Tuesday's Tales - Pretty

Welcome to Tuesday's Tales  

This week our prompt word is PRETTY and my snippet continues from last week. Having escaped their pursuers, Kate's now wondering how stupid she's been to help a stranger evade his attackers, and what possible retribution will fall on her head for her well-meaning but possible stupid actions. 

His deep voice resonated deep within her. Geeze how could she notice something like that in such a situation? Gathering her scattered wits Kate leaned in and helped the man to a kneeling position.

“No, it wasn’t me, and no, I don’t know who attacked you and bundled you into my car,” she said at the same time wondering how her voice came out so steadily when her insides were melting. “Who are you and why were you trussed up like a chicken and bundled into my car?”

Under the circumstances she shouldn’t notice his powerful build. Her hands should itch to release his bonds so they could skim over his torso, and further, not want to stroke all over that glistening skin.

Before he could respond she held up the scissors. “I’m sorry I only have these. I never thought to buy a knife to cut the cords.” She smacked her hand to her forehead and rushed to get a bottle of water out of the shopping bag on the back seat.

“Here, drink this.” She uncapped the bottle, held it to his lips and gradually tipped it up until he drained the contents dry. He held his hands out and watched her attempt to cut, and then saw through the nylon. The moment his hands were free the man tried to climb out of his prison.

“Wait.” Holding her hand up like a traffic cop Kate went back for the jersey she’d bought. “I had to guess your size,” she explained, “but put this on before you do anything else.” Not sure whether relief or disappointment roared through her system when the sweater fell below his hips, Kate moved closer to allow him to use her shoulder as a prop while he struggled to manoeuvre into a position to swing his legs over the sill of the car to allow her to release those bonds too.

“Who are you,” she asked again. “And why…”

“I don’t know why for sure, and although I have an idea of who, I’m not certain enough to name names.”

Dropping to her knees, Kate began cutting through the nylon cord. And wondered whether she was out of her mind to release a stranger who refused share his name or explain who had dumped him in her car and why. Anger nudged her concern to one side. Had she been mad to drive away knowing he was in her boot? And to do so knowing a bunch of strangers were now after her as well as the man waiting for her to free his legs? Upon reflection it seemed pretty stupid.

“I won’t hurt you.”

His voice snapped her out of her contemplation and she realised she’d sat back on her heals, her hands, still holding the scissors, resting in her lap.

 

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there are lots more amazing reads at Tuesday's Tales 

Tuesday's Tales ~ Picture Prompt

Tuesday's Tales - Curly

Welcome to Tuesday's Tales  

 

 

This week is our picture prompt  and my snippet moves on a bit from last week My heroine has found a deserted place where she can safely release her unwanted passenger from the boot/trunk of her car.

Quarter of an hour later she spotted a turnoff that appeared to head in the general direction of a wood.

“Turning off,” she sang out.  “Hopefully I’ll be able to let you out if there’s no one around. Just hang in there.”

Encouraged by the bumpy track Kate slowed right down and came to a stop beside row of overgrown bushes. Not a known public recreation area, more likely private property, she thought as she slid from the car and raced round to lift the boot lid. Light bounced off nearby water. A lake? A pond? Did that mean she had stopped near someone’s house? She hoped not.

Sweat shone slick and damp on the man’s skin. His eyes remained closed and he didn’t shift when she struggled to remove the case she’d wedged behind his back.

“Damn.” Her curse echoed on the humid air. She’d forgotten to get a knife to cut his ropes. Dashing to passenger door Kate delved into her bag and came up with her nail scissors. The nylon cords binding the victim may not be very thick, but she expected her small pair of scissor would struggle to cut through them. Not sure what she was looking for Kate searched her surroundings for something that might cut through the bonds more easily. A long dilapidated shed, its wooden doors all hanging off the hinges, and the corrugated tin sheeting on the roof looked as though it my dissolve into dust if something touched it. It looked too lonely and neglected to be part of someone’s home.

With a sigh she cast another assessing glance at the man and found herself under observation.

“I sincerely hope you were not the person who knocked me senseless this morning. At least I presume it was this morning.”

 

Thank you for reading this week's offering,
there are lots more amazing reads at Tuesday's Tales 

Tuesday's Tales - Curly

Welcome to Tuesday's Tales  

This week our prompt word is CURLY and my snippet moves on a bit from last week and is from the third chapter. My heroine has one chance of evading her pursuers. Will she succeed? Find out more...

She had to make a choice. And do it now. Right or left? 

She inhaled a deep slow breath and waited for the calm to flow over her.  She guided the car into the left lane.  Five cars separated her from her pursuers.  If traffic jammed the road beyond the corner, she'd lose her one good chance of losing her tail.

