Submitting to the Shadow (Kindred Tales #27) - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,66

reason for the outdated clothes, too, she thought. They might have been in fashion back when he was a boy—maybe he had seen his mother wearing something like them…

“Well?” he demanded and she knew she had taken too long to answer.

“I’m just saying that you need to look nice and neat if you’re going to take me on a date, Sonny-boy,” she said, taking a chance. “A good mother will tell her son to take a shower and put on some nice clothes before he takes her…takes her out on a date.”

The words almost stuck in her throat but somehow she forced them out. What kind of a sick bastard was her captor, anyway? And would her new gambit work?

For a moment, the situation was in doubt. But then her captor’s scowl melted to be replaced by a look of grudging approval.

“You’re right, Beautiful. If you’re going to look gorgeous for our date, I should too—right?”

“Exactly.” Sammi put a hand on her hip and looked at him sternly, though her heart was beating in her throat. “So you just…go get cleaned up and dressed up for me. And…and I’ll do the same for you. So we’ll both look perfect for our…for our date.”

God, how was she saying all this? But the words seemed to work.

“Okay, Beautiful.” Her captor nodded his shaggy head.

“And do something with your hair,” Sammi directed, feeling bolder. “And shave too—I like my men clean-shaven,” she added. Basically she just wanted to buy as much time for herself as possible. If he took a shower and shaved and did something with his hair, that would take considerable time—she hoped.

To her relief, he nodded dutifully.

“Okay, Beautiful—I’ll do it.” He pointed a thick finger at her. “But you have to get ready, too.”

“Of course.” Sammi picked up the dress he’d brought her and stroked the shiny red material. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Her captor nodded, as though satisfied by her words.

“That’s good. And put on the perfume too—I got it just for you.” He pointed to the nightstand beside the bed which held a single lamp and a purple cut-glass bottle of perfume.

“All right.” Sammi nodded again, thinking he was definitely playing out some kind of fantasy here. The sense of smell was strongly linked to memory—clearly her captor wanted him to smell like someone in his past. His mother, maybe? The thought made her want to puke.

“I’m going now,” he told her. “But I’ll see you soon. Be ready for our date. Oh—and I hope you’re hungry—I have something really special planned for dinner.”

“Yummy,” Sammi said faintly, rubbing her stomach with one hand. “I can’t wait.”

“You’ll see—I’m making your favorite!” He grinned at her and then, mercifully, left the bedroom.

Sammi heard his heavy tread on the stairs and then the creaking of the door. She was hoping desperately that he might forget to lock the door in his excitement over their “date” but unfortunately, she heard the snick of a bolt turning next.

She was trapped down here with only a limited time to think of some way to save her own life.

What was she going to do?

Forty-Nine

“Who’re you and whaddya want?” The human male who had driven Samantha away from the HKR building blinked owlishly up at Roark. He seemed to be either inebriated or drugged in some way.

There was a strange, bitter odor hanging around him, leading Roark to think that maybe he had been smoking a drug that humans used to relax or sometimes to ease chronic pain. The drug didn’t do anything for Kindred but it made humans stupid and slow—at least as far as he could tell.

“What I want is to know where you took my female?” Roark shoved his way into the small, dingy apartment. He looked around wildly. “Where is she? Where’s Samantha?”

“You mean Professor Grey?” The man frowned stupidly. “She’s not here. Why would I bring her here?”

“So you admit you took her?” Roark rounded on him and grabbed him by the front of his t-shirt. Dragging the male up so their noses were almost touching he growled, “Where the fuck is my female?”

“I dunno, man!” Some of Roark’s fury seemed to have penetrated the male’s drugged haze because his blood-shot eyes went wide and frightened.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Roark demanded, shaking him until his teeth clicked together like dice rattling in a cup. “You took her!”

“I know, I know—but I only took her where he said to,” the male babbled, his face turning white. “And