Prima Donna by Megan Chance pptx

[...]... man in the place www.ThreeRiversPress.com Chan_9780307461018_2p_all_r2.qxp:Layout 1 8 10/12/09 8:50 AM Page 8 MEGAN CHANCE had paused to watch A few rose, as if they meant to help—not me, but the Indian I grabbed the handle of my portmanteau and left, tripping over my skirts in my haste, pushing by the men who crowded around me to block the door I ran back into the dark rain, flattening myself against... though I couldn’t see their features www.ThreeRiversPress.com Chan_9780307461018_2p_all_r2.qxp:Layout 1 18 10/12/09 8:51 AM Page 18 MEGAN CHANCE from this distance in the dim light I had spent a lifetime learning how to recognize the most important person in a room, and by the way the leaning man was still and watching, I knew he was the one I made my way toward him When I got there, I settled my bag... got a room at Gray’s.” He helped me to my feet, and once I was up he began to tug me after him I said, “The chowder first.” www.ThreeRiversPress.com Chan_9780307461018_2p_all_r2.qxp:Layout 1 10/12/09 PRIMA DONNA 8:50 AM Page 9 9 For a moment he looked mutinous Then he nodded and staggered back into the restaurant, leaving me to wait He came out with a steaming bowl and a spoon and a drink he kept for... sat upon the sagging boardwalk before it, lolling against the door, which was crooked and barely shut www.ThreeRiversPress.com Chan_9780307461018_2p_all_r2.qxp:Layout 1 10 10/12/09 8:50 AM Page 10 MEGAN CHANCE My drunk staggered up the ramp, pulling me after him, and kicked at a man blocking the way, who fell over without a protest He pushed on the door It didn’t budge He pushed at it again, and then... ya.” I dropped my portmanteau on the floor and took off my veiled hat, letting it fall “Two dollars,” I said quietly, and he www.ThreeRiversPress.com Chan_9780307461018_2p_all_r2.qxp:Layout 1 10/12/09 PRIMA DONNA 8:50 AM Page 11 11 reached into his pocket, grunting again, and drew out a frayed leather wallet When I went to take the money, he misjudged, dropping the greenbacks to the floor I bent to pick... my inner thighs “Go on then, girlie,” he gasped “Go ahead and put me in It’ll be all right It’ll be—” www.ThreeRiversPress.com Chan_9780307461018_2p_all_r2.qxp:Layout 1 12 10/12/09 8:50 AM Page 12 MEGAN CHANCE But he was still soft and floppy and pathetic, and I murmured, “I think you’re too drunk for me tonight, mister.” “No, no,” he protested, still jerking away “Jush a few more minutes .”... bodies lying about on the floor, all snoring and groaning and turning restlessly upon the warped boards www.ThreeRiversPress.com Chan_9780307461018_2p_all_r2.qxp:Layout 1 14 10/12/09 8:51 AM Page 14 MEGAN CHANCE My clothes were still a good deal more than damp, and my scalp and the back of my neck and my shoulders itched from bites—fleas or bedbugs or both I shoved open the door and went out onto the... of my petticoat that was only wet and not smeared with mud I did not put on the hat and veil I no longer looked anything www.ThreeRiversPress.com Chan_9780307461018_2p_all_r2.qxp:Layout 1 10/12/09 PRIMA DONNA 8:51 AM Page 15 15 like the woman I’d been, and I doubted anyone in this part of town would penetrate my disguise Still, it wasn’t until I’d passed several people who didn’t look twice at me that... the others sitting near him laughed I ignored them and appealed to the bartender “You need a waitress?” www.ThreeRiversPress.com Chan_9780307461018_2p_all_r2.qxp:Layout 1 16 10/12/09 8:51 AM Page 16 MEGAN CHANCE “I don’t use waitresses here,” he said “ ’Specially ones lookin’ like you.” “Now, ain’t that a nasty scar,” purred the one who’d wanted a poke “That’s all right, honey I like ’em rough.” He was... woman, especially one as down on her luck as I obviously was To be inside, to give in to sleep that came without nightmares www.ThreeRiversPress.com Chan_9780307461018_2p_all_r2.qxp:Layout 1 10/12/09 PRIMA DONNA 8:51 AM Page 17 17 In my search I had moved steadily uphill, and now I turned the corner Here the buildings were not crowded so closely together, some blocks nearly empty There was another saloon, . of Random House, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chance, Megan. Prima donna: a novel / Megan Chance. — 1st trade paperback ed. p. cm. 1. Singers—Fiction. 2. Brothels—Fiction dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Copyright © 2009 by Megan Chance All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a.