In Darkest Depths Read Online Free Page B

Water Woman said. “But Louisa told me that Zach cannot keep his hands off her. They lay together almost every night.”
    â€œThe boy is a satyr!” Shakespeare declared. “And what is she doing telling you that? Don’t you females keep secrets?”
    â€œNo.”
    About to take a bite of the string beans, Shakespeare paused. “Wait. You haven’t told anyone about our bed time, have you?”
    â€œWhat little there is to tell.”
    Shakespeare burst into laughter. He laughed so hard he nearly stabbed himself with the fork. When at last he could catch his breath, he beamed at her and said, “That was your finest ever.”
    â€œThank you.”
    â€œBut let’s get this settled once and for all. If I were thirty you would not object to me going after this thing. Heck, if I were fifty you wouldn’t squawk.”

    â€œHave you looked in a mirror lately? You are neither thirty nor fifty. Nor even sixty.”
    â€œWhite hairs do not a simpleton make, wench. I will thank you to treat me with a little more respect.”
    Blue Water Woman sighed. Setting down her cup, she rose and came around the table. “I only brought this up because I care.” Bending, she embraced him, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “Were I to lose you, my life would be empty.”
    Shakespeare fidgeted in his chair. “How do you expect me to stay angry with you?”
    Blue Water Woman kissed him on the cheek. “I don’t.”
    â€œDamn your feminine wiles.”
    â€œI love you, too.”
    They kissed again, longer and passionately. When Blue Water Woman pulled away, Shakespeare pushed back his chair and stood.
    â€œI need some air.”
    â€œI am sorry I care so much, Carcajou.”
    â€œIt is my soul that calls upon my name,” Shakespeare softly quoted. “How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night, like softest music to attending ears.” He smiled and went out, remembering to take his rifle from beside the door. The cool evening air was a welcome relief from the flush of ardor. Overhead, stars had blossomed.
    Shakespeare walked to the lake and gazed out over the dark waters. He thought of the thing in the depths, and more of the lines he had read countless times tripped from his troubled lips. “There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.”He stopped, and scowled. “There’s the rub. I am not ready. I would savor her until the end of time if I could.”
    The crunch of a step brought Shakespeare around with his Hawken rising. The tall, broad-shouldered figure strolling toward him showed white teeth in a warm smile.
    â€œI thought I saw you out here,” Nate King said.
    â€œHoratio!” Shakespeare delightedly exclaimed, using his pet name for the man he loved as a son. He clapped Nate on the arm. “You are a balm to these tired eyes.”
    â€œI just got back from Bent’s Fort,” Nate related. “I brought the sugar and flour the women wanted and enough powder to last us all for the next year.”
    â€œYou just got back, you say?” Shakespeare asked. It was a ten-day ride to the trading post and another ten days to return. “How is it you are over here talking to me instead of treating that adorable wife of yours to your company?”
    â€œWinona just told me that you plan to try and catch the creature in the lake.”
    â€œOh, hell,” Shakespeare said.
    â€œWhat is the matter?”
    â€œI am not a dunce. My wife has been talking to your wife and now she sends you to do their handiwork.” Shakespeare kicked a stone, and it rolled into the water. “Females! They cut off our heads with a gilded axe and smile as they deliver the killing stroke.”
    â€œWas that the Bard?”
    â€œSomewhat,” Shakespeare