Chapter 6

The sun was beginning to set, casting eerie yellow shadows on the walls, before Jemma accepted she would likely be spending the night alone in this room.

Once the shock of the note had worn off she'd sat, motionless, for several hours, hoping to redeem herself for her earlier behaviour. When it had finally dawned on her that he wasn't coming back she'd felt her shoulders sag, hot tears welling in her eyes as she reviewed her situation. It didn't look promising.

Here she was, a prisoner of her own making, trapped in a strange house that for lack of an alternative explanation seemed to operate entirely on magic, at the mercy of a strange man that she had unwittingly managed to upset. She was dressed in just a kimono with her hands bound tightly behind her, and no one knew, or appeared to care, what was happening to her.

And worst of all it was all her own fault. He'd done nothing but spoil her since she got here, the bath, the massage, and yet she'd acted like a frightened child at the slightest touch and ended up in this unenviable predicament. So much for doing whatever he wanted, she'd failed at the first hurdle!

Her shoulder was starting to throb from where she'd bashed it on the floor earlier and having her arms forced into this one position wasn't helping at all. Weakly she flexed her fingers, feeling pins and needles poke into her numb flesh as she tried to regain control of her body.

Pushing her fingers up to her wrists she tried to loosen the ties, but unable to see she only managed to make it worse, pulling the material punishingly tight against her soft skin, if only they'd tied her hands in front of her it would have been so much easier!

Well, she thought, she could do something about that. Taking a few deep breaths Jemma tried to remember what they had taught her in her yoga classes. After being in one position for so long her muscles had tensed up and she concentrated on mentally relaxing each one again, moving down her body and keeping her breathing deep and steady. One of those gorgeous massages would come in real handy right now, she thought ruefully as her back and shoulders protested at the movement.

Bending forward carefully, she tried to stretch out her spine, cautious of making any sudden movements that might jolt her injured shoulder. Curling herself into a little ball, she began to force her arms down and over her backside. The pain in her shoulder increased and she had to struggle to keep her breathing steady as her motions pulled her arms down, stretching them.

Luckily the ties, although tight around her wrists, were loose enough in between to enable her to move her hands apart slightly, just enough that she could manipulate them over her hips and bottom until they were clasped together in front of her, wrists resting beneath her knees. All that remained was to lean forward and drag the material under her legs to her feet and up and she was free!

Well, not free exactly, but at least she could see her hands now. Moving more quickly this time she dug her fingernails into the tight knots, thanking her lucky starts that she'd never had the time nor the money to pay for expensive manicures or nail extensions. Pushing into the fabric she tugged and gradually felt her bonds loosen.