By reading any further, you are stating that you are at least 18 years of age. If you
are under the age of 18, please exit this site.
An Excerpt From: ARISTOTLE’S ANATOMY
Copyright © KATIE ALLEN, 2014
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.
Chapter One
Daphne’s whole life revolved around talking, around the science of moving the
mouth and lips and tongue in just the right way to make sounds other people could
understand. She’d gone to school for a ridiculous amount of time and worked with
patient after patient for years, first as a student and then as a full-fledged speechlanguage pathologist at the clinic.
Despite all that, this man took away her words.
It wasn’t just that he was hot, as in incredibly, mind-erasingly hot. There was
something about him that just drew her. He could have easily played the leading role in
an action movie, with his chiseled jaw and ice-blue eyes. A black stocking hat covered
his head and his fleece-lined flannel shirt muffled the lines of his arms and chest, but
Daphne knew, just knew, that all the hidden parts were just as beautiful as those
exposed.
Longing surged through her but was quickly shut down by a wall of guilt.
She frowned. There was no reason to be guilty anymore. She could ogle any
gorgeous man she wanted to ogle. It was over—a year of dating and three months of
being engaged were done.
Brett had left Denver weeks ago, taking his clients’ money with him but leaving her
behind.
Despite the “ex” part of her ex-fiancé, this man was so beyond her realm of
possibility. She was pretty enough, but ever since she’d skipped ahead two grades in
elementary school, it seemed the social cues involved in being popular had always
escaped her. The few friends and fewer boyfriends she’d had before Brett had fallen
squarely in the nerd spectrum. Brett, with his runner’s body and white smile, had been
the hottest guy to ever even look at her twice. Unfortunately, it had taken her more than
a year to discover the reason behind that second look.
The stranger was staring at her, standing stock-still by the door of her waiting
room. The clinic’s receptionist, Jan, had turned off the majority of the lights when she
and the other staff members had left at five thirty, so the man was blanketed in shadow.
She wondered for a moment how hot he’d be in the full light but shook the thought
from her mind. There were more important things to consider, such as the fact that she
was alone with this huge, rough-looking stranger in an abandoned waiting room, next
to a door Jan always locked each night before leaving.
She was tempted to take a step back but she squashed her instinctual alarm. Jan had
most likely forgotten to lock the door and this poor man probably thought Daphne was
a crazy woman, the way she was silently standing and staring at him.
Clearing her throat, she broke the silence. “Can I help you?”
“Dr. Dahl?” His voice was delicious, deep and smooth. Her name also sent a wash
of relief through her. He was just a potential patient who’d come through an
accidentally unlocked door after hours.
“Yes.” She put on her professional smile, stepped forward and reached out her
hand for him to shake. “Were you waiting long? Office hours have actually been over
for a while. The receptionist must have forgotten to lock the door when she left.”
He held her hand, pulling her toward him. “No.”
She cocked her head, her smile wavering as she was drawn even closer to his
mountainous form. “You weren’t waiting long?”
“No. She didn’t forget.”
When the words finally penetrated, it was too late. A large hand pressed a cloth
against her nose and mouth. Before she could open her lips to scream, everything
disappeared into darkness.
*****
“This is fucked-up, A.”
“What?”
“What do you mean, fucking ‘what’? You can’t just drag a woman here against her
will! Jesus Christ!”
“She came highly recommended.”
“I’m not questioning her credentials, you moronic asshole. If you wanted Benjy to
see her, you bring him to her office like a fucking sane person. You don’t knock her out
and kidnap her!”
“Sure. We could’ve just taken a nice trip to Denver each week, shown our faces to
every security camera in and around the clinic, gotten everyone who worked there or
went there interested in us. That would’ve worked really fucking well.”
The words thundered through her brain, dragging her out of the gray fog where
she was floating. She jerked awake, her eyes popping open. A high-pitched sound
squeaked its way out of her throat, a sound that would’ve been a scream if she hadn’t
just woken from a drugged sleep.
It was as if she were starring in the extra-large version of Snow White, with giants
instead of dwarves. Sucking in a breath that rasped against her dry throat, she tried to
scramble backward as well as she could with limbs that refused to obey her brain’s
commands. The men surrounding her drew back when she moved, although there were
still too many of them standing way too close.
She recognized the man from her office but the other five faces were new to her.
There were two women there, too, although they stood several steps back from the
encircling men. Daphne was on a quilt-covered king-size bed and, to her relief, still
fully clothed. Even the charm bracelet Brett had given her still jangled against her wrist.
In her attempt to get away, she plastered her back against the rustic-looking headboard
and drew her knees to her chest.
A frantic glance around the room revealed she was in the loft of what appeared to
be a cabin, judging by the light pine log walls and exposed beams. She must’ve been out
all night, since sunlight was streaming through the sliding glass doors leading to a
balcony. Opposite the glass doors was a railing running almost the full length of one
side of the loft, with only the top of a spiral staircase interrupting the line.
After a quick look around, her gaze snapped back to the people crowding the bed.
“Give her some freaking room, guys,” one of the women ordered, giving Daphne
what was probably supposed to be a comforting smile. The woman fit in the surreal
Snow White tableau, as she looked the part, with black hair and blue eyes. Did Snow
White have blue eyes? Daphne knew the character had black hair and white skin and
red lips, but did the fairy tale even mention eye color?
