The Bound Heart Read Online Free PDF

to come and see why the workshop was locked before time.
    Jamie reluctantly removed his hands from her. Did up the buttons of her jacket as he listened for the sounds of what was happening next.
    Steps on the landing, then steps down the stairs.
    Mr. Howard would be back in a minute or two unless a customer came into the shop downstairs.
    “Mr. Howard always checks things out,” she said
    “He’ll be back…,” he said.
    They spoke over each other, she laughed.
    And so it would end.
    He did up his britches and stepped back from her.
    “Come on let me get the brace back on you. You do your hair.”
    Pink blotched her face again, her lips full, swollen, and wet. Those wonderful eyes, full of messages, burned her need into him.
    In moments, he had her brace wrapped around her leg.
    His hand squeezed around her brace, around her calf.
    “Will you think of me as the brace squeezes you, Olive? Think of our kiss?”
    It was unfair to ask. He would be working to forget her the moment she stepped out the workshop door.
    A taste and then let her go. That was all the transgression he allowed himself.
    Olive nodded, her eyes heavy lidded as she gazed back at his mouth.
    His heart beat a little faster, contracting at the loss of her already.
    He lifted her off the table, turned her to the door and propelled his dazed fox goddess toward it. He picked up her coat and slipped her into it then placed her basket into her hands as he unlocked and opened the door. He kissed her quickly. Fast, so she didn’t draw him into more.
    “Too dangerous,” his voice whispered over her. “Too beautiful and too dangerous. Go home, Olive Thompson.”
    Then he pushed her through the door and closed it before she could turn around; locked it, leaned back against it, and listened as she stood on the other side.
    He wasn’t sure if he had locked the door to protect her or himself.
    Eventually, her uneven step walked across the landing and then started down the stairs. Slow steps.
    Goodbye, Olive Thompson.
    She was opium to a hungry soul. She would undo him in seconds and dismember him in minutes. He had enough survival instincts to make sure that didn’t happen.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Around her, the stairwell was gloomy after the light that spilled through the workshop’s skylights. Each precarious step down those damn stairs and her face flushed hotter.
    Olive knew a farewell when she heard it.
    He was the most frustrating person she knew. Yet, damn it if he wasn’t the only man she was even remotely interested in.
    Moments ago, she was lost in the feel of him. His body leaning over hers, his mouth hungry as he kissed her. His hands enfolding her breast then, saints help her, sliding between her legs.
    Blast that Mr. Howard. As soon as they were interrupted, Jamie pulled right back and propelled her away with a clear message that they were done.
    Well that was not going to happen. If he wanted her today he would want her another day. She would just have to do better to keep his interest.
    Her palm slid over the worn wooden handrail in a smooth, stuttered slide as her uneven steps moved her down toward the first landing.
    And now the damn brace made her think of him.
    The pressure of it on her skin reminded her of his sure hands as they had run over her calf. Every time her calf flexed the brace squeezed back just like his palm.
    It acted like a bellows fanning the fire he had set low in her body. A throbbing, beating, crackle, which was still building because of the brace’s persistent squeeze.
    At the bottom of the next flight of stairs on a small landing, a door led back into the brightly lit bookshop. Normally, she walked through that door, determined her next visit would get his attention.
    Well, she had gotten it, and he had sent her on her way. He’d taken a taste, made her feel…tense, agitated, wonderful, maybe, even a little beautiful in his eyes, and now rejected, uncertain, full of questions and doubts.
    There lay the problem.
    She knew he