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The fight had begun in earnest then, escalating until Eberhard did so that so astonished and terrified Adrienne that she fled blindly into the steae of her stunned passivity-- herself into the Mercedes that Eberhard leased for her She stoed forward She drove blindly, on autopilot,the crea
When the police pulled her over, clai over one hundredThey were Eberhard’s friends He’d probably called them the moment she’d left his house; he knehich route she always took home
Adrienne stood outside her car with the police and apologizing in a voice that bordered on hysteria
It didn’t occur to her until much later that neither of the policemen had ever asked her what had happened to her face They’d interrogated an obviously beaten wo an ounce of concern
When they’d cuffed her, taken her to the station, and called Eberhard, she wasn’t surprised at all when they replaced the receiver, gazed at her sadly, and sent her to be locked up
Three days she’d spent in that hellish place, just so Eberhard could erous he really was
In the cool of the broch, Adrienne hugged her arhosts of a beautifulwoe Such easy prey she’d been Did you see little orphan Adri-Annie? Eberhard’s little fool Where had she heard those sneering words? On Rupert’s yacht, when they thought she’d gone below for more drinks She shivered violently I’ll never be a ain
"Never," she vowed aloud Adrienne shook her head to ebb the painful tide ofa wide swath of brilliant sunlight Then it closed again and blackness reigned absolute
Adrienne froze, huddled in on herself, and forced her heart to slow She’d been here before Hiding, waiting, too terrified to draw a breath for fear of alerting the hunter to her exact location How she’d run and hid! But there had been no sanctuary Not until the streets of obscurity she’d finally found in Seattle, and there had been an eternity ofbackroad between New Orleans and the haven of the Pacific Northwest
Bitter ulf her when a husky croon broke the silence
The Hawk? Singing? A lullaby?
The Gaelic words tumbled husky and deep--why hadn’t she suspected he would have a voice like rich butterscotch? He purred when he talked; he could seduce the Mother Abbess of Sacred Heart when he sang
"Curious, were you? I see you cah the broch when he finished the refrain
"Came where?" she asked defiantly
"To be trained to my hand" His voice sounded amused, and she heard the rustle of his kilt as he nify it with a response
A long pause, another rustle, then, "Know you what qualities a falconer ru slowly backward She stretched out her hands like littleposition Few men can be quality falconers Few possess the temperament A falconer , and uncanny vision Possessed of a daring spirit, and a gentle yet forceful hand He must be constantly attuned to his ladybird Know you why?"
"Why?" she whispered
"Because falcons are very sensitive and excitable creatures, my heart They are known to suffer from headaches and all manner of human ailments, so sensitive are they Their extreme sensitivity makes them the finest and most successful huntresses of all tiard … ah, e of all And by far the ard was
" ‘What is a haggard,’ you ask, deep in that stubborn, silent soul of yours, hed richly and it echoed off the stone walls of the suddenly bal’ me," she muttered as she moved back oh so cautiously She had to find a wall The broch was round, so a ould guarantee a door at some point She may as well have been blind in the abysmal blackness