Stormspell by Anne Mather Read Free Book Online

somehow her fingers brushed his arm. and the burning heat of him made her snatch her hand back in horror.
    With another helpless look towards her father's room, she hesitated only a moment before taking his arm again, and urging him back into the bedroom.
    'Get into bed, Mr Howard.' she appealed, making little progress. 'You've got a temperature. Now you don't want to get pneumonia, do you?'
    'I want a drink." he persisted, pushing against her tugging hands. 'Let me go! I want a drink. I tell you.'
    Til get you a drink.' Ruth promised, gazing helplessly up at him. 'Oh. please—won't you get back into bed? I can't leave you like this. You're burning up!'
    Dominic's tawny eyes encountered hers, searching her pleading face with sudden emotion. 'I'll get back into bed. if you'll come with me.' he said, ceasing the struggle, and Ruth was suddenly faced with an entirely new situation. His abrupt transformation from hostile adversary to willing advocate was disturbing, and she was overwhelmingly aware of the lateness of the hour and the unexpected intimacy between them. She supposed he was not himself or he would never have made such a suggestion, but that didn't alter the fact that the suggestion had been made, and he expected an answer.
    'Get—get into bed. Mr Howard.' she said at length, drawing away from him, but now his fingers fastened about her wrist, firm and resistant, compelling her towards him.
    She couldn't believe this was happening. She couldn't believe that he was holding her astonished gaze in an hypnotic trance, or that his free hand was sliding about her waist. It was the first time any man. other than her father, had laid hands upon her body, and the terrifying thing was, she felt incapable of preventing him.
    'Who are you?' he murmured huskily, the tawny eyes glazing as he endeavoured to remember where he was. and his hoarse demand brought Ruth to her senses. As he bent his head, seeking a more physical contact, she twisted in his arms and succeeded in breaking his hold.
    'Get into bed. Mr Howard.' she begged, somewhat breathlessly, from the doorway, and closed the door firmly behind her.
    In the hall, she took several gulping breaths of air before feeling ready to face her father. On no account must he suspect what had happened, and her heart palpitated at the realisation of how vulnerable he was. But when she opened his door, she found Professor Jason was fast asleep, and with sudden hindsight she realised it had been Dominic Howard who had called out.
    That left her in a difficult position. What should she do? Should she wake her father up and tell him that Dominic was ill? She was loath to do so. He had looked so fragile that evening, and the last thing he needed was a broken night's sleep. And yet how could she go back into Dominic's bedroom knowing her own vulnerability? She had to do something— that much was obvious. But what? What?
    There was only one solution. With a feeling of reluctance she padded back along the hall, going out through the kitchen into the yard at the back of the house. She paid no attention to the fact that her feet were bare. She had gone barefoot as often as not since she was old enough to remember, and as she crossed the cobbled area to Celeste's cabin her only concern was that she might not find the woman alone.
    Celeste's protesting voice answered her third knock, and presently she pulled open the door, huge and voluminous, in her cambric nightgown.
    'What time you call this?' she complained, pushing stubby fingers through her tight curls and leaving them standing on end. Then, seeing Ruth's anxious face in the moonlight, she exclaimed: 'Is it your daddy? Oh, honey. Celeste didn't mean no harm.'
    'It's not Daddy,' Ruth admitted uncomfortably, hearing the mattress on Celeste's bed creak, as if someone had turned over on it. Celeste always had a man in tow. and since her children lived with her mother in Kingstown, she felt free to invite whom she liked into her bed. Recently.