Just as she felt the knife prick her skin, he moved away.After what seemed like an eternity, she could breathe again.Taking several deep breaths, she touched the spot where the knife had pricked her and drew fingers red with blood.Her blood.
She tried to calm herself while she rubbed her wrists again to get the blood flowing.She knew she should probably keep her mouth shut but she didn’t always heed smart advice.She couldn’t allow this arrogant bastard to think she feared him.“Adam will never let you near Jewel,” Elizabeth finally managed to blurt out.
“You are as spirited as your brother, I see.”Lee grinned and closed the distance between them.“I won’t have to get close to Jewel.”He bent over, inches from Elizabeth’s face, and whispered, “Jewel will come to me.”He pulled Elizabeth up to him, wrapping his arms around her, his eyes gleaming with hatred.
Elizabeth struggled against his iron grip, but Lee merely laughed.“Your brother owes me.And you’re just the person to pay his debt.Jewel will be the other half.”Lee sneered before his mouth closed on hers.
The cold, revolting kiss made Elizabeth’s skin crawl.She pushed hard against Lee’s chest, but couldn’t break his hold.His hand moved to her breast as he groped her, tearing at her clothing.The bile rose in her throat and she began to push harder.“No.Not this—please—” she protested.But he was too strong....
Then the dream was over.
The snake slithered away just as it had come in the middle of the night...quick and deadly.
Elizabeth jerked straight up in bed, laboring for air.Her gown, soaked with perspiration, clung to her damp body.
A dream.
Only a dream.
Or more a nightmare, one she’d relived over and over again.
If only she could forget.
She wiped the tears from her face.Would the past ever release her?If she was ever going to have a life with Jonathan, she had to forget.
Thank goodness, she hadn’t been a virgin when Lee attacked her.That much she could be thankful for.
Jonathan had been her first, and because of that she knew what physical love between a man and a woman could be like.
It definitely wasn’t what she’d experienced with Lee.
Somehow, she was going to have to find the words to tell Jonathan what had happened, but for now he was much too ill.She didn’t want to think of the possibility that he might walk away from her.She couldn’t lose him!She’d loved him all her life, and she didn’t want to think about a life without him.
Shoving the covers away, she was thankful for the burst of frosty air.She straightened her gown and slid from the high four-poster bed.The smooth wooden floor felt cool on her bare feet as she hurried to the window, nudged the curtains back, and peered out at the brightening sky.
Good.At least it was morning and she didn’t have to worry about sleeping again.Perhaps a good hot bath and some food would help ease her fears and leave her dreams behind.
She went to the bell pull and rang for the claw footed tub to be filled.Several servants arrived with buckets of steaming water and emptied them into the hip tub.As soon as they had finished, Sally came in with bed sheets draped across her arm and a saucer full of dried rose petals.
As Elizabeth relaxed in the rose-scented water while Sally fussed around her, the warm water began to ease her tense muscles.She closed her eyes and rested her head on the back of the porcelain tub and whispered a prayer that Jonathan would soon be his old self again.
“You goin’ look like a prune ifen you stay in that tub much longer, Miss Elizabeth,” Sally said as she wandered over to the wardrobe.
“But it feels heavenly,” Elizabeth said with a sigh as she sat up in the tub and began to lather, feeling much more like herself than she had before her bath.“What do you think I should wear today?”
“It’s still awful chilly outside, but I think you need somethin’ bright.Somethin’ cheerful.Folks been mopin’ ’round here way too much,” Sally said as she peered into the wardrobe.
All Elizabeth could see was Sally’s big rear end sticking out of the doors.“How ’bout this one?”Sally held up a pelisse of apple greengros deNaplesmaterial that fastened in front with circular slide buttons of the same color.
“I shall wear whatever you choose, Sally.You never fail to pick out the dress that suits me best.”Elizabeth stepped out of the tub and rubbed herself off in a soft bath sheet.She slipped into her chemise, then Sally helped her into the lovely dress.
The long sleeves felt good today, Elizabeth thought as she adjusted the slit at her wrist.She was tired of winter already.
While Sally brushed her hair, Elizabeth sipped the hot chocolate Annie had sent up.“Just pull my hair up on the sides.I don’t have the patience for you to fuss with it this morning.I want to see Jonathan.”
“You sure have pretty hair, Miss Elizabeth.There are times I swear it’s so black, it’s blue.”
“One of these days I’m going to cut it all off,” Elizabeth teased as she pulled her long hair above her head and motioned with her fingers.
