He dropped his head to the crook of her neck, roughly scraping his teeth across her tender skin. Thetrail of his tongue over the spot stung and she kicked again, connecting so hard that she feared for an instant she might have broken her toe.
“Again,” he demanded, laughing as he backed her up against a large tree trunk. “Do your worst, my love. I want to feel more!”
Through the haze of her desperation, her mind only faintly registered the bark digging into her back, the wet silk she wore no protection at all.
Helpless. She was absolutely helpless against him. Nothing she did made the slightest difference. She should have taken those self-defense classes last year. Should have stayed in bed this morning. Should have given up archaeology and learned to serve a wicked cup of coffee. Should have done anything that would have kept her from this terrifying moment.
Though there was no one to hear, she screamed again, this time as much in anger and frustration as in fear. He had no right to do this. She had no way to stop him.
He crushed his lips over hers, jamming his tongue in her mouth, muffling her cry.
There was no one to come to her rescue. No one to hear her. No one to help. If she had any chance of getting out of this, she had only her own wits as weapons.
Now if she could only gather those wits. Or even find them to gather.
“Move away from the woman, Nuadian!”
Colin?
He stepped from behind a tree, perhaps ten feet away from where they stood. Though the gap between them felt like a gulf, he was here!
“Nuadian, is it?” Jonathan angled his body toward Colin’s, shoving her to the ground as he faced off against the newcomer. “Is it a Guardian I face, then? Am I to believe this to be mere coincidence?”
Abby scrambled back, digging her heels into the mud as she pushed herself onto her knees.
“I don’t give a damn what you believe, Nuadian. I only want you gone from this place.”
Abby froze, the steely menace in Colin’s voice sending a shiver up her spine.
“Ah, but you see, Guardian, what you want is of no importance to me. Only what I want matters.” From inside his jacket, Jonathan produced a gun, aiming the weapon directly at Colin. “And what I want is the woman.”
This wouldn’t do. Not at all. She had to do something. Colin might be crazy, spouting all that crap about being from the past, but he hadn’t hesitated to jump to her defense in an attempt to rescue her. She could do no less for him.
Desperately scanning the ground for a rock or a stick or anything at all she could use for defense, Abby’s eyes lit on the little gold knife Jonathan had dropped.
Slowly, Abby snaked her hand forward until her fingers touched the handle of the small knife. She kept her eyes glued on the two men who glared at each other across the open ground.
Got it!As her hand closed around the handle, she realized she had no idea what to do next. The knife wasn’t large enough to do any real damage. It was really only good enough for one thing. Distraction.
Pushing up onto her haunches, she lifted her arm in preparation.
“Getting out of here with Abigail is no problem.” Jonathan babbled on as if thinking aloud. “But what am I to do with you, Guardian? I can’t very well leave you behind to alert everyone to what I’ve done, and I’ve certainly no desire to take you along with us. Seems to me that leaves only one—”
Whatever dark ending he envisioned for Colin was lost in a blood-curdling scream as Abby slammed the blade of the knife deep into the back of his thigh, driving the little weapon in and down with all her strength.
He dropped the gun, clawing at the back of his leg, and she threw her weight against him. Off balance, he fell to the ground while she scrambled away, racing to Colin and past.
“Come on.” She tugged at his arm, ignoring the look on his face. “Comeon!” Whether he was amazed or horrified by what she’d just done, she didn’t have time to discuss it now.
She ran for all she was worth, the sound of Jonathan’s screams fading as the distance between them grew.
After several minutes, Colin latched on to her arm, pulling her to a stop.
“Where are you leading us?”
“According to the locals,” she managed between gasps, “there are caves up ahead.”
Surely one of them would be large enough that she could force herself to go inside. They could hide there until she could think of what they’d need to do next. Maybe even until someone came looking for them. She only hoped that thesomeonewould be a rescuer and not the homicidal maniac they’d left behind them.