Passion's Fury Read Online Free Page A

won’t speak of Vanessa. You were the firstborn. Pinehurst is rightfully yours, even if she were deserving, which she most assuredly isn’t.”
    He placed her hand in the crook of his arm. “Now we will make your grand entrance.”
    Stunned, April could only allow him to lead her out of the room, down the thickly carpeted hallway. When they passed the closed door to Vanessa’s room, her heart constricted painfully. How much more grief would the girl have to bear, she wondered, feeling guilty over her own blessings.
    They reached the top of the stairway. The guests were mingling below the huge crystal gas chandeliers, sipping champagne and talking above the music of the string orchestra playing in one corner of the large foyer. One of the musicians was watching for Carter Jennings’s signal. When it came, he motioned to the orchestra for silence. The guests, sensing what was about to happen, began gathering in the foyer, looking upward toward the top of the stairs. The music began once more, and they smiled up in approval as April made her entrance on her father’s arm.
    Everyone clustered about as April and her father reached the bottom step. April shook hands, received kisses, hugs, and exchanged pleasantries till she felt weak from it all. Someone handed her a crystal glass filled with champagne, and she turned to smile gratefully. But her smile quickly faded as she looked up into the lascivious gaze of Graham Fletcher.
    He took her hand and began to lead her away from the crowd, whispering when she held back, “Come along now. You don’t want to make a scene now, do you?”
    When they were away from the others, she snapped, “I didn’t know my father had invited you, Graham. I certainly didn’t ask him to.”
    “Now is that any way for you to behave when I have just rescued you from all those vultures?” He made a disapproving sound as he shook his head, but then his eye caught the ring her father had just given her. “Well, I see Carter Jennings has decided to let everyone know officially who is going to inherit Pinehurst. But there was never any doubt in your mind, was there, my love?” His grin was mocking.
    He had clasped her hand, but she snatched it away and hissed, “I don’t care for your impertinence, Graham, and I will thank you to go away and leave me alone. It was not my intention for you to be here, so please be a gentleman for once and respect my wishes. Stay away from me while you are here!”
    She started to move away, but he caught her arm. “Now that is not being neighborly, April, and I hardly think your father would approve. You know he’s always tried to maintain good relations between Pinehurst and Fletcher Manor. After all, where would Pinehurst be if it weren’t for my family? Must I remind you that the underground stream that supplies water for your father’s land originates on my family’s property?”
    “And he has paid you well for those water rights.” April was struggling to keep her voice down. If there was one human being in the world whom she could not stand it was Graham. It was not that he was unattractive. Far from it. All the young ladies swooned over his good looks. But he was disgusting. Twice she had slapped his face for pinching her breasts, and he had boldly asked her to meet him in the barn some evening for her “pleasuring.”
    Graham continued to smile down at her. “That is a fetching dress, April. My, how I would love to see the bodice dropped just a wee bit lower. I’ve seen some fine breasts in my time, but I envision yours as the most luscious a man could ever ask for.”
    April clasped her fingers tightly around the glass stem. “Graham, if you persist in your filthy insults, I am going to tell my father, and he will give you the sound thrashing you deserve!”
    “You’re merely reacting indignantly because society demands it of a lady. One of these nights, you’ll stop your little charade and be the passionate, wanton vixen I know you want to