Read Online In Every Heartbeat by Kim Vogel Sawyer - Free Book Online Page A

Pete in with him.

C HAPTER S EVEN
    H is fingertips grazed her cheek. She gasped. “Oh please, sir, how forward you’re being! You mustn’t . . . mustn’t . . .” She gulped as his firm, cool hand curved along her jaw.
    “I cannot resist,” he whispered. His breath stirred the errant curls falling across her forehead. “Your exquisite beauty, my darling, is”—
    “Hello, Elisabet!”
    The cheerful greeting sent the imaginary characters in Libby’s head scrambling for cover. Libby slapped down her pencil, whirled on her seat, and glared at her roommate.
    Alice-Marie’s bright smile faded. She dashed to the desk and perched on its edge. “Why, what’s the matter? You look so cross.” Her focus flitted to the pad of paper on Libby’s desk.
    Libby smacked the pad of paper facedown and rested her linked hands on it. “I was . . . busy. You startled me.” She nudged Alice-Marie’s leg lightly with her elbow.
    Alice-Marie missed the hint. She folded her hands in her lap and beamed at Libby. “Oh, I do apologize most sincerely. Mother says I really must stop rushing into rooms and calling out, but I can’t seem to stop myself!” She hunched her shoulders and tittered. “I’ll try, though, so I don’t keep you from . . .” Once more, she turned a curious look toward the pages.
    Libby scooped the pad off the desk and dropped it into the desk drawer. She closed the drawer with a firm snap. “What time is it?”
    Alice-Marie glanced at her dainty wristwatch. “A quarter to six.”
    Libby jumped up. “I’m meeting my friends for supper.” After missing lunch with Bennett, she shouldn’t keep him waiting.
    Folding her arms over her chest, Alice-Marie affected a pout. “Oh, but I hoped you might eat with me. That’s why I came up here before going to the dining hall.”
    “You’re not eating with Kate and Myra and . . . ?” Libby couldn’t remember the name of the third girl from breakfast.
    “Margaret,” Alice-Marie supplied. Her lip poked out farther. “I’ve made no plans with anyone . . . except you.”
    Libby nibbled her lower lip. She and Alice-Marie were roommates, but she didn’t fancy forming a friendship with the girl. Yet, looking into her disappointed pale blue eyes, Libby couldn’t refuse. She knew how it felt to be rejected.
    “Well then,” she said through gritted teeth, “why don’t you join my friends and me?”
    Alice-Marie’s bright smile returned. She bounced up and slipped her hand through Libby’s elbow. “Oh good! I hoped you might introduce me to your friends .” Her giggle rang as they headed down the hall to the stairway. “So which one is your beau? I wouldn’t want to accidentally flirt with the one you’ve already claimed.”
    Was it possible to flirt accidentally? Libby gently disengaged her arm from Alice-Marie’s hold. “Neither Petey nor Bennett is my beau. We’re all just good friends. Since childhood.”
    Alice-Marie caught Libby’s arm and drew her to a halt in the dormitory lobby. “Since childhood? They’re orphans, too?”
    Knowing whatever she said would be repeated, Libby chose her response carefully. “One is. One isn’t.” Sometimes Libby thought Petey carried deeper scars from being abandoned than she did from losing her parents. But Alice-Marie didn’t need to know the details. “If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss supper. Let’s go.”
    Petey and Bennett were waiting on the lawn outside the dining hall. The pleasant aromas wafting out the open doors stirred Libby’s hunger. She skipped the last few steps to join her friends and jammed her thumb at Alice-Marie. “This is my roommate, Alice-Marie. She’s eating with us.” Then she gestured to the men by turn. “Alice-Marie, this is Bennett Martin and Petey Leidig.”
    “Pete,” Petey corrected.
    “Pete,” Libby repeated, offering him a grin, which he returned. He’d been pestering her for two years to drop the childish nickname, but to her, he’d always be