Sweet Silken Bondage Read Online Free PDF

her own
hastily discarded clothing on the small bed nearby, and
she hesitated. Staring at the fashionable emerald-green
riding habit and fancy petticoats, Reina's expression
was tinged with regret. She loved beautiful clothes, and
it pained her to think that she had to give them up.
The memory of her purpose reasserted itself, though,
and her dark eyes hardened with their intent. With a
strength of will inherited from her father, she put on
the veil, tucking her long, raven tresses beneath it.
That done, she turned to face her friend, who'd been watching the final transformation in silence from
across the room.

    "Well, Maria, what do you think?" Reina asked
nervously, taking care to keep her voice soft and low.
Only Maria knew she was there in the convent, and it
was important that she not be discovered.
    Maria, Reina's friend since childhood stared at her
in awe-struck wonder. "Take a look for yourself," she
urged in a whisper, pointing to the small mirror over
the washstand in the corner of her tiny, spartanlyfurnished bedroom.
    Reina swallowed tightly as she turned to the mirror.
This had to work! It just had to! She lifted her gaze to look
at her reflection and was startled by the vision of the
woman who gazed back at her. It was she, and yet, it
wasn't!
    Reina studied her mirror image in disbelief. The
eyes were her eyes, wide, dark brown and expressive as
they reflected the uncertainty she was now feeling. The
mouth was her mouth, full and mobile, given to quick
pouts and even quicker smiles when she was given her
way. The chin was her chin with its determined tilt that
revealed so much of her fiery, stubborn personality.
Yet, despite recognizing all these individual features,
with her hair hidden beneath the concealing veil, she
looked entirely different. She looked like a nun.
    "I don't believe it..." Reina breathed, staring at
herself.
    "Believe it. You look as if you were born to a
vocation," Maria said in a low voice, wondering how
the haughty, flamboyant Reina Alvarez, only daughter
of the richest ranchero in the valley, could change her
image so completely just by donning a nun's habit.
Reina looked positively devout, and if there was one
thing Reina wasn't, it was devout. Not that she was a
bad person. It was just that for as long as Maria had
known her, Reina had been too full of herself, too
much in love with the joys of living her life to the fullest to give much thought to anything besides her own
pleasures.

    "Perhaps I should consider joining you here?" She
glanced back over her shoulder at her friend.
    "Don't jest about something so sacred," Maria reprimanded her firmly. She knew full well what Reina's
thoughts were about the religious life, for she had tried
to talk her out of joining the order several times. Maria
had not listened to her, though, and had just been
professed after completing her required year as a novice.
    "Who's jesting?" Reina returned petulantly. "Even a
life here would be far preferable to being forced to
marry that disgusting American!" She practically spat
the word "American," so deep was her dislike for the
man her father had so unexpectedly chosen to be her
betrothed.
    A shiver skittered down Reina's spine as she remembered how only three nights ago her father had announced his plan that she would marry the American,
Nathan Marlow, in just six short months. If that hadn't
been shocking enough, he'd refused to listen to her
objections, and his uncharacteristic, callous disregard
for her feelings had hurt her. Still, at the time, Reina
had felt certain that she would eventually be able to
convince him to change his mind, for, after all, he had
never denied her anything before. But when her father
had gone ahead and made the surprise announcement
that very night at the party they were giving at Rancho
Alvarez, she'd been trapped.
    Furious over what Reina considered to be her father's betrayal, she'd been forced to act out