Page 55 of The Trouble With Love

‘Kai!’ Kai? What on earth was he doing out here?

‘Where are you?’

‘Down here,’ I threw a meagre handful of leaves up into the air. It was the only act I had strength for. ‘In this hole.’

‘Jesus.’ There was a moment of scrambling activity on the lip of the depression, then Kai appeared, gingerly sliding his way down to me, bent in half. ‘How did you get here?’

‘I ran. I was in a hut and . . .’

‘Yeah. You kick like a mule, you know that?’

‘That was you? With the door?’

Kai winced and rubbed a tentative hand across his pelvis. ‘Which is why it took me so long to follow your tracks through the snow. Whatever happened to asking questions first?’

‘I thought you were him! I thought he’d come back with the gun to rape me and if I didn’t get out first chance I had then I probably wouldn’t ever get away,’ I let the words splurge, coasting on relief and spare adrenaline.

‘Ssshh.’ Kai put a finger over my lips. ‘He might still be around, and if I can track you, he can. Can you walk?’

I gave a half-hysterical giggle. ‘Better than you probably.’

‘Come on then.’

‘Where?’ I found myself digging my feet into the loamy compost. ‘You just said that guy might be still around. I don’t want to . . .’

Kai faced me and smiled. It was a rather grim smile. ‘We’ll go back to the Old Lodge. You said you’d come and see Cerys this morning, didn’t you?’

‘Yes, but . . .’

‘Holly, I need to talk to you. And I want you where I can see you when I’m doing it. Or, at least, both your feet.’ He glanced at his groin and let out a little pfffft sound. ‘Bloody hurts.’ He started moving, hit his stride and I might as well have stood on the beach and shouted at the tide for all the notice he took of my protestations. In an echo of my previous abduction his fingers were curled around my arm in an unbreakable grip and he was dragging me along.

‘Please don’t hold on to me.’

Without speaking he broke his hold and held both hands up, fingers spread. Showing he meant no harm, or was it annoyance? I didn’t care. My limbs were trembling with relief and unaccustomed exertion and I couldn’t keep up now without him towing me. I began to lag.

‘Hurry up.’

‘There’s still two feet of snow lying here and I’m not wearing seven-league boots.’ It probably sounded sharper than I’d meant. Panic was only just now seeping out of my blood. ‘Just because you’ve got abnormal legs . . .’

He surprised me by slowing down. ‘Sorry. I want you somewhere safe.’

‘But . . .’

‘We’ll talk when we’re under cover. Now, come on, we don’t want them coming back and tracking both of us down. Can you run again?’

‘I don’t know.’

A cautious, cool hand slipped over my wrist. His fingers wound through mine tentatively. ‘How about if I help?’

‘It’s worth a try.’ I took a deep breath and kept up as, dodging from large tree to large tree like Wile E. Coyote, and slipping and sliding like really bad Dancing on Ice contestants, Kai raced me through the woods until we came upon the reassuringly gargoyle shape of the Old Lodge. He yanked me through the front door and we fell in a panting, messy heap on the hall floor.

‘Wow. Olympics here we come,’ I said, leaning forward to try to get rid of the stitch. ‘Mind you I’m not sure the four mile ski-drag is an accepted sport yet. Perhaps we should appeal . . .’

‘Holly, I know you’re in shock, but please shut up.’ Kai was puffing too, I was glad to see. All those years of debauchery had clearly left him no fitter than I was. ‘We need to talk.’

Cerys shouted down from upstairs. ‘Holly, is that you? You coming to say hello, or what?’

‘She’s talking to me for a bit,’ Kai called back, and there was a moment’s pause.

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