A Bride Most Begrudging by Deeanne Gist

Author:Deeanne Gist [Gist, Deeanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 0100-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

chapter SIXTEEN

SLIPPING A COILED rope over his head and shoulder, Drew perused her sodden clothes, drenched hair, and shivering body. “You’re not going.”

Constance straightened. “I am going—with or without you. So make up your mind. Do we leave separately to search for Sally or together?”

He sighed. If he let her go, she’d surely catch her death. If he didn’t, she’d most likely do precisely what she claimed, and then he’d have two lost females to find.

Whirling around, she grabbed one of his jerkins from the peg. “Enough! I am away. Do as you will.”

With that, she slipped the jerkin on and stomped out the door. He slammed his eyes shut, prayed for patience, then nodded to his men. “Let us away.”

The wind, rain, and cold blasted him, immediately causing him to withdraw into his deerskin jacket. He hesitated only a moment before following Constance. His jerkin looked ridiculous on her, riding clear down to the backs of her knees, causing her skirt to bunch and billow out at the bottom. The sleeves of the jerkin weren’t attached to it, but its heavy leather should at least keep her torso somewhat warm and dry. It was clear she was heading in the direction of the meadow.

He jogged to her, the men close behind. “Are you going this way a’purpose or are you just storming off for the sake of storming?”

She gave him no glance. “Sally wanted to make daisy chains, so I’m checking the meadow first.”

“There are no daisies this time of year!”

That earned him a glance, searing though it was.

They trekked through the dark, wet forest, tripping on roots, loose stones, and slippery rocks while the crash and reverberation of thunder brawled above their heads. The trees protected them somewhat from the downpour, but not from the lashing of wet branches writhing in fury. Try as he would, he couldn’t shield her from their vicious bombardment. There was nothing to do but forge ahead.

Somehow, he should have made her stay home. He’d just about decided to send her back anyway when they arrived. The meadow stretched before them, its dead browned blades flattened by the torrent hurtling ever downward while surrounded by trees whose tops twisted and whipped in the howling wind. He stopped and scanned the meadow, squinting against the darkness in hopes of finding a trace of Sally huddled in its barren expanse.

Constance did not stop, but waded right into its midst. Cupping her mouth, she called for Sally, the wind swallowing her cries. Her silhouette took on a desperate edge, her attempts to run to every corner of the patch thwarted by the greedy mud sucking her feet into its sticky muck.

Lightning seared the sky. He watched, his chest squeezing his lungs, as she turned 360 degrees, searching, searching, before covering her face and sinking slowly to her knees.

The oppressive rain exploded in his ears and onto his body before he even realized he was plunging toward her, desperate to pull her out of the mire. He grasped her arms, but she shrunk from him, shaking a vehement denial with her head.

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