Shadow Walker by Connie Mason Read Free Book Online Page B

pitiful noises coming from the bed and realized immediately what had awakened him. Dawn was tossing about on the bed, making pathetic sounds that reminded him of a wounded animal.
    “Dawn.”
    No answer.
    “Dawn. Are you awake?”
    Silence.
    Cole leaped to his feet, reaching the bed in three long strides. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw that Dawn was in the throes of a nightmare. Not wanting to startle her, he reached out and gently shook her shoulder. She reared up, fighting, lashing out.
    “No! Not again! Never again! Haven’t you hurt me enough?”
    “Dawn, wake up.” Cole didn’t want to restrain her forcibly but he had no choice. He feared she would hurt herself if she continued like this. He held her down with the weight of his body. “It’s Cole. No one is going to hurt you.”
    Dawn opened her eyes, felt hard male flesh bearing her down onto the mattress and screamed. “Damn you, Billy! It’s not my fault. Go back to your whores. Let them satisfy you. The pain … The pain …”
    “It’s Cole, Dawn. You’re having a nightmare.”
    Suddenly Dawn went limp beneath Cole’s weight. “Cole? What are you doing?” She tried to dislodge him. “Get off me!”
    “I’m trying to keep you from hurting yourself. You were having a nightmare. Are you all right now?”
    “I … yes, please get off me … Oh, God, it hurts.”
    Cole lifted his weight from her, struck a match to the lamp and settled down beside her on the bed. “Does your back hurt?”
    Dawn stared at him. “How did you know?”
    “It’s obvious from the way you’ve been carrying yourself that you’re hurt. Lie on your stomach. I’ll get the ointment.”
    “No, please, just leave me alone.”
    “I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”
    “It isn’t proper.”
    Anger suffused Cole’s rugged features. “How can you think about proper after all you’ve endured? Was it proper for Cobb and his cohorts to rape you? Was it proper for Cobb to beat you?”
    “But Billy didn’t—”
    “Just turn around, Dawn, and don’t try to deny what’s obvious. Don’t you think I’ve got eyes?”
    Dawn shouldn’t have been surprised that Cole believed Billy had used her sexually. She’d been his wife. Billy had had every right to use her. She was the only one who knew the truth. Billy hadn’t been able to function as a man with her. He’d blamed her for his failure to please him, accusing her of being cold and ugly, but she’d learned the truth one day when he’d gotten drunk and told her about his injury. He’d paid whores to pleasure him in other ways, ways that sickened Dawn when he bragged about them. But no amount of beatings could induce her to duplicate those wicked things.
    Cole returned with the jar of ointment, saw that Dawn hadn’t moved from her back and gently turned her over. “I’m going to raise your nightgown. I’ll try to be gentle.”
    Dawn heard the sudden intake of Cole’s breath and could well imagine what her back looked like. Billy hadn’t spared her this time. He’d been drunkand demanded sex when he had returned to the cabin after a month’s absence. But nothing had changed. He hadn’t been able to perform and took his frustration out on her.
    She felt Cole’s hands on her flesh. Gentle. So gentle she wanted to cry. The warmth of his fingertips spread over her and through her like tongues of pure flame. Healing. The heat settled in the pit of her stomach and lower. She’d never felt like this before. It frightened her beyond reason. She moaned and arched into his touch as his fingers massaged ointment lower, onto her bruised buttocks.
    “Am I hurting you?”
    “No. It … it feels good.”
    “So do you,” Cole muttered beneath his breath.
    He swallowed the groan rising in the back of his throat and cursed his body’s reaction. He had hardened the instant he’d touched her silken flesh. Beneath the bruises and welts her golden skin was smooth and supple. Her body was thin but shapely. He