Read Online The Red Pearl by C. K. Brooke - Free Book Online

was lower, more gravelly than usual. “A virgin never forgets her first kiss.”
    Antonia gave a single bat of her lashes. “What makes you so sure I’m a virgin?” But those wide, innocent eyes betrayed her.
    Rob chuckled softly. “ Please, Annie.”
    He turned, though he still felt her watching him, and could detect the rise and fall of her breast in his periphery. Already, he was filling with remorse. What had he been thinking, manhandling her like that? He knew better.
    He also knew he couldn’t go there with her—or with anyone—right then. For, mere days ago, his heart had been trampled upon and broken. He couldn’t simply give it away again. In fact, he wasn’t quite sure where it was at the moment, if it was even whole or still belonged to him.
    “Look.” The man spoke with his back to her. “What just happened… I meant nothing by it, all right? So, I hope I’ve not set you up with false expectations. The last thing I wish to do is…lead you on, or something…”
    He was startled by her scathing laughter. “I am tickled by your hubris, Mr. Watkins, truly. Rest assured, the only expectation I have is that you never touch me again. ”
    With one last lethal glare, Antonia vanished into the tent.

FOR THE REST OF THE evening, Robin left her alone, obviously feeling culpable. As he very well should feel, Antonia thought furiously, staring up at the canvas ceiling. Not only had he assaulted her, forcing his mouth over hers in what was clearly some ridiculous machismo assertion of power, but he’d then had the audacity to spurn her—as though his violation had somehow piqued her affections!
    Boiling with anger, she tossed about in her bedroll. Though at first, she’d felt sorry for slapping him, the more she replayed the scenario in her mind, the greater she longed to slap him again. Either way, she cared not what he said. She’d soon meet a man who would make her forget all about him. And whatever Robin Watkins thought he’d given her, it was certainly not a kiss. Why, kisses were supposed to be tender and romantic, or at the very least consensual. Nay, far as she was concerned, his didn’t count. She’d still never been kissed.
    By the following morning, Antonia was going stir-crazy. She needed to come out of the tent, even though it meant returning to the awful man’s company. Emerging from the shelter at last, she found him fastening his rucksack with an air of finality. “Going somewhere?” she inquired.
    He jumped. “ Jeez. You scared the daylights out of me.”
    Suspicious, she eyed his rucksack. “You weren’t planning on abandoning me out here, were you?”
    “Of course not.” He sounded offended. “What do you take me for?”
    “A rogue,” Antonia declared, “if you care for my honest opinion.”
    “Well, I don’t.” He swung his bag down from the carriage. “It was a rhetorical question.”
    Antonia turned away, but he whistled for her attention. “You going to help me take down the tent, or what?”
    “So, we’re leaving?”
    He shrugged. “Got to. These bottles won’t sustain us forever.” He jiggled his bag, and the glass inside clinked. “We’ll have to move forward to find water, either way.”
    After helping him dismantle the tent, Antonia took up another bag of supplies to carry, and made her way from the site. Robin gave a reluctant glance over his shoulder at the prototype, and Antonia suffered a resurgence of guilt. Poor Dr. Watkins.
    For more than an hour, they walked toward the mountains that loomed in the distance. Antonia knew she ought not to drink too much, but she was parched. What was worse, all the dust and dry air kept causing her to cough uncontrollably, her only temporary relief being hefty gulps of water.
    She did not miss Robin’s anxious look as he handed her another bottle during her next coughing fit. Though he said nothing, she knew she was expending their supply. They needed to refill the bottles soon.
    The sun beat down over their