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I bunched the oversized T-shirt in one hand, worrying the hem with my fingers. Panicking about any of this now wasn’t going to help; it would just drive me crazy. As soon as Ash returned, I would ask him to take me to the nearest town. I could figure things out from there.
I had to look decent when he returned. The T-shirt and robe wasn’t my most flattering outfit. Although, after the way he’d looked at me, the way he’d kissed me and touched me… maybe he thought it was.
My cheeks burned red at the thought.
I grabbed the door handle to the closet and opened it. Ash had told me he had clothes in here, and I scanned the outfits. They were all a little outdated—or a lot outdated. Everything was made of cotton or some similar material, and a lot of it was loosely woven, looking like it had been handmade.
There was everything from old medieval dresses to loose cotton pants and boxy shirts.
I opted for a brown sleeveless dress and a belt-like band that looked like genuine leather. I found shoes, too. Sandals that looked like they were from a different era.
It wasn’t what I would usually have worn, but it was so much better than the T-shirt and robe.
The cabin didn’t have any kind of indoor plumbing, but I heard the babble of a brook outside. Why hadn’t I heard it before?
I frowned and walked to the crude window, looking out through the dusty glass. A small stream of water babbled past the cabin.
I hesitated before bundling the clothes I’d chosen and leaving the cabin. I looked around, scanning the trees before I stepped off the porch, and walked around the cottage to the stream. The water was clear and cool. The sun overhead was bright, and it felt like I’d fallen from the real world into a fairy tale. Out here, the colors were so much more vibrant than back home, the trees a bright evergreen and the sky an impossible blue.
I looked around again. Not only for the men who wanted me back, but for any other prying eyes.
When I was sure I was alone, I pulled the T-shirt over my head and stepped into the stream. I gasped when the freezing water ran over my feet. When I got used to the cold, I kneeled and splashed water all over myself, getting rid of most of the grime and dirt that the fight and escape last night had left on me. I wet my hair, too. I didn’t have soap or shampoo, but I did the best I could to clean it.
I dried myself with the robe I’d worn and put on the strange dress and sandals. After I sat in the sun for a while, my long hair dried. I braided it so that it would stay out of my face; it was too tangled to look good loose. I tied off the braid with a piece of twine, and I felt a little more like myself again.
When the sun started to set, I pushed myself up and walked back to the cabin. I let myself in and looked around. The cabin was dusty and neglected, nothing like a home. It needed a bit of help.
While I decided what needed to be done, the atmosphere shifted. It was almost as if clouds moved in front of the sun, but when I looked around, the room was as dusky as it had been before, with the small windows keeping out most of the light.
I frowned. What was going on?
A strange feeling crept into the air, like fog after the rain.
My heart beat in my throat. It was as if the atmosphere itself shivered along my skin, and if I didn’t know any better, I would have said what I felt was?—
The door opened, and Ash stood there. The strange sensation died down again.
He looked me up and down, his expression flickering across his features too fast for me to read. Something passed between us—a jolt of electricity that brought that sexual hum in my body right back.
“You’re back,” I breathed.
“I said I would be.”
I nodded.
“You’re dressed.” His blue eyes darkened as he took in the sight of me, and there was no guessing what primal thoughts were flitting through his mind.
I nodded again and licked my lips.
Ash’s eyes lingered on my lips, slid down to my breasts, slid further down…
He cleared his throat, and I watched as he shut himself off and stepped into the cabin. He had a large paper bag in one hand that I only noticed now.
“What’s that?” I was acutely aware of the shift in atmosphere, how bland it had suddenly become.
“I brought you food. You’re going to have to stay here for a while.”
“What?” I asked, but my stomach rumbled at the thought of food. “I can’t stay here. I need to get back home.”
