The Telltale Heart by Melanie Thompson Read Free Book Online Page A

his body, and attached all the wires. Praying the box held enough life to provide succor, she strapped the buckles tightly. Drex’s body jumped as the vest did its job and sparked his heart. Nothing happened. Drex’s skin remained the color of ashes and his breathing so shallow Cam could barely detect it. “Please work,” she cried. “You have to.”
    When she fell on Drex’s chest sobbing, she felt the vest shock him again. Suddenly, he coughed and took a deep breath. The gray color began to change to a ruddy hue. Drex took several more deep breaths and his eyelids fluttered.
    â€œCome back to me, my darling,” she whispered with her lips touching his cold blue ones.
    He groaned. “Is it truly you, my heart, my one and only love?” His eyes fluttered open and she stared into their depths. A tiny smile cracked his lips. “Saved me again, didn’t you?”
    She kissed him softly and helped him sit. “Yes,” she breathed her heart aching with love for him. “I’ll always be here for you.”
    He wrapped his arms around her and surveyed the room. “Why is Nugent bellowing like a stuck calf?”
    â€œI fear Edmund has fixed it so Nugent will never have children.”
    â€œReally?” The Duke said. “I say, Edmund, are you and Tommy all right?”
    Edmund had Tommy in a strong embrace and was pulling him to his feet. “I think we shall do, as long as I get this poor boy out of here soon.”
    Drex used Cam to hoist himself to his feet. He looked around the room and shuddered. “What a bloody mess. Do you think Nugent can walk?”
    â€œI sincerely doubt it,” Edmund said. “I hit him as hard as I could. I swear my fingers went all the way up to his throat.”
    â€œClassic knife hand,” Cam told Drex and demonstrated with her own hand. “He drove his fingertips into Nugent’s, uh, Nugent’s privates.”
    The three of them headed for the door stepping over bodies as they went. “Look at all this,” the Duke marveled. “You two are dangerous.” He stopped, leaning heavily on Cam and lifted her chin. “I’m glad you’re on my side, wife.”
    He dropped a kiss on her lips. “Always,husband,” she said.
    * * * *
    They were already married, but Drex could not consummate his marriage when they got home. He had a day of recuperating to do, but the waiting was finally over and the moment of Cam’s deflowering had arrived. Cam was a bundle of nerves, filled with anticipation clouded with some dread.
    The vest was working its magic, maintaining his heartbeat. Edmund and Tommy had returned to their flat above the laboratory, and it was time for Cam to become a woman. Drex’s woman.
    Her nerves had her pacing the floor. Her maid helped her bathe and dress in a filmy negligée purchased just for her wedding night. Her golden curls had been brushed to glossy perfection and hung down to her waist. She felt naked and exposed in the sheer garment, but Drex was already in bed awaiting her. There was no time for backing out or being missish, something she hated.
    She dismissed her maid, who gave her one last look and giggled. “Oh, do go away, Jean. You only make it worse.”
    She opened the dressing room door and stood framed in the doorway for several minutes. Drex saw her and gasped. “My dear, you are so beautiful. Come to me.”
    She saw he wore the vest and nothing else when he pushed the covers back so she could slide in beside him in the huge bed. She stifled a nervous giggle. “I feel sure I shall need the vest tonight,” he said with a smile. “You already have my heart pounding.”
    She placed her hand over his heart. It was beating so hard she could feel it. “I do that to you?”
    â€œThere is another part of my body you affect as well,” he said in a husky growl.
    He pushed the quilts further down and she gasped. His