Gabriel! No! GABRIEL!

Her heart beating wildly, Sophia woke up in a panic. She couldn’t remember the dream exactly, but for the first time its underlying terror was accompanied by flashes of Gabriel’s face, shouts and screams. Different voices. Lots of men. And pain all over her body. She wanted to cry and scream. She looked around the darkened room and her eyes stopped on Alistair’s sleeping figure.

Breathe, Sophia. Breathe. She sat up in bed and clutched her knees, trying to calm her breathing and heart rate.

She didn’t want to go back to sleep again. She stumbled out of bed, donning her wrap, sat in one of the armchairs and wrapped a cashmere blanket around her. She was too frightened by the echoes of the horror that was coming back, resonating loudly inside her mind.

Sophia tried to give some order to the shadows and flashes, without success. It only worsened the anxiety and distress she was feeling. She suppressed the sounds that were threatening to burst from her throat, shivered, and gathered the blanket more firmly around her body.

* * *

Alistair opened his eyes, stretching his arms over his head. His mind was clear, his body relaxed from sex and sleep, and he felt a deep peace inside his usually troubled soul. But as his eyes focused to see a shrunken Sophia, enveloped in a blanket, sitting in one of the armchairs looking at nothing, his inner peace was replaced by anxiety.

He rose from the bed and walked to crouch in front of her. “Hey,” he whispered, taking her away from her thoughts. He caressed the contours of her face. “Come back to bed. It’s too early to be up and about.”

She looked so vulnerable, her eyes dark and scared; every instinct in him cried out for him to do something.

Sophia nodded, afraid to speak and hear something different in her own voice.

Carefully he picked her up from the armchair, and tugged her onto his chest, leading her back to bed. He sat, reclining on the headboard, with her on his shoulder. She was cold and tense as he tucked one of the coverlets around them. “What happened? I didn’t hear you wake up. Did you have a nightmare?”

“With Gabriel. And…I guess, the night of the kidnapping,” she whispered, and relaxed into his embrace as if the confession released something inside her. She looked up at his face, searching his eyes for assurance. “Alistair…I don’t know if I want to remember.” I’m so afraid.

His warm hand framed her face, pushing it gently to his shoulder and his long fingers plunged into her hair, combing it in a soothing movement. “The mind is wise. It will give you only what you can cope with. And I’m here, for whatever happens. I will always be here,” he breathed on her lips and lightly kissed her. “You need rest. Let’s sleep a bit more.”

* * *

Sophia tiptoed out of the room dressed in her workout clothes. Alistair had dozed off immediately after she had feigned sleep.

As she headed downstairs to the gym, on the same floor as the Spa, she ran into Paola and Ethan on her way to breakfast, already in fitness clothes.

They had breakfast together, Sophia and Paola chatting like old friends about fashion and the new trends.

When they entered the workout room, Tavish was already there lifting weights, wearing a black T-shirt and black shorts, his muscles bulging with the effort. He didn’t notice them as he was looking at his own reflection in the mirror.

Paola winked conspiratorially at Sophia, discretely jutting her chin at the sight of his back and Sophia couldn’t stop the broad smile that appeared on her lips. From the front or from the back, Tavish was a hunk.

“Good morning, Tavish Uilleam,” Sophia said.

He turned and smiled at them, lifting one weight as a greeting, “Hey. Morning.”

A uniformed trainer walked up to them and introduced himself as Niall, asking if they needed assistance. Paola coquettishly asked for help to program the treadmill while Sophia politely refused.

Sophia went to an area where she could stretch, before starting her usual sequence of weightlifting while Ethan joined Tavish.

* * *

Sophia chose the treadmill that faced the extensive lawn outside, instead of one facing the TVs, where Paola and Tavish were having a nice chat while they walked at a leisurely pace, and Ethan ran at a fast speed.

The view of the lawn was soothing. Exactly what she needed. Her mind was still frayed from the nightmare and the images that persisted in the dark corners of her memory.

She played her running list on her iPod and set the treadmill to a fast pace, but slower than she was used to. She didn’t want Alistair arriving and surprising her in one of her sprints.

Her mind started to drift away, lulled by the music and the comfortable jogging pace she had set. To escape the memories, she would run to the end of the world, if necessary.

A clear flash startled her and a shimmering image took form in front of her. Sophia shook her head hard but the image didn’t disappear. “Gabriel?”

Gabriel Leibowitz was dressed in a tailored navy suit with a light-pink silk tie. He cocked his head to the side in his charming, beguiling way and smiled at her.

She held out her hand and called again, louder this time, “Gabriel?”

His sky-blue eyes sparkled and he extended his hand to hold hers, asking, “Do you want to dance?”

The speed on the treadmill was suddenly too much. Her breath was squeezed out of her lungs by a searing pain as she tripped and fell.

* * *

Come on, Sophia. Wake up,” Tavish coached, his voice chasing away the images that had shocked her. “Everything is okay. You’re safe.”

