Free Cool Shade by Theresa Weir Page B

Eddie had presented her with something he'd called a soy burger. She'd looked at it with extreme suspicion, then wolfed it down.
    A guy who could cook. A sexy guy who could cook. Every woman's dream, except that this guy was holding her hostage.
    She decided to come clean. She told him about her sister, about how she'd been searching for clues. "Her name was Enid. Blond. Sexy. Surely you remember her."
    "Yeah, I remember her. I remember the way she was always coming out here, hanging around. Said she had it bad for me. Maybe she did, but she was after something. Just like you. What are you after, Madison Magenta Smith?"
    A lot of good it had done her to tell him the truth. "How about, I was on a scavenger hunt and needed a musty mouse skeleton from the house of Eddie Berlin?"
    "You were looking for something, but it wasn't a dead mouse."
    Amazing what a dose of real food could do for a person. She felt a million times stronger. "Where are my clothes? I'm leaving."
    "They're too dirty and bloody to wear."
    "I want them."
    "I'll give you your clothes when you tell me what you were looking for."
    "Do you think you can actually keep me here? Against my will?" She was afraid that was exactly what he thought. "There are laws."
    He unfolded himself from his perch to stand next to the bed. "The part you seem to be forgetting is that you broke into my place. You committed a crime, not me."
    There were too many things going on here. There was the conversation, yes, but there was more. There was everything that had gone on before between them, and everything that might go on in the future. His body language was hard for her to decipher, and so often body language was more important than actual spoken words. What she was reading was frustration, and maybe some confusion. He didn't know what to make of her, or what to do with her.
    "If you decide to tell me the truth, just yell,” he said. “I'll be around." And he left, locking the door behind him.
    Well, she wasn't some puny damsel in distress who would whimper around and wait to be rescued. She'd just climb out the window. She'd just climb out the window and jump off the damn roof. And if she broke her leg, well, she had another one.
    She tossed back the covers and stood up. As soon as her feet hit the floor, the room tilted.
    It'll pass. Give yourself a minute to stabilize.
    There you go.
    That's the ticket.
    Things became a little less blurry, her legs a little less wobbly.
    She waded across the room and tested the door, just to be sure. Locked up tight.
    Through the door, she could hear the sound of running water.
    Now that she was moving around, her arm began to hurt, kind of a dull, deep ache.
    On the crate next to the bed were the narcotics the doctor had left. She hadn't wanted to take anything, but if she was going to be doing some heavy-duty escaping, she might need something to take the edge off.
    She picked up the bottle, struggled with the safety cap, shook two tablets into her palm, tossed them back, and washed them down with a glass of water. She was swinging around to examine the escape hatch when the bedroom door opened wide.
    "Bath time."
    She couldn't have heard right. "You've got to be kidding."
    "While I'm waiting for you to tell me what the hell you were looking for, we may as well enjoy ourselves. You're going to take a bath, and then we're going to make love."
    She closed her gaping mouth. "Make love? You're using that word rather loosely, aren't you? I don't even like you."
    "That's okay. Doesn't really matter, does it? Let's just say sex then. We'll have sex. I was just trying to respect your sensibility, but I guess you don't have any."
    That comment didn't deserve acknowledgment. Anyway, she was more concerned with the sex thing. "Is that why you've been nursing me back to health?"
    He shrugged. "Good enough reason."
    "So we could have sex?" She was appalled. Completely, utterly appalled.
    Wasn't she?
    She crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not taking a