Always in My Dreams by Jo Goodman Read Free Book Online Page B

remembered was a voice near her ear, the breath hot and damp, telling her to hush.
    She didn't imagine she was unconscious long. When she woke she couldn't move or see and she could breathe only through her nose. It was odd, she thought, that she could recognize the cloth that bound and gagged her as scraps from the robe she'd been wearing. She tested the binding at her wrist and ankles. It wasn't tight enough to eliminate circulation, but it was more than sufficient to keep her from getting free.
    "You're awake."
    The voice came to her from across the room. It was only a husky whisper, but she had no problem making out the words. Skye's response was to become still again.
    "I'm not going to hurt you."
    Except for a nearly imperceptible lessening of tension, Skye didn't move.
    "Just so you know."
    She wished he wouldn't talk to her. She couldn't respond, and nothing about the low, sibilant voice was particularly comforting. Turning her head toward him, Skye strained to see through the scrap of thin cotton that covered her eyes. The residual firelight wasn't enough for her to make out more than shadows. The intruder appeared to be in the area of her father's desk. Skye could hear him shuffling papers and opening and closing Jay Mac's drawers.
    What was he looking for? She started to ask and her tongue pressed against the ball of cloth that filled her mouth. Her nose wrinkled as she tried to push it out.
    "There's nothing you can do."
    He was not apologetic. In fact, he sounded smug, as if her helplessness satisfied him. Skye heard nothing from him for several minutes and supposed he was reading. Behind her back she twisted with the binding on her wrists.
    "Is there a safe?"
    Skye heard papers being shuffled again and a drawer was closed. There was a finality about the sound that made her think he was done rifling Jay Mac's desk.
    "A safe?" he repeated.
    This time he was closer and there was agitation and some impatience in his voice. She hadn't heard a chair move or his steps across the carpet. He was so quiet that she wondered what he'd done to draw attention to himself in the first place.
    "You can't see, can't move, can't talk, but I know you can hear."
    He was hunkered down beside the sofa where she was lying. His face was close to hers. Skye instinctively tried to move away, pushing back against the cushions.
    "The safe?"
    This time the whisper was menacing. Skye shook her head. There was no safe in the house. Her father kept his important papers at the offices of Northeast Rail.
    "There's no safe in the house?"
    Skye nodded. She expected him to move away, but he stayed where he was. A hand touched the crown of her hair. Skye flinched. The hand was moved slowly, slipping over her temple and cheek. The leather was cool, and she turned her face to avoid it. "Mr. Worth keeps documents at his office?" she was asked.
    It seemed to Skye that it would have been more natural for him to call Jay Mac by name or refer to him as her father. That he did neither of those things suggested to Skye that he didn't know there was a relationship. Why would he? she wondered. He had no reason to think she was anyone but a servant.
    His hand moved from her face to her shoulder and rested there. She could feel the soft leather of his glove through the eyelet lace. Would he be touching her so freely if he knew she was Jay Mac's daughter? Skye squirmed. The hand was moved to the curve of her breast and now Skye's entire body stiffened. She held her breath, more afraid in this moment than in any time since entering the room.
    "The Worth Building?" he asked deeply, angrily. His thumb flicked the tip of her breast.
    Skye shook her head violently. If he had assumed she was a servant, he couldn't really expect her to know more than the fact there was no safe in the house. She sensed his silence, his thinking.
    "All right," he said finally. He was slow to remove his hand from her breast, letting it glide under the curve, then along the plane of her