She blinked and looked up to stare into his concerned eyes.

“Are you feeling better?”

Still trembling, she exhaled a shuddering breath and nodded, looking around. He was kneeling next to the treadmill she had been using, with a wide-eyed Paola and a frowning, worried Ethan hovering behind him.

She closed her eyes, embarrassed, and whispered, “I’m okay. I’m sorry.”

She tried to move, but as she put her hand on the floor to stand up, pain spread through her arm.

“Don’t move,” he ordered. “You hurt yourself. I couldn’t catch you before you fell.”

Sophia gingerly moved her arm and saw that her palms, one of her forearms and both knees were scraped and that she had lost one of her sneakers. Oh, great! Just great, Sophia! Now you are having daylight hallucinations while running on the treadmill. Just wait until Alistair hears about this!

“You cut your chin,” Tavish said, gesturing to the underside of her face. “Is it hurting too much?”

Niall arrived with a first-aid kit and knelt on her other side.

“No,” she whispered. Fantastic. More stitches. I’m going to end up like Frankenstein’s monster.

“Open and close your mouth. Does that hurt?” She shook her head and Tavish turned her face gently to better look at the small cut. “You won’t need stitches. Just a small patch. Are you feeling dizzy?”

“No. I’m okay. Really,” she whispered, feeling mortified. They must think I’m mad. Talking to a dead man! For God’s sake, Sophia.

Tavish rose from his kneeling position, carrying her in his arms. He was not able to stifle a wince of pain when his leg complained from the movement.

“Put me down. I can—”

“Give this irritating and stubborn woman to me, Tavish Uilleam.” Alistair’s aggravated voice came from behind him.

Oh, yeah! Here it comes. Sophia sighed and closed her eyes, not wanting to see the anger on his face. Maybe he will leave me alone if I pretend to be asleep or dizzy.

“Jesus Christ, Sophia!” Alistair thundered as Tavish passed her to his arms. “I can’t close my eyes for a second and you run away looking for trouble?”

Some greeting, Lord Caveman! Unbidden, Sophia’s lips curled and she opened one eye to look at him and completely melted at the sight of the rugged man already half-dressed for work in a crisp white Egyptian cotton shirt and his Hèrmes blue tie with small green fishes hanging loosely around his neck.

For Christ’s sake, Sophia. Alistair shook his head at her and his frown deepened. “Do you want to drive me mad, lass?” he asked as he squeezed her gently in his arms. “What do I have to do? Lock the door and hide the key? Chain you to my bed?”

Oh, yeah, please do! Sophia giggled, amazed by the idea, but he didn’t smile back.

Alistair had climbed down the stairs three at a time, worried out of his mind when Niall called him saying that Sophia had fallen on the treadmill.

“Niall, Mrs. Leibowitz is forbidden from exercising here alone,” Alistair instructed the trainer. “If she comes down alone, call me instantly.”

“Yes, of course, sir,” Niall bobbed his head assertively as Sophia rolled her eyes heavenward and huffed.

Paola smiled at Ethan, but he didn’t notice it. He was observing, with narrowed eyes, the loving and concerned way Alistair was holding Sophia.

“Alistair Connor, Sophia wasn’t doing anything wrong. There’s no need to—” Tavish started to say in a pacifying voice to be brusquely interrupted.

“Don’t tell me how to deal with her,” Alistair hissed at his brother. “I’m taking her upstairs. I expect you in my room to take care of her as soon as you’ve had a shower.”

He didn’t wait for Tavish’s assent and turned his back on the group and marched to the lifts, giving a subsided but grinning Sophia an earful, as if she were a tomboy of Gabriela’s age.

* * *

Father, Sophia is your responsibility today,” Alistair said, before he bent to kiss her lips lightly. “And you, Sophia, you’d better behave. I have too much to do today and Inverness is not as close as my bedroom is to the gym.”

“Yes, sire,” she mocked and winked at him. At his scold, she kissed her crossed fingers. “I will. I promise.”

He looked at her, not really convinced, and almost gave up going to work to stay with her. He crouched to stare seriously into Gabriela’s blue eyes. “Fairy, she’s your responsibility too. Promise to call me if she misbehaves?”

His lips curled as Sophia huffed and Gabriela, very seriously, nodded. “I will, Alistair. I promise.”

“Good. I’m counting on you.” Alistair ruffled Gabriela’s blonde hair and sat on the edge of the bed, pulling Sophia into his arms in a fierce embrace before kissing her again. “I’ll be back for dinner. Anything—anything—you call me. Promise?”

Sophia smiled, enchanted with his concern and whispered, “I promise.”

“Come on, Alistair Connor,” Tavish called from the door of Alistair’s bedroom, “Munro’s ready and waiting.”

Fuck. I wish I didn’t need to work today. Reluctantly, he rose from the bed and left the room.