The Price of Pleasure by Kresley Cole Read Free Book Online Page B

running out of food. We fought like spitting cats over who would leave, each wanting to protect the other. In the end, I planned to wait until she slept, then creep out before dawn. When I woke Cammy was gone….
    â€œAre you going to read or are you going to search?”
    Grant reluctantly glanced up and found Ian standing over him, readied for another day. “I thought you’d had it.”
    â€œWalking until my feet rot off actually beats staying here—”
    â€œSo, we’re out of liquor?”
    Ian didn’t even have the grace to look shamefaced. “Quite so. And bloody boring without it. Besides, when I found the shelter, it whetted the explorer appetite in me.”
    â€œ You found the shelter?”
    â€œWould you have found it without me?”
    Grant scowled before looking down at the words covetously.
    â€œDon’t you feel guilty reading her journal?”
    Yes, he struggled with it at every page. “I might be able to find a reference to another hiding place.”
    â€œYou might put the journal down and find her sitting in her hut.”
    â€œShe’s too smart for that.”
    â€œSo, now you know her?”
    He knew she was courageous and wily and loyal. He held up the journal. “I know her.”

Four
    J ust after midnight, Tori padded into their camp, her footsteps silenced by the sand. She dragged her woven sack with difficulty and crept closer to the shadowy form of the captain, an imposing form even at rest.
    When she stood directly over him, she knew she should hurry away, but she was curiously content to watch him by the light of the dying fire and the waxing moon. His brows knitted in sleep, and a lock of hair teased his eyes. If she were objective, she’d admit that he was a particularly good-looking man, with his strong chin and chiseled features.
    After several moments, the contentment faded as the curious urge to touch him surfaced. What would his skin feel like? She’d wondered since she’d seen him in the pool. And the faint beginnings of his beard? Would his face be rough where hers was smooth? Captivated, she inched closer.
    And promptly kicked over a lantern.
    She tensed to run. He mumbled something in his sleep, his voice a deep rumble, and rolled over, but he didn’t wake. Relaxing somewhat, she noticed a book tucked by his side. Setting down her roiling sack, she leaned forward, wondering what a man like him would read.
    My journal. The bastard was reading it. She pulled it free, heart hammering as he muttered again. The pages opened to where he’d placed a mark, and she read, the journal trembling in her hands. As though it’d been the morning before, she remembered finding the captain of that other ship attacking Cammy, remembered the rage she’d felt that he would dare try to hurt her. Tori had been blind with it.
    Yet at the end of that harrowing trial, Tori had known she and Cammy could do whatever it took to stay alive. That realization had made her strong. The same knowledge seemed to frighten and weaken Cammy….
    Tori shook her head hard. Reminded of why she was here, she gathered up her prize once more and guided it from the sack. When it coiled under his blanket, she sprinted away, hearing the captain bellowing in the distance. After another five minutes of racing away, she wondered if she could slow a bit.
    Until loud footfalls crunched the ground behind her.
    The blood left her face, making it cool. Her run returned to a sprint as she pumped her arms for speed. He couldn’t catch her. All she had to do was make it to the line of downed trees. He was too tall, too lumbering to run beneath them. The horizontal trunks were too high to scale. To the trees. Seconds more. She had them in sight.
    Everything went black.
    The air shot from her lungs as a crushing weight pressed down. Her eyes opened in slits to find the big man straddling her.
    â€œDon’t move another inch,” he said, then