Dancing at Midnight Read Online Free PDF Page B

rocking
    his body. Why did he have this odd
    sense that something was amiss?/

    /Another thump. Another cry./

    /He walked slowly toward the stairs. What was wrong? The noise grew
    louder as he made his way along the second-floor hallway./

    /And then he heard it again. This time it was clear. "Nooooooooool"
    Ana's voice./

    /John sobered in an instant. He burst through the door, knocking it off
    one of its hinges. "Oh, God, no," he cried. He could barely see Ana, her
    slight form completely beneath Spencer, who was pumping relentlessly
    into her./

    /But he could hear her weeping. "Noooo, noooo, please, noooo."/

    /John didn't pause to think. Crazed, he pulled Spencer up off the girl
    and threw him against the wall./

    /"What the hell—Blackwood?" Spencer's face was as mottled and red as his
    member./

    /"You bastard," John breathed, his hand coming to rest on his gun./

    /"For God's sake, she's just some Spanish whore."/

    /"She is a child, Spencer."/

    /"She's a whore now." Spencer turned around to retrieve his breeches./

    /John's hand tightened on his gun./

    /"That's all she ever would have been."/

    /John lifted his gun. "His majesty's soldiers do not rape." He shot
    Spencer in the ass./

    /Spencer howled and went down, letting loose a swift stream of
    expletives. John immediately went to Ana,
    as if there was something he could possibly do to erase her pain and
    humiliation./

    /Her face was blank. Completely devoid of expression .../

    /Until she saw him./

    /She cringed. She turned away from John in horror. He staggered backward
    at the force of her terror.
    He hadn't.. .It hadn't been him .. .He'd meant to .../

    /Ana's mother burst into the room. "Mother of God," she cried out. "What
    is —Oh, my Ana. My Ana."
    She ran to her daughter, who was now weeping uncontrollably./

    /John stood in the middle of the room, dazed, in shock, and still drunk
    with whiskey. "I didn't..." he whispered. "It wasn't me."/

    /There was so much noise. Spencer was screaming and cursing in pain. Ana
    was crying. Her mother was railing at God. John couldn't seem to move./

    /Ana's mother turned around, her face full of more hatred than John had
    ever seen in a single person.
    "You did this," she hissed, and spit in his face./

    /"No. It wasn't me. I didn't/..."

    /"You swore you'd protect her." The woman seemed to be trying to
    restrain herself from attacking him.
    "It might as well have been you."/

    /John blinked. "No."/

    /It might as well have been you./

    /It might as well have been you./

    /It might as well.../

    John sat up in bed, his body soaked with sweat. Had it really been five
    years? He laid back down, trying to forget that Ana
    had killed herself three days later.

    *
    *

    *
    *

    *Chapter 3

    *

    "When Belle arrived at breakfast the next morn-ww ing, she discovered
    that neither Emma nor Alex were up yet. This was
    rather surprising because Emma tended to be something of a morning
    person. Belle guessed that Alex was keeping her
    abed for his own purposes and wondered if a woman could get pregnant
    while she was already pregnant.

    "For someone who is usually considered quite bright," she muttered to
    herself, "you know pathetically little about the important things."

    "Did you say something, my lady?" a footman immediately inquired.

    "No, no, I was just talking to myself," she replied, rolling her eyes at
    her behavior. If she kept this up, half of Westonbirt would think she
    was daft.

    She helped herself to a bit of breakfast, glancing through the day-old
    newspaper that was sitting out on the table for Alex's perusal. The
    newlyweds still hadn't arrived by the time she finished her omelet.
    Belle sighed, trying to decide how to occupy herself.

    She could raid Alex's library, she supposed, but for once she didn't
    feel like reading. The sun was shining brightly, a rare treat during
    this exceptionally rainy autumn, and she suddenly wished that she
    weren't alone, that Alex or Emma had decided not to sleep in