Shelli Rosewarne

Hi all,

Well, we made it through Monday, so it’s all uphill from here, right? It’s Tuesday, which means teaser time, and since I’ve been writing agan this week I thought I would share something from my current WIP. This is going to continue from Scarlett Legacy, though I don’t have a title yet (titles are hard and usually come right at the end lol!). It’s not edited yet, so please excuse any mistakes. Hope you enjoy x

Katya paused for a long moment. She should head back to the high street then. She really should, she had no business staying here with a man she’d never even met and knew nothing about. But he’d apparently saved her niece’s life. That was what she told herself as she slowly crossed back to the bed. There was a chair by the wall and she carefully pulled it up to the bed, and taking a seat gently reached out to take the man’s hand in hers. What are you doing, Kat? She asked herself. Yet there was an odd rightness to it, and she didn’t pull her hand back.

She studied his face, calm and relaxed as though he was merely sleeping, yet she had the feeling that when awake calm was not a word that would describe him.

“Where have you gone?” She whispered softly. “And why don’t you want to come back?”

With an odd sense of clarity, she suddenly knew that was the case. He didn’t want to come back from wherever his mind has taken him.

“It can’t be so bad here,” she told him. “You obviously have people who care about you.” To her shock tears stung her eyes. “It’s more than I have.”

The wave of loneliness that washed over her took her by surprise. She had grown comfortable in the last few days, but this was just a stop gap. Natalia had her own life, and while she might accept her for a visit then she really had no proper place in it. Soon she would have to leave, get back to her own search, and she would alone again. The way she always was. Blood was rushing in her ears and her eyes burned with tears, abruptly the walls seemed to be closing in on her, and she frantically tried to get up, tugging her hand back from the heavy weight of the man’s hand on top of it.

To her shock and horror it wouldn’t release her. Panic ran through her as she tugged harder. A small part of her knew she was being irrational, it was probably an automatic reflex in him that he had gripped on to her, but she was pretty sure a full blown anxiety attack was coming on and she needed to get the hell out of here.

“Let go of me!” She half sobbed, half shouted.

Two things happened almost at once. A wiry man in a white coat appeared the doorway. Glancing from her tear-streaked face to their clasped hands his face drew into a frown.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Just as she was trying to answer, the grip on her hand increased even more and her attention swung to the man on the bed, who was gazing at her with deep amber eyes.

“Iyana?”

Katya stared at him. That amber gaze was like a brand burning through her, the connection was astonishing and bone deep. And then it suddenly sank in what he’d said. He thought she was her sister?

“No, I’m not Iyana. My name is Katya.”

“Iyana.” The man murmured, and his voice shook with emotion. “I knew you’d come back to me.”

“But, I’m not…”

She trailed off as the man’s eyes drifted closed, and the man in the white coat stepped forward. His gaze was softer now when it touched her.

“I need to check him. Could you move back for a bit?”

Katya nodded dumbly, slowing prying his warm fingers from hers and stepping back. Questions buzzed through her mind though. Who the hell was this man, and how and where had he known Ana?