“Comfortable?” She looked at the handcuffs. “Hardly.”
“Sorry about the restraints. I’m sure you can understand the need for them.”
Donovan made a sound of disgust. The other man flicked him a look and then turned back to Chloe. “I can bring you some water, if you like.”
“No.” She almost added an automatic thank you, stopping herself just in time. She wasn’t about to thank her kidnapper for anything short of letting her go.
He nodded. “Call out if you need anything.”
With that, he turned and left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.
Donovan muttered an expletive beneath his breath, bring her attention back to him.
“I’m surprised you didn’t ask him any questions,” she commented. “Like what they want, how long they plan to keep us, what their next step is.”
“Questions weren’t necessary,” he murmured, his gaze still fixed on the door. “I know exactly what’s going on.”
She frowned. “You learned something from him just now?”
He nodded.
After a moment, she prodded. “Well?”
“Find that hairpin for me, will you?” he requested, instead of explaining.
“Donovan…”
“Let’s save the conversation for later.”
Something about his tone gave her a renewed sense of urgency. Biting her lower lip, she ran her left hand through his hair until she found the hairpin he’d hidden. He winced a little when she pulled it out. “I’m sorry. Did I pull your hair?”
“Doesn’t matter. Put the pin in my right hand.”
She did so, then sat back again while he fumbled with the pin and the cuffs. He dropped the hairpin once, which caused him to curse and her almost to panic until she was able to find the pin on the mattress beneath his hands. They both breathed sighs of relief when she gave it back to him.
“If I could just see what I’m doing,” he grumbled, starting again.
“Have you done this before? Picked a lock with a hairpin, I mean.”
“Once or twice,” he answered distractedly, his concentration focused on what he was doing above his head.
Chloe had a feeling there were some interesting stories behind that reply, but this, of course, wasn’t the time to ask. For one thing, she didn’t want to distract him, possibly causing him to drop the hairpin again.
She didn’t know how much time passed while she sat there watching him, listening to him mutter beneath his breath in frustration. Once they heard something crash in another part of the cabin, and they both froze, their heads whipping in the direction of the door. After a moment, Donovan went back to work on the lock.
It was getting darker outside, and their captor hadn’t turned on the overhead light when he’d left them. Long shadows filled the room now. The fierce determination in Donovan’s eyes made them seem to gleam like a cat’s eyes in the gloom.
The lock opened with a muted click. Such a quiet and anticlimactic sound that Chloe almost didn’t realize its import. When she did, she caught her breath. “You got it?”
He freed his left hand, lowering it to his side and flexing it to restore the circulation. His right wrist was still shackled, but he unhooked the cuffs from the headboard and levered himself into a sitting position. He swayed. Chloe reached out with her left hand to steady him. For just a moment, he leaned against her for support.
“The sedative must still be affecting you,” she murmured, her free arm around him. “Are you okay?”
“A little nauseous, but it’s passing.”
Drawing a deep breath, he straightened and reached for her cuffed wrist. “Let me see if I can get this open.”
Another distant sound made her heart beat faster. “What are you going to do if he catches you doing this?”