Read Online The Bound Heart by Elsa Holland - Free Book Online Page A

to the table in her mother’s kitchen. She knew then what would get her walking again was a will she would have to develop, pull from a place deep down in her.
    It had taken time. She had floundered regularly, cried constantly.
    Now it was always there, under the surface. There if she needed it. Two years she had waited for Jamie to see her, waited for that strange pull between them to be recognized.
    Perhaps he didn’t want to feel a pull towards her. Perhaps it was because of her limp or perhaps something she had no idea about. But…but none of it mattered. Just her determination. Her determination and will to make him notice.
    And he had.
    “Don’t you like me?”
    His face had changed. “Oh, I do, Olive, very much.” His voice had wrapped around her. He’d leaned closer. “But I don’t want soft and sweet. What I want, what I need Olive is like a shadow over the sun. Step back and leave this rain cloud to play somewhere else, for I don’t have the will.”
    And he’d let her go.
    He knew he was leaving and had said nothing.
    That hurt!
    Yet, the fact that he couldn’t leave without kissing her, that she had pushed him and he’d wanted more as much as she had. That meant everything.
    The stairs, an avenue of some frustration, were their usual treacherous self. But she navigated the dark and went down to that lower level, pushed the door open into the little office storeroom, and through the curtain into The Velvet Basement.
    “Olive?” Evie was distracted.
    Olive placed the photos reluctantly on the counter.
    Evie swept them up and slid them into the box on the counter as if they weren’t the most wondrous of images. As if they were simply any picture.
    Olive lifted her head. Evie looked back at her and stilled.
    “Olive…” Evie shook her head.
    “Where does he live, Evie? He’s left.”
    “Good. He has some decency after all. Anyone can tell you’re a sweetheart who deserves better.”
    “Evie, please.”
    No one else was in the shop. They were alone. Evie was agitated about something, but was also trying to be there for her.
    “I will have to ask Mr. Howard upstairs.”
    Her heart bounded into her ribs in a leap of unabashed joy. “Oh, Evie…will you?”
    Evie held up her hand. “This is not without cost, Olive. Mr. Howard… well, I will have to deal with him. You will owe me.”
    Evie pointedly caught her gaze. “My black corset, the one with the leather trimming, I want it embroidered…fully.”
    “You need to supply the thread and we can talk design.” A smile spread over her face. “That’s giving me something I want and asking me to pay you by doing something I love. Really Evie, you make it too easy for me.”
    “Well, you may not like the design. I don’t want pretty flowers; I want floggers.”
    “You want me to embroider that beautiful corset with floggers?”
    “I would say, don’t judge what you don’t understand, but look who’s chasing Mr. Tall, Dark, and Deviant.”
    “He’s not deviant; he’s just different,” Olive said.
    “Well then, so am I.” Evie grinned.
    “Yes, you are. It will be the most beautiful corset in England if you get me his address.”
    “Floggers?” Evie arched an eyebrow.
    Olive stuck out her hand. “Floggers.”
    Evie wrapped her hand around Olive’s in a solid warm clasp. “Agreed.”
    As soon as was practical, Evie went upstairs to see Mr. Howard and gain access to the employment records.
    Olive had to look after the shop.
    It was too early for most visitors. They came after dark or close to it. Perhaps even late at night. They rang a special bell to be let in after regular hours. It was, in fact, remarkable that word of these details got to patrons or potential patrons.
    The shop itself was quite lovely. Polished wooden floors that Evie kept with a beautiful shine, potted palms in bright brass pots and some Chesterfield sofas on a large oriental rug.
    As the time passed, her curiosity grew, as each section of the shop seemed to