Frederick Mortcombe woke up in the dead of the night, bothered by the sounds of footsteps in his room. His hazel eyes instantly flung open and flew straight into the direction of the noise.
Completely forgotten that his guest had been sleeping in his bed, he could not make out who the petite silhouette that was heading towards Audrey's room. Promptly he got on his feet, dashed as he geared up to be in protective mode, prepared to pounce on his prey.
However, it was after several footsteps closer to the intruder that he realised rather belatedly that the woman was in fact, Audrey! And it was all too late to avoid her as his momentum was still going even when he tried his hardest to brake.
To make it even worse, his prisoner was not aware of his presence! Not because she was bad at it but because he had perfected his silence. Frederick wanted to scream but held his tongue, worried the pregnant woman would be startled and fall.
There was no time to think as he was closing in the gap. Closer and closer the gap got but the collision never happened. Frederick had caught her in his arms and pulled her in a tight embrace. Anything to soften the impact!
And they twirled and twirled as the dark-haired man tried his best to take control of his legs. With a strong squeeze of Audrey in between his arm and body, he put as much force on his other hand that was folded firmly and slammed against the wall.
Frederick's frightened orbs locked onto her clueless one. His lips conveyed his worried thoughts without breaking their gazes, "Are you hurt anywhere?"
Her irregular breathing rhythm that puffed out onto him mirrored her racing heart, completely surprised by the sudden swift movement. Her lips parted, forming an O but Frederick heard no answer.
Was it because his own heartbeat was drumming louder than her voice? Or did he terrify her that she lost her voice? Worried and dissatisfied with not knowing the unknown, he took a step backwards and examined her from top to bottom for any visible injury.
Blessedly, he found none. Nevertheless, he ran his fingers across her unkempt damp brown hair, feeling her temperature while his eyes fixated on hers, "Do you feel queasy or uncomfortable?"
"No, I didn't crash anything," Audrey answered truthfully. Frederick was glad to be able to hear her voice and her response until he noticed her hands were rested on her bump and he unconsciously rolled his eyes, knowing her answer was in response to the baby.
'Right! The baby too.' He thought with annoyance as he expressed them with an exaggerated scoff. However, he quickly covered the sound with fake coughs, troubled that she might have misunderstood his scoffing with wanting her to be injured.
"Why *forced cough* are you up at this time? You should be resting," he demanded as he was giving off the accusatory look.
"Yes, I will."
See, Audrey had been obedient since he first met her. And when she said she will, it means that she will. However, he was puzzled as she was not stepping closer to the bed but away from it.
His eyes followed her movement in confusion until the woman walked into her room.
"Err... Missy, where are you going?"
Audrey turned her upper body slightly as she said, "I'm going to rest now. Sorry I took your bed."
How his jaw dropped from his charming face! He could not make out whether she was pretending not to know it was his intention or utterly UTTERLY obtuse.
Considering how light as a feather she was even though pregnant, he could have easily carried her to HER bed in HER room without any difficulty. But he did not! Was it not obvious he wanted her there?
Even so, he could not find an excuse if she pretended not to know. It was not like he had ever taken advantage of her. The villain in him could if he wanted to but he did not.
What gratification would he get in tainting her when he found it to be even more rewarding to see her change for the better? Frederick was left speechless and in too much of a shock that he lost in his own train of thoughts.
* * * * *
Audrey wanted to go to her room as fast as she could. If it was not for the dimmed orange glow from the standing light at the furthest corner, she would have already sprinted and locked herself in the room.
But with the broken wooden smithereens all over the floor, she would not be able to close the door at all. The only thing she could do for now was to buy time and distract him. She entertained all his questions as truthful as possible, hoping their interaction would hasten.
The Bloodsworth lady took the opportunity when her captor appeared dazed and strode as normal as she could to her bed. Once there, she quickly threw the duvet on top of her, hiding every inch of her body under the blanket except for her head.
"No, no, no. You are not sleeping here," his voice startled her. She thought she had shaken him off and there will not be any more interaction. At least not when she was wearing a tee shirt with short pants.
"I'm fine—"
"No means no. You either marched yourself back there or I will strip the blanket off of you and carry you there. Your pick!"
Frightened by his commanding mannerisms, Audrey was left with no choice. Baffled at the whole situation and why the man raised his voice over trivial matters, she obliged by carefully pressing her soles against the floor while ensuring not a single skin of her is exposed as she crept out of the wardrobe.
Thankfully, for her sake, Audrey Bloodsworth was pleased her kidnapper did not notice her action was suspicious.
Or was that simply an excuse to fool herself?