Arsenic and Old Armor by May McGoldrick Read Free Book Online Page B

river. He turned around. “I’ll have you
to know that since our so-called wedding ceremony, my dislike of
you has multiplied tenfold.”
    “ I’m very sorry to hear
that, lass. Perhaps tomorrow we could increase that to twentyfold
and cover twice the distance.” He leaned a shoulder against a tree.
“You still haven’t told me why I shouldn’t be watching
you.”
    “ You’re an ogre,” she
replied. “Your complete lack of consideration for anyone but
yourself makes me think of strangling you with my bare
hands.”
    “ I think you should pursue
such thoughts. Do your worst.”
    “ Really?”
    “ I’ve nothing to lose,”
Iain said. “And anyway, strangling me might just improve your sour
attitude.”
    “ My sour attitude?”
    “ I promise not to put up a
fight,” he said encouragingly.
    “ You, Iain Armstrong, are a
liar and a coward!” He heard her rising to her feet and shaking out
her skirts. “But you’d not be foolish enough to let me get my two
hands around your miserable throat.”
    She walked to the edge of the river and
stepped onto a couple of sizable rocks. She leaned down and washed
her hands and her face.
    Iain wondered if she knew how slippery those
rocks could be. He came up behind her.
    “ I think you’re far too
timid. Here I am giving you the chance you claim you’re looking
for, but you refuse to take it.”
    She stood up and whirled about too fast.
There was no way he could reach her in time. She desperately waved
her arms and fell backward into the river.
    “ Now, that was brilliant,”
he muttered, clambering over the rocks to reach her. When Marion
surfaced, she was in the middle of the river, way out of his reach
and moving quickly.
    “ Help me,” she called
before going under again. The moon moved behind the
clouds.
    It didn’t matter if she knew how to swim or
not. The current was strong. Iain unbuckled his sword and threw it
on the riverbed. As he flung off his cloak, he turned and dived in
after her. The rush of cold water nearly took Iain’s breath away.
Rocks scratched his legs as he sailed by them. He tried to stay
afloat and avoid smashing into the boulders.
    “ Marion!” he shouted. The
roar of the water was his only answer.
    A sense of urgency seized him. All their
differences aside, Iain was responsible for her. He was responsible
for this accident. His stubbornness had caused this. She didn’t
deserve to drown. Her life had been placed into his hands by her
father as the earl drew his last breath on the battlefield. He had
to save her.
    He didn’t know what lay in their path, where
the next bend in the river led. He wasn’t sure if she was strong
enough to keep her head above water.
    “ Marion!” he shouted again,
swimming with the current and scanning both shores for some sign of
her. The moon had once again emerged from the sea of
clouds.
    Iain thought he heard a scream from
somewhere ahead. It could have been a bird in the night. He wished
he could believe Marion was that bird, sitting on a branch of a
tree and laughing at him as he bobbed up and down like an apple in
the water. The river became narrower but deeper, and he felt
himself drop down a number of levels. Where the current passed
between large rocks, the flow of the water was stronger and faster.
He tried to remember if there were any waterfalls ahead.
    He found himself making
promises with his Maker. Please, let her
live . He would try harder. They would get
along.
    With its roots pulled loose from the bank, a
tree stretched across the river ahead. His heart jumped with joy
when he spotted the dark figure holding on to the very end of one
limb.
    “ Marion!” he shouted,
gliding in long strokes toward the figure.
    She turned and stretched a hand toward him.
The water was pushing him away from the tree. In a moment, he’d
sweep past her. He swam hard across the current, trying to close
the distance to her. But the river had a mind of its own, pushing
him away.
    “ Stay there! Work your