Read Online Tempted by Molly O'Keefe - Free Book Online Page A

Madison’s door was locked, but she had a key and she used it, slipping into the doctor’s rooms.
    In the dark, she could see his long body stretched out on the settee. Quickly she lit the candle on the table near the door and approached him. The chloroform and towel he used to administer it were tipped over on the floor next to his slack hand.
    Thank God his chest was moving. Lifting and falling in a comforting repeating pattern.
    But those breaths were deep. And she did not think she could wake him.
    “Dr. Madison!” she cried, and shook him. Nothing.
    “James!” she yelled, and smacked him across the face. He didn’t so much as flinch.
    “What’s wrong with him?” It was Tell, seeing far too much, standing in the shadows of the doorway, the door she hadn't closed cracked open.
    “The doctor suffers from migraines,” she lied. Pulling together a plan out of desperation and bravado, she blew out the candle and pushed past Tell in the doorway. She grabbed her coat from the stand by the door. “I’ll go see Sam.”
    “You…?” Tell said. Even this illiterate boy who’d been raised on the battlefields and then in a silver mine knew what she was doing was far beyond acceptable.
    “The girl in the room with Sam, is she dead?”
    “No. Not…I don’t know. Sam sounded real cut up about whatever he done to her.”
    “And what will happen to Sam if we don’t get there soon?” she asked.
    “Someone is going to kill him.”
    “Exactly. It’s me or Sam, and probably that girl dies.”
    Still Tell hesitated, but Anne had no more patience. She grabbed her cane and stepped out the front door. Moving as fast as she could toward disaster.
     
    Tell led her through the back entrance of Delilah’s. She hadn’t known there was one, but a door from the back alley surrounded by cats led them into a small, dark room. There was another door, and they walked through a moonlit courtyard. A silver surprise. She had no idea this courtyard, with its garden, existed.
    But then they were through another doorway. The sounds of voices and singing and shouting, a sharp piano came muffled through the walls, and the warm light from a hundred candles fell through the doorway.
    Delilah stepped out of the shadows, giving every impression of being calm, but Anne could see otherwise. The feather in her hair was shaking.
    “Madison?” She asked. Anne shook her head.
    “Damn him.”
    “My sentiments exactly,” Anne said. But she reached out and squeezed Delilah's hands where they were clenched in her skirts. They had grown to be friends of a kind during Anne's monthly visits with the doctor to check on the girls.
    Delilah squeezed Anne's hands back. Hard.
    “Do you know Sam?” Delilah asked.
    Anne nodded. “Where is he?”
    “Follow me. Try not to draw attention to yourself. Kyle's giving away drinks and my girls are doing their best to create a diversion, but everyone can sense something is happening.”
    Anne followed Delilah through the doorway and immediately up the steps to the second floor. At the top of the stairs were Janey, Rose and Bea. When they glanced over at her, she gave them her best reassuring smile. Dr. Madison, for all his flaws, would be able to convey a certain amount of calm. Authority. She was trying to do the same, but judging by the terrified expressions on Bea and Rose’s faces, she could only assume it wasn't working.
    “Who is the girl in the room with him?”
    “Stella,” Delilah answered in a cold voice. She played the part of reluctant mother very well, but Anne was not fooled. Not right now. Delilah was scared. Everyone was scared. She squeezed Janey's hand as she walked by.
    “There is a customer talking to Sam through the door. A solider, like him.”
    “Is it helping?”
    “How do I know?” Delilah said.
    “No one is dead,” Anne replied, meeting Delilah’s eyes.
    “Then yes, so far it is helping.”
    Anne got to the top of the stairs and lifted her head enough to look down on the