Forgotten Truths (The Forgotten Truths Series) (9 page)

He shook his head again. “No.”

I turned sideways but kept my eyes on his as I put my feet on the floor. “You can’t stop me.”

He shifted his position so he was a mirrored image of me. “Yes I can.”

“How?” I dared him.

He was suddenly leaning over me. I wasn’t sure how I had reacted so fast, but I was lying on my back with his face right over mine.

“Why don’t you want me looking around at things?” I narrowed my eyes at him. I wasn’t going to let him get to me and I made myself not think about how close he was.

“Because this isn’t your house, and they aren’t your things.”

“Oh please. It’s not like I’m going to steal anything.”

“The answer is still no.”

“I’m not asking permission.”

“No.”

I sat up a little so that our noses were practically touching. An uncomfortable look appeared in his eye, but he tried to hide it. “You said I had to live here, so I should have the chance to look around at my pace to get comfortable.”

“And are you comfortable right now?”

I raised my eyebrow. “Are you?”

We stared at each other for a few more minutes before he finally closed his eyes and sighed. He leaned back and sat next to me, but with a little more space between us. “Look, you can’t go snooping around Captain Brown’s things.”

“Who says I will?” I sat up all the way. “I just want to look around and get an idea for all the rooms. Is that hard to understand?”

“Alone?” He glance
d at me. The weariness was starting to settle in again.

“Why can’t I look around by myself? You make me nervous when you stand behind me and watch me.” I looked down at my hands.

“Why would I make you nervous? Don’t guys on your ship watch every move you make?”

“Not the same way that you do.”

He stayed quiet for a moment. I took this opportunity to observe him. He was rubbing his forehead with his hand, clearly debating. He caught me staring at him, and I immediately looked back down at my hands. How had this awkwardness happened? I just wanted to look around, and he didn’t want me to. I was used to being told “no” but somehow, this was different. I couldn’t threaten him with my father the way I could with the men on the ship. I also had no power here the way I did on the ship. I was at James’ mercy, and it bothered me. It bothered me enough to let this become awkward. I had every right to yell at him about him kidnapping me, and I should have had a right to look around since this was where I was going to be staying for a while. But he was protecting something.

“Look, I just don’t understand why I can’t get out of this bed, go downstairs, and check out each room. I honestly didn’t mean to get you angry.”

“I’m not angry.”

“Maybe not, but you’re clearly upset.”

“Don’t pretend to understand how I feel. You know nothing about me.”

“Are you sure about that?”

I was about to say something that was completely inappropriate until I looked up and saw he had a small smile on his face. I pushed the hair back from my face and said, “Yes.”

He yawned. “I don’t think you’d understand.”

“You can’t stay awake all evening to make sure I won’t go downstairs.”

“No, but I can sit in front of your door and fall asleep so that you can’t get out.” He tried to smile again.

“What about tomorrow?”

He shook his head. “No luck.”

I studied him, not trying to hide it either. He was struggling to keep his eyelids open, but his gaze never left my face. He had a very innocent and open face, which made me wonder if he’d ever broken any rules or done anything adventurous. He had a very strong and lean body, which I was beginning to take note of more often. I wasn’t sure what I thought about this fact either, which was why I usually tried not to focus on it or the feeling I got when he caught me studying him. Focusing my thoughts again, I looked down at his hands. They were callused and scarred, which I knew already from the few times he had touched my skin. This made me wonder if he worked more than he had told me previously. But this wasn’t the time to ask about it. I wanted to look around, and I needed to focus on getting him to let me.

I slowly brought my gaze back up to
his face. He kept his eyes steady on mine. What was it that he didn’t trust about me? Or was that it itself, that he didn’t trust me? It wasn’t because I was a pirate, because to him I wasn’t. But maybe it was because he thought I’d run away and try to find a way back to my father. He’d suggested it when we were on the ship and when he was waiting for me to take his hand to get in the carriage. That had to be it.

I leaned a little forward. I lowered
my voice as I said, “Why do you think I’m going to run away when you already stated that it’s wiser for me to stay with the person who’s kidnapped me since my father would find out that it was you?”

He blinked, surprised by my question. “What?”

“Isn’t that why you don’t want me to go anywhere, let alone by myself? You think I’m going to run away?”

He looked away, the setting sun filtering through the clouds to bring just enough light on his face. He stayed that way while the room became almos
t completely dark before he turned back to me. “That’s not quite the problem.”

“You want me to trust you, but how can I when you don’t trust me?”

“It’s not that easy of a situation.”

“Fine. Then if I can’t look around alone, will you come with me?”

“I’m dead tired, Andrea, and I know you know that.” He stood up. “Try to relax. If you’re still awake when I come back in after I sleep for a little bit, then I’ll take you on a tour and let you explore to your heart’s desire. Is that reasonable?”

“Don’t call me Andrea.” I glared at him. “And I just woke up. What am I supposed to do for a few hours?”

I leaned back since I assumed I was going to hit the pillows. I must have moved a lot during the conversation because I suddenly found myself falling off the bed. I grazed my head along the side of the table next to me, and a gasp escaped through my lips.

James was by my si
de in an instant. He put his arms around me and pulled me against him. I started to struggle.

“Stop moving. Let me check your head, that’s all I’m doing.”

I realized that was all that he was doing and rested my head on his shoulder. His hands were in my hair, feeling for a bump or a cut, but I barely felt his touch. I looked at his hands as he pulled them away but couldn’t see if there was blood on them since there was no light in the room.

