Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Lena. Her cousin’s stupid evil therapist. That was just wrong. “My cousin’s therapist kidnapped me to make her do what she wanted. She knew she couldn’t take Kala out herself, so she used me.”
“Her therapist. Well, that’s not fair, is it? Though I’m sure with a name like Kala she probably needs it,” Lacey said briskly. “Now are you going to be stubborn and run or would you like me to tell you what’s happened? And perhaps give you something to get rid of your headache. I’ve got some herbal teas my mum sent with me. Don’t make fun of them. According to her, they come straight from the fairies, and the wee folk know how to take care of a person.”
She was still dreaming, right? This was… Was that a chicken? There was a chicken staring at her from the side of the bed. It stood there looking up at her.
“Don’t mind Miss Rachel,” Lacey said, scooping the chicken up. “She’s every bit as curious as you are. So which way are we going? If you hurry, you could sneak past Zach and perhaps get to the back field before he realizes you’re gone. Be careful. There’s a testy bull in that field. Abused terribly, and he’s easily startled, but then you would be, too, if they used you to train bull fighters. Poor Ferdinand.”
The last words were said to the chicken, who clucked as though she was entirely sympathetic to her bull brethren’s situation.
“Why am I here?” Devi pushed back the covers and then realized she was down to her undies and an oversized T-shirt. Although she suspected it wouldn’t be oversized on Zach Reed. It would fit just right. “Who undressed me?”
“Well, it wasn’t me. It was the bloke who put his entire life and work on the line to save you. It’s the reason he’s being looked over by a veterinarian instead of a real doctor, though I will say I would put my life in Arthur’s hands.” She looked down at the chicken in her arms. “He saved you, Rachel. Poor baby had terrible stomach issues when she came here.”
Devi was starting to get the idea Lacey wasn’t about to give up anything. She was going to have to ask. “Can I have my clothes back?”
Lacey gave her a smile as she headed for the bedroom door. “Of course. When they dry. I hung them up this morning. Should be nice and dry in a couple of hours. If it doesn’t rain.”
“Or you could throw them in the dryer,” Devi suggested.
Lacey turned in the hallway, an intimidating look on her face. “Do you have any idea what kind of energy conventional clothes dryers use? Not to mention how hard they are on actual clothing. Do you care about the planet in any way?”
Devi was not going into this. “Look, lady, you’re the one who kidnapped me. Are you planning on lecturing me on climate change for torture? Because that would be a good way to get me to walk into the sea.”
It wasn’t that she didn’t love the Earth. She did, but this woman was irritating her on a base level. And also, where the fuck was Zach? She glanced around the bedroom and noted that his bag was on the floor by the bed and someone’s head had definitely lain on that pillow beside her. Asshole thought she was sharing a room with him? That was not happening.
Although she was his prisoner. Was she not being scared enough? Prisoner. She’d been a prisoner, and Kala had been, too.
“Are you okay? You went pale,” Lacey said, sounding like she gave a damn.
But Devi was stuck because it all flooded back. The night… She’d wriggled out the bathroom window because she didn’t need a damn bodyguard. This Huisman person was coming after Zach, and no one seemed to understand that Zach didn’t give a shit about her.
I thought he was in love with Tasha. It’s good to see he’s moving on.
Careless words. Words she wasn’t supposed to hear. He wanted a Taggart. It wouldn’t be the first time an intelligence officer tried to use her family name to get a leg up. Tasha’s first fiancée had done the same thing.
Zach didn’t give a shit beyond her last name. He’d lost his shot at her cousin, the twins had their eyes on other men, and her cousin Carys had recently married. So she was the only female Taggart left for the picking. And she’d been such easy prey. Yes, that had been boiling through her system as she made her way to The Hideout. And then Lena had been waiting with big guys and guns, and they walked into the club and told her cousin they would kill her if she didn’t do what they wanted.
Again. She was the pawn. She was being used to gain a particular outcome.