She shook her head to refocus her wandering thoughts and winced at the painful
throb.
“Headache?” A blond guy held out an uncapped bottle of water. “Your mouth is
probably dry, too.”
She stared at it and then flicked a glance at him.
“What?” he asked, his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as he looked from
the water bottle to her.
The Snow White lookalike snorted. “Unlike you, Darwin, she’s obviously not an
idiot. Why would she drink something given to her by the guys who just drugged her?”
“Christ, Lauren, don’t fucking lump me in with that dumbass,” one of the darkhaired guys grumbled, jerking his head at the guy who’d shown up at her office. “Ari
was the one who did the drugging and kidnapping and shit. Leave the rest of us
fucking out of it.”
Daphne blinked. If she were naming the dwarves, she’d call that one “Swearie”. Or
maybe “Sir Curse-a-Lot”. Squeezing her eyes closed, she shut down that mental
tangent. She needed to focus on the situation and how to get her ass out of it.
“What…” Her throat protested and she tried to swallow. The blond giant was right,
damn him and his tempting water. Her mouth was painfully dry.
“Here.” The other woman worked her way into the circle of men, holding out
another water bottle. “This one hasn’t been opened.”
“Hypothetically speaking, though, you could have injected something through the
plastic, if you really wanted to drug her,” Lauren said casually. “I mean, just having the
cap on doesn’t really mean it’s safe.”
Daphne had been reaching for the bottle but, at that, jerked her hand back.
“Fuck, Laur,” Sir Curse-a-Lot groaned. The rest of the dwarves just glared at her.
The woman—Lauren—clapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she mumbled
through her fingers.
“Here.” The blond who’d originally offered her water--what had Lauren called
him? Darwin?—grabbed the bottle and turned it upside-down. “If there were any
puncture holes, water would come out when I squeezed, see?” After holding it a
moment to demonstrate, he righted it and held it out to her.
Too thirsty to really care at this point, she took the bottle. It would almost be a relief
to be drugged again and unconscious and oblivious to all this insanity. She’d never
been kidnapped before, so she didn’t have any firsthand experience to use as a
comparison, but she was pretty sure this was not a run-of-the-mill abduction.
Her hand shook as she twisted off the cap. She raised the bottle to her lips and then
paused, looking around at the circle of people all watching her take a drink.
“Everyone out,” Ari, her kidnapper, ordered abruptly, startling her into spilling the
water down her front.
“We can’t leave her alone with the guy who drugged and kidnapped her,” a man
with big brown eyes who hadn’t spoken yet said.
“You can.” Ari stared him down until Darwin stepped between them.
“Enough, A,” the blond growled. “Tom has a point. The poor thing just woke up in
a strange place with a bunch of strange people. Leaving her alone with the guy who
knocked her out and dragged her here probably isn’t the best idea.”
One of the guys tapped on the footboard, bringing everyone’s attention to him.
Despite her current circumstances, Daphne couldn’t help but notice the way his hair fell
around his face in tousled strands the color of darkly stained wood. His eyes, a
greenish-hazel, peered out of the mop in a way that reminded her of a wild creature
peeking out of the underbrush. In this land of giants, he looked slight, although he was
probably above average height and the lines of his muscles filled out his clothes like a
Calvin Klein model’s would.
“Fine. Benjy will stay, too,” Ari said, his voice breaking her fascinated scrutiny.
After some muttering amongst themselves, the others seemed to accept this
compromise and moved toward the stairs. By the time Daphne managed to take a drink
of her water, just the three of them remained in the loft. She felt an odd pang watching
the others leave, as if her only allies in this crazy, messed-up situation were abandoning
her. They, at least, didn’t seem to agree with the whole kidnapping thing.
Her gaze flicked between the two men and the stairs, her mind racing as she judged
the distance between the bed and freedom. As if he could read her thoughts, Ari
stepped sideways, putting his huge bulk between her and the top of the stairs. Benjy
stayed next to the foot of the bed, watching her silently. Since flight didn’t appear to be
an option, maybe she could talk her way out of this.
“Why am I here?” Her voice, although a little rusty, sounded deceptively steady. A
far corner of Daphne’s brain made a mental note to be proud of that later.
Ari studied her for a long moment, his thick arms crossed over his chest, before
jerking his chin in the other man’s direction. “B can’t talk.”
He seemed to be waiting for a response, so Daphne nodded uncertainly.
“I did some research. Your name kept coming up.”
“Research?” she said slowly. This really was the strangest kidnapping ever.
It was Ari’s turn to nod. “I was looking for someone to help Benjy. I found you.”
She was silent, trying to absorb this information. “But…why didn’t you just come to
the clinic?” She paused, since he had visited the clinic, even if it was just to kidnap her.
“Or, you know, make an appointment?” Like a normal, non-insane person.
“Not an option.” He bit off the words as if they tasted bad.
Frowning, Daphne rubbed shaking fingers against her temple. The more confused
she got, the worse the pain pounded inside her skull. “Why?”
By the hard set of his jaw, she knew she wasn’t going to get an answer.
“You know this is crazy, right?” Her steady tone had dissolved into a shaky mess.
“You can’t just kidnap me and expect me to help you!”
“You can leave when you fix him.”