“I don’t think you cut yourself.” He sighed as I started to sit up. “You sure seem accident prone.”

“I am not.” I put my hand on my head but didn’t feel anything.

“You must be prone to hitting your head then.” He stood up. After a moment, I felt his hand touch my shoulder. “Do you need help getting up?”

I shook it off and stood up. I blinked a few times and then I realized I was starting to fall backwards. I hit James’ chest, and he put his arms around me to catch me.

“Let me help you.”

“I’m fine.” I tried to push against him, but he kept his arms around me, not tightening them though.

“I’m just
going to help you to the bed. Okay? That’s it.”

I felt too dizzy to be able to take the few steps to the bed. Feeling ashamed, I turned my face into his shoulder. “Can I ask you something?”

“What?” His voice was right in my ear.

“I… I can’t…” I reluctantly lifted my head and looked at him. He was staring into my eyes.

“It’s okay.” He bent over and wrapped his arm under my legs so he could lift me with ease. He carried me the few steps I shamelessly couldn’t make on my own and set me on the bed. He pulled the covers over me and then stood still. He continued to watch me with a concerned expression.

“I’m
fine.” I managed to say softly. I felt an overwhelming sensation to sleep come over me. “Go to bed.”

~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~

Bright light on my eyelids woke me. I turned my head and saw the reflection of the sun glistening off the water. So much for the storm I had anticipated. I closed my eyes and tried sitting up slowly. I felt no dizziness or pain as I had on the ship, which I took as a good sign. I opened my eyes and sighed. James was lying on his back at the foot of the bed, inches from my feet. He had one hand over his eyes, which looked closed, while the other one was behind his head. He looked peaceful, but had obviously slept there all night.

I pulled my feet closer to me and sat up on my knees. I slowly crawled over to him,
though I tried not to make the bed move so as not to wake him. When I was close enough to lean over him I stopped.

What are you doing?
A voice in my head whispered. I leaned over him, carefully picking up my hand.
What if he wakes up and finds you with your hand poised over his face? How are you going to explain yourself?
I started to pull my hand back when I glanced at his hand covering his eyes. He had the palm facing up and there was a faint scar going from his thumb to his pinky that I hadn’t seen before.

I knew I was asking for trouble,
but I didn’t stop myself when I placed my index finger on his thumb. I glanced back at his face to see if he had opened his eyes. He hadn’t, so I put my attention back on his hand. Lightly, I traced my finger over the scar. His finger twitched which made me jump a little, but then I glanced at his eyes. They still were still closed, so I took a risk and stayed where I was. I switched to my thumb and started to trace it back and forth. I wasn’t sure why I was doing this, but the scar intrigued me. It beckoned me like a force I couldn’t get away from. I reached his pinky again and stopped to look back at his eyes. I couldn’t help but wonder what was he dreaming about. Was he dreaming of someone touching the inside of his hand, the way I had dreamt of him picking me up when he actually had?

His hand suddenly closed over mine and he moaned deeply. I tried to pull my hand out of his grasp, but he just held it tighter.

“I didn’t expect this to be your way of waking someone up,” he said quietly, but deeper than normal. “I would have guessed more like having water thrown in my face.”

I tried to pull my hand away again, but he still wouldn’t let go. “Let go of my hand.”

“You’re the one who put it there, Love.” He slowly opened his eyes and met my gaze.

It took me a few seconds to turn away from his eyes.
I looked at my hand. “I want it back now.”

“But see, you gave it to me freely.”

“No, I was wondering about your scar.” I looked back at his face. “Where’d you get it?”

He moved his thumb over the back of my hand, smooth and slow. “It was from a fight.”

“What kind of fight?” I tried to focus on this information instead of the fact that I wasn’t getting any anxious feelings about him touching my hand.

“Sword fight. I made the mistake of handing a man his sword while holding the blade like I’d seen other men do when the battle is no longer fair. This wasn’t a fair fight, as he grabbed it and yanked it out, leaving a deep gash in my hand.” He smiled. “I still won though.”

I looked at our hands for a moment.

“Do you have any scars like mine?”

I blinked and looked back at him. “I want my hand back.”

He held my gaze once again. I forced myself to
break it when he wouldn’t. He let go of my hand and I immediately sat back on my knees. He slowly sat up, not taking his eyes off me.

“How’s your head?”

“It’s fine.” I folded my hands together.

“You aren’t dizzy or feel any pain?”

“Why’d you stay in here?” I asked, not taking my eyes off my hands and not wanting him to remember the other topic he had been on before my head became his concern.

“I wanted to make sure you were going to wake up in the morning. I was hoping you hadn’t had the same type of result that you had the last time you hit your head.”

“You could have gone back to your room and then come back and checked on me later.”

“True. But I wanted to be here in case you needed anything.”

I let myself look at him. It still surprised me that when he sounded sincere. He wasn’t faking it.

I shifted my position so my legs were next to me. “Why’d you call me ‘Love’?”

He shrugged. “After the scare you gave me last night, I couldn’t relax. So I sat here and tried to think of something else to call you since you don’t like me calling you Andrea and I wasn’t about to call you Andy. So it finally came to me to call you Love.”

“But why? What does it stand for?”

He shrugged.

“Is it really necessary?”

“Is it better than me calling you Andrea?”

I cringed. “I don’t like either.”

“Well, choose one or the other. I can’t sit here all the time and come up with names for you, and this way I’m giving you an option.”

I glanced at him. He smiled at me. “Do you want breakfast, Love?”