Love's Odyssey Read Online Free PDF Page A

hard, as she had John Burnet's. Adrien cried out and let her go momentarily. She got one foot on the floor before he yanked her back onto the bed.
    "You are a little vixen," he told her angrily, pulling at her clothes while she clawed at him. She opened her mouth to scream for help.
    Suddenly cloth was over her face, around her head, muffling her cry and half smothering her. She tried to pluck it away, but Adrien grabbed her wrists in one hand. Moments later, he pushed her legs apart, and then she felt his bareness against her.
    Romell moaned in pain as he thrust hard into her. What he did hurt terribly and yet, as the pain eased, she felt the shameful pleasure again--warming her, turning her to flame. Adrien let her wrists go free and pulled the cloth from her face and over her head, and she realized he'd stripped her naked. Her bare breasts pressed against his chest and she brought her arms down to hold him closer to her, her body taking on a will of its own so that she moved as he moved, arching to him.
    She tossed on a crest of excitement, of surging pleasure, higher and higher, until at last she exploded into fragments, like the spray from a breaking wave. She heard herself cry out, heard Adrien gasp in response, but the sounds were apart from her, for she floated far away.
    Adrien shattered her trance by pulling away from her. She murmured in protest as he got entirely out of the bed. She opened her eyes to look at him and saw him staring down at the tangled covers on the bunk. She raised up to see why and noticed dark blotches on the coarse sheet, then she saw her blood-stained thighs and understood that she'd bled when he'd entered her.
    "I—I'm all right," she whispered shyly, blushing at her nakedness. She fumbled among the covers and found her wrinkled gown, which she held in front of her.
    "All right?" he echoed blankly, grabbing for his breeches. "But, damn it, if you were a virgin, what were you doing at Three Oaks?"
    She blinked in surprise. "Why wouldn't I be there? I'm Romell Wellsley. Sir Thomas was my uncle."
    Adrien closed his eyes briefly. "Oh my God," he muttered.
     
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 3
     
    Romell stared at the closed door for a long moment before she got to her feet and began to dress. Adrien had slammed out of the cabin, shirt and boots in his hand, without saying another word. As she pulled her petticoat over her chemise, she tried to understand.
    Why had Adrien seemed so upset when she told him who she was? Surely he'd known. During the struggle at Three Oaks, John Burnet had called her Sir Thomas's doxie, but Adrien couldn't have believed she really was!
    Romell tried to smooth the wrinkles from her satin gown. Certainly she looked far from respectable now, but at Three Oaks…
    Tears came to her eyes and she sat down on the edge of the bunk. Her father and uncle were dead. She had no one but Adrien. What was wrong? Where had he gone? Unable to find her handkerchief, Romell dabbed her eyes with a corner of the bed coverlet, took a deep breath and stood up again to look for her slippers. She mustn't shed foolish tears. Adrien would be back.
    Her face grew hot as she remembered what had passed between them. Never mind that he'd forced her—he hadn't forced her to take pleasure in it. Romell hugged herself. She'd enjoyed lying with him.
    While pleasure wasn't wrong between a man and a woman—hadn't her father told her so? Romell had never thought to experience such a thing before marriage.
    Someone tapped on the door. She crossed to open it and blushed again. Adrien stepped into the cabin. Although she couldn't meet his eyes, she saw he was now fully clothed.
    "Miss Wellsley," he said stiffly.
    Romell forgot her embarrassment. Miss Wellsley? "My name is Romell," she said, wondering at his set jaw, the coldness in his eyes.
    He paid her no mind. "Miss Wellsley," he repeated, "in the absence of your guardian, I must put my question to you: Would you do me the honor of becoming my