Escaping The Beast: A Darkhills Romance (The Darkhills Series Book 2) by Elizabeth Greene (young adult books to read TXT) 📕

wanted to prove to her that it was worth taking a risk and letting someone in. He wanted to be the person she could trust to cherish her fragile vulnerabilities. She deserved to have that kind of trust in her life. But the thought of her opening up to someone who was unworthy, who would ultimately let her down just like her parents had, made his blood rage. The only way to ensure that wouldn’t happen was to make certain the person she would trust, would be him. He might not be able to control the actions of others, not all the time at least, but he could control his own.

With his mind made up, he strode from the shower room in search of clean clothes. The night was still young. He had time.

She had said she didn’t want a stranger going through her things. He would honour that, but he couldn’t allow her to leave. He would fetch her belongings himself and return to Tumbricane before the dawn.

Chapter Nine

Katherine

It was close to midday when Katherine finally felt ready to wake. To say that she had been exhausted when she’d turned in for the night was an understatement.

What did you do last night, Katherine? Oh you know, fought a dragon, was rescued by a vampire, then was pleasured senseless by said vampire, and then turned in for the night; just an average Thursday night.

All things considered, Katherine felt she had mentally coped pretty well with everything she had encountered. She didn’t particularly feel worried about the fact that dragons and vampires and goodness knows what else, existed. It appeared that these creatures were quietly getting on with their lives and had next to zero interest in destroying humankind, at least that was the impression she had gotten from what Lord Nightingale had said.

Lucian. She corrected herself. He preferred to be called Lucian. Well, he didn’t say he preferred it, he said he loved it when she called him that. A small smile tugged at her lips.

OK, so she liked him. More than just physically so. Although she couldn’t ignore the fact that she now knew that under his formal attire, he hid a body to die for. There was no way she could deny her attraction, not after the dirty dreams she had enjoyed last night, of which he played the starring role. But he was also brave and smart. He had come for her after she had run away and instead of being angry that she had left, he had been concerned about her wellbeing. He’d protected her, and fought a dragon for her and he had carried her back to his room for her to recover. They argued like cat and dog, but whereas before she was convinced his motives were simply an egotistical power trip, now she was beginning to wonder if he were genuinely interested in her. Wanting the best for her.

Don’t be stupid- err, hello Stockholm syndrome? Her rational mind cut in over her soft musings.

She needed to look at the facts. She had tried to leave and he had corralled her and brought her back. She had said she wanted to leave to go get her things at the very least, he still hadn’t said that she could. She was still his prisoner. She just knew a little more about the true nature of her jailer. He was still the enemy.

Although, he had also apologised to her for the main doors being locked yesterday, and assured her they would be left open today.

Katherine threw the bed covers off and strode towards the door. It was time to see if Lucian was as good as his word. She opened the door wide and jumped back as Mr. Jones stood outside with a tray of food held out in front of him.

“Your lunch, Miss. Daxton,” he held it out to her, his slightly glazed eyes, looking at a spot over her shoulder.

Mr. Jones gave her the creeps. There was something very odd about him that she couldn’t put her finger on, but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t be nice. If anything, he was the only other person living at Tumbricane from what she could make out, it would probably pay to make a friend or at least an ally.

“Thank you, Mr. Jones, that’s really very kind of you,” she took the tray from his hands and looked down sceptically at the haphazardly made peanut butter and jelly sandwich that sat on a plate next to a glass of milk. Not exactly up to the same standard as her breakfast the day before.

“You really don’t need to worry about cooking for me and bringing me my meals though, I’m sure you have much more important things to be getting on with, and I’ve been cooking for me and my Dad since I can remember, so I’ll be more than happy to fend for myself in the kitchen.”

The elderly man blinked repeatedly while she spoke to him. Before reaching out to take the tray back from her.

“Please accept my apologies, my lady, I will ensure your meals are more to your satisfaction in the future.”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant,” Katherine rushed to correct herself, “PB and J; it’s a classic, right? I haven’t had one in years, but do you know, it’s exactly what I need. It’s like a hug in sandwich form, right?”

Mr. Jones’ eyes softened, the glassy edge to them fading slightly.

“My daughter used to say the same.”

“Oh you have a daughter, how old is she now?” Katherine brightened at this information, perhaps she could appeal to the man’s sense of fatherly caring. Not all men were like her father after all.

The man grimaced, his face creasing in some kind of unknown pain for a brief moment before he recovered. When he looked up at Katherine again, the shine was back over his eyes and he blinked dumbly at her.

“I will take away your breakfast tray. Please accept