Girl on a Slay Ride Read Online Free PDF Page B

know his kind!”
    Mallory knew her fear was genuine. At the same time he remembered the muddy, cold eyes of the slender man, the emptiness of his smile. His disbelief began to give way.
    He said harshly, “I believe you. Now let’s get dressed.”
    She clung to him. “What good will running do, Cliff? They’ll find me again.”
    He said, “You came to me in the first place. You asked for my help. I’m trying to do what I can.”
    She stepped away from him. A hysterical giggle burst like a hiccup from her throat. “And you said you’d help. You didn’t believe me. You thought I was upset and imagining things. But now you have to believe me, don’t you? Don’t you?” she screamed.
    “I believe you,” Mallory said.
    She sucked air through her slack lips. “And now you’re stuck with me. That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it, Cliff? I’m your responsibility. And you wouldn’t dodge a responsibility. Not Cliff Mallory.” She began to giggle again.
    Mallory brought the flat of his hand stingingly across her cheek. The hysteria began to leave her eyes. Her giggling hiccuped off to nothing. Her shoulders slumped. Soft sobs began to shake her body.
    Mallory took her quietly in his arms. He was scarcely aware of her nakedness pressed to his. He said, “You must have had it rough with this Rick.”
    She lifted her head, and he could see the hurt on her face. “He never even touched me, Cliff. I thought it was because he, well, wanted to marry me. But I was wrong. Marriage was only his way of protecting himself.”
    Mallory could imagine how rejection from a man could wound a woman as used to admiration as Denise. But her feelings and her fears seemed to have deeper roots than just that, he thought.
    She said, “And when he—he didn’t do anything, I started thinking and remembering little things that had happened since I started working for him. That’s when it was really horrible, Cliff. To have to be in the same house with a man who’d sell dope and women. Even if he hadn’t threatened me, I couldn’t have stood it. Not after I knew the truth.”
    She pressed herself tighter to him. Mallory looked down into her face. Her eyes widened in surprise. She said wonderingly, “Cliff, I …” She broke off and reached for his mouth with hers.
    Mallory pushed her back gently. He said, “We haven’t got time now.”
    She flushed. “I’m sorry, Cliff. I can’t seem to help myself with you.”
    Mallory turned away and started dressing. He could hear Denise rustling her clothes. After a moment, she said, “Are you angry with me, Cliff?”
    He said, “For what—being beautiful?”
    “For being so—so wanton,” she said. “But I never have been before. It was never like this with anyone else.”
    Mallory said, “I’m not interested in hearing about anyone else.”
    He began to pack his bag. He was jealous, he thought wryly. Jealous over a woman who’d been his wife for only a few brief hours. Jealous of eight empty years. The hell of it was, Mallory thought grimly, that he wouldn’t have liked her. There might even have been times, like in San Francisco four years ago, when he would have hated her. But never so much that he’d have stopped wanting her like he wanted her now.
    But she did seem different now, more grown-up. Through the fear that she carried he was almost sure he sensed a maturity which made her more desirable to him than she had even been before—if that were possible. Suddenly he was conscious of the men in the end cabin, conscious that he might lose her to them. And her fear was his fear.
    He said, “Hurry up. If we start now, we can be almost to Port Angeles before those two ever wake up.”
    Denise said nothing. She finished packing her bags and carried them to the door. Mallory picked up his suitcase and the briefcase.
    “Turn out the light before you open the door,” he said. “And keep it quiet.”
    Denise nodded. She snapped out the light and opened the door. Thin damp