Free Quicksilver Passion by Georgina Gentry - Colorado 01 - Quicksilver Passion Page B

least one good thing in his life and Al had never regretted his decision. That day had been a little more than a year ago.
    Right now, Al didn’t feel like he’d make it the full two years. He felt sweat bead on his forehead at the agony and he almost doubled over as he stumbled to a chair and took another big drink of the tonic.
    He’d never told Silver he was dying. His every waking thought these days was occupied by hiding his pain while he tried to make plans to protect her. She would be so alone when he was gone. If only he could find the right man who, like Al, would be content to adore her from a distance, protect and cherish her.
    The problem was, every man who saw her wanted to get between her legs, not understanding her terror at a man’s touch. Like that big half-breed who had drifted in the other night. Al snorted and wiped his brow. He’d never seen such lust and hunger in a man’s eyes. That Cherokee was big enough to protect her, all right, but he was a horse of a man. If he ever got the chance, that Cherokee would ride her like a stallion topping a mare, not caring about anything but satisfying his animal instincts.
    Al saw a sudden image in his mind of the two naked together, the big dark body pinning her fragile pale one against a bed. Cherokee would be built big all over, and she was no match for him. With dismay, Al imagined the half-breed covering Silver, meshing his body with hers, ramming deep inside, impaling her against a bed while she beat on his chest and scratched helplessly at his face. Then he would bend his head and put his mouth on Silver’s full, ripe breasts....
    The image upset him so, he shook his head to clear it, then stared out the window at the snow flurries.
    Snow. It had been snowing the first time Al had ever seen Silver, that winter afternoon in Chicago. . . .

    Jake Dallinger, the army scout, had found her wandering the streets and brought her to the elegant Victorian mansion. It looked so respectable, but the business inside wasn’t.
    Brett. Bart Brett. The handsome, black sheep son of a wealthy family owned this place. Al remembered standing in the background in Brett’s office, watching the scene.
    Jake was the kind of guy who’d steal milk from an orphan’s cup, a big, bearded redneck who carried a bull whip coiled on his belt. He kept his hat pulled low to hide the fact that he was half-scalped from a run-in with Indians in his past.
    Jake said,Brett, this here little lady doesn’t seem to have anyplace to go, and I knew you was looking for a cleaning girl.”
    Brett stood up, amusement on his handsome face.A cleaning girl? Oh, of course, Miss—?”
    The slight blonde looked from one to the other.Uh, Jones. Sylvia Jones,” she said.
    Funny,” Brett said,you look Swedish or Norwegian.”
    Does it matter?” She seemed nervous and scared.
    Al studied her, and decided she was just a kid, not more than seventeen, maybe. If he’d ever found a woman he cared about, who cared about him, Al might have had a daughter this girl’s age. When he looked at her, he saw the young, innocent sweetheart every half-grown boy dreams of and usually never gets.
    Brett bowed with smooth charm.Forgive my rudeness, Miss Jones. It just seems that with that dazzling hair, ‘Silver’ would be more appropriate.”
    The girl blushed, then smiled, looking at Al with obvious curiosity.
    Oh, forgive me, Miss Jones,” Brett said,this is my right-hand man, Mr. Al Trovato.”
    The girl curtsied prettily and Al nodded, curious as to how she would react when she realized too late what she had gotten herself into. The elegant mansion was known as the Velvet Kitten, a high-class brothel that catered to an elite, upper-class clientele.
    Al had grown hard over the years because of his own past. He’d done time in jail, and had a job unloading crates in a warehouse when Brett first hired him as a bouncer. Gradually, Al had become more than Brett’s employee. He was Brett’s most trusted confidant.