Forbidden to the Duke by Tyner Liz

Author:Tyner, Liz [Tyner, Liz]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-09-18T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Bellona fought, inside the dream, pulling hands from her throat, her grasping fists closing over emptiness. She struggled for air—ale-scented breath suffocating her. His darkened pupils expanded so that she could see nothing else. She scrambled back as her own vision clouded into black, reaching for her weapon, the world of the ship fading, changing to the bedchamber. The image of the crewman fell away into the recesses of the room.

Her eyes opened. She sat against the headboard of the bed, her heart pounding, fingers gripping the knife she’d had under her pillow. Her throat ached, the press of thumbs indenting her throat still choking her.

She swallowed slowly, trying to get air, but keeping her movements still so she could be aware of the room. Shadows brushed her skin with the lightness of spider’s legs. Beyond the walls, something creaked.

Slipping one foot from the bed, she braced for her ankle to be clutched. She had to escape from the room, yet the hallway would be dark and someone could be waiting.

She dashed to the door, her back against the wood, the knife held close to her body. Listening. Watching. Waiting.

Wind blew against the window. She forced herself calm. Over and over the dream found her in the night.

Questions would throb in her head until morning. What if the pirates hadn’t been defeated by Captain Ben and his crew? What if they had continued to pursue the ship intent on making another attempt to capture Bellona and Thessa? Or what if the gamekeeper had got angry at her because she had been accepted into the house as a guest and he broke in to attack her?

She touched the door latch with her left hand, gripping the cold metal. Listening. She had no reason to fear. None at all. But blood still raced in her veins.

She leaned back, feeling a vibration as she painlessly thumped her head once against the wood. She could not traverse the room and reach the bell pull. Her feet wouldn’t let her.

The room didn’t feel safe. She couldn’t stay long enough to summon a maid. The pirates would not go away. She could not make them leave her dreams and in her dreams she had nothing to fight with.

Soundlessly, she opened the door and put one foot into the hallway. Nothing. Still darkness. No movement.

She couldn’t shut the door behind her. Even though the room could trap her, she couldn’t close even one possible way of escape.

Sliding her body out, she moved down the hallway. If she called from the library for a servant, the butler would arrive. He stood tall and she could ask him to check her room for a mouse. She’d heard something. She’d heard a squeak or a creak. A noise had stirred her from the terror.

Or perhaps she’d only dreamed it. The figure of the man squeezing her neck had vanished as she woke, disappearing, as the nightmare always did, taking the stench of death with him. Leaving her room as quiet and still as a crypt covered in dust.

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