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Page 81
she whispered. Her voice sounded scandalized, and he was unsure if she spoke to him or herself.
"I am giving you another test," he said, knowing how cruel his words sounded. She had done him no harm. But the pain from the past that welled up once more inside him required venting, no matter who else was injured. "This time, I am not so certain how you are succeeding. We have yet to find that out, do we not?"
"Not with me, you don't!"
Grabbing her candle, Mariah Walker threw open the kitchen door and ran outside.

Though Mariah knew she'd run in the wrong direction for the stable, she didn't veer off when she reached the forest.
She had to get away from this place, this horrible, backwoods inn in the middle of nowhere. In 1760s Pennsylvania. In the middle of a nightmare.
She had to get away from Thorn.
For the smallest moment, when he'd held her tightly against his hard, substantial body, had kissed her, she'd allowed herself to feel cared for. Protected and wanted by the man who had seemed so caringin the screenplay.
But that wasn't the real Thorn.
This Thorn had played games with her mind, turning away from her when she most needed help.
And now he had played games with her body.
She heard dead leaves crunch beneath her feet. Somewhere, she realized, her candle had gone out, but the moon's light sprinkled through the trees, illuminating a frightening path through thick, grasping branches.
"Why?" she moaned aloud. She heard an echoing whooo from an owl. Frightened, she missed her next step and crashed to the forest floor, landing on her knees.
The undergrowth here was thick, but not thick enough. Pain shot through her knees. When she tried to rise, it wasn't physical pain that stopped her, but anguish. She was breathing too hard, fighting to keep from crying.
She turned to sit, to catch her breath, to calm herself. She brushed twigs and leaves from her wrinkled skirt, keeping

 
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