Sapphire Dream Read Online Free PDF Page A

forearm. “She’s bleeding, Rourke. Get her to yer cabin where I can tend her.”
    Tend her? A tiny flicker of hope ignited even as the pain in her leg edged beyond bearing.
    “Bloody hell.” The tall man whipped off his shirt and knelt beside her, rolling the shirt into a makeshift tourniquet.
    She stared at him. Was the cold-eyed pirate going to play hero after all? With his shirt off, his fine shape glistening in the sun, he looked every bit the part.
    Her head fell back, her eyes closing. Too late. Too much blood. Unless they called for a helicopter to airlift her out of there, she was dead. She felt hands on her leg, then a searing agony that made her cry out.
    “Och, lassie, he’s helping ye, he is. Binding yer wound.”
    She tried to open her eyes and caught a flash of orange. The dwarf.
    Dizzy. Too dizzy.
    The captain gave a long-suffering sigh and scooped her into his arms. Her world exploded in pain. When the backs of her eyelids began to dance with little sparkly colors, she knew she was passing out. And there wasn’t a damned thing she could do about it.
    Except pray she woke up again.
     
     
    Rourke crossed the deck toward his cabin, the woman in his arms clinging to him, her fingernails digging into his bare forearm. Her slender body was rigid, her breaths shallow, little more than tiny hisses of pain escaping her lips in a nightmarish rhythm.
    He frowned at Hegarty. “Ye did it.”
    Hegarty bounced at his side, half running to keep up with Rourke’s longer strides. His red hair waved in the breeze. “Aye, and they tried to kill her.”
    Aye. Rourke’s scalp prickled. He had to clench his jaw against the urge to shove her into the little troll’s keeping. He didn’t want her here. He wanted naught to do with her.
    Yet at the same time he would not have her die. Not like this. He could feel her grip loosening, though whether on consciousness or life itself, he could not tell.
    As he descended the short flight of stairs to his cabin, he felt the last of the tension drain from her body. She went slack in his arms.
    Nay. Not like this.
    He gazed at her as he shouldered open the door. Her head had fallen back, her sleek red brown hair swaying, leaving her slender throat exposed. A throat encircled by a thin, silver chain. A chill slithered down his spine.
    “Quick, Pup.” Hegarty hopped around him like an overwrought bird, mimicking the dance of the small carved birds Rourke had hung from the ceiling of his cabin. “Set her down.”
    Rourke laid her gingerly on his bunk. As he reached for her pulse Hegarty turned on him, teeth bared.
    “Go! Now!” Hegarty pushed him toward the door. “She’ll not die. I’ll not allow it.”
    Rourke held up his hands, for heaven knew he wanted naught but to escape. He evaded Hegarty long enough to grab an extra shirt from the peg on his wall, then strode out of the cabin and up the stairs, chased by the sound of Hegarty’s chanting. Magic.
    He felt the icy fingers of the prophecy slip around his neck, and he shot into the bright sunshine, seeking to rid himself of the sensation of doom. When last he’d tangled with that foul bit of soothsaying, his life had turned to ashes. He refused to allow it to destroy him again.

THREE
     

    Pain radiated up her leg like fire driven by a vicious wind. Discordant notes from a haunting, wordless melody swirled around her—bright, razor-sharp lashes, driving her from her body, tearing open her leaden brain. Memories escaped, flying at her like ghouls on Halloween night. Hideous faces. Cruel, leering eyes. A knife through her leg. Pain.
    Color swirled around her, through her, spinning faster until she feared she’d be torn apart by the vile kaleidoscope and flung to the rainbows. She cried out, begging the maelstrom to cease.
    “Shh, lassie. ’Tis over now. Sleep.”
    The dwarf. His wordless song continued, but the spinning slowed. The pain slipped away like a demon cast out of hell. The ghostlike shackles loosed their