ELUDING DESTINY
Chapter Five
Jack held his breath as he
stepped into the pitch darkness of the cabin. The soft snores of Fabrizio and
the Swedes could be heard from the far wall. Other than that, the cabin was
silent.
Jack eased the door closed behind
him, blinking and waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Soon he was
able to make out shadows, and padded noiselessly across the floor to his bunk.
Starting to unbutton his shirt, he realized with surprise that his hands were
trembling.
In fact, his whole body was
trembling. He was much too keyed up to sleep. He'd be lucky if he slept at all
that night.
Jack thoughtlessly discarded his
shirt, letting it drop to the floor, and eased himself down on the mattress. He
closed his eyes and imagined Rose's soft hands caressing him, her lips blindly
finding his as they succumbed to the building passion between them...
Fabrizio shifted in the bunk
above, causing it to creak alarmingly. Jack opened his eyes reluctantly, his daydream
brought to a screeching halt. He sighed and yanked the blankets up from the
neatly made bed, sliding between them and relaxing into the pillow.
Sleep. Go to sleep, he instructed himself. The sooner
you go to sleep, the sooner it will be tomorrow...and tomorrow...
Eyes closed, he smiled to
himself.
Tomorrow you'll see her again.
Surprisingly, with this happy
thought, he began to drift off into a deep sleep, with the promise of pleasant
dreams.
And then, as sometimes happens,
he woke himself up with a start, for his unconscious mind had remembered
something. Rose. Rose was in her stateroom now. She'd probably been there for
twenty minutes now. Had she told them? Was her mother there? Was Cal there?
Oh God, what an idiot he was. It
had seemed like a reasonable plan in the gymnasium as they embraced right
before they separated. Of course, his sense of reason had been a little off. He
probably would have agreed to anything. His mind had been too full of Rose to
concentrate on anything else. "Okay," he'd said, blissfully ignorant.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
And he'd let her walk away.
Sure, yeah, great idea. I'll
send her right back into the arms of her creep of a fiancé. Good thinking,
Dawson.
Jack sat up, fully awake again,
disgusted with himself. There was no telling what Cal might do to her. He
prided himself on being a good judge of character, and right away he had
figured out that Caledon Hockley was not someone you wanted to mess with. Not
only did he look strong physically, but his eyes were dark, unreachable, and
cruel. He was powerful and he knew it.
Jack also knew--had known for a
long time--that the high society world only gates away from where he now lay
was not all that it seemed. All that glitters is not gold. The genteel society
was a twisted place, a maze, where one could get lost while others turned their
backs. Cal could order Ruth away, he could get Rose alone, he could hurt her,
and her cries would fall on deaf ears. In high society, women were not
respected; they were used. He'd seen it time and time again, from the vantage
point of the lower class. A man like Cal knew he could get away with anything.
He would not hesitate.
Fabrizio shifted again, and Jack
snapped back into himself. His breathing was shallow and a fury was building
inside him. Would Rose be all right? What if she wasn't? What if she was
calling his name right now? And he wasn't there.
Barely realizing what he was
doing, Jack stood up and rooted for his shirt in the darkness. He threw it back
on and buttoned it quickly, then felt for his jacket.
Fabrizio muttered something.
"Go back to sleep,"
Jack told him, unsure of whether he was awake or not. "I'll be back."
He put on his coat, and quickly
left the cabin.