Free Winter's Touch (Immortal Touch Series) by Allie Gail Page B

this?
    The sedative was working to pull her under into oblivion. Though she tried, it was useless to fight it.
    “Rest, Eva,” Julian said softly. “I’ll watch over you tonight. Sleep.”
    Somehow, she did.
     
    CHAPTER SIX
    Nowhere to Run
     
    Eva woke to find Julian’s eyes fixed on her bare shoulder with a most peculiar expression.
    “What’s wrong?” Scooting quickly into an upright position, she scanned the bedroom in alarm. Had something happened during the night? Everything looked exactly as it did before she fell asleep. Nothing seemed noticeably out of place.
    He blinked , pulling his gaze away from her to look at the floor instead. “Nothing’s wrong. How are you feeling?”
    She immediately investigated her teeth with an index finger and was immensely relieved to find nothing out of the ordinary. “Normal. That’s good, right? Does this mean I’m going to be okay?”
    “My guess is you’re out of the woods.” He stood and extended his long arms above his head, stretching leisurely like a contented feline. “I’ll be damned. I must admit, I expected the worst.”
    “ Now you tell me.” She pushed a handful of unruly curls away from her face and looked at him hopefully. “So...now you know, it’s all good and you can let me go, right? You don’t need me anymore. I won’t tell anyone about this, I swear. Our secret. Nobody has to know.” Yeah, right.
    “Not just yet, I’m afraid.” He strolled towards the door in that infuriatingly aloof way of his. “I’ll have Lainie pick up some clothing for you today. I believe I’ll go to bed for a while. Didn’t sleep much last night, you know. Try to keep it down, won’t you?”
    “ Wait a second! ” she called after him, but it was no use. She was yelling at a bolted door. An antique alarm clock was the closest thing within reach and as a result it bore the brunt of her petulance, flying across the room to shatter against the solid wood. She fumed when she heard the chuckle from the other side.
    Pompous ass!
    Half an hour later, wrapped once again in the bathrobe since the clothes she’d arrived in were nowhere to be found, Eva reclined on the window seat and gazed helplessly from behind cold steel bars at the endless expanse of forest. For all practical purposes, she was cut off from the world. There was no telling how far the nearest neighbor was, no way of knowing how far she’d have to hike to find help. Would Julian be able to track her easily? She couldn’t begin to guess how deep the core of his abilities reached.
    Clearly at some point he’d have to leave. He couldn’t stay here all the time, could he? Didn’t he have a job or a business of some sort to run? Normal everyday duties to attend to? He couldn’t spend his life shut up in this house. She couldn’t be guarded all the time. And even if there was no accessible way out, surely there had to be a phone or computer around someplace. Some means of communicating with the outside world.
    I nevitably there would be an occasion when the perfect opportunity would present itself, and she planned to be ready. Ready and waiting.
    Lainie came up before long with a breakfast tray, taking a few moments to cheerfully jot down Eva’s clothing sizes on a scrap of paper before departing for whatever town must be nearby. The woman’s displaced motherliness was perplexing. It was disturbing how she could be so sweet and genial, all the while turning a blind eye to the horrors surrounding her. Even so, Eva didn’t have it in her to assault the elderly woman, no matter how dire the situation. Besides, it would likely be a pointless endeavor. No doubt the front door would still be locked.
    Then again, the windows downstairs weren’t barred ...
    N oticing her alert regard of the open bedroom door, the woman reached for her arm as if to detain her. “Best put that out o’ yer head, child.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “What ye’re thinkin’ - it will ne’er work.”
    “ How do you