Read Twisted Tale of Stormy Gale for Free Online

in my hair, pulling my lips to his. The kiss was no gentle taste, but a searing clash of lips and tongue.
    I whimpered, shocked at the pressure building fast and low in my belly, shocked that I wanted to continue kissing this man, my enemy. He pushed me away and it was over as quickly as it had begun. The tent filled with the sounds of our labored breathing. He stared at me with raw need and something else I couldn’t define.
    “That will do. It’s a wager. Let’s drink on it.” He turned to face the table once again and held his glass up.
    I clinked mine to his and we drank.
    “I want to play the guessing game again. And I want to go first this time,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. He turned and set his empty cup to the side.
    “Fine.” It didn’t matter if I won or lost. He had the TTM on him and I would win it now or take it once the second dose of the drug took effect. Then I would go get Bacon, head off to the copse of trees near the beach, don my alternate perception goggles, locate the wormhole and the two of us would blow this place for good.
    “Guess number one,” he said, his face suddenly impassive. “You are a liar and a cheat.”
    “What do you mean?” My voice trembled as gooseflesh rose on my arms and the master plan came to a screeching halt.
    “Who are you really?” he asked, his icy gaze drilling into mine. “And remember, if you lie, you lose.”
    I swallowed hard, trying to dislodge the lump that had formed in my throat. “Dorothy Gale. Fortune-teller. Rorn and braised in Bratt’s Pottom. Pratt’s Bottom.” My tongue felt like a fuzzy, fat caterpillar and my head had begun to swim. Everything seemed to flicker before my eyes like a silent film from the twenties and I struggled to stay alert. The last thing I remember is Leister reaching into his pocket and pulling out Bacon’s TTM, with a shake of his head.
    “You lose, Dorothy.”
    Then my world went black.

Chapter Three
    A chilly breeze swept over my bare shoulder and roused me from my stupor. I gingerly opened my eyes only to slam them shut again as the light bum-rushed my pupils. My head pounded in protest. An oil slick of nausea roiled in my belly. Where the hell was I? Hospital? And where was Bacon?
    I reached a hand to my aching head but met with resistance halfway. Again, I struggled to open my eyes and fought through the pain and nausea until my pupils adjusted to the light. When I saw the chain around my right wrist, I almost wished I’d just left them closed. The events of the previous night came flooding back to me.
    I’d been duped. The con artist had been conned, the pirate pirated. I tried to piece together what had happened. Somehow he had obviously switched the cups, but when? I had poured in the second dose and it was only a few minutes later—ah, the kiss. Had the kiss been nothing more than a distraction? Maybe he saw me adding the powder to his drink and decided to take action? Maybe he’d been looking more closely the second time? Maybe I was too obvious in my quest to find out if he had the TTM and he’d gotten suspicious? Or maybe— Holy shit. My TTM.
    Sitting up as much as the chains would allow, relieved to see I still had my clothes on, I scanned the room. I nearly passed out with relief as I spied my carpetbag in the corner. OK, at least there was a chance, albeit a small one, that he hadn’t looked through the bag yet. To my everlasting shame, I realized that I owed Bacon an apology. Obviously the Loony Duke was a formidable foe if he had outfoxed me too.
    Poor Bacon. He was probably waiting for me all night at the room and worried sick. Not only that, but if I couldn’t escape, he’d be stuck here forever without a TTM.
    I tried to focus, calling upon my steely time-pirate resolve to figure out how to get myself out of this mess.
    First things first, I needed to free myself from the chains. I pulled my shackled arm until the chain was taut and I could I trace it back to its