Captive Bride Read Online Free PDF

stared even harder at the fireplace, willing her eyes dry.
    “Exquisite. Very lovely, Liu Dai. Are you positive she’s a virgin?”
    “Yes, sir.” His voice cracked. “An untouched lotus.
    She should fetch a great price.” Xie nodded. “Good. You’ve done well. Madam Teng, teach her what she needs to know.” He paused then added, “You may get dressed now, girl.” Huiann continued to bite the insides of her cheeks, stopping her lips from quivering. She blinked the moisture from her eyes and stooped to pick up her robe from the floor.
    After she’d tied the robe around her trembling body, Xie Fuhua stepped close and wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, gripping it tight. “You’re a very brave girl, Huiann. No tantrums, no tears. That pleases 32
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    me, but it worries me too. Such a strong, brave girl might think she has the power to escape her fate.” He pinched her neck and a bolt of pain shot through her.
    “Let me say again. Even should you escape this house, there is no place for you to run, no one who will give you shelter. I hold this city in the palm of my hand. Do you understand?”
    Huiann nodded in compliance, but already she was making plans.
    “The veal is excellent, Mrs. Dodge. Thank you so much for inviting me tonight.”
    “You’re welcome, Mr. Sommers. But you’re too kind about the meal. It’s only passable. Back home we had a cook who served delectable dinners. It’s so hard to find good servants here.” Mrs. Abigail Dodge, the banker’s wife, patted her lips before returning her napkin to her lap. The elaborate beading on her dress clattered like twigs and Alan wondered how many pounds all those beads weighed.
    He turned his attention to the Dodges’ daughter, Cynthia. Her pale blue eyes were so wide they gave her a vacant appearance, but perhaps there was more depth to her than one would guess on first glance.
    “Miss Dodge, how do you like San Francisco?”
    “Honestly, I find it rather dismal. There’s far more fog and rain than I expected.” The young woman glanced at her mother’s disapproving frown then back at Alan. “But the bay is beautiful when the sun does make an appearance.”
    “Yes.” He should ask her questions about the finishing school she’d attended or discuss the weather, but he was really only interested in the meal. Despite Bonnie Dee
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    Mrs. Dodge’s protest, the food was delicious. But since he was invited as an eligible bachelor deemed suitable for the Dodges’ daughter, his payment for a meal demanded he make some effort.
    “You must miss New England and all your school friends.”
    “I do. Very much.” The vehemence of Cynthia’s words earned another frown from her mother. The young woman bit her lower lip as though remembering she was meant to charm their dinner guest, not show disfavor to the city he called home. “I understand you’re originally from New Hampshire, Mr.
    Sommers.”
    “Yes.” He pictured his parents’ house and the quaint town in a tree-shrouded hamlet a world away from the bustling commotion of San Francisco.
    “What brought you to California?” Alan sipped his wine while he tried to decide how honest to be. “After the war I returned home but couldn’t seem to settle there, so I took a train headed west and kept going until I reached the ocean.” A truthful yet surface answer. His sense of disassociation from his old life, the melancholy and hopelessness that drove him to wander, were hardly suitable dinner topics.
    Cynthia put a hand to her chest, drawing his attention to her décolletage. She seemed to be practicing flirtatious wiles someone had recommended and didn’t appear comfortable in the role. “My goodness, a war hero in our midst.”
    “Not a hero, just a veteran,” Alan said.

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    “Whether you earned a medal or not, I’m sure your service was heroic.” Mrs. Dodge signaled for the servant to bring the next course.
    “What outfit did you serve with?”