Read Tangled (Handfasting) for Free Online Page B

who thinks she’s a man.”
    Again
silence, then Una piped in.  “Let’s play the wedding game!”  She encouraged the
others. “We’ll not let the Bold anywhere near you for the whole of the
evening!”
              A
game meant for a bride, which Maggie was not, but she managed to smile, allowed
the women their fun despite an aching head and an unruly heart.   
    As
they played interference, came between her and the Bold, Maggie listed all the
reasons she was happy to play.  She wanted to go home. She wanted a husband
more like Birk than Bold.  She did not want to love the Bold.
    She
would not love the Bold.
    She
refused to love the Bold.
    And
all the while her mind fought to control her very wishes she found her heart
could not play the game.

CHAPTER 4 – CHANGES
     
     
    A
groaning wind rattled the shutters. The banked fire hissed and spit its meager
glow.  Shadows thick as tar danced, eerie movements illuminating demons upon
the walls.  
    Maggie
jumped with every rattle, shivered with each hiss of fire and cursed the man
who brought her here to sleep alone, in a huge, ominous room away from her own
clan.
    The
MacBede’s knew of Maggie’s night fears.  They would not have left her alone,
even if there was room for that.  A single lass was never left to sleep in a
room on her own.  There were advantages to living in a small keep.
    But
she was not in a small keep.  She was in a strange and cavernous room with any
number of hidden tunnels in and out of it.
    Eyes
wide she fought to breathe . . . to steady herself . . .
    A
great snuffle, a snort, ricocheted down her spine, to freeze with a scratch of
claws on stone floor. Never, even in her most frightening experiences, had the
night been this bad.
    "God
preserve me." She whimpered.
    Terror
kicked up the patter of her heart, pulsed hammer blows to her head. To scream
would shatter her bones.
    This
was the Bold's fault. He forced her to be alone . . . in this strange place . .
. with strange noises . . . unexplored shadows . . . and sounds of great, huge,
ravenous rats.
    Rigid,
Maggie strained against the gloom, to see what hid in a place too full of
hiding places. Another snort and scrape of talons shot down her spine and a
cold wet nose pressed against her face.  Terror erupted in a shriek, racketing
pain throughout her head.
    A
monster of a beast scrabbled to get on the bed, two massive paws already there,
as another mangy head rose from the foot of it. Sound choked in her throat. She
would have sobbed but could do no more than flap her jaw.
    The
beast grumbled, "Wha. . . Hu . . . Wa"   
    She
heard nothing other than the prayers she mumbled under her breath, her eyes
squeezed tight against the frightful image. Desperately she pulled the covers
up over her head.
    A
heavy weight landed beside her.
    "You
bloody, bloody, cruel man to leave me here," she cried to herself. "Talorc,
where are you when I need you?"
    Something
tugged at the covers. With fists and teeth she held tight, her body shuddering
in fear.
    "Maggie,
Maggie," the struggle stopped, "I'm here Maggie," Talorc's voice
penetrated her shelter, settled on her, as the comfort of his hands cupped her
shoulders through the thickness of covers. "I'm right here, Maggie mine. You've
nothing to fear. I'd not leave you alone when you've been so ill."
    She
lowered the barrier to her nose. One eye opened, then another.
    "You
great brute."  Through the blanket, she punched his shoulder. "You
left me alone in this miserable place, and I don't take kindly to it."
    "Never,
Maggie, I was here."
    "Not
quick enough."
    "Right
there," he turned her to face him, pointed to the foot of the bed, where
the devil’s head had popped up.
    "With
a beast?"
    "Aye,"
he reached over to pat the head of an enormous dog. Maggie put her
interpretation of the animal down to shock. Talorc continued as if there were
not a problem in the whole of the world. "Brutus was here as well to watch
over you and make sure no one