Read High Tide at Noon for Free Online

wind-cooled skin. She stood rigidly still, trying not to tremble, and kept her lips pressed tightly shut.
    â€œRelax, darlin’,” he whispered. “I’ve got a lot to teach you and you’re going to like it. . . . Relax, honey.”
    He kissed her again and again, and gradually she began to feel a sweet drowsiness creep over her. She felt heavy in her eyelids, in her head, in every finger, each muscle; she only want ed to stand there in the tight circle of his arms, leaning against him. Almost without her knowing it, her mouth went soft and willing under his.
    His breath quickened. “You’re a sweet kid,” he said, his voice blurred. “A damn sweet kid. Let’s sit down.”
    There was some furniture left in the almost-empty house, and they sat down on an old cot. Joanna was dreamily glad she’d come. The afternoon in the orchard seemed years ago. She hadn’t known then it would be like this. . . . She leaned against Simon and he put his face in her hair, and kissed the back of her neck. It sent little feathers of delight along her skin. Without thinking at all, she put her hand on his face, wondering vaguely at the fiery heat of it, and drew his head down.
    â€œOh, my God!” he whispered, and his arms tightened.
    â€œYour heart’s beating hard,” she said with a soft little chuckle.
    â€œHow’s yours?” His voice thickened as his hand slipped over her breast. Hardly breathing, she lay in the circle of his arm, her mouth trembling and eager for his kiss. It came, hard and urgent, no longer gentle. And with it he moved so that she felt herself leaning backwards against an arm that lowered her very slowly, very gently, very steadily. She yielded with no thought of resistance.
    â€œThat’s right,” he whispered.
    It might have been his voice that broke the spell. But all at once the sweet languor was gone; even its memory didn’t exist. Joanna was wide awake and trembling with cold and fear in an empty house, a dark house. She put her hands against his chest and pushed.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?” he muttered. “Don’t be afraid of me, sweetheart.”
    â€œLet me up,” she breathed. It was as if she had walked in her sleep and had awakened to terror and struggle in darkness. “Please, I want to go home, I don’t want to stay here!”
    She fought against the arms that held her while the soft voice cajoled and pleaded. “What are you scared of, Jo? I won’t hurt you. I swear you’ll be all right, you won’t get into trouble or anything!” He talked rapidly, with growing incoherence, words tumbling over words. She knew he was frantic, and her terror grew. “Look, Jo, if you’re my girl you’ll have everything, all the money I make, silk stockings, candy, a watch, anything— Jo! ”
    He smothered her gasps with his lips and she fought him with all her wild young strength, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough until, to her own huge surprise, she burst into tears.
    â€œOh, Christ,” said Simon, and let her go. “So you’re goin’ to pull the salt-water business on me, are ye?” He was no longer afire, but coldly furious. “I’ll give you five minutes to get the hell over it, and then you’ll listen to reason. I don’t let anybody fool with me, lady. Sooner or later, they pay up.”
    He sat on the cot, smoking a cigarette. In the dimness his face was a thin devilish mask. Joanna stood shivering in the middle of the room, trying to calm herself. Through the window she saw the light in the clubhouse, a yellow glimmer through the moving spruce branches. It was the loveliest thing in the world, that light. If she were there now, she’d never ask for anything else in her life . . .
    Her lightning dash took Simon by surprise, but not for long. When she flung herself across the room, Simon was off the cot; when she reached the