Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale Read Online Free PDF

than I’d anticipated when I measured the amount, though, and now I doubted if the one dose would do the trick. A second ring on my left hand held a similar dose, but I didn’t want to overdo it. I decided to hold off and see how things progressed.
    “What shall we play? How about a game of guessing?” I suggested.
    “Guessing? And what would we guess?”
    “We’ll use our powers of observation to determine things about one another. I’ll tell you something about yourself and if I’m right, I win that round. Then, you do the same to me until one of us is wrong when the other is right, and declared the winner. But we have to tell the truth or else it wouldn’t be fair.”
    “All right. But as a fortune-teller, I think you have the advantage,” he teased. “And truly, I’ve no need of your possessions. Let us make it more interesting, shall we? What say we shut the flap to the tent and play for something I want more than your ring.” His voice dropped to a husky tone that gave me shivers. “How about a dance?”
    I was totally taken aback, but shouldn’t have been. What he was suggesting was a little risqué for the time period, but he was nicknamed the Loony Duke, for God’s sake. And really, what was a dance? I had nothing to lose except my reputation. And as a traveling gypsy fortune-teller in the 1800s, it really wasn’t all that valuable at any rate. More importantly, I’d convinced him to stay, and that was all that mattered.
    Moving toward the front of the tent, I untied the knot securing the flap and rolled it closed. “You’re on!”
    I added a little extra sway to my hips as I walked back to my seat. “I’ll go first.”
    I took a moment to look at him, sizing him up, as if mining his visage for information. It didn’t hurt that I had a limited dossier on him and already knew some basic facts that I could use. I opened my mouth to “guess” the month of his birth—May—when I stopped short, mesmerized by his pretty brown eyes.
    “You pretend that being called the Loony Duke doesn’t bother you, but it does. In fact, it’s been the source of a lot of pain for you,” I heard myself say.
    Well, where the hell did that come from? Way to go Stormy. That should put him in a real festive mood. I stared at him, shocked at my own audacity, and waited for him to walk out.
    He looked back at me for what seemed like an eternity. “And you,” he said finally, his voice filled with quiet understanding. “You like pretending to be someone you’re not, because you don’t trust anyone enough to just be yourself.”
    I sucked in my breath hard as his words crashed over me like an icy wave. How could he know that about me? I didn’t even know that about me until he said it.
    The air between us trembled with tension, as if what happened next hung on a precipice, teetering first one way, then the other.
    I struggled to regroup and then said, too loudly, “Your birthday is in May.”
    He looked at once relieved and disappointed. “Your favorite color is blue.”
    “Wrong. I don’t have a favorite color, because they’re all too pretty to choose just one!” I shouted gleefully, holding my hand out for my prize. I was happy to have bested him, but even happier the super awkward moment had passed.
    “You win,” he said with a crooked smile, and reached into his pocket to pull out the watch. “So what now?”
    “Well, what else do you have to wager?” I gave him a saucy smile.
    “I have a small sack of coins tied to my belt. But if I’m to wager that, I require more than a dance.” His dark eyes burned into mine.
    “And what would you consider a fair bet?” I tried to keep my tone light despite my pounding heart. He was finally going to reveal himself to be the smarmy low life I knew he was by suggesting a quick bonk or a knob-slobbing. Shame on me for feeling a little bit let down.
    “A dance…and a kiss,” he said with a slow smile.
    “A…a kiss you say? All right, then. A kiss and a