She put a hand to her head and tried to look sick, which wasn’t difficult since she truly felt nauseous, although for a different reason than she was letting on..
“I have had a bedchamber prepared for you. The one where you stayed last night is mine. I took you there for the sake of expediency, since it was the only one ready.”
Now he had a room made up for her? But she wasn’t staying! Thank you very much.
“Okay, thanks. I will just lie down for a few moments, and I will feel better, I'm sure.”
He stood and prowled around the edge of the table. When he took her arm to pull her to her feet, her heart leapt into her throat.
He escorted her through the house, looking at her every few steps. Was he worried she was going to faint? Or maybe getting suspicious about her? She tried to look faint. He stopped in front of a door, opened it for her, and gestured for her to enter. Another sumptuously appointed bedchamber. Thank goodness he did not try to enter.
“The doctor should arrive soon,” he said. “In the meantime, try to rest, and if you need anything, just ring.”
Smiling weakly, she thanked him. Then closed and locked the door. Breathing a sigh of relief, she ran to the window to peer out, dismayed to find nothing to aid her escape. The window was on the second floor, and it was a vertical drop to the garden, some thirty feet below. No trees, trellises, cornices, or anything she could use to get down.
What to do? Perhaps there was something inside the room. She scanned her surroundings. Ah! There—the ropes used to tie back the drapes. If she used all the ropes in the windows and the bed hangings, would she have enough to get down? It was worth a try. She ran from drape to drape, collecting all the ropes, then started tying them together. But the knots were not holding. She was no girl scout, and her knot tying abilities were very basic. If the rope came undone, she could fall to her death or badly hurt herself, but she had to attempt it.
She managed to tie several knots that felt somewhat secure, but still did not have enough rope to get down. The sheets! She could use the sheets, too. She would use every scrap of fabric in the room, provided she had enough time. Running to the bed, she yanked the sheet out, tying one corner to the end of the rope. She looked out the window again and saw no one outside on this side of the house. Carefully, she lowered her makeshift rope, and it came to about ten feet off the ground. It would have to do. She could probably jump from that distance without hurting herself.
And then what?
Run! Run as fast as she could and avoid being seen!
Oh God, how had her life come to this? Just the day before, she had been on a business trip, driving through the English countryside, and now she was in this strange situation that she didn’t even comprehend very well. But she knew she had to escape.
Next to the window sat a big armoire. She tied the end of the rope to the leg of the armoire and then, making sure she had her phone in the back pocket, she sat on the window sill, threw her legs over, and gripped the rope. With a fervent prayer for the rope to hold, she pushed herself from the window and started sliding down.
The friction hurt her hands, and her arm muscles were shaking from the effort, so she wrapped her legs around the rope to support herself and continued inching down. Coming to the end of the rope, she looked down. With her arms stretched overhead, the height of the drop was not bad at all. She let go, jumping to the ground and bending her knees as she hit the floor to break the fall.
Crouching down behind the hedge that surrounded the house, she peered through the leaves, but saw no one. She darted out from behind the hedge and started walking at a near run, following the wall towards the rear. She needed a means of getting away from the house while keeping undercover, but the house sat in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by lawn and open parterre gardens. Very charming and decorative, they were, for sure, but they provided scarce cover.
Seeing there was no way to stay undercover, she decided her best course was to aim for speed, and hope that if somebody noticed her, they wouldn’t think to pursue, and if they did, that she could outrun them until she reached safety.
She spotted the gates of the park and sprinted towards them. In a few minutes, she could reach them, and beyond them, she hoped to find a road and help.
CHAPTER 10 - The chase
