her bed, and she climbed on her bed

from the bottom end to avoid stepping over him. Then she settled

gingerly under the covers, eyeing him with that wary, distrustful

gaze.

His face softened a little, and the change in his expression from that

was so noticeable that she had to stare. Those features were really

hard, with a firm, uncompromising jaw and harsh cheekbones and

browbone, and she'd only seen him with a determined look in those

bright green eyes. That gentler expression made him look younger,

and she found herself revising her impression of his age. He would be

in his late twenties, perhaps, or thirty. 'You don't have anything to feel

nervous about, child,' he said quietly. 'I won't hurt you.'

Her eyes widened at that, and she felt supremely startled. She was

touched by what he had said, but then her facial expression sharpened

and she snapped, 'I don't believe that, and I don't trust you. You're

hurting me now, damn you, and there's nothing I can do about it!'

His eyes changed and they stared at each other for a minute before

Dee deliberately rolled over and pulled her covers to her neck. There

was a moment or two of tense silence and then something rustled. She

stiffened, but all that happened was that the light was abruptly doused

and they were plunged into darkness. The last thing said between

them was when Mike said implacably, 'We leave in the morning,

early.' And the words fell on her heart like a heavy stone.

Dee didn't sleep well at all, what with nervousness cramping in her

stomach and apprehension holding her in its grip. She could hear

Mike's quiet breathing, even and soft in the darkness, and the sound

was strangely intimate and soothing. Even so, she had the impression

of a coiled, dangerous animal crouching at her feet and she dared not

move for fear she might wake the beast.

When the first golden rays began to dispel the predawn's greyness,

she quietly crept out of her covers and went to her tiny kitchen to start

the coffee. When she turned around and glanced at Mike, she found

him watching her calmly, alertly, though he still looked relaxed. He

also looked rested, which was more than she could say for herself.

She put a self-conscious hand to her rumpled hair, blinking sleepily.

'I must look like a mess,' she mumbled, sliding her eyes away from

his. In actuality she looked like a sleepy rumpled kitten, with those

clear blue eyes peering out from under the yellow gold of her curling

hair. The nightshirt was too large and merely served to emphasise the

slight delicate lines of her bone structure, and drew attention to her

legs.

'Mm,' was his only comment, but when Dee glanced up and caught

his gaze, she saw appreciation flicker in them as he swept her over

with an encompassing look. That made her more self-conscious than

before, and she became aware of how much bare leg she was

exposing. In comparison to her tiny bikini, it wasn't much, but the

context of it was what had her blushing furiously. A quick second

glance at him found him looking slightly amused, and this only

served to make her redden even more. 'Who gets first dibs on the

bathroom?'

She seized on that gratefully. 'I'll get in first, so that I can be packing

while you're in.' And then, with asudden forlorn look around, she

added miserably, 'What's going to happen to all my things?' But she

ducked her head without waiting for a reply, then turned to bring

down a coffee mug from the cupboard, pouring some of the fresh hot

liquid into it and handing it carefully to him, heart rattling madly

away and mouth dry. She kept a stern hold on her expression, though,

and her face was calm. Mike took it with a murmured thanks, and

then glanced at her other empty hand curiously.

'You're not having any?' He sipped at the cup and winced at its heat.

'No,' she replied offhandedly, 'I want to take a shower first so that my

hair can dry. Leave the burner on and I'll have some when I get out.'

He nodded, and she quickly escaped into the minuscule privacy of the

bathroom, shutting the door and leaning against it, sagging. Then,

shooting into frantic action, she jumped into the shower and was out

again before the water had a chance to heat up. Towelling her hair dry

and combing it with a ruthless disregard for the painful tangles, she

was out again in about seven minutes. The drug was powerful and it

would start to hit him soon. She found him partially dressed, with a

pair of faded jeans on and a dark blue shirt, unbuttoned. He was

sitting at the table and holding his head in one hand, and Dee felt a

surge of guilt at what she had done. She advanced cautiously. 'How

are you feeling? Are you getting disorientated?'

His head came up and he looked at her angrily. 'You drugged me,

didn't you?' The words were angry, yet slurred, and she winced.

She didn't bother to lie. 'Yes, I did. I'm sorry, but I had to.'

She came over and put a hand on his arm, feeling the muscle bunch at

her touch, so that she stepped back nervously. Would he get violent?

He tried to stand and started to fall, and she ran to his side quickly,

throwing her arms around his waist for support. She helped him to her

bed and let him fall on it, stepping back pantingly. He was heavier

than he looked. Then she sat on the edge of the bed and looked down

at his face. It was strange, looking at him like this. He seemed so

helpless, for all his smooth, latent muscled strength. He focussed his

eyes with difficulty on her face, one hand coming up to cup her