and she would have no qualms about gouging out his eye with a fire poker if she could get her hands on one. Unfortunately, these men weren’t stupid, and they allowed no possible weapons where she might get to them.
She wanted to scream, but kept silent, conveying her loathing of him loud and clear with just a look.
His hand lifted and caressed her face. When she jerked her head away, he grabbed her hair, yanking it and pulling her forward so her bowl was knocked over the edge of the table. “I think it’s time to teach you how a real king gets a woman to behave,” Gianni said, his voice deadly. He stood and grabbed her arm, bruising her as he hauled her from her seat.
Rachel struggled against him, but to no avail. Gianni raised his other hand and slapped her hard enough that she nearly blacked out. Her eye began swelling as he moved toward the door.
Within a few seconds, the heavy back door was open and he pushed her outside, making her stumble and sink to her knees in the snow. Two of his men approached and grabbed her arms, lifting her back to her feet as they continued their forward march. She couldn’t suppress her overwhelming fear about what would happen next. As she trembled from terror and the cold, they marched her barefoot through the snow to a shed.
Opening the door, they tossed her in. Rachel landed on her backside and scooted away from the men to the far wall.
“Why don’t you cool off for a while and see if it gives you a better attitude? When you are ready to speak to me, we’ll allow you to come back inside,” Gianni said before the door shut, locking her inside.
The shed did little to ward off the bitter cold of winter, and Rachel’s thin clothing helped her not at all. So she searched until she found an old tarp under a pile of debris.
Folding it in two, she felt the gripping cold of the plastic material pierce through her clothing and freeze her skin while she wrapped the thing, filthiness and all, around her shoulders. But it was all she had, and she prayed it would help to hold in what little body heat she had remaining.
Curling up in a fetal position on the hard earth floor, she breathed deeply into her plastic cocoon, refusing to let any tears fall.
This wasn’t how her life was supposed to end.
She was supposed to be a mother in five months; she was supposed to hold her babies close as she dreamed about tomorrow.
Rachel knew she should try to stay awake, but as sleep began dragging her under, she soon stopped fighting it. She didn’t want to be awake. If she didn’t ever awaken, it was meant to be.
Letting go, she huddled beneath the tarp and prayed for the comfort of dreams to replace her harsh reality.
Chapter Forty-Eight
The door swung open and Shane was standing there in full military gear, looking like GI Joe come to life. Rachel was trying to analyze this dream. Why would she be fantasizing about Shane? She’d think it would be Adriane, the man she loved, rescuing her.
But, no, not even in her fantasies was he playing the star and the hero. Maybe she’d closed the door on the hope of a happily ever after with her king; maybe she thought it was too much to hope for at this point.
She did think it would be mighty nice if Shane passed his coat over to her, though. If she were going to have a fantasy about him stripping, then she’d really like to have his coat.
Rachel giggled at the thought. The sound of her voice coming out squeaky startled her into stopping her laughing as quickly as she had begun it. Wow, this was a strange dream.
“Put this on,” Shane said, rushing to her and placing a bag at her feet, then kneeling down and helping her sit up. Rachel gave him a sweet smile and nodded her head. She tried to reach for the bag, but her fingers wouldn’t work.
Maybe she had frostbite. It wasn’t unlikely. Maybe she was already dead and this was heaven. But why would Shane be in her heaven?
“Let me help you,” he said, then he carefully removed the tarp. She wanted to protest even though it wasn’t much protection against the cold.
Within a few heartbeats, a warm coat was being wrapped around her shoulders, sending some feeling back into her arms. Then gloves were being thrust upon her hands. Oh, this dream was getting better all the time. If she got out of here alive, she’d have to apologize to Lia about fantasizing about Shane. At least she could tell her sister that she’d been fantasizing about Shane putting clothes
She’d never been attracted to Shane, but right now, she could kiss the man.
“Lean on me,” fantasy Shane said as he pulled her into his arms, making her stand up on wobbly legs. She didn’t like this part of the dream. Her feet ached from walking in the snow and then being clenched stiffly as she’d tried to curl up into as tight a ball as she possibly could.
Soon, warm pants were pulled up her legs, and then, even better, thick wool socks. Before she could blink, Shane was putting shoes on her feet and tying the laces.
Rachel reached out and touched his face, afraid he was going to disappear and she’d find herself huddled in the cold again without the fabulously warm clothing enveloping her.
“Shane?” she asked.
“I’m here, Rachel. I’m getting you out of here,” he said, his voice soothing as he wrapped her in an affectionate embrace.
Wait a minute. She could actually feel him. She’d never had a dream this real.
When Rachel realized this was no dream, her emotions released in an avalanche. She began sobbing against his shoulder as the warmth began returning to her aching joints. He must have placed warmers in the clothing, because she could feel real heat penetrating her frozen form.
“Eat this,” he commanded, placing a PowerBar in her hand. Rachel didn’t hesitate to lift it to her mouth and bite down, and she moaned as the flavors exploded on her taste buds and she knew the lovely calories were headed toward her stomach.
Not caring that she looked like a savage animal, she gobbled the bar down greedily, eating every last bite. She nearly licked her glove-covered fingers, but Shane placed a water bottle in her palm and instead she lifted it to her mouth and guzzled.
“Can you run?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. She hadn’t had much food the last couple of days and her body was still frozen.
“I need you to run just to the fence, OK? I have to keep my gun out in case anyone tries to stop us. It’s dark out, but floodlights are illuminating the yard and I don’t know when Gianni’s men are going to come check on you. I saw them put you in here two hours ago. I’m sorry it took so long for me to get to you, but the yard finally cleared so I could safely reach the shed. I’ve counted about fifteen guys in total. I couldn’t take the chance of having them hit you while trying to get me.”
“That’s OK,” she said, not really knowing what she was saying.
“No, it’s not. None of this is OK. I got here as fast as I could, but it wasn’t fast enough. Rafe and Adriane will meet us. Their plane just landed an hour ago and they are moving as fast as they can to reach us. They wanted to be here for the rescue, but I wasn’t going to wait. We just have to get past the fence line, and I have a snowmobile ready.”
“Sure,” she mumbled.
“All right, I’m going to open the door. Hold on to my belt,” he said. She took a couple of unsteady steps, testing her legs. They were holding her upright. That was a good sign. “Don’t let go,” he commanded her.
She acknowledged his order with a nod.
“Trust me, Rachel. I’m going to get you out of here.” He leaned down and hugged her again before placing her hand on his belt and cracking open the door. “It’s all clear. Don’t make a sound. We’re going to move swiftly and get the hell out of here.”
