Thief of Hearts Read Online Free PDF Page B

poignant. Like her arms it encircled him, bound him to her. He could not resist it.
    Anna opened her eyes when the kiss was over, and something prickled across her skin, an impossible intimation. Her mouth tried to form a word. "You… " came out in a whisper, all but inaudible. His shining eyes were all she could see clearly in the lamplight. His hands moved restlessly on her shoulders and she heard a clink of metal again, but this was the first time the sound registered. Something cold and heavy lay across her breasts. He straightened slowly and took his hands away. She saw the chain.
    There was a breathless moment while Brodie's soul felt naked and he waited for her to revile him. Her lips moved uncertainly and he closed his eyes, lost to everything except regret. Then something rebellious stirred in him, and before she could speak he pressed her back against the pillow and kissed her again.
    Bewilderment paralyzed her. Wide-eyed, she let him do it, while her mind struggled and flailed. This wasn't, this couldn't be... "Anna," he murmured against her lips. His voice!
    The pressure of her palms against his chest was light, ambiguous; Brodie ignored it. His tongue found the delicate line where her lips met and probed it with slow and exquisite gentleness. She quivered in his arms, poised on the baffling edge between outrage and acceptance. Then her mouth opened, and he rejoiced. Their tongues touched in a shy greeting. They forgot to breathe; their hearts thudded heavily in unison. He nibbled at her top lip and pulled it into his mouth, tasting her velvet warmth. Now their tongues circled more boldly, sliding sensuously, craftily holding still. He stroked his fingers along her soft throat and she made a purring sound that vibrated against his hand, making him smile. The dreamlike intimacy of the kiss grew more urgent. She was shaking, but no more so than he. The sensitive tips of her breasts pressed against his coarse linen shirt, melted into him. She sighed a long sigh into his mouth, holding his head, tasting him.
    Brodie broke the kiss and sat up, surveying what he would need to do to get her undressed quickly. He had no scruples left, and his conscience was a functionless instrument buried under the crushing weight of need. He brought his hands to the button at the high neck of her gown, and her odd, amber-colored eyes, dreamy before, hardened with sudden intensity. Her head turned sideways on the pillow, restless and uncertain.
    His hands froze. "You're hurt," he said wonderingly. "You've hurt your head."
    The profound sympathy in his voice brought tears to her eyes. "Yes, I'm... but I'm all right now," she whispered. Her first words to him.
    Her first words. She knew it as surely as she knew anything. He wasn't Nicholas.
    Brodie saw the dreadful knowledge in her eyes. Before he could speak and say what..., the door burst open and smashed against the bulkhead behind them. "'E's 'ere!" shouted Billy Flowers, his enormous body dwarfing the cabin. Brodie stood up slowly. O'Dunne and Dietz jostled each other through the doorway. Dietz muttered a harsh order and Flowers advanced.
    The first blow of the giant fist caught Brodie on the cheekbone and hurled him against the opposite wall. He raised his arms to ward off the second, noting with relief that his shoulder wasn't broken, and that the cockney's hand was tangled harmlessly in the chain between his wrists. Bringing his hands together to make a club, Brodie swung out with all his strength. His fists connected with Billy's sternum, and he had the satisfaction of seeing him turn purple and stop breathing. But his victory was short. There was nowhere to go, the wall was at his back, the stolid giant blocked his way forward. A chain was an ugly weapon, but it was the only one he had. He swung it.
    Flowers caught it like a lobbed tennis ball. One savage jerk dropped Brodie to his knees; one backhanded blow across the face made his ears ring. Or was that Anna screaming?
    "Stop