Blue Moon Read Online Free PDF Page A

face. She cradled her wounded wrist as she rocked back and forth sobbing uncontrollably. The sheet and blanket were wadded together. The hem of her frayed gown rode up to reveal her thighs. The neck of the dress hung open, exposing her shoulder and the rise of her breast.
    Noah’s breath caught in his throat. Suddenly he felt as if his moccasins had been nailed to the floor. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak. Even if he had some inkling of what to say to calm her, the words would not have come. He had never been alone with a strange woman—not under any circumstances. Now here he stood before one who was not only hysterical, but half-naked. He was helpless and appalled, not at her, but at himself, for he had no idea how to console her.
    Whether it was hours or seconds that passed as he stood there, he could not be certain, but soon Olivia stopped rocking. Her head came up and she blinked and looked around, as if she had no recollection of where she was or how she got there. When she turned and stared at him, he knew she was trying to place him, to remember where she was.
    He watched her expression change from one of acute anguish to one of fear. She did not flinch or take her eyes off him, but slowly, ever so slowly, she slipped one hand across the bed until her fingers came in contact with the bedclothes. She hastily covered herself.
    She did not say a word as she pressed back against the wall, almost as if she was waiting for him to pounce.
    Noah took a deep breath, willed himself to speak. Despite the fact that she was a stranger, that she was just passing through his life for a night, he found himself involuntarily reacting to her. “If you’re all right,” he said, barely able to put words together, “then I’ll go back outside.”
    Ashamed of his physical reaction to her, of his inability to help her, he turned and left her alone again.
    •   •   •
    With relief, Olivia watched him go. As soon as he was out of the room she realized she was trembling violently. The old nightmare had left her exhausted, sweaty and shaken, unable to stop her tears. But more than the horrible dream, it was the raw desire on her host’s face that left her terrified.
    So, he is human after all
.
    Last night, when he had kept his distance—and his hands to himself—Olivia had wondered if perhaps Noah LeCroix was different than other men; if—thankfully—she inspired no lust in him.
    But this morning when she finally realized where she was, when she saw him standing there watching her, even the dawning sunlight in the room could not disguise the raw desire on his face or the way his body had responded to the sight of her. He had just been waiting.
    She truly feared him in that moment and braced herself, ready to fight, fully expecting him to cross the room and try to take her, then and there. But Noah LeCroix had surprised her. Again.
    Even though lust showed plainly on his face, he had not acted on it. Instead, he had turned and virtually run out of the cabin.
    Her hands shook as she swiped at her tears and tried to stop quaking. She hated this inability to control herself after the recurring nightmare as much as she hated having to relive it all, over and over—the rending separation from her family, her father’s betrayal, the boys’ terror. Susanna’s face when she had said, “Olivia, think of the boys.” Most of all her own guilt. Her inability to sacrifice herself for them and go willingly. Her shame over the need for self-preservation that had made her cry out, “But what about me?”
    “What about me?”
    It had been a little over a year since that day. She had been an innocent girl of seventeen, a girl with her whole life ahead of her, a life that held the promise of many happy tomorrows in their new home in Illinois.
    Yesterday, at long last, she had thought she was finally close to being reunited with her family—until her life once again took an ill-fated turn and suddenly she had been forced to