Read Online The Irish Bride by Alexis Harrington - Free Book Online Page B

for
several moments. To Farrell, who was beginning to grow lightheaded
from lack of air, the moments seemed like hours.
    Finally Aidan pulled away and her
knees buckled, pitching her forward into his arms.
    “ God, lass, are ye all
right?” Aidan whispered, alarmed by her paleness. How easily
Farrell fit in his embrace, he realized—her forehead nestled
against his jaw. But there was so little to her, all fine bones and
softness. She felt much different from the sturdy maids he’d known.
And much better. Her hair against his cheek was silky and
warm.
    She straightened away from him and
nodded, gulping in deep breaths. “Aye. J-just let me get my
wind.”
    “ That was too close, the
bleedin’ bastards,” he muttered, glancing over his shoulder toward
the street.
    “ Are—are they gone? Those
soldiers?”
    “ Yes, but they may still be
creeping about out there somewhere. We were only lucky that they
didn’t think to look in here.” His mind racing with strategy, he
turned back to her and took her by the shoulders. “Have ye got your
feet under you again? We can’t go to the pub and collect our
belongings. We’ll have to buy a few things from one of the shops
here and get to the Mary Fiona as soon as possible. If we’re caught, we’ll be
doomed.”
    “ I know.” He recognized the
fear in her eyes; after all, he’d sometimes seen it when she looked
at him. He didn’t want to frighten her but there was no way to put
a pretty face on their circumstances. They were dire. Nevertheless,
he admired her for not whining as some females might about the
personal things she was leaving behind. Farrell had had little to
call her own in her young life. He knew she’d brought along her
most precious treasures—her mother’s rosary, a small whalebone
hairpin, a linen handkerchief. Not important things, and of little
value, but her treasures all the same. Yet she uttered not a word
of reproach, simply accepting what she knew he couldn’t change.
When they reached America, he would buy her new and better things.
She deserved no less for her bravery.
    “ All right then,” he said
and edged toward the alley opening. Rain fell in windblown sheets
and the street was nearly deserted as people sought shelter in
doorways and shops. Across the road, the gray river so closely
matched the slate-colored sky it was difficult to tell where one
left off and the other began. But the soldiers were nowhere to be
seen. “Keep a sharp lookout and follow me.”
    * * *
    When Farrell and Aidan
arrived at the Mary
Fiona , they were both laden with bedding,
some used clothes they’d bought, supplies, and a few odds and ends,
all of which were getting soaked in the downpour. Darting between
buildings and the quay had been harrowing; Farrell expected to see
soldiers lurking around every corner. Once, she even thought she’d
seen Noel Cardwell, that villain, mounted on a fine black gelding.
Fear had squeezed her heart in a cruel grip—if he caught them, she
knew he would drag her back to Skibbereen and do unspeakable things
to her. But it seemed impossible; Noel would not have ridden on
horseback all these miles and in this weather. He would have
traveled in nothing less than a coach and four. In any event, the
man had not noticed them. Luck had been with them, and they made it
to the ship without being seen.
    Aidan’s discreet inquiries
around town to verify McCorry’s information had proven the man to
be telling the truth. There were no other ships in port sailing to
New York or any other city on America’s east coast. Hamburg, South
America, China ,
for the love of God. But nowhere Aidan and Farrell needed to
go.
    So they were bound for New Orleans.
They’d find a way to travel north once they arrived, he told
her.
    The Mary Fiona was a small, rather
tired-looking three-masted barque, and when Farrell first set eyes
on the ship her heart fell to her feet. She didn’t know much about
sailing, but still, how would such a little vessel