Page 10 of Euphoria
“Who are you?” he asked again, this time with more authority.
“I’m Jane Doe,” I declared, jutting my chin out.
The man’s nose wrinkled. “Jane Doe? What kind of name is that?”
I clutched the book against my chest, affronted by his lack of sensitivity. “You might think it is strange, sir, but it is the only name I’ve ever had.”
“What kind of beast gives a girl a name like that?”
My gaze dropped, disappointed he thought me nothing but a silly girl. I was a woman, and this was the twenty-first century. The world had turned a million times, and yet here in this backwater wild country, the laws of time and space—and progress—had ceased to exist.
Gathering my nerves, my gaze pierced his, and I said, “I had no name as a child, and that is what they called me.”
“They?” the man asked, taking a deliberate step forward. “And who are these mysterious ‘they’ who lack so much imagination?”
“The state,” I said simply. It was my tale of woe, just the same as all the other orphans and wayward souls who inhabited the world.
Then as if he recognized a familiar face, he grabbed my arm and pulled me to the light so he could see me clearly.
“You are the woman from the road,” he stated, his nostrils flaring.
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. I was caught in his web, unable to move to save myself. The man from the road!
“You made me fall from my bike,” he went on, looking me over.
“I did not!” I exclaimed, finally gathering my wits and pulling out of his iron grip. “The back wheel slipped on the ice.”
He ignored me, going on as if I hadn’t spoken at all. “You look different in the light.”
I scowled, looking him over as bluntly as he had me on the road. “So do you.”
“Just as defiant,” he mused, and I wasn’t sure if he was speaking to me or merely voicing his private thoughts. “You have a keen mind, I think. Your eyes say more than your words.”
“I’m not a puzzle, sir,” I said stubbornly. “If you have a question, ask it, and I will answer if it pleases me.”
“I have many questions for you, Jane Doe,” he said, my name rolling off his tongue like a rich dessert. “And I shall ask them in due course.”
So he was to stay a while at the hotel. Too shocked at the course of our conversation, I didn’t dare consider the ramifications. I’d wanted excitement and action when I left Thornfield to venture up to the village for a drink, and I’d gotten exactly what I wished for and more.
That was the trouble with whimsy. The wanting was more powerful than the achievement itself.
Staring at him now, I couldn’t decide whether I found him handsome or terrifying. My body trembled under the weight of his gaze, but I couldn’t discern if it was pleasurable.
If his attitude was anything to go by, he seemed to see me as a thorn in his side. I’d been likened to one of the choking brambles encasing the west wing of the manor, and he did not even stop to inquire who I was underneath the surface. Despite how handsome the man appeared, now he was free of his leather jacket and motorcycle, his disposition left a lot to be desired.
When I didn’t move, the man glowered. “It’s late, is it not?”
Eyebrows raised, I backed away, circling him until the door was at my back. He seemed to want to be alone, much like I had, so I nodded. My secret oasis was now compromised.
“Yes,” I said, gathering myself. “You’re right. Goodnight, sir.”
I fled, my boots thumping on the carpet as I strode down the hall away from the man and the library. Now that I was torn from his presence, a weight seemed to have lifted from on top of my chest, and I could breathe again, my eyes pulling away from the floor and to the world around me with renewed confidence.
How a man I’d only spoken a few words to could make me feel so small with a simple glance was beyond comprehension. The farther my legs carried me from him, the more I realized there was nothing simple about him. Whoever he was, darkness lurked inside, twisting and pulling, shaping his outward appearance without restraint.
It wasn’t until I returned to my room that I realized the forbidden book was still under my arm.
