A hand touched her shoulder and Shaun jumped, twisting around, bringing her hands up in defense. Lying next to her was Jozef.
"Wh – what are you doing here?" she stammered.
Her eyes travelled down his body where he was sprawled out, his hands tucked behind his head. He was alert and he didn't look tired. Shaun suspected that he came in to lie down with her but hadn't fallen asleep yet. Perhaps the jostling had woken her.
Rather than answer, he reached up, took hold of her arm and tugged her back down to his side. Shaun tried not to overthink it as she sank against Jozef, pressing her face to his hard chest and tucking her hands against him. The pallet was so narrow that she was forced to push herself flush against him. He didn't seem to mind.
Shaun lay in tense silence as his arm came around her body and his hand wrapped over her shoulder. When he made no other move to touch her, she allowed her eyes to droop. She began breathing and counting again, drawing his scent in through her nose and breathing it out through her mouth.
Her body flooded with tingles as she breathed him in. She tried to tell herself that there was no way she was attracted to her captor, but Shaun knew it was bullshit. She was a doctor; she was well aware of what her physiological responses to Jozef meant. Her body didn't care what her mind knew. Her body didn't care that she could die at any moment. It wanted Jozef.
Shaun drifted back into sleep, the warmth of Jozef's reassuring presence lulling her. When she woke up in the morning, he was still there, his arm around her shoulder and his gaze on her face. She smothered a yawn and wondered if he'd stayed awake or if he'd fallen asleep with her.
She pushed away from him and sat up. This time, instead of tugging her back down, he sat up with her, flexing his hands against the edge of the pallet and rolling his shoulders back until they cracked. He tipped his head to one side and then the other, cracking his neck.
Shaun had always hated the sounds of cracking bones and muscles. They reminded her too much of breaks and strains. Personally, she avoided the chiropractor like the plague, preferring to go to a massage therapist. She rolled her own shoulders back and winced as they cracked. Sleeping on a wooden pallet was not comfortable.
"You stayed with me," she ventured, glancing sideways at him where he was sitting next to her.
He didn't turn to look at her when he lifted his hands to make quick signs. You were shivering in your sleep and there are no blankets in here.
"You were worried I was cold?" she asked tentatively.
He didn't answer her question, but stood and signed, we should get back to the house.
Shaun's heart sank. She wanted to talk about what’d happened, find out what it meant. Why would he try to comfort her? Why put her in a cell at all if he hadn't really intended to punish her? It hadn’t been much of a punishment, since he'd provided her with everything she needed, including his own body heat. She was starting to think a night on a wooden pallet was a fair trade for an escape attempt. She’d probably do it again. She was positive this was not the point Jozef had been trying to make with her.
Shaun stood as well, but a wave of dizziness hit her. She had missed supper the evening before and slept deeply, using Jozef's warmth as a blanket. Now, her body was having trouble adjusting. Jozef reached out to steady her, his long fingers wrapping around her bicep.
"I'm okay," she murmured.
He nodded but slid his arm around her waist to escort her from the building. She allowed the familiarity, finding comfort in it.
As they made their way out to the garden, the intensely bright sun blinded her and she tripped over the threshold of the prison, nearly hitting the tiles on the other side. Jozef caught her and cradled her protectively in his arms. Shaun looked up at him and their gazes caught.
Everything about this man called to her. If only she’d met him in a normal way, maybe on the street... maybe if she'd come to Prague for a visit before going back home to Canada, she would've agreed to a date if he'd asked her. Maybe she would've asked him. She didn't know, but she knew that their connection was real and unshakable. She didn't think it was just the intense life-threatening moments that they'd shared, but something deeper. Like their souls met and knew each other, even if their earthly minds didn't understand the connection.
Jozef swung her up into his arms and held her close against his chest. Shaun clutched his shoulders and murmured a weak protest, telling him that she was okay to walk, that the sun had only blinded her for a few seconds. He ignored her though, continuing to stride through the garden and into the house. Shaun decided to relax and accept the ride.
Truth be told she was exhausted, both physically and mentally. Even after a long night of sleep, she still felt drained. A result of her time working on the front lines of the Ukrainian conflict, and of her kidnapping. Such heightened anxiety would definitely take a toll on the body. Though she was a doctor, she was no stranger to anxiety. She felt it every time she worked with Doctors without Borders. She believed in their mandate, believed in her work with them, but that belief didn't stop the fear every time she travelled to a war zone. Every time she risked her life to treat others.
Jozef had unfortunately proved all of her concerns to be true. She had been in a war zone when she found herself being violently kidnapped. She wouldn't have been in a position to be abducted if she'd been safe at home in Canada, working in the Montréal hospital where she’d taken her residency.
"Jozef." His name rang sharply through the lobby of the mansion as they were passing through to Jozef’s private quarters.
Jozef paused to look over his shoulder as Dasha approached them. She looked annoyed at Jozef, but her gaze shifted to concern when she glanced down at Shaun in Jozef's arms.
"Is she hurt?” Dasha’s accusing gaze pierced her nephew.
Jozef shook his head at the same time as Shaun replied, "I'm okay. I don't even really know why he's carrying me. I tripped in the garden…."
Dasha reached out to pat Shaun's arm. "It's fine, dear. I'm more concerned that you spent the night in the shed." Her accusing gaze lifted to her nephew. "Family does not stay in the shed.”
Shaun turned her face against Jozef to hide the smile that was stretching her lips. Really, it was one of the first things she had to smile about since entering the mansion and she was grateful. Dasha was standing up for her. Giving her nephew shit for locking Shaun in “the shed". Shaun felt elated that anyone in the mansion cared enough about her well-being to inquire. They all knew about Shaun's escape attempt yesterday. Dasha had even warned her about Jozef’s reaction, had attempted to give Shaun advice. Shaun was beginning to look at the other woman as a kind of mother figure; a very deadly one, but still occasionally warm and most definitely effective.
Jozef turned away from his aunt and took a step toward his apartment, but Dasha caught hold of his arm and hurried around to face them.
"People are starting to talk," she said quickly, her concerned gaze now on her nephew. "They know you brought a woman home with you and her unique…” Dasha’s eyes lingered on Shaun’s face, as she continued, “complexion means there’ll be questions if she’s linked to the missing doctor in Ukraine. We need to announce the engagement right away if we’re going to quell these rumours."