The Bachelor's Auction

Chapter Five

When Carried looked at the burnt barren trees, the hair stood on the back of her neck. Someone in the woods was looking at her. She leaned forward, squinting to see if she could find someone. Methodically, she divided the woods into sections, looking at each part one at a time through the four quadrants defined by windowpanes. Finishing the first window, she took a step right to the second one. There. Someone moved in the lower left quadrant of the window. She was sure of it. His outfit blended with the grayish brown barks, making him difficult to track. He didn't run but he was traveling fast enough to disappear in seconds into the brush pile.

She had been sleeping on the couch in Lucas' suite for the last couple of days. It was safer there. She made sure to rise and return to her suite by first light. Standing in the bathroom looking in the mirror, she stared at the circles under her eyes. Yes, her worrying was taking its toll. If she moved her stuff across the hall, would she be able to sleep there? Or was being close to Lucas a subconscious requirement? Perhaps a conversation with him was in order. He probably knew she had been there even though he hadn't said anything. Why had he ignored it?

A security guard came into view, perusing the ground. He stopped near the spot where the man she had seen had been. Looking up and seeing her, he pointed at the ground lifting his hands and shoulders in a questioning posture. She nodded, raising five fingers to indicate how many minutes had gone by since the intruder had disappeared. The guard spoke into his shoulder mike and placed a yellow flag into the ground.

"Carrie, what have you seen now?" Lucas asked, approaching the window. Instead of looking out of the window, he studied her face.

She waited for what he would say next. He didn't touch her so she relaxed a tiny bit.

"Would you like to move across the hall?" he asked softly.

"I don't know." Carrie looked back out the window.

"Don't know what?"

As the silence stretched, Lucas turned her to face him. She looked at his chin, then down to his chest. His hand slowly moved to take her chin and lift it. Concern radiated from his eyes.

"I don't know if it's close enough to you," Carrie forced herself to say. She closed her eyes for a moment then gazed into his eyes again.

"You know you can stay on the couch if that is what you want. Or I can sleep on the couch and you can have the bed. But you have to sleep. And not just for a couple of hours at a time."

So he had been alert to her night movements. "Do I look that bad?" she couldn't stop herself from asking, biting her lip.

"The circles aren't quite the color of bruises; though they are quite dark and noticeable." He leaned in toward her examining them then retreated. He removed his hand from her chin too.

She sighed. Oh God, she was doing that constantly lately. She blinked. She shook her head. "Yes, let's try across the hall." It pleased her that he hadn't, even in jest, offered to share the bed with her. Am I really that scared?

A shadow crossed his face. He walked to her closet, collecting hangers of clothes to take across the hall.

She just stood watching him. "Thank you," she finally said as he was walking out the door.

"You're welcome. Do I need to move the trunk? Is there anything in it?" he responded as he continued walking.

"If you do the closet, I'll do the dresser and bathroom. Leave the trunk here."

When she finished her part of the move she went downstairs but Lucas wasn't there. Needing to be near him, she couldn't stop herself from going to his suite. She knocked on the door, and then opened it without waiting to hear come in. He was frowning, staring at his laptop with glasses on. He never used glasses when he was on the computer downstairs.