Amanda Scott - [Border Trilogy 2] Read Online Free Page B

said no more but strode off with her toward the horses instead.
    He was hardly going to tell Hodge Law what even his own family did not know, that just three years before, he had nearly married the woman.
    Slowly becoming aware of hoofbeats and motion, Sibylla realized she was on horseback and that someone was holding her in front of him on his saddle. His hardened, muscular body supported her securely and moved easily with the animal.
    She had no doubt who he was.
    Perhaps this will teach you, the next time you try to drown yourself, to do a proper job of it,
she told herself with a touch of amusement, doubtless born of exhaustion or incipient hysteria.
    Of all the people who might have rescued her, the one who had was the would-be bridegroom she had humiliated in Selkirk three years before, the man who had fiercely warned her afterward that he would someday see that she got her just desserts.
    To be sure, due to her service with the princess Isabel and his with Isabel’s brother the Earl of Fife, now Governor of the Realm, they had met a few times since then but always in company, where he had behaved with chilly civility.
    He had spoken to her only once, and she had never been alone with him.
    Forcing herself to stay relaxed so he would not know she had regained consciousness, she peeked through her lashes, hoping to see where they were and judge how far she was from the safety of Sweethope Hill House.
    Since the hood of the thick woolen cloak that enwrapped her covered most of her face, she could not see enough of the passing landscape to do any good. She gave silent thanks that the princess and her other ladies were away from home, thus sparing her any awkward explanations. She also prayed that her chilly dousing would not make her sick again.
    She was warm at least, warmer than by rights she should be after such an experience. The cloak was not her own though, because the river had swept hers away forever. And her other garments—warm or not—must still be wet, because had anyone tried to strip her, surely she would have wakened.
    Worry for her horse stirred until her usual good sense assured her that the beast had likely run back to its stable.
    The hood’s fur lining felt soft against her cheek and smelled comfortingly of cinnamon, cloves, and something else she lacked the energy to identify. The smooth, loping gait of the horse soothed her, and whatever Simon Murray had threatened years ago, she knew he would keep her safe . . . until he could safely murder her.
    Simon stared straight ahead, his face carefully devoid of expression but his thoughts whirling like water spouts as memories formed, renewing emotions they had stirred in the past, some as strong in the minute as they had been at the time.
    He remembered the damp, gloomy day in Selkirk as if it had been yesterday. Looking back, he recalled the sense of pride he’d had that he was doing his duty. He had believed in his liege lord, the Earl of Fife, and Fife’s wanting him to marry the elder daughter of the Laird of Akermoor had been sufficient cause to do so.
    A man obeyed his lord, and that was that. He had been proud, too, though, that Fife had singled him out from all the other men who served him.
    As for his bride-to-be, what more had she been than the chosen vessel, singled out from all the families with which Fife might have wished to ally himself?
    But not only had she disdained the honor, she had done so in a way surely calculated to make a fool of Simon. How disappointed she must have been to have had such a small audience! But Fife and Sir Malcolm had each had reason for that.
    Despite the small number of witnesses, her rejection had dealt Simon’s self-esteem a massive blow. Just two days past his twenty-first birthday, he had been thinking himself a man at last, as well as one of value to his family and to his lord.
    The lady Sibylla had shattered that image in less than half a minute.
    In days following, he had imagined hundreds of things