He reached out, traced the pale, blue-white curve of her cheek. Then he untied the gag and pulled it from her mouth. "Lady, wake up."
She shuddered. The dark fringe of her eyelashes fluttered.
Slowly she opened her eyes and looked up at him.
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Her eyes were darker than before, a rich mossy green against the pallor of her skin. A single, curly lock of black hair fell forlornly across her forehead. She looked up at him, and in her gaze he saw bleakness and something more, something he understood all too well. A sadness that was too old to be in such young eyes.
He spoke without thinking, his voice quiet and low. "I'm sorry." The admission surprised him. It came from long ago, from a place in his soul that used to feel emotions like sorrow and regret and shame.
A shadow of a smile ghosted her lips, so fleeting and unexpected that he wondered if he'd imagined it, maybe even willed it. "I ... can't wake up."
He frowned, confused. He would have understood fear or anger or hatred, even tears. But not this, not this quiet admission that meant nothing.
"You are awake."
She shook her head, loosing another flopping lock of curly black hair. "No, I'm not. I'm dreaming."
Killian sat back on his heels. He couldn't make sense of her, not anything about her. One minute she was a spitting hellion, the next a vulnerable innocent, the next a raving lunatic.
"We've got to get going."
"Yeah," she said softly, almost dreamily. "The posse can't be far behind."
He frowned. "What do you mean ... posse?"
"Joe Martin?"
A cold feeling moved through him at the name. "The sheriff from River Rock Falls?"
She nodded. "Uh-huh. Harold Springs hired him to hunt you down and kill you."
Killian felt as if he'd been punched hard in the jaw. He reeled backward, staring down at her, hoping to hell
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she was crazy. Because if she wasn't, he was in deep shit. "How do you know that?"
"Well, he was supposed to attempt to thwart the robbery and fail. It takes him four hours to get a posse together to track you down." She frowned thoughtfully. "I'm sure he'd still get the men together?even though he never showed up at the bank."
He let his breath out slowly, trying not to lose his temper. "I asked how you know this."
"I wrote it."
"Oh, for Christ's sake?"
Her eyes pleaded with him to believe her. "It's true."
He stared down at her, hard. "Martin's following me?"
"Yes."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Leave me here," she pleaded softly. "I can't take any more of this dream. Leave me here to meet Joe? he's my hero."
Another completely ridiculous statement. Killian stared down at her, measuring her words, trying to draw a bead on her. It didn't make any sense that she would know these things?but then again, she'd known his name. And Skeeter's. And Mose's.