Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
In the cold darkness beneath the swinging boughs of wind-caressed trees, a soft glow emanated from a patch of wet leaves and fallen needles.
Blanketed by discarded clothing and accessories, the entity concealed within the golden pocket watch reached out, calling for the warm, passionate hand of the companion who held it only hours before.
Despite their disastrous meeting, they were inexplicably bound. One destiny foreordained to change the other.
A translucent, formless wisp rose skyward, drifting with purpose and intelligence, floating up into the crisp night air.
Searching.
Desperate.
Logan paced before the roaring fire in his bedroom.
Who is this woman? What the hell am I supposed to do with her?
The questions did nothing to settle the battle raging within him. The more he thought about her, the more he wanted to run to her room, throw open the doors, and demand she tell him all he wanted to know—like why she seemed so achingly familiar.
He groaned. Her eyes would undo him. During their frustrating encounter, a jade flame ignited in her glare.
He’d never encountered a woman quite as stunning as her.
True, he had met and even bedded his fair share of beauties, but none had the same impassioned, sensual energy bursting from their every pore.
She was like a blazing fire burning everything in her path, and he was a parched wilderness, waiting to be immolated.
How could one woman affect him so quickly?
He bit back a groan and downed a glass of brandy. As he shucked his jacket, he pictured the woman in the bed five rooms away.
What was he to make of her? Her coloring and clothing said Roma, but her denials and heated rebuttals gave him pause. Could she be telling the truth? Could it be coincidence?
No!
There were no coincidences. She might not have stolen the sheep, but she knew who did. She could sleep safely now, but tomorrow morning his generosity would end, and she would know the searing sting of his wrath.
Haven didn’t want to stay in bed. Her fingers wouldn’t stop trembling, her legs wouldn’t stop twitching, her jaw ached from the grinding, and her heart wouldn’t stop pounding.
How dare he make assumptions based only on what he’s seen? Where’s the proof? I’d just landed there—hell, I was spit out by a freaking Stargate.
She had to figure out where she was, and then she had to find the watch. Maybe then, she’d get some straight answers.
When she turned to the matronly woman in the corner, she smiled, but the gorgon continued to glare at her from over the edge of her embroidery hoop. Didn’t the dragon lady have something better to do?
Sighing with annoyance, she inspected her surroundings.
The room was beautiful. She was lying on a large bed with four posts and a cream-colored canopy.
The deep-red comforter contrasted gloriously with the cream sheets.
The pillows behind her were the same crimson color, but graced with a pattern of cream flowers.
The material was coarser than the 600 thread count sheets and hand-stitched down comforter on her bed back home, but it did the job.
An enormous armoire took up most of the space along the wall. Made from a light-colored wood, it boasted two tall doors and six drawers.
A long dressing table sat to the right of the door. The top held a jewelry box, a pitcher and basin, and a white towel. A small oval mirror framed with the same wood as the armoire hung above it. She liked the prison cell she’d been given, but it was still a cell.
Swallowing tears of frustration, she tried to breathe evenly.
Her whole world turned upside down, and she didn’t know what to think, feel, or believe about anything.
Her body ached, and her head throbbed. She wanted to close her eyes, fall asleep, and wake up in her own bed.
Biting her lip, she barely prevented a moan from escaping.
Crying wouldn’t help. She’d only gain a wet face, and a bigger headache.