he knew it was probably one of the more stupid things he could do, he couldn’t resist sliding out of bed and sitting on the edge of hers. She was trembling. He could feel the bed vibrating with her small movements.
“Don’t cry,” he repeated. “You’re dreaming.”
Except this didn’t seem like a dream. She wasn’t here. She was...somewhere else.
He reached a hand out to calm her. That was all he really intended but the next moment she was somehow in his arms.
In an instant, seven years melted away. She was here and she was his.
He had forgotten how perfectly she fit in his arms, how her head nestled against his chest at precisely the right angle and her arms wrapped around his waist. She smelled the same, that mix of citrus and vanilla that always made his mouth water.
He wanted to bury his face in her hair and inhale, to burn that scent into his memory again.
He knew the instant she started to awaken. Her whimpering slowed and then stopped altogether. She sighed, and for perhaps sixty seconds, she relaxed in his arms, her body going boneless and calm before he could feel her muscles tighten and she started to fight against his hold.
“Don’t hurt me. Please don’t hurt me. Take what you want but don’t hurt me.”
He hated those words. He had never hurt her. He even hated raising his voice. How many times had he walked away when she would explode at him, lashing out in her pain that he should leave her, that he was better off without her?
“Easy. Easy. It’s me. It’s Luke.”
She scrambled to the other side of the bed, those familiar-unfamiliar features twisting with confusion. In the low light, she looked...haunted.
“Luke. What are you...?” Her blue eyes widened and he watched memory click back. “Oh.”
“You had a bad dream. You were crying in your sleep.”
“Was I?” She blinked, obviously trying to make sense of the last few moments. She pulled the blanket to her shoulders like a shield, becoming guarded once more. “What...what did I say?”
“You begged me not to hurt you. And you also said you were Elizabeth. Not Sonia.”
“I would say...I’m a little of both now.”
“You also said something about being trapped. It sounded pretty frightening. What did you mean?”
She looked away, focusing on the banal artwork in the room. “Nothing. I was rambling in my sleep, I suppose. You know how...dreams can be.” She swallowed. “What time is it? Has the weather cleared?”
His jaw worked, aware she was trying to avoid the questions. She didn’t want to talk about the nightmare or about what her subconscious may have revealed.
Since he wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to hear her answers, he decided to let her change the subject. “A little after four. The snow had eased a little when I went to sleep around midnight. I’ll take a look.”
Though the room was carpeted, the floor was still cold on his bare feet as he slid out of bed and walked to the window. Dawn was still a few hours away. The storm had dropped several more inches since midnight but it looked as if the winds had died down. With luck, crews had been hard at work in the early hours clearing the freeway and they could get on their way at first light.
Good. He wasn’t sure he could take another night, trapped in a hotel room with her.
“It’s still too early to take off again. We should try to catch a few more hours, then get an early start.”
“All right. I’m...sorry I woke you.”
He thought about telling her she’d been giving him sleepless nights for seven years but didn’t want to admit that to her.
“Good night,” he answered, then climbed back into bed, rolled to face the wall and tried to do the impossible—put her out of his mind long enough to slip back into sleep.
Had he fallen back asleep? When she looked under her lashes at the form in the bed next to her, Elizabeth couldn’t really tell. Luke gave every indication that he was sleeping. He didn’t move a muscle and his breathing was even and steady.
She couldn’t return to sleep, maybe because she had dozed so much the afternoon before and then had gone to bed earlier than usual after Luke left, simply because she didn’t know what else to do.
Now, in the aftermath of what she knew was probably a small seizure, the fragments of the nightmare stayed with her, stark and terrifying. Not a nightmare. More memories that she had managed to shove down.
Driving through the storm the day before had brought back a plethora of things she had avoided facing. Her helplessness, regret, fear. And the long hard journey she had traveled since leaving Haven Point.
She shifted on the bed, watching the play of red and green on the wall from the Christmas lights hanging on the exterior of the hotel.
She knew nothing good came from hashing and rehashing the past. She had learned grim lessons from that journey. Right now, she had to focus on how she was going to make it through the next few days.
At least she would be able to see her children. Maybe even hug them. If the price for that glorious gift was time spent with a man who hated her, she was more than willing to pay for it.
“Yes, the interstate is open now. But I would still stay put if I were you.”
The highway patrol officer at the checkpoint before the freeway entrance looked cold and exhausted, with rosy cheeks, bleary eyes and heavy lines pulling down the corners of his mouth as he spoke. “This is the safest place for you, at least for a few hours. The roads might be open but they’re still slick and snow-packed.”
“Even on the interstate?” Luke asked.
“After the storm came a nasty fog that’s socked in everything from here to Boise. It will be at least noon before we can advise travel again for anything except emergencies. I know it’s an inconvenience, but it’s only a handful of hours.”
Luke’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. He didn’t look at her but awareness still seethed between them.
He didn’t want to wait another few hours to be rid of her.
He didn’t have to say the words for her to know what was going through his mind. She knew she had earned every ounce of his scorn, though that did not make it any easier to bear.
“I appreciate the advice, sir, but I’m sure we’ll be fine. We have four-wheel drive and I put the chains on this morning. We’ll go slow.”
The patrolman
