My Own True Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

senior prom when he'd caught her and Joe Malkos
    ...
    "Dad?" she repeated as the spitting image of her father strode furiously toward her, large hand raised to strike her. Beth cowered behind her. She saw Toma reaching for his knife.
    She planted her hands on her hips and shouted, "What do you think you're doing?"
    He responded to her tone if not her words. He dropped his hand to his side. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. He pointed at Toma. "Haven't I told you to stay away from this Calderash filth?"
    Before she could respond Toma stepped between her and the angry Rom father.
    "She's here because I asked her here. We are chaperoned," he added.
    Beth sidled around Sara and spoke up. "I wouldn't let 'im touch Sara, Beng."
    "A gajo girl is no chaperon," Beng told Toma. "You leave my girl alone. No decent man will want her if you're seen with her."
    "A decent man already wants her," Toma answered.
    Beng bristled. "Sara, we're going. There's work for you," he added. He jerked a thumb toward the opening. "You're wanted."
    There were two large men waiting in the alley, their hulking forms just visible beyond the gap in the wall. Waiting for her? '
    Sara didn't know what to do. Beth grabbed her hand and began her insistent tugging again. "You're wanted. Can't keep 'em waitin'."
    "I..." Sara began.
    Toma said, "Stay." He didn't take his eyes off Beng.
    "We're going with the gajo," Beng told her.
    "Not until we're through," Toma said.
    "She doesn't listen to a half-breed Calderash."
    Toma took a step closer to Beng. He was more lightly built than the broad-shouldered man, but Sara had no doubt about which of the two was the more dangerous.
    "Don't push him, Beng," she suggested. She definitely didn't want these two fighting over her, or whoever it was they were fighting over.
    Toma put his hands on his narrow hips and said calmly, "I have no family here, no mother to make arrangements. I have no one but myself who can speak, and Sara has no mother, so it must be between you and me."
    "I do not hear you," Beng countered, his jaw set stubbornly. "Sara will leave now."
    Sara stayed where she was, between Toma and Beng, and the strangers beyond the wall. She didn't know what was going on as she watched their confrontation, but she didn't like it. Beth continued to tug on her skirts, trying to get her to obey Beng. She ignored the girl. She didn't know who wanted to see her, but she wasn't going anywhere.
    Toma shot her a quick, reassuring smile before addressing Beng once more. "I know Sara's value, and am more than willing to pay it. I ask for her hand in marriage, as the gajos say."
    Beng went red with outrage; then he spat on the ground at Toma's feet. "You don't get her hand. You don't get nothing, Calderash."
    "Marriage?" Sara asked, going hot and cold with pleasure and stunned disbelief. She gaped at the men. Both of them were staring at her. Hope and encouragement shone in Toma's eyes.
    "Marriage," she repeated hoarsely. "Wait a minute." She spoke to the ring more than to the watching men. "Own true loves are one thing, but who said anything about marriage?"

Chapter 4
    Sara shook her hand. "Are you broken? Are you listening to me?" Beth was still tugging on her arm.
    One of the hulks appeared in the doorway and crooked a commanding finger at her. Beng was herding her toward the exit. She could feel Toma's beseeching gaze on her.
    "Hurry up," Beng ordered.
    "Marry me," Toma repeated.
    Sara moved toward the menacing figure blocking the doorway. She was afraid that if she didn't, the anxious Beng was going to start nipping at her heels like an exasperated border collie.
    "Sara," Toma called, but she didn't look back at him. She could still taste his kiss; the memory of it was almost more disturbing than the unknown menace waiting by the wall. It wasn't her he wanted to marry, she firmly reminded herself. He wanted the other girl. The ring may have misplaced her in time, but that was as far as her own involvement went.
    "Who are