Written In Blood

Prologue

Georgina Ryder hit the ground with a wet splat. Under other circumstances, she would have been concerned about getting muddy, especially about getting her dress muddy; just then, however, she had other things to worry about, most important of which was the groping and grasping fingers of the man she had thought she had known.

She hadn't intended falling out of the Land Rover, but she preferred that to the alternative. She didn't understand what had happened; the evening had started so well, but things had changed when He brought out a bottle of wine, which she had declined. He had drunk nearly all of it on his own, and then, when it was getting on towards time for her to go home, he had moved in for a goodnight kiss; she had had no objection to the kiss, only to what he tried to do while kissing her.

He was a little tipsy by that time, and paid no attention when she asked him to stop. Even if she had been willing to go further than just kissing, which she wasn't, he was too rough; she felt as though she was being mauled, and no matter how she pleaded with him, and tried to push his hand away, he wouldn't stop. It was only when he moved his hand to her leg, and began to slide it up, that she took more direct action. The sharp slap she landed on his cheek startled them both – it was completely out of character for her to do something like that, and it was hard to say which of them was more surprised by what she had done.

Georgina sat there for several long moments, too stunned by what she had done to move, while he pulled back, a hand at his cheek even though the blow had not been hard enough to either hurt or leave a mark. It was only when he reached for her again, this time with something other than lust in his eyes, that Georgina found the impetus to move. She fumbled with the door next to her, and tumbled from the Land Rover when she got it open.

Once on her feet, she looked around a little wildly, searching for a means of escape. To her right was the farmhouse the yard they were in belonged to, there was no-one there to help her, the house was a burned-out ruin. To her left was the drive that led from the yard to the road, and from there to the centre of Oakhurst; going that way would mean going past him, which she was too afraid to do. The third option open to her was the overgrown field in front of her, on the far side of which was some woods; there was no help to be had in that direction, if anything it led further away from help rather than towards it, but it also led away from the man she now feared, and that was more important.

All of that flashed through her mind in about a millisecond, too quickly for her to really be aware of it, and then she was off. She wasn't the fastest runner she knew, but she was faster than her pursuer; she reached the fence, climbed it, and was ten yards into the field before he was even halfway to the fence.

"Get back here, you bitch!"

The shout – harsh, cruel and loud – was so unexpected that Georgina couldn't help slowing to look back over her shoulder. If the shout was a surprise, the look of insane rage on His face was a shock, she had never seen anything like it. She had thought she was scared when she scrambled from his Land Rover, now, though, she knew what it was to be terrified.

Her heart pounded so fiercely she thought it was going to burst from her chest; her vision narrowed until all she could see was his face, and all she could hear was the pounding of his feet as he chased her through the knee-high grass of the overgrown field, and beneath the mud that coated her hands she could feel her palms sweating.

She was so intent on what was behind her that she stumbled on the uneven ground and went down. Terror and shock made her want to scream, before she could do so, however, she hit the ground, burying her face in the mud and grass and leaving her unable to utter so much as a syllable.

Georgina was almost on her feet when He caught up to her, crashing into her like a rugby player desperate to keep the opposition from scoring. He knocked the air from her lungs and crushed her to the ground with his weight. The weight disappeared after a moment as He moved so he could roll her onto her back, but before she could refill her lungs he had a hand at her throat, choking her.