Free My Heart's Desire by Jo Goodman Page A

her hand from his. "It isn't fair," she said quietly. "I shouldn't be a prisoner in my own home." Without waiting for a response, Rennie turned and mounted the steps to her room.
    Jarret followed. When Rennie opened the door to her bedroom, he put his arm out and blocked her entrance. "Your mother suggested I lock you in if I had to."
    Rennie blinked. Her face flushed hotly. "My mother was teasing. She knows very well there aren't any keys for these doors anymore."
    "I was afraid you'd tell me something like that." He sighed, resigned to what would have to be and not liking it much. "Let me see the inside of your room," he said tiredly.
    "Oh, by all means." She curtsied and waved him inside with an exaggerated flourish. "Please, feel free to treat my home as your own. Go anywhere you like."
    Jarret chose not to bite. He used his candle to light the oil lamp on the nightstand. When he could see he looked around slowly. His interest wasn't in the furnishings, or the items contributing to the personal clutter on the highboy and the vanity, or even in the fact that Rennie had apparently packed a small bag of clothes for herself and then left it behind in her excitement to leave. What Jarret cared about was the other means that Rennie could use for escape.
    "Where does that door lead?" he asked, pointing to the door situated to the left of the fireplace.
    "You'd believe me if I told you?" she said.
    "Never mind. I'll see for myself." He opened the door and glanced around. As he expected it was a dressing room. Unfortunately it connected to a bathing room and another bedroom beyond that. "That's a problem," he said to himself.
    "Don't mumble," she told him.
    He merely gave her a sharp look. She brazened it out and stared right back. Jarret rolled his eyes and shook his head. "What about these doors?" he asked, pulling on the brass handles of the French doors on the outside wall. The double doors jiggled but didn't budge.
    Rennie sat down on her bed. "What about them?"
    "They're not opening."
    "That's because there's a latch at the top and bottom. You may want to consider thinking before you resort to brute force."
    "You may want to consider changing your tone."
    "Or what?" Rennie asked, challenging him.
    Jarret pretended he didn't hear. He unlatched the doors, opened them and stepped out onto the balcony. He could hardly credit his own stupidity as the doors were slammed behind him and the latches dropped into place. Jarret pounded on the doorframe with the flat of his hand. "Rennie! Open up!"
    There was no response.
    "Rennie! I mean it! Open these doors!" He waited a beat, peering through the windowpanes into the bedroom. He couldn't see her anywhere. Jarret put his shoulder to the door and tried to force it. The latches held. He considered breaking individual panes to reach the locks and door handle, but it would have taken too long.
    Jarret leaned over the edge of the balcony. It was everything he was afraid it might be when he was considering Rennie's possible routes out of the house. Now it was a welcome sight.
    Beneath Rennie's balcony was nothing but a straight twenty-foot drop to the ground. To the side and a few feet down, however, was the overhang for the delivery entrance. Once there, it was simply a matter of shimmying down one of the supporting columns.
    Jarret made the leap easily, landing with a fair amount of agility and grace on the overhang. His bare feet held his footing on the shingles better than if he had been wearing boots. Using the gutter for a grip on the overhang, Jarret heaved himself over the side and hugged a support column with his legs. In a few seconds his feet were touching the damp grass.
    He had no clear idea whether Rennie would leave by the front, back, or side of the house. He made a choice quickly and hoped he was right. Her destination was easy enough to figure, but knowing that she was going to see Hollis Banks, and knowing where Mr. Banks lived, were two entirely different things.
    Jarret