Page 61 of Go, Rogue

He’s heard her, and she can feel, rather than see, the man moving. She stills, holding her breath and trying to become one of those Roman marbles she’s always comparing Andrew to.

She isn’t even sure what she expected to do here. She certainly can’t fight James. Andrew taught her that weight moves weight, and she doesn’t have enough of it to win against a man James’s size.

But she can be smarter and swifter and—no. Be reasonable. She can’t do anything but get out of this dratted space the same way she got into it. She edges back toward the door she came through, cursing the way her movements seem to echo throughout the room. It doesn’t seem possible through the hissing steam, but she sounds as loud as a horse’s gallop to herself.

And then James’s face is right in front of her, looming. He’s found her, and there’s nowhere she can go.

“What are you doing here?” he snarls. “Mrs. McGann, is it?” The sarcasm in his voice is unmistakable.

“I heard noises,” she says, her voice more uneven than she wants it to be. “And I… came to see what the issue was.”

“Is that right?” He lets out a short, derisive laugh. “I am aware that bastard has no wife, you know.” He edges even closer to her. “What does that make you then? His mistress? His doxie?”

He licks his cracked lips and the sight of them with his swollen tongue makes her shudder. She knows the signs of undernourishment from Violet’s clinic, but their cause makes them no more repulsive as he leers at her.

She looks around wildly. He’s too close, the sourness of his breath and the yellow scum of his teeth making her stomach roil.

Think, she commands herself. Breathe and think.

How did he know where she was? He heard her movements certainly, but he’d pinpointed her place in the room exactly. She looks down and sees the steam has risen, just a bit. Enough to show her feet.

Alright. Her heart is beating wildly. A small mistake. But I can be smarter from now on.

Her eyes scan the deck and find Rogers’s prone body. She hops behind him now, hoping that his form will shield her movements.

“You can’t hide from me, dove,” he says. “I’ll find you.” She hears rather than sees him lick his lips again. “Maybe I’ll take you with me. The bastard won’t be in need of you much longer, not where he’s going.”

“And where is that?” she asks, but then quickly realizes her mistake when he begins to laugh at her. Her words gave away her location.

She snaps her mouth shut, but it’s too late. He’s already lunging for her.