Under Lock and Key by Sylvie Kurtz

Author:Sylvie Kurtz
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2003-10-06T05:00:00+00:00

AFTER GRACE’S CALL, Tyler rushed to the courthouse. He argued and bullied and threatened until, with the help of Freddy’s lawyer, Melissa was released. She was so still, so silent, so white. Standing there with her head bowed trying to hide her scars from the glare of the fluorescent lights with a curtain of hair, she looked defeated. The green of her eyes had turned yellow and dull. Her hands were neatly folded in front of her—right over left to hide the mottled texture of her burned hand. Worst of all her shoulders were curled into a defeated slump.

Seeing her like this hurt. He wanted her fighting. He wanted her sharp tongue cutting him to pieces. He wanted to see fire in her eyes.

Freddy was right. This wasn’t about him or Lindsey. This was about Melissa.

What he had to do was give her something other than her fear to think about.

“Don’t touch me,” Melissa said as he led her out of the courthouse.

He tightened his hold on her elbow and bent down to whisper in her ear. “I’m going to hold you and you’re going to let me. You scared the hell out of me. I need a hug, and you’re all I’ve got right now.”

He folded her into his arms. Her hands clawed at his shirt, pushing him away even as her head fell onto his chest. Tears choked her. But she never cried. Not when Mama was buried and she wasn’t allowed at the funeral. Not when Daddy married Sable. Not when they left her behind in her dark prison with a strange nanny.

Tyler’s arms felt good around her, and a bit of the tightly wound tension eased. His touch, his scent, made her feel safe after the chaos and stink of the jail. But safety was just another illusion. This incident had shown her that. Tyler had almost made her believe there was a place for her in the world outside the castle. Now she knew positively that what she’d suspected was true. Her face would never allow her to glide through the outside world safely. There she would always be a side-show freak. The only place for her was inside those crumbling gray walls with her paints and her horses and her monsters.

A few minutes passed and he led her to his Jeep. A long, low moan keened inside her. A wave of nausea tossed through her stomach. “I can’t.”

“You don’t have a choice. It’s too far to walk.” Carefully, as if she were a horse he was afraid would spook, he pulled down the top of the Jeep.

Did he understand about tight places? About fresh air? About the dark? She reminded herself to breathe. She reminded herself to leave her terror outside. She reminded herself she’d survived.

“I’ll go slow,” Tyler said as he eased her into the Jeep and fastened her seat belt.

He glanced at her as he turned on the ignition. The engine’s growl reverberated through the soles of her feet, through the seat and seemed to jangle the very marrow of her bones.

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