You Betrayed Me (The Cahills #3) - Lisa Jackson Page 0,43
of the neckline. “You could use some help, someone to take care of you.”
“I’ll be okay.”
She shimmied into a short black skirt. “If you stay here, I suppose.”
“I do have a house.”
She was fastening her hair back into a ponytail. “But I heard it’s a wreck.”
“Nothing that can’t be fixed.”
She glanced at his sling, left on the side of the bed.
“Well, eventually, I’ll be able to handle it,” he said.
“And in the meantime? You lucked out that there was an unoccupied room here, but I checked, and the inn is booked up. Solid. Until the week after New Year’s. So are you going to throw out paying customers to keep this room?”
“Someone will cancel.”
“If you say so. But the invitation’s open. You can come to my place, and I’ll look after you, and when your house is ready and you’re, you know, better, maybe not using a sling for your arm, you can go home. Or any time, for that matter.”
The offer made sense, but he didn’t want to commit.
She saw his indecision. “Hey, fine. Do what you want.” Sitting on the edge of the bed, she slid one foot into a knee-high boot, wincing a little as she forced her foot into the leather. “I was just trying to help.” She zipped up the first boot, then did the same with the second, before reaching for a wool coat that she had tossed over the back of the single chair in the bedroom. “But if you don’t want it, that’s cool.” As she wound a red scarf around her neck, she flashed a quick, knowing smile. “I’ll see ya,” she promised, as she bent over the bed to look him directly in his eyes. “Let me know if you need anything. Anything.”
“I will.”
She kissed him lightly, then straightened and, without another word, opened the door to the living area and swept past Ralph, who’d been lying on the other side. The dog barely glanced up as James heard the click of the front door close behind her.
He didn’t know whether he felt relief or disappointment or a little bit of both.
CHAPTER 14
The Isolated Cabin
Cascade Mountains
Washington State
December 15
There has to be a way out of here. Has to!
This thought careens through my brain for the millionth time as I sit cross-legged on the pull-out bed, a sofa with a sleeping bag tossed over the mattress.
I just need to get outside.
Once there, I might even recognize this spot in the wilderness. Because I really don’t know where I am now, and I could have been fooled as to where I am. I was unaware of how long I’d been here after being zapped with a stun gun.
How stupid was I? Never did I think I would be attacked.
“Idiot,” I grumble, then turn my attention back to the immediate problem of finding a means of escape.
Assuming I can free myself, then what? Where am I? Am I dozens of miles from civilization, or only a quarter of a mile down a lane to a major road? Are the tall trees I catch glimpses of real mountain firs, or possibly just the most remote part of the Christmas tree farm? I’ve never heard any traffic other than the sound of an engine whenever my captor returns, but it’s possible this cabin isn’t as remote as I have been led to think.
Maybe not hours from civilization, but minutes . . .
I wonder if anyone is searching for me.
Surely they are.
I swallow back my fear that no one even knows I’m missing, that lies have been spread about the reason I’m unavailable.
If only I had my phone or a radio or any way to communicate to the outside world!
I eye the small interior of the room again, absently searching for some crack in this jail, something I’ve overlooked, and as I do, I wonder what is to become of me?
If no one other than my kidnapper knows where I am, then what if something happens to them?
My stomach knots, and I try not to think about how dire my situation is.
“You have to get out of here yourself!” I remind myself as outside the wind howls, mocking me. Involuntarily, I shiver, though, of course, I’m not really cold. Not with heat radiating from a propane fireplace glowing brightly in the corner. I wonder vaguely what will happen when the propane runs out or the generator I hear huffing away goes silent. What if my jailor decides not to come back or is incapacitated? What then?