A Forbidden Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

direct rays, allowing her a better opportunity to study him without having to strain her eyes too greatly.
    Memories came rushing forth. She’d been attacked in the woods, that much she could recall, but beyond that, her mind was clouded in darkness. Where was she? Who was her captor? A quick glance to her wrists confirmed she was not bound. Blankets covered her body, and she sensed the linen coiled around her head, but her clothes were nowhere to be seen.
    Heart battering in sync with the pulses in her skull, she tried to sit up, raising her head no more than a few inches off the pillow before a wave of discomfort attacked her senses and she dropped back with an anguished cry.
    The dark figure abruptly turned at the sound of her sob and hastened to her side.
    “Get away from me,” she whispered raggedly.
    The advancing gajo halted just short of the bed. “There is no cause for alarm.”
    “Where am I?”
    “You’re safe.”
    Sabrina, as of yet, could not entirely see the man’s face, for he now had his back to the sun, a veil of shadows concealing much of his features. But she recognized his voice as belonging to one of the men who’d cornered her in the woods earlier that day. “My clothes?”
    “Your chemise is drying in the adjacent bath.” He indicated the direction with a gesture of his hand.
    She was trembling, her voice quivering. “You took what you wanted. Now let me go!”
    Soul-racking sobs congested her lungs, and she tried in vain to halt the surge of humiliating tears. She didn’t want him to have the satisfaction of seeing her weep. Of seeing her dignity cut down to pieces. But try as she might to stave off the torrent of tears, rage and disgrace took their hold, her efforts to cap the sorrow dashed.
    “Good heavens, woman, I never touched you! I carried you back to the house, to be sure, but I never laid an inappropriate hand on you.”
    She didn’t hear him anymore, the tears streaking her cheeks, her breathing noisy as she gulped in drafts of much-needed air. She was tainted, by a gajo , no less. Her innocence brutally taken away from her. How could she ever go home? How could she ever explain this to her father? To her future husband? Oh, God! She had no memory of the ravishment, but it must have been brutal, for her whole body thrummed with pain.
    “You brute,” she sobbed and sputtered. “Just give me back my clothes!”
    Muttering something under his breath, the gajo wove his fingers through his hair with a rough movement. “Stop with those tears. I give you my word of honor, as a gentleman, I have not mistreated you in any way, nor have I any intention of doing so in the future. I brought you here to recover. My sister removed your damp chemise so you wouldn’t catch sickness. As for your other belongings, they are right here.” He lifted her bag to prove his claim, then set it back on the floor at the foot of the bed.
    The bout of misery that had swept over her only moments ago now dwindled. The tears still trickled down her face, but the suffocating sobs soon faded to occasional gulps of air.
    Despite her grogginess and somewhat bleary vision, she managed to narrow her eyes to the shadowed figure hovering above her. “W-who are you?”
    He sighed in apparent relief. “I am Anthony Kennington, Viscount Hastings, at your service.”
    “Where are the other men?”
    “I am not associated with the villains who attacked you.”
    “But you were watching me from the woods.”
    “Yes, well, I was rather bowled over to find a woman bathing in the stream. I’m not accustomed to the sight, you know?”
    Sabrina steadied her irregular breathing and wiped away the moisture from her cheeks with the back of her hand.
    It was then that Anthony pivoted and strode over to a dresser to remove a white kerchief. He returned to the bed and handed it to her, but she wouldn’t take it, so he just laid the silk cloth on the mattress beside her.
    “Where am I?” she asked hesitantly.
    “In my