Irresistible

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Book: Read Irresistible for Free Online
Authors: Karen Robards
Tags: General, Literary Collections
her body fought to rid itself of the water it had taken in, she lay huddled in a ball much as before, but conscious now and cured of all thoughts of escape. Her tongue felt fuzzy and swollen. Her eyes stung.
    She watched blearily as he, too, was pulled from the water. Grimacing, he maneuvered himself into a sitting position close beside her huddled form. His back rested against the edge of a plank seat, and his arms stretched across his bent knees so that his hands hung free. They were strong-looking hands with long fingers from which water dripped in a steady rhythm. He was coughing too, though not as violently as she was, and then the cough turned abruptly into a wheeze. She could hear the painful sounding whistle of air between his teeth as he inhaled.
    The other man, the one with the lantern, crouched beside him, looking him over with concern. By its light she saw that this second man boasted a neatly trimmed beard and was, as she had suspected, quite pudgy. Her rescuer, on the other hand, was muscular and lean.
    "For God's sake, put out the light," her rescuer said testily between wheezes.
    "Oh, aye."
    The lantern door was opened and the flame extinguished. Plunged into darkness once more, the boat rode the waves in near silence, save for a mutter or two among the sailors and the sounds of the dipping oars and roaring sea.
    "Drink this, Master Hugh."
    The pudgy man produced a jug much like the one that had seduced and betrayed her and held it to her rescuer's lips. With an irritable sound, her rescuer took the jug and chugged down a goodly portion of the contents. Lowering it at last, he wiped his arm across his lips.
    "Give her some." He nodded at Claire.
    The pudgy man glanced at her with dislike, but he took the jug and turned to her.
    "You. Drink."
    The words registered, along with the hostility that lay beneath them, but even had she wished to, movement of any sort was beyond her for the moment. When she did not respond, he made an impatient sound under his breath and reached over to lift her head so that it rested against his leg. Putting the jug to her lips, he tilted it. Claire instinctively opened her mouth to a rush of liquid.
    It was ale, she discovered, so raw and unpleasant tasting that she almost gagged. But it was wet, and it cut through the horrible salty taste coating the inside of her mouth. She swallowed, then swallowed again. As it hit her stomach she was conscious of a slight, spreading warmth that was very welcome. Finally, coughing, she could drink no more, and pushed the jug aside. Without a word, the pudgy man moved away.
    Emotionally as well as physically spent, reduced to a mass of what felt like shivering jelly, she lay miserably at her rescuer's feet, awash in seawater, no longer coughing but still so cold and exhausted that she was only peripherally aware of what was happening around her.
    Someone pulled her wrists behind her and bound them, and she didn't struggle. Then her ankles were bound, too, not tightly but just enough to prevent her from using her feet. Glancing down, she saw that the pudgy man was the one tying her up. Clearly he was taking precautions against another escape attempt.
    Or he was trussing her up to toss her back into the sea?
    Her gaze met his as the last knot was tied, but it held no rancor, no dislike. She should have felt frightened, she knew, but instead she felt— resignation. Closing her eyes, she realized that she was glad of the utter dispassion that gripped her. It made everything so much easier to bear, such as the knowledge that, sooner or later on this hellish night, she was going to die.
    Some minutes later, shouts and a flurry of activity on the part of the men caused her eyes to blink open. A stab of fear penetrated the impassivity that cloaked her as she wondered if all the commotion meant her time was at hand. A great black hulk of a ship met her gaze, rising like a mountain in front of the small boat. The rowboat was, she realized, now parallel to

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