Tapestries 05 - Embroidered Fantasies Read Online Free PDF Page A

veins. “You didn’t really think you could get away from me that easily, did you, Roxy?” Only Michael called her Roxy and she hated it.
    How had he found her so quickly? How had he gotten into her apartment? She couldn’t see him or hear him now. Didn’t know where he was. He was playing with her like a cat taunts a mouse before striking.
    Her hand fumbled for the phone, but in the dark she couldn’t find it. Her heart skipped a beat when the side of her hand struck it and sent it crashing. She fell to her knees, hands out, frantically patting the floor in search of the phone, her lifeline to help and the outside world.
    “You wouldn’t call the cops, now would you, Roxy? I just spent a year in prison because of you and I don’t plan to repeat the experience.” His voice was calm and matter-of-fact. It chilled her soul. He was going to kill her. But god only knew what he’d do to her first.
    “You’d better leave.” She needed to get to the kitchen. There were knives in one of the drawers. If nothing else, she could defend herself.
    Standing slowly, she inched her way to the kitchen, still not able to see a thing. Not that it mattered. The room was small and she knew the layout. The tile floor was cold against the soles of her feet as she moved quickly and quietly. Only two more steps and she’d be in the kitchen.
    She hit a solid wall and bounced back. Strong hands shot out and caught her, pulling her forward.
    “No!” she screamed, raising her hands to beat at his chest.
    “Shh,” a male voice crooned. “There is no need to be afraid. You are safe.” 19
    Several things registered at once in her muddled brain. The chest she was beating was warm and hard and very naked. It also wasn’t Michael. She glanced over her shoulder, unable to see her apartment in the shrouded darkness. “He’s going to kill me,” she whispered.
    At once the man’s demeanor changed. He thrust her behind him and a metallic whoosh filled the air. The stranger walked backward, forcing her to move. She didn’t know where he expected her to go with the kitchen counter only a few steps behind her.
    Except the counter wasn’t there. She kept waiting to hit it, but the expanse behind her seemed to open up into nothingness.
    Her stomach churned and her knees went weak. She lifted a shaky hand to her mouth to keep from screaming. Terror filled her. A flicker of light off to her right caught her attention. She turned toward it, needing to get her bearings. Around her the room began to take shape.
    She blinked, not quite believing what she was seeing. A fire crackled in a large stone hearth, illuminating gray stone walls. The texture of the floor beneath her feet changed. It was no longer tile, but harder and cooler. She suspected the floor was much like the walls.
    The stranger walked into her line of sight and she caught her breath. He was very, very tall. Even bigger than Michael. His shoulders were as wide as a doorway and his biceps were huge. Heavy bands of bronze wrapped around his upper arms and wrists.
    They flashed in the firelight as he sheathed his sword in the scabbard at his side.
    “You are safe.” His low voice reached deep inside her, comforting her in a way she hadn’t thought possible. She almost believed him.
    He unbuckled his sword belt and set it on top of a wooden table just off to the right.
    His feet were bare and he was wearing a pair of snug leather pants. He looked incredible.
    She raised her eyes to see the face of the man who had saved her. Before she could get a good look at him, a rustling sound came from behind her. She whirled around and came face-to-face with a huge four-poster bed. There were no curtains to soften the austere lines of the bed. It was huge. And there was a man, a naked man, rising from its depths.
    “What have you brought us, Brother?”
    When he spoke, she took an involuntary step back toward the man standing next to her. She didn’t know him, but she trusted him not to hurt