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"Get so her forehead "I’ll take care of Travis and Cah she knew sleep wouldn’t come She didn’t want it to She had too much to ponder and she needed to be left alone to plot her course of action Maybe today wasn’t the day he planned to dispose of her But tomorro could she know?

CHAPTER 30

DONOVAN waited and worried So Eve He was sure of it When she’d returned from Sophie’s she’d been listless, and lines of pain were etched on her face He’d wanted to call Maren, but Eve had insisted she didn’t need her He’d tried to give her an injection, but she’d refused that too

He’d even called Sophie back, de to knohat had happened while she’d been over there, but Sophie had told him only what she’d related when she’d first called That Eve wasn’t feeling well and had wanted to go back to Donovan’s

She’d lain on the couch for h he hadn’t known if she’d truly slept Her features had been too tense for him to believe she’d drifted off Either that or her sleep was fractured with bad drea her to eat dinner with him and Cammie and Travis, but she’d refused that too So she’d remained on the couch while he had a quiet dinner with the others and he’d soothed Ca with Eve

But he couldn’t soothe himself

After dinner, he put Ca room to Eve

"It’s tie of the couch close to her head "Do you think you can sleep?"

She lookedunhappy And that bothered him But she nodded and allowed hiuided her into his bedroom, and she stiffened when he started toward his bed Did she think he’d want to make love to her? Did she think him so insensitive that he’d place his wants and needs above hers?

"Eve, you aren’t feeling well," he said gently "I just want to hold you so you’ll feel better"

She relaxed a little, but he could still feel the rigidity in her body as he tucked her into bed Taking only time to take off his shirt and jeans, he crawled into bed next to her, auto time she lay there, quiet, but he knew she didn’t sleep She lay in the crook of his arhtlessly up at the ceiling and she hadn’t relaxed

After two hours in which neither of them slept, he finally turned to her

"You’re not resting," he said quietly "You aren’t sleeping Let ive you an injection, Eve You’re in pain and it’s not necessary The medicine will help you sleep and take away the pain"

He could swear that tears flashed in her eyes, but the low light streah for hiot up and went into the bathrooe and then returned to the bedroom, where she hadn’t moved from the place he’d left her

She obediently rolled over, presenting her hip, and once he injected thethe covers up over her body in an ale and then crawled back into bed, worry for her nagging relentlessly at him

She relaxed some as thehis lips to her claet to the bottom of it toed the meet-up with her stepfather That had to be done and out of the way Only then could he move forith her and prove to her that she was safe That he’d never allow anyone to hars, nor would anyone ever take them away

And then it occurred to him that for all her worry earlier and for her reluctance to leave him to discuss his plan with his brothers and KGI, she hadn’t asked hi his proht up the subject even once

He frowned in the darkness Was that what she was fretting over? Or had she siotten once the headache had taken hold? Or was the headache a result of her stress and worry?

To Just as soon as her stepfather was out of the picture for good

CHAPTER 31

EVE akened by Donovan gently shaking her from sleep Her eyelids fluttered open and she blinked the re fronized the futility of trying to sleep when she was so wrapped up in her anguish She needed a clear head for today

"How are you feeling?" Donovan asked in concern

She sent him a wan smile "Better"

She knew he didn’t believe her, and she wasn’t that good an actress He looked reluctant but also grihtened her As though despite any h with his plan Did she glih for hio out for a while," he said "But I’ll be back soon Rusty is coet back"

She didn’t ask where he was going She didn’t have to Fear beat a steady rhythm in her chest Her pulse thudded violently at her te and with it the heartsickness that had filled her to bursting yesterday and well into the night

"All right," she said quietly, her heart breaking with every breath

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, leaving his lips there for a long moment

"This will be over soon, honey I proot up fro toward the door

She waited only a fewto look out theas he drove out of the compound Then she turned quickly away and went to her bedrooh to carry in a backpack A few changes of clothing The little cash she had from before Her mother’s jewelry

She then went into the kitchen, knowing Rusty would show up soon She dug out paper and a pen and hastily wrote a note for Travis and Ca with tears, she folded it and went to their roo

She didn’t re It was too painful and she didn’t want theood-bye that ripped her heart right out of her chest, she propped the note on Travis’s dresser where he would see it, and then she went to find one of Donovan’s guns that he kept in a drawer by his bed

CHAPTER 32