Page 108 of Eldritch

He turned toward her. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Is that what you really think?”

“No. I don't. But sometimes I wish it was.”

Silence settled on them a moment before he looked at his watch. “Why don't I take first watch? We've got two pillows, enough blankets and two couches. I don't need all that for me.”

His suggestion surprised her. “I don't know if I could sleep.”

He grinned. “I'll bet you could. Or you could head upstairs to your room and sleep there. More comfortable.”

She flapped one hand. “Are you kidding? I'm too...” She sighed. “Okay, I'm too shaken up by all of this to want to be alone. So I'll stay down here. What if I take the next watch in four hours?”

He stood and went toward his couch. “Deal.”

He snagged a pillow and blankets and helped her set up the makeshift bed on the other couch nearby.

She turned toward him when they finished. “Thanks. I mean that. For everything.”

He took a step toward her, and a gentle smile touched his mouth. Right that moment he looked every inch the Thor. Everything female in her responded without her thinking about it or trying to stop the reaction. When he stopped close to her, she couldn't mistake the heat in his eyes. She wondered if he saw the same in her gaze.

“Sybil, we're going to be okay. I'm not going to let anything happen to you.”

She couldn't deny the primitive response that hit low in her body and threatened to derail all her intentions to remain unaffected by him. What did she say to that?

“Same. We’ll be a team,” she said. “So don't do anything stupid like...” She made a helpless gesture with both hands. “Go outside in the snow looking for him.”

He reached up and cupped her face with his right hand. With the other, he brushed back her hair. He softly kissed her forehead, and he moved away. His sweet gesture stirred a potent need stronger than what she’d experienced for any man, and she allowed that to sink in. His attention and concern in no way resembled Taggert’s overbearing attitude.

Without a word, she stretched out on the couch, huddled under the blankets, and closed her eyes. Perhaps that tender show of affection acted like a drug because sleep took her down within moments.

* * *

Sybil awakened with a jerk. Her heart pounded so hard she could feel the throb in her ears. She sucked in a breath and listened. Nothing. She looked around. No sign of Doug.

She listened. The sound of metal moving? Something clicking. The desk light was off, but a tall lamp in one corner afforded enough light to see. The office door was cracked open two or three inches.

She stuffed her feet in her boots and swiftly tied them. Knowing that the Great Hall would be semi-dark, she made certain to have her cell phone ready to use as a flashlight. She exited the room.

No one was in the Great Hall, but she hadn't expected to see anyone.

Worry lodged in her throat. Had Doug gone outside? Had he seen another shadow at the window? With the curtains drawn, he couldn't have. She drew in one slow breath and then another. Panic wouldn't serve her, and she understood that. Yet her hypervigilance didn't listen.

A rattling noise. Soft. Tentative. Exploratory.

A second later, a shadow appeared around a corner. She sucked in a breath.

Doug came into the Great Hall from the octagon entrance, and he frowned when he saw her. “Hey. You okay?”

Relief hit her. “Yeah. But you scared the shit out of me.”

He walked toward her. “Sorry. I was checking the doors. Paranoid I guess.”

They returned to the office, and she checked her watch. “It’s way past the four hours. You didn’t wake me.”

“You looked tired. I wasn’t going to wake you.”

“Thanks, but now it’s your turn to sleep.”

He rubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah, I’ll get some sleep.”

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