A Wretched Rake by Tammy Andresen

Author:Tammy Andresen
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER NINE

Isabelle woke to near black, the fire so low, it was just a few burning coals in the grate. She blinked her eyes open, not moving, as she tried to clear the muddled fog from her thoughts. What had woken her?

Silence filled her ears, the stillness of the night, making her relax back into the straw mattress.

That’s when she heard a scraping or a scratching just outside her window. Tension filled her body even as she remained perfectly still.

Was it a branch? Animal?

It happened again, the sound louder and more insistent.

Surely it was nothing but all the same, she found herself whispering in the dark, “Bode?”

Though she’d barely raised her voice to rouse him, she heard the squeak of ropes as Bode rose from the other bed and appeared in the doorway. “Isabelle. What’s wrong?”

Heat climbed up her face even as a calm filled her chest. Just hearing him eased the fear. “I’m sorry to wake you. I heard scratching outside the window.”

“Don’t apologize,” he said as he came striding into her room, not stopping until he was above her. With a quick jerk, he pulled the blankets back, lifted her in his arms, and carried her into his room.

She didn’t ask any questions as he placed her in his bed. But inwardly, they tumbled through her thoughts. Did he plan for her to sleep with him? Would they leave the inn now? “I’ll be right back.” He brushed a kiss across her temple before he straightened, and headed back to her room.

She nodded into the dark, even as he disappeared into her room. She heard the scraping of the window as it opened and then closed again.

She looked about the dark room, pulling the covers up to her nose as Bode stepped back into the room. “I don’t see anything out there,” he said with a grimace.

She dropped the covers down. “Am I silly? I’m sorry if I’ve worried you for nothing.”

“Don’t be,” he answered and then he slid into the bed as well, positioning himself between her and both the window and the door. “Tired as I am, I wasn’t sleeping anyhow.”

“Why not?” she asked as his arm came about her, pulling her into his side. Which suited her just fine. She snuggled into his body, her arm draping across his stomach.

The pose was intimate and so personal, and yet, with Bode, somehow natural. Like she was made to be in this man’s arms.

“I didn’t like being away from you.”

She hadn’t liked it either. Isabelle relaxed deeper into his side. “Tomorrow night, we’ll just get the one room. Save money.”

He chuckled underneath her cheek. “We’ll share for financial reasons.”

She laughed too. “I’ll be safer.”

“And we’ll both sleep better.”

She nodded her agreement, even as she closed her eyes, the scratching now a distant memory. Next to Bode, she was safe. It was easy to fall back to sleep and within minutes, she’d drifted off…

She woke again, however, the room was still dark, and she tried to discern what had woken her this time.

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