Free Worlds Apart by Barbara Elsborg Page A

empty her bladder before she drank anything, and running wasn’t helping that requirement.
    A motor bike roared up behind her and Roo squealed. Darn it, stop panicking. The guy—or maybe woman—in black leathers didn’t stop until they pulled up in front of the main entrance. Roo lollopped up the drive. By the time she reached the house, the biker had gone inside. No sign on the door on this occasion to tell her to walk in, so Roo pulled on the rusty metal rod that hung vertically on the left side of the door and heard a clangy echo inside.
    Then she jigged on the spot. I need to pee. Why didn’t I go in the woods? She should have changed her shoes, but her only other pair of smart shoes were high heels and she couldn’t run in those. Roo really wanted to make a good first impression when she wasn’t dressed as a chicken. She pulled on the rod again. And again. Hurry up. Hurry up.
    It seemed hours before Taylor opened the door. “You should have—”
    “Sorry.” Roo burst past him and rushed inside. She dashed through the entrance hall and careened in a lopsided gait down the corridor toward the office where she’d been interviewed. Commonsense told her the bathroom would be down here somewhere. She flung open a door— Oh Christ, a jungle? —and slammed it again. The next revealed the kitchen and a bemused Niall stared at her. Roo was too desperate to drool.
    “Bathroom?”she gasped.
    “Next on the right.”
    Roo grunted her thanks, sighed when she found the Holy Grail, and locked herself in.
    By the time she’d washed her hands and checked her face in the mirror to make sure she’d not come out in measles overnight, she’d calmed down, but what she saw in the mirror over her shoulder made her excited again. A shower. She’d have to be very quick, but since the shower in her bedsit produced hot water for only ninety-three seconds, Roo was used to washing at speed.
    She whipped off her clothes and stood under twenty three seconds of arctic torture before the warmth kicked it. There was even shampoo and conditioner. Roo couldn’t resist. She should have. The top came off the shampoo when she upended it over her head and the entire bottle of viscous green liquid dripped down her face. Shit.
    The towel was minute but Roo managed and after briskly rubbing her hair, she finger combed it and emerged from the bathroom to find Niall in the hallway, leaning against the kitchen door. He’s lovely. Even though he wasn’t smiling, Roo fancied him. She didn’t usually go for blonds, but she liked his disheveled hair and the guarded look on his face as though he was determined to hide his feelings. It made him feel genuine, unlike Taylor with his perfect smile.
    “Thank you. Sorry,” she mumbled. “Desperate. No, not desperate. Oh drat, yes, I was.” Desperate for the loo. Desperate for the job. Desperate to kiss you. Don’t say anything else just in case brain slips up and tells mouth to speak. Roo was pretty sure her face was bright red. It felt hot enough to fry an egg.
    “Desperate for a shower?”
    His gaze slide from her damp hair to her face.
    “Strange…itching,” Roo muttered. Damn that sounds even worse.
    “You’ve picked up a friend on your travels.” Niall pointed to her shoulder. “Going to freak out?”
    Roo looked at where he was pointing and smiled. “Oh, a spider. No, I don’t mind spiders, but I can’t cope with worms or earwigs. Come on outside, little fella. Which way?”
    Niall opened a door at the end of the corridor and Roo stepped out on to a paved area with a lawn beyond. She picked up the spider’s thread and let it dangle over a windowsill. When the spider settled and Roo was unattached, she went back inside. Roo didn’t even step on an ant if she could help it. All life had a purpose, even wasps. Though she wasn’t too sure about Tom, her ex-boss. Or snakes.
    Taylor came strolling up the hallway, followed by the biker, a tall, muscular guy with dark, straggly hair that