Don't Hurt Me Read Online Free

hand.
       ‘I’m Julia,’ she said calmly.
       Those wide tearful eyes swept up
and down her figure, examining every detail. Her voice became deliberately
spiteful.
       ‘Not much to look at, are you? I
suppose you must be good in bed, then. Or he wouldn’t waste any of his precious
time on you.’
       Marshall came level with the young
girl. ‘Don’t be so bloody insolent,’ he grated. ‘This is Miss Summers. She’s an
artist who’s come here to illustrate The
Wounded Tiger and you will treat her with proper courtesy.’
       ‘Sure, whatever.’
       ‘Sorry, I was hoping to sort this
mess out without involving you,’ he said tersely to Julia. ‘But now you’re
awake, I might as well introduce you to your ghost.’
       ‘Is this the face at the attic
window?’
       ‘Precisely,’ he said bitingly. ‘I’m
sorry to destroy any romantic illusions you might have harboured of a haunted
house, but your ghostly child was none other than my daughter Victoria.’
       At that, he glared furiously at the
girl, who glared back just as furiously and folded her arms across her chest.
       ‘Victoria ran away from boarding
school three days ago,’ Marshall added curtly, raking back his dishevelled hair
with one hand. ‘And like the little idiot she is, she’s been camping out in my
attic while half the police force in the country have been looking for her.’
       ‘Oh dear.’
       His mouth twisted. ‘Hard to
believe, isn’t it? Victoria is only fourteen years old, yet this is the third
school she’s run away from. She was suspended last term for smoking and this
time she was caught in one of the boys’ bedrooms after lights out.’
       ‘We were just talking,’ his
daughter threw in defensively.
       ‘What about?’
       ‘Politics.’
       Marshall laughed harshly, raising
his eyebrows at Julia. ‘You see? I get nothing but these ridiculous lies from
her.’
       ‘But it’s true!’ the girl insisted
angrily, pushing past her father and turning on her heel to stare back at him.
Julia was surprised to see how tall she was for fourteen. Glancing from father
to daughter, she could easily see the family resemblance: both possessed the
same dark hair and complexion, and those odd tawny eyes which seemed to
penetrate whatever they glanced upon. ‘Paul wants to be a politician. He’s on
the school debating team. He’s really clever.’
       ‘I don’t think it was particularly
clever of either of you, risking both your futures for the sake of some late
night conversation,’ Marshall remarked icily.
       ‘Both?’ the girl repeated,
stammering.
       ‘Didn’t anyone tell you? Whilst
you’ve been hiding up there in the attic, your little friend has been suspended
as well. So you didn’t do him any favours by breaking the rules.’
       ‘But that’s not fair. Paul didn’t
do anything!’
       Her father shrugged.
       ‘It was my idea,’ the girl
insisted, stamping her foot. ‘I was the one who sneaked up to his room. Paul
wasn’t even expecting to see me. They can’t throw him out for something he
didn’t do.’
       ‘They can if you’re not there to
defend him,’ Marshall lost no time in pointing out, then gestured his daughter
to walk ahead of him along the landing while she was still digesting that
information. ‘We can ring the school together in the morning and try to sort it
all out. But at the moment, it’s well after midnight and you should be in bed.
Though in your own room this time, not the attic. And no more vanishing acts.
That won’t help your friend Paul, will it?’
       ‘I suppose not,’ Victoria said
grudgingly.
       Once the bedroom door had clicked
shut behind his recalcitrant daughter, Marshall turned wearily back towards
Julia and slid his hands deep into the pockets of his dressing gown. The tawny
eyes flickered ironically over her face for a moment.
       ‘God, I’m sorry about that. She’s
bloody hard work at