The Claiming by Kaitlyn O'Connor Read Free Book Online Page A

she’d just given herself away. Had it been keyed to the true Jana’s voice? “It doesn’t seem to be working.”
    Blane and Dees exchanged a look. “It’s on paper. You have to read it,” Blane said gently.
    Jana stared at him without comprehension, searching her mind a little frantically for the meaning. To her partial relief, her mind finally supplied the answer. Unfortunately, understanding what read meant wasn’t going to help her do it. She’d never seen the written word in her life.
    She picked the bundle up, stared at it, trying to calm the panic that seemed as if it would overwhelm her, trying to think what she could do. After a moment, Blane took it from her, turned it and placed it in her hands again. Jana blushed, but an excuse came to her rescue. “I haven’t been able to see very well since I woke up on the ship.”
    To her relief, Blane and Dees exchanged a look of understanding. “Don’t worry. Your vision should clear up in a day or two.” Dees reached across the table. “May I?”
    Jana gave him the papers and he began to read. Jana wasn’t at all certain what he was reading, but it was obvious he was getting the words from the papers, because he looked at each, all the way to the bottom, then placed it carefully on the table with the writing side down and did the same with the next. The whys and wherefors and whereas’ that seemed to preface every sentence left Jana feeling as if he was speaking another language, however. She didn’t understand what the reading meant.
    When he finished, he looked up at her, waiting.
    She smiled and nodded.
    He looked relieved. “Well, if you’ll just sign here.” He stood up and moved around the table, placed the papers on it and showed her a line. She stared at the line, while he looked around as if he’d lost something. Finally, he moved back around the desk and took a stick from a stand and a bottle that looked as it if was filled with black paint. He handed her the stick.
    Jana looked at the stick, looked down at the paper, wondering what she was supposed to do with it.
    “Here,” Blane said, moving to stand beside her. He took the stick from her hand and dipped it into the bottle. It came out dripping black paint. “These are a little tricky to figure out. I’ll help you.” He put the stick in her hand and positioned it carefully in her fingers. Then, cupping his hand around hers, he guided it to the paper—then guided her hand in long stroking motions. “There. Now you’ve signed it. It’s all legal.”
    Jana stared at the paper, feeling strangely pleased. She’d added her own pattern to it. Dees, she saw, wasn’t looking pleased at all. He was, in fact, giving Blane a rather accusing stare. Blane grinned unrepentantly, shrugged. After a moment, Dees retrieved the paper, blew on it and finally bundled it up again.
    Blane returned the stick to its stand and helped her from the chair, steering her toward the door. “We’ll bid you good night, Dees.”
    ***
    Jana realized that she should not allow herself to feel so much happiness when her situation was so uncertain, but she could not seem to help herself. Every day presented a new challenge, a new adventure and each day that Marty did not arrive she became more convinced that she truly had escaped him and that everything would work out for her. She did not recall that there had ever been a time in her life when she had been so excited about the possibilities for each new day that she could scarcely wait until it’s arrival.
    She had not felt that way at first. If she had not been so weak and disoriented when she’d arrived that she could not think straight, she would have fled back onto the ship she’d arrived on. Despite her physical state, she had become painfully aware almost as soon as she arrived that she was battling far more than ignorance of the woman she was impersonating. She was also unprepared for the world she had found herself in.
    Thankfully, Blane had not seemed to