My Darling Melissa Read Online Free PDF Page A

said. “We’ll be in Seattle soon. After I’ve stopped by the bank I’ll buy myself something to eat.”
    “Melissa.” He was leaning against the partition, watching as she began weaving her still-wet hair into a heavy plait. It would be a horror when she unbraided it, but there was no helping that.
    “What?”
    “I’m not marrying for money.”
    Melissa dared to look at him directly, although where she got the courage she did not know. “It’s a love match, then,” she said. “You love Gillian, and she loves you.”
    Quinn cleared his throat and looked away. “Not exactly.”
    She felt a strange exultation. “You don’t love her?”
    “I like her a lot.”
    Melissa wanted to smile but managed not to. “Ummm,” she said.
    “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Quinn demanded.
    “I hope you and Gillian will be very happy together,” she lied, but now she allowed herself a smile. “You like her, she likes you. You’ll probably both like your children as well.”
    Quinn’s neck flushed red, and he clamped his jaw shut tight for a moment. Then he opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out the whistle shrilled and the train began to slow. Water splashed over the sides of the tub, the walls and floor shook, and Melissa and Quinn just stood there, staring at each other.
    Melissa recovered first. She tied her braid with a bit of ribbon taken from her wedding dress and rolled the costly gown and her spare calico into a bundle of sorts. “Well,” she said, with a brave lift of her chin, “I’m off to make a name for myself.”
    “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Quinn grumbled. His brown eyes seemed to simmer with agitation. After a moment he looked calmer, if still more grim, and he sighed. His hands were strong on Melissa’s shoulders. “You don’t need to prove anything to anybody. Go back to your home and your family, little one—it’s a big, brutal world out there.”
    “Do you think I’m a child? I have a university education, Mr. Rafferty, and I was almost someone’s wife!”
    Again anger flared in his eyes, and he laid one hand to his chest. “I keep forgetting what a paragon of sophistication you really are!”
    Just then the train stopped, hurling both Melissa and Quinn backward onto the bed.
    Melissa was breathless, but Quinn burst out laughing and rolled onto his side, looking down into her rosy face. As his gaze swept her features, however, his expression turned somber.
    “Damn,” he muttered, and then he lowered his mouth to Melissa’s unwillingly, as though some invisible hand were pressing at the back of his head.
    When their lips touched a hot tremor went through her. As the kiss deepened a soft, despairing moan escaped her. Her body ached for the weight of Quinn’s with an intensity that was just short of true pain while, at one and the same time, her spirit rebelled.
    The moment Quinn lifted his head she slapped him and began squirming and struggling to be free.
    He stared at her in bewilderment. “What—?”
    “Let me up!” she yelled.
    He immediately complied. “My pleasure,” he responded, and somehow that made Melissa angrier than she would have been if he’d held her captive on that bed all afternoon.
    Her face flushed violently pink. She sat up, smoothed her hair, and grabbed for her bundle. “Thank you very much,” she said, storming toward the end of the car, “and goodbye!”
    She wrenched open the door and stepped out onto the platform.
    The railroad yard was a busy, noisy place. A strange mingling of smells and sounds and sights clamored for Melissa’s notice, but she strode staunchly into the Seattle depot, through the lobby, and out the other door onto the street.
    She hadn’t gone half a block before Quinn fell into step beside her, taking her elbow firmly in one hand. He smiled down at her from beneath the rounded brim of an elegant black hat.
    “The least you can do, Miss Corbin, is let me buy your breakfast. After all,