The Brat Page 0,83

shore that could have managed the job. Someone had tried to kill her husband again!

Standing abruptly in the water, she caught Balan by the shoulders and dragged him toward land.

Moving him was easy in the river, where the water helped buoy him up and all she had to do was pull and direct him, but once she reached shore, the task became almost impossible. Murie would never know where she found the strength to draw him out of the water, but she did, alternating between pulling and pushing at various parts of his body. She pulled his arms out first, then ran around to grab his ankles to drag those so that he ended bowed backward on his side, his stomach and chest still mostly in the water. Murie then moved to his torso and placed one hand on his belly and one on his upper chest and began shoving with all her strength, trying to push him completely out of the water. She wasn't sure how many times she'd pushed at him when he suddenly gagged and coughed up what appeared to be half the river. He followed that with several more coughs, then rolled onto his back with a groan and fell silent.

"Husband?" Murie whispered, hardly believing he lived. Dropping to her knees, she brushed the damp hair back from his face and looked him over. His coloring seemed a little better; less gray, and with a tinge of pink to it now. But he was still unconscious.

Biting her lip, she tapped his cheek a couple of times and then sucked in a deep breath and gave him a sound whack across the face. She'd hoped that would wake him, but it didn't have the desired effect.

Sighing, she sank back on her heels and peered around, trying to think of what to do. Instinct was yelling at her to run and get help, that she couldn't possibly get him back by herself, but her instincts were also telling her that whoever had done this might yet be lurking, awaiting an opportunity to finish the job. She would not leave Balan alone ... but she needed to get him back to the keep.

How? Her mind screamed the question, and then her gaze landed on the doublet she was unconsciously clutching. She stared at the cloth hard for a moment, then shifted her gaze to her own gown and finally to the uneven ground. There were two branches almost large enough. . . .

Murie shook her head. Nay. She could not; not even for her husband would she . . .

But the idea had taken hold, and she didn't have a better one. Finally, admitting with much regret that there was nothing else for it, Murie stood and began to strip.

Chapter Fourteen

"She what?" Balan roared, but his head was immediately pierced by a thousand sharp needles of pain. He'd woken in his collapsed bed just moments ago, not to find his caring wife there tending him with adoration, but Osgoode sitting on one side and his wife's maid, Cecily, on the other. Cecily had told him that Murie had saved his life after finding him unconscious in the river. Osgoode had told him how.

Holding his throbbing head and squeezing, in an effort to press back the pain as well as ensure his head didn't explode, Balan repeated a little more quietly, "She what?"

"She stripped naked and then stripped you naked and used the clothing and two branches she found nearby to make a sort of litter, then dragged you all the way back to the castle," Osgoode repeated, eyes shining.

"Dear God," Balan breathed.

"Aye." Osgoode nodded solemnly. " 'Twas the most incredible thing I have ever seen."

"You saw?" Balan asked with horror.

"Everyone saw," Osgoode replied. "Without your clothes, the men were not sure who was approaching and sent for Anselm, and then Anselm called me."

"Surely you recognized us?" Balan asked with disbelief, but Osgoode shook his head.

"Nay. Understand, you were crumpled and rolled up in a ball on a multicolored litter.. . and Murie's hair was damp from both sweat and river water, and plastered to her face, obscuring her features. We all just thought her a mad woman dragging something around at first." He pursed his lips and added,

"Everyone was on the wall staring, and she had nearly reached the drawbridge before Cecily gasped that it was her ladyship."

"Aye," Cecily agreed solemnly. "And then I ran into the castle and grabbed a fur from the bed and rushed