Dark Torment by Karen Robards Read Free Book Online Page A

was her chance to be revenged
for the appalling things he had said to her. Since Percival was unable to take
out on her his anger at her cold rejection of his advances, he was looking for
a scapegoat. If she gave him so much as a hint of an excuse, he would
undoubtedly beat the convict mercilessly. And he would revel in doing so.
    Technically, only government officials and their agents were
allowed to order corporal punishment of convicts. In practice, however, the
landowners and their employees treated the convicts as they saw fit. Floggings
were commonplace, and deaths resulting from them were not extraordinary. In
nearly every case, the government looked the other way. The convicts were
common criminals, England’s scum deposited on Australia’s shores.
Who would complain about a few less of them? Besides, if the convicts were not
afraid of the men for whom they toiled, how would they ever be persuaded to
work?
    Although Edward kept Percival’s excesses under control on
Lowella—only under the most extreme circumstances would Edward permit a
convict to be whipped—Percival’s authority on the station was such
that he could order a beating and Edward would never hear of it. Sarah
suspected that he had done so more than once in the past, but the convicts and
aborigines alike were deathly afraid of Percival, and would never tell on him
out of fear for their own lives.
    “Sarah?” Percival reminded her that she still
hadn’t answered him.
    Sarah held those deep blue eyes with her own for a moment longer.
The convict’s haggard face could have been carved from stone now. Not
even by so much as a flicker of an eyelid did he importune her silence. Sarah
compressed her lips angrily at the cold insolence of his stare, she remembered
what he had called her and the disgusting things he had said. He undoubtedly
deserved to be punished most severely.
    “Now who’s being absurd, Mr. Percival?” Sarah
scoffed. “The man did nothing to me, of course.”
    “What was all the shouting about then?” Percival was
determined not to be deprived of his prey without an argument. “And
don’t tell me that there was no shouting—I heard it
distinctly.”
    Sarah regarded him haughtily. “Though it’s really no
concern of yours, I will tell you that he did not want his back treated and I
was insistent. Now I see that he was in the right of it after all. And
that’s all I mean to say about the matter.”
    Percival glowered at her. It was plain that he wanted to answer
her harshly—clearly, he felt that she had overstepped her place as a
female—but the fact that she was his employer’s daughter stopped
his tongue. That, and his own intentions toward her. Sarah could read his
changing expressions as he decided not to attempt to exert his masculine
authority over her now, before he had wooed or coerced her into becoming his
wife.
    “Very well, Miss Sarah.” He stepped once again into
the overseer’s role, despite his anger, which he couldn’t quite
hide. Sarah shivered. If she had ever had any doubts about her decision not to
marry Percival, they had just been laid to rest. The glint in his eyes told her
plainly how her defiance infuriated him; if she had been his wife and subject
to him, she would have had good cause to fear the form his retaliation might
take.
    Sarah held his eyes for a moment longer, determined not to let him
see that she was suddenly wary of him. Then she turned, bending, and began to
gather up the scattered medical supplies. In the corner, the other convict
huddled in a little ball. His very stillness betrayed that he was awake but
wanted no part of what was going on. The ungrateful scoundrel whose life she
had just saved for the second time that day lay motionless, his free arm curved
under his head to act as a pillow, his eyes expressionless as he watched her.
After that one quick glance, Sarah didn’t look at him again. As far as
she was concerned, he