Page 52 of Married to My Master

“I don't want to be safe, if it means you're not here,” she said, reaching out for his hand that held the scissors. She wrapped her lithe fingers around his larger hand and squeezed. “I want you, not all this.”

Dane took her hand in his and looked her square in her weeping eyes. “It doesn't matter what we want. I want you, too. But I've still got a mission to protect Benton, and to protect you now, too. Okay?”

She frowned and nodded as she sniffled back some of the heavier tears.

“Good,” he said. “Now, help me out. I gotta make a pile of trash bags look as beautiful as you.”

# # #

Emily

Tears in her eyes, and loss in her aching heart, Emily helped Dane dig through her closet for clothes that would be suitable. They needed to both stuff the garbage bags and clothe the makeshift dummy.

“This isn't going to work,” she groaned, sniffling as she pulled her clothes down from the hangers and handed them to him.

“Of course it will,” he said, his voice infinitely more confident than she was feeling. “Most distractions are all flash and bang, with no substance. That's what this will be about. I'm not walking out of here with your double. I'm leaving in the car.”

Dubious, she looked at him. “My car?”

“Right out of the garage,” he soothed. “They'll never see me coming.”

She pulled down a couple Edward Jacobs dresses she really loved, sighing as she dropped them into the growing pile at her feet. “I just don't understand why you have to go out this way,” she said, trying to fight back the real water works.

He came up behind her and wrapped her in his arms. He pulled her close to his chest and leaned down to nuzzle her neck. “Do you trust me, Emily?” he whispered, his breath tickling her ear.

She sniffed. Did she? Even after all this week and after the days in the closet? “Yes. I mean, I've let you . . .” She sniffed again. “Yes, I trust you.”

“Do you think I'd ever hurt you for no reason?”

That was a tricky one. He had masterminded this whole thing on a whim, after all, as he desperately searched for a way to help his brother. But, deep down, she knew he'd come to care for her, as crazy as that all sounded. If he'd asked her these same questions just six days ago, she probably would have had a very different answer on her lips.

But, this wasn't six days ago. This was today. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, I know you wouldn't.”

“Then I hope you understand why I have to leave. If I stay here, I'm putting you in harm's way. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you because of me.”

“But what about me?” she said, her voice taking on a desperate whine she hadn't wanted to be there. “Why should you take that burden, and leave me without a choice in the matter?”

“Because you agreed to the rules, Emily,” he said, his voice perfectly even as he squeezed her tightly in his embrace. “Didn't you?”

She sighed as she saw Dane's peculiar brand of weird logic in all this. “Yes, sir, I guess I did.”

He released her and, with that settled, they silently went about stuffing the bags that would become her ‘body double.’

“It won't win any awards,” he admitted, as he put the double together and stuffed an empty silk pillowcase over the misshapen head,” but your windows are pretty heavily tinted.”

Emily chewed at her lip, shaking her head. “No, it definitely won't.”

He turned to her. “Now, once I take off, the cops are going to follow me. Don't leave the house till they take off, okay?”

Still worrying at her lip, she nodded.

“After all of this is said and done, you can go on with your life. Okay? That's what I want for you, after I show that Edward and the board are to blame for this.”

She nodded, her face turned away so he couldn't see the tears.

“You got it?” he asked, touching her shoulders, gripping her more roughly than before. “Huh?”

She nodded, more forcefully than before. “Yes,” she said. “I understand.”

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