Shadow's Stand Read Online Free PDF

But when it was over, it would be time for him to move on. Without Hell’s Eight as an anchor, he preferred to keep moving.
With a brisk bow, Fei reclaimed his attention. Picking up a large bowl and a towel, she headed for the back door. “I will fetch water.”
“Be easier if you took off the shackles and let me do the heavy lifting.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “The shackles stay on.”
The door slammed shut behind her as she left him in the kitchen with a nice selection of well-honed knives in the block at the end of the table. Shadow set his hat on the table and ran his fingers through his hair. Fei clearly thought, with his legs shackled, he didn’t pose much of a threat. Smiling, Shadow picked up a butcher knife and sawed at his bonds until his hands were free. Grabbing a small paring knife, he started working the locks on the shackles. The first was a breeze. The second was a bit more stubborn.
The kitchen door creaked. Fei’s small, black-booted feet came into view. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her skirt swish abruptly as she stopped. Water sloshed over the side of the bowl and splashed on the floor.
“What did you do?”
Motioning to the heavy shackles as if they were nothing, he explained, “These things chafe.”
No response. The mechanism gave. He eased the shackle open. He glanced up. She still stood there staring at him with something akin to horror.
“I won’t hurt you, Fei.”
She straightened and her chin lifted. “I am not afraid. I am annoyed. My knives—you have ruined them.”
“I’ll sharpen them back up. Any more complaints?”
He stood. She flinched. This close, it was hard to miss the why. Her head only came up to his breastbone. Her waist was so tiny he could probably span it with his hands. Hell, no wonder she was frozen. There wasn’t enough of her to stand up to a gnat, let alone a grown man. He jerked his chin toward the kitchen table. “Sit.”
She touched the towel draped over her shoulder. “Your neck—”
“Is only bruised,” he finished for her. “You’re the one who’s cut.”
He took the bowl from her hands, ignoring the wariness of her expression. On his best days, he intimidated, but he hadn’t had a bath in two days, and being stretched by a rope probably hadn’t put any shine to his appearance. He motioned to the table again, albeit this time with a bit less force. It was as close to gentle as he was getting.
“Sit down.”
Fei stayed put. “I do not require your help.”
“That wasn’t the impression I got.”
She motioned to her injury. “With this.”
He motioned to the chair. “I’m particular about things being done right.”
“So am I, which is why I shall care for it myself.”
The angle of that chin was just more proof that her sweet, submissive air was just a good fake.
She looked at the shackles heaped on the floor by the table. It wasn’t hard to tell which way her mind was working. Shadow set the bowl on the table. “You weren’t any safer when I was wearing them, you know. You just thought you were.”
She eyed them again. “I liked the thought.”
She sounded as if she intended to hold a grudge about it. The thought made him smile. Shit. Twice in one afternoon. That had to be a record. “That wound is going to need stitches.”
“I have a…” She motioned with her hands, pantomiming smoothing something over her skin as she said a word in Chinese.
“You mean salve?”
“Yes. This I have.” With a cut of her hand she finished, “You no worry.”
He made note of the grammar slip. It would be helpful to know when the woman was riding the edge. “You wouldn’t be saying that just so I won’t be seeing your br—” He bit off the word and substituted, “Anything inappropriate, would you?”
“My wound can be treated without exposure. This is not one of my worries.”
It took a second to identify the emotion that took him then. Desire. The woman wasn’t his usual type, but there was something about her. He’d