Read Online Sentimental Journey by Jill Barnett - Free Book Online Page A

Kathryn Kincaid was blind. This little piece of info was what had been behind Langdon’s snide smile.
    J.R. crossed over to the table, picked up her shoes and put them in her hand. “There, you’ve got your shoes.” He slid on his gloves.
    “No one told you I’m blind.” She put on one shoe, then the other.
    “It doesn’t matter. Getting out of here does.” He took her hand. “Let’s go.”
    He moved toward the window.
    She moved toward the door.
    “Not that way.” He pulled her with him. “We go out the way I came in. Through the window,” he whispered. “Listen closely. There’s a rope hanging out here. I’m going to climb out the window, grab the rope, and brace myself on the tower. When I say to, you’ll climb out, grab a hold of the rope, and clamp your legs around it, so it’s between your legs, and grip it tightly with both hands and slide down so you’re in front of me. I’ll be behind you the whole time.” He paused for a fraction of a second, then said, “Guess I don’t have to warn you not to look down.”
    “No. You don’t.”
    “Then you need to let go of the rope, put your arms around my neck, and I’ll take you down to the ground.” He paused. “Understand?”
    “I think so.”
    “Repeat it quietly.”
    She did. Verbatim.
    “Good.”
    He slipped out the window, took the rope, swung out, and secured it, taut, then braced his boots against the stone tower.
    He looked up.
    She had already crawled out onto the stone ledge, her back to him. She was sitting there, waiting.
    It was a good thing she couldn’t see the drop down. This old fortress was situated on a tall and rugged cliff high above the road. Going down it was going to be like rappelling the sheer face of a mountain.
    “I’m ready,” he whispered. “Grab the rope with both hands.”
    She waved her arm a little in the air. He realized she was feeling around for the rope.
    He should have put it in her hand. He started to climb back inside but saw that her hand found the rope and she gripped it tightly, then pulled it between her knees.
    “Cross your feet together around it.”
    She did.
    He moved up the rope. “Put your arms around my neck.” He took one hand to show her where his shoulder was. She locked her arms around his neck.
    “Hang on, Kincaid.” He pulled her off the ledge.
    “There is no way I’m not hanging on, Captain.”
    “Good. Then here we go.” He began to slide down, a few feet at a time. It took time, tense minutes because they were in plain sight, with only the darkness in their favor.
    “You’re doing fine.” With their combined weight, it wasn’t easy to take it slowly, to slide only a few feet at a time. He could feel the strain in his arms, shoulders, and back.
    “Someone’s walking below,” she hissed into his ear. “To the west.”
    He froze. He’d just heard the footsteps, too. How the hell did she know it was west? He scanned the area and saw a man at the far edge of the lower wall. He was facing away from them as he lit a cigarette.
    It’s three in the morning and this guy wants a smoke.
    J.R. watched the small orange cigarette glow brightly in the guard’s mouth before the man exhaled a foggy cloud, then rested his arms on the wall.
    Great.
    If the guard turned this way, he could see them, hanging by the rope about halfway down the stone tower.
    J.R. looked down. He needed an out. Fast.
    He had a hunch the guy was going to turn around any second.
    What the hell . . .
    He shoved off from the wall with about a hundred and thirty pounds of Kincaid’s blind daughter clinging to his neck.
    They slid like a lit fuse down the rope. A good seventy feet. Friction from the rope burned right through his gloves.
    He used the rope to brake their descent. They jerked to a stop, and hung there, now low enough to be partially hidden by some trees growing inside a stone wall that surrounded the central courtyard. With Lalla Luck on his side, the crowns of those trees blocked them from