Forever in My Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

pressed flatly against the darkened porch alcove of a rooming house with no retreat available. She closed her eyes and prayed they would pass without noticing her, or if they noticed, without accosting her.
     
She dared to peek as their voices faded . . . and found herself staring into a pair of lightly colored, curious eyes. The lopsided smile spread and widened and then he called to his friends, "Come see what I've found!"
     
She tried to duck out of the way but the sailor's reflexes were not as slowed by drink as she hoped they might be. He thrust out his arms, one on either side of her shoulders, and braced himself comfortably against the alcove.
     
He glanced over his shoulder, looking for his friends, then back at his captive, a simple grin still plastered on his face. "It appears they didn't hear or they're not interested," he said. He blinked widely, paused, then looked her over from head to toe. "Must be they didn't hear. They couldn't not be interested. You're something to look at.
     
Not the usual sort for Canal Street."
     
She sighed. At least she knew where she was now, but it was not as promising a sign as she hoped. She was not likely to be mistaken for a woman of gentle upbringing on Canal Street, not with all those red lights winking at her from the porch stoops and windo ws. She realized she should not be so accepting of her circumstances, certainly not with the drunken sailor leering stupidly in her direction, but her options were strictly limited. She wasn't strong enough to fight him off and only just on the mend after three miserable days in bed with a sore throat and laryngitis, she could hardly raise a whisper, let alone a scream. That left brazening it out.
     
She, a young woman of twenty-three years, well known for not having a brazen bone in her body, stared boldly back at the sailor.
     
"You have a place near here?" asked the sailor, raising his eyebrows hopefully.
     
She shook her head.
     
The brows lowered as he frowned. "Can't take you back to the ship."
     
She was relieved. It seemed they were without alternatives. He would have to let her go. She started to push his restraining arm aside.
     
"Not so fast." He was still frowning, thinking furiously.
     
"There's the alley."
     
That was a horrifying thought. "No," she said. Her voice was not much above a whisper, husky with the last remnants of her cold, and more invitation than refusal. "Not the alley."
     
"Then right here."
     
Equally horrifying. Her eyes widened as the sailor's calloused hands dropped inside her coat to grab her waist. Before she could move he was taking a step toward her and lifting her against the wall of the alcove. She pushed at his shoulders but it was a futile gesture.
     
Her feet were no longer touching the stoop. "It's not free, you know," she said.
     
She was gratified to see that gave the sailor pause. He dropped her.
     
The moment he thrust his hands into his pockets to find his money she tore past him. Raising her skirts, she ran down the sidewalk and into the street, dodging two draft horses and a beer wagon that had just turned the corner. Running blindly, her sense of direction deserting her again, she darted in a narrow passageway between two houses to catch her breath.
     
Her chest hurt as she gulped air. She remembered her mother's voice just that morning telling her she should spend another day indoors, that even a trip to the library was not advisable. But she had to study. She may not have been particularly brazen, but she, like every other member of her family, was headstrong. Her mother's words went unheeded at the breakfast table only to echo mockingly now.
     
Her heart was pounding so loudly that she didn't hear the sailor's approach until the second before she was caught in his embrace.
     
"Why'd you run?" he asked.
     
She recoiled from the sour beer smell of her assailant. She turned her head aside and her stomach turned over as she felt his mouth on her neck. Having no real