Survivor Read Online Free PDF

world or doing something dangerous and thrilling, as she did.
    She’d heard the sailor was an
     Australian, and so she never expected to see him again. Yet, to her surprise and
     delight, two months ago, he’d come back to Russell. He was no longer a sailor
     but was working as a truck driver for a timber company, collecting loads of timber
     from various forests in the North Island, which were then shipped further
     afield.
    Mariette ran into him at the post
     office, and his broad smile told her he both remembered her and liked what he saw.
     They had a brief chat, and she flirted with him, but she knew her parents would
     never agree to her walking out with a grown man of twenty-five who was just passing
     through, so she didn’t dare agree to meet up with him that evening.
    She held out for three days, stopping to
     chat and flirt with him, but it was only when she heard he was moving on elsewhere
     the next day that she knew it was now or never.
    Men always hung around the Duke of
     Marlborough, waiting for it to open at six, so she made sure she walked that way,
     wearing her prettiest dress. His eyes lit up when he sawher and the fizzy feeling she’d felt when she first
     met him all those months ago came back stronger than ever. In their brief chats she
     had been a little disappointed that he was somewhat coarse, using swear words and
     making crude remarks about her figure and legs. His worn checked shirt and moleskin
     trousers were a bit grubby too, but he had beautiful blue eyes and long dark lashes,
     and she couldn’t resist the whiff of danger that seeped out of his sunburned
     skin.
    That day she’d already taken the
     precaution of telling her parents she was going to a friend’s house, and
     readily agreed to go for a walk with him. She was convinced he was already smitten
     with her because he didn’t appear to care that he’d miss the six
     o’clock swill in the pub, and few men would pass that up.
    Once they were away from the town and
     any prying eyes, he kissed her, and it was all Mariette had hoped for and more. She
     lost all track of time in his arms; he made her heart race, her knees go weak, and
     there was a strange yet wonderful tugging sensation in her belly that made her lose
     all sense of caution.
    Yet he pulled back. ‘I can’t
     do this with you,’ he said. ‘You’re too young, and I have to go
     away. It isn’t fair on you.’
    He left Russell early the next morning,
     and he hadn’t even said if he would be back. But those last few words had
     convinced her he was a gentleman at heart, and his coarseness was just because he
     wasn’t used to being in women’s company.
    A fortnight went by before he returned,
     and for all of those fourteen days she’d thought of nothing but him and his
     kisses. She’d had to hide it away, not even daring to tell one of her friends
     in case they passed it on.
    When he did return, he told her that
     she’d been on hismind the whole
     time he’d been away, and that he had fallen in love with her. What girl
     wouldn’t believe that claim? And how could she not let him make love to her,
     when she believed she was in love with him too?
    That first time was up on Flag Staff
     Hill, behind some bushes, and she knew as he pushed her down without any thought for
     her comfort that she’d made a mistake. She had wanted something romantic and
     beautiful, but all she got was prickles in her bottom, bruised thighs and
     disappointment. Then, when he said he had to get back to the pub to meet a friend,
     she’d felt cheated and humiliated.
    But, like a fool, she thought it would
     get better. She’d read several books where the heroine felt like she did the
     first time, and it always came right in the end. Once, when he’d left Russell,
     not telling her when – or if – he’d be back, she even managed to convince
     herself he’d behaved that way with her because he was afraid of loving
     her.
    Without having anyone to confide in,