Sins of the Father: MANTEQUERO BOOK 3 Read Online Free

suggestions. They spent long evenings together going through previous essays, text books and old exam papers, and she had revelled in it.
    Now it was all over and there seemed to be no obvious reason for meeting every night. Except that they enjoyed each other’s company. Well, she did – enjoy his, that is – and she was sure the feeling was mutual. Every so often he would look up from whatever he was reading and gaze at her with such an intense expression that she felt sure, absolutely sure, that he was in love with her. Then he would carry on as if nothing had happened and she would be left with a strange, empty feeling.
    Bugger it! She really was going to have to put all this stuff out of her mind.
     
    Rupert was finding it hard to keep his cool. Samantha had the strangest effect on him. He found most of the time that he felt perfectly relaxed with her and could tell her all sorts of things he would never dream of telling anyone else – except the dreams of course. He wouldn’t tell anyone about the dreams, especially not Samantha.  But every so often he would be gripped by a desire so intense that he could barely hold back. He had to just keep breathing until the feeling passed. He wanted to hold her and kiss her so badly that holding back was almost a physical pain. He couldn’t tell whether she felt the same way. It didn’t matter anyway. He daren’t kiss Samantha. He didn’t trust himself. He must be happy with what he’d got – the best friendship he’d ever had with someone his own age. But he wondered. He found himself wondering all the time . . .
     
    ****
     
    “Samantha? Sam?” Rupert came banging into the house, dropping his bag of books in the hallway. Samantha’s mother came out of the kitchen looking slightly miffed. She didn’t approve of Samantha’s name being shortened to Sam. But she smiled when she saw Rupert. He was such a lovely boy it was difficult to be cross with him.
“She’s upstairs,” she said. “It’s fine for you to go up.”
    “Thanks, Mrs Parkin.” Rupert gave her a grin and ran up the stairs, his gangling legs almost tripping over each other in his haste.
Samantha opened her bedroom door and grinned at him. “What’s all the hurry?”
“Patsy’s back!”
    Samantha felt a sudden jerk of alarm.
    “Come on, put your shoes on. I want her to meet you.”
    “No, hang on. I’m not ready. I’ll have to get changed. Put make-up on.”
    Samantha was so distracted by the thought of meeting Patsy that she didn’t notice the expression on Rupert’s face. Patsy was important to him. She was terrified of not making a good impression.
    “What for?” Rupert looked completely baffled.
    “What for what?”
“Why are you putting make-up on?”
“Well, you know.” Samantha spread her hands in a vague gesture. “I want to make a good impression.”
“She’ll love you. And anyway why ever would you paint a different face on top of your own beautiful one?”
She stopped dead. He said it again. He said she was beautiful. She stared at him, lost for words.
    “You are beautiful.” He took her face in both his hands and gazed intensely into her eyes. Then — and she was never sure afterwards who initiated it — they had their arms around each other and he was kissing her. It was all right. The noses didn’t get in the way. He didn’t try to eat her. It was soft and yielding and utterly wonderful. All the things she had worried about, like whether you could breathe, whether you could feel each other’s teeth, whether your stomach would rumble or you’d need to sneeze or, worse still, have a wee, none of those things happened. They just seemed to slide into the kiss as if they had years of experience.
    Then suddenly, just as she was really getting into it, Rupert pulled back.
    “Oh Samantha, I’m so sorry. Sorry Sam.”
    She stared back at him, completely confused.
    “What? What is it, Rupert? Was it horrible?”
    Rupert spread his hands, his expression one