Torrential Love

Chapter Four

~DUNCAN~

Duncan popped the button from its hole, and the fabric of her dress parted slightly to reveal milky skin underneath. He swallowed hard as the back of his fingers grazed her supple skin and he went further down to the next button. He was in the middle of popping it from its hole when the woman's eyes flew open.

Crap.

She stared down at herself, glaring at the top of her dress, then glaring at him. She sent death glares between him and her dress, and her body shot from the bed as her hand came flying towards him, striking him in the cheek.

His head snapped to the right. God, for a woman with such a little body, she sure packed a lot of weight behind that slap. He clenched his jaw as the pain registered and he turned his head back to her.

She sat further up the bed, kicking away from him as her hands covered herself. Her hands fumbled with her dress, and she pulled the parted fabric back to each other. Her eyes were filled with fear and he lifted his hands up to communicate to her he was harmless.

"I will not harm you," he said, "I just need to get you out of these wet clothes."

"Et wey fom mui!" she said.

What?

"What did you say?" he asked.

"Hu er yu? Et wey fom mui!" she said, fear still etched in her features.

Great, he thought as he watched her. She spoke in a language that he didn't understand. At the very least, he knew she was speaking in Hebrew. She was likely Jewish. Slowly, he listened into her thoughts and heard string after string of foreign words.

"Do you speak any English?" he asked her.

"Wa? Liv mui alo!"

"English," he repeated. "Do you speak English?"

"English," she said. Then she shook her head.

Oh god, they really could not understand each other. Pictures of him ran through her mind, and he realised she was picturing him attacking her. She was fearful of him. He held his hands in the air again and gestured to the window.

"Ship," he said, gesturing to the sea. "Destroyed." And he made breaking motions with his hand. "I found you alive and brought you back here."

She glared at him like he was a madman.

"You need to get out of those clothes," he said to her, gesturing to her clothes. She looked down at herself and sent glances out the window. Pictures of dry clothes ran through her mind and she pursed her lips. She was definitely uncomfortable in those wet clothes. The dry clothes in her mind took an alluring image.

Well, at least they were getting somewhere.

He left the side of the bed and walked to his wardrobe, picking out the smallest clothes he could find and bringing them back to the bedside. He put them in her hands and pointed to the chair at the table behind him.

She looked between him, and the chair, then slowly nodded her head. She tried to move her legs but a sharp cry left her mouth. Her hands grabbed onto her knees. She looked at him again.

He held both hands in the air before he approached them to her. Slowly, he picked her up into his arms and she seemed to tense up as his body touched hers. Images of danger flashed through her mind as he lifted her up and brought her to the chair. She sat on it and he gestured to the toilet before he pointed at her clothes again. Then he went inside after she nodded at him.

He stood inside his toilet for a while as he tried to block out her thoughts. She was undressing herself and images of her body flashed through his mind. He tried to think of something else, anything else and before long, she called out for him again.

"Ey!"

He stepped out of the toilet and took her wet clothes from her, placing it into his washing machine. He walked back to his bed and got to work, changing the bed sheets for fresh and dry ones. Afterwards, he came back to her and smiled at her. She seemed to trust him more, and he picked her up in his arms to return her to his bed.

"I'm Duncan," he said to her. He put a hand on his chest. "Duncan."

She stared at him warily. Then a smile spread across her face. She put a hand on her chest. "Yael."

Yael. A beautiful name.

"Yael, nice to meet you," he said with a gentle smile.

She nodded. "Er em mui, Duncan?"

He did not know what she was saying, and her thoughts didn't tell him what she was saying either. "I'll nurse you back to health. Then you can be back on your way," he said, though it wasn't like she understood what he was saying.

She blinked in confusion. But she nodded her head.

"Is there something you need?" he asked her and gestured to the book at the bedside, the candles there and the blanket. She nodded again. "What?"

And the picture slowly formed in her mind.