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He wanted, needed, to be able to reach for her in the ht To sink into her softness To feel her thighs wrap around him as her nails scored his skin

As untried as she was, she had satisfied him like never beforelike no other She had dispelled his de his trousers on, he ignored the twinge of skepticishts elicited He sounded like a romantic, and he had never been that Even before the rebellion, he’d been et because he liked her, loved her even Not because she burned a fire in his belly It had never been this for hier to find her and resu his shirt He strode bare-chested to the adjoining door, opening it without a knock The roo for the door leading into the corridor, ready to locate her within the house However, he paused, the open door of her ar, henothing inside

The few gar Gone

His sto one, too

Chapter Twenty-five

It was pouring when she arrived at the inn A boy rushed out to take her valise from the coach long hours on a less than comfortable seat cushion

Even as wearied as she was froers, she hurried to the building in the rain-shrouded night, her feet swift and eager to reach the hulking shape

She lifted her skirts and avoided the worst of the puddles, but was still quite drenched by the tireeted the them warm, spiced wine and a place before the fire as their roo, Annalise stared into the flickering flato see in the North country She knew quite a great deal about Margaret Penderplast and her solicitor husband (who frequently missed church) and their twins: Rose (with the unfortunate lisp) and John (who terrorized Cook by hiding creepy crawling things throughout the kitchen)

Mr Felha upon his neck--much as he had since they departed Town

Annalise hadthe coach Mrs Felha and unchaperoned lady was clearly in need of her vigilant eye Annalise didn’t object Especially when the other occupant of their coach, Mr Snyder, spent a good portion of his tiainst her A fact Mrs Felhaood as to keep your person on your side of the carriage or I will have words with the driver"

Mr Snyder had glowered at thehis pock-pitted cheeks He ible words beneath his breath, but stayed on his side of the carriage It seeht Annalise had found a roo station in Town Not that she had slept a wink She was quite certain her eyes were red from a combination of tears and lack of sleep She was exhausted Yet she could not stop her thoughts froht when he woke to find her gone? He could never kno hard it had been for her to leave him--or that she had done it for him

She had taken the notes he dropped on the floor The measure felt mercenary, but she could see no other way to leave Town A necessary sin to keep Owen safe The funds would see her far from Bloodsworth She did not have a specific destination in mind She would siht Soh so Bloodsworth would never find her

"Sleep well, my dear," Mrs Felham trilled as she was led fro"

Annalise could hardly keep her eyes open as she followed the innkeeper’s wife upstairs

She nodded absently as she was shown to a sle bed, chair, and washstand A narro overlooked the yard and washstand It could have been a broo as she could be alone and catch a few hours of sleep

Left alone, she did not bother to undress She simply re into a dreaht Heedless of rain and theroad He could think only of Annalise Of reaching her and holding her And wringing her neck He was not certain which urge was strongest

He would not allow hiain That she had somehow slipped from his world as suddenly as she dropped into it His sto in his heels

Of course, tracking her couldn’t have been a sih inhospitable terrain

A wo heading south to the coast He had given pursuit, only to catch up with a fe little rese brown hair At that point he backtracked to Town and returned to the coaching station, where he learned that another woman of her description had taken a northbound coach earlier that , he had assumed she would catch the first conveyance out of town His ht so to catch up with the northbound coach, hoping she had not gotten off at one of the posting inns along the way and gone in a different direction from there

If that were the case, her trail was hopelessly lost to him His only hope was to catch up with the coach that had a half day lead on him If she wasn’t on it, then perhaps someone on it remembered her and even knehere she was headed next

One thing was for certain

He would not give up

Annalise was still groggy frorown much colder than when she first entered it For so deeper into the small bed An instinctual wariness held her motionless