Nailed by the Heart Read Online Free PDF

corrugated contours
of her ribs and the slightly curving hollow of her back. He loved the
feel of it. His heart began to pump hard.

    Gently
he began to soap her shoulders, then her stomach. And then her
breasts, his fingers gliding over a slippery layer of soap lather,
skittering over the hardening tips.

    "Oh
... Chris. I could let you do this forever." She smiled, her
eyes shut. "I could make you do this forever."

    He
lightly traced a line with his fingertips downward from the tip of
her nose, over her lips, her chin, her smooth throat, down through
the gap between her breasts which had firmed and risen into soft
points that glistened in the light. Down over her stomach until his
hand slipped into the hot water. A distinct quiver ran through her
body.

    After
ten years of marriage their love-making could sometimes be almost a
chore. Not today though.

    Today,
he knew, it would be special.

    Chris
was almost dressed when he heard the knock at the door.

    "Hang
on." Ruth, topless, plucked a bra from the dressing-table
drawer. With a schoolgirl giggle she ran lightly into the bathroom.

    Chris,
pulling on his sweatshirt, went to the door and opened it.

    "Hello,
Mr. Stainforth."

    It
was the hotelier, a tall man with a white beard.

    "Everything
okay?"

    The
hotelier spoke hesitantly. "Er, I'm afraid there's been an
accident. Your son ... Out in the yard."

    The
man's face was expressionless.

    A
sick feeling began to rise through Chris's stomach.

    "Where
is he?"

    The
man's reply was puzzling. "You mean you can't smell him?"

    The
hotelier stood to one side. Behind him, tiny and the color of gray
clay, a sullen-looking figure dripped water onto the corridor carpet.

    "David?"

    Chris
pulled a face as the pungent smell of river silt rolled into the
room. "Christ, what happened?"

    The
white-haired hotelier was struggling to suppress laughter. "The
little fellow said he was on top of the slide when he fell off it
into the stream."

    "The
slide? That's nowhere near the stream. How could you fall all that
way?"

    46

    "I
didn't fall," said David in a way that was dignified and angry
at the same time. He walked stiffly into the room, his feet
squelching inside his shoes.

    "I
didn't fall at all. I was flying."

Chapter
Seven

    The
world Mark Faust fell into after he leapt from the ship was one of
utter darkness, but full of hissing sounds and rushing air.

    Then
the ocean swallowed him.

    So
cold.

    He
wanted to scream. His eyes snapped wide-open with shock, the sheer
terror of it, as he went down into liquid darkness.

    Jesus
... Like ice.

    If
only he had stayed on the ship. If only ...

    What
for? To be blinded, castrated then perhaps dropped over the side
anyway?

    This
way he had a chance.

    What
chance? he asked himself frantically. Here I am maybe a hundred miles
from the coast. In the sea. In winter.

    I
have ten minutes of my life left. What's that the equivalent to?

    Two
Tom & Jerry cartoons. Three Buddy Holly numbers. "Peggy Sue"
... "Heartbeat" ... "That'll Be the Day" ...

    A
part of his mind rambled on in a disjointed way as if no longer part
of his body.

    The
other ordered him to kick off his Wellington boots.

    Then
start swimming.

    First
the left foot.

    He
reached down. The boot came off easily.

    Shouldn't
I be breathing?

    The
right one stuck.

    Kick.

    I
need air!

    Off!

    Kick
the mother off! It's pulling you down!

    Oh,
sweet Jesus, give me air! Abruptly his head broke the surface. Cold
winds blasted at him, driving spray in his face. Here at sea level
the water roared like thunder. It filled his ears. Angry sounds,
constant, unbroken.

    Half
panting, half choking, he gulped down lungfuls of sweet air. Again,
Mark kicked hard, trying to dislodge the right boot.

    It
wouldn't budge.

    The
bastard would pull him down as surely as if it were cast in lead.

    Holding
his breath, he doubled his body, bending down to tug at it.

    It
shifted slightly.

    His
heel came partway out.

    Breathe
... Breathe ...