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As luck would have it, the cabin was deep in the woods and far from any other rental. The quaint cabin with a wraparound porch was the kind of place Sorrel deserved. If only the circumstances of their lives were different. What he wouldn’t give to be able to not only afford the place but to take the woman he carried in his arms on vacation here. He could picture them on the porch sipping wine and watching the fireflies dance among the wildflowers. Instead he was carrying her limp body up the porch steps while her cat perched on top of her.
Eric took Sorrel straight to the master bedroom and gently laid her on the massive, rustic log four-poster bed that was covered in a dark-green comforter. He ran the back of his hand down her cheek. His eyes welled up with tears. “Please forgive me.”Chapter Twenty-FourOnce again I wasn’t sure if I was sleeping, paralyzed, or dead. At least this time I was warm and seemed to be on something soft. That led me to believe I was dead, which would explain why my eyes wouldn’t open. Or maybe I was paralyzed? But then I wouldn’t be able to feel at all? Perhaps I was sleeping, because I kept hearing someone say how sorry they were and begging me to wake up. I thought the voice sounded familiar, even kind, though I couldn’t be sure. I wasn’t sure of a lot of things lately. The voice asking me to wake up was getting louder and less fuzzy. I didn’t want to wake up. I remembered the last time that I did, terrible things had happened. Things I didn’t want to remember. Regrettably, now they were all coming back.
My eyes flew open.
“Sorrel. Thank God. You’ve been asleep for hours.”
I sat up, scrambled to the other side of the bed, and cowered against a log post, pulling a blanket around me as if that would protect me. “Leave me alone. Don’t hurt me.”
Eric’s eyes widened. “Sorrel,” he spoke my name softly, “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You did hurt me. You and your family.” It was all coming back to me now. “My mother is dead, and my book is gone, because of you.” Tears streamed down my cheeks, causing a stinging sensation. A reminder of what his crazy mother had done. I grabbed my middle. I had been stabbed too. Yet I wasn’t bleeding and . . . I looked down at my clean pink T-shirt and pajama pants. “How did I get in these clothes?”
Eric swallowed hard. “I put them on you.”
“You undressed me? What else did you do?” I pulled the comforter tighter around me.
Eric scooted his chair closer to the bed. “Nothing, I swear, other than clean you up and remove the splinters from your skin.”
“Please forgive me if I don’t take your word for it,” I sneered at him.
“Sorrel, please listen. I couldn’t stand to see you covered in blood,” his voice cracked. “And I didn’t want your cut to get infected. As beautiful as you are, there was no sexual motivation behind me cleaning your wound and changing your clothes.”
“How can I believe that?”
“You know the consequences of us having sex. Since we are both still alive, there’s your answer.”
Perhaps he had a point. Still . . . “You could have done other things to me.”
“You’re right, but I didn’t.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have believed him. In fact, I knew I shouldn’t, but my naive yet broken heart still had feelings for him. At least it thought it did. I tried to tell it that the curse had manufactured my connection to Eric, but it wouldn’t hear of it. Instead it told me to relax and sink against the pillows. I only obeyed because I was exhausted and in pain. It gave me the opportunity to look around at our surroundings. The room was naturally dim, since it was decorated with an abundance of dark-stained wood—wood-paneled walls, a large wooden dresser, and even a large bear made from wood. Thankfully, there was a fair amount of sun filtering in from the large picture window, gently lighting the room. “Where are we?”
“Blue Mountain, Georgia.”
“You abducted me too?”
He sighed. “No. I’m trying to save you.”
I sat up with the intention of getting out of bed. I stopped as I saw stars and felt a sharp pain in my abdomen. “I don’t need you to save me. I need to go home.”
“You can’t.”
I closed my eyes and grabbed my middle. “You can’t keep me here.”
“Sorrel, if you go home, my family will find you and kill you.”
I curled up in a ball and groaned in pain through my sobs. How had this become my life?
Eric rushed to my side. “You’re hurt. You need to rest.”
I tried to push him away, but it was a feeble attempt. I had zero strength. “Leave me alone.”
