Bride of the Night by Heather Graham Read Free Book Online Page B

closed and lie back. Damn you, Richard, I can swim with you. Stop fighting me or I’ll knock you out and drag you, so don’tmake it harder for me,” she warned him with a note of steel in her voice.
    Water washed over him again. He sputtered it out, and she took advantage of his weakness to force him flat and slip her left arm around his chest in a hold that would allow him to keep his head above the surface while she fought the waves with her right arm and legs. She had a reserve of strength that was deep, fortunately, as the sea itself seemed to be against them that night.
    As she kicked harder, she was dimly aware of some form of shadow that seemed to linger over Richard’s boat.
    Death?
    She gave herself a mental shake; she couldn’t think that way. She had to use her entire concentration to get her friend to the shore. She didn’t even dare look back at the Yankee ship. Richard had been thrown severely about his wounded ship, and if she didn’t get him to land, nothing else about the night would really matter.
    An explosion suddenly burst through the night and Tara realized that a powder keg had exploded.
    The resulting mass of waves wrenched Richard from her arms. Skyrocketing flames illuminated the water, and she couldn’t see Richard anymore.
    Even with her exceptional sight and strength, it seemed like an eternity in agony, diving and searching, diving and searching.
    While the blazing fire on the ship illuminated the surface of the water, creating an almost beautiful arrayof golden splendor on the now-gentling waves, beneath the glowing sheen the water remained stygian in the night. She could barely see, and while she knew about where Richard had gone in, she couldn’t pinpoint the precise location, and she might not have found him at all had he not bobbed to the surface.
    Facedown.
    â€œRichard!” she shouted, swimming to him, turning him over in the water. His eyes were closed; his form was limp.
    â€œRichard!” she cried again, and then squeezed his torso with gentle pressure, fighting the waves around them. To her relief, he coughed and choked, and water spewed from his mouth. A wave lapped around them, covering his face, and he coughed again, trying to fight the water that seemed so ready to claim him.
    â€œEasy, easy, just float, I’ve got you!” Tara assured him.
    â€œThe ship…the men,” Richard said, and choked as icy salt water moved over his mouth again.
    â€œShhh… Stop talking.” She wondered if he’d been struck in the head…?. But he was breathing; he was alive and breathing and she was going to make sure nothing changed that.
    â€œThe men…” he repeated.
    â€œStop. We’ve been through this.” She was terribly afraid that her friend didn’t want to live, that guilt over his men would infect his thoughts and keep him fromassisting her rescue attempt. “Richard! Shut up! The war has taken many lives—I won’t let it take yours.”
    Richard wasn’t a small man, and the water felt bitterly cold, and it wasn’t easy managing the weight and length of his lean and muscled body—especially when he wasn’t cooperating.
    â€œFire,” he said, as if he hadn’t heard her, glazed eyes reflecting the burst of fire in the sky.
    She was tempted to knock him out again. He was the dearest friend she’d ever had, or would have, and she would not lose him.
    â€œQuiet!” she whispered softly. She hooked her arm around his body, trying to get him to relax and let her use the power of her right arm and legs against the water. “Lay back, Richard, and let me take you. Please. Please…” Just when she thought she couldn’t wrestle with him for one minute more, he mercifully passed out once again. She felt the fight leave his muscles.
    Finally, she was able to begin a hard crawl toward the shore.
    The water was deep; the ship had floundered in the