Read Online Love Me Always by Marie Higgins - Free Book Online Page B

pressed his mouth to hers. It was a kiss meant to punish her. Instead, it tortured him. Her lips were so very soft. Pulling back, he hesitated. What am I doing? She leaned forward, her eyes closed. I’m done for! She wants this too!
    He placed his mouth over hers, once more. She released a sigh and melted into his arms. He tightened his hold to keep her from falling. When she wrapped her arms around his neck, he softened the kiss. Fireworks exploded in his head and a strange dizziness took over.
    Warning bells rang through his head, telling him this was something he shouldn’t be doing. She wasn’t some other man’s property, but his uncle’s fiancée.
    He forced himself to break the passionate kiss. He held her until she was able to stand on her own, then he yanked his hands away as if she were on fire.
    Catherine’s wide-eyed gaze stayed on his for the longest time as her ragged breaths continued. He tried to unscramble the turbulent thoughts, but no explanation came. Before he followed through with his yearnings and took her back into his arms, he cursed fate and moved past her, bolting up the stairs to his Grant’s room.

Chapter Five
     
    Dark.
    Cold.
    Silence deafened the night. Misty darkness swarmed through the room like an eerie fog of the unknown. Catherine crawled out of bed. Everything seemed to spin around her and she grabbed her head. Her skull throbbed as though she’d consumed an entire bottle of spirits, yet she knew she hadn’t.
    “Mother?” she whispered as she fought for control.
    Taking careful steps, she made her way to the bedroom door and opened it. “Mother?” she called out again. Silence washed over the house.
    She blinked, adjusting her vision to the darkness as she moved down the hall. The door to her parent’s room stood ajar. Had Father returned? She peeked inside. Empty.
    “Mother?” She raised her voice, worry creeping inside her chest as she padded down the stairs. Still no answer.
    When she reached the bottom of the steps and turned toward the living room, she stopped. A gasp flew from her throat and she covered her mouth.
    Remnants of what used to be her sofa lay ripped and scattered over the floor. Dishes from the cabinet were in pieces. Chairs had been turned over, legs broken.
    Her heartbeat increased. Her body shook.
    “Mother?”
    She swung toward the kitchen. Curtains had been ripped from the window, allowing the moonlight to shine through. Tears stung her eyes, blurring her vision, but not enough to keep her from seeing stains of blood splattered on the wall, on the table, on the floor, covering a still body...
    “Mother!”
    She ran to her mother and fell to her knees beside the body. With the moon’s help, the color of death became apparent on her mother’s face. Her nightgown had been ripped in many places, stained crimson. The poker from the fireplace, bloody as it lay beside her mother’s head.
    Catherine reached out to touch her mother’s cheek, but withdrew her shaky hand. It didn’t matter. Her mother was dead.
    Murdered.
    Once again, the mist of darkness flooded her head, made her mind spin out of control. As if seeing the next few months fly before her eyes. The funeral. Her father’s accusations. Returning to school lonelier than she’d been before.
    She squeezed her eyes tighter to fight the bad memories washing through. Suddenly, another image came to her. A handsome man with dark hair and green eyes. Spellbinding eyes.
    Nicholas.
    She was with him on the stairs again, wrapped in his comforting arms while she kissed him. Memories of her mother’s death left and she drifted into a blissful state where only Nick could take her. Catherine smiled.
    She kissed him longer this time, but when she withdrew to look into his heavenly eyes, it was Grant’s sightless eyes that stared back, a scowl creased on his forehead and tight mouth in accusing silent.
    Crying out, Catherine sprang to a sitting position in bed, clutching the covers at her neck. Her