The lights turned green, and the cars ahead edged forwards.  Crowds waiting to cross shuffled for position; a mother grabbed a toddler who'd stepped out in front of her.  Kate hit the break, swept a glance in her rear-view mirror, smiled when she saw a bright red sports car swerve in front of her followers, then she lifted her foot from the break, released the clutch and eased her car round the bend, and prayed..

Immediately she turned left again into a narrow alleyway. Someone upstairs had heard her prayers.  She slipped low in her seat and kept a vigilant watch on the mirror above her.  The sporty red car zoomed past, followed more sedately by a silver estate car, and a dark saloon she couldn't identify, and there!  Everything shifted into slow motion as the black four-by-four passed the end of the alleyway.

She beat back the urge to back out and race off in the opposite direction.  She forced herself to open her door and step out from the car.  She gagged at the stench of rotting garbage.  Her legs shook so much she had to grab the car door to remain upright.  Traffic noise engulfed her.  Petrol fumes mingled with stale food and rotting garbage spilling out of commercial refuse skips lining the alley walls.  She inhaled it all without a thought, gasping for air to fill lungs starved of oxygen while she half expected the black car to return.  Keeping to the shadowed side of the alley, Kate reached the street in time to see her pursuers disappearing round the corner. What of the second car? Had it gone straight ahead?

She didn't have much time before they realised they'd lost her, which meant she had to leave of the alley and away from the area.

Ten minutes later she followed the road signs to the south coast.  She needed money.  Cash!  And she needed it now, before she travelled far enough to allow her enemies to discover her destination.  She had some urgent shopping to attend to.  Within moments she pulled into a car park.  She parked in a central, easily observed spot, and, without a backward glance, headed for the shopping mall.

Families with loaded baskets passed her on their way to their cars.  Laughter and childish squeals of delight warred with fractious voices, demanding partners and offspring do the owner’s bidding.

Cheap female scent and car fumes created a heady mix she longed to escape from.  She entered the fist shop in the Mall and walked through to an alternative exit.  Within moments she found a bank and using her business account, withdrew enough cash to last her for a couple of weeks.  She hoped no one would wonder at a large cash withdrawal from her business account.  Lazily she glanced at her surroundings.  Grey-pink chairs sat on deep blue carpet, electronically controlled doors swished open and shut as people approached them.  The sound of the tellers’ voices, muffled by the security glass, hummed behind her.  A young mother with two children clinging to the handles of a pushchair entered. 

"’Excuse me.” Kate smiled at the young woman.  “I’m looking for a nearby charity shop.”

The woman hesitated, a boy with curly, ebony hair, and a girl with a blonde fall of hair to her waist, moved to cling to her legs, and they all looked as though they hadn’t eaten in a week. “Turn right, out the door, and two doors down.”

Before Kate could thank her, the little family pushed past her and joined the queue waiting for attention.

 

Thank you for reading this week's offering,
there are lots more amazing reads at Tuesday's Tales 

Tuesday's Tales ~ Ribbon

Welcome to Tuesday's Tales  

Way-Hay! Tuesday's Tales is back, after a short summer break. This week our prompt word is RIBBON and my snippet is from the opening scene in the 2nd chapter. My hero is in for a nasty surprise when he regains consciousness....

Pain and bitter cold threatened to spin him back into the blackness. His head ached and his face throbbed. Something hard, wedged behind his back, pinned him down against the freezing metal floor of his prison. He tried moving and groaned. Ropes cut into his wrists and ankles and noise seeped into his woozy brain. A whooshing sound that overrode the pounding of his blood in his ears.

Movement. Judging by the blackness around him, and the constant sound of an engine, he was trussed up like a chicken and in the boot of a vehicle. The blast of a nearby horn warred with the pain in his head and he swallowed another groan. Better whoever was driving thought him still senseless. How long had been out? Hard to say because the last thing he could remember was going to bed. Last night? Was it still night time, or later?

He vaguely remembered seeing a ribbon of light seeping between the crack in the curtains. So, not night time.  Fighting against the pain he tried to marshal his thoughts. He’d been asleep when something woke him, but before he could try and work it out, the blow to his head knocked him senseless. Had the intruder attacked him? If so why? And what about the female voice that filtered into his semi-consciousness? Where did she fit in, if she fitted in at all?

The muffled sound of a female singing along to the radio reached him. Good lard, was his attacker a female? His cousin’s mother was a formidable woman but even she wouldn’t stoop to physical violence on her nephew. Unless of course, she was part of…

He tensed when he heard the engine change pitch. Were they stopping would someone come and let him out? No, the engine was idling. Lights? God knew he didn’t want to remain incarcerated in the vehicle but until he could mentally prepare himself he’s take however more minutes he could get to sort out his thoughts and to try and make sense of what was happening to him.

Thank you for reading this week's offering,
there are lots more amazing reads at Tuesday